World History:
The Earth and its Peoples
Chapter 16
The Transformation of Europe,
1500-1750
Objectives
• Be able to show how the religious reformation and dynastic
rivalries further divided the people of Europe at a time when
greater unity seems desirable.
• Be able to describe how royal centralization increased the unity
and power of Spain, France, and England.
• Understand how states policies with regard to economic growth
and military reorganization, warfare, and diplomacy enable
northern European countries to move ahead of Spain.
• Be able to analyze the relationships between climate change,
human-induced environmental change, and social change in
Europe.
• Understand the ways in which witch-hunts, the Scientific
Revolution and the Enlightenment reflected different European
views of the natural world and of human society.
Religious and Political Innovations
New Modern Era
1) Reformation
2) Christian Europe unity
– competition
Religious Reform
– economic prosperity
• Renaissance
• St. Peter’s Basilica
– corruption
• Pope Leo X (Medici) (1513-21)
• indulgences
– Martin Luther (1483-1546)
• challenge to Pope Leo
• faith over works
Lutheranism
Religious and Political Innovations
Protestant Reformation
– rejection of Pope’s authority
• word of God & Bible
– Lutheranism
• salvation through Jesus Christ
• German-speaker appeal
– printing press
John Calvin (1509-1564)
– Protestant
– Institutes of the Christian Religion
• Salvation is predestined
• simplification of church rituals
– rejection of celibacy; pro-marriage
Catholic Reformation
– Society of Jesus (1534)
– Ignatius of Loyola
Failure of Empire, 1519-1556
Holy Roman Empire
– federation of Germanic states
• Ottomans (Vienna)
– Charles V - 1519
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Habsburg
Austria and Spain
Holy Roman Emperor
Goal: unite Europe
Opponents
– King Francis I
– Luther’s Reformation
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German Wars of Religion (1546)
Peace of Augsburg (1555)
– Breakup of empire
– Catholicism or Lutheranism
Royal Centralization, 1550-1750
Key Ingredients
1) Talented rulers (advisors)
– Jean Colbert (France)
– Robert Walpole (Great Britain)
2) Long tenure
– Spain 6 (1556-1759)
– France 5 (1574-1774)
Increased Power
• limit of church power
– Roman Catholic
– King Philip (Spain)
• Inquisition
– King Henry of Navarre (France)
• Catholic Conversion
• Edict of Nantes
Royal Centralization, 1550-1750
Increased Power
– King Louis XIV (France)
• Revocation of Edict of Nantes
– King Henry VIII (England)
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Katharine of Aragon
Archbishop of Canterbury 1533
head of Church of England
monasteries and convents
• limit of noble power
– uniformity in law - 1750
• intendants
• army
– vernacular
• nationalism over Latin
Absolutism & Constitutionalism
Absolutism
– no check on power
– France
• Estates-General
– not called to session
• efficiency in tax collection
• selling high office
– Palace of Versailles
Constitutionalism
– written constitution checks
power
– Great Britain
• coerced loans
• Scottish rebellion 1642
– King Charles I
Absolutism & Constitutionalism
English Civil War
– House of Commons 1642
• Two sides
– Lords
• bishops and nobles
– Commoners
• Puritans
• “Rump” parliament
– Charles I executed (1649)
– Oliver Cromwell (1649-1660)
• Glorious Revolution (1688)
– William of Orange
– Mary Stuart
• Refusals to call parliament
Building State Power
Powerful Military
– firearms
– large standing armies
• drilling techniques
• France
– naval superiority
• ramming to maneuverability
• cannon technology
• England
– 1588 - end of Spain’s dominance
• Balance of power
– War of Spanish Succession
• 1701-1721
• Austria/ Prussia/ England
Building State Power
Economy
– commercial elite alliances
– trade and taxes ratio
• Spain
– Protestants, Dutch, Muslim, Jew
– religious uniformity
• Dutch
– 1560s and 1570s revolts
– sales tax and Catholicism
– greatest trading nation by 1600s
• commercial shipping
• England
– financial revolution
• France
– aristocracy wins out
Dutch Revolts
The Dutch
Dutch Trade Routes
Urban Society
Growth of Urban Areas
– wealthy merchants
• bourgeoisie
– town dwellers
• capital reinvestment
– monarchial alliances
• state revenues
– family / ethnic networks
• poor
– “deserving” and “unworthy”
• marriage
– partner choice
– later / smaller families
Urban Society
Business Practices
– family funded
• banks
– big business / government
– security
• joint-stock companies
– limit of risk and reward
– monopolized overseas trade
• stock exchanges
• insurance companies
Technology
– refinement of existing
– spread of printed material
Rural Society
Average Person in 1500-1750
– decline in serfdom
– conditions worsen
– war and drought
• Little Ice Age (1590-1700)
– few degree drop
– potatoes and maize
• deforestation
– iron industry
– effect on rural poor
• gentry
– bourgeoisie estates
• rebellions
– tax increases; food shortages
Realm of Ideas
European Thinking
– folklore & Christian teaching
• natural / supernatural
• witchcraft
– social tensions & poverty
– Scientific Revolution
• natural causes
• Nicholas Copernicus
– heliocentric
• Galileo Galilei
– The Starry Messenger
• Isaac Newton
– forces of gravity
– Enlightenment
• power of reason
• John Locke (1690)
– Second Treatise of Civil
Government