Chapter Outline (Pages 449-461)

I. Religious and Political Innovations

A. The Failure of Empire
-During the first half of the 16th century, the Holy Roman Empire was pressured by
the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Since the Holy Roman Empire was made up of a
lose federation of Germanic states, they needed to unite in order to push back the
Ottomans. One candidate suited for this job was Charles I, a French-speaking
descendant of the powerful Austrian Habsburg family. He was elected Emperor in
1519, and helped to push back the Ottomans for the time being in 1529. However
many of the Germanic states resisted his move to merge them together into
several larger possessions.
-His opponent King Francis I of France also further destabilized the Holy Roman
Empire by openly supporting the Muslim Turks. (King Francis had lost to King
Charles in the election for Emperor) The Lutheran Reformation also prevented
unification, as it convinced many German princes to not share their power and
wealth with King Charles and seize Holy Roman land for themselves. When the
German prices waged open war with the Emperor, Charles gave up his unification
efforts and split his possessions [of land] to his various heirs. As a result of all of
this, the Holy Roman Empire and Church papacy was severely crippled
throughout the 16th century.
B. Royal Centralization
-Strong rulers and talented advisors helped to spur the growth of the European
states in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The monarchal rulers relied heavily on
great advisors in the areas of politics, economics, religions, and almost everything
else. Their chief advisors were the most important to them, helping the transitions
between rulers and giving advice to the rulers when necessary. These monarchs
also recognized the importance of businessmen as advisors, using them to obtain
information and advice in the economy.
-These advisors worked with their kings/queens to help limit the autonomy of the
church. Often times the government would control the church and use it to convict
critics of the king of heresy (punishable by death). They would also use the
church to their advantage, often times switching religions when necessary to
obtain what they desired. The Protestant Reformation facilitated this process of
government control and let rulers like King Henry VIII take full advantage over
religions and how much their followers valued it. For instance, when the Catholic
Church would not annul King Henry’s marriage, he simply “converted” and was
named the head of the Church of England, essentially letting him do whatever he
wanted. He then used his newly gained authority to disband churches and sold
church land to finance his navy. He also gave some of the land to powerful allies.
-The monarchs of Europe also helped to centralize their states by creating
national institutions and taking away power from the local elites. The French went
about doing this by appointing new royal officials to all of their provinces and by
using their army to tear down fortifications built by the nobles and towns to assert
their independence from the central French government.
-The growth of one common spoken language helped to further strengthen the
central governments of Europe. This growth was largely due to the Protestant
reformation, which stressed using the vernacular (local) language in church
services instead of using Latin. Popular secular (non-religious) literature also
 helped to spread a national language, as they were printed in only the national
language.
C. Absolutism and Constitutionalism
-Many rulers favored absolutism over constitutionalism. Absolutism is when there
is no constitution to limit the monarch’s power. However when the monarchs had
to deal with representative bodies like Parliament, things became more difficult.
The rulers now had to approve new taxes and declarations of war with
Parliament. This became known as constitutionalism, where customs or laws limit
a ruler’s power. The rulers would try to find every way around these checks and
balances. One good example of this was King Louis XIV of France. The
representative body of the Estates General limited his power. The King decided
that he would get around this power block by simply not calling the Estates
General in to session. Since he was unable to raise taxes, he devised clever ways
of collecting taxes so that he received triple the income. He also promoted
France’s economy in order to receive more money with the same amount of
taxes. He knew that if the economy did well, he would get more money to spend
on what he wanted, such as a massive mansion. He also sold government and
official positions to make large sums of money. Messing around with absolutism
was dangerous business as King Charles of England soon found out. He ruled
over his kingdom for eleven years without calling the Parliament into session and
twisted tax laws to his favor (since he couldn’t raise taxes) in order to gain more
money. This led to problems when there was a rebellion and the King was forced
to call the Parliament into session to approve higher taxes and an army. When the
Parliament tried to pass new laws preventing the king from not summoning them
into session, the king refused and it soon led to a bloody civil war.

