WEBVTT 00:00:00.190 --> 00:00:04.450 The Renaissance was a time of rediscovery, rebirth, and renewed interest in classical 00:00:04.450 --> 00:00:08.760 Greek philosophy. Viewed as the bridge between the Middle Ages and modern times, 00:00:08.760 --> 00:00:12.660 the Renaissance spurred innovation and revolution within the fields of art, 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:16.519 architecture, politics, science, astronomy, literature, and more. 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:20.930 With the invention of moveable type, ideas spread faster than ever before, 00:00:20.930 --> 00:00:24.990 and there began a general shift away from the religion-centric thought 00:00:24.990 --> 00:00:28.560 of the Middle Ages towards an individual-centric humanistic thought, 00:00:28.560 --> 00:00:31.290 valuing logic and reason at its core. 00:00:31.290 --> 00:00:36.519 With all of this paradigm-shifting afoot, one must wonder: “Where were the 00:00:36.519 --> 00:00:45.249 vegans?” Okay, maybe one mustn’t wonder that necessarily…but today we’re going to! 00:00:49.760 --> 00:00:53.439 Hi, it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:57.579 In “The History of Veganism, Part One” we covered veganism in ancient times, 00:00:57.579 --> 00:00:59.960 and in “Part Two” we tackled the Middle Ages. 00:00:59.960 --> 00:01:03.440 If you missed them, both of those installments are linked in the sidebar 00:01:03.440 --> 00:01:05.240 and in the description below. 00:01:05.240 --> 00:01:08.840 In “Part Three” we’ll be delving into the time of the Renaissance. 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:11.770 Now, as always, I need to start with a few caveats. 00:01:11.770 --> 00:01:14.850 First, the actual start and end dates of the Renaissance, 00:01:14.850 --> 00:01:18.320 like all time periods, are still debated. For the sake of this video, 00:01:18.320 --> 00:01:23.870 we’ll be focusing on around 1500 to 1700 CE, as “Part Four” will cover the Age 00:01:23.870 --> 00:01:25.040 of Enlightenment. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:28.360 Second, as with “The Middle Ages,” “The Renaissance” applies 00:01:28.360 --> 00:01:32.590 almost exclusively to Europe, with the term “The Early Modern Period" 00:01:32.590 --> 00:01:35.680 more appropriately capturing the time period on a global scale. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:39.430 I’ve chosen the title: “The Renaissance” for ease or recognition. 00:01:39.430 --> 00:01:42.710 Third, due to the nature of the information I was able to find, 00:01:42.710 --> 00:01:46.950 and as always, historical bias, this is a rather Euro-centric video. 00:01:46.950 --> 00:01:50.750 Though there were most undoubtedly worthy developments within other parts 00:01:50.750 --> 00:01:53.980 of the world, as we’ve already seen in the first two parts. 00:01:53.980 --> 00:01:57.000 But there is some good news! While still profoundly 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.610 male-centric as well, we do finally get documentation 00:02:00.610 --> 00:02:03.660 of an influential woman, with many more to come 00:02:03.660 --> 00:02:08.130 as historians slowly begin to actually take their most assuredly long-present 00:02:08.130 --> 00:02:10.670 contributions into account. 00:02:10.670 --> 00:02:13.100 Fourth, as we’re now getting closer to modern times, 00:02:13.100 --> 00:02:15.870 and as I said in the introduction, the 15th century saw 00:02:15.870 --> 00:02:19.460 the invention of moveable type, the amount of recorded information 00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:21.849 increases dramatically from here on out. 00:02:21.849 --> 00:02:25.239 Thus, the disclaimer I’ve given in each history installment is 00:02:25.239 --> 00:02:29.250 ever more valid with each video; I will most certainly leave out 00:02:29.250 --> 00:02:33.240 key individuals and occurrences (as all historical accounts are bound to). 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:37.650 Again, this is not intentional, but a sad fact of my human limitations 00:02:37.650 --> 00:02:40.270 in attempting to research, write, edit and publish what amounts 00:02:40.270 --> 00:02:44.340 to a ten-page academic research paper, and produce several full-length 00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:48.800 YouTube television episodes all within 2-4 days, every week. 00:02:48.970 --> 00:02:50.890 ♪ Sad violin playing ♪ 00:02:51.040 --> 00:02:54.819 In order to create as comprehensive of an historical video series 00:02:54.819 --> 00:02:59.199 and I can and to account for valuable information that, for sake of time, 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:01.380 cannot fit within the core overarching timeline, 00:03:01.380 --> 00:03:06.120 moving forward I will be producing “History of Veganism Spotlight” videos 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:09.450 on specific movements, cultures and individuals. 00:03:09.450 --> 00:03:14.020 Some examples will be a feminist history of veganism, veganism in war times, 00:03:14.020 --> 00:03:18.490 a deeper look into the traditional diet of Native Americans prior to colonization, 00:03:18.490 --> 00:03:22.760 “The History of Vivisection,” and more. All of these will be housed 00:03:22.760 --> 00:03:25.110 in "The History of Veganism Playlist.” 00:03:25.180 --> 00:03:29.660 Fifth, and in a similar vein, if I or anyone finds errors in this video 00:03:29.660 --> 00:03:33.730 (or any of my videos in fact) I will keep a log on the blog post, 00:03:33.730 --> 00:03:37.950 which is also where you can go to find all of my sources for everything I state today 00:03:37.950 --> 00:03:41.040 as well as both full-length and additional quotes. 00:03:41.140 --> 00:03:46.070 And finally, sixth, as the term “vegan” wasn’t coined until 1944, 00:03:46.070 --> 00:03:50.810 historically the word “vegetarian” most often meant what we now call “vegan.” 