New Monarchs
2005 – Using examples from at least two
different states, analyze the key features of the
“new monarchies” and the factors responsible for
their rise in the period 1450 to 1550.
I.
New Monarchs
A. invested kingship with a strong sense
of royal authority and national purpose,
stressing that the monarchy was the one
institution that linked all classes and
peoples within definite territorial
boundaries.
B. Characteristics
1. Royal Council: members mainly from
middle-class
2. Machiavellian
3. Greatest opposition from nobles
II. France
A. Charles VII (r.1442-1461)
1. Ended 100 Years’ War in 1453
2. Creation of large royal army
3. Taxes (taille & gabelle)
4. Pragmatic Sanction of 1438: power over
clergy
B. Louis XI (r.1461-1483) “Spider King”
1. promoted new industries &
welcomed foreign craftsmen
2. entered into commercial treaties–
to raise revenue through royal
taxes
3. Used army to weaken
aristocrats & to cut into urban
independence.
C. Francis I (1515-1547)
1. Concordat of Bologna, 1516
with Pope Leo X
III. England
A. War of the Roses (1455 and 1471)
1. House of Lancaster vs. House of York
2. Results: rise of Tudor Dynasty
B. Henry VII (r. 1485-1509)
1. Royal Council
2. Avoided costly wars
through diplomacy
3. Star Chamber
4. Justices of the Peace
5. encouraging the cloth
industry & build up of
the English merchant marine
C. Henry VIII (1509-1547):
1. English Reformation
2. Centralized bureaucracy
* Thomas Cromwell
IV. Spain
1. Ferdinand of Aragon (1478-1516) and
Isabella of Castile (1474-1504)
a. Confederation of separate kingdoms
Marriage of 1469
2. Reconquista: Moors and Jews
3. 1492: Columbus
4. Hermandades
5. Inquisition
-- Tomas de Torquemada
The Christianization and
Unification of Spain
V. Hapsburg Empire (Holy Roman Empire)
A. Golden Bull of 1356: reduced central
authority of the Emperor
B. Maximilian I (r.1493-1519)
1. marriage to Mary of Burgundy 1477
C. Charles V (r.1519-1556): most powerful
ruler in 16th century Europe
1. Inherited the Spanish
and Austrian thrones
2. Last medieval emperor
The
European
Empire of
Charles V
VI. Women, Guilds & Slaves in Renaissance Society
A. Women
1. status of upper-class women declined
2. women viewed as property of their husband
3. ordinary women played a significant
role in the work place and in the home
4. rape was not considered a serious crime
against either the victim or society
B. Female Humanist
1. Christine de Pisan
2. Laura Cereta (1469-1499)
a. women’s inferiority was derived not from
the divine order of things but from women
themselves
“for knowledge is not given as a gift, but
through study…The free mind, not afraid of
labor, presses on to attain the good.”
II. Society in the 16th and 17th Centuries
A. Status of Women
1. Christine de Pisan
2. Protestant Reformation
B. Hierarchy
1. countryside
2. urban
3. advancement
C. Demography
D. Family
E. Witch Hunts (70,000-100,000 people killed
between 1400 and 1700)
1. Popular belief in magic
a. “cunning folk”
b. Claims to power often by the elderly or
impoverished, and especially women
2. Church: powers come from either God or
the Devil
a. Used witch hunts to gain control over
village life in rural areas.
3. Women: 80% of victims (“weaker vessels”)
a. Most between 45 and 60; single
b. Misogyny?
c. Involvement in midwifery
4. Religious wars and divisions created a panic
environment; scapegoating
-- Leaders tried to gain loyalty of their
people; appeared to be protecting them
5. End of witch hunts
a. Scientific Revolution
b. Advances in medicine; insurance
companies
c. Trials became chaotic; accusers could
be accused
d. Protestant Reformation
F. Food and Diet
G. Slavery
1. white slavery
2. black slavery
a. Bartholomè de Las Casas
b. Portugal was the first
3. slavery ideology
III. Commercial Revolution (ca. 1500-1700)
A. Significance:
1. Spurred age of discovery & exploration
2. Rise of capitalism
3. Rise of the middle class (bourgeoisie)
B. Causes:
1. Population growth: 70 million in 1500;
90 million in1600
2. “price revolution”: (long slow upward
trend); increased food prices, increased
volume of $, influx of gold & silver
C. Rise in capitalism (laissez-faire):
1. Entrepreneurs; bourgeoisie at the forefront
2. Banking: Fuggers, Antwerp in 16th c.,
Amsterdam in 17th c.
3. Chartered companies: state provided
monopolies in certain areas (BEIC, DEIC)
4. joint-stock companies: investors pooled
resources for common purpose (forerunner of
modern corporation)
5. stock markets: e.g., Bourse in Germany
6. Enclosure movement; “Putting-out” Industry
7. New industries: cloth production, mining,
printing, book trade, shipbuilding, cannons &
muskets
8. Consumer goods: rice, sugar, tea
9. Mercantilism: nations sought self-sufficient
economy; “bullionism”
IV. Age of Discovery*
A. Early exploration
1. Africans
2. Vikings
3. Christian Crusaders:11th & 14th
centuries
Overseas Exploration & Conquest: 15th & 16th
Centuries
B. Cartography
1. Ptolemy’s Geography, 1475: map making
2. Martin Behaim: terrestrial globe, 1492*
3. Waldseemuller’s world map (1507)*
4. Mercator’s map (ca. 1575)*
The world according to Behaim, 1492
Martin
Behaim’s
globe, 1492
Waldseemuller’s World Map,
1507
Mercator’s Map, ca. 1575
C. Impact of the Renaissance
1. Revival of Platonic studies, especially
mathematics
2. Awareness of living “at dawn of a new
age”
3. Invention of printed book: publication
and circulation of accurate texts and
maps
D. Technology
1. Astronomy
2. Magnetic compass (ca. 1300)
3. Quadrant (ca. 1450)
4. Astrolab (ca. 1480)
5. Cross staff (ca. 1550)
6. Ships
a. Portuguese caravel (ca. 1450)
b. Lateen sail and rope riggings
c. Axial rudder (side rudder)
d. Gunpowder and cannons
Hans Holbein: The Ambassadors
E. Portugal
1. Prince Henry the Navigator
(1394-1460)
2. Bartholomew Dias (1450-1500)
3. Vasco da Gama (1469-1525)
4. Alphonso d’Albuquerque
(1453-1515)
5. Pedro Cabral (1467-1520)
6. Amerigo Vespucci
7. Slave trade*
Prince Henry
Vasco da Gama
The African Slave Trade
F. Spain: Explorers
1. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
-- Bartholomew
de las Casas
The Santa Maria
2. Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
-- Pope Leo VI
3. Vasco Nunez de Balboa (1475-1517)
4. Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)
G. Spain: Conquistadores
1. Hernando Cortès:
Aztecs
2. Francisco Pizzaro: Incas*
Inca Empire at the time of
conquest (1530)
3. Mestizos
4. Hacienda system
5. Encomienda system
H. France
1. Giovanni da Verrazano (1480-1527)
2. Jacques Cartier (1491-1557)
3. Samuel de Champlain
I. England (why late in discovery?)
1. John (1425-1500) & Sebastian (14741557) Cabot
2. Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596)
3. Sir Martin Frobisher (1535-1594)
J. Results of Contact
1. Native Americans
a. 90% dead by 1600
b. European cultural imports
2. For Europeans
a. Revolution in Diet
b. Rise of global empires
c. Rise of capitalism