Transformation of Europe

The Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther and Lutheranism (1517)

• German monk who wrote the Ninety-Five Theses and published it a Wittenberg

• Believed the sale of indulgences constituted a huge fraud perpetrated on an unsuspecting public; the Roman Church became corrupted

• Luther translated the Bible into German and stimulated printing and distribution, and literacy spread

• Advocated for closure of monasteries, translation of the Bible from Latin into vernacular languages

• Main believe: “Sole fide” aka Justification: faith alone could save you from damnation

  • The Bible is the only source of Christian authority

• Result: the most important German cities prohibited Roman Catholic observances and required Lutheran doctrine.

• Conversion: many of the cities at Switzerland and the Low Countries

John Calvin and Calvinism (1530s)

• French lawyer who moved to Geneva, Switzerland and created the Calvinist faith

• He organized a Protestant community and worked with officers to impose a strict code of morality an discipline on the city.

• Main believe: Predestination - God has already chosen those He will save from damnation, even if they have yet to be born.

• Calvinist had to: dress simply, study the Bible regularly, and refrain from activities such as dancing and playing cards

• Conversion: France, Germany, the Low Countries, England, Scotland, and even distant Hungary

Henry VIII and the English Reformation (1500s)

• King Henry VIII wanted a divorce from his wife, but the Catholic Church would not grant him one.

• Henry decided to leave the Roman Church and name himself, the Supreme Head of the Anglican Church

• 1560: England permanently left the Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Reformation

• The Catholic Church began a process of reformation, define point of doctrine, and persuade Protestant to return to the Roman church.

• The Council of Trent

  • Bishops, cardinals, and other high church officials

  • Focused on doctrine and reform

  • Demanded that church authorities observe strict standards of morality, and it required them to establish schools and seminaries in their districts to prepare priests properly for their roles.

• The Society of Jesus

  • Known as the Jesuits

  • Extended the boundaries of the reformed Roman church, served as counselors to kings and used their influence to promote policies that benefitted the Roman church

  • Founder: St. Ignatius Loyola

Religious Wars

• 1588: King Philip II of Spain attempted to force England to return to the Roman Catholic church by sending the Spanish Armada to dethrone the Protestant Queen Elizabeth (Spain failed)

  • Spanish Armada: huge flotilla consisting of 130 ships and 30,000 men

• 1610: the Dutch revolted against Spain, forming the United Provinces, the Spanish lost the Netherlands (Calvinist movement had spread to Netherlands)

• Innovations:

  • lighter muskets

  • new types pf cannon required fewer horses to pull

  • new designs in fortifications made taking order a walled town or city much more difficult

• Thirty Years War (1618-1648)

  • Where: Germany

  • Who: Spain, France, United Provinces, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Bohemia, and Russia

  • Religious causes:

    • Hostility between Catholics and Protestant faiths

    • Peace of Augsburg (1555): whatever religion the leader of that region followed, his followers would do the same

  • Political causes:

    • Suspicion that the H.R.E wanted to create a centralized imperial state

    • Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs surrounded a newly centralized and ambitious France

    • Protestant Swedish King, Gustavus Adolphus, was Protestant protestor in the German states

  • France chose to ally with the Protestants in order to weaken and destroy the power of the Habsburgs

  • 1/3 of German population died

  • The most devastating war of Europe until the 20th century

• Peace of West Phalia (1648)

  • Both sides were nearly bankrupt

  • Results:

    • Religious conflicts were resolved

    • H.R.E would remain intact

    • Not one European power would be allowed to dominate all Europe

  • Winners:

    • France: boundaries extended and Spain was neutralized as a threat; became major continental military power

    • Sweden: won control of major ports of N.Germany and land in the Baltic sea

    • Dutch: were now formally independent; temporarily captured N.Brazil and Portuguese ports of W. Africa

  • Losers:

    • Spain: was bankrupt; lost Dutch territory and land to the French

    • H.R.E was devastated

    • The Pope lost some credibility/authority, and there was no hope that the Catholic church could regain the Protestant territories

New Monarchs

• Most powerful states: England, France, Spain

• Kings: Henry VIII of England, Louis XI and Francis I of France, Fernando and Isabel of Spain

• Finance

  • French kings levied direct taxes on sales, households, and the salt trade

  • Spain introduced a new sales tax that boosted royal economy

  • English kings did not introduce new taxes in fear of rebellion; he dissolved the Catholic monasteries and took their wealth (supported orphans and the poor)

• Spanish Inquisition

  • Meant to ferret out those who secretly practiced Judaism or Islam

  • Charles V gave them responsibility to detect Protestant heresy in Spain

  • A strict Roman Catholic orthodoxy prevailed in Spain

• Constitutional States

  • England ( constitutional monarchy) and the Netherlands (republic)

  • -       no written constitutions, governments claimed limited powers, recognized rights

    -       England- constitutional monarchy, after English civil war (Parliament vs King)

    -       Netherlands- republic based on a representative government, after long struggle for independence

    -       strengthened state, prosperity, merchants and entrepreneurs flourished- minimal interference from authorities

    -       both lands favored maritime trade and building commercial empires overseas

  • Monarchs in France, Spain, Austria, Prussia and Russia concentrated power in their own hands and created an absolute monarchy

    -       Divine right of kings- kings derived authority from God, served as ‘god’s lieutenants upon earth’

    -       no role for subject or nobility in public affairs but monarchs relied on support from them

    -       France

    -       Cardinal Richelieu- architect of French absolutism

    -       Louis XIV- known as the sun king, said he was the state, built Versailles- largest building in Europe.

  • -       Russia- tsars (from Roman Caesar to signify imperial status) of the Romanov dynasty

    -       Most important- Peter I or Peter the Great- desired to make Russia a military power on the model of Western European lands

    -       Reformed army and navy

    -       commanded subjects to shave beards and wear western clothing- removed beards of subjects himself

    -       Catherine the Great (Catherine II)

    -       wanted to improve efficiency by dividing the empire into 50 provinces

    -       the enhanced power of absolutism became clear when Russia, Prussia and Austria picked kingdom of Poland apart, wiping it off the map

  • -       Capitalism

    -       an economic system in which private parties make their goods and services available on a free market and seek to take advantage of market conditions to profit from their activities

    -       rapidly expanding population and economy led to capitalism

    -       economic development and prosperity- Western Europe

    -       Eastern Europe- much less, Poland and Russia became suppliers of grain and raw materials rather than centers of trade and production

    -       Private parties: own land, equipment, and resources + freedom of choice of who to hire and what to produce

    -       not government-controlled, competition of businesses with other businesses and forces of supply and demand determine prices

    -       Businessmen built efficient networks of transportation and communication

    -       Institutions: appearance of banks in all major commercial cities

    -       Guilds- inflexible- monopolized manufacture of goods, discouraged competition, resisted technological innovation, fixed prices and wages, anti-consumer

    -       entrepreneurs sidestepped them and moved production to the countryside

    -       ”putting out system”- delivered unfinished materials such as raw wool to rural households, and then men and women would spin that wool into yarn and then weave it into cloth and make garments. The entrepreneur paid for their services, and sold the finished goods on the market

    -       rural labor- plentiful and cheap