00:03:50.810 --> 00:03:54.349 With all of that out of the way --I thought it would never end 00:03:54.349 --> 00:03:55.930 onwards to: 00:03:55.930 --> 00:03:59.410 “The History of Veganism!” 00:04:00.140 --> 00:04:01.350 [Part Three] 00:04:01.410 --> 00:04:04.580 The Renaissance saw a shift towards valuing the individual 00:04:04.580 --> 00:04:07.030 and questioning religious beliefs and practices. 00:04:07.030 --> 00:04:10.850 Thus, in this video we will be focusing on selected writings and beliefs 00:04:10.850 --> 00:04:14.810 of individual historical figures, rather than overarching religions, 00:04:14.810 --> 00:04:16.449 philosophies or cultures. 00:04:16.449 --> 00:04:19.530 Some historians assert that there was no development of veganism, 00:04:19.530 --> 00:04:23.540 at least from an ethical standpoint, between Porphyry of 3rd century CE 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:26.669 who we covered in Part One, and the turn of the 18th century, 00:04:26.669 --> 00:04:29.520 leaving the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in a black hole 00:04:29.520 --> 00:04:30.740 of un-veganness. 00:04:30.980 --> 00:04:35.050 However, as we saw in “Part Two,” individuals like the Medieval blind 00:04:35.050 --> 00:04:39.440 Arab philosopher, poet, writer and all around vegan-truth-bomb-dropper 00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:42.390 of the Islamic Golden age, Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri, 00:04:42.390 --> 00:04:44.900 were passionately vocal about the rights of animals. 00:04:44.900 --> 00:04:48.880 While the humanism of the Renaissance and rebirth of scientific inquiry 00:04:48.880 --> 00:04:52.280 led to assertions of human superiority and a resurgence 00:04:52.280 --> 00:04:55.570 and proliferation of barbaric vivisection practices, 00:04:55.570 --> 00:05:00.100 it also saw a growing counter movement that viewed animals as intelligent, 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:03.230 sentient, and worthy of compassion and respect. 00:05:03.230 --> 00:05:06.710 As Professor Rod Preece states in his text, Sins of the Flesh, 00:05:06.710 --> 00:05:09.140 in reference to humanistic individuality: 00:05:09.140 --> 00:05:13.390 “To recognize individual humans as ends in themselves is a prerequisite 00:05:13.390 --> 00:05:17.430 to recognizing individual animals as ends in themselves. It is only when we can look 00:05:17.430 --> 00:05:21.490 to ourselves and say ‘I’ that we can look to animals and acknowledge their right to 00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:26.500 be perceived, if not necessarily conceive of themselves, as an ‘I’ too.” 00:05:26.500 --> 00:05:30.039 While many, if not most of the individuals we will cover today, 00:05:30.039 --> 00:05:32.719 either weren’t themselves fully vegan/vegetarian or there’s 00:05:32.719 --> 00:05:36.560 not sufficient documentation to know one way or another, 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:39.780 each has contributed, through their writings, to the development 00:05:39.780 --> 00:05:41.830 of vegan principles and ideals. 00:05:41.830 --> 00:05:45.470 Let’s start with the quintessential Renaissance man: Leonardo da Vinci, 00:05:45.470 --> 00:05:48.930 who Professor Rod Preece posits was “the first of the modern 00:05:48.930 --> 00:05:52.850 ethical vegetarians, basing his thoughts solely in the ethical realm” 00:05:52.850 --> 00:05:56.200 and “the first since Porphyry to fuse animal ethics 00:05:56.200 --> 00:05:58.360 and principled vegetarianism.” 00:05:58.615 --> 00:06:02.455 And again Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri gets the short end of the stick. 00:06:02.620 --> 00:06:05.500 Best known for his achievement in the art world, da Vinci 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:09.480 made significant contributions to architecture, botany, engineering, 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:13.409 mathematics, music, history, cartography, geology, invention, 00:06:13.409 --> 00:06:17.700 and more--including animal rights and ethical vegetarianism, 00:06:17.700 --> 00:06:21.060 though not as frequently listed in historical accounts. 00:06:21.060 --> 00:06:25.539 While da Vinci himself never seems to have stated explicitly that he was vegetarian, 00:06:25.539 --> 00:06:30.070 those who knew him and wrote about him described da Vinci as both caring for 00:06:30.070 --> 00:06:32.019 and not consuming animals. 00:06:32.019 --> 00:06:36.040 Da Vinci did, however, write very powerfully against the entitled nature 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:39.140 of humans in their treatment of animals for their own gain: 00:06:39.140 --> 00:06:42.890 "King of the animals–– as thou hast described him–– I should rather say 00:06:42.890 --> 00:06:46.110 king of the beasts, thou being the greatest––because thou doest only 00:06:46.110 --> 00:06:48.870 help them, in order that they give thee their children for the benefit 00:06:48.870 --> 00:06:51.749 of the gullet, of which thou hast attempted to 00:06:51.749 --> 00:06:56.979 make a sepulcher [grave/tomb] for all animals; and I would say still more, 00:06:56.979 --> 00:06:59.220 if I were allowed to speak the entire truth.” 00:06:59.220 --> 00:07:04.009 And in a similar vein, “Man has great power of speech, but the greater part 00:07:04.009 --> 00:07:06.650 thereof is empty and deceitful. The animals have little, 00:07:06.650 --> 00:07:10.920 but that little is useful and true; and better is a small and certain thing 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:12.119 than a great falsehood.” 00:07:12.119 --> 00:07:14.849 Da Vinci asks those insistent on eating animals, 00:07:14.849 --> 00:07:18.819 “Does not nature produce enough simple [meaning: vegetarian] food 00:07:18.819 --> 00:07:23.390 for thee to satisfy thyself?” This is a question we will see echoed many 00:07:23.390 --> 00:07:26.280 times by other veg-inclined thinkers of this time. 00:07:26.280 --> 00:07:30.079 In a rather unique display of overarching vegan ethics for this time period, 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:35.330 da Vinci speaks to issues beyond diet: naming leather for the animal skin that it is; 00:07:35.330 --> 00:07:39.400 denouncing the destruction of bees for beeswax and theft of their food 00:07:39.400 --> 00:07:42.500 for honey; decrying the loss of generations of fish; 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:46.090 defending animals abused for labor and eventually slaughtered; 00:07:46.090 --> 00:07:49.990 highlighting the thievery and “barbaric” slaughter of “countless numbers” of “their 00:07:49.990 --> 00:07:54.170 little children”; and even addressing the perversity of using a knife with a ram’s 00:07:54.170 --> 00:07:56.820 horn handle to slaughter more of their own kind. 00:07:56.820 --> 00:07:59.190 As a note, if you’re visually impaired, 00:07:59.190 --> 00:08:03.299 this particular da Vinci quote I’m referring onscreen is on the blog post 00:08:03.299 --> 00:08:05.800 for text-to-speech or screen-readers. 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:08.760 Demonstrating once again that the arguments against veganism 00:08:08.760 --> 00:08:11.860 haven’t changed over the centuries is an excerpt from da Vinci 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:15.199 explaining why it is that plants do not feel as animals do. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:20.330 Yes, we have perhaps one of the greatest minds of human history reduced to refuting 00:08:20.330 --> 00:08:24.979 the poignant counterpoint, “Plants, tho.” 00:08:25.329 --> 00:08:28.730 As a quick aside, there is a quote frequently circulated amongst vegan 00:08:28.730 --> 00:08:31.960 and vegetarians that is falsely attributed to da Vinci, 00:08:31.960 --> 00:08:34.470 namely, “I have from an early age abjured the use 00:08:34.470 --> 00:08:37.999 of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon 00:08:37.999 --> 00:08:40.789 the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.” 00:08:40.789 --> 00:08:43.250 This was accidentally misattributed to him 00:08:43.250 --> 00:08:47.690 in anthology and actually comes from a fictional portrayal of da Vinci. 00:08:47.690 --> 00:08:53.260 I’ll close our coverage of da Vinci with an account from Giorgio Vasari in 1550, 00:08:53.260 --> 00:08:57.050 which speaks to da Vinci’s compassion and perhaps even establishes him 00:08:57.050 --> 00:08:58.620 as a liberator of animals. 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:02.070 “In all the other animals… he managed with the greatest love and patience; 00:09:02.070 --> 00:09:06.310 and this he showed when often passing by the places where birds were sold, for, 00:09:06.310 --> 00:09:08.510 taking them with his own hand out of their cages 00:09:08.510 --> 00:09:11.700 and having paid for them what was asked, he let them fly away into the air, 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:13.840 restoring them to their lost liberty.” 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:17.230 Many vegetarians of the Renaissance were, like those of the Middle Ages, 00:09:17.230 --> 00:09:18.690 ascetically-motivated. 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:22.450 However, unlike their Medieval predecessors, Renaissance ascetics were, 00:09:22.450 --> 00:09:26.000 by and large, more individualized and secular in their pursuits, 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:30.760 with health and longevity, rather than religious purification, being major motivators. 00:09:30.760 --> 00:09:33.770 Among them existed several medical doctors interested 00:09:33.770 --> 00:09:37.910 in reforming the practice of medicine by aiding the body in healing itself 00:09:37.910 --> 00:09:40.190 through proper diet and lifestyle choices. 00:09:40.190 --> 00:09:43.670 Perhaps the first of the modern rational and secular ascetic vegetarians 00:09:43.670 --> 00:09:46.500 was Venitian Luigi Cornaro (1465-1566) whose writing, 00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:49.740 A Treatise on a Sober Life influenced a great number of individuals 00:09:49.740 --> 00:09:52.490 including Leonardi Lessio (1554-1623) and Dr. Thomas Moffet. 00:09:52.490 --> 00:09:57.580 Moffet for one was not purely motivated by health alone, asking in his text Health’s 00:09:57.580 --> 00:10:01.300 Improvement, “Can civil and human eyes yet abide the slaughter 00:10:01.300 --> 00:10:05.090 of an innocent ‘beast,’ the cutting of his throat, the smashing him on the head, 00:10:05.090 --> 00:10:08.790 the flaying off his skin, the quartering and dismembering of his joints, 00:10:08.790 --> 00:10:11.990 the sprinkling of his blood, the ripping up of his veins, 00:10:11.990 --> 00:10:16.479 the enduring of ill savours, the heaving of heavy sighs, sobs, 00:10:16.479 --> 00:10:19.539 and groans, the passionate struggling and panting for life, 00:10:19.539 --> 00:10:22.400 which only hard-hearted butchers can endure to see?” 00:10:22.400 --> 00:10:26.330 and echoes da Vinci’s query, "Is not the earth sufficient to give 00:10:26.330 --> 00:10:31.070 us meat, but that we must also rend up the bowels of beasts, birds, and fishes?" 00:10:31.070 --> 00:10:34.040 It’s important to note how Moffet, and indeed others of his time, 00:10:34.040 --> 00:10:38.010 began employing the term “meat” to apply to more than animal flesh, 00:10:38.010 --> 00:10:41.330 perhaps to indicate the substantial nature of plant foods. 00:10:41.330 --> 00:10:45.830 He also employs quotations around the term “beast,” which Rod Preece 00:10:45.830 --> 00:10:50.220 asserts, “indicates both that the term was becoming primarily one of abuse 00:10:50.220 --> 00:10:53.669 and that some were less than satisfied by the prejudicial usage.” 00:10:53.669 --> 00:10:58.750 Thus “linguistic forms as well as animal ethics were changing” and “it was becoming 00:10:58.750 --> 00:11:03.199 less acceptable to malign the animals by seemingly pejorative expressions.” 00:11:03.199 --> 00:11:06.209 Other ascetic-minded meat-decriers included: Philip Stubbes, 00:11:06.209 --> 00:11:10.020 who in his text Anatomy of Abuses compared the multitude of maladies 00:11:10.020 --> 00:11:13.720 befallen those who consumed flesh to the health of those who did not; 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:16.510 Roger Crab, whose vegetarianism was grounded in Christianity; 00:11:16.510 --> 00:11:19.800 and Dr. George Cheyne, one of the most esteemed 00:11:19.800 --> 00:11:23.379 of English physicians, and one of the first medical authorities 00:11:23.379 --> 00:11:27.830 in this country who expressly wrote in advocacy of the reformed diet. 00:11:27.830 --> 00:11:30.300 Cheyne himself battled with obesity and ill health, 00:11:30.300 --> 00:11:33.160 which he overcame by eliminating meat from his diet. 00:11:33.160 --> 00:11:35.200 Even though his primary motivation was health, 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:39.340 Cheyne’s writing belied elements of an ethical bent as well, 00:11:39.340 --> 00:11:42.800 “At what time animal food came first in use is not certainly known. 00:11:42.800 --> 00:11:46.450 He was a bold man who made the first experiment. To see the convulsions, 00:11:46.450 --> 00:11:49.210 agonies and tortures of a poor fellow-creature, 00:11:49.210 --> 00:11:51.589 whom they cannot restore nor recompense, 00:11:51.589 --> 00:11:55.060 dying to gratify luxury and tickle callous and rank organs, 00:11:55.060 --> 00:11:58.560 must require a rocky heart, and a great degree of cruelty and ferocity. 00:11:58.560 --> 00:12:01.910 I cannot find any great difference between feeding on human flesh 00:12:01.910 --> 00:12:06.000 and feeding on [other] animal flesh, except custom and practice.” 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.879 Strangely enough, within this vein of pursuing health through diet 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:11.789 was none other than Sir Francis Bacon. 00:12:11.789 --> 00:12:16.370 --YouTube “bacon” commenters, this is your moment of glory.-- 00:12:16.370 --> 00:12:19.809 While not consistently practicing vegetarianism himself, 00:12:19.809 --> 00:12:22.590 Bacon commended such a way of eating and was interested in finding 00:12:22.590 --> 00:12:27.550 the ideal diet based on empirical fact rather than religious dietary taboos. 00:12:27.550 --> 00:12:30.880 While some of his writings so hint towards an ethical bent, such as: 00:12:30.880 --> 00:12:35.040 “Nature has endowed man with a noble and excellent principle of compassion, 00:12:35.040 --> 00:12:38.210 which extends itself also to the dumb animals… 00:12:38.210 --> 00:12:42.450 And it is certain that the noblest souls are the most extensively compassionate,” 00:12:42.450 --> 00:12:45.890 he was also a firm supporter of vivisection. 00:12:45.890 --> 00:12:49.180 Bacon’s follower, Thomas Bushell, took Bacon’s vegetarian support 00:12:49.180 --> 00:12:52.630 into full practice, driven by the desire for redemptive purification. 00:12:52.630 --> 00:12:56.330 Bushell, like Bacon, had to be cautious with his vegetable fervor; 00:12:56.330 --> 00:13:00.450 in Protestant England, asceticism was still seen as a vestige of Catholicism. 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:03.680 While Bushell was motivated by a religious drive to reverse 00:13:03.680 --> 00:13:07.020 the acts of Adam by returning to the vegan diet of man before the fall, 00:13:07.020 --> 00:13:10.460 a belief summarized by Sir John Pettus’ assertion that 00:13:10.460 --> 00:13:14.730 “We multiply Adam’s transgression by our continued eating of other creatures, 00:13:14.730 --> 00:13:18.010 which were not then allowed to us,” his efforts were also 00:13:18.010 --> 00:13:21.120 “endorsed by scientific rigour.” He was putting himself forth 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:25.230 as the “perfect experiment” of Bacon’s belief that a vegetarian diet 00:13:25.230 --> 00:13:29.579 would extend one’s lifespan. Bushell lived to age 80 at a time 00:13:29.579 --> 00:13:33.260 when the life expectancy at birth was 35 years old. 00:13:33.260 --> 00:13:36.300 Now, as I mentioned, the information available for this time period 00:13:36.300 --> 00:13:40.099 is very Euro-centric, but let’s take a moment to venture over to 00:13:40.099 --> 00:13:44.399 North America where the European colonization of the continent was well underway. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:47.680 This is an area I’ll be exploring more thoroughly in a dedicated video, 00:13:47.680 --> 00:13:49.950 but I wanted to at least touch on it here. 00:13:49.950 --> 00:13:53.660 In her article “Native Americans and Vegetarianism,” Dr. Rita Laws, 00:13:53.660 --> 00:13:57.430 herself a member of the Choctaw Nation, explains that the stereotype 00:13:57.430 --> 00:14:01.470 of the horse-mounted Indian hunter dressed head to toe in animal skins, 00:14:01.470 --> 00:14:04.680 adorned with feathers and housed in an animal skin teepee, 00:14:04.680 --> 00:14:08.546 did not fit the majority of Native Americans, save perhaps the Apache tribe, 00:14:08.546 --> 00:14:10.732 prior to European colonization. 00:14:10.732 --> 00:14:14.899 Laws writes, “Among my own people… vegetables are the traditional diet mainstay. 00:14:14.899 --> 00:14:18.829 The homes were constructed not of skins, but of wood, mud, bark and cane. 00:14:18.829 --> 00:14:21.749 The ancient Choctaws were, first and foremost, farmers. 00:14:21.749 --> 00:14:23.830 Even the clothing was plant based.” 00:14:23.830 --> 00:14:26.449 Laws pinpoints the change in practices to the appearance 00:14:26.449 --> 00:14:29.109 of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján, 00:14:30.009 --> 00:14:31.989 --I did my best-- 00:14:31.989 --> 00:14:34.149 better known as Coronado, a Spanish explorer 00:14:34.149 --> 00:14:36.929 who led an expedition from Mexico to what is today Kansas 00:14:36.929 --> 00:14:41.560 from 1540 to 1542, bringing with him an ample amount of horses, 00:14:41.560 --> 00:14:45.930 some of whom broke free and multiplied, later to be utilized by the Plain Indians. 00:14:45.930 --> 00:14:49.930 In combination with the later introduction of guns, the Age of Buffalo began 00:14:49.930 --> 00:14:53.630 as plain Indians learned to hunt faster and more efficiently. 00:14:53.630 --> 00:14:57.850 As an aside and perhaps preview to the dedicated Native American History video, 00:14:57.850 --> 00:15:02.150 Dr. Margaret Robinson, a vegan Mi’kmaq scholar and bisexual activist 00:15:02.150 --> 00:15:06.350 based in Toronto who’s written on the creation of Aboriginal veganism, 00:15:06.350 --> 00:15:08.990 speaks to the problematic manner in which non-native people 00:15:08.990 --> 00:15:11.980 use the history of Native tribes as justification 00:15:11.980 --> 00:15:13.880 for their own consumption of animals. 00:15:13.880 --> 00:15:18.630 Robinson emphasizes that native culture is ever-evolving, despite the tendency of 00:15:18.630 --> 00:15:21.479 the dominant white discourse to want to freeze it in time. 00:15:21.479 --> 00:15:23.819 Of course, not all Europeans were in support of hunting. 00:15:23.819 --> 00:15:27.220 In fact, anti-hunting literature was common during the Renaissance. 00:15:27.220 --> 00:15:31.149 Dutch humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian 00:15:31.149 --> 00:15:35.700 Desiderius Erasmus produced perhaps the most amusingly poignant quote of all time 00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:38.080 made all the better considering he was a priest. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:42.590 Speaking of “those who prefer before everything else the chase of wild beasts 00:15:42.590 --> 00:15:46.340 [and who] say they get indescribable delight from the blast of hunting horns 00:15:46.340 --> 00:15:50.399 and the howling of hound” Erasmus says, “I expect such people think 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.950 even dog turds smell of cinnamon.” 00:15:53.250 --> 00:15:55.060 [moment of appreciation] 00:15:55.060 --> 00:15:57.000 Let’s continue. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:00.589 “But what pleasure is there in slaughtering animals in whatever numbers?... 00:16:00.589 --> 00:16:03.919 And so when they have finished dissecting and devouring the dead beast, 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:06.970 what have they accomplished except to degrade themselves into beasts 00:16:06.970 --> 00:16:09.670 while imagining they are living the life of kings.” 00:16:09.670 --> 00:16:12.750 In his work entitled “The Boar,” poet George Granville speaks 00:16:12.750 --> 00:16:15.220 from the perspective of a wild boar about to be killed, 00:16:15.220 --> 00:16:18.630 who is pointing to the human hunter’s hypocrisy, stating: 00:16:18.630 --> 00:16:23.649 “You murder us in sport, then dish us up For drunken feasts, a relish for the cup. 00:16:23.649 --> 00:16:26.180 We lengthen not our meals: but you much feast; 00:16:26.180 --> 00:16:29.300 Gorge till your bellies burst - pray, who's the beast? 00:16:29.300 --> 00:16:31.270 With your humanity you keep a fuss, 00:16:31.270 --> 00:16:34.720 But are in truth worse brutes than all of us.” 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.560 This ability to empathize with non-human animals was displayed 00:16:37.560 --> 00:16:41.010 in many Renaissance writings and was a welcome contrast to the view 00:16:41.010 --> 00:16:43.980 of animals as machines championed by René Descartes. 00:16:43.980 --> 00:16:47.519 Though Descartes never explicitly stated that animals couldn’t feel pain, 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:51.860 his description of them and their reactions as “machine-like” provided scientists 00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:54.769 a way to justify their gruesome animal experiments. 00:16:54.769 --> 00:16:58.319 Given that anesthesia was not available, all tests were carried out 00:16:58.319 --> 00:17:01.980 on living, fully conscious animals. And before you react in disgusted 00:17:01.980 --> 00:17:07.939 disbelief, this barbarism is still practiced today in animal testing labs around the world. 00:17:07.939 --> 00:17:09.779 More on that here. 00:17:09.779 --> 00:17:13.969 William Harvey was the first doctor since 2nd century Greek physician Galen 00:17:13.969 --> 00:17:17.799 to begin a research program based on live animal experimentation. 00:17:17.799 --> 00:17:21.679 Through cutting open conscious rabbits and tying off their hearts before slicing 00:17:21.679 --> 00:17:25.729 through their aorta, Harvey deduced that the blood circulated through the body. 00:17:26.449 --> 00:17:27.589 Well done. 00:17:28.329 --> 00:17:31.849 Flemish anatomist Vesalius, believed by some to be the founder 00:17:31.849 --> 00:17:36.289 of modern anatomy, established vivisection as part of school curricula 00:17:36.289 --> 00:17:39.759 and was able to disprove many of Galen’s concepts by using both 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:43.349 live animal experimentation and dissecting the corpses of criminals 00:17:43.349 --> 00:17:45.890 or those he acquired via grave-robbing. 00:17:45.890 --> 00:17:49.220 Against such horrors as the live evisceration of animals, 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:52.180 the thoughtful and empathetic writings of other Renaissance thinkers 00:17:52.180 --> 00:17:54.150 are quite welcome. 00:17:54.150 --> 00:17:55.109 Shakespeare himself expressed compassion for hunted animals, trapped birds, 00:17:55.109 --> 00:18:00.299 overworked horses, and even beetles, flies and snails in various works. 