This proposal for a Scientific programme in the Humanities to study European cultural exchange is submitted to the E.S.F. by a group of scholars headed by Robert Muchembled, Professor at the University of Paris-Nord (France).
A preliminary research proposal was submitted to the HUM (formerly SCH), which approved the suggestion that an exploratory meeting be held in Strasbourg 10-11 January, 1997.
The HUM (formerly SCH) then approved a second exploratory workshop, with 26 participants, which was held at Villa Vigoni in Menaggio, Italy, on 5-6 September 1997. Participants from 16 countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, USA) and eight disciplines (anthropology and Volkskunde, archaeology, art history, history, literature, philosophy, religious history, theater studies) have collaborated in presenting a proposal for a four-year « à la carte » programme, following a year zero.
Following the decision of the Executive Council of the E.S.F. to approve the recommendation of the HUM (formerly SCH) that the proposal be granted a year zero, a workshop was held in Lisbon, on 23-24 January 1998 to discuss improvements. The participants have unanimously decided to concentrate their effort on the period between c. 1400 and c. 1700, because of its special significance in the history of European cultural exchange, and concentrating on four interconnected themes. The programme defined here hopes to realize an unprecedented collective endeavour, through a thoroughly interdisciplinary analysis joined with a shared set of methods and approaches.
In search of European culture
On the threshold of the twenty-first century, the cultural history of Europe has not yet been written from a reception perspective (defined below). Producing such a history, transcending the usual national frameworks, is conceivable, but certainly not easy to achieve. Although much information is available, a useable synthesis must first overcome the obstacles posed by Europes incomplete identity and its multiple cultural divisions (language, religion, social status, gender, etc.).
What is cultural Europe today, and how should it be constructed ? Scholars in the field of the Humanities believe that they can offer answers to these questions. Indeed, in their view, culture lies at the very heart of social developments. According to a relatively simple yet comprehensive definition, culture is « a system of shared meanings, attitudes and values expressed or embodied in artifacts, representations and practices » (Peter Burke), which are communicated to those who observe or encounter them. Fundamentally, European culture has been the result of exchange - sometimes peaceful, other times violent - that have taken place between neighboring societies and between different social groups within a given state. These horizontal and vertical forms of cultural exchange occurred in many different manners : through imitation, assimilation, appropriation, either through mutual understanding or hegemonic dominance.
Fertile exchange in a troubled Europe, c. 1400- c. 1700
The period between c. 1400 and c. 1700 forms a critical epoch in the development of European culture. It marked the decisive phase between Europe defining itself as Christendom (whose elite communicated primarily in Latin) and the civilized Europe of the Republic of Letters (which communicated in several vernaculars). On the one side stands the Middle Ages ; on the other, the Enlightenment. The early 15th century witnessed early cultural benchmarks reconceptualizing Europe, such as the unprecedented organization of the Council of Constance in voting by five great nations in order to end the papal schism. By the late 1600s one finds different benchmarks, including the multiplication of state-supported scientific academies from London and Paris to Berlin and St. Petersburg, attempting to channel the pan-European scientific revolution into national compartments. This cultural shift from Christendom to Europe is often obscured by the better-known political history of Europes national rivalries, which customarily characterizes these centuries as an age of iron and blood.
From 1400 to 1700, rivalries abounded. Many among Europes elite tried to restore antique civilization, leading to multiple national Renaissances radiating outwards from Italy in the 15th century. Others tried to restore early Christianity leading to multiple Reformations and soon to religious wars. Meanwhile, the discovery and colonization of overseas territories (also starting in the 15th-century) forced Europeans to regard conquered or recently-encountered peoples in a radically different manner. Particularly between 1494 and 1713, frequent wars disturbed much of a continent which had grown rich on precious metals and other products from beyond Europe. After 1400, Christian Europe came increasingly subjected to pressure from the Turks, lasting until the second siege of Vienna in 1683.
Despite much suffering, Europe continued to develop, although in a seemingly disorderly manner. From 1400 to 1700, rivalries sharpened between religious, political, and social structures on the continent. The hypothesis which underlies this project is that such rivalry and emulation contributed to strengthening its cultural foundations. Across these centuries of rivalries and conflicts, Europeans developed a tight network of deep cultural values, although these were not immediately noticeable. Although both multi-ethnic and multicultural, Europe still remains distinct from Africa, Asia, or America. In order to exploit the world, Europeans had to produce not only the necessary technical, financial and military instruments (which are not the object of the present project), but also the necessary cultural concepts, methods, and collective representations. Within Europe, various symbolic or non-verbal languages - expressed in such things as religion, art, dancing, or fencing - brought Europeans together in both rivalry and emulation. Stemming from intensive and multifarious exchange across Europe, such shared cultural practices slowly produced a common representation of the world, based on values assumed to be universal - and actually shared by most Europeans.
This programme therefore explores the Europeanization of Europe from the Italian Renaissance to the birth of the Enlightenment, investigating on the one hand the centripetal processes of convergence, unification, and cultural integration, and on the other the many centrifugal forms of differentiation and diversification. Although no cultural homogeneity has been achieved on the continent, early modern European peoples grasped at notions of universalism through a plurality of viewpoints, constructing - with great difficulty - a European self-perception different from anywhere else in the world. Sorting out these difficult questions demands both a consistently comparative and an interdisciplinary viewpoint ; they are not answerable through national or regional inquiries within individual disciplines.
An Interdisciplinary Project
Taking into account the importance of main regional differences throughout the continent (to be explored at the first plenary conference in 1999), one aim of this project will be to stimulate a broad intellectual interchange among senior and younger scholars across Europe, with real attention to the necessary balance between geo-cultural areas. Special attention will be paid to ensure the integration of scholars from former Warsaw Pact countries in east-central Europe into the programme. Their training, their experience, and their insertion within new frames of reference will facilitate the identification of existing cultural stereotypes in their own countries, and also those embedded in the minds of western Europeans about their eastern neighbors.
Such a geographical mixture must be accompanied by a real interdisciplinary approach. The plurality of European cultures can only be dealt with through a plurality of theoretical concepts. Cultural studies, social sciences, and the disciplines of the humanities can all contribute to a broad understanding of culture. Only through the comparison of diversified scholarly viewpoints will it be possible to discover the major differences and, even more essential, the cultural similarities within Europe during this period. Utilizing the four specific themes defined below, this project will draw upon many disciplines, including archaeology, architecture, art history, history, literature, theatre, linguistics, anthropology, ethnology and folklore, law, canon law and philosophy.
