Spain's Empire and European Absolutism PDF

Spain's Empire and European Absolutism r:: MAIN ECONOMICS During a time When faced with crises, many Philip II divine right of religious and economic heads of government take on absolute in...

Spain's Empire and European Absolutism r:: MAIN ECONOMICS During a time When faced with crises, many Philip II divine right of religious and economic heads of government take on absolute instability, Philip II ruled Spain additional economic or political monarch with a strong hand. powers. Pictured Above: SETTING THE STAGE As you learned in Chapter 2, from 1520 to 1566, (L) Marriage Suleyman I exercised great power as sultan of the Ottoman Empire. A European of LOUIS XIV monarch of the same period, Charles V, came close to matching Suleyman 's to Marie power. As the Hapsburg king, Charles inherited Spain, Spain's American colo- Therese of nies, parts of Italy, and lands in Austria and the Netherlands. As the elected Austria. Artist Holy Roman emperor, he ruled much of Germany. It was the first time since unknown; Charlemagne that a European ruler controlled so much territory. (R) Statue of Louis XIV, Lyon, France A Powerful Spanish Empire A devout Catholic, Charles not only fought Muslims but also opposed Lutherans. In 1555, he unwillingly agreed to the Peace of Augsburg, which allowed German princes to choose the religion for their territory. The following year, Charles V um:1~·~·2wt: Use the graphic organizer 1 1 ···,- divided his immense empire and retired to a monastery. To his brother Ferdinand, online to take notes he left Austria and the Holy Roman Empire. His son, Philip II, inherited Spain, on the conditions that allowed European the Spanish Netherlands, and the American colonies. monarchs to gain power. Philip ll's Empire Philip was shy, serious, and-like his father-deeply reli- gious. He was also very hard working. Yet Philip would not allow anyone to help him. Deeply suspicious, he trusted no one for long. As his own court historian wrote, "His smile and his dagger were very close." Perhaps above all, Philip could be aggressive for the sake of his empire. In 1580, the king of Portugal died without an heir. Because Philip was the king's nephew, he seized the Portuguese kingdom. Counting Portuguese strongholds in Africa, India, and the East Indies, he now had an empire that circled the globe. Philip's empire provided him with incredible wealth. By 1600, American mines had supplied Spain with an estimated 339,000 pounds of gold. Between 1550 and 1650, roughly 16,000 tons of silver bullion were unloaded from Spanish galleons, or ships. The king of Spain claimed between a fourth and a fifth of every shipload of treasure as his royal share. With this wealth, Spain was able to support a large standing army of about 50,000 soldiers. Defender of catholidsm When Philip assumed the throne, Europe was experi- encing religious wars caused by the Reformation. However, religious conflict was not new to Spain. The Reconquista, the campaign to drive Muslims from Spain, had been completed only 64 years before. In addition, Philip's great-grandparents Absolute Monarchs in Europe 155 t CTION 1 PROGRAM RESOURCES fPJt'''l!---------------~>M...------=-=~-w!l:i'1 aa: &AfiilllR..llllr.:.-...-..a11a1 11j:nrrrer-- ----·--·-----~ -----·- Isabella and Ferdinand had used the Inquisition to investigate suspected heretics, or nonbelievers in Christianity. Philip believed it was his duty to defend Catholicism against the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire and the Protestants of Europe. lo 1571 , the pope called on all Catholic princes to take up arms against the mounting power of the Ottoman Empire. Philip responded like a true crusader. More than 200 Spanish and Venetian ships defeated a large Ottoman fleet in a fierce battle near Lepanto. In 1588, Philip launched the Spanish Armada in an attempt to punish Protestant England and its queen, Elizabeth I. Elizabeth had supported Protestant subjects who had rebelled against Philip. However, his fleet was defeated. (See map opposite.) Although this setback seriously weakened Spain, its wealth gave it the appear- Philip palace to ance of strength for a while longer. Philip's gray granite palace, the Escorial, had rate about massive walls and huge gates that demonstrated his power. The Escorial also archy? reflected Philip's faith. Within its walls stood a monastery as well as a palace. Golden Age of Spanish Art and Literature Spain's great wealth did more than support navies and build palaces. It also allowed monarchs and nobles to become patrons of artists. During the 16th and I 7th cen- turies, Spain experienced a golden age in the arts. The works of two great painters..