EUROPE IN 1500: THE AGE OF THE NEW MONARCHS

• The early 16th century was the age of the prince, the first stage of nation building that would last for 300 years

• The New Monarchs consolidated territories that were divided culturally, linguistically, and historically

• These New Monarchs started the process of building European nation-states

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EUROPE 1500

EASTERN EUROPE

• In the East, three great empires dominated the political boundaries

• The Mongol, the Ottoman, and the Russian (Muscovy)

• Poland-Lithuania also comprised an enormous territory

• Eastern lands were less fertile than the west and the climate was more severe

CENTRAL EUROPE

• The middle of the continent was defined by the HRE

• Politically, central Europe was comprised of numerous principalities, Church lands, and free towns

• By the end of the 15th century , the HRE was an empire in name only

• Central Europe was rich in minerals and timber

WESTERN EUROPE

• The Iberian Peninsula, the French territories, and the British Isles formed the westernmost borders of Europe

• Agriculturally, the French lands were the richest in all of Europe

THE FORMATION OF STATES

• Factors involved in the formation of states in Europe in the late 15th and early 16th century included geography, population, natural resources, social characteristics, language, and religion

• Furthermore, advances in warfare made consolidation easier -- what could not be inherited or married could be conquered

• In combination these factors slowly moved Europe toward formation of states

Caution! Europe under construction!

THE WESTERN POWERS

• No common pattern emerged in the consolidation of western European states

• England by administrative centralization, France by good fortune, and Spain by dynastic marriage

THE TAMING OF ENGLAND

• With the natural defenses of an island nation, England could have been the first European nation to consolidate had it not been for noble ambition and a weak crown (see War of the Roses, 1455-1485)

• Henry Tudor as Henry VII and his son Henry VIII put an end to dynastic instability and created a new nobility that owed their titles and loyalty to the Tudors

Subduing the nobles was critical to the Tudors success in consolidating England

FINANCIAL ISSUES IN ENGLAND

• The English monarch were supposed to live “on their own,” that is, off the revenues from his own estate

• Parliament defended the English landed class interests and had to OK taxes proposed by the crown

• It wasn’t until Henry VIII confiscated Church lands did the crown become solvent

• Additionally, Henry VIII minister Thomas Cromwell created state departments and cleverly manipulated Parliament

Parliament in England has long played a pivotal role in English

politics

THE UNIFICATION OF

FRANCE

• Threats to France unification were significant

• The English were finally subdued by the Hundred Years’ War

• On France’s eastern border, were the estates of the dukes of Burgundy

• The kings of France and the dukes of Burgundy were both of the House of Valois

• Luckily for France, the Burgundians were defeated in a war against Swiss forces in 1477

Count Markward of Reisenberg.Battle of Nancy, 1477

LOUIS XI CONSOLIDATES FRANCE

• Louis XI vastly increased the territories under France domain and he subdued the nobles

• His enemies constantly underestimated his abilities, earning him the nickname “the Spider”

• He gained Brittany and Orleans by marriage and in 1527 when the lands of Bourbon fell to the crown, the French monarch ruled a unified state

Louis XI, 1461-1483

LOUIS XI FAILS TO NAB LOW COUNTRIES

• One misstep by Louis XI was the failure to gain the Burgandian Low Countries for France after the death of Charles the Bold in 1477

• The marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian of Hapsburg was a significant turning point in European history

• It initiated the struggle for control of the Low Countries that lasted for more than two centuries

FRANCE FINANCES

• The long years of wars established the principle of royal taxation that was critical to nation building in France

• It allowed the crown to raise money for defense and consolidation

• Most of the tax burden fell to the commoners, the so-called Third Estate

• Taxes included the taille (land), gabelle (salt) and the aide (various goods including meat and wine)

FRENCH NATIONAL ARMY

• The French monarchy was the first to establish a national army

• From the nobility were recruited the cavalry, from the towns and countryside the massive infantry

THE MARRIAGES OF SPAIN• Before the 16th century

there was little hope of a unified Spain

• The Spanish people were divided in several separate states

• The two dominant states were Castile, the largest and richest, and Aragon, which was composed of a number of quasi-independent regions

FERDINAND AND ISABELLA

• In 1469, teenagers Ferdinand (Aragon) and Isabella (Castile) exchanged wedding vows

• In 1479, the two crowns were united and the Catholic monarchs ruled the two kingdoms jointly and took the first steps toward forging a single Spanish state

Ferdinand and Isabella, Artist: David Galchutt

THE RECONQUISTA

• The most notable achievement of the Spanish monarchs was the recovery of the lands that had been conquered by the Moors (what the Spanish called the Muslims)

• For centuries, the Spanish kingdoms had fought against the North African Muslims, who had conquered large areas of the southern peninsula

RECONQUISTA COMPLETE• The final stages of the

reconquista began in 1482 and lasted a decade

• The struggle was wages as a holy war and funded in part by the pope and Christian princes of Europe

• After much blood loss, Granada finally fell and the province was absorbed into Castile

JEWS PERSECUTED IN SPAIN

• The idea of a holy war had other consequences – Jews who had risen to prominence in government and in skilled professions in Spain were now attacked

• Even conversos (Jews who converted to Catholicism) fell prey to the Spanish Inquisition as Jews across Spain were expelled in 1492 The Spanish Inquisition used torture,

public humiliation, and burnings at the stake to rid Spain of non-Catholics

FERDINAND AND ISABELLA CONSOLIDATE SPAIN

• Addition unifying measures undertaken by the Spanish monarchs included:

Making Castile the official language

A single coinageTraveled the kingdom

extensively to promote loyalty

CHARLES V INHERITS VAST EMPIRE

• Ferdinand and Isabella’s grandson became the Emperor Charles V (1516-1556)

• Charles had been born and raised in the Low Countries, where he ruled over Burgundy and the Netherlands

• Through a series of dynastic accidents, he became heir to the Spanish crown with its possessions in the New World and to the vast Habsburg estates that included Austria

Charles I of Spain AKA Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire,

1516-1556

CHARLES V USHERS IN SPAIN’S GOLDEN AGE

• The single most important factor in Charles’s success in unifying the Spanish kingdoms of Iberia was the fact that he had brought Spain into the forefront of European affairs

• Spanish pride in their success and prominence had replaced regional identity

• Gold and silver from the New World finance Charles’s great empire in the16th century

DYNASTIC STRUGGLES

• The formation of large states throughout Europe led inevitably to conflicts among them

• The 16th century was a period of general warfare on the European continent• State’s were an extension of a Prince’s heritage, thus the wars of the 16th

century were dynastic wars

CHANGES IN WARFARE• The New Monarchs waged

war in a some new and improved ways from their medieval counterparts

Gold and Silver from New World meant larger professional armies

Transport and supply improvements

Communication (dispatches) allowed for quicker, more effective movement German and Swiss soldiers

sold their services to the highest bidders

THE MAIN PLAYERS

• The three main players in the dynastic wars of the 16th century were Charles V (HRE, Spain), Francis I (France) and Henry VIII (England)

• As the three monarchs matured their youthful wars of conquest turned into strategic warfare designed to maintain a continental balance of power

THE ITALIAN WARS• The struggle for European

supremacy in the 16th century pitted the French House of Valois vs. the empire of the Habsburgs

• The battle ground was Italy• In the late 15th century,

France seized Naples only to have the Spanish reclaim it soon after

• Thus when Francis I came to the French throne and Charles V to the Spanish, Naples was just one source of friction

BATTLEFIELD: MILAN

• In 1515, Francis I stunned Europe with a victory over the Swiss mercenaries at the battle of Marignano (Milan)

• Milan soon appealed to Charles V to help against the France

• Charles V then allied with Henry VIII against the French

• Francis I himself was captured at the Battle of Pavia as Charles V won a decisive victory

FRANCIS’S FORTUNES TURN• Despite being captured and

forced to sign the Treaty of Madrid granting the HRE many concessions, Francis’s fortunes soon changed

• He returned to France, renounced the treaty, formed new alliances with a dissatisfied Henry VIII and most importantly with the powerful Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566)

An alliance with Suleiman made Francis I a formidable foe

FIGHTING OVER

• In the end, the French could not dislodge the Habsburgs from Italy nor could the Habsburgs dislodge the Ottomans from Hungary

• Finally, the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559 ended 60 years of European conflict

• Both France and Spain were bankrupt for decades of fighting

The Peace of Cateau-Cambresis, ending the Italian Wars, was agreed

there on April 2-3, 1559

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ON THE NEW MONARCHS

• Charles V abdicated his throne in 1555 and divided his empire between his brother Ferdinand I (Austria, German lands) and his son Philip II (Low countries, Spain, New World)

• The New Monarchs consolidated European nations while forever ending any dream of a unified Christian Europe

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