 Hello, welcome everybody to story of civilization volume 3 the making of the modern world I am mr. Philip Campbell the author of this wonderful book and I am going to be your guide on a journey through Through modern history we're going to be starting at the the Reformation and the Renaissance in this volume and going all the way up through Through the modern world right until almost today It's going to be quite a journey and we've got a lot to talk about so I'm just going to dive right in if when When we were together last we were discussing the Middle Ages and we talked about nights castles Kings Queens Marvelous new inventions like the printing press the clock gunpowder and many other wonderful things We met many great Saints like Saint Ambrose Saint Benedict Saint Patrick and many others who helped spread the Christian religion around the world and establish the social and political reality that we know as Christendom We learned about great conflicts like the Hundred Years War the War of the Roses and the Crusades and Some other really scary things like the Black Death which killed one-third of Europe's population in the 14th century We even explored the world a little with the likes of Marco Polo and other famous Portuguese explorers And of course there was a lot of talk about the church church architecture like how Gothic and Romanesque architecture flourished how Popes and kings and emperors Interactive with each other and held important councils and even how the papacy was removed to France for a period of time instead of instead of Rome We talked about the great Western schism Which that was this period when there was first two and then three Rival men all claiming to be Pope and how this fractured the unity of the Catholic Church And we'll see more of that fracturing in this volume as well as we talk about the event known as the Protestant Reformation and It's aftermath We did a lot and we studied a lot in volume, too The medieval world was an amazing and adventurous time But as I've said, it's time to continue our journey on now into the modern world So what are we going to be talking about in this volume? Well lots of things I'm going to show you how the modern world that we know today Came into existence how it developed this volume focuses mainly on On European history our next volume in the series volume four will be focused on United States history Of course as we move into the modern world European history and US history kind of come together a bit so we're going to mention the United States but But US history is going to wait until until volume four Now there's a few main events that really really characterize this This period if you think of a building held up with various pillars We could we could identify several main pillars that really define this era The first would be the Protestant Reformation Then the French Revolution the World Wars and there was two of those the first and second World War the rise of communism and Also the Cold War These are the major things we're going to cover in the book But of course there's going to be lots of other things we're going to discuss lots of people and stories and events We will talk about Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the new world The religious conflict that that plagued Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries the many Unfortunate battles between Catholics and Protestants and we'll learn about powerful and often ruthless leaders like King Henry the 8th of England Queen Elizabeth and more modern dictators like Hitler and Stalin and More new inventions things that changed the way we live and work like the computer of course and Many other things to do with the Catholic Church like the Second Vatican Council and the lives of many many marvelous Saints like St John Viani St. Margaret Mary Maximilian Colby and John Paul II so this is going to be a really fun Action-packed journey through the modern world. So let's begin shall we? So in the first chapter we picked back up at a time in European history known as the Renaissance and Renaissance is a word that means rebirth the Renaissance took place in the 15th century and the 16th century It's sometimes known as the Italian Renaissance But this name can be a little misleading because many other of the the nations in Europe Participated in the Renaissance as well. It was a time of great renewal in learning and art Many people were beginning to read now the printing press was invented in the 1450s So there was many books being printed and more Europeans were were literate than than ever before It was not necessarily a religious movement But we also note in the book that many new pious groups form groups dedicated to better living the the Christian life for Laman and for priests and religious as well So it's this beautiful era that's that's a renewal a rebirth of of piety and knowledge But it's also it's also a maturing of the Middle Ages. It's not just rediscovering old things It's a it's a flowering of everything that was good and true and beautiful in the Middle Ages that came to fruition in the Renaissance just like a flower that blossoms in the Sun Now if there's one thing the Renaissance is known for it is its art There are still to this day all over the world paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance that you can see most of them are Religious in nature not all of them, but a great many of them one of the most important Advances in art during the Renaissance was the discovery of perspective and perspective is the It's the technique of being able to create the illusion of three dimensions in art to really make Make art look realistic in terms of its depth its three dimensionality and the artists of the Renaissance made great strides Towards perfecting the art of perspective and this really just opened up the possibilities for what art was able to Accomplish everybody was art crazy in the Renaissance the cities competed with each other to have the best art in fact in in this chapter we have a story about two artists who had a personal competition with each other Brunelleschi and Donatello and as the story goes Donatello who was a famous sculptor He had been commissioned to sculpt this this wooden Crucifix and he he showed this wooden crucifix to his friend Brunelleschi and the Christ on the crucifix was He was very much in agony He had he had messed up hair and his his muscles were strained And you could really see the the pain of the crucifixion, but Brunelleschi kind of chuckled and Donatello said what's the matter don't you like my crucifix and Brunelleschi says well if you're if you're making Christ into a peasant I guess it's okay, and Donatello was so angry and he he said if you think it's so easy you try And so Brunelleschi gets angry and he decides he's gonna do do do his own sculpture And so he he goes and he works on this on his own crucifix and then He invites Donatello over for dinner and reveals the crucifix that he made and it's so it's so beautiful and Perfect in its form and proportion and capturing the essence of the crucifixion that Donatello is is is flabbergasted And he admits that Brunelleschi is the master The Renaissance is full of these kind of wonderful stories of competitions between artists between cities And of course Donatello and Brunelleschi are only two of the most famous artists, but there's many many others Like Michelangelo, Raphael in Botticelli in the early Renaissance and and of course Leonardo da Vinci often wealthy or influential people Would pay famous artists to decorate their cities or their homes or in the case of popes their churches this system was called patronage where where The wealthy put their money at the disposal of their city to to beautify it It gave the artist's work and helped to spread the cultural beauty of the Renaissance Cities could commission beautiful works of art and as I mentioned some popes even gave gave patronage the Sistine Chapel in In the Vatican was painted due to the patronage of Pope Julius II to Michelangelo As I said before it was not just Italians who were doing all the painting the Renaissance was a was a European phenomenon Dutch and and Flemish Painters painted some of the most realistic art by the way Where are the Dutch and the Flemish from the Dutch come from from Holland and the Flemish are from a region called Flanders Which is north of France But the Dutch and Flemish did very realistic art They painted religious works, but also many just lovely charming paintings of common life some of the The Dutch and Flemish painters we mentioned in the text are Jan van Eck, Peter Breugels and Hieronymus Bosch Now these painters might not be as as famous as Leonardo and Michelangelo, but their paintings are every bit as good So this was just a very Exciting time to be alive, especially if you were Into the arts and literature there was increased literacy the study of all kinds of different languages and this great Interest in the heritage of classical Greece and Rome their architecture their literature their languages There was a renewed sense of of Christian piety lay people especially trying to trying to find better ways to live The Christian faith in their state in life as I mentioned there was new techniques in in painting There was advances in sculpture the patrons of the church and the wealthy the competition between cities and artists Oh, this must have been an exciting time to live They all came together to make the Renaissance just a glorious time to be alive Getting excited a little worked up In our next chapter we're going to meet perhaps The most famous explorer who ever lived someone you are probably all familiar with so hang in there I'll catch up with you next time