- In Las show both the faith and the pride of Spain during this period. Meninas (The Maids of Honor), El Greco and Velazquez Born in Crete, El Greco (GREHK oh) spent much of his Vel~zquez adult life in Spain. His real name was Domenikos Theotokopoulos, but Spaniards depicts King called hlm El Greco, meaning "the Greek." El Greco's art often puzzled the people of Philip IVs his time. He chose brilliant, sometimes clashing colors, distorted the human figure. daughter and her attendants. and expressed emotion symboli- cally in his paintings. Although unusual, El Greco's techniques showed the deep Catholic faith of Spain. He painted saints and mar- tyrs as huge, long-limbed figures that have a supernatural air. The paintings of Diego Velazquez (vuh LAHS kehs), on the other hand, reflected the pride of the Spanish monarchy. Velazquez, who painted 50 years after El Greco, was the court painter to Philip IV of Spain. He is best known for his portraits of the royal family and scenes of court life. Like El Greco, he was noted for using rich colors. Don Quixote The publication of Don Quixote de la Mancha in 1605 is often called the birth of the modern European novel. In this book, Miguel de Cervantes (suhr-VAN teez) wrote about a poor Spanish nobleman who went a little crazy after reading too many books about heroic knights. Absolute Monarchs in Europe 157  p Quixote rode forth in a rusty , Hop ing to ''right every man ner of wrong," Don he mistook some windmills for ~ t of anno r, mou nted on a feeble horse. At one point, 8lants· PRI MA RY SOU RCE. He rush e~ with [his horse 's] utmo st spee d upon the first windmill he could come led abou t with such swiftness that, and, runn ing his lance into the sail, the wind whir int~ shivers, and hurled away bothat fhe , raP,idity of the moti on pre_se~tly _broke the lance rolhng a good way off in the field. , knight and horse along with 1t, t,11 down he fell, ch MIGUEL DE CERVANTES, Don Quixote de /a Man a chivalry, the knightly code of the Som e critic s belie ve that Cerv ante s was moc king abou t an idealistic pers on who longs Mid dle Ages. Othe rs main tain that the book is with his materialistic world. for the roma ntic past beca use he is frustrated The Spanish Empire Weakens a materialistic one. The gold and Certainly, the age in whic h Cervantes wrote was temp orari ly wealthy. However, such silve r com ing from the Americas mad e Spain lems. treas ure help ed to caus e Jong-term econ omic prob was severe inflation, which is a Infla tion and Taxes One of these prob lems a rise in the prices of goods and ser- decl ine in the value of money, accompanied by First, Spain's popu latio n had been vices. Infla tion in Spai n had two main causes. othe r good s, merc hant s were able to grow ing. As more peop le demanded food and mark et, its value dropped. People raise price s. Second, as silver bullion flooded the things. need ed more and more amounts of silver to buy es. Whe n Spai n expe lled the Jews Spai n's econ omic decline also had othe r caus y valuable artisans and business- and Moo rs (Mu slim s) around 1500, it lost man to pay taxes. The tax burden feJJ on peop le. In addition, Spai n's nobles did not have from accu mula ting enou gh wealth the lowe r classes. That burden prevented them to start their own businesses. As a result, Spai n never developed a midd le class. emerged in B. Possible Making Spain's Enemies Rich Guilds that had Spain. Such Answers >'-" the Middle Ages still dominated business in e Spanish flooded lf;e~, guilds used old-fashioned methods. This mad causing as\!'., those drop; gold;:: cloth and manufactured goods more expensive than TUiip Man ia ht much of ver werercr,i:., mad e elsewhere. As a result, Spaniards boug Tulips came to Europ e from Turke y the to buy Spans- '. Peop le went wild over wha t they need ed from Fran ce, England, and goods bull!!