HWH UNIT 2

CHAPTER 4.1

ABSOLUTISM: SPAIN

WHAT IS ABSOLUTISM?• Centralization of power

• Creation of a bureaucracy

• Control of nobility

• Control of clergy

• Control over assemblies (Estates-General, Parliament, etc.)

• Control of economy (mercantilism)

• Creation of a standing army

• End of feudalism

THE HAPSBURG DYNASTY

FERDINAND OF ARAGON (r. 1479-1516) AND ISABELLA OF CASTILLE (r. 1474-1504) (m. 1469)

• Grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella

• Inherited Spain, all of Spain’s New World land, and the Holy Roman Empire

• Major events:

• New World conquest

• Protestant Reformation

• War with the Ottoman Empire

CHARLES V (r. 1519-1556)

CHARLES SPLITS HIS EMPIRE

• Charles V’s brother

• Took over as Holy Roman Emperor, but NOT king of Spain

FERDINAND I (r. 1556-1564)

PHILIP II (r. 1556-1598)

• Inherited Spain, parts of Italy, the Spanish Netherlands, and Spain’s New World lands

• Solidified rule as an absolute monarch

• Obsessed with fighting Protestantism

PHILIP’S CATHOLIC CAMPAIGNS

• The Battle of Lepanto, 1571

• Defeated Ottoman fleet

• Dutch Revolt, 1560s-1600s

• Dutch Calvinists

• The Spanish Armada, 1588

• Failed invasion of England

• Elizabeth was Protestant

• Elizabeth had supported the Dutch against Philip

THE SIGLO DE ORO (1550-1650)• Spain’s Golden Age

• Height of political power

• Art and literature

• El Greco

• Velazquez

• Cervantes

• Reasons for decline

• Weak rulers after Philip II

• Economic problems

• Inflation, debt

• Over-extension

View of Toledo by El Greco (1596)Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC