Chapter 14 Summary

• Wars of the 16th century pitted Protestants against Catholics.

• From 1560 to 1650, wars and economic and social crises plagued Europe.

• European monarchs sought economic and political stability through absolutism and the divine right of kings.

• The people become concerned with order and power

The French Wars of Religion

• Calvinism and Catholicism had become militant (combative) religions by 1560.

• Their struggle for converts and against each other was the main cause

• The Huguenots were French Protestants influenced by John Calvin.

• Huguenots = 7% of the pop. But 50% of nobility, including the house of Bourbon

Ultra Catholics

Vs.

Huguenots

(Calvinistic Protestants)

The French Wars of Religion (cont.)

• Townspeople were willing to help nobles weaken the monarchy - became a base of opposition against the Catholic king.

• Civil war raged for 30 years until in 1589, Henry of Navarre, leader of the Huguenots, succeeded to the throne as Henry IV.

• He issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598.

• It recognized Catholicism as France’s official religion, but gave the Huguenots the right to worship

Coronation of Henry IV

Henry of Navarre becomes Henry IV

French King – converts to Catholicism

Ferdinand and Isabella

Expelled Muslims in Grandada and enforced religious

unity.

Financed Christopher

Columbus on His expeditions.

Amounts of gold, silver and other precious jewels came to Spain.

Wearing

Two

Crowns

Spain

By the 1500’s Spain had become the first modern European power.

Under Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, Spain had expelled the last of the Muslim rulers.

They had financed Columbus’ voyages to the new world.

Spain had led the conquest of the Americas

Spain

By 1519, Spain was so

large and so difficult to

rule that King Charles V

divided it in half and went

off to live in a monastery.

Spain He gave the Hapsburg empire of central Europe to his

brother, Ferdinand.

Spain

He gave Spain, the Netherlands, southern Italy and Spain’s overseas empire to his son Philip.

King Philip of Spain

Under Philip, Spain became the most powerful nation in Europe.

Philip reigned as an absolute monarch, a ruler with complete authority over the government and the lives of the people.

He believed he ruled due to divine right, authority given him directly from God.

King Philip of Spain

From Spain he “defended” the Roman Catholic Church against the spread of Protestantism and Islam.

He fought the Ottoman Empire to prevent the spread of Islam in the Mediterranean.

He fought the English and the Netherlands to prevent the spread of Protestantism in Northern Europe.

In 1588, the Spanish Armada was sunk in the English Channel as they tried to invade England.

Spain’s siglo de oro or golden

century From 1550 to 1650

Spanish artists and writers produced many brilliant works of art.

Artists

El Greco

Diego Velazquez

The economic decline of Spain

By the late 1600’s, France had replaced

Spain as the most powerful European

nation.

Lack of leadership

Costly foreign wars

High taxes to pay for war

Expulsion of Protestants, Muslims and

Jews

Phillip II and Militant Catholicism

• King Philip II of Spain was the greatest supporter of militant Catholicism.

• He ruled from 1556 to 1598, period of greatness in Spain.

• Strict adherence to Catholicism and support for the monarchy.

• Spain - the nation God chose to save Catholic Christianity from the Protestant heretics.

Philip II

of Spain *

“The

Most

Catholic

King”

Philip –

tried to use

marriage as

a political

tool.

Married Mary

(England) –

Liz’s sister

1554 Shillilng – Philip & Mary

• Spain was the world’s most populous empire when Philip’s reign ended in 1598.

• It seemed a great power, but in reality Philip had bankrupted the country by spending too much on war.

• Real power shifted to England.

Phillip II and Militant Catholicism (cont.)

The England of Elizabeth

• Elizabeth Tudor ascended to the throne of England in 1558.

• During her reign, this small island became the leader of the Protestant nations and laid the foundation for becoming a world empire.

• She tried to keep France and Spain from becoming too powerful by supporting first one and then the other, balancing their power.

Video: A princess becomes a queen

Page 433 –

Queen Elizabeth’s

Golden Speech

The Spanish Armada!

The England of Elizabeth (cont.)

• In 1588, Spain sent an armada–a fleet of warships–to invade England.

• Yet the fleet that sailed had neither the manpower nor the ships to be victorious.

• The Spanish fleet was battered in numerous encounters and finally sailed home by a northward route around Scotland and Ireland, where storms sank many ships.

Elizabeth I Defeats Spanish

The Defeat of the

Spanish Armada

Defeat of the Armada

What makes a King or Queen Strong?

What makes them a respected and powerful ruler?