EUROPE IN 1500: THE AGE OF THE NEW MONARCHS

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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
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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

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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

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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

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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!
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EASTERN CONFIGURATION

• At the beginning of the 16th century, the
  principality of Muscovy was the largest political
  unit in Europe
• Under Ivan III, the Great (1462-1505), Muscovy
  expanded greatly largely due to deterioration of
  the Mongol Empire
• Ivan III extended the privileges of the nobility
  and organized a military class

Ivan III
Russias greatest historian, Sergei Platonov
wrote The Grand Duke Ivan, endowed with quick
wit and a will of iron completed the unification
of the Russian lands under Moscows hand
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IVAN THE TERRIBLE

• The military and political achievements of Ivan
  the Great were furthered by his grandson Ivan IV,
  the Terrible (1533-1584)
• Ivan IV defeated the Mongols on his SE border and
  incorporated the entire Volga river basin into
  Muscovy
• During his reign Muscovite society was divided
  into three groups heredity nobility (boyars),
  the military service class, and the peasantry

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IVAN IV WAS TERRIBLE

• Ivan the Terrible had a mistrust of the nobility
  (it was rumored they had poisoned his mother) and
  it was his treatment of them that earned him the
  nickname
• Ivan massacred thousands of boyar families and
  forcibly relocated thousands of others

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IVAN IVS ADMINISTRATION

• Ivan IVs most important achievement was a system
  of central administration
• He created departments of state which resulted in
  more efficient management of military and
  revenues
• Russian surfs lost their right of movement from
  estate to estate and overall had far fewer rights
  than their western counterparts

Russian peasants
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POLAND-LITHUANIA
1569 Union

• At the end of the 15th century, Casimir IV
  (1447-1492) ruled the kingdom of Poland and the
  grand duchy of Lithuania
• The formal union of Polish and Luthuanian crowns
  in 1569 decentralized the states and gave the
  nobles more power
• In the end, the states split and Russia took most
  of Luthuania while the Ottomans took most of
  Hungary

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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

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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
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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 wasnt 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
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THE UNIFICATION OF FRANCE

• Threats to France unification were significant
• The English were finally subdued by the Hundred
  Years War
• On Frances 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
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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
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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
  

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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)

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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

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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

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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
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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

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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

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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
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FERDINAND AND ISABELLA CONSOLIDATE SPAIN

• Addition unifying measures undertaken by the
  Spanish monarchs included
• Making Castile the official language
• A single coinage
• Traveled the kingdom extensively to promote
  loyalty

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CHARLES V INHERITS VAST EMPIRE

• Ferdinand and Isabellas 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
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CHARLES V USHERS IN SPAINS GOLDEN AGE

• The single most important factor in Charless
  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
  Charless great empire in the16th century

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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
• States were an extension of a Princes heritage,
  thus the wars of the 16th century were dynastic
  wars

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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
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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

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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

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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

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FRANCISS FORTUNES TURN

• Despite being captured and forced to sign the
  Treaty of Madrid granting the HRE many
  concessions, Franciss 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
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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
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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