carmen510
Deity
Deleted to no need further need of use.
Medieval/Renaissance Period Turning Points?
- Thread starter carmen510
- Start date
A few ideas that leap to mind:
1400 - Geoffrey Chaucer leaves Canterbury Tales unfinished.
1431-49 - Council of Basel, Florence, and Ferrara re-unites Catholic and Orthodox churches, theoretically.
1482 - Marsilio Ficino publishes Theologia platonica.
1487 - Malleus Maleficarum published.
1494 - Savonarola takes control of Florence.
Early sixteenth century - Paracelsus invents gnomes.
1400 - Geoffrey Chaucer leaves Canterbury Tales unfinished.
1431-49 - Council of Basel, Florence, and Ferrara re-unites Catholic and Orthodox churches, theoretically.
1482 - Marsilio Ficino publishes Theologia platonica.
1487 - Malleus Maleficarum published.
1494 - Savonarola takes control of Florence.
Early sixteenth century - Paracelsus invents gnomes.
classical_hero
In whom I trust
Do the Hundred years war, since it talks of the rise of the British Empire, even though they lost the war, it meant they had to focus on being a good naval country and thus allowing them to become the largest nations in the world and it's cultural influence is still the most powerful now, since English in the general language used in international affairs.
carmen510
Deity
@Plotinus: Thanks for the extra events to look over, will look into them.
@classical hero: I'm leaning towards that right now, but the turning point needs to be a specific event in history, not an entire war. So should I use the final battle of the war, or is there one more significant that happened before the end?
@classical hero: I'm leaning towards that right now, but the turning point needs to be a specific event in history, not an entire war. So should I use the final battle of the war, or is there one more significant that happened before the end?
classical_hero
In whom I trust
So then I would doubt that yur teacher would say that WW2 was not a turning point in History. 
Seriously sn=me battles are turning points, but often it is the whole war in a glance that shows the turning point, so if you have to do one, then just do the final battle.
Seriously sn=me battles are turning points, but often it is the whole war in a glance that shows the turning point, so if you have to do one, then just do the final battle.
Sharwood
Rich, doctor nephew
If I were you I'd do the whiskey topic, just because it's bound to be the most amusing.
Hmm, I think you've got enough potentials, though there are others - Plotty's mention of Savonarola reminded me of the publishing of Il Principe and the rise of the Pope's as temporal rulers - so it seems to me you just need to pick one.
I'd probably do Zheng He, and write two papers. One where I support all the crap Gavin Menzies spouts, and one where I actually write about what really happened. You could call it 2009: The Year China Conquered Term Papers.
Hmm, I think you've got enough potentials, though there are others - Plotty's mention of Savonarola reminded me of the publishing of Il Principe and the rise of the Pope's as temporal rulers - so it seems to me you just need to pick one.
I'd probably do Zheng He, and write two papers. One where I support all the crap Gavin Menzies spouts, and one where I actually write about what really happened. You could call it 2009: The Year China Conquered Term Papers.
Sharwood said:
You would of course get it bound into a miniature version of Mao's Red Book as well. I personally think "Glorious, Patriot and Party Member, Gavin Menzies's Account of History as It Happened: Approved by the Peoples Education and Propaganda Division of the Communist Party of China" would be a cooler title.
Sharwood
Rich, doctor nephew
Shall they be handed out for free on "Serf's Emancipation Day?"
Sharwood said:
And "Slavery to the Glorious Revolution Day". It should also be compulsory reading to balance out the Western propaganda which denies China its true role as director of all things in history (China of course influenced the Reformation and Counter Reformation).
carmen510
Deity
@classical hero: Yeah, I know how the requirements are stupid, but that's life I guess.
@Sharwood: Sort of what I thought about the whiskey topic. Although I would need some help on getting research. My friend knows several books dealing with whiskey history, which is kind of disturbing.
@Masada & sharwood: I would prefer if you don't talk about communism or Red China here, unless that was something that happened during the 1350-1550 time period.
@Sharwood: Sort of what I thought about the whiskey topic. Although I would need some help on getting research. My friend knows several books dealing with whiskey history, which is kind of disturbing.
@Masada & sharwood: I would prefer if you don't talk about communism or Red China here, unless that was something that happened during the 1350-1550 time period.
GoodGame
Red, White, & Blue, baby!
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2004
- Messages
- 13,725
I really like protestantism as a trend towards secularization, so I'd go with Martin Luther or Henry VIII, myself.
Mercator Maps sound interesting, but wikipedia makes it as if they were mathematical innovation well ahead of instrumention (not til 17th C did instruments catch up).
Diaz and Cape Horn sounds like a winner. The Dutch East India company was founded on it apparently.
I assume they can't be negative turning points (i.e. no unproven 'what if's).
Mercator Maps sound interesting, but wikipedia makes it as if they were mathematical innovation well ahead of instrumention (not til 17th C did instruments catch up).
