The Renaissance: Historical Contexts - Here Be Dragons

The Renaissance (1450 – 1600) marked the flowering of culture, science and ideas about the nature of humanity that occurred in Europe, starting in Italy, spread throughout Europe. Characterized by philosophy, art, architecture, and literature, the Renaissance was a cultural revolution fueled by wealth from trade and new technology, along with political consolidations. 

The Big Question: 

What were the economic, political, and technological innovations that made the flowering of the Renaissance possible?

Watch:  Renaissance and Humanism

With ships and caravans equipped with new astronomical equipment, and able to travel long distances without getting hopelessly lost, the brave crews encountered new civilizations, and, more destiny-changing than anything else, new sources of spices, precious gems, new plants, and intoxicatingly vast hoards of gold and silver. 

The new wealth poured into Italy and Spain, and then to France and England, resulting in a building and cultural boom that was to celebrate not only the church, but the monarchies that sponsored the quests and the expansion. 

Stability was perhaps the most critical element.  In Italy, the Medicis were powerful trading and banking moguls who financed enterprises and kings. In Spain, the Moors were finally expelled and when Isabella married Ferdinand, the new Spain unified almost the entire Iberian Peninsula. In France, warring factions came together under a single monarch, and in England, religious warfare was brought to a close as Queen Elizabeth I successfully bridged the divides. 

The name of the new focus was Humanism. Petrarch, Pico, More, and Montaigne looked at the human being as being able to advance through the exercise of will, ingenuity, and self-directed effort. God still existed, but God desires self-directed creativity and innovation. God helps those who help themselves, thought the Humanists. 

But, what was the best way to express this new exuberance and belief in the limitless potential of humankind? The answers were in the mysterious ruins and statues of Ancient Greece and Rome, and also in their mythologies, with gods with magical powers and humans who could be part-god, part human. 

The silk, spice, and precious gems that came along the Silk Road and in the voyages to Asia, and then the gold, silver, tobacco, indigo and rum that flowed in from the Americas, enriched the monarchies and the entrepreneurs. 

The models they found in Classical Art and Architecture were inspiring to them. So were the writings of Plato and Aristotle, preserved in libraries thanks to the work of Muslim philosophers who translated the work into their Arabic and had written extensive commentaries.  Later, these were translated into Latin and found by Renaissance philosophers.  They were embraced by an entirely new audience who loved their ways of viewing the world.

We will explore what happens when vast wealth meets new monarchies who want to show the world they are on equal footing with the church (Catholic or Church of England), and when they eagerly fund the efforts of artists, architects, writers, and philosophers whose work illustrates the new Humanistic worldview. 

Read:  Technology, Political Ambition, and a Boundless World

Overview: The Renaissance had a foundational philosophy that encouraged people to think of a limitless world, and one with treasure and infinite possibilities. The encounters with the Americas and the voyages around the world to the Spice Islands and back were absolutely magical, as were the tales brought back – some true, some greatly embellished. The Renaissance benefitted from the convergence of facilitating inventions, political-economic developments, and the discovery of new lands. 

Facilitating Inventions

Astrolabe: a mechanical device for determining one’s position in relation to the Sun and constellations. It could be used for calculating distances as well. It was vital for sea navigation. 

Magnetic Compass:  A device that consistently and accurately measures direction, using a magnetically charged “lodestone” (iron oxide) that aligns north and south. 

Mechanical Clock: The earliest accurate mechanical clocks used the pendulum (which had been invented by Galileo) to mark time, and to assure accuracy within a few seconds. 

Gunpowder: an chemical explosive and firearm propellant that consists of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Its use transformed warfare in Europe, and gave great advantage to invading armies coming from Spain to the Americas. 

Printing Press: invented by Gutenberg, the printing press made it possible to spread pamphlets, religious tracts, and publicity, both raising literacy and a knowledge of the world and its marvels. 

Map of the World: The “Mappa Mundi” published by Amerigo Vespucci was the map that suggested that there were many more yet to be explored lands in that great space between Europe and Asia. The Mappa Mundi inflamed the imagination of generations and triggered investment in joint stock companies and expeditions. 

Facilitating Political Developments

Unified Spain: Spain was unified by the marriage of Ferdinand (Aragon) to Isabella (Castile), and the union of their kingdoms. No longer was it partially dominated by the Moors, and no longer was it referred to as Al-Andalus. 

La Reconquista: The term that signifies the final expulsion of the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492.

