Cover Slide
Maps and Images for
McKay 8e
A History of Western
Society
Chapter 15
The Age of Religious
Wars and European
Expansion
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Politics, Religion, and War
• A New Kind of Warfare
– The Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559)
between France and Spain made Spain
dominant in Italy. It ended an age of dynastic
warfare and began an age of religious and
political warfare.
– Warfare in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries differed from medieval warfare.
• Armies were larger and more expensive
• Gunpowder weakened the notion that war was
ennobling.
• People did not realize that the medieval ideal of a
pan-European society ruled by one emperor and
one pope was dead.
European Voyages of Exploration
• Long Range Causes
– Crusades
– Introduction of
Printing and spread
of information within
Europe
– Contact with Arab
Merchants
• Immediate Causes
– Development of new
Technologies
– Nationalism with strong
Kings
– Desire of European
nations to compete with
Italian City states for
trade with East
– Prince Henry’s School at
Sagres
European Voyages of Exploration
• Immediate Effects
–
–
–
–
• Long Range Effects
Establishment of
– Commercial
Portuguese trading posts
Revolution
in Africa and Asia
– Slave trade
Spanish exploration and
discovery of the Americas
– Spread of
Destruction of American
Christianity
Cultures
– Emergence of
Establishment of
European rivalries
European Colonies in the
over trade and
Americas
territory
Politics, Religion, and War
• The Origins of Difficulties in France (1515–1559)
– Depopulation caused by the Hundred Years’ War and
plague meant the end of serfdom in France (due to
labor shortages).
– Inflation sapped noble income from land.
– To pay for the Habsburg-Valois wars, French King
Francis I sold government offices, creating a taxexempt “nobility of the robe.”
– In the Concordat of Bologna with the Pope, Francis
gained power to appoint bishops and abbots in
France, a source of offices for patronage
appointments (and one reason France remained
officially Catholic).
– Protestantism, however, continued to make rapid
gains in France in the sixteenth century.
Politics, Religion, and War
• Religious Riots and Civil War in France (1559–
1598)
– French monarchs in the second half of the sixteenth
century were weak.
– During this period almost half of the French nobility was
Calvinist. Being Calvinist was a way of demonstrating
independence from central power.
– Commoner Catholics and Calvinists wrought horrific
violence against one another.
– In the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572, Catholics
in Paris killed thousands of “Huguenots” (French
Calvinists).
– Civil War followed, and ended only in 1598 when King
Henry IV converted to Catholicism and issued the Edict
of Nantes, protecting Huguenots but limiting their right to
proselytize.
Politics, Religion, and War
• The Netherlands under Charles V
– Late sixteenth-century international politics
centered on the Netherlands.
– Emperor Charles V inherited the seventeen
provinces that make up present day Belgium
and Holland.
– The Netherlands was a center of commercial
activity.
– As elsewhere, corruption in the Roman church
led to calls for reform.
– In 1556 Charles V divided his realm between
his brother Ferdinand and his son Philip.
Politics, Religion, and War
• The Revolt of the Netherlands (1566–1587)
– By the 1560s Calvinism had made rapid progress among
wealthy Netherlands merchants.
– Phillip II of Spain (one of two successors to Emperor Charles
V) appointed his half-sister Margaret regent of the
Netherlands in 1559.
– Margaret brought the Inquisition into the area to crush
Protestantism, and raised taxes.
– In August 1566 Calvinists rioted, destroying churches and
libraries.
– Philip sent troops to crush the rebellion and civil war raged for
ten years (1568–1578).
– Ultimately the areas the Spanish managed to hold became
Belgium, and the areas that declared independence in 1581
became the Netherlands (or Holland).
– As the Spanish invaded the Netherlands after 1581, England
aided the Protestant government there.
Politics, Religion, and War
• Philip II and the Spanish Armada
– Philip II of Spain was determined to crush heresy.
– In 1587 Philip, at the urging of the Pope, prepared a
great fleet to attack England.
– In 1588 this “Spanish Armada” was defeated by the
English fleet and bad weather, preventing Philip from
forcing northern Europe back into the Catholic
church.
Politics, Religion, and War
• The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648)
– By the early seventeenth century Catholics, Lutherans, and
Calvinists were violating the Peace of Augsburg in the Holy
Roman Empire, proselytizing and converting rulers. The result
was the formation of the Protestant Union of Lutheran princes
(1608) and the opposing Catholic League (1609).
– A Protestant attack on German Emperor Ferdinand’s officials
in Prague, Bohemia, began war between Protestants and
Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire.
– The first phase of the war (1618–1625) involved fighting in
Bohemia between Ferdinand, supported by the Catholic
League, and the Protestant Union. Ferdinand was victorious.
– The second phase of the war (1625–1629) was the Danish
phase, involving intervention by King Christian IV of
Denmark on the Protestant side. During this phase too
Ferdinand was victorious. However, the Habsburgs’ chief
general, Wallenstein, alienated many Catholic princes with his
high-handed and self-interested behavior.
Politics, Religion, and War
• The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648)
– The third phase of the war (1630–1635) involved successful
intervention by Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus on the
Protestant side. France subsidized the Swedes to limit
Habsburg power.
– The fourth phase of the war (1635–1648) involved direct
French intervention on the Protestant side.
– In 1648 peace was at last achieved. The Peace of Westphalia
recognized the Netherlands’s independence, made 300 or so
German princes sovereign on their own territories, gave
France gains on her eastern frontiers, and denied the Pope the
right to intervene in German religious affairs. The Peace also
stipulated the same terms as Augsburg, dividing up Germany
among Lutheran, Catholic, and Calvinist princes.
– Germany after the Thirty Years’ War
– The Thirty Years’ War was probably the worst economic and
social disaster Germany suffered before the twentieth century
The Search for Spices
• Hoping to bypass the Muslim and Italian traders who
controlled the rich Asian spice trade, western
Europeans sought a new sea route to Asia.
• Advances in technology, including improved ships and
reliable navigational tools, helped European explorers
navigate the vast oceans of the world.
• Portugal and Spain led the way in overseas exploration.
Later, the English, French, and Dutch joined the search
for a northwest passage to Asia.
• In his search for a sea route to Asia, Christopher
Columbus came upon the Americas, continents
previously unknown to Europeans.
The Search for Spices
• Europeans take to the Seas:
• Europeans needed spices from the
East.
• They wanted to cut out the middleman
(Islam) and so tried to by pass the
Middle East by sea.
• Spirit of inquiry made people want to
explore.
• Religious conquer Islam / extend
Christianity
The First Global Age: Europe and
Asia
• Portugal began the age as the
first European country to gain a
foothold in Asia.
• Improved Technology allowed
explorers to extend their range.
–(Magnetic compass, Astrolabe,
Caravel ships, sextant and
Mercator maps).
Marine Astrolabes
Marine Technologies (Caravel &
Anchor)
Marine Mercator Maps (Colon &
Hispaniola)
Portuguese Pioneers
• Henry the Navigator mapped the
Coast of Africa,
• B. Dias rounded the Cape of Good
Hope,
• Vasco Da Gama is first to India,
makes a profit and begins outposts
to ensure trade.
Henry The Navigator’s school at
Cape Sagres
Columbus as he is remembered
today in Spain
Gerardus Mercator (1512)
• Mapmaker, scholar, and
religious thinker whose interests
ranged from mathematics to
calligraphy to the origin of the
universe.
• In 1544 he fell victim to the
Inquisition, partly due to his
Protestant beliefs and partly due
to suspicions aroused by his wide
travels in search of data for his
maps. He was fortunate to be
released after seven months with
the charges of heresy lifted—and
head and limbs intact.
• Best-known to us today for his
cylindrical world map
projection, first used in 1569,
which enabled navigators to plot
Mercator Map 1505 of Europe
Spain
• Spain competes with Portugal, hires
Columbus.
• Columbus makes two mistakes, he doesn't
know how big the Earth is and he doesn't
count on N & S America.
• Columbus's voyages lead to a line of
demarcation between Spain and Portugal
(Both Catholic).
• Amerigo Vespucci gets credit for naming
the New World.
El Paso
• Magellan looks for this passage and is first to
circumnavigate the Earth. Hired by Spain not
Portugal, he set sail, encountered mutinies, sailed
into the Pacific. Discovered how large the Pacific
was, Died in the Pacific, 18 men made it home 3
years later.
• The English and others also tried to find El Paso,
they found N America, Canada and
Newfoundland instead. This caused rivals and
wars in the future.
