Europe (c.1400-1458)

Introduction

INTRODUCTION F ew words are as powerful or as controversial as “Europe.” It signifies a continent, a historical phenomenon, an economic or political force, and an ideological concept with vast cultural influence. Moreover, within each of these categories , a multitude of interpretations and definitions exist. Despite the lack of agreement on its meaning, “Europe” is a surprisingly solid and weighty term.1 Much of this substance, at least from a historical point of view, may be attributed to the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957 and the European Union (EU) in 1993. But for many, the EEC and the EU merely standardized the workings of an entity that had functioned as a unit for centuries, despite frequent internal disputes and violent confrontations . This is not to say that the boundaries of Europe are or ever have been fixed. The creation of the EU, in particular, has renewed debates about which countries or peoples can or should be called “European.” How far east the boundaries should extend or whether a Muslim country like Turkey may belong, are questions of particular interest to many. Simultaneously celebrated and vili1 . Recent studies on the concept of Europe include Anthony Pagden, ed., The Idea of Europe from Antiquity to the European Union (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002); Evlyn Gould and George J. Sheridan Jr., eds., Engaging Europe: Rethinking a Changing Continent (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005); Gerard Delanty, Inventing Europe : Idea, Identity, Reality (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1995). See also Peter Rietbergen , Europe: A Cultural History (London: Routledge, 1998). 3 4 Introduction fied, Europe is both a place and an idea whose existence is simply taken for granted. This was not always the case. Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini’s Europe (1458), presented here for the first time in English, was written when the modern concept of Europe as a cultural or political unit was just beginning to take shape. Before his time, it was a word used by relatively few writers and with far less consensus than it is today; “Christendom,” in fact, was the standard designation. A century later, however, “Europe” was a commonly used term and topic of interest.2 Many factors surely brought about this shift: exploration and colonization of Africa, the Americas, and Asia, which vastly expanded the science of geography; the Protestant Reformation which complicated the more familiar notion of “Christendom”; and Ottoman domination of Eastern Europe, which made terms like “Christian” and “European ” less stable than they had once been.3 But amidst all these significant developments, one must consider what “Europeans” were reading—especially about themselves. The timing alone of Europe, even if it remained one little-known manuscript, makes it well worth the attention. This work, however, immediately found a broad and eager audience and was widely circulated in both manuscript and print; it was even translated within a century into two modern languages.4 Thus, it is a very important text for anyone interested in the origins of the modern notion of Europe. Not only did Aeneas compose it when concepts of Europe were changing 2. John Hale, “The Discovery of Europe,” chap. 1 of The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance (New York: Atheneum, 1994). Denys Hay also notes a marked increase in the use of “Europe” instead of “Christendom” in the sixteenth century; see Europe: The Emergence of an Idea (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1957), 101. The concept of Europe is treated later in the introduction. 3. Hale, Civilization, 4–5; Hay, Europe, chaps. 5–6; Delanty, Inventing Europe, chap. 4. 4. The circulation of Europe is discussed later in the introduction. For more on the text itself, see the following two very helpful articles: Nicola Casella, “Pio II tra geografia e storia: la ‘Cosmographia,’” Archivio della Società romana di storia patria 95 (1972): 35–112; Barbara Baldi, “Enea Silvio Piccolomini e il De Europa: umanesimo, religion, e politica,” Archivio storico italiano 161 (2003): 619–83. Introduction 5 but he was a well-known writer who helped influence that very change. The Author Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini was born in 1405 in Corsignano, a small suburb of Siena; after he became Pope Pius II in 1458, he rebuilt the town and named it Pienza.5 The youngest of eighteen children, Aeneas was raised in a noble but poor family with a small patrimony; the once-prominent Piccolomini had fallen on hard times following their exile from Siena in 1385. Despite their...