Church of England / Henry VIII: The creation of a new church – somewhere between Catholic and Protestant, successfully wrested the power of the Catholic Church and lodged it squarely on the head of its ruler, who was head of both the secular and the religious state. 

Elizabeth I: Sought to heal wounds of religious partisanship and seek reconciliation. Elizabeth I was focused on rebuilding England through protecting itself and not wasting resources on internecine clashes. 

Facilitating Economic Developments

Financed Voyages for Spice, Gold, Jewels, Treasure: Kings and queens, especially those of the unified Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella, were willing to gamble and invest in expeditions in search of gold and treasure. The investments paid off many times over. The territories were extremely rich, not only in gold but also in productivity.  

Medici Mercantilism: The Medicis invested in trade, with the goal of opening up new routes and controlling territories. 

Privateering - Legalized Piracy: The French and English preyed upon the Spanish galleons because they often held cargos of gold, silver, and jewels. They allowed pirates to be legitimate rather than outlaws, as long as they shared with the king or queen. 

Colonialism: Colonies were established in the Americas, determined by which nation first staked a legitimate claim. At the end of the Renaissance, the following countries had claimed territory for their countries. 

Spain: North America, Central America, South America, Philippines

Portugal: Parts of South America and the Caribbean, parts of India, Java, Africa

France: Islands in the Caribbean and New France (Canada)

England: Parts of Canada, a few islands in the Caribbean, parts of North America

Holland: Parts of Africa and South America, West Africa

Reflect: That was impressive! What impresses you most?

1. The Reconquista

2. Unification of Spain

3. Voyages of Discovery

4. Inventions such as the astrolabe and magnetic compass

5. The evolving level of knowledge of geography of the world

6. Privateers

7. French exploration of Canada

8. Control of trade networks

Expand! Let’s Explore the World

Voyages of Discovery

Magellan: According to most historians, the Portuguese nobleman Ferdinand Magellan never actually planned to the globe. He was simply trying to find a new way to get to the Spice Islands of the East Indies. He commanded a fleet of 5 ships, and went from Portugal to Patagonia through the Strait of Magellan, where he encountered many storms. He arrived in the Spice Islands in 1521, after two years on the seas.  He was killed in the Philippines on April 27, 1521. His ships returned home via the Indian Ocean and then around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. 

Columbus: Columbus, born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy to a weaver, was the first to explorer to encounter the Americas, which he did in his first voyage in 1492 in which he was trying to find a direct path from Europe to Asia.  His later voyages, which took place in 1493, 1498, and 1502, were motivated by the same goal. Needless to say, he did not find a direct route to Asia, but he did encounter Hispaniola, Trinidad, and the South American mainland. In his last voyage, he encountered Panama where he was attacked by hostile natives. He died in Spain in 1506. 

Martin Frobisher:  An English privateer and explorer, Martin Frobisher set out to find a Northwest Passage that would provide a direct link from England to Asia. Born in 1535 in Yorkshire, first sailed at the age of 9 when he joined the Navy as a cabin boy. In addition to attempting to find a direct route to China and India, Frobisher tried to find vast stores of the gold and silver that the Spanish had encountered. He was unsuccessful, although he did bring back ore (primarily different types of iron ore, he later found out) in each of his three voyages. Although Frobisher never did find gold (and eventually bankrupted his company), he did claim territory for the Queen of England, and also gained prestige and honor for being a talented privateer, bringing back much Spanish gold to fill the English coffers. 

Cabot: John Cabot (born Giovanni Caboto in Venice) received a commission from King Henry VII of England to explore the northern Atlantic. He landed near Newfoundland or southern Labrador. He returned to England, where he equipped a second expedition, but unfortunately, disappeared, probably perished in a shipwreck. 

Cartier: Jacques Cartier sailed on behalf of France’s King Francis I in 1534 in order to find gold, spices, and gems in the Americas. Cartier successfully completed three expeditions in which he traveled up the St Lawrence River to the point that France could claim the territory that was first called “Kanata” (Huron-Iroquois for “settlement”).  Cartier brought back massive quantities of ore, but they were disappointingly devoid of gold, silver, or precious gemstones. His last voyage took place in 1541. 

Vasco de Gama: Born in Portugal around 1460, Vasco Da Gama’s first voyage rounded the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. His crew spent time in Mozambique, a Muslim city-state, Kenya, before sailing for India. Da Gama and his crew stayed in Calicut for three months. The people he encountered in his travels to Asia and Africa were traders and controlled very lucrative routes. Although he had received much hospitality, the King of Portugal charged Vasco da Gama with finding a way to dominate the trade routes. So, da Gama obliged his king and embarked upon grisly massacres. He did find a way to carve an alliance with the local leaders, and so was able to return home alive. Portugal claimed India as its own and created a Viceroyalty. Later, da Gama was named Portuguese viceroy in India. He died in India, still holding the title of viceroy. 

Drake:  Francis Drake, explorer, pirate (legitimized as a “privateer”), commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I. One of the most successful plunderers of Spanish galleons, Drake brought significant quantities of Spanish treasure back to England and to Queen Elizabeth I. Drake was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. An accomplished naval officer, Drake was part of the team that defeated the Spanish Armada. Drake died in 1596 in Panama. 

Coronado: Francisco Vazquez de Coronado (1510 – 1554) was governor of New Spain when he was essentially duped by reports of Seven Cities of Cibola that were theoretically paved with gold. In search of the famed cities, Coronado traveled up the western coast of Mexico, and through the desert Southwest through what is now California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, encountering along the way the Grand Canyon and very hostile Indians. He wintered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and spent the spring in Palo Duro Canyon (in the Texas Panhandle). The expeditions considered an expensive failure, Coronado returned to Mexico where he eventually lost his governorship of Nueva Galicia and spend his last days on the city council of Mexico City. 

Champlain: Samuel de Champlain was an explorer who helped colonize French North America through his extensive exploration of Canada. He founded the city of Quebec, and helped popularize New France with French settlers. 

Ponce de Leon: Born in 1474 in Leon, Spain, Juan Ponce de Leon was a member of the Aragonese nobility. He traveled to the Americas where he served as the governor of the eastern province of Hispaniola. He discovered Puerto Rico, Bimini, and also explored parts of Florida near what is now St. Augustine. Ponce de Leon died in Cuba.

Explore the Relationships between Exploration, Conquest, and Economic Systems

Exploration and conquest usually meant that a single European country controlled a part of a continent. This was a positive thing on the face of it, but there were tremendous costs. First, it was quite expensive to run a continent, and the 20 percent tax (la quinta) imposed by the Spanish government did not do much to defray the costs, particularly when there were uprisings and uncertain production of gold, silver, and plantation items. 

Also, having control of a vast territory made you a target, which Spain quickly found out after galleon after galleon was attached and pillaged for its cargo. 

The main economic system during this time was trade, which made a mercantilist economy a must.  

Discuss:  Similarity and Differences

What are the similarities and differences of the territories held by Spain, England, France, and Portugal? 

Check your knowledge Quiz (5 questions):

1.  Astrolabe: a device used to 

a. shave down the edges of gold coins

b.  measure the clouds and predict the kind of precipitation that would occur

c.  calculate distances by means of stars and the Sun (correct) 

d. used in astrology to predict one’s destiny

2.  Magellan

a.  founded a series of investment funds used to finance voyages

b.  born in Norway and raised by his uncle, The Merchant of Venice

c.  the first to circumnavigate the world (correct)

d.  killed in Goa, India by a tiger

3.  Mappa Mundi

a.  a spice used to create a peppery meat dish

b.  a map of the world published and sold widely (correct)

c.  a map that given to Coronado and which showed the location of the Seven Cities of Cibola 

d.  another term for the Spice Islands

4.  Privateer

1.  A pirate who received a commission from a king or queen to plunder on their behalf (correct)

2.  A type of ship developed by Frobisher which had a special cargo hold for private storage for investors

3.  A person who did not work for the government but had a company dedicated to private enterprise

4.  A type of weaving used to create sturdy hammocks. 

5.  Coronado

1.  The governor of Nueva Galicia (Mexico) who raised funds to explore for the Seven Cities of Cibola, supposedly paved with gold (correct) 

2.  A method of roasting meat that was essentially flame-broiled over open flames, used in Argentina and in Chile

3.  The explorer who searched for the Fountain of Youth, and discovered Puerto Rico and Florida

4.  The coronation of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile

Glossary

Galleon: Spanish ship used for transporting gold to Europe and back

Privateer: Pirate with a commission from a king or queen

Astrolabe: device used in navigating using the stars 

Mechanical clock: mechanism for keeping time using a pendulum

Gunpowder: chemical explosive containing charcoal and saltpeter

Magnetic compass: a device with an iron oxide lodestone that always aligns itself to the north and south

