The Growth of European Nation States

1500s-1600s

Exploration and Colonization

• Portuguese– Henry the Navigator– Diaz, da Gama, Cabral– Southern Atlantic, Africa, India

• New Technologies– Magnetic compass, astrolabe, new sails/vessels

Exploration and Colonization

• Spanish– Columbus– Magellan– Cortes - Aztecs– Pizarro – Incas

• Gold and silver• Columbian Exchange

Exploration and Colonization

• Low Countries rebel against Philip II– 1556-1587– Calvinist– Prosperous

• Spanish Netherlands (Belgium)/United Provinces (Holland)

• Defeat of Spanish Armada (1588)

Exploration and Colonization

• Thirty Years’ War runs concurrently with this era

• Austria gains Bohemia, Hungary, and Transylvania after defeating Suleiman the Magnificent

Exploration and Colonization

• Russia– Czars used influence with Mongols to consolidate

power– Ivan the Terrible (r. 1547-1584)

• Limited the power of the boyars• Civil war after his death

– Romanov dynasty established in 1613

– Peter the Great (r. 1696-1725)• Expanded power of the state• Modernized/Westernized• St. Petersberg

Exploration and Colonization

• Brandenburg– Gained independence as a result of a weakened

Hapsburg dynasty– Hohenzollern dynasty• Frederick William (r. 1713-1740)• Autocratic rule

– Junkers established autocratic rule in Prussia

Absolutism in France

• Francis I (r. 1515-1547)– Valois rival to HRE Charles V– Instituted taille (direct tax on land a property)– Concordat of Bologna• Effectively nationalized the French Church

Absolutism in France

• Henry II (r. 1547-1559)– Persecuted Huguenots• Continued under Francis II and Charles IX• Ended with Edict of Toleration

– Catherine de Medici – regent

Absolutism in France

• Henry of Navarre– Huguenot– Converts and becomes Henry IV (r. 1589-1610)– Edict of Nantes• Religious freedom

– Reformed tax collection system

Absolutism in France

• Regency of Louis XIII– Cardinal Richelieu

• Centralized government• Encouraged commerce• Increased tax base• Intendant system– Officials answer only to the king

• Diminished power of the nobility

Absolutism in France

• Regency of Louis XIV– Cardinal Mazarin

• War of the Fronde (1650-1652)– Nobility sought to limit the power of the monarch

• Louis comes of age– “L’Etat, c’est moi.”

Absolutism in France

• Three Estates– Clergy (1%)– Nobility (3-4%)– Bourgeoisie, artisans, urban workers, peasants

• Extravagance of Versailles– Captive nobility

• Edict of Nantes revoked

Constitutionalism in England

• Henry VII (r. 1485-1509)– Tudor– Strong central government– Beholden to Parliament

Constitutionalism in England

• Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547)

• Edward VI (r. 1547-1553)– 10 years old, frail health– Regency– Book of Common Prayer

Constitutionalism in England

• Bloody Mary Tudor (r. 1553-1558)– Catholic, married to Philip II– Burned Protestants

Constitutionalism in England

• Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603)

• Reestablished the English Reformation• Privateers• Ordered execution of Mary Stuart• Expanded Navy– Sir Francis Drake– Defeated Spanish Armada

• Golden Age of Literature– Shakespeare, Spenser, Donne, Marlowe, Bacon

Constitutionalism in England

• Stuart Dynasty (1603-1688)– James I (r. 1603-1625)• Absolutist

– Gunpowder Plot

• Addled Parliament (1614)– Parliament argued that taxes could only be raised

with its consent– James dissolved it

Constitutionalism in England

• Charles I (r. 1625-1649)– Absolutist– Petition of Right (1628)– Bishops’ War (1639-1640)– Long Parliament (1640-1660)

• Start of the English Civil War

English Civil War

• Roundheads– Middle class, merchants, major cities, small

segment of nobility• Cavaliers– Anglican clergy, majority of the nobility, peasants

English Civil War

• 1643– Roundheads ally with Scotland– Charles calls on Irish Catholics for help

• 1644– Oliver Cromwell– New Model Army– Battle of Marston Moor

English Civil War

• 1645– Charles surrenders to Scots

• 1647– Charles turned over to Parliament

• 1648– Cromwell victorious– Rump Parliament– Charles beheaded

English Civil War

• 1649– Commonwealth– Irish Question

• 1653-1660– Cromwell as Lord Protector• Dies in 1658• Son can’t maintain power

– Charles II restored

Stuart Restoration

• 1660-1688

• Cavalier Parliament (1660-1679)– Tories – nobles, gentry, Anglicans

• Favored monarchy and Anglicanism

– Whigs – middle class and Puritans• Favored Parliament and religious toleration

• Whig Parliament– Suspicious of Charles II’s pro-Catholic tendencies– Passed Habeas Corpus Act

Glorious Revolution

• James II (r. 1685-1688)– Devout Catholic– Very unpopular

• 1688 – nobles invited William of Orange, husband of James’ oldest daughter, Mary to take the throne

• English Bill of Rights