Armada Portrait of Elizabeth
This anonymous painting of the sixteenth century, dubbed The Armada Portrait,
depicts the serene and resolute Elizabeth l flanked by "before" and "after"
glimpses of the Spanish fleet. Her hand rests on the globe in a gesture of dominion
that also memorializes the circumnavigation of the globe by her famous captain,
Sir Francis Drake, some years before. (By kind permission of Marquess of Tavistock
and Trustees of Bedford Estate)
Baroque: Rubens, Horrors of War
Baroque: Rubens, Horrors of War
With enormous intellectual and physical energy, as well as a large studio of assistants, the great
Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was incredibly productive, and the most
influential figure in baroque art in northern Europe. In this dynamic allegory from 1638--Horrors
of War--Venus tries to restrain Mars (holding the torch); he is followed by disease and famine.
The shrieking lady at left, clad in black, represents miserable Europe. (Palazzo Pitti/The
Bridgeman Art Library International )
Cortes greeted by local leaders
Cortes greeted by local leaders
Hernan Cortes's march in 1519 through the valley of Mexico toward Tenochtitlan, the Aztec
capital, was recorded not only in the Spaniard's journals by also by local witnesses. In this
illustration from an Aztec codex, an elegantly garbed Mexican leader brings food and supplies to
Cortes. The woman standing next to Cortes is Malintzin (who later adopted the Spanish name
Dona Marina), an Aztec noblewoman traded by her stepfather to the Mayas and eventually given
to Cortes. She was a translator and interpreter who became an essential ally during the conquest
of Mexico.
El Greco, Burial of Count Orgaz
El Greco, Burial of Count Orgaz
Born
in
Crete,
Domenikos
Theotokopoulos (1541-1614), known
as El Greco ("The Greek"), moved to
Venice in the 1560s and learned the
techniques of the Venetian masters. El
Greco brought to his art a deeply
religious intensity, and often imbued
religious themes with an ecstatic,
emotional, and mystical quality. His
painting The Burial of Count Orgaz
conveys the traditional message that
good works will merit the intercession
of the saints in the matter of salvation
and attaining heaven. The action
operates on three levels: death, the
funeral, and the arrival of the Count's
soul in heaven.
Entry of Henry IV into Paris
Entry of Henry IV into Paris
The prolific Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), in his grand
painting The Triumphal Entry of Henry IV into Paris after the Religious
Wars, depicted the king as the magnanimous victor, and the residents of
the city as both submissive and grateful. (Louvre/R.M.N./Art Resource,
NY)
Netherlands' bastioned fortress
This sixteenth-century engraving depicts a fortress in the Netherlands protected by five bastions-the five pentagonal projections around the buildings in the center. The bastions enabled defenders
to fire from all angles when under attack, and created a smaller expanse of wall on which
attackers could direct artillery fire. The walls were also lower than those of a medieval fortress
and were reinforced with earth. The Dutch took this fortress from the Spanish in 1592--a rare
successful attack on a bastioned fortress--by tunneling to the outer wall (lower right) and mining
it with huge explosive charges.
Page from Titus Andronicus
This is a page from an early copy of William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. With
classical allusions, fifteen murders and executions, a Gothic queen who takes a black
lover, and incredible violence, this early tragedy (1594) was a melodramatic thriller that
enjoyed enormous popularity with the London audience. Modern critics believe that it
foreshadowed King Lear with its emphasis on suffering and madness. (The Folger
Shakespeare Library)
Pamphlet of witch trial
Pamphlet of witch trial
Printed pamphlets, such
as this sixteenth-century
example describing the
execution of three women
in Essex, England, spread
the news of local
"outbreaks" of witchcraft.
One of the women, Joan
Prentis, is also depicted
surrounded by her animal
familiars. The ferret in
Joan's lap, the pamphlet
relates, was the Devil
himself in animal form.
Philip II
Philip II
Alonso Sanchez Coello (15311588), a Spanish court painter,
portrays Philip II in an
unflattering way. He tried to
combine truth with respect,
showing the king dressed in
the austere black that was in
fashion at the Spanish court,
his hand fingering a rosary,
and wearing the Order of the
Golden Fleece (an order of
knighthood) around his neck.
The son of Emperor Charles
V, Philip came to the throne at
the age of 29, and had control
over all Spanish colonial
territories, the Netherlands,
and a large area of Southern
Italy. He was also a force to be
reckoned with in England.