Reconquista: Christian takeover of the Iberian peninsula

Mappa Mundi: the map of the known world in the 1500s

La quinta: the 20% tax imposed by the Spanish monarchy on production in New Spain

Al-Andalus: The Arabic term used by the Moors to denote the Iberian peninsula

Key Takeaways

Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to 

1.  List key world events during the Renaissance

2. Describe voyages of discovery 

3.  Explain how new inventions made long voyages possible

4.  Discuss the unification of Spain

5.  Identify benefits to England for having privateers and pirates

Lesson Toolbox

Resources (links) 

Renaissance Links

Encyclopedia Britannica:  Renaissance art and architecture. https://www.britannica.com/event/Renaissance  

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Renaissance. 

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/keywords/baroque-art/

History.com: Renaissance Art: http://www.history.com/topics/renaissance-art

Art Institute of Chicago: Arms, Armor, Medieval, and Renaissance http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/armor 

Virtual Uffizi Gallery / Florence. https://plus.google.com/u/0/+UffiziFlorence 

Art Museums: Where to see Renaissance Art. https://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Art-Museums.html 

Renaissance Inventions: http://www.inventionware.com/renaissance-inventions/ 

More, Thomas. Utopia. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2130/2130-h/2130-h.htm 

Machiavelli, Niccolo.  The Prince. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232 

Grotius.  The Rights of War and Peace. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46564  

Cortes, Hernan. Letters to Emperor Carlos V. https://archive.org/stream/lettersofcorts01cortuoft/lettersofcorts01cortuoft_djvu.txt  

Lope de Vega. Comedias: El remedio en la desdicha; El major alcalde, el rey. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28408

Calderon de la Barca.  La Vida Es Sueño. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2587/2587-h/2587-h.htm 

Garcilaso de la Vega. The works of Garcilaso de la Vega. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49410 

Montaigne, Michel.  Essays. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3600/3600-h/3600-h.htm 

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2235 

Petrarch. Sonnets. Triumphs and other Poems. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17650 

Sir Philip Sidney. Astrophel and Stella. https://archive.org/details/sirpshisastroph00sidngoog 

-- Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, NY: Prison Ship Martyrs Monument

 12 or 13 years ago, they completed the restoration of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, a 149-foot tall Doric column with an ornate metal urn and an eternal flame, almost as though someone had grabbed the flame from the Statue of Liberty and hoisted it here, the green was such a familiar color. 

Photo credit: Wikipedia

The initial enthusiasm has clearly given way to indifference, or the tedious attention of true believers; somehow this place is not exciting the passion of those who visit. The small visitor’s center and museum is a single room with a brace of hand-held muskets on the wall, some curling, fading cardstock maps and lists, and then a blurry parchment document with fuzzy, hard-to-read list of names of the men held in the fetid bowels of rotted wood. 

As for a small nature center, there is a small glass case with a tree branch that has dead leaves on it, and placard, “Our Marvelous Cockroaches” (or something like that). I did not lean in close to the glass to see if I could see them.  I just assumed they were those magnificent waterbugs you often see in Houston after a flood, which have a sleek amber husk and are the length of my pinky finger. Welcome, Grigor Samsa.  You’re telling me magic happens here. I believe you. 

Over the course of 6 or 7 years, 11,500 men and women prisoners died here – by 2s or 3s or tens at a time, all depending on the degree of ice, mosquitoes and outbreaks in general. “Bring up your dead!” and there you’d roll up your buddy in his hammock, the same buddy who had been asking for his wife or his mother, and a small sip, please, of water. 

Photo - Wikipedia

Wrapped in his own hammock, and slung over your shoulders, you’d tremble under his weight, even though he was at this point, a sad bag of bones. Then you’d tremble again because your own thin tendons had become like stiff rawhide and because your mind had become a hard, dark, flat emotionless mirror of the brutal way the fragile being on the floor becomes a cockroach and not a brother with a name; a vector of some infectious, toxic regicidal idea, and not an open-hearted dairy owner’s son with a dream and a soft-eyed girlfriend the next farm over.  

I’m walking up the steps to the monument. I stop and pause at the small columns with golden eagles perched atop them. My eyes fill with tears.  I do not know why. 

