Before We Get Started
 Europe experienced enormous religious, political,
commercial, and scientific upheavals in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries that produced the extensive
global expansion by Europeans that we see in later
centuries.
The Fragmentation of Western
Christendom
 Martin Luther
 German Catholic monk and teacher who began
protesting against the Catholic Church’s teaching of
indulgences
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Later protested priestly authority and the practices of the
Pope.
Advocated a non – Latin bible for people to read
Teaching spread like wildfire because of the printing press
Most German states adopted these protestant teachings and
disavowed the Catholic church
The Fragmentation of Western
Christendom
 Henry VIII
 English monarch who separated from the Catholic church so
that he could divorce his Spanish wife who was only bearing
daughters.
 Established himself as the head of the Anglican Church but
changed little about church practices.
 Successors adopted the more protestant practices advocated
by Martin Luther.
 John Calvin
 Taught a very strict form of Protestantism called Calvinism
that became popular in the areas of Holland and Belgium
The Catholic Reformation
 Catholics responded to the Protestants by reexamining
their doctrine and practices.
 Council of Trent – Series of meetings over the course
of 18 years in the early 1500s of high ranking Catholic
officials.
 Purpose was to cleanse the church of abuses while
investing more into spiritual commitment with the
hope of persuading lapsed Catholics to return to the
church.
 Ignatius Loyola was influential in this missionary
process
The Fragmentation of Western
Christendom
 Witch-Hunts and Religious Wars
 Wars
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French Catholics and Huguenot Protestants fought for control of the
French Monarchy for thirty-six years.
Thirty Years’ War – Fought on German soil but engaged most European
countries in some way.
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Religious alliances made it the most complicated and devastating war
fought on European soil up to that point.
One-third of the German population was killed while no one state proved
its dominance.
Resulted in the Peace of Westphalia which granted recognition of
sovereignty to each nation and the right to manage internal affairs
 Witch-Hunts
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Some 110,000 brought to trial and over 60% killed
Many historians believe that the witch hunts in Europe from the 15001700s were indicative of the stress and strain of profound changes in a
short period of time.
The Consolidation of Sovereign
States
 Ironically, most monarchs in Europe benefited from
religious strife.
 Established monarchs consolidated power while
ambitious opportunists used the chaos to gain power.
 Holy Roman Empire remained decentralized and lost
its prominence but almost all other countries gained
strength and the ability to compete with each other.
The Consolidation of Sovereign
States
 The Attempted Revival of Empire
 Charles V
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Hapsburg ruler who attempted to reunite the Holy Roman
Empire under a centralized rule but failed due to his focus on
the Catholic / Lutheran controvery
The Consolidation of Sovereign
States
 While Italian states dominated commercial enterprise in
Europe, the new monarchs of England, France, and Spain
increased their political power through taxation, control of
nobility, and strong centralized administrations.
 Monarchs in Spain, France, and England used taxes to
increase financial stability (new and higher).
 Increased bureaucracy to make administration and tax
collection more reliable.
 Spanish Inquisition
 Used by Ferdinand and Isabel to consolidated catholic power
and persecute Jews, Muslims, and Protestant movements.
The Consolidation of Sovereign
States
 Constitutional States
 In the seventeenth century, European monarchies began to
develop into two distinct types: constitutional and absolute.
 Holland and England – Monarchies shared power with
representative bodies in a “constitutional monarchy”
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In England the “Glorious Revolution” was a civil war in the 1600s that
finally brought about a royal family that would share power with
Parliament.
 France, Spain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia – Held power
tightly within the monarchy itself in an “absolute monarchy”
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Divine Right of Kings
France – Louis XIV (Strongest example of Absolute Monarchy)
Russia – Peter the Great, followed by Catherine the Great
The Consolidation of Sovereign
States
 The European States System
 New European states were much more powerful than
their predecessors and this led to more competition and
war.
 Competition and war, although it drained it drained
European resources, strengthened many nations as a
whole because it led to the development of stronger and
better militaries and weaponry.
Early Capitalist Society
 In addition to political and religious change, Europe
also experience population growth as well as changes
in communication and transportation, which in turn
lead to changes in the economic and social structure.
 Capitalist society developed
 Western European countries experienced great
economic prosperity while eastern European countries
did not.
Early Capitalist Society
 Population growth and urbanization
 Bubonic plague’s fade from European society and
increased availability of reasonable priced food lead to
population growth and decreased mortality rates.
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1500 – European population was 81 million
1800 – European population was 180 million
 Urbanization occurred as a result
Early Capitalist Society
 Early Capitalism and Protoindustrialization
 Population growth and rapid urbanization fostered
extraordinary economic growth which coincided with
the emergence of capitalism
 Capitalism – An economic system in which private
individuals provide good in a free market while they bear
the costs of production in terms of land, buildings,
machinery, tools, equipment, workshops, and raw
materials.
 Government and upper classes do not direct commerce.
 Profit or loss is entirely up to the individual.
 Banking systems, insurance companies, and joint-stock
companies evolved as a result.
Early Capitalist Society
 Social Change in Early Modern Europe
 Putting-out system – Raw material such as wool were
given to family households to spin, weave, and be
fashioned into garments. The businessmen then picked
it up, paid the family, and sold the goods.
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Changed life in Europe by infusing large amounts of cash that
were previously unavailable to the peasant classes of Europe.
Again, Western Europe enjoyed great gains and modernized
while Eastern Europe suffered and remained somewhat stuck
in the past.
ADAM SMITH very influential in Capitalistic theories
Science and Enlightenment
 The Reconception of the Universe
 Ptolomaic View – Long standing view that the Earth was the
center of the universe and was fixed and pure.
 1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus – Proposed that the sun was the
center of the universe with all other planets revolving around
it.
 Johannes Kepler – Used math to explain Copernicus’s theory.
 Galileo Galilei – Used the telescope to study the movement of
planets and other objects in the universe to provide evidence
to support Copernicus
 Issac Newton (1642-1727) – Developed gravitational theories
that revolutionized physical sciences.
Science and Enlightenment
 The Enlightenment
 New ways of thinking about society, human existence,
politics, and authority
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John Locke - Politics
Montesquieu – Politics
Adam Smith – Economics
Voltaire – Politics and religion
France was the center of the Enlightenment as the philosophes
gathered in salons to discuss and publish Enlightenment
ideas.
Changed America and Europe profoundly and laid the
groundwork for revolutions that changed the world.