1 Until the past century, we were in full Middle Ages; we still had medieval concepts, intolerances of every sort and a quite limited vision of life. Good part of society lived within a great ignorance in terms of scientific, philosophical and of other natures concepts.
2 Already in the following century, there was a change even more profound. It was a totally transforming period. It is asked: what happened between the 14th and 16th centuries for there to occur a fracture so significant in the course that History had been taking? The answer: the 15th century.
3 In this period, there was a very deep transformation on the planet. We can say that this is the bridge century, for it makes the connection between the medieval world and the Modern Age.
4 Various were the attempts of rescue of the message of Jesus that, in a certain way, occurred to assist in the transformation of humanity. We had the coming of Muhammad (6th to 7th century), Charlemagne (9th century), Pierre de Vaux (12th century), the magnificent Francis of Assisi (13th century), the Cathars (14th century), among other personalities. However, none of these attempts reached full success.
5 In this century, such efforts of rescue gained new breath, for everything was practically stagnant in terms of science, philosophy, religion, art and in the four pillars of Greek knowledge. Even so, there occurred seven very important changes on the planet, in this period of transition.
6 The first great change occurred in the scientific field. After, we had the arrival of the press, which facilitated the diffusion of knowledge by means of the printing of books. In philosophy, another relevant transformation: the emergence of the Renaissance. In the field of the arts, as consequence of this movement, there was an extraordinary revolution in human thought.
7 In religion, there was the possibility of observing the impact of the work of Jean Rousseau and Jerome of Prague; however, both were also sacrificed. In politics, another great transformation — which, even, marked the end of the Middle Ages — was the taking of Constantinople by Muhammad II. In addition, Spain reconquered its territory, expelling Moors and Jews who there lived and encouraging Columbus for the great discovery. In the social field, the great navigations stand out, with the opening of the path to India and the discovery of America.
8 The last change occurred in the economic field, with the end of feudalism. The nobles understood that, living in isolation, they would not be able to defend their territories and that it was necessary to form armies to protect the borders. This happened due to the Hundred Years' War. In this period, a figure stood out in the political and religious area: Joan D’Arc.
9 It was this set of transformations — these seven aspects — that built the bridge between the previous century and the following. Both in Christianity and in philosophy, the same name is given to the historical phases: Ancient Age, Modern Age and Contemporary Age.
10 By making a retrospective of the previous centuries, it is concluded that, until then, Christianity had gone through a difficult and complex period, for it had distanced itself from the ideals of Jesus — ideals of love and fraternity —, in which life should be guided by the purity of His Gospel. The Church had become rich, full of dogmas, establishing a hierarchy ever more centered on papal power.
11 In this century began the dawn of a new era. From then on, one walked toward the Modern Age. It is worth remembering that Modern Age does not mean the current age, for it had beginning in the 15th century.
12 The transformations lived by society in this period altered deeply the mentality of people. Before, it was believed that the Earth was flat; upon discovering that it was round, this changed significantly the vision of world. Consequently, the idea of religion, of God and even the structure of beliefs were also impacted.
13 In the medieval vision, more rigid and religious, this represented a deep blow. At the same time, political changes influenced the consolidation of Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula. In 1492, the Spaniards expelled the Moors (Muslims), who there lived for eight hundred years.
14 After this victory — its principal objective —, Spain remained, in a certain measure, without new purposes. Having reconquered its territory and expelled also the Jews, on August 3, 1492, under the reign of Ferdinand of Castile, Christianity became even more hegemonic, assuming absolute protagonism in the Iberian Peninsula.
15 The end of feudalism brought important changes in social organization. People began to live more in the cities, the bourgeoisie grew and the urban centers expanded.
16 On May 29, 1453, occurred the taking of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks, led by the sultan Muhammad II. The city occupied strategic position, connecting Asia Minor, Europe and Greece. Controlling this territory meant enormous geopolitical advantage. This event signaled a decisive change in History.
17 In the economic aspect, with the end of the so-called Dark Ages, arose the Renaissance — also denominated Rebirth or Illustration — which represented the return to classical culture and the overcoming of previous centuries.
18 In 529, the Benedictines (order founded by Benedict of Nursia) went to the Lyceum of Aristotle and closed it, believing that philosophy was no longer necessary, only God. Theocentrism was inaugurated, in which everything revolved around religion. The destinies of humanity came to be determined by the Church, which reached extremes with the Crusades, the Inquisition and other impositions.