Diaz and Cape Horn sounds like a winner. The Dutch East India company was founded on it apparently.
I assume they can't be negative turning points (i.e. no unproven 'what if's).
Whoever thought that Agincourt happened in 1431 and that Crecy happened in 1415 should be shot. 
Go with the Council of Constance, that's a nice one. Jan Hus burned at the stake, Great Schism ended, high point of the conciliar movement...
Go with the Council of Constance, that's a nice one. Jan Hus burned at the stake, Great Schism ended, high point of the conciliar movement...
carmen510
Deity
It's becoming more relevant in the Comparison between Roman and Han Empires thread
And your comments are becoming more and more irrelevant to this thread.
So far, I've got some nice suggestions, are there any possible events that we've missed?
Verbose
Deity
As said, these battles are misdated. But more importantly, are they even that meaningful? They ensured the HYW kept going for sure, but in what way did they constitute historical "turning points".
IF the HYW is in any way important, key dates might rather be things like:
- 1429 - the raising of the siege of Orléans by Jeanne d'Arc
or even better
- 1434 - the first "ordonance" by king Charles VII contractually establishing a standing professional army of "gendarmes" cavalry (that and Bureau's organisation of a large and efficient artillery train won the French that war)
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
How about coming up with things related to medieval science/technology, since I have to write the rough draft of a paper on that by Thursday and haven't chosen a topic yet?
GoodGame
Red, White, & Blue, baby!
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2004
- Messages
- 13,725
Was Muslim Astronomy the Harbinger of Copernicanism?
http://www.chowk.com/articles/9489
Basically, what was the true effect (going from earth-centric to sun-centric view) of retransmitting ancient Mediterranean work (e.g. Ptolemy) on astronomy back to Europe?
How loosely is 'medieval' defined? Could you use Greek fire?
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
He said circa 500 to 1500, so I guess Greek Fire might work if I could find enough about it. Most of what we studied in the class though was from the 12 through 14th century, so I tend to think the focus should be around there.
It is supposed to be a field of scientific inquiry, so I'm not sure a single invention would really count. The professor suggested it fit into the fields of Astronomy, Arithmetic, Geometry, Harmonics, or Medicine. He said that if in the conclusion of our last assignment we mentioned and area we might want to research we should do that. I sort of listed one ), but definitely wasn't definitive about it. I said I might want to look into medieval hydraulics, as I may end up going into hydraulic engineering and as it might be of some use in another class. It seems that practical matters like how to utilize water power weren't really studied much by the highly theoretical scholastics of the time.
The impact of the availability of Arabic texts on Astronomy (and astrology) was covered a lot in the class. There were several Latin authors between the Arab masters and Copernicus that made greater advancements than either of them. Copernicus isn't that impressive compared to some astronomers whose work was already available to him.
I thought that medical cannibalism that I first read about here would be an interesting topic, but I could only find any evidence of that happening in Ancient times and the Renaissance, not in between. It seems to be one of those superstitions that was reborn in the 16th century, not something widely practiced in the much more rational middle ages.
This essay is supposed to be in the form of a 1500-2000 word wikipedia-type entry (although we still aren't supposed to actually use anything from wikipedia). The final draft is due March 24, but we need t post a rough draft online before spring break so they can be peer reviewed. (I have another longer essay with a rough draft due at the same time.) Reviewing each other's essays is also part of the grade. We were actually supposed to post my topic on a class forum by last Thursday, but only half the class did so.
It is supposed to be a field of scientific inquiry, so I'm not sure a single invention would really count. The professor suggested it fit into the fields of Astronomy, Arithmetic, Geometry, Harmonics, or Medicine. He said that if in the conclusion of our last assignment we mentioned and area we might want to research we should do that. I sort of listed one ), but definitely wasn't definitive about it. I said I might want to look into medieval hydraulics, as I may end up going into hydraulic engineering and as it might be of some use in another class. It seems that practical matters like how to utilize water power weren't really studied much by the highly theoretical scholastics of the time.
The impact of the availability of Arabic texts on Astronomy (and astrology) was covered a lot in the class. There were several Latin authors between the Arab masters and Copernicus that made greater advancements than either of them. Copernicus isn't that impressive compared to some astronomers whose work was already available to him.
I thought that medical cannibalism that I first read about here would be an interesting topic, but I could only find any evidence of that happening in Ancient times and the Renaissance, not in between. It seems to be one of those superstitions that was reborn in the 16th century, not something widely practiced in the much more rational middle ages.
This essay is supposed to be in the form of a 1500-2000 word wikipedia-type entry (although we still aren't supposed to actually use anything from wikipedia). The final draft is due March 24, but we need t post a rough draft online before spring break so they can be peer reviewed. (I have another longer essay with a rough draft due at the same time.) Reviewing each other's essays is also part of the grade. We were actually supposed to post my topic on a class forum by last Thursday, but only half the class did so.
Similar threads
