A New Beginning

Medieval to Modern: Foundations of Modern European History

1400-1648

• Individualism and Humanism slowly replace Theism

• Protestant power slowly replaces Catholic power• Observation and Experience slowly replace Faith• