CHAPTER THREE: Louis XIV Knows Weeds
continued from 7/29/05
And they think we're burning witches when we're only burning weeds.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton 1874-1936
Plants have tiny mouths. This was not an uncommon belief among many Europeans in the eighteenth century. Loose soil, according to some people, made it easier for the plants to eat the dirt. Jethro Tull, an Englishman who invented the seed drill and horse drawn hoes in the early eighteenth century, believed soil that was powdery or flaky would supply all the nutrients a plant required.
The eighteenth century in Europe never had the flamboyance or excitement of the seventeenth or nineteenth century--at least that's what I thought as a student. In the seventeenth century witches were being burned, the Turks threatened Vienna, Protestants and Catholics were slaughtering one another, and those Four Musketeers were foiling the nefarious plots of Cardinal Richelieu. The nineteenth century was about revolution, Percy Bysshe Shelly giving his life for the liberation of Greece from the evil Turks, and Beethoven composing a symphony in praise of Napoleon, before the little general turned out to be just another despot.
The eighteenth century, however, was not dull and stogy. It was known as the age of enlightenment and reason, but it was definitely not devoid of passion and ideals. The century set in motion many of the ideas and the foundations that are part of our lives today, not only in the West but also throughout the world--for better and perhaps for worse.
New discoveries occurred in steady succession. A Swedish doctor, Carl Linneaus, arranged plants into 24 categories and systematized them in elaborate detail, a Frenchman created a 44-volume Natural History, possibly the most widely read scientific work of the century. Tull's invention allowed the sowing of seeds in uniform rows, which now permitted weeding between the rows of seedlings during their growth. Yields improved dramatically. The selective breeding of livestock started in the early 1700s, and the methodical attempt to study and control pests was spreading throughout Europe.
Two other changes at the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century had a profound effect on agriculture and the lives of people. The first was the enclosure movement in England, which had started in the late seventeenth century. Hedges were now encircling more and more farmland. Before, land had been largely communal; everyone could graze their animals and raise crops on community land. But as new crops, new methods of breeding, and new cultivation techniques developed pressure grew to enclose the land, in order to improve both the yield and the quality, and insure better management. While the farming system was undoubtedly revolutionized, many people lost their land, became dispossessed, and had to find work in the cities.
With the spreading enclosure of land and the rising power of the landowners, the Norfolk Four-Course System was established. Throughout the Middle Ages and up to the late seventeenth century, fields lay fallow every three years; farmers slaughtered their farm animals in the fall because they had no forage crops to feed them in the winter. The Norfolk system changed all this.
The fallow year disappeared and fodder crops, such as cornstalks, hay, and straw, were fed to the animals. This produced a lot of manure and urine, enriching the soil and ultimately increasing the harvests. It was not long before these new methods and techniques spread to the rest of Europe.
But it was one grand change that would put its stamp firmly on the West in the eighteenth century. This change was secularization. Religion, up until this time, had been central to European civilization; it permeated everything. Religion ceased to have the same influence in the eighteenth century. Not that religious life and thought disappeared, but it receded to the margins.
The wars and upheaval that dominated the seventeenth century lessened in the eighteenth. This relative peace gave people--at least the wealthy and the educated--the opportunity to pursue scientific endeavors, consider new ideas, and travel. Other societies were discovered that were as "advanced" as Europe. Perhaps Christianity did not have the market on religious truth; doubt was cast on many of the old assumptions. The Christian doctrine of man's "unworthiness" was--if not discarded completely--locked away in the closet, as the citizens of Europe and the colonists in America embarked on new frontiers, both literally and figuratively.
In the eighteenth century the French salon established itself as one of the most influential institutions in Europe. It was also a place where women exerted considerable influence over the politics and the culture of the period. In addition to being places of intrigue and secret rendezvous, the salon was also where a few brilliant minds could meet others with the same brilliance. What kept these salons from becoming repositories of pompous hot air, according to Sir Kenneth Clark, was that the French upper classes were not "oppressively" rich.
A degree of wealth is needed for a civilization to progress Clark believed, but he thought massive wealth was harmful to most civilizations. He suggested that perhaps "splendor is dehumanizing," and we humans need some sense of limitation. One can agree or disagree with Clark's musings, but I can't help but think of our own "masters" of the universe in the 90s and the pathetic corporate criminals currently being led off in handcuffs. Will any new ideas result from all of these excesses? I think there are reasons to have serious doubts at this point in our history.
On Thomas Jefferson's tomb is inscribed the following: Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia. Nothing is written about his being the third president of the United States. But the inscription does say a great deal about Jefferson's ardent belief in clearly defined human rights (while not forgetting the institution of slavery ), that the state has no business in proselytizing religious views, and an educated citizenry is necessary for a democratic society to succeed. Jefferson was very much a man of the Enlightenment and of reason.
to be continued....
