Chapter 7, Section 1 Europe in Crisis: The Wars of Religion

1. * By 1560, Calvinism & Catholicism had become militant religions, and their struggles were the main cause of the 16th century religious wars. * The French Wars of Religion (1562-1598) devastated France as French Calvinists called Huguenots (led by Henry of Navarre) fought against the Catholic Valois monarchy & the ultra-Catholic Guise family. * In 1589, Henry of Navarre converted to Catholicism & succeeded to the throne as Henry IV. * In 1598, Henry issued the Edict of Nantes to protect the Huguenot minority in France. Chapter 7, Section 1Europe in Crisis: The Wars of Religion

2. * King Philip II, ruler of Spain from 1556 to 1598, was the greatest supporter of militant Catholicism. He reigned during a period of cultural & political greatness in Spain. * Philip II strengthened his control over his lands (Spain, the Netherlands, & parts of Italy and the Americas) by insisting on strict adherence to Catholicism & support for the monarchy. * Philip II became a champion of Catholicism, battling the Turks in the Mediterranean & the Calvinists in the Netherlands. Philip’s forces defeated the Turks, but were resisted by the Dutch prince William the Silent. * At the end of Philip’s reign, Spain seemed to be a great power, but it was not. Spain was bankrupt, the economy was a mess, the armed forces were out-of-date, and the government was inefficient.

3. * In 1558, Elizabeth Tudor ascended to the throne of England. * Elizabeth tried to resolve religious conflicts by repealing laws favoring Catholics & having the Church of England practice a moderate Protestantism. * Elizabeth was a moderate in foreign affairs as well, using England to help maintain the balance of power in Europe, especially between the 2 major powers of France & Spain. * Elizabeth’s support of Dutch Protestants & sanctioned attacks against Spanish ships sailing from the Americas led to Spain’s attempted invasion of England in 1588 by the Spanish Armada. * The Spanish Armada was battered & destroyed by the smaller, faster, more heavily armed English fleet. The Spanish military never fully recovered from the defeat, and Britain was on its way to becoming a major power.

4. Chapter 7, Section 2 Social Crises, War, & Revolution * From 1560 to 1650, Europe experienced economic and social crises. * A major economic problem throughout Europe was inflation, and by 1600 an economic slowdown had hit Europe. * By 1620, the population of Europe began to decline due to warfare, plague, and famine. * During the early 1600s, the zeal behind the Inquisition focused on witchcraft in many parts of Europe. * By 1650, the witchcraft hysteria lessened as attitudes of governments & individuals changed regarding superstition.

5. * Religious disputes continued in Germany after the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 because the peace settlement didn’t recognize Calvinism. * Religion, politics, & terr. all played a role in the Thirty Years’ War. The war began in the Holy Roman Empire in 1618 as a fight between the Hapsburg Holy Roman emperors & Protestant nobles in Bohemia. * Every major European nation got involved in the war except England. The most important struggle pitted France against Spain & the Holy Roman Empire. * Fighting took place on German soil, & Germany was plundered & destroyed for 30 years. * The Peace of Westphalia ended the war in 1648. France emerged as the dominant nation in Europe. * The Peace of Westphalia gave all German states the right to determine their own religion, & the states of the Holy Roman Empire became independent. * The Thirty Years’ War was the most destructive ever in Europe due to improved weapons & larger armies.

6. * The Tudor dynasty in England ended with Elizabeth’s death in 1603. * The Stuart king of Scotland, James I, ascended to the throne believing in the divine right of kings, but Parliament wanted an equal role in ruling. * Religion was also an issue because Puritans wanted the Church of England to be more Protestant. * Conflict between king and Parliament came to a head under Charles I. * In 1628, Charles I agreed to the Petition of Right which was passed by Parliament, but he later changed his mind. * Civil War broke out in 1642 between the Cavaliers (king’s supporters) and the Roundheads (supporters of Parliament). * Parliament won, mainly because of the New Model Army of its leader & military genius, Oliver Cromwell. * Cromwell purged Parliament of anyone who had not supported him. The remainder of Parliament executed Charles I in 1649. Parliament abolished the monarchy & declared England a commonwealth. * Cromwell ruled as military dictator until his death in 1658. * In 1660, Parliament restored the monarchy & Charles II took the throne. * In 1685, James II, a devout Catholic, became king. * In 1688, a group of English noblemen invited Mary (James’ daughter) and her husband, William of Orange, to invade England.

