European Society, Economy & Religious Change (1450–1625)

Rural Conditions & Enclosure

• European population: approx. $55$ million (1450) to $100$ million (1600);
• Landlords enacted "enclosure" of common lands;
• Displaced poor peasants; some yeomen survived.
• "Little Ice Age" (late $1500$s–$1700$s) lowered crop yields;
• Deforestation removed resources.

Urbanization & Social Strain

• Town growth: rural in-migration (e.g., London from $55{,}000$ to $200{,}000$ by 1600).
• Urban centers were overcrowded, unsanitary, disease-ridden.
• Newcomers became low-paid servants/laborers.
• England's population doubled (1500–1620).
• Prices rose, real wages fell (by ~two-thirds by 1630);
• Enclosures & shrinking cloth markets fueled unemployment & vagrancy.
• Parliament's Poor Laws criminalized wandering poor.

Economic Transition to Capitalism

• Traditional reciprocity: "just price," moral restraint.
• Gradual acceptance of interest, demand-based pricing, joint-stock companies.
• Result: competitive individualism coexisted with desire for stability.

Family Structure

• Predominant unit: nuclear household (parents + children) as economic cell.
• Father held formal authority; wives managed household.
• Children valued as labor.
• Outsiders (servants, apprentices) integrated into families.

Religious Upheavals

Catholic Background

• Catholic Church centered on pope.
• Salvation via sacraments.
• Indulgence trade led to corruption charges.

Protestant Reformation

• Martin Luther (1517): salvation by faith alone.
• Rejected indulgences, priestly intermediaries.
• John Calvin (1530s–1560s): predestination; visible "elect."
• Calvinism spread in France, Netherlands, Britain.
• Radical offshoots (e.g., Anabaptists) persecuted.

Catholic Counter-Reformation

• Reformers (e.g., Teresa of Avila).
• Jesuits founded 1540 by Ignatius Loyola.
• Council of Trent (1545–1563): reaffirmed doctrine, curbed abuses.

English Reformation & Puritanism

• Henry VIII (1533–1534): broke with Rome, created Church of England.
• Appropriated church lands.
• Religious oscillations: Protestant Edward VI, Catholic Mary I, then Elizabeth I (1558–1603).
• Elizabeth I steered moderate Protestantism, suppressed Catholic plots.
• Puritans (Calvinist): sought further "purification."
• Split into reformist majority and Separatist minority.
• Core supporters: gentry, yeomen, artisans, educated clergy.
• James I (1603–1625) resisted Puritan anti-episcopal demands.
• Enforced Anglican conformity, tolerated quiet Calvinists.

Key Takeaways

• Population boom, climate stress, enclosure destabilized rural Europe.
• Urban growth, wage decline, unemployment widened class divides.
• Transition to capitalism eroded traditional economy but coexisted with hierarchies.
• Family remained central socio-economic unit.
• Protestant/Catholic reforms reshaped Europe; England's path fostered Puritanism.