II. Building State Power

A. War and Diplomacy
-Warfare dominated the early ages of Europe, and the constant struggle between
feuding states brought about quick changes in warfare and the way wars were
fought. The advent of firearms and cannons brought about changes in the
weaponry of not only the soldier but also the common villager. The number of
troops throughout the European states nearly doubled and the governments paid
large sums of money to train and maintain them. Because of the larger armies
and more complex weaponry available, the way the armies were commanded had
to be changed. Better discipline and a sense of comradeship helped this process,
as well as a change in command and the command structures of these armies.
Naval technologies and fortifications also improved during this time period,
becoming stronger and more resistant to canons. Power often changed hand, as
one state would gain it for a short amount of time before they were confronted
with a new threat.
B. Politics and the Economy
-In order to finance the constant wars, states had to support large economies,
because they had to impose large taxes. Spain was a main example of how not
promoting the state’s economy could have bad consequences. Spain had one of
the largest and most powerful armies in the world and it financed it using silver
imported from the Americas. However they did not stimulate or support the growth
of their economy in way, so pretty soon the king was defaulting on loans that he
had taken. High sales taxes that the king was forced to impose discouraged any
potential growth in the economy, and the Spanish soon lost much of their military
 power. Politics often played a role in the economies, with alliances and feuds
having different affects on what happened to the economy.

III. Urban Society and Commercial Technology

A. Urban Social Classes
-Changes in Europe’s economy led to a rapid increase in cities and the general
population. Trade, finance and manufacturing helped to a hike in cities’ wealth,
and the Bourgeoisie led this movement. The Bourgeoisie class was equivalent to
the modern-day entrepreneurs, spending long hours working and investing in their
own businesses, then taking their profits and putting them into another business.
They often lived very comfortably, in large houses or manors. The Bourgeoisie
manufactured large varieties and amounts of goods, and they not only spurred
financial wealth in cities, but also new technologies in different fields of industry.
-During this century, Amsterdam served as Europe’s financial center, with large,
secure banks and many wealthy individuals who helped keep the banks
financially secure. The banks would take the deposited money and invest it in real
estate and loans, helping other people start up their own businesses.
-Maritime trade expansion created the need for new merchant ship designs. The
Dutch led this technology, using imported wood to create large cargo ships. Two
types of Dutch ships were especially successful; the flyboat (a large cargo ship
with a small crew) and the East Indiaman (A large powerfully armed ship) The
Dutch were also excellent mapmakers. European merchants relied on family and
ethnic networks to help their trade, just like the Muslims did in India. The
Bourgeoisie would try to align themselves and get into the good graces of the
Monarchs, who would in return help them by undertaking large public works
projects, like building huge water-ways.
-The stock exchange also became very important the businessmen in Europe, not
only helping businesses but also the individual investor.
-A peasant’s life was not an easy one. While the practices of serfdom and slavery
had declined, the competition in the labor field had risen significantly. This meant
that all of the wages for the workers were cut across the board. Their working
conditions weren’t much better, as they had not changed much during the 1500
and 1600s. The Columbian Exchange helped to prevent many of these peasants
from starving, as maize and potatoes became a staple crop for the poor. The
ironic thing about this is that most of the peasants worked on plantations, many of
them growing wheat; however these peasants were too poor to afford the wheat
they were growing, and the wheat seed needed to grow their own. Instead this
wheat was exported to Western Europe, although some of it returned through the
beer brewed and sold to the poor.
-Other industries that the peasants worked in were mining, logging, and iron
working. Deforestation became a huge problem in Europe due to the growing Iron
industry. (Wood was used as a fuel for the fires) Wood became so scarce at one
point that the government set regulations because of the fear that there wouldn’t
be enough wood for their navy ships. This prompted the use of coal, which
spurred along the mining industry. Coke (refined coal) eventually also replaced
charcoal when it became too expensive and scarce. The peasants really suffered
form the deforestation as they had used the woodlands to hunt and gather food.
-Some people moved to the cities to try and help themselves and their status.
However they were not successful most of the time and many were forced into
become beggars and prostitutes in order to barely scrape along. This created
unrest within the lower class and often people revolted.
-In Europe during the 1600s, a good marriage was key to a good status in society.
In fact a women’s status was often tied closely to their husband’s, so a women
who married a wealthy male would be far better of than the same women who
marries a poor craftsman. There was a lot of freedom in marriages of the lower
class, many of them the choices of the man and women not the family. Arranged
marriages were more common in the upper classes as the families would carefully
plan out their family tree in order to try and improve their status even more. The
business class also allowed for freedom in the children’s marriages, however
there were instances of marriages made to improve business connections. Young
males who did not belong to wealthy families often served long apprenticeships
with craftsmen of businessmen, and women did a similar thing, except it would be
domestic work for their parents. Often times both spouses would hold off the
marriage until they had a sufficient dowry, or financial capability to move in
together and start a new life independent of their parents.
-Many businessmen would often times send their children abroad to study law
and languages which would be useful in business. Girls and women were often
banned from these universities, which explains why they did not play a large role
in the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution.