Crisis and Absolutism in Europe 1550-1715

Crisis and Absolutism in Europe (1550-1715)

• The period between 1550 and 1715 was marked by crisis and the rise of absolutism in Europe.

Europe in Crisis: The Wars of Religion

• Karl Popper noted the irony of religious wars fought in the name of love and gentleness, involving the burning of bodies with supposed good intentions.
• Richard Nixon observed that history suggests religion can cause conflict, as some of history's bloodiest wars were religious.
• By the mid-1500s, both Calvinism and Catholicism had become aggressively involved in winning converts, sometimes adopting militant approaches.
• The tension between Protestants and Catholics became a primary cause of religious wars in Europe during the 1600s, along with economic, social, and political issues.

French Wars of Religion (1562-1589)

• The French Kings persecuted Protestants, but French Calvinism continued to spread.
• The French Calvinists were known as Huguenots, comprising only 7% of the total French population but 40-50% of the French nobility.
• The House of Bourbon, a Protestant noble family, ruled the southern French kingdom of Navarre and were next in line to rule France after the Valois dynasty.
• The conversion of many nobles made the Huguenots a powerful political threat to the prevailing Crown authority.
• Catholics were in the majority in France and an extreme Catholic party, the ultra-Catholics, fiercely opposed the Huguenots.
• Ultra-Catholics held loyalty in northern and northwestern France and were able to recruit and pay for large armies.
• Many towns and provinces, opposing the growing power of the French monarchy, supported the Huguenots to weaken the monarchy, therefore, creating an important base of opposition to the king.
• The civil war between French Catholics and Huguenots lasted for 30 years.
• In 1589, Henry of Navarre became King Henry IV.
• Ultimately, Henry converted to Catholicism because he realized that he would never be accepted by Catholic France as a Protestant.
• After becoming King in 1594, the wars came to an end.
• Henry issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, recognizing Catholicism as the official religion of France but granting Huguenots the right to worship and enjoy political privileges.

King Philip of Spain (1556-1598)

• King Philip of Spain (1556-1598) was a great supporter of militant Catholicism.
• Philip aimed to consolidate inherited lands (Spain, the Netherlands, parts of Italy, and the Americas) and enforced conformity to Catholicism and his authority as a monarch.
• Philip became the "Most Catholic King," championing Catholics and Spain's mission was to save Catholic Christianity from Protestant heretics.
• Victories over the Turks in 1571 and defeats against England and the Netherlands occurred under his rule.
• The Spanish Netherlands were among Phillip's richest lands.
• Phillip's attempts to strengthen control in this region caused the Dutch nobles to resent the loss of their privileges and oppose crushing the Calvinists in the Netherlands.
• Violence erupted in 1566.
• Under William the Silent (the prince of Orange) armed rebellion occurred until 1609.
• In 1609 the northern provinces declared themselves as the United Provinces of the Netherlands which became the nucleus of the modern Dutch state.
• Philip’s reign ended in 1598, with Spain possessing the world's most populous empire.
• Spain controlled almost all of South America and settlements in Asia and Africa.
• Spain appeared to be the greatest power, its treasury was depleted from war and court expenses, its military was outdated, and its government was inefficient.
• Real power shifted to England and France.

Queen Elizabeth Tudor of England

• In 1558, Elizabeth Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII, became Queen of England.
• England had fewer than four million people under her leadership, becoming the leader of Protestant Europe and establishing foundations for a global empire.
• Inheriting religious divisions from her sister Mary, Elizabeth repealed pro-Catholic laws.
• Through the Act of Supremacy, Elizabeth declared herself the "supreme governor" of both the church and state.
• Moderate Protestantism was used as a tactic to appease all religious factions.
• In foreign policy, Elizabeth avoided war by balancing Spain and France, supporting the weaker nation.
• She authorized the seizure of Spanish ships in the Caribbean.
• Elizabeth was considered a weak leader by France and especially Spain.
• Philip II planned to invade England, believing the English would rise against her and restore Catholicism.
• In 1588, Philip prepared the armada to invade England, but Elizabeth ordered attacks on the advancing Armada and prepared soldiers.
• English ships and Spanish manpower were at a disadvantage.
• Battered by English attacks, the Armada attempted a northward retreat was pounded by storms in the North Sea, resulting in ships sinking and marking the end of Spain's naval supremacy.

Social Crises, War, and Revolution

• From 1560 to 1650, Europe experienced severe economic and social crises.
• Inflation occurred due to the influx of gold and silver from the Americas and an economic slowdown in the 1600s.
• Reduced silver production and pirate attacks disrupted Spain's economy, also impacted by the expulsion of Muslim and Jewish artisans/merchants.
• Italy faced a decline in trade.
• Rapid population growth from 1500-1600 fueled the economy, but levels leveled off by 1620.
• By 1650 there was a decline especially in central and southern Europe; warfare, plague, and famine increased social tension.

The Witchcraft Trials

• Witchcraft and magic had long been part of village culture.
• The hunt for heretics during the Inquisition expanded to a concern about witchcraft, leading to over 100,000 accusations of witchcraft.
• The fear of witches and the fear of being accused of witchcraft intensified as trials increased.
• Common targets were the poor and property-less.
• Over 75% of those accused were women, mostly single or widowed, over 50 years old.
• Accused witches confessed under torture, claiming allegiance to the devil, attendance at nightly sabbats, or use of spells to harm neighbors.
• The witchcraft hysteria abated by 1650 due to stronger government, witch trials became a disruption to society, and beliefs about spirits faded.

Thirty Years' War

• The Peace of Augsburg ended religious warfare in Germany in 1555 by letting states choose between Catholicism and Lutheranism.
• By the early 1600s, religious warfare had broken out again due to the fact that the Peace treaty did not address Calvinists, expanding throughout Europe including Germany.
• The war erupted in 1618 between Catholic forces led by Hapsburg Holy Roman emperors and Protestant (Calvinist) nobles in Bohemia, who also rebelled against Hapsburg authority.
• Cardinal Richelieu of France, chief minister to the King, allied Catholic France with Protestant Sweden against the Catholic Hapsburgs to play out tensions between European nations.
• This was the most destructive war Europe had known.
• Germany was the location for almost all the major battlefield.
• Germany was being plundered and destroyed for thirty years
• Local people got little protection, and the countryside was destroyed.
• The Peace of Westphalia officially ended the war in 1648.
• All German states could determine their religion.
• The 300 states of the Holy Roman Empire gained independence, ending it as a political entity.

Revolutions in England

• Revolutions in England were centered on determining the roles of the king and Parliament in governing the country.
• Queen Elizabeth I's death in 1603 ended the Tudor Dynasty, the Stuarts became the new royal family.
• The Stuart became royal as a line of Elizabeth's cousin King James II of Scotland who became James I of England.
• James believed in the divine right of kings, asserting that kings derived power from God and were accountable to only God.
• Parliament disagreed and believed under the Tudors the king and Parliament ruled together.
• Conflict also arose over religion; James supported the Church of England while the growing Puritan movement in England wanted a simplistic doctrine and religion.
• The conflict between the Puritans and the Crown began under James reign and later during the reign of Charles I,

Conflicts under King Charles I

• King Charles I also believed in the divine right of kings.
• In 1628, Parliament passed a petition restricting taxation without its consent, which Charles reluctantly accepted at first but later resented as a limit on his power.
• Charles tried to enforce more ritual on the Church of England and forced Puritans to accept it.
• Thousands of Puritans emigrated to America because of that.

Civil War and the Commonwealth

• Dissatisfaction with Charles I led to civil war in 1642.
• Supporters of the King were known as Cavaliers or Royalists, while supporters of the Parliament were called Roundheads due to their hair.
• Parliament was victorious due to the New Model Army, which consisted of disciplined soldiers trained in new military practices of the 17th century led by Oliver Cromwell.
• The army was extreme Puritans known as Independents who believed they were doing battle for God.
• Oliver Cromwell assumed leadership over Parliament after several victories of the New Model Army.
• Once in charge of Parliament, Cromwell purged any members who did not support him.
• The resulting body of law became known as the Rump Parliament.
• This law body had Charles executed on January 30, 1649.
• The Parliament abolished the monarchy and dismissed the House of Lords, declaring England a republic or Commonwealth.
• Cromwell struggled with the more radical Rump Parliament, forcibly dispersed it, and established a military dictatorship in England.

The Restoration

• Cromwell ruled as a dictator until his death in 1658.
• Parliament restored the monarchy after Cromwell's death, and Charles II (son of Charles I) was appointed in 1660.
• Charles II was sympathetic to Catholicism and his brother James, who was the heir, openly practiced Catholicism.
• Parliament, suspicious of these religious leanings, passed the Exclusion Bill to bar James from becoming a king.
• This bill led to the development of the Whigs (wanted to exclude James) and the Tories (disagreed with succession interference).
• Charles dismissed Parliament to eliminate the bill.
• When Charles died in 1658, James became James II who was openly a Catholic.

Glorious Revolution

• To deal with the threat of James's son, noblemen invited William of Orange (the husband of James' daughter Mary) to invade England.
• James, his wife, and infant son fled to France, as William and Mary raised an army and “invaded” in 1688.
• This non-violent overthrow was known as the Glorious Revolution.
• William and Mary accepted the throne together, agreeing to the Bill of Rights.
• The Bill of Rights gave the Parliament the right to make laws and levy taxes, and Parliament consent was needed to raise a standing army.
• The Bill of Rights was the foundation for a limited or constitutional monarchy.
• With the Toleration Act of 1689, Puritans had the right to freely practice their religion.
• These two bills would go one to destroy the divine right theory.

Response to Crisis: Absolutism

• Europeans, seeking stability from war and turmoil, increased monarchs' power in the 17th century.
• Absolutism ties rulers' total power to the divine right of kings.
• Absolute monarchs could make laws, levy taxes, administer justice, control officials, and determine foreign policy.
• Louis XIV's reign exemplifies absolute monarchy in Europe, shaping European society with French culture, language, manners, and diplomacy.
• Unstable government occurred in early 1600s France with child-kings came into power, thus allowing chief ministers managed the court.
• Louis XIII's chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, enhanced the monarchy's power by curbing the Huguenots' political and military rights (while still giving them religious rights) setting up a spy network, and executing conspirators.
• Louis XIV was four years old when he came to the throne in 1643.
• Cardinal Mazarin. was his chief minister.
• During Mazarin's leadership, a revolt led by nobles happened because the nobles loss of power to the monarch.
• The revolt was crushed but many of the French felt stability could only be achieved with a strong monarch.
• Louis XIV took supreme power in 1661 at 23 years old when Cardinal Mazarin died.
• Known for pleasures even his own mother doubted that he could claim the throne.
• Louis fostered the myth of the 'Sun King' as the source of light for all.
• His key to power was Versailles.
• Versailles become Louis's personal home
• Was housed the chief offices of state (which kept everyone monitored) and a location for powerful subjects to find favor and officers.
• His major threat were noble-born citizens that expected a leadership role on the council.
• However, Louis eliminated the threat by removing the from their positions.
• The Sun King helped gain support from the people of France.
• Versailles was Louis XIV's key to power.
• Louis invited political opponents the council to stay at Versailles and enjoy court life far from government offices.
• His ministers had to obey his every command, ensuring complete authority over royal power areas (foreign policy, the Church, and taxes) at a national level.
• Local government, nobles, local officials, and town councils operated daily and needed to brib local officials to do his bidding.
• Louis implemented anti-Protestant policies directed against the Huguenots, he ordered their churches be destroyed and their schools closed.
• As a result (over 200,000) hundreds of thousands of Huguenots migrated to England, the German States and the United Provinces in America.
• Louis XIV financed construction projects like Versailles and wars to gain power causing France to dwindle financially.
• Jean-Baptiste Colbert raised revenue as the controller general of finances by embracing mercantilism, granting subsidies, constructed roads/canals, improved collection of taxes,and encouraged international trade.
• France was drowning in debt.
• France embraced the ideas of mercantilism to help the country.
• Louis built a 400,000 standing army in war.
• Louis wanted to increase royal power and achieve military glory which resulted in fighting four wars.
• However, the major goal of the wars was to stop Dutch Commercial prosperity.
• Louis secured territory from the Holy Roman Empire in 1689 but could place Spain under the control of the Bourbon dynasty
• England, the Netherlands, the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrians joined as a coalition to stop Louis in the War of Spanish Succession.
• France gained some land in the north and put a family member on the throne of Spain.
• Warfare, heavy spending on construction (like Versailles) and the debt-crippling wars combined with bad harvests and the plague affected the people causing starvation and an increase in mortality.
• Common frenchmen experienced a decline of living standards and faced oppression via an increase in state surveillance, torture and execution in courts.
• Nobles had lost power.
• Aristocracy controlled (20-30%) of the nation's wealth while the peasants were effectively squashed during military rebellion.
• In 1715, The Sun King was 76 years old when he passed away.
• In the end, Louis legacy crippled the French government in debt and surrounded by many enemies.
• However King Louis five-year old great grandson inherited France.

Prussian Empire

• After the Thirty Years' War, over 300 German states existed
• To protect it, Frederick William (the Great Elector) built a large, efficient army with 40,000 men.
• Frederick established the General War Commissariat, levying taxes to equip the army and overseeing its growth (to maintain it).
• The General War of Commissariat was an agency for civil (government) and the primary state government.
• The Commissariat members included Prussia's landed aristocracy or Junkers, who were also army officers.
• In 1701, Frederick William's son Frederick officially became King Frederick I.
• Prussia formed into a powerful country with Frederick William (the Great Elector).
• Therefore, through building a large and efficient army with military organization and power, Prussia was formed into a powerful country in Europe.

Austrian Empire

• The Austrian Empire was developed by the Hapsburg dynasty.
• Their goal was to consolidate German under the Holy Roman Empire.
• The core of the empire was Austria, Czech Republic, and Hungary.
• The current countries of Transylvania, Croatia and Slavonia the the current core.
• By the early 1700s, The Austrian Hapsburgs had acquired a new empire of consideralble size.
• The inability to create a highly centralized absolute state was because the monarchy consisted of many diverse national groups.
• This collection of territories was held together by only the Austrian emperor (who was also the Archduke of Austria, King of Bohemia and King of Hungary).
• Those areas/territories had their own laws, political lifestyle and were held together solely by military and government officers.

Russia under Peter the Great

• In the 15th century, under Muscovy, a new Russian state emerged.
• Muscovy's grand dukes help Russia come to power.
• In the 16th century, the ruler Ivan IV held the title of czar and called himself the Russian word for caesar.
• Ivan IV expanded Russian territories, crushed the boyars power and was named the "Terrible" as his dynasty came to an in 1598.
• At the end of Ivan IV's reign in 1598 country fell into a period of anarchy called the "Time of Troubles".
• However the Zemsky Sobor/national assembly chose Michael Romanov as the new czar to and bring the nation to peace.
• The Romanov dynasty was the last to rule, ending in 1917.
• In 1689 with Peter the Great, the monarchy continued and the divine power to rule was claimed.
• After going West (Europe) traveling was what he desired as he wanted to acquire more European ways of life, development and technology/ European technology was borrowed to develop Russia's army and navy, and at his death in 1725 Russia had become a great military power and an important European State (known as the Time of Troubles).
• Zemsky Sobor was when the national assembly chose a monarch (only happened twice).
• Travel to the West for education helped Peter develop Russia into an important and powerful state.
• Peter wanted a Russian army officers, drafted Russian and European men, drafted peasants for a 25 year draft, built bureaucracy based on civic duty.
• With Peter goals he reorganized the army, making draftees service a standard army of (210,000) men, developed the first Russian navy, split Russia , and was in search of civic duty.
• With his new knowledge of western customs the Russian culture was no longer only barbaric to the europeans.
• He introduced western culture/etiquette which pointed that spitting on the floor and scratching oneself at dinner was rude, men to shave and shorten their garments, women not wearing face concealing garments, and social gatherings.
• The most important of reforms began with expanding land to Baltic Sea which Sweden controlled.
• He began building the city Petersburg in 1703 (which became their capital until 1918).
• After a war to get the Baltic Sea, he started to construct St. Petersburg.
• Opening the Baltic Sea for trade with the West became so important as it opened for more economic and trade activity.

The World of European Culture

• Mannerism emerged in Italy between the 1520s to 1530s.
• Baroque began in Italy in the last quarter of the 1600s and spread to the rest of Europe and Latin America.
• Baroque was adopted by the Catholic Reform movement and the classic Renaissance with spiritual revival.
• Greatest artist of this baroque period was Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
• Most famous female artist of this period was baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi.
• This period/art reflected effects to arouse emotion and reflects the search for power.

Golden Age of Literature

• Literature became mainstream between 1580 to 1640 both in Spain and England.
• One of literature mainstream forms included drama, but the periods of theater would only last for a certain period of time.
• The Blackfriars included a very high-class theater and in order to appeal to a broad audience that includes both vagabonds and wealthy, the art had something for everybody.
• Then in 1592, known as a chief and an actor-playwriter William Shakespear acquired london.
• During that time Shakespeare wrote many plays.
• And the time Shakespear grew to become famous and had people all quote him many times.
• By that time theatrical plays had become famous in Spain, and even Mexico City.
• Lope de Vega was on top of drama.

Political Thought in England

• A writer named Thomas Hobbes tried to deal with political disorder, known as Leviathan.
• After writing the book Hobbes claimed that morals and thoughts aren't lead by the reasons but for the self-preservations.
• But for that there had to be a political state, there to establish order and agreement.
• But as the thoughts of John Locke the state of order and that there has to be freedom.
• And therefore the problem was to find people with these rights.
• Therefore the agreement Locke referred too was meant for the landed aristocracy.