The Enlightenment Spreads

Setting the Stage Many of the philosophes in trouble for their views about society  Illegal to criticize the Catholic Church or French Gov’t  Jailed or Exiled But the Enlightenment spread regardless  word of mouth, books, mags  Influenced everything from art to royal courts

A World of Ideas Paris was the epicenter for Enlightenment discussion!  Salons: rooms in mansions of wealthy women in Paris used for regular social gatherings  Most common topic discussed: Enlightenment ideas!  Who? Philosophers Scientists Writers Artists

Diderot’s Encyclopedia Marie-Therese Geoffrin Salon was frequented by Denis Diderot  He published the first set of books called Encyclopedia  Writers and scholars added articles and essays Banned by the French gov’t & Catholic Church  Claimed it encouraged a spirit of revolt + undermined royal authority  What were these ideas??! Encyclopedias helped spread Enlightenment ideas

Neoclassical Style of Art Emerges 1600s and 1700s European art dominated by baroque: grand and ornate design Neoclassical: simple and elegant style that borrowed themes from classical Greek and Roman art  “new” classical

Changes in Music and Literature Music Bach and Handel (pre Enlightenment musicians) wrote dramatic music Mozart and Beethoven wrote lighter, more elegant music known as classical music Let’s listen!!! Literature Authors began writing stories with carefully crafted elements  Plots, used suspense, and explored characters thoughts and feelings  Very popular with the middle class  Everyday language & entertaining stories

Enlightenment and Monarchy Many philosophes believed the best gov’t was a monarch that ruled justly and one that protected the people’s rights They tried to convince monarchs to do this  Monarchs that embraced some of the new Enlightenment ideas became known as enlightened despots. Despot – absolute ruler  Still had no intention of giving up any power though!  Had 2 goals: 1. make their countries strong 2. make their own rule more effective

Enlightened Despot #1 Frederick the Great  King of Prussia from  Committed to reforming Prussia  Granted religious freedoms  Reduced censorship  Improved education  Reformed the justice system & abolished the use of torture  Improved education  He disagreed w/ serfdom but did not try to reform it b/c it supported the wealthy landowners  Who he needed to keep a strong economy  Class order stayed the same  The “first servant of the state”  what he called himself  Goal was to “serve and strengthen the country” Made this known to his constinuents

Enlightened Despot #2 Joseph II of Austria who ruled from  Legal reforms  Freedom of the press  Freedom of religion  Abolished serfdom and ordered that peasants be paid for their labor with cash $$$  Strong resisted by the nobles  As soon as he died these changes were revoked

Enlightened Despot #3 Catherine the Great, ruled Russia from  She was an absolute monarch that initiated refore She was the ruler most admired by the philosophes  Why?  Read works from the philosophes & exchanged letters w/Voltaire  Organized a commission to review the laws of Russia Presented them with the ideas of Montesquieu and Beccaria Allow religious freedom Abolish torture and capital punishment The commission did not accomplish these goals but she initiated limited reform After a peasant revolt in 1773 (which she crushed with brutal force) she rescinded many of her reform ideas Took away all power of the serfs and gave the nobles complete control over them

Catherine the Great

Catherine Expands Russia