7. * England’s Glorious Revolution took place when William and Mary raised an army & marched to England, and James fled without a fight. * William & Mary accepted the throne in 1689 along with a Bill of Rights, which helped create a government based on the rule of law and a freely elected Parliament. * The Bill of Rights also laid the groundwork for a limited, or constitutional, monarchy.

8. Chapter 7, Section 3Response to Crisis: Absolutism * In 1610, Henry IV was assassinated & Louis XIII inherited the throne. Louis XIII appointed Cardinal Richelieu as his chief minister in 1624. * Cardinal Richelieu strengthened the power of the French monarchy by taking away the political & military rights of Huguenots and executing conspirators. * Louis XIV succeeded to the throne in 1643 & ruled France until 1715. Cardinal Mazarin served as Louis’ chief minister for the first 18 years of his reign. * After Mazarin’s death, Louis XIV took complete control as an absolute ruler. * Louis XIV maintained complete authority as monarch by distracting nobles & princes with court life at Versailles in order to keep them out of politics. * The royal court at Versailles was used by Louis XIV as his personal household, as the center for state offices, & as a place to have powerful subjects visit to seek favors. * Louis XIV appointed Jean Baptiste Colbert as finance minister, who enacted mercantilist policies to bolster France’s economy & promote trade. * Louis XIV involved France in numerous costly wars in his attempts to expand French borders & dominate Europe. * In 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, forcing thousands of Huguenots to flee France.

9. * After the Thirty Years’ War, Austria & Prussia emerged in the 17th & 18th centuries as great powers. During the 1700s, the two began battling for control of the German states. * The Hohenzollern rulers of Prussia united their lands by taking over the states between them and imposing royal power on all their subjects. * Frederick William the Great Elector established the Commissariat in Prussia to oversee both the military and the civilian government. * The Austrian Hapsburgs created a new empire in eastern & southeastern Europe. * The Hapsburgs were not truly absolute rulers, but they did expand their control over a large territory that includes the present-day nations of Austria, Hungary, & the Czech Republic.

10. * In the 16th century, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) became the first Russian ruler to take the title of czar. * The Time of Troubles ended in 1613 when the Russian national assembly chose MichaelRomanov to become czar. * During the 1600s, Russia was still a medieval state, untouched by the Renaissance and largely isolated from Western Europe. * From 1682 to 1725, Peter the Great ruled Russia. Peter the Great wanted to westernize, or Europeanize, Russia. * Peter the Great traveled throughout Western Europe studying western technology, art manners, economy, & government. Peter returned & tried to reform Russia in the image of Western Europe. * Peter the Great helped continue & spread the practice of serfdom in Russia because he wanted the support of the Russian nobles. * Peter the Great went to war with Sweden & the Ottoman Turks to expand Russia’s terr.

11. Chapter 7, Section 4The World of European Culture * The artistic Renaissance ended when the movement called Mannerism emerged in Italy in the 1520s & 1530s. * The paintings of El Greco reflected the high point of Mannerism. * The baroque movement replaced Mannerism. * Italian architect & sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini is perhaps the greatest figure of the baroque period. He completed Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

12. * In both England & Spain, writing for the theater reached new heights between 1580 & 1640, and other kinds of literature flourished as well. * England had a cultural flourishing during the Elizabethan Era, and William Shakespeare is the most notable writer of that era. * Drama flourished in Spain as well during the 16th century. Lope de Vega set the standards for Spanish playwriting, and Miguel de Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote was another great achievement of Spain’s golden age of literature.

13. * The 17th century was concerned with order & power, and these concerns were reflected in the political philosophies of two different Englishmen. * Thomas Hobbes was alarmed by England’s revolutionary upheavals. In Leviathan, he claimed that any ungoverned society made human life solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. * Hobbes’ arguments were used to justify absolute power to preserve social order. * John Locke wrote Two Treatises of Government in which he argued against absolute rule. Locke argued that before society was organized humans had natural rights – life, liberty, & property, and governments were established to protect these rights. * Locke’s arguments were used in the 18th century to support demands for constitutional government, the rule of law, & the protection of rights.