And they think we're burning witches when we're only burning weeds.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton 1874-1936
Plants have tiny mouths. This was not an uncommon belief among many Europeans in the eighteenth century. Loose soil, according to some people, made it easier for the plants to eat the dirt. Jethro Tull, an Englishman who invented the seed drill and horse drawn hoes in the early eighteenth century, believed soil that was powdery or flaky would supply all the nutrients a plant required.
The eighteenth century in Europe never had the flamboyance or excitement of the seventeenth or nineteenth century--at least that's what I thought as a student. In the seventeenth century witches were being burned, the Turks threatened Vienna, Protestants and Catholics were slaughtering one another, and those Four Musketeers were foiling the nefarious plots of Cardinal Richelieu. The nineteenth century was about revolution, Percy Bysshe Shelly giving his life for the liberation of Greece from the evil Turks, and Beethoven composing a symphony in praise of Napoleon, before the little general turned out to be just another despot.
The eighteenth century, however, was not dull and stogy. It was known as the age of enlightenment and reason, but it was definitely not devoid of passion and ideals. The century set in motion many of the ideas and the foundations that are part of our lives today, not only in the West but also throughout the world--for better and perhaps for worse.
New discoveries occurred in steady succession. A Swedish doctor, Carl Linneaus, arranged plants into 24 categories and systematized them in elaborate detail, a Frenchman created a 44-volume Natural History, possibly the most widely read scientific work of the century. Tull's invention allowed the sowing of seeds in uniform rows, which now permitted weeding between the rows of seedlings during their growth. Yields improved dramatically. The selective breeding of livestock started in the early 1700s, and the methodical attempt to study and control pests was spreading throughout Europe.
Two other changes at the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century had a profound effect on agriculture and the lives of people. The first was the enclosure movement in England, which had started in the late seventeenth century. Hedges were now encircling more and more farmland. Before, land had been largely communal; everyone could graze their animals and raise crops on community land. But as new crops, new methods of breeding, and new cultivation techniques developed pressure grew to enclose the land, in order to improve both the yield and the quality, and insure better management. While the farming system was undoubtedly revolutionized, many people lost their land, became dispossessed, and had to find work in the cities.
With the spreading enclosure of land and the rising power of the landowners, the Norfolk Four-Course System was established. Throughout the Middle Ages and up to the late seventeenth century, fields lay fallow every three years; farmers slaughtered their farm animals in the fall because they had no forage crops to feed them in the winter. The Norfolk system changed all this.
The fallow year disappeared and fodder crops, such as cornstalks, hay, and straw, were fed to the animals. This produced a lot of manure and urine, enriching the soil and ultimately increasing the harvests. It was not long before these new methods and techniques spread to the rest of Europe.
But it was one grand change that would put its stamp firmly on the West in the eighteenth century. This change was secularization. Religion, up until this time, had been central to European civilization; it permeated everything. Religion ceased to have the same influence in the eighteenth century. Not that religious life and thought disappeared, but it receded to the margins.
The wars and upheaval that dominated the seventeenth century lessened in the eighteenth. This relative peace gave people--at least the wealthy and the educated--the opportunity to pursue scientific endeavors, consider new ideas, and travel. Other societies were discovered that were as "advanced" as Europe. Perhaps Christianity did not have the market on religious truth; doubt was cast on many of the old assumptions. The Christian doctrine of man's "unworthiness" was--if not discarded completely--locked away in the closet, as the citizens of Europe and the colonists in America embarked on new frontiers, both literally and figuratively.
In the eighteenth century the French salon established itself as one of the most influential institutions in Europe. It was also a place where women exerted considerable influence over the politics and the culture of the period. In addition to being places of intrigue and secret rendezvous, the salon was also where a few brilliant minds could meet others with the same brilliance. What kept these salons from becoming repositories of pompous hot air, according to Sir Kenneth Clark, was that the French upper classes were not "oppressively" rich.
A degree of wealth is needed for a civilization to progress Clark believed, but he thought massive wealth was harmful to most civilizations. He suggested that perhaps "splendor is dehumanizing," and we humans need some sense of limitation. One can agree or disagree with Clark's musings, but I can't help but think of our own "masters" of the universe in the 90s and the pathetic corporate criminals currently being led off in handcuffs. Will any new ideas result from all of these excesses? I think there are reasons to have serious doubts at this point in our history.
On Thomas Jefferson's tomb is inscribed the following: Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia. Nothing is written about his being the third president of the United States. But the inscription does say a great deal about Jefferson's ardent belief in clearly defined human rights (while not forgetting the institution of slavery ), that the state has no business in proselytizing religious views, and an educated citizenry is necessary for a democratic society to succeed. Jefferson was very much a man of the Enlightenment and of reason.
to be continued....
posted by mumpsimus | 12:46 PM
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