The Great Chan of Beng AUTHOR: Susan Barry Frankln Hgh School, Frankln, WI Introducton In ths lesson, students wll use prmary and secondary sources to develop a better understandng of the contnuty and change over tme n the establshed socal herarches represented throughout the AP European Hstory currculum. The AP European Hstory Currculum Framework defnes Patterns of Contnuty and Change over Tme n the followng way: Patterns of Contnuty and Change over Tme Hstorcal thnkng nvolves the ablty to recognze, analyze, and evaluate the dynamcs of hstorcal contnuty and change over perods of tme of varyng length, as well as the ablty to relate these patterns to larger hstorcal processes or themes. The lesson also bulds students understandng of learnng objectve IS-10. 1
The Great Chan of Beng Procedure 1. Begn ths lesson by handng out small peces of paper wth the descrptons of current ndvduals n our socety, such as bllonares, solders, servce ndustry workers, mmgrants, and monarchs, etc. wrtten on them and ask students to rank them n a socal herarchy. Gve students about fve mnutes to complete ths task. 2. Brng the class back together. Ask students to share ther rankngs. Challenge students to support ther decsons wth reasons as to why they feel ther socetal rankng s legtmate. Conclude ths porton of the actvty by leadng a class dscusson. Suggested dscusson questons: Why were there so many dfferent rankngs possbltes? Who decdes where a person s ranked n socety today? Do socal herarches vary from country to country? Gve examples. Are ndvduals lmted by ther socal rank today n socety? If so, explan how so? 3. Next ask students to read The Great Chan of Beng artcle and respond to the questons assocated wth t. 4. Then, drect students to vew and thnk about Robert Fludd s Anma Mund. Agan, students should respond to the questons assocated wth t. Have students share wth a partner ther responses for both sources. 5. Once students have completed ths work hand out the slps of paper from the Indvduals/Groups n Socety 1450 1648 attachment (ncluded wth the resources for ths module) and ask each par of students to rank these people n a socal herarchy based on the readng, the mage, and ther knowledge of European hstory. 6. Conclude ths actvty by reconvenng the students and askng a few pars of students to share ther rankngs. There lkely wll not be much varaton n rankngs. Dscuss the rankngs and the dea of socal herarchy. Some possble dscusson questons: Purpose Ths actvty can serve as an ntroducton to learnng objectve IS-10, usng Fludd s Anma Mund and a secondary source to buld knowledge about Europeans vews of others. Essental Questons What were the key socal herarches n Europe from 1450 untl 1648? Why ddn t ndvduals queston ther place n socety? What made ndvduals start to queston ther place n socety? How are the atttudes and actons of ndvduals n socety today the same as those expressed n the perod 1450 untl 1648? How are they dfferent? Objectves Students wll be able to: Identfy the Great Chan of Beng and Fludd s Anma Mund Create a herarchy of European socety based on the Great Chan of Beng Assess how atttudes about the other n European socety has changed and/or remaned the same Why are the socetal rankngs, completed by your classmates, so smlar? Who decded where a person was ranked n socety? What crtera do you thnk they used to decde ths? Were ndvduals lmted (or margnalzed) by ther socal rankng n socety? If so, explan. 2
Possble Formatve Assessments Ext card 1. How dd the socal herarches n Europe from 1450 to 1648 reflect the poltcal, relgous and economc mores of the tme? OR 2. How have socal herarches changed n Europe from 1450 to the present? Gve evdence as to why these changes have occurred? Possble Summatve Assessment Short Answer Queston Use the mage shown below, Anma Mund (1617) by Robert Fludd, to answer all parts of the queston that follows. Assess Formatve assessment can help you and your students dentfy themes, concepts, and sklls that requre revew and/or re-teachng, whle summatve assessments at the end of a unt or school year can help you determne what new sklls and knowledge your students developed. When usng exam tems as assessments throughout the year, remember that you should not expect students to perform at the level they wll at the end of the year. Anma mund (the Soul of the World); mage from Robert Fludd, Utrusque Cosm... Hstora, 1617. A. Brefly explan one way that the Anma Mund, and what t represented, would have suted the goals of the new monarchs whle they were tryng to establsh themselves as rulers. B. Brefly explan one way n whch the acceptance of the Anma Mund mght have nhbted the goals of the new monarchs whle they were tryng to establsh themselves as rulers. C. Brefly explan why the Anma Mund and ts socetal herarches were eventually dsregarded by socety. 3
