Chapter 16 Transformations in Europe

1500 - 1750

Culture and Ideas: Early Reformation

• Europe wealthy• Began building

churches• Sold indulgences

Martin Luther• Challenged pope about

indulgences & other practices • Began Protestant Reformation• Argued salvation on faith alone• Christian belief could be based

only on Bible & Christian tradition

• In 1517, his Ninety-Five theses resulted in excommunication

John Calvin (1509-1564)

• Influential French theologian & pastor

• Argued that salvation was God’s gift to those who were predestined

• Christian congregations should be self-governing

• Focus on simplicity in life & in worship

• Broke from Roman Catholic Church around 1530

Political Implications

• Protestant Reformation appealed not only to religious sentiments but also to Germans who disliked the Italian-dominated Catholic Church and to peasants and urban workers who wanted to reject the religion of their masters

Catholic Counter-Reformation

• At Council of Trent, Catholic Church agreed on a number of internal reforms and a reaffirmation of fundamental Catholic beliefs

• These responses, along with activities of newly established Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) comprise the “Catholic Reformation.”

The Council of Trent met on and off from 1545 to 1563. This Catholic Reformation is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It issued condemnations on what it

defined as Protestant heresies and defined Church teachings.

Wars of Religion

• The Protestant Reformation led to a number of wars of religion • the last of them concluded in 1648

Religions in Europe after the Reformation.

 Local Religion, Traditional Culture and

Witch-Hunts

• European concepts natural world were derived from local religion & folk customs

• Most people believed natural events had supernatural causes

• Resulted in witch-hunts of late 16th & early 17th centuries.

• Over 100,000 people (three-fourths of them women) were tried-about half were executed

• Demonstrated tension between traditional beliefs & new religious & political institutions

Scientific Revolution

• European intellectuals derived understanding of natural world from Greeks/Romans writing

• everything on earth reduced to four elements

• sun, moon, planets, stars so light & pure that they floated in crystalline spheres & rotated around earth in perfectly circular orbits

Scientific Revolution

• Copernicus, Galileo, others undermined earth-centered model of universe

• Introduced helio-centric model

• criticized & suppressed by Protestant leaders & Catholic Church

• Despite opposition, printed books spread new scientific ideas among European intellectuals

• Copernicus’ book regarded as starting point of modern astronomy-began Scientific Revolution

Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher who played a major role in the

Scientific Revolution. His achievements include a 30 power telescope, consequent astronomical observations, and support

for Copernicus’ theories

Scientific Revolution

• Isaac Newton’s discovery of the law of gravity showed how natural laws govern all physical objects

• showed why planets move around the sun in elliptical orbits • Newton and others did not believe that their discoveries were

in conflict with religious belief

The Early Enlightenment

• Advances in scientific thought inspired people to question accepted practices in fields ranging from agriculture to laws, religions, & social hierarchies

• assumed that social behavior/ institutions were governed by scientific laws

• Enlightenment thinkers influenced by Reformation & accounts of other cultures (Jesuits in China)

• New scientific methods provided model for changing European society.

• Inspired by disparate sources & espoused a variety of agendas

• Most optimistic that application of reason would lead to human progress

• Many absolutist rulers & Church opposed new ideas

• printing press helped spread new ideas

John Locke• Influential Enlightenment

philosopher• Social contract theory and

contributions to classical republicanism are reflected in American Declaration of Independence

• disputed monarchial claims to absolute authority by divine right

• argued that rulers derived authority from consent of governed

• like everyone else, were subject to the law

François-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778), better known by the pen name, Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher. He advocated civil liberties,

including freedom of religion and free trade.

Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679) was an English Enlightenment philosopher who established the

foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory.

Montesquieu (1689 -1755), was a French Enlightenment social commentator and political thinker who was famous for his

articulation of the theory of separation of powers, taken for granted in modern discussions of government and implemented

in many constitutions throughout the world.

Social and Economic Life: The Bourgeoisie

• Europe’s cities grew between 1500-1700

• bourgeoisie thrived on manufacturing, finance, trade

• formed relationships w/ monarchs• built family & ethnic networks to

facilitate trade• merchants & governments formed

joint-stock companies & stock exchanges

• Governments improved transportation infrastructure

• Bourgeois gentry increased ownership of land;

• many entered ranks of nobility by marrying into noble families or by purchasing titles

The bourgeoisie were wealthy town dwellers who earned their money by being a merchant or owning their own business. They

dominated trade, finance and manufacturing.

By 1700, Amsterdam was a major financial center and its ships carried 80% of trade between Spain and northern Europe. It

was home to the Amsterdam exchange, the largest stock exchange in Europe, and joint-stock companies which gave the

Dutch monopolies on trade to the East and West Indies.

Social and Economic Life: Peasants and Laborers

• Serfdom declined/disappeared in West Europe, gained prominence in East Europe

• African slaves, working in Americas, contributed to Europe’s economy

• New World crops helped West European peasants avoid starvation

• High consumption of wood for heating, cooking, construction, shipbuilding, & industrial uses led to severe deforestation

• Shortages drove up cost of wood, used coal • Some efforts to conserve forests/plant

trees-wood for naval vessels• Urban poor consisted of “deserving poor”

(permanent residents) & large numbers of “unworthy poor”—migrants, peddlers, beggars, and criminals

European Deforestation

The slave trade massively contributed to Europe’s economy via the American colonies.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade Diaspora.