00:18:00.299 --> 00:18:05.210 For example, in “Measure for Measure,” he afforded equal validity to a beetle's 00:18:05.210 --> 00:18:09.759 experience of pain, stating, “the poor beetle what 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:15.100 we tread upon, In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great, As when a giant dies.” 00:18:15.100 --> 00:18:19.379 Renaissance thinkers touched on a wide array of issues pertinent to the development of 00:18:19.379 --> 00:18:24.119 veganism, including, as we’ve already seen, the hypocrisy and utter presumptiveness of 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:29.119 man, the value inherent in non-human animals, the fact that humans are not designed to hunt 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:33.450 and consume animals, and the abundance of plant foods for the taking. 00:18:33.450 --> 00:18:38.619 Every argument against veganism that exists today has apparently existed since the genesis 00:18:38.619 --> 00:18:43.850 of veganism. We’ve already seen the advent of the “Lions, tho” argument over 1,000 00:18:43.850 --> 00:18:49.609 years ago, fielded by Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri, and of course the “Plant, tho” taken on 00:18:49.609 --> 00:18:54.190 by da Vinci. So I thought we’d round off the latter portion of this video by hearing 00:18:54.190 --> 00:18:58.850 some select Renaissance quotes that speak to common objections as well as open up new 00:18:58.850 --> 00:19:01.789 ways of thinking about non-human animals. 00:19:01.789 --> 00:19:05.139 Philosopher Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) wrote, “For my part I have never been able 00:19:05.139 --> 00:19:09.700 to see, without displeasure, an innocent and defenseless animal, from whom we receive no 00:19:09.700 --> 00:19:13.669 offense or harm, pursued and slaughtered.” He cautioned parents who would think that 00:19:13.669 --> 00:19:18.549 their child displaying violence towards animals was a sign of strength, stating that in fact 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:23.340 such actions were, “the true deeds or roots of cruelty, of tyranny, and of treason. In 00:19:23.340 --> 00:19:28.789 youth they bud, and afterwards grow to strength, and come to perfection by means of custom.” 00:19:28.789 --> 00:19:32.669 Montaigne poignantly decried humanity’s pomposity, writing: “Presumption is our 00:19:32.669 --> 00:19:37.720 natural and original disease. The most calamitous and fragile of all creatures is man, and yet 00:19:37.720 --> 00:19:41.899 the most arrogant. It is through the vanity of this same imagination that he equals himself 00:19:41.899 --> 00:19:46.450 to a god, that he attributes to himself divine conditions, that he picks himself out and 00:19:46.450 --> 00:19:50.639 separates himself from the crowd of other creatures, curtails the just shares of other 00:19:50.639 --> 00:19:55.879 animals his brethren and companions, and assigns to them only such portions of faculties and 00:19:55.879 --> 00:20:00.739 forces as seems to him good. How does he know, by the effort of his intelligence, the interior 00:20:00.739 --> 00:20:05.429 and secret movements and impulses of other animals? By what comparison between them and 00:20:05.429 --> 00:20:08.820 us does he infer the stupidity which he attributes to them?” 00:20:08.820 --> 00:20:12.840 The latter portions of this quote displays a very important development in Renaissance 00:20:12.840 --> 00:20:17.450 thought: that of the unique experience and independent lives of non-human animals and 00:20:17.450 --> 00:20:22.369 the revolutionary concept that their worth cannot be accurately judged by human standards. 00:20:22.369 --> 00:20:25.609 We will see this echoed by others as we move forwards. 00:20:25.609 --> 00:20:29.769 Poet Francis Quarles (1592-1644) wrote succinctly of the body count left by man’s appetite. 00:20:29.769 --> 00:20:34.950 “The birds of the air die to sustain thee; The beasts of the field die to nourish thee; 00:20:34.950 --> 00:20:39.249 The fishes of the sea die to feed thee; Our stomachs are their common sepulcher, 00:20:39.249 --> 00:20:43.220 Good God! With how many deaths are our poor lives patched up? 00:20:43.220 --> 00:20:46.429 How full of death is the life of momentary man!” 00:20:46.429 --> 00:20:50.340 Around the same time as Quarles, French physicist and philosopher Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) 00:20:50.340 --> 00:20:54.979 expertly responded to the argument that eating animals is natural because “everyone does 00:20:54.979 --> 00:20:59.479 it,” by pointing out that “Indeed, is it that man is sustained on flesh. But how 00:20:59.479 --> 00:21:03.479 many things, let me ask, does man do every day which are contrary to, or beside, his 00:21:03.479 --> 00:21:04.099 nature?” 00:21:04.099 --> 00:21:08.649 He further speaks to how unnatural it is for humans to kill other animals. “Man lives 00:21:08.649 --> 00:21:13.070 very well upon flesh, you say, but, if he thinks this food to be natural to him, why 00:21:13.070 --> 00:21:17.599 does he not use it as it is, as furnished to him by Nature? But, in fact, he shrinks 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:21.929 in horror from seizing and rending living or even raw flesh with his teeth, and lights 00:21:21.929 --> 00:21:26.679 a fire to change its natural and proper condition … If you answer, ‘that may be said to 00:21:26.679 --> 00:21:31.200 be an industry ordered by Nature, by which such weapons are invented,’ then, behold, 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:35.799 it is by the very same artificial instrument that men make weapons for mutual slaughter. 