Popular culture

• what was Burke's view on popular culture

  denoted those beliefs, values, customs and practices belonging to the vast majority of ordinary Europeans (non noble and Nono clerical commoners)
• Elites cultures

  comprised of the nobles and landowners, learned elites including those of university scholars = shared a different lifestyle to one another due to the reformation due to no longer one common church culture

  Italy and the Netherlands had strong links to the city = commercial links

  Whereas France and Eastern Europe shunned both commercial and towns
• Middling cultures - were in between the rich and the poor cultures including merchants, profession men and substantial farmers (grow what they need to eat / survive)
• Urban cultures - experienced in the towns mass population growth London grew from 60,000 to over 1 million by 1800 with Italian states growing from 10.5 million to 13.3 in 100 years = result of rural people migrating to the towns
• Displays of urban culture

  • pageants held by guilds or royal coronations
  • In Rome the pope's coronation allowed for people to gather him in the ceremonies
  • Easter Sunday in Malaga and San Giovani in Florence marked holy days to be celebrated
  • sharing of news between people was a common feature of daily lives = typically by word of mouth
  • broadsides and ballads became popular in sharing gossip and news = in Bologna and Venice it issued details of crime = another way to share gossip
• Private celebrations in urban culture with musical performances by servants, religious book and books of hours became easier to purchase = print, writing and sharing letters was a common form of culture.
• Rural culture = around 90% of the population lived in the countryside with majority being illiterate.

  Pieter Brueghel painting of the fight between carnival vs lent links to the change in how the rural and urban cultures varied between one another due to the difference in sophistication
• Rural culture: had less access to books, typically could not read or write and therefore relied on the influence of the elites to pass down gossip and new information = how the ideas of people spread

  • typically gathered in taverns and ale houses where people met to share and exchange new gossip
• May Day festival encouraged dancing, drinking and feasting allowing the share of culture = such as the Harvest festival allowed for the farmers to show what they produce, All Hallows and All saints marked the start of winter (Germany and Austria baked a small round cake to give to christened souls)
• Differences in culture - gender, religion as there were more religious separations and tensions (Calvinists, Lutherans, Anglicans and Orthodox Christians)
• Gender differences

  women were considered as inferior to men with being told to remain silent and submissive = needed a steady male hand. Controlled by popular culture if people strayed too far out of the 'expected' roles then they would be faced with disapproval and ridicule

  = holds links to the original sin of Adam and Eve = with women being tempted more than men to go against the rules
• Hardships affecting popular culture

  Common cultures typically came with hardships as there was continuity with the little scientific development and technological advancement = famines and epidemics were common = no medical background to help fight off the diseases

  Unbalanced work life with the poor diet affected many workers causing disruption to the economy of production
• Significance of Rituals

  strongest form of cultural bond was the religious framework of Christianity as many people looked for moral direction

  1. Baptism and weddings was common among people as they were seen as rites of passage with feasting and dancing
  2. Everyone to attend church on Sundays (those who didn't = dissenters and non conformists)
  3. Saint's days provided communities to reinforce communal ties and pride = any occasion of the Christian year celebrated with festivals
• Pageants and Festivals = many celebrated at least 17 a year as they were typically used to tell a story through celebrations.

  Festivals were usually associated with ecclesiastical or farming events = occasions for excess such as Lent before the abstinence from sex, food and drinking

  • May Day, Midsummer, St Valentine's, Halloween and All fools encouraged exuberant displays = banquets and fairs in the centre of towns being provided by guilds
  • Rulers and lords holding their own festivals
• Secular festivals such as Misrule / Feast of Fools and Carnival were used as a way by the religious authorities to regulate society = during the festivals these were abandoned and inverted = express frustration with the secular authorities as Carnival they dressed up in masks or ritual costumes before the abstinence of lent= acted as a safety valve = Feast of Fools known in France and Germany, In Scotland known as the Abbot of unreason = allowed for the mocking of church leaders by drinking and dancing in churches
• Opposition to festivals = typically came from the elites and religious leaders as they were appalled by the inversion of religious authority and profanity = unsuccessful in attempting to suppress them

  German lawyer Brant thought that drinking, gaming and dancing at church festivals to be the ruin of a country = criticism of plays and literature

  Typically associated the disruption of festivals with chaos and violence

  May Day riots 1517 London with xenophobic behaviour, German carnivals turned into anti catholic parades 1520/30s
• Safety Valve?


  Harmless to release pressure and tensions of people's everyday lives as it helped to reinforce order by allowing days to vent their feelings without actually changing anything = avoided monotony of work

  HOWEVER = people saw it as an excuse to drink large amounts of alcohol and food = gluttony going against religion and the 7 sins = increasing people's need to remove the festivals due to the rowdiness
• Public Humiliation 


  Across Europe they used different measures to embarrass and punish people with communities normally taking it upon themselves
• Punishment of women


  Were typically women who went against the patriarchal society of men and disruption to society

  Often found guilty of scolding, adultery, prostitution, or beating their husbands = made to recite crimes in their local market

  Crowds would gather round and march in procession to the house of the guilty = domineering wives who hen pecked husbands = beat pots and pans = Skimmingtons / Charivari (France). Europe forced them to walk bare foot, women riding horsed whilst the husband faced backwards = emphasising the role of social inversion
• Legal Punishments 


  Those who committed transgressions were punished in public manners = lack of goals they used punishments to enforce no breakdown in order

  Petty crimes = placed in village stocks with others encouraged to throw things mocking them.

  Germany encourage being whipped or birched through the streets

  Publicly branded with different letters associated with the crime

  Punished by death = hanging, burning, beheading

  Ducking stool = scolds and prostitutes
• Moral Regulation 


  Believed that gambling, prostitution and drinking were increasing = Vagabonds was on the rise, places were becoming more violent with peasant revolts

  Secular justice failed morals were regulated by the church with the council of Trent trying to maintain stricter controls on public behaviour. The pope wanted to control boisterous behaviour. Protestants viewed festivals and Carnival as a pagan associated with the Catholic saints =distraction from work and God
• Protestant Regeneration


  saw saints as pagans and wanted to abolish the link between saints and gambling / drinking = denounced festivals as relics of popery (catholicism)
• Catholic Regeneration 


  Council of Trent set up by Pope in 1545 took steps to prevent festivals and celebration of saints to be linked with boisterous behaviour and drunkenness = attacked festivals that were enjoyed by governing elites (only partially successful)