The Great Chan of Beng Among the most mportant of the contnutes wth the Classcal perod was the concept of the Great Chan of Beng. Its major premse was that every exstng thng n the unverse had ts place n a dvnely planned herarchcal order, whch was pctured as a chan vertcally extended. ( Herarchcal refers to an order based on a seres of hgher and lower, strctly ranked gradatons.) An object s place depended on the relatve proporton of sprt and matter t contaned the less sprt and the more matter, the lower down t stood. At the bottom, for example, stood varous types of nanmate objects, such as metals, stones, and the four elements (earth, water, ar, fre). Hgher up were varous members of the vegetatve class, lke trees and flowers. Then came anmals; then humans; and then angels. At the very top was God. Then wthn each of these large groups, there were other herarches. For example, among metals, gold was the noblest and stood hghest; lead had less sprt and more matter and so stood lower. (Alchemy was based on the belef that lead could be changed to gold through an nfuson of sprt. ) The varous speces of plants, anmals, humans, and angels were smlarly ranked from low to hgh wthn ther respectve segments. Fnally, t was beleved that between the segments themselves, there was contnuty (shellfsh were lowest among anmals and shaded nto the vegetatve class, for example, because wthout locomoton, they most resembled plants) Accordng to the chan of beng concept, all exstng thngs have ther precse place and functon n the unverse, and to depart from one s proper place was to betray one s nature. Human bengs, for example, were pctured as placed between the beasts and the angels. To act aganst human nature by not allowng reason to rule the emotons was to descend to the level of the beasts. In the other drecton, to attempt to go above one s proper place, as Eve dd when she was tempted by Satan, was to court dsaster Poltcal Implcatons of the Chan of Beng The fear of dsorder was not merely phlosophcal t had sgnfcant poltcal ramfcatons. The proscrpton aganst tryng to rse beyond one s place was of course useful to poltcal rulers, for t helped to renforce ther authorty. The mplcaton was that cvl rebellon caused the chan to be broken, and accordng to the doctrne of correspondences, ths would have dre consequences n other realms. It was a sn aganst God, at least wherever rulers clamed to rule by Dvne Rght. The need for strong poltcal rule was n fact very sgnfcant, for the Renassance had brought 4
an end for the most part to feudalsm, the medeval form of poltcal organzaton. The major poltcal accomplshment of the Renassance, perhaps, was the establshment of effectve central government, not only n the north but n the south as well. Northern Europe saw the rse of natonal monarches headed by kngs, especally n England and France. Italy saw the rse of the terrtoral cty-state often headed by wealthy olgarchc famles. Not only dd the chan of beng concept provde a ratonale for the authorty of such rulers; t also suggested that there was deal behavor that was approprate to ther place n the order of thngs. The Renassance from Lla Melan, at http://academc.brooklyn. cuny.edu/englsh/melan/cs6/ren.html 1. Accordng to the source, what determned an object s place n the herarchy of the Great Chan of Beng? An object s place n socety depended on the relatve proporton of sprt and matter t contaned. The more sprt the hgher up the chan because t would make you closer to God. And snce man was supposed to have been made n God s lkeness that would make a human more lke God n sprt. 2. What were the poltcal mplcatons of the Great Chan of Beng? Snce rulers clamed they ruled by Dvne Rght they would say they were the closest objects to God and the angels, therefore grantng them a hgher status than other objects. Ths allowed them to renforce ther authorty wthn ther natons. They threatened that to go aganst them would be to go aganst God and God s wll, creatng dsorder. There would be consequences for causng the chan to be broken. 3. How could the Great Chan of Beng be used to justfy the margnalzaton of certan people or groups? The rulers would use the Chan of Beng to ratonalze ther treatment or mstreatment of groups of ndvduals n socety. The rulers would state that ther actons were necessary to stop any cvl rebellons that could anger God. After all they could argue that they were God s representatve on earth and responsble for helpng ndvduals acheve salvaton. Salvaton wouldn t happen f they allowed people to go aganst God s wll. 5
Anma mund (the Soul of the World); mage from Robert Fludd, Utrusque Cosm... Hstora, 1617. 1. How does Fludd s mage support what you learned from the artcle? The mage supports the dea that there s a herarchy n socety. It clearly shows man s place among the other objects and well as the mportance of God and the angels. 2. What new nformaton do we learn from the mage? It vsually represents the dea that those objects wth more matter and less sprt are closer to the core of the earth whereas God and the angels are above the earth. Ths renforces the dea that people of the tme perod stll vewed heaven as not of earth. The readng ddn t really dscuss ths dea, but the mage really made ths clear. 6