(Museo del Prado)
Portuguese in India
In the sixteenth century Portuguese men moved to the Indian Ocean
basin to work as administrators and traders. This Indo-Portuguese
drawing shows a Portuguese man speaking to an Indian woman,
perhaps making a proposal of marriage. (Biblioteca Casanatense,
Rome)
Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre
This detail from Francois Dubois's painting The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre memorializes
the grisly events of August 24, 1572. On that date a band of Catholic noblemen, accompanied by
the personal guard of the king of France, hunted down one hundred Protestant nobles who were
asleep in their lodgings in and around the royal palace, and murdered them in cold blood. This
massacre was named after the Catholic saint on whose feast day it fell. (Musee Cantonal des
Beaux-Arts, Lausanne)
Siege of Constantinople
Siege of Constantinople
The siege of Constantinople
by the Turks in 1453--which
only lasted fifty-three days-required the attackers to
isolate the city both by sea
and by land. This miniature
from the fifteenth century
shows the Turkish camps, as
well as the movements of
Turkish boats, completing
the isolation of the city.
The Gesu in Rome
This church is the center of the Jesuit order and the burial
place of Saint Ignatius Loyola. Its baroque architecture set
the tone for many later buildings in Rome and for many
new Catholic churches elsewhere. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)
Tintoretto, Last Supper
The foremost painter in Venice during the second half of the sixteenth century was Jacopo
Robusti (1518-1594), known as Tintoretto, which means "the little dyer," so named after the
profession of his father. In The Last Supper (painted between 1592 and 1594) Tintoretto employs
a diagonal perspective that draws the eye toward the focus of the painting--the figure of Christ.
The hallmark of the painting is the luminescent light that seems to emerge from within the
painting itself. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)
Wondrous people headless
Medieval Christians believed that wondrous peoples lived beyond the
borders of Christendom. Images of headless or one-legged men were
usually included in travel accounts. This illustration from Marco Polo's
Travels shows what many Europeans expected to find when they
traveled. (Bibliotheque nationale de France)
Wurzburg (German Baroque)
Wurzburg (German
Baroque)
The baroque style brought
architects, painters, and
sculptors together in
harmonious, even playful
partnership. This
magnificent monumental
staircase in the PrinceBishop's Palace, Wurzburg,
designed by Johann
Balthasar Neumann (16871753) in 1735, merges into
the vibrant ceiling frescoes
by Giovanni Battista
Tiepolo (1696-1770).
Map: The Spanish Habsburgs and Europe,
ca. 1556
The Spanish Habsburgs and Europe, ca. 1556
Philip II's control of territories in northern Italy permitted the overland access of
Spanish troops to the Netherlands and heightened the Spanish threat to France. Lands
bordering the western Mediterranean made the sea a natural sphere of Spanish influence
as well. Habsburg lands in central Europe were controlled after 1556 by Charles V's
brother Ferdinand and his descendants.
Map: Europe During the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
Europe During the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
The Thirty Years' War was fought largely within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. It was the result of conflicts within
the empire as well as the meddling of neighbors for their own strategic advantages. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin. All
rights reserved.)
Map: Mexico and Central America
Mexico and Central America
The Valley of Mexico was a populous region of scattered towns, most of which were part of the Aztec Empire. As Cortes
marched inland from Vera Cruz toward the valley, he passed through lands that for generations had been in an almost
constant state of war with the Aztecs. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.)
Map: The Inca Empire
The Inca Empire
The Inca Empire was accessible from Spanish strongholds in Mexico only by sea. Spanish exploration and domination
brought the destruction of Inca mountain citadels and the transfer of administrative power to the new Spanish city of Lima
on the coast. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.)
Map: The Netherlands, 1559-1609
The Netherlands, 1559-1609
Some provinces were overwhelmingly agricultural, some involved in manufacturing, others heavily commercial. Each of the
seventeen was tied to the Spanish crown in a different way. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)
Map: The Worldwide Slave Trade
The Worldwide Slave Trade
By the mid-seventeenth century, trade in spices, silk, sugar, and slaves linked all parts of the globe. The trans-Atlantic trade
in African peoples was one aspect of global commerce, one facet of worldwide slavery. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin. All
rights reserved.)
Map: World Exploration, 1492-1535
World Exploration, 1492-1535
The voyages of Columbus, da Gama, and Magellan charted the major sea-lanes that became essential for communication,
trade, and warfare for the next three hundred years. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.)