Social and Economic: Women and Family• Women’s status & work tied to

husbands & families• Common people married late-men

had to be independent; women worked to earn dowries

• Bourgeois men waited to finish education

• enabled couples to be independent of parents; helped keep birth rate low

• Bourgeois parents put emphasis on education; promoted establishment of schools

• Most schools, professions, and guilds barred women from participation

Political Innovations: State Development

• 1516 -1519, Charles of Burgundy, inherited thrones of Castile & Aragon, and colonial empire; became Holy Roman Emperor

• Charles forged coalition-defeated Ottomans at gates of Vienna-unable to unify territorial possessions

• Lutheran German princes rebelled against Catholic Charles, seized church lands, began German Wars of Religion

• Charles abdicated throne, Spain went to his son Philip; weakened Holy Roman Empire went to his brother Ferdinand

• Spain, France, England pursued efforts at political unification

Charles V territorial empire from 1519 - 1556.

Philip II (1527 – 1598) became the King of Spain when his father, Charles V, abdicated and retired to a monastery. He

used the Spanish Inquisition to hunt down anyone who was not Catholic (Jews, Muslims, Protestants, and his critics).

Political Innovations: England

• In England, a conflict between Parliament & king led to civil war & establishment of Puritan republic under Oliver Cromwell

• After Stuart line was restored, Parliament drove King James II from throne in Glorious Revolution of 1688

• William & Mary, forced to sign Bill of Rights, to limit power of crown

Political Innovations: France

• Bourbon kings circumvented representative assembly-Estates General-developed absolutist style of government

• Louis XIV’s finance minister increased revenue through more efficient tax collection to promote economic growth

• Louis entertained & controlled nobility-required them to attend court at Versailles

• Symbolized French monarch’s triumph over nobility, clergy, towns

Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles symbolized the French monarch’s triumph over the traditional

rights of the nobility, clergy, and towns.

Warfare and Diplomacy• Constant warfare led to military revolution ;

cannon, muskets, foot soldiers became mainstays of armies

• Armies grew in size; most maintained standing armies (England maintained standing navy)

• new command structures, signal techniques, marching drills improved efficiency

• Warships w/ multiple tiers of cannon; four-wheel cannon carriages made reloading easier

• England’s new naval technology- demonstrated when English Royal Navy defeated Spain’s Catholic Armada in 1588-signaled end to Spain’s military dominance in Europe

• With Spain defeated, France rose as strongest power on continent

• England held superior naval power

• During War of Spanish Succession, England, allied with Austria and Prussia, prevented French house of Bourbon from taking over Spanish throne

• With the War of the Spanish Succession, four powers of Europe—France, Britain, Austria, and Russia— maintained balance of power for about two centuries

Spanish Armada was King Philip’s failed attempt to invade England in 1588. A storm and superior

English tactics led to the defeat.

Route of the Armada.

War of the Spanish Succession. The great British victories in this war were in the Spanish Netherlands and the Holy Roman

Empire and they established Britain as a great power.

Paying the Piper

• Rulers of European states needed to raise new revenue to pay the heavy costs of their wars; the most successful made profitable alliances with commercial elites.

• The Spanish undermined their economy by driving out Jews, Protestants, descendants of Muslims

• Bullion gained from American empire spent on payments to creditors & manufactured goods & food

• Northern provinces of Netherlands wrested autonomy from Spain-became dominant commercial power.

• The United Provinces of the Free Netherlands and particularly the province of Holland favored commercial interests, craftspeople, and manufacturing enterprises

• Amsterdam became major center of finance and shipping

Paying the Piper

• After 1650, England used naval power to break Dutch dominance in overseas trade

• English government improved financial position by collecting taxes directly- created central bank

• French government streamlined tax collection, used protective tariffs to promote domestic industries, improved transportation network

• French not able to introduce direct tax collection, tax the land of nobles, or secure low-cost loans

Conclusion

• Religious reformations combined with Scientific Revolution led way for Enlightenment, an age of reason, and the movement to apply newly discovered natural laws to social behavior

• Foreign & domestic trade spawned rapid growth in European cities & rise of a wealthy commercial class

• Amsterdam in the Netherlands the most vivid example

• Agricultural improvements increased production but the Little Ice Age and increased mining of forests caused more difficulties for the poor

• Holy Roman Empire declined in strength from religious fragmentation while Spain and France increased centralized power

• English increased naval power- established direct taxation and a central bank, making the nation stronger financially than other European powers

IV. Comparative Perspectives

– In 1575, French scholar Loys Le Roy described three technological innovations that he thought had propelled Europe into a golden age: the printing press, the marine compass, and cannonry.

– Le Roy noted that Europe had finally caught up to the Muslim world and had benefitted from the spread of knowledge and the Muslims refused to let documents be printed in Europe.