Flash memory.  Cold December evening. I’m on the tram back to Roosevelt Island, where my cousin, Elizabeth, has graciously invited me to stay with her a week or so, as I have job interviews, order wholesale items for my fledgling business, “Perfumes Plus” and, attend training for the products I’ll be representing in Latin America, commission only. The lights of the city reflect in the river. My cousin can see her parents’ building across the East River. Her rent is $2,500 per month for a luxury apartment. It’s another $400 to rent a space for her car. She thinks it’s a bargain. That was 25 years ago. It is probably $5,000, but she has long since married and moved away to San Francisco. 

I moved on, too, earning my Ph.D. and breaking out of my own prison ship of self-hatred and doubt, where the only escape was a Dionysian frenzy of sweat and loss after loss after loss. Heartache is not really good for the soul, no matter what the Heidelberg ruined-castle Faust & Co. wants to sell you. 

Did I simply move from one prison ship to another? Yes, of course, that’s what happened. But, at the same time, I don’t want trivialize the true prison ship experience by metaphoricizing it, although I probably need to spend a bit of time looking at what happened and trying to understand why. 

Let’s just say I gave up. 

Urban Rangers. I’m so grateful for them! My moments in the miniscule Prison Ship Martyrs Monument museum and Nature Center did little more than provoke more questions. How did Walt Whitman get involved? Did he write a poem? How could he live with himself, with his deep, deep sense of compassion and connectedness?  Oh, my. 

When I was in Heidelberg I felt that this was the absolute birthplace of German Romanticism. 

Now I have the sense that the Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument is the true birthplace of American Transcendentalism, but even as I say that, I sort of hate to do so, because I run the risk of intellectualizing something that is so emotionally compelling and intense, with bones and skulls washing up onto the river’s edge, onto the cutbanks and point bars, each time there was a flood or a crazy high tide. 

Did Walt Whitman encounter a human remain in his walks along the East River in Wallabout Bay? Did he see a skull?  A tibia bone?  I suspect he did. 

As Heidelberg was the birthplace of German Romanticism, I suspect Wallabout Bay was the true birthplace of American Transcendentalism – at least Walt Whitman’s transcendentalism. Walt Whitman believe, more than anything, that we’re all connected and that there is an ultimate of unity. 

I mean, how could you ever go back after you encountered washed up bones on the banks of the East River during your daily walk?? And, you would have known that the bones you were seeing were those of those who died without ever being able to let their loved ones know where they were, and being able to tell them they were not rejecting them; it was just that they were detained incommunicado due to circumstances beyond their control 

Oh, my. If you were inclined to believe in the interconnectedness of all souls and all beings, how could stumbling upon bones not affect you. Suddenly, Shakespeare’s scene in Hamlet that features “Oh Poor Yorick” seems trivial. Yorick was at least known at one time during his life. What can we say about these prisoners of war? 

What can we say about the way that they, too, caught the viral dream of liberty? 

My Uber driver’s name was Suleyman and he was from Mauritania. He used to spend weeks in a small town outside Shanghai where they would custom-make t-shirts and other clothing for him to ship and sell in Mauritania.  He speaks French, Arabic, and English. Now he drives for Uber and lives in a two-bedroom, 1-1/2 bath apartment in a part of Brooklyn near the COPE Institute. His brother and his wife use one bedroom. He and his wife and child live in the other. Is this better than Mauritania?  I am quite certain that it is many, many times worse than his lifestyle there. But, ironically, perhaps he has a surplus that he can wire back home.  I am only guessing. 

Walt Whitman is walking along the East River. He is rounding the curve to Wallabout Bay. He looks down and he sees the whiteness of a bone pushing itself, birthing itself through the sand, and then he sees a skull crowning itself through the slimy muck of a tidal flat.  

And suddenly, I ache, ache, ache as though I were giving birth with my heart as well as the rest of my body. Is this what Walt Whitman felt, singing “the body electric” connected to not only the souls who live but the collective energy of those who suffered and died alone, invisible. 

Somewhere along the trajectory of the bone-voyages, the owner of a Long Island farm where a hundred or so were interred, passionately refused to let anyone disturb them, and only relented when he was promised to be able to be buried with their bones, wherever that might be, however that might take place. 

And so it was. 

But, I wonder if he ever saw the boundless, transcendent Doric column, the eternal flame, the leaf-rustling of oblivion as the west wind takes hopes and dreams into the drizzly gray soft sinking into night. 

And, if you inhale, hold it, and pause, you’ll hear the whispers behind the bones.

Nineteenth-Century Female Novelists Incorporated Scientific, Philosophical, and Economic Concepts

I had a conversation with a friend who mentioned that she was having a hard time finding female intellectuals pre-20th century. 

