1450 - 1750 Western Europe Key People and Terms Flashcards
Henry IV
Henry the 4th
- Henry of Navarre
- King of France
- Raised as a Protestant and converted to Catholicism to solidify his power and unify France
- He did this because French Catholics and Huguenots (Calvinists) had been fighting for nearly 50 years
- Promoted religious toleration of the Huguenots (French Calvinists); Issued Edict of Nantes which allowed Huguenots to practice their faith
- His advisor, Jean Bodin, advocated the divine right of the monarchy, the claim that the right to rule was given to a king by God
- His rule saw increasing emphasis on national sovereignty, which became more and more absolute in France until reaching a high point with Louis XIV (14th)
- First King from Bourbon dynasty
Henry VIII (8th)
- King of England
- part of Tutor dynasty
- Wanted a male heir
- Wife gave birth to several daughters after which he asked the pope’s permission to annul his marriage so he could marry Anne Boleyn
- Pope refused because worried about reaction of Charles V, the powerful emperor of the Holy roman Empire and the nephew of Henry’s wife
- With approval of English parliament set himself up as head of new Church of England (Anglican Church)
- Henry’s daughters, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I, later ruled
Anne Boleyn
Henry VIII’s second wife
He created Anglican Church and made himself head so that he could divorce his first wife and marry Boleyn
Charles V
- Emperor of Holy Roman Empire
- Abdicated because discouraged by his inability to stop the spread of Lutheranism
- Left Spain to son Philip II and Holy Roman Empire to brother Ferdinand
Holy Roman Empire
- After fall of Carolingian Dynasty in 888 in Western Europe there was little effective political organizatoin until creation of Holy Roman Empire in 962
- German king Otto I was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962
- There was a power struggle with papacy in 11th and 12th century over whether a secular leader rather than the pope could appoint bishops; resolved in Concordat of Worms in 1122, when the Church achieved autonomy from secular authorities
- Holy Roman Empire remained vibrant until virtually destroy during Thirty Years’ War from which never recovered
- Empire came to an end with Napoleon’s invastion in 1806
Philip II
King of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily
During his reign Spain reach peak of influence and power
Saw self as defender of Catholic Europe
Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand
Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand
King and Queen of Spain
Supported Christopher Columbus in voyages West to get East
James I
King of England
Stuart dynasty
Wrote The True Law of Free Monarchy asserting that the monarch was free to make the laws, an assertion with which Parliament did not agree
Charles I
- King of England
- Stuart dynasty
- Signed the Petition of Right which restated that monarch could not levy taxes without Parliament’s consent, imprison person without charges, or quarter soldiers in a private home without permission
- Despite signing, then ignored it and did not call a meeting of Parliament for 11 years
- As a result was subsequently at war with Parliament (English Civil War), a war in which lost crown and was beheaded
- English Civil War, also called Puritan Revolution, was between supporters of Stuart monarchy (Charles I) and supporters of Parliament, many of whom were Puritans
- English Civil War was over what powers Parliament should have as compared to powers of monarchy
Oliver Cromwell
- Parliamentry leader during English Civil War
- Lord Protector of Commonwealth after beheading of Charles I
- After death was succeeded by son Richard who was a weak ruler which led to a power vaccuum
Charles II
Fled to France during English Civil War
Due to weak leadership of Richard Cromwell, Charles II was asked to return and Stuart monarchy was restored to England
King of England
James II
- King of England
- Son of Charles II
- Broke with Parliament completely
- English feared he was going to convert to Catholicism and force England to do the same
- Group of lords invited William and Mary, the Protestants monarchs of the Netherlands, to become joint rules of England and James II fled the country; Known as the Glorious Revolution
William and Mary
- Joint rulers of Englang
- Protestant monarchs of the Netherlands who were invited by a group of English lords to replace King James II of England; Called the Glorious Revolution
- Signed the English Bill of Rights, which assured individual civil liberties and required agreement of Parliament on matters of taxation and raising an army
Jean Bodin
- Advisor to French King Henry IV
- Advocated divine right of monarchy, i.e. right to rule was given to a king by God
Cardinal Richelieu
- Minister for French King Louis XIII (13th)
- Moved France to even greater centralization of government and development of the system of intendents
- Intendents were royal officials sent out to French provinces to execute the orders of the central government; sometimes called “tax farmers” because oversaw collection of taxes to support royal government
Louis XIV (14th)
- King of France
- Bourbon dynasty
- Strongly espoused a theory of divine right and ruled as a virtual dictator
- Combined the role of lawmaker and justice system in one single person; he believed he was the state
- Goals were to hold absolute power and expand French borders
- Used palace at Versailles to entertain nobles and prevent them from fomenting rebellion in home provinces
