2.2 Culture and society in the Dutch Republic

• Geschiedenis
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 2

Memo havo 2 TTO

CH2. The age of regents and rulers

The Golden Age

sec. 2.2 Culture and society in the Dutch Republic

Learning objectives

• You can explain that the seventeenth century was economically and culturally a Golden Age for the Dutch Republic.
• You can describe what society was like in the Golden Age (describe four social groups).
• You can explain why there were many migrants moving to Holland. 
• You can use examples to explain what was typical of the culture of the Republic.
• You can explain that there was a scientific revolution in the 17th century.
• You can explain why scientists and believers benefited from tolerance in the Republic.
  
• You know the terms and dates from this section.

Golden Age

Period of great prosperity and flourishing in art, technology and science in the Republic between c. 1600-1700.

Holland (Amsterdam) became the centre of world trade.

• economic prosperity
• thriving art and science

Social differences

Which four social groups existed in the Republic? 

Rich and poor

1) 

2) 

3) 

4) 

Rich and poor

Different social layers

1. Small group of upper-class people; wealthy merchants' families (regenten) 
2. Shopkeepers and specialist craftspeople
3. Wage labourers
4. Poor

Big differences in wealth, power and status.

Migrants

Different groups:

• Refugees who fled persecution in their own country. Tolerance in the Republic.

• Poor people and workers from other Dutch provinces or from abroad.

Famous Dutch painters

Prosperity led to great demand for paintings. 

Who bought art?

• Wealthy citizens and city councils commissioned paintings (for example militia pieces).
  
• Shopkeepers and craftsmen could afford paintings as well. 

Well-known painters were: Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals and Jan Steen.

Famous Dutch painters

What kind of paintings were there?

• Portraits
  
• Cityscapes
  
• Landscapes
  
• Genre paintings (everyday life)
  

Special subjects: Paintings with scenes of the everyday life of ordinary people were unique at the time.

What doesn't match the Golden Age of the Republic?

1. Flourishing art
2. Scientific revolution
3. Growing trade and invention of steam engine
4. Growing trade and industry

What was so special about Dutch art of the 17th century?

1. The figures in paintings did not seem to move.
2. Only kings and nobles were depicted.
3. Topics from everyday life.
4. Topics from the Bible.

In the Republic wealth was shared equally among its population

1. True
2. False

Scientific Revolution

Antiquity > Natural philosophy ancient Greeks. Geocentrism (sun revolves around earth)

Middle Ages > Bible and Christianity increasingly important. According to the Bible the Earth was the creation of God and the center of the universe.

Scientific Revolution

16th century > New perspective on science during the Renaissance. Scholars ...

• doubted whether some of the knowledge from old books was correct (humanism). 
• learned because of the voyages of discovery about unknown animals, plants and peoples. 
• would examine nature and the human body themselves. 

Between 1600 and 1700 many scientific discoveries > Scientific Revolution.

Scientific Revolution

The Renaissance was the first time in which scholars studied the Bible and ancient texts critically (humanism).

Economic prosperity stimulated science

• Maritime transport made mathematical and physical

knowledge more important (maps and navigation 

instruments).

• Trade provided knowledge about people, plants and

animals. 

 

Scientific Revolution

Rationalism: Research based on reasoning and logic.

Empirical thinking: Research based on observation and experiments.

Results of research led to knowledge about laws of nature (= how the world works).

Scientific Revolution

Galileo

Built a telescope. Found scientific evidence that the Earth revolves around the sun, heliocentrism.

Newton

Combined rationalism and empirical thinking. Discovered that the Earth pulls objects down with the force of gravity.

Scientific Revolution

Many scholars lived in the Republic in the 17th century. Science flourished.

• 1575 University of Leiden founded.
  
• No censorship, scientists were free to publish theories and ideas. New insights spread quickly.
  
• Many foreign scholars moved to the Republic.

Scientific Revolution

Huygens 

Discovered that light consists of waves. Invented the pendulum clock. Designed a telescope and discovered, for example, a moon near the planet Saturn. Famous mathematician.

Van Leeuwenhoek 

Discovered microorganisms, such as sperm cells and bacteria, using a homemade microscope.

Scientific Revolution

Spinoza

• Critical of Christianity/ religion, for example stories about miracles in the Bible.
  
• Miracles are impossible, because for everything there should be a logical cause in nature.
• Spinoza's ideas were unusual. Most scholars felt that their discoveries were evidence that God existed.

Tolerance

A way of interacting with each other with much understanding or acceptance.

Republic was calvinism (protestantism) the most important faith. People with a different religion (Roman Catholics, Jews) weren't persecuted.

Tolerance ensured that there was room for scientists and artists with different views and ideas about the world and nature.

When did a new view of science emerge?

1. 15th century
2. 16th century
3. 17th century
4. 18th century

What wasn't a cause for the new view on science?

1. Examining nature and the human body
2. Voyages of discovery
3. Using the Bible as a source for scientific knowledge
4. Doubting whether some of the knowledge from old books was correct

Which two ways of doing research led to the Scientific Revolution?

1. empirical thinking and the Renaissance
2. empirical thinking and rationalism
3. positivism and the Renaissance
4. positivism and rationalism

What wasn't a cause of science flourishing in the Republic?

1. censorship
2. arrival of foreign scholars
3. University of Leiden founded
4. tolerance

Wie ontdekte dat de aarde om de zon draait en niet andersom?

1. Galileo
2. Huygens
3. Newton
4. Van Leeuwenhoek

Who discovered micro organisms using a homemade microscope?

1. Galileo
2. Huygens
3. Newton
4. Van Leeuwenhoek

Most scholars in the Republic didn't believe in God anymore.

1. true
2. false

Get to work

What? See whiteboard.

How? Alone 

Help? Ask neighbour. Can't figure it out? Ask teacher. 

Time? Until the end of the lesson. 

Done? Learn terms and dates. Ask teacher.