Chapter 16: Transformations in Europe, 1500-1750
Culture and Ideas
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Latin Church unity broken by theological controversies during Reformation era
Caused wars
Geco-Roman antiquity increased among well-educated Europeans.
Ideas about the motion of planets and the natural world were introduced.
Traditional political+social systems challenged. Influenced political and social
revolutionary movements ​after 1750-
Early Reformation
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1500: Papacy (central gov. Of Latin Christianity) held a high position as Europe’s
authority in education and religion.
Popes exercised greater power
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chronology:
Politics, Economy, and
culture
Environment and
Technology
Warfare
1500❏ 1500s Spain’s golden
century
❏ 1519 Protestant
Reformation begins
❏ 1540s Scientific
Revolution begins
❏ 1545 Catholic
reformation begins
❏ Late 1500s
Witch-hunts increase
❏ 1590s Dutch develop
Flyboats; “Little Ice
Age” begins
❏ 1536-1571 Ottoman
attack on Hapsburg
Empire.
❏ 1546-1555 German
Wars of Religion
❏ 1562-1598 French
Wars of Religion
❏ 1566-1648
Netherlands Revolt
1600❏ 1600s Holland’s
golden century
❏ 1611 First stock
exchange built in
Amsterdam
❏ 1636-1637 Tulip
bubble in Netherlands
❏ 1600s Growing
depletion of forests
❏ 1609 Galileo’s
astronomical
telescope
❏ 1682 Canal du Midi
completed
❏ 1618-1648 Thirty
Years’ War
❏ 1642-1649 English
Civil War
❏ 1652-1678
Anglo-Dutch Wars
❏ 1667-1697 Wars of
Louis XIV
❏ 1683-1697 Ottoman
Wars
1700❏ 1700s the
Enlightenment beings
❏ 1719-1720 Mississippi
Company bubble in
France.
❏ 1720 South Sea
Company bubble in
England
❏ 1750 English mine
nearly 5 million tons of
coal a year
❏ 1755 Lisbon
earthquake
❏ 1701-1714 War of the
Spanish Succession
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Protestant Reformation-​ Religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church
beginning in 1519. Resulted in the “Protesters” forming several new Christian
demonstrations including the lutheran and Reformed Churches and the Church of
England.
Luther’s denunciation of ostentation and corruption of the church led others to call for a
return to what they saw as authentic Christian practices and beliefs.
John Calvin - influential protestant leader.
Inspired “Calvinism”, “calvinists”
The Counter-Reformation and the Politics of Religion
-
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Campaign against internal reforms by the Catholic Church.
1545-1563: meeting in Italy to distinguish Catholic doctrines from Protestant “Errors”
1540: The society of Jesus, “Jesuits”, created by Ignatus of Loyola.
Catholic Reformation/Counter Reformation: ​Religious reform movement within the
Latin Christian Church, begun in response to the Protestant Reformation. It clarified
Catholic theology and reformed clerical training and discipline.
Valois Dynasty- gained military advantage in ​French Wars of Religion​ (see chart).
Dynasty ultimately accepted Cahtolic faith.
New Angleican Church distanced self from Catholic ritual and Theology: English Puritans
did the exact opposite.
1603: First Stuart King to be petitioned to eliminate bishops, James I.
Local Religion, Traditional Culture, and Witch-Hunts
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Religious orthodoxy were not well enforced in small villages and towns.
Local religions commonly blended rituals and beliefs
Witch-hunts became widespread in modern Europe
-
Linked to the belief of white and black magic.
Widely assumed that some men and women possessed special powers derived from
occult knowledge or, in some cases, from a compact with the Devil.
Fear of witches swept more dramatically in 16th and 17th century
Initial witch-hunts began in Protestant regions of Germany approx. late 16th century.
100,000 tried and 60,000 executed for witchcraft before hysteria ended.
Death toll was highest in German states like Wurzburg an Bamberh. Low in comparison
to Catholic states such as France and Spain.
Believed witch-hunt craze was caused by social tensions, growing rural poverty and
environmental strains.
The Scientific Revolution
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-
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Scientific Revolution:​ The intellectual movement in Europe, initially associated with
planetary motion and other aspects of physics, that by the ​seventeenth century ​had
laid the groundwork for modern science.
Began in the 16th century
many influential intellectuals were Christian (Catholic or protestant respectively)
Nicholas Copernicius ​(1473-1543): Polish Monk and mathematician. Helped initiate
new era. Proposed sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe.
Tycho Brahe ​(1546-1601)​ ​+ ​Johannes Kepler​ (1571-1630): strengthened Copernicus
model
Most intellectual and religious leaders suppressed and condemned the heliocentric
universe model.
Rene Descartes​ (1595-1650): among the most influential intellectuals. French
philosopher and mathematician. Developed physics and calculus. Demonstrated the
usefulness of algebra to geometry.
Robert Boyle​ (1627-1691): one of the founders of modern chemistry. Also a missionary
Issac Newton​ (1642-1727): Formed many mathematical laws that governed all physical
objects. Ex: “Newton's Laws of Gravity”
The Early Enlightenment:
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Enlightenment: ​a philosophical movement in the 18th century Europe that fostered the
belief that one could reform society by discovering rational laws that governed social
behavior and were just as scientific as the laws of physics.
Similar to the Scientific Revolution as they faced bitter opposition from political and
religious establishments
Influenced by Scientific revolution
Voltaire​ (1694-1778): leading French thinker, “No opinion is worth burning your neighbor
for.”
Aided in new scientific methods and discoveries changing European society.
More a frame of mind, ideology, than a coherent movement.
Social and Economic Life
The Bourgeoisie:
-
European cities grew due to expanding trade and rising commercial profits
1500- Paris was the only city with 100,000 inhabitants.
1700- Both Paris and London had populations over 500,000, 11 other European cities
contained of 100,000 people.
Bourgeoisie: ​In early modern Europe, the class of well-off town dwellers whose wealth
came from manufacturing finance, commerce, and allied professions.
1700- Amsterdam largest city in Holland, 200,000 inhabitants
1600- new ship design introduced, ​fluit/​flyboat
Amsterdam was Europe’s financial center
Joint stock companies and stock exchanges were introduced from dutch banks.
Peasants and Laborers:
-
Great plague of the 14th century aided in the decline of “Serfdom”
Populations were recovering in Western Europe
Brief expansion of African slaves in Europe during the 1500's, ​almost all African slaves
were sent to America in the 1600’s.
Forced labor increased in Eastern Europe
Little Ice Age- ​Century-long period of cool climate that began in the 1590s. Ill effects on
agriculture in northern Europe were notable.
Deforestation began to occur due to overuse of wood fuel in Europe.
England's coal-mining increased twelvefold.
Women and the Family:
-
Social and economic status of women were closely tied to that of their husbands.
Women everywhere ranked below men at the time
Young men and women in modern europe could choose their own spouses in contrast to
other arranged-marriage centered cultures at the time.
Europeans married later than other cultures
Political Innovations
State Development
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City-states and principalities abounded, either independently or bound together in
federations.
-
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Small number of republics
Number of strong monarchies emerged and developed national identities.
Habsburg-​ powerful European family that provided many Holy Roman Emperors
founded the Austrian (later Austro-Hungarian) Empire, and ruled 16th and 17th cent.
Spain.
Charles V (1519-1536): emperor in 1519. Aided in the Counter-reformation
Philip’s effort to seal Spain off from the Protestant REformation and the intellectual
tumult of the Scientific Revolution also imposed Economic costs.
Spain enjoyed success in promoting national political unification and religious unity.
The Monarchies of England and France:
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England and France faced conflict with powerful rivals in the 17th century
Religion was a constant issue
King Charles I ruled for 11 years without summoning Parliament
English Civil War-​ Conflict over royal versus parliamentary rights, caused by King
Charles I’s arrest of his parliamentary critics and ending with his execution. Its outcome
checked the growth of royal absolutism and, with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and
the English Bill of Rights in 1689, ensured that England would be a constitutional
monarchy.
Louis XIV moved his court to infamous palace ​Versailles.
Most contemporary European rulers admired and imitated the centralized powers and
apparent absolutist authority of the French monarchs.
John locke: ​disputed monarchical claims to absolute authority by divine rights, arguing
that rulers derived their authority from the consent of the governed and were subject by
law.
Warfare and Diplomacy
-
European states fought numerous international conflicts provoked in park by efforts to
protect or extend colonial empires.
Wars led to dramatic improvements in the skill and weaponry of European armed forces
Made European forces among the most powerful in the world.
Larger armies required more effective command structures.
Balance of Power: ​The policy in international relations by which, beginning in the 18th
century, the major European states acted to prevent any one of them from becoming too
powerful.
Paying the Piper
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Euorpean nations struggled to pay heavy military costs while at the same time funing
expanded bureaucracies, infrastructure improvements and the growing extravagance of
monarchs.
-
Governments collected taxes indirectly using tax farmers
System allowed governments to avoid creating expensive new bureaucracies.
Guaranteed corruption, limited revenue growth.
French government used Law’s bank to print more paper money as it was allowed to
issue on the promise to exchange bills at face value for silver or gold coin.
❏ Greater political centralization enabled early modern monarchs to exert increased
influence on economic, religious, and social life
❏ While the Holy Roman Empire fragmented along religious and political lines, Spain,
France, and England achieved the grater centralization and religious unity.
❏ Spain enforced Catholic unity through the inquisition and France through Bourbon policy,
while in England the church became an arm of royal power.
❏ In both England and France, monarchs struggled with rival over the limits of royal
authority.
❏ Armies grew larger and more sophisticated while European powers strove to maintain a
balance of power.