19 In this century of transition, there occurred the decline of theocentrism and the emergence of anthropocentrism. When Muhammad II defeated Constantine XI, emperor of the East, it was marked the end of the Eastern Christian Empire.
20 Historians call this period of one thousand years the Dark Ages; however, many illuminated thinkers arose in this time, contributing to the diffusion of the Gospel. The expression “Dark Ages” reinforces the contrast with the Enlightenment that would come, later, bringing light to dissipate the darkness!
21 The economic aspect transformed itself completely. The economy ceased to be agrarian, based on fiefs, and began to diversify.
22 Mercantilism had beginning. People were specializing in different activities in the cities; commerce grew, barter intensified and forms of salaried work arose, besides small manufactures, which provided the beginning of future industries.
23 Europe was considered the center of the world and it was believed that the Earth was flat. In 1492, a Genoese navigator sought to prove the contrary. He went to the king of Spain and obtained three caravels — Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina —, departing toward the unknown and arriving at the American continent.
24 Portugal also began its navigations, expanding the commercial routes beyond the Mediterranean, reaching the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, arriving later to Brazil.
25 Europe ceased to be the only known center. The discovery of new territories caused impact comparable to the hypothesis of life on other planets. It was a deep change.
26 A revolutionary mark of this century was the emergence of the press. Johannes Gutenberg created the movable metal press, allowing the mass production of books. Before, knowledge was transmitted orally or by manual copies (people, generally illiterate who had the work of making copies by hand of the biblical texts). Many copyists were responsible for the translations of the religious texts, resulting in various errors. The press facilitated the diffusion of texts, including the Bible, ending the work of the copyists.
27 In Judaism, the scrolls of the Torah are still produced manually on parchment. The press was essential for the dissemination of Christianity through Europe and the world.
28 Another important fact was the Renaissance, period in which humanity reached new cultural level. Great artists stood out such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael Sanzio and Michelangelo, who revolutionized the art itself.
29 Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest geniuses of history: painter, sculptor, inventor and scientist. He became world known for works such as Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He made projects of helicopters, already in this century, and had insights that are studied until the present days.
30 Michelangelo produced marvelous works of art. When he created the beautiful statue of La Pietà, he had only twenty-three years of age. He is, also, among the greatest representatives of the Italian Renaissance. Other works that immortalized him as artist — and among the most known — are: “The Last Judgment”, “Moses”, “David” and “The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel”.
31 Raphael di Sanzio was a renowned painter and architect of the Renaissance, considered, together with the two already cited, a great master of art. He stood out for his work “The School of Athens” and for diverse representations of the Virgin Mary, besides acting as architect in St. Peter’s Basilica.
32 Filippo Brunelleschi was another architect of renown of this century, considered the initiator of Renaissance architecture. Before these great names, art was essentially religious; from then on, other aspects arose to be considered, leading to a new phase that would consolidate itself in the following century. The world had changed!
33 The official History itself has much difficulty to explain the Renaissance, for how to understand that, in a period apparently lacking of genius, there arose, in sudden way, a quantity so great of men of genius in a window of time so narrow?
34 The Renaissance was a response to the process of distancing of humanity in relation to knowledge. With its arrival, there was a resumption of knowledge and the revelation of the beauty behind things. Everything transformed itself, and society was propelled to a continuous improvement of the conditions of life, in general way.
35 The Renaissance was, truly, a breath of renewal in humanity, representing an expansion of human horizons, which until then were very restricted.
36 In the religious aspect, various renewing movements already existed and bothered deeply the Church, mainly the Cathars, in the region of Languedoc, in the south of France. The Church had distanced itself significantly from the first centuries, when the teachings of Jesus were followed without alterations.
37 Jesus had not created any hierarchy; his proposal was not centralized in a pope. He preached simplicity, did not institute indulgences as sale of forgiveness, nor defended the accumulation of lands by the Church. These were the arguments defended by such movements, which the Church did not accept.
38 The Cathars were also exterminated by a cruel and barbaric Inquisition. According to historians, more than six hundred thousand people were sacrificed. For the Church, they represented a threat, for the movement had grown considerably and dominated the south of France. They were, still, pre-reformists, with a more spiritualized vision of religion: they wished to follow Jesus as savior, without the necessity of a pope.
