Popular Culture
Thursday, 2 March 2023 11:51 am
'During the period from 1500-1700, the elites gradually withdrew from participating in popular
culture' How far do you agree with this view? [30]
Plan
Paragraph 1 - Religious Elite
- Point: The Reformation and counter-reformation evidently resulted in the withdrawal of the
elites during the period 1500-1700
- Explain:
→ This is because the Reformation sought to create a more learned and godly church,
which forces the members of the church to separate themselves from those is society to
be seen in this godly manner
→ This meant that old-style parish priests became learned in the scriptures, but also would
no longer partake in festivals and jokes in the pulpit were replaced with higher educated
clergymen, removed from commoners
→ The Counter-Reformation had to respond to the learned change from clergy as a result
of the Reformation, with the Counter-Reformation ensuring that Catholic priests and
clergy men would no longer participate in popular culture
- Evidence:
→ Council of Trent 1545 - Many Catholic Priests were now trained at seminaries
→ St Carlo Borromeo during the Council of Trent instructed his clergy to preserve their
gravity and decorum wherever they were
→ Parish priests were no longer allowed to partake in festivals or joke in the pulpit
→ This meant that the religious figures around people are no longer of the same status as
them but rather, elevated and educated individuals who didn't take part in their popular
culture
→ Jean-Baptiste Thiers in 1676 wrote a treatise arguing for a reduction in feast-days,
superstitions, showing how Religious Elites didn't want to be involve in popular culture
- Further Point: The Reformation didn't just mean that religious elites would withdraw from
popular culture in terms of physical events, their beliefs in prophecy and witches also
drastically changed from the popular view
- Evidence:
→ As the period went on, Religious Elites became less and less involved in the belief of
Witches and Witch craft
→ John Gaule in 1645-7 writing a book going against Hopkin's rigorous methods and the
popular belief that witches were amongst people
→ Ludovico Muratori, a Catholic Priest who was the librarian to the Duke of Moderna
believed that witches and their victims suffered from an excess of imaginations
- Counter-point: Religious Elites were often highly involved in the popular beliefs of witches,
and the subsequent hunting of them
- Evidence:
→ However, Religious Elites in places like Salem were deeply involved in the popular
culture of witches, with Samuel Parris, the Satellite Church Minister in Salem Village had
the hunts originate in his home and preached against witches in 1692 - Cotton Mather
included in this as well
→ Prince-Bishops, a form of religious elites were highly involved in the HRE, with people
like Dornheim even building Drudenhaus, where a witch could be accused and executed
within 4 days
- Counter-point: Festivals and Carnivals provide a middle ground for all members of society
- Evidence:
→ At the start of the period, a German Lawyer Sebastian Brant, observed in his book Ship
of Fools, that Church festivals included drinking, and dancing of all period
Pop Culture + Witchcraft Essay Plans Page 89
Thursday, 2 March 2023 11:51 am
'During the period from 1500-1700, the elites gradually withdrew from participating in popular
culture' How far do you agree with this view? [30]
Plan
Paragraph 1 - Religious Elite
- Point: The Reformation and counter-reformation evidently resulted in the withdrawal of the
elites during the period 1500-1700
- Explain:
→ This is because the Reformation sought to create a more learned and godly church,
which forces the members of the church to separate themselves from those is society to
be seen in this godly manner
→ This meant that old-style parish priests became learned in the scriptures, but also would
no longer partake in festivals and jokes in the pulpit were replaced with higher educated
clergymen, removed from commoners
→ The Counter-Reformation had to respond to the learned change from clergy as a result
of the Reformation, with the Counter-Reformation ensuring that Catholic priests and
clergy men would no longer participate in popular culture
- Evidence:
→ Council of Trent 1545 - Many Catholic Priests were now trained at seminaries
→ St Carlo Borromeo during the Council of Trent instructed his clergy to preserve their
gravity and decorum wherever they were
→ Parish priests were no longer allowed to partake in festivals or joke in the pulpit
→ This meant that the religious figures around people are no longer of the same status as
them but rather, elevated and educated individuals who didn't take part in their popular
culture
→ Jean-Baptiste Thiers in 1676 wrote a treatise arguing for a reduction in feast-days,
superstitions, showing how Religious Elites didn't want to be involve in popular culture
- Further Point: The Reformation didn't just mean that religious elites would withdraw from
popular culture in terms of physical events, their beliefs in prophecy and witches also
drastically changed from the popular view
- Evidence:
→ As the period went on, Religious Elites became less and less involved in the belief of
Witches and Witch craft
→ John Gaule in 1645-7 writing a book going against Hopkin's rigorous methods and the
popular belief that witches were amongst people
→ Ludovico Muratori, a Catholic Priest who was the librarian to the Duke of Moderna
believed that witches and their victims suffered from an excess of imaginations
- Counter-point: Religious Elites were often highly involved in the popular beliefs of witches,
and the subsequent hunting of them
- Evidence:
→ However, Religious Elites in places like Salem were deeply involved in the popular
culture of witches, with Samuel Parris, the Satellite Church Minister in Salem Village had
the hunts originate in his home and preached against witches in 1692 - Cotton Mather
included in this as well
→ Prince-Bishops, a form of religious elites were highly involved in the HRE, with people
like Dornheim even building Drudenhaus, where a witch could be accused and executed
within 4 days
- Counter-point: Festivals and Carnivals provide a middle ground for all members of society
- Evidence:
→ At the start of the period, a German Lawyer Sebastian Brant, observed in his book Ship
of Fools, that Church festivals included drinking, and dancing of all period
Pop Culture + Witchcraft Essay Plans Page 89
