Bartolome De Las Casas Montaigne Sparknotes

During the 16th century, European global reach expanded rapidly, greatly enriching several nations while also facilitating the trade of goods and knowledge. Within Europe, general population growth and the Protestant reformation helped create widespread turmoil. Following in the footsteps of people such as Martin Luther and Bartolome De Las Casas, Montaigne’s writing also breaks from traditional European cultural and intellectual attitudes, addressing the lack of European self criticism and analysis, while challenging the ideas of exceptionalism and that have existed in European society since it’s inception. The essays of Montaigne reflect the growing pains of a maturing Europe.

Exposure to the new world gave Europeans a strong dose of “different”,

causing a whole assortment of discomfort for a population that had previously rested in the comfort of,“Two systems of thought that seemed to explain everything to them- the Aristotelian and the Christian”( Levack 366). Similar to the way Bartolome De Las Casas or John Mandeville approach the vast differences between Europeans and the people they encounter (or claim to encounter), Montaigne also looks to portray the people as different, yet not inherently bad or lower due to their difference.

In the travels of sir John Mandeville, Mandeville describes the, “people of evil customs” (Mandeville 3) he encounters in a fairly respectful and unmenacing way. The use of the word evil may only stem from the hostility and superiority felt towards anything different than the European way of life. In the 16th century, Bartolome de las Casas’s more direct and reality-based observations continued in the same vein of Mandeville’s, humanizing the savages despite their clear differences compared to Europeans. He states,“God made all of the peoples of this area, many and varied as they are, as open an innocent as can be imagined”(Casas 9). Montaigne carries an almost appreciative tone throughout much of his writing on the cannibals and the,“amazing gulf between their souls and ours”(Montaigne 239). His astonished thoughts on their way of war, and aspects of their life such as polygamy, are the result of seeing such a refreshing contrast to the confines of European civilization. Montaigne declares, “Those people,then, seem to me to be

barbarous only in that they have been hardly fashioned by the mind of man”(Montaigne 232). He even directly contrasts and criticizes the European act of roasting a man, “little by little and having him bruised and bitten by pigs and dogs” with the Cannibals act of simply,”roasting him and eating him after his death” (Montaigne 236). Clearly, Montaigne was not the first to portray natives as a refreshingly innocent and detached people, but because most people would not contact natives during their lifetime, his writings were still a break from the existing European attitudes, where becoming more civilized was a goal for society even if civilization had many restraints and negative effects.
In the 16th century, as population rebounded from the Black Death and explorers traveled the world, the stable foundation of religious unity that had existed in Europe for centuries was beginning to crumble due to the Reformation.

Montaigne’s writings on the lame and on conscience reflect an increased willingness to examine the way and reasons we act the way we do, amidst the conflict and chaos in Europe. Europe was entering an age of self-reflection. As Luther butted heads with the “lamb in the midst of wolves”(Luther 3), Pope Leo X, and helped force the church to look at their own problems with corruption and their teachings, people were introduced to the possibility of choice. The longstanding idea of Rome as the sole religious power had been thrown off by the Reformation, in the same way that the discovery of the new world had disturbed our understanding of humans. With increasingly unstable circumstances, humans had to think more about why they were even in the situation they were in. Montaigne takes this task very seriously as he examines the ability of people to believe things even with a lack of facts. He notes, “It is hard to stiffen your judgement against widely held opinions”(Montaigne 1163). Amongst the accusations of witches and religious turmoil, Montaigne helps illustrate that sometimes the way Europeans act is not perfectly reasonable or justified. To burn someone based on opinion is certainly giving our opinions a lot of weight. However, Montaigne is

careful here to not give his own opinion too much weight, stating,“ I warrant you no certainty for whatever I say, except that it was indeed my thought at the time”(Montaigne 1169). On conscience Montaigne analyses some questionable aspects of European thought as well, criticizing the use of torture and exploring the effects of our conscience. He states,“Many people less barbarous in this respects than the Greeks and the Romans who call them the Barbarians reckon it horrifying and cruel to torture and smash a man whose crime you are still in doubt” (415). Our ability to treat accusations as fact, and the strength or weakness that our conscience imposes on us, fascinated Montaigne. Montaigne uses On the Lame and On Conscience to gain perspective on the non-perfect aspects of European culture and behavior, following in the footsteps of people like Martin Luther, who brought attention to non-perfect aspects of the Catholic Church.
The rapid growth of Europe brought with it many positives and negatives, but also served as a wake up call for Europeans. As they were exposed to new worlds, and as the existing power of the church crumbled within Europe, people’s perspectives changed. Montaigne broke from the traditional European culture and intellectual attitudes, but it would be more accurate to say that he continued this new task of breaking from the norm, following in the footsteps of others such as Martin Luther and Bartolome de Las Casas.