- The enormous and spectacular Versailles was also a demonstration of his power
- In the long run his and his successors’ refusal to share power with the nobility weakened the French government
- Intendents (‘tax-farmers’) helped to implement financial system put into place by Louis’ finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert
- One important reform of Colbert was to make French manufactured goods more competitive by creating the Five Great Farms, an area free from internal taxes
- Carried on number of wars because wanted to expaned the borders of France; ie War of the Spanish Succession
- In paying for wars he contributed to the economic problems of France which were part of the reason for the French Revolution of 1789
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Prince Henry the Navigator
- Portugal was bounded by Spain and able only to expand overseas
- Very interested in navigational technology
- First in a series of European royalty to sponsor seafaring expeditions, searching for an all-water route to the east as well as for African gold
- Financed expeditions along Africa’s Atlantic Coast and around the Cape of Good Hope, exploring African coastal communities and kingdomes before other European powers
Politiques
- Moderates who approached ruling with practicality rather than theology
- Henry IV was an example of this philosophy in action because converted to Catholicism in order to solidify his power as King of France
Spanish Armada
- Philip II of Spain tried to conquer and convert England to catholicism but in 1588 English navy (and bad weather) defeated the powerful Spanish Armada destroying all but 1/3 of it
- Before this the English didn’t have the sea power to defend themselved from Spanish naval forced
- With this victory England declared itself a major naval power and began competing for lands and resources in the Americas
Schmalkaldic League
- In 1546-1547 forces of Charles V (ruler of Holy Roman Empire) fought the German Schmalkaldic League
- Resulted in 1555 Peace of Augsburg which allowed each German state to choose whether its ruler, and therefore all churches and inhabitants, would be Catholic or Lutheran; People who rejected ruler’s choice of religion could move to another state where preferred religion was practiced
Edict of Nantes
Issued by King Henry IV of France
Allow French Huguenots (Protestant) o practice their faith
Provided relgious toleration in France for the next 87 years
Thirty Years’ War
1618-1648
Final great relgious war between Catholics and Protestants in Europe
Led to economic catastrophe for most of the continent - widespread famine, starvation, and disease
Particularly hard hit were the Netherlands, Bohemia, and the German and Italian states
Ended with Peace of Westphalia
Religious map of Europe was pretty stable after this war
Peace of Westphalia
Ended Thirty Years’ War
Allowed each area of Holy Roman Empire to select one of 3 religious options - Catholicism, Lutheranism, or Calvinism
After this settlement France, Spain and Italy were predominantly Catholic and Northenr Europe was either Lutheran or Calvinist; England was Protestant with a state church
Allowing rulers of various areas of the Holy Roman Empire to choose a denomination had important political effects; it gave the countries and duchies much more autonomy than they had had previously
States of Prussia (now part of Germany) began to assert themselves althought they still formally belonged to the Holy Roman Empire
Prussia, after suffering tremendous destruction during the Thirty Years’ War developed a strong military; the Prussian military tradition would become a key factor in European politics into the 20th century
new monarchies
dDeveloped in Europe as a result of the desire of certain leaders to centralize power by controlling taxes, the army, and many aspects of religion
Tudors in England, Valois in France, and Isabella and Ferdinant in Spain
Bureaucracies increase and power of middle class grew at expense of lords and churches; new monarchies moved ot curb private armies of nobility
By end of 1500s this centralization coalesced into a system of government that led to absolute sovereignty in England and France
But by 18th century , Parliament predominated in England and divine right monarchy predominated in France
English civil war
Sometimes called Puritan revolution
Broke out in 1642 between suprrosed of Stuart monarchy and supporters of Parliament, many of whom were Puritans; mainly over what powers Parliament should have in relation to those of the monarch
Charles I signed the Petition of Right in 1629 but then ignored and did not call a meeting of Parliament for 11 years
By 1642 was at war with Parliament and lost his throne and head
In 1660 a compromise was reached to allow the return of the monarchy; Charles II who had been in exile in France became the new Stuart king
Puritan Revolution
same as English Civil War
Petition of Right
1628
Signed by King Charles I of England
Restated proposition that monarch could not levy taxes without Parliament’s consent, imprison persons without charge, or quarter soldiers in a private home without permission
Glorious Revolution
James II, a Stuart, broke with Parliament
Many English feared he was about to convert to Catholicism and force the country to do the same
In 1688 a group of lords invited William and Mary, the Protestant monarchs of the Netherlands, to become joint rulers of England
James II fled the country
English Bill of Rights
William and Mary signed
Assured individual civil liberties