39 Jan Huss was a Czech priest and theologian who integrated another movement of contestation to the way the medieval Church acted. For this reason, he was imprisoned and remained two years in the city of Constance, in Germany, awaiting judgment in the Council of same name that would happen further ahead. It was decided that people like him, considered heretics, caused embarrassment to the Church and should be eliminated.
40 On July 6, 1415, Jan Huss was executed in a square outside the city. The history tells that, while the fire consumed his body, he intoned hymns.
41 Currently, on the anniversary of his death, people fill the streets that lead to the same square with flowers. These flowers are not only a reverence, but also a symbol of shame for what was done. It is not only a religious question, but ethical, before the intolerance that he suffered.
42 Before dying, he declared: “Today you kill the goose, but, when the swan comes, it will fly so high that it will not be reached by your hands”. His surname, Huss, means “goose”, hence the metaphor. There are those who attribute to Luther the figure of the swan, arisen in the following century and that they were not able to silence.
43 Jerome of Prague also contributed to the beginning of the pre-reform. He was an academic, philosopher and religious reformer who, together with his friend Jan Huss, sought to purify the Church. Considered a “hero of faith”, he ended up condemned for heresy and burned alive on May 30, 1416, in the same place where Huss had been executed. Admiring deeply the friend, he did not hesitate to share the same destiny. The most notable is that the ideal of both did not die with them; on the contrary, their executioners ended up creating two martyrs. From their deaths, their ideas gained strength and spread. They are central figures of this century.
44 Another important character of this period was Joan D’Arc, who led the French army, achieving numerous victories in the Hundred Years' War. She was a peasant, without political expression, from the city of Domrémy, in the region of Lorraine, northeast of France. At thirteen years of age, she began to hear voices and to have visions of saints — Saint Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret — who oriented her on how to free France from English domination. England intended to incorporate the French territory. Joan managed to change the course of the conflict by convincing the future king Charles VII of her divine mission.
45 The war between France and England had beginning after the death of king Charles IV, who did not leave heirs. As there were family ties between the royal houses, the English claimed the French throne. The conflict lasted more than one hundred years and, for its outcome, the visions of Joan D’Arc were decisive. The voices that she heard indicated enemy positions, allowing that she guided the army toward successive victories.
46 However, she was betrayed, captured and delivered to the English, who condemned her for witchcraft and heresy. She was burned alive on May 30, 1431, at 19 years of age. “Another one that went to the stake...”
47 After twenty-five years, her condemnation was annulled, being recognized as martyr. In 1909, Pope Benedict XV canonized her, making her patron saint of France.
48 It was a period extremely difficult and humanity could no longer endure this scenario. The germ of change began to arise in this century and would mature in the 18th century, with the French Revolution. It was in this moment of History that the questionings about what was right and wrong intensified, marking the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Reform.
49 The Holy Inquisition, which had beginning in 1184, was, until then, exclusively religious: the one who was in disagreement with the Church was taken to an inquisitorial tribunal to be judged (and condemned), where the judges were priests, bishops or cardinals. In 1478, however, it began to assume new directions and characteristics. The Catholic kings Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile (the same who financed the voyage of Columbus in 1492) used the Inquisition to expel from the Iberian Peninsula all the people who were not Christians, mainly Jews and Muslims.
50 The kingdom of Spain was built by force, with much blood and violence, as also Portugal. It was no longer only religious persecution, but also territorial. It is worth remembering that Spain lived eight centuries under Muslim domination; this perhaps helps to explain the intensity of the violence occurred in this period, marked by reactions that led to generalized expulsion. For this reason, the Spanish Inquisition was very violent. Praised be!
51 In this period, also stood out a figure considered one of the hardest of history: Tomás de Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor-General. He was a Dominican friar and became known for his campaign against Jews and Muslims converted in Spain. The number of executions under his responsibility is incalculable, and his cruelty seemed to have no limits. He was extremely relentless with those considered heretics or non-Christians, acting in the name of the Crown. He was described by his contemporary Sebastián de Olmedo as “the hammer of the heretics...”.
52 This was, in fact, the bridge century. In the following periods, the airs began to change. It was not yet a process of full liberation, but there were no longer the same bonds as before. The figure of Torquemada, typical of this century, symbolizes the decline of this period of historical rigidity, which would not repeat itself with the same intensity in the following centuries, without inquisitors as violent and cruel as he. Mercy for him!