00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:40.999 Do they this at the instigation of Nature? Can a use so noxious be called natural? Faculty 00:21:40.999 --> 00:21:45.419 is given by Nature, but it is our own fault that we make a perverse use of it.” 00:21:45.419 --> 00:21:50.629 In answer to the obligatory, “Well what CAN you eat?” argument comes the veritable 00:21:50.629 --> 00:21:55.519 verbal vegan food porn of English writer John Evelyn (1620-1706), who speaks with great 00:21:55.519 --> 00:22:00.599 gusto of: “The infinitely wise and glorious author of nature, who has given to plants 00:22:00.599 --> 00:22:06.359 such astonishing properties; such fiery heat in some to warm and cherish, such coolness 00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:12.139 in others to temper and refresh, such pinguid juice to nourish and feed the body, such quickening 00:22:12.139 --> 00:22:17.559 acids to compel the appetite, and grateful vehicles to court the obedience of the palate, 00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:22.869 such vigour to renew and support our natural strength, such ravishing flavour and perfumes 00:22:22.869 --> 00:22:27.989 to recreate and delight us; in short, such spirituous and active force to animate and 00:22:27.989 --> 00:22:34.070 revive every faculty and part, to all the kinds of human, and, I had almost said heavenly 00:22:34.070 --> 00:22:37.049 capacity.” 00:22:37.049 --> 00:22:41.940 Got me all hot and bothered. That was like the 17th century’s version of a vegan Instagram 00:22:41.940 --> 00:22:45.519 account showcasing all the tasty vegan treats. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:51.200 Evelyn goes far beyond laying out this literary buffet, positing that eating animals had lead 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:55.989 to more bloodshed between Christians than any other cause, as violence against other 00:22:55.989 --> 00:22:59.779 species inevitably translates to violence against one’s own. 00:22:59.779 --> 00:23:05.349 And now, finally, we come to Margaret Cavendish (1624-1674), The Duchess of Newcastle, who 00:23:05.349 --> 00:23:09.999 wrote plays, poetry, and essays on science, philosophy and nature, and was one of first 00:23:09.999 --> 00:23:15.519 female authors to be printed, AND just so happens to be the first woman ever mentioned 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:22.940 in the “History of Veganism” series! It’s about time! Nothing like male historical bias 00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:29.700 to turn even a vegan history series into a sausage fest. 00:23:29.700 --> 00:23:34.899 So let’s hear what the Duchess had to say. Cavendish spoke against the concept of inherent 00:23:34.899 --> 00:23:39.999 human superiority pointing to the wisdom within non-human animals and arguing that it was 00:23:39.999 --> 00:23:45.019 man’s “pride, self conceit and presumption” that has misled him into judging other creatures 00:23:45.019 --> 00:23:50.649 by human standards, not realizing that language and reason could take non-human form. 00:23:50.649 --> 00:23:54.539 “For what man knows whether fish do not know more of the nature of water, and ebbing 00:23:54.539 --> 00:23:58.769 and flowing and the saltness of the sea? Or whether birds do not know more of the nature 00:23:58.769 --> 00:24:03.669 and degrees of air, or the causes of tempests? Or whether worms do not know more of the nature 00:24:03.669 --> 00:24:07.590 of the earth and how plants are produced? Or bees of the several sorts of juices and 00:24:07.590 --> 00:24:12.279 flowers than men?…Man may have one way of knowledge…and creatures another way, and 00:24:12.279 --> 00:24:16.460 yet other creatures’ manner or way may be [as] intelligible and instructive to each 00:24:16.460 --> 00:24:17.559 other as Man’s.” 00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:22.759 And, on the unearned entitlement of humans, “Yet man doth think himself so gentle, mild 00:24:22.759 --> 00:24:28.269 When he of creatures is most cruel wild. And is so proud, thinks only he shall live, 00:24:28.269 --> 00:24:33.179 That God a god-like nature did him give. And that all creatures for his sake alone, 00:24:33.179 --> 00:24:35.669 Was made for him to tyrannize upon.” 00:24:35.669 --> 00:24:40.009 French Bishop and Theologian Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704) harkened back to the days 00:24:40.009 --> 00:24:45.749 before the Biblical fall of man to again highlight how much humans must disguise animal products 00:24:45.749 --> 00:24:50.340 in order to consume them. “The nourishment which without violence men derived from the 00:24:50.340 --> 00:24:54.580 fruits which fell from the trees of themselves, and from the herbs which also ripened with 00:24:54.580 --> 00:24:58.999 equal ease, was, without doubt, some relic of the first innocence and of the gentleness 00:24:58.999 --> 00:25:03.049 for which we were formed. Now to get food we have to shed blood in spite of the horror 00:25:03.049 --> 00:25:07.349 which it naturally inspires in us; and all the refinements of which we avail ourselves, 00:25:07.349 --> 00:25:11.849 in covering our tables, hardly suffices to disguise for us the bloody corpses which we 00:25:11.849 --> 00:25:13.649 have to devour to support life.” 00:25:13.649 --> 00:25:18.340 He, like Evelyn, warns of the transference of violence against non-human animals to violence 00:25:18.340 --> 00:25:22.719 against fellow humans, stating that: “Life, already shortened, is still further abridged 00:25:22.719 --> 00:25:27.809 by the savage violences which are introduced into the life of the human species. Man, whom 00:25:27.809 --> 00:25:32.169 in the first ages we have seen spare the life of other animals, is accustomed henceforward 00:25:32.169 --> 00:25:37.239 to spare the life not even of his fellow-men. It is in vain that God forbade, immediately 00:25:37.239 --> 00:25:41.960 after the Deluge, the shedding of human blood; in vain, in order to save some vestiges of 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:46.299 the mildness of our nature, while permitting the feeding on flesh did he prohibit consumption 00:25:46.299 --> 00:25:50.580 of the blood. Human murders multiplied beyond all calculation." 