It is not easy. If one looks at the dominant cultural structure (universities, Royal Societies, journals, presses), you just will not find them. There is always a smattering – most of whom led tortured lives. 

But, if you look at the so-called “popular” writers, who wrote novels and poetry, it is surprising how many deal directly with philosophical and scientific ideas, and even propose their own. The first two who come to mind are Elizabeth Gaskell and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. 

Elizabeth Gaskell wrote an industrial novel, North and South, that far surpasses Benjamin Disraeli’s Sybil: The Two Englands,  which is an effective depiction of the impact of industrialization on the populace of England, and a reminder of the fact that England was a nation of conquered and subjugated: the victorious invaders, the Normans, and the subjugated and dominated losers, the Anglo-Saxons. 

What were Elizabeth Gaskell’s deeper philosophical ideas?    

Utilitarian ideas reflected in the discussions about factory life and factory owners in the “North.” She also discusses at length the implications of religion and religious beliefs. 

One of my favorite books of Elizabeth Gaskell is My Lady Ludlow. Lady Ludlow is between generations, and reflects on French friends and relations she lost during the French Revolution, on the guillotine.  Her orientation and mindset is one of duty and honor; she contrasts that with the new ideas of the day, which seem to focus on libertinage (rather than liberty).  The novel is set in 1800, as reflections of a poor relation of Lady Ludlow. The poor relation, Miss Golindo, is a young woman, with chronic pain from a disfiguring accident, impoverished by her irresponsible father who gambled away the family’s wealth, now has few chances of marriage. Lady Ludlow gives her a home, covers her expenses, and shares her values. What develops is a deep regard and respect for the woman who, at first glance, seems to be a relict from the past, who resists change of all kinds.  Lady Ludlow’s son is a profligate and a deep disappointment.  I consider this book a philosophical novel of the first water, and I would like to re-read and revisit it. 

Mary Elizabeth Braddon is another intellectual consigned to a role as a popular novelist. Braddon’s works are chock-full of allusions to Greek mythology, and they incorporate and challenge the scientific notions of the day.  She was also subversive. Lady Audley threw her husband down a well so she could marry a wealthy man, and when she was found out, she explained it was not her fault. Her mother died in a madhouse, so she, herself was genetically doomed to homicidal madness.  The homicidal stepfathers and wastrel con men fathers do not get an easy out. They are not considered insane, although they are clearly psychopaths.  It is an ugly, sad moment of reckoning when the daughter realizes that her father murdered her mother in Thou Art the Man.  Likewise, it is an ugly moment when an heiress whose mother has fallen under the spell of an evil, domineering dentist, Philip Sheldon, in Birds of Prey and Charlotte’s Inheritance. The good doctor is slowly poisoning the young heiress, and, like any good “black widow” psychopath from The Forensic Files, he feigns concern and compassion. He’s a monster. 

Who Really Paid for the Sun King's Versailles? A Look at Le Code Noir and France's Slave Trade

 If behind each gorgeously ornate Baroque cathedral in Mexico and throughout Latin America there is a blood-soaked history, is the same the case for Louis XIV, the self-appointed Sun King, and his stunning complex, Versailles?  

In a word, “yes.”  The sugar plantations and the slave trade between Africa and the Caribbean produced the vast wealth needed to supplement the draconian taxation system in place in rural France. The French were the third largest slave traders in the world, after the British and the Portuguese. The sugar and indigo plantations in the Caribbean included those in Haiti (Saint-Domingue), with 773,000 slaves, Martinique, with 217,200, and Guadeloupe, with 73,000 (Slavery and Remembrance, 2020).  There was also a significant French slave trade to North America through New Orleans. 

There was an ongoing high demand for slaves to work in the sugar plantations where crushed sugar cane was used for fuel, molasses, sugar, and the base for rum.  Work in the fields, as well as in the sugar cane processing plants, was dangerous and harsh, with long hours and few moments to rest. The plantation owners profited from the sale of their sugar cane-based products, but often the largest profits came from the slave trade itself. The slave ships and their voyages were financed by investors who often received enormous profits, although there could be risk, such as disease, shipwreck, or slave uprising, which give some indication of the horrific conditions during the “Middle Passage” – where the deeply unfortunate Africans were chained down in the lower decks of aging, borderline-unseaworthy boats. 