00:25:50.580 --> 00:25:55.739 Around the exact same time of Bossuet, English naturalist John Ray (1627-1705) echoed the 00:25:55.739 --> 00:25:59.619 arguments of Gassendi. "There is no doubt, that man is not built to be a carnivorous 00:25:59.619 --> 00:26:03.899 animal [as] hunt and voracity are unnatural to him. Man has neither the sharp pointed 00:26:03.899 --> 00:26:08.919 teeth or claws to slaughter his prey. On the contrary his hands are made to pick fruits, 00:26:08.919 --> 00:26:11.619 berries and vegetables and teeth appropriate to chew them." 00:26:11.619 --> 00:26:16.169 He again implores, "Everything we need to feed ourselves and to restore and please us 00:26:16.169 --> 00:26:20.489 is abundantly provided in the inexhaustible store of Nature.” Ray closes out with what 00:26:20.489 --> 00:26:25.999 really amounts to an “our food’s better than your food” taunt: “In short our orchards 00:26:25.999 --> 00:26:30.279 offer all the delights imaginable while the slaughter houses and butchers are full of 00:26:30.279 --> 00:26:35.799 congealed blood and abominable stench.” [Nailed it.] 00:26:35.799 --> 00:26:39.609 Doctor and medical reformer Philippe Hecquet (1661-1737), who served almost exclusively 00:26:39.609 --> 00:26:44.169 the poor, only seeing the wealthy when forced, pointed out the obvious examples in nature 00:26:44.169 --> 00:26:49.239 of the power of plant-based eating in answer to those who doubted such a diet could sustain 00:26:49.239 --> 00:26:53.929 strength. “'How,' they say, 'can we be supported on Grains, which furnish but dry meal, fitter 00:26:53.929 --> 00:26:58.070 to cloy than to nourish; on Fruits, which are but condensed water?' But this … condensed 00:26:58.070 --> 00:27:02.659 water is the same that has caused the Trees to attain so great bulk … Besides, how can 00:27:02.659 --> 00:27:07.159 men affect to fear failure in strength, in eating what nourishes even the most robust 00:27:07.159 --> 00:27:11.109 animals, who would become even formidable to us, if only they knew their own strength." 00:27:11.109 --> 00:27:15.619 Hecquet also comments upon how severely we must prepare animal products in order to find 00:27:15.619 --> 00:27:20.309 them palatable, yet how readily available are the multitudes of fruit and other foods 00:27:20.309 --> 00:27:22.999 from nature, which are more suited for humans. 00:27:22.999 --> 00:27:28.809 The good doctor expresses an exasperated lament that I daresay is still shared by many a vegan 00:27:28.809 --> 00:27:33.369 today. “It is incredible how much Prejudice has been allowed to operate in favour of meat, 00:27:33.369 --> 00:27:37.629 while so many facts are opposed to the pretended necessity of its use.” 00:27:37.629 --> 00:27:42.019 While receiving the formal approval and commendation of several doctors regent of the Faculty of 00:27:42.019 --> 00:27:46.849 Medicine of Paris University, Hecquet’s writings speaking to the merits of plant-based 00:27:46.849 --> 00:27:51.659 eating, received much insult and ridicule from anonymous professional critics of his 00:27:51.659 --> 00:27:55.399 time, better known as The Trolls of the Renaissance. 00:27:55.399 --> 00:28:00.919 Let’s close it out with Thomas Tryon (1634-1703), an English merchant, author and passionate 00:28:00.919 --> 00:28:05.759 vegetarian.[5] With a basis in his religious beliefs, Tryon spoke to the ethics of consuming 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:10.429 animals, saying: “Refrain at all times from such Foods as cannot be procured without violence 00:28:10.429 --> 00:28:15.440 and oppression,” and “For there is greater evil and misery attends mankind by killing, 00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:19.330 horrifying and oppressing his fellow creature and eating their flesh … than is generally 00:28:19.330 --> 00:28:24.940 apprehended or imagined. Man’s strong inclination after flesh and his making so light and small 00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:29.419 a matter of killing and oppressing inferior creatures, does manifest what principle has 00:28:29.419 --> 00:28:34.309 got the dominion in him … It should be considered that flesh and fish cannot be eaten without 00:28:34.309 --> 00:28:37.570 violence and doing that which a man would not be done unto.” 00:28:37.570 --> 00:28:42.519 I hope that you enjoyed this look into the development of veganism in Renaissance times. 00:28:42.519 --> 00:28:48.789 The time it took to produce this video clocks in at about __hours over a period of about 00:28:48.789 --> 00:28:53.419 5 days, including ample time creeping around my local library for sources. If you’d like 00:28:53.419 --> 00:28:57.359 to help support Bite Size Vegan so I can keep putting in the long hours to bring you this 00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:01.509 educational resource, please check out the support links in the video description below 00:29:01.509 --> 00:29:05.759 where you can give a one-time donation or receive perks and rewards for your support 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:10.609 by joining the Nugget Army- the link for that is also in the iCard sidebar. 00:29:10.609 --> 00:29:14.629 Now I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Renaissance of veganism and some of the concepts 00:29:14.629 --> 00:29:18.979 brought forth. And remember, citations to everything I’ve covered (as well as many 00:29:18.979 --> 00:29:22.149 further resources), are available in the blog post. 00:29:22.149 --> 00:29:25.969 If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and share it around for the love 00:29:25.969 --> 00:29:30.070 of vegan history. If you’re new, be sure to hit that big red subscribe button down 00:29:30.070 --> 00:29:34.269 there for more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday, and some Fridays; and to 00:29:34.269 --> 00:29:38.719 not miss out on the rest of the vegan history series. Next time we’re on to “The Age 00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:43.620 of Enlightenment!” Now go live vegan, make history, and I’ll see you soon.