Le Code Noir in the Caribbean and in Louisiana

Called the most monstrous document of modern times (Sala-Molins, 2006), the Code Noir (Black Code) was passed in 1685 by Louis XIV in Versailles. Drafted by Controller General of Finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683),  Le Code Noir contained 60 articles that specifically addressed the way that slaves were to be treated. Immediately implemented, the document was used throughout the French colonial empire. 

A later version of it, applying specifically to Louisiana, was passed in 1724 after a large number of slaves were transported to New Orleans as a part of the disastrous “Mississippi Scheme” investment bubble, described at length in Charles Mackay’s book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841).  Napoleon Bonaparte’s Code Civil (1803) incorporated it in response to the Haitian revolution that led to independence and the abolition of slavery in that country. 

The Code reflects Governor Bienville’s fear that the quickly growing population of slaves who were brought in to provide labor might overwhelm the non-slaves. He wanted to control a rapidly growing slave population. 

Le Code Noir (The Black Code)

Le Code Noir goes a long way in explaining the deeply implanted ideas, attitudes, and beliefs that still exist in the American South. After all, the Code was a Code of Law and as such, enforceable by pain of legal punishment.  It governed the way that whites and blacks must interact with each other and set out very rigid and explicit limits.  

Le Code Noir also helps us disavow ourselves of any illusions that slavery was anything but a cruel, dehumanizing practice.  It is common to hear the argument that slavery was tantamount to a paternalistic social welfare system.  If one has no contact with facts, it might be possible to believe that fairy tale.  But all one has to do is to read a few of the 60 articles to gain an appreciation of how nefariously cruel it was. Not only did it incorporate physical brutality into its law, it created and hardened toxic, inhuman ideas about fellow human beings. Those ideas persist into today’s world. 

A quick review of some of the sixty articles give us a sense of how all-encompassing they were and also how they reflected the values of the time and also set them in place for the future. 

Overview of the Articles in Le Code Noir

Articles I-VI:  This part of the Code Noir focuses on the Roman Catholic religion. The first article states that any Jews who may be living on the island must leave.  It does not say why, so we must enter into a bit of conjecture. No other religions except Roman Catholicism are allowed, and all slaves must be baptized and instructed into the faith. This edict provides insight into why and when the religious beliefs they carried from Africa would have been blended into and potentially disguised or cloaked by a veneer of Catholicism.  This seems very similar to what happened in Peru and other parts of Latin America, in a process of syncretism. 

The Moor’s Baptism.  Ludwig Emil Grimm (1841)

Articles VII – XIII: These articles rigidly control the relationships between slaves and non-slaves, and they set out complex rules and punishments for having relationships, attempting to marry, having children, and more.  These articles are profoundly dehumanizing and invasive of something that would ordinarily be considered to be very private and personal. 

Articles XIV – XXVII:  Slaves are not allowed to carry anything that could be used as a weapon. These articles describe the kinds of punishment to be meted out in response to different behaviors. They are incredibly cruel. Slaves are not allowed to engage in commerce or to have money. 

There are numerous articles that describe how and when a slave can be punishable by death.  Slaves could be put to death for something as harmless as slapping one in the face. It was also perfectly legal to beat slaves with straps whenever the master thought it was warranted. 

These are just a few of the sixty separate articles. Reading them makes the 21st century reader feel a sense of horrified astonishment, and it’s extremely hard to imagine how and why such behavior was justified. 

Louisiana’s Code Noir (1724) was based on Louis XIV’s law, and it made it illegal for blacks and whites to marry. Centuries of institutionalized racism, and the reinforcement through the judicial system, probably make people unaware of their own deep biases. 

The Person behind Le Code Noir

Jean-Baptiste Colbert is credited for designing and carrying out a program of economic reconstruction that made France the dominant power in Europe.  That economic reconstruction included increased tribute and taxation in the countryside, expanded slave trade, expanded commerce with the colonies, and an expansion into the Caribbean. The provisions in Le Code Noir are law, but they are also crimes against humanity. It is important to note that although Jean-Baptiste Colbert drafted the Code, he was by no means an outlier.  His views were widely held by individuals who owned the plantations, mills, and equipment. There is a sculpted bust of Jean-Baptiste Colbert in the Louvre Museum in Paris. 

Portrait of Jean-Baptist Colbert

Le Code Noir and Literature

The laws surrounding the treatment, conditions, and interactions of slaves permeated all aspects of southern life.  Many works of literature incorporated the code and depicted the impact on individuals who were living their lives. 

One contemporary example written in Louisiana while the impact of the Code.  Louisiana resident Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby,” a short story published in 1893, depicts the anguish of a woman of uncertain origin who has married one of the most prominent members of the parish. In the story, Armand Aubigny, the owner of L’Abri plantation, marries Desiree, who was foundling of unknown origin, who was raised by the compassionate Madame Valmont. In this story, the baby that Desiree has with her husband, is absolutely adored by both. 

However, one day, doubt is cast into the race of the baby.  Desiree is accused of being of mixed parentage.  Grief stricken, she leaves with her baby, possibly to never return.  Her husband watches her leave. Then he assembles all the old letters and other correspondence he can find. As he goes through the documents, he happens upon a letter from his mother to his father.  In it, she expresses gratitude to her husband and to the fact that their son will never know the fact that he has African blood.

 REFERENCES

Grimm, Ludwig Emil. Die Mohnrentaufe (The Moor’s baptism) https://universes.art/en/documenta/2017/documenta-14-kassel/06-neue-galerie/ludwig-emil-grimm

Mackay, C. (1841). Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/24518-h.htm#miss_scheme

Sala-Molins, Louis. (2006). Dark Side of the Light: Slavery and the French Enlightenment, translated by John Conteh-Morgan, University of Minnesota Press.

Slavery and Remembrance. (2020). The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. http://slaveryandremembrance.org/articles/article/?id=A0097

SLAB OF DREAMS: STROUD, OKLAHOMA

Listen to the recording here (podcast)

This vast grey white slab was once an outlet mall before the May 3rd, 1999 tornado outbreak sucked it into its vortex of change and dismay.

It was your birthday and we were dining at On the Border, watching the monitors as electric lines and transformers flashed abeyance to the tornado’s raucous sojourn.

Now, the slab is there, a perfect congregating point for 10 or so flashy cars seeking new owners; an impromptu car lot replete with hopes and dreams and the ghost’s footsteps over the vestigial trace of walls now long gone more than 20 years.

My mind's eye reconstructs that once-proud outlet mall, an important employer for a small town halfway between Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

It purveyed its quirky treasures and extraordinary values for Turnpike travelers on an Oklahoma New Silk Road.

It was my lovely prairie caravanserai; I loved to sip on a cappuccino and watch the ebb and flow of human interaction shaped around the buying and selling and selecting of those consumables we now consider our life.


March 7, 2020
Norman, Oklahoma

IN THE SHADOW OF CONEY ISLAND

Listen to the recording here: Podcast.

Footsteps clatter
fairy tales crossing
a wooden bridge
or the slow ascent
metal wheels, the rackety thrill

Flags fly high
over the original immersive idea
a theme park
a triggered memory
what a Boardwalk ought to be
sands slipping away with the offshore currents

You know what friendship is
tides, currents, water sliding by
and suddenly you have a point bar or a barrier island

a towering rollercoaster on shore
a soft smile in your mirror


March 6, 2020

A Strategy for Analyzing Joseph Wright of Derby's "Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump" (1768).

Joseph Wright of Derby is one of my favorite artists, and his explorations of science / natural philosophy tell us a great deal about life in the 18th century, and underlying beliefs.

Please watch my guide for analyzing Joseph Wright's "Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump" (1768).

THE CRUMBLING OF THE VANILLA WAFER

Listen to the podcast. 

The sharp snap
of the sacred
the sugar, the will

bent, persuaded
by slow syrup drizzling
down from on high
your words whispered
sweet

A delicate demitasse
in a tiny tangle
napkins, ribbons
dreams

The crackle of the wrapper
a sense of a new beginning
words lying on their sides
on my outstretched palm

the structure of belief


March 6, 2020

A CICADA’S LIFE

Listen to the podcast / poetry reading. 


Harsh buzz whine whir scream
blind illumination
You’re the perfect cicada
17 years of anticipation
a short sweet hot
moment of life
for life’s sake

I’m only here to breed
let’s get that straight
That’s why my hallmark sound is
of whip-sawed metal
and the concrete
you stroll down as though
summer would never die

If the night is sweet
the air damp and warm
the dog watering fountain splashy
with the sound of a collar and fur shaking
I may take a moment to stare into the stars
Imagine stardust under my incessantly vibrating wings

I saw you as you took that final fall
my pine needles will say nothing
As your wings turn to weeping
the night deepens
consciousness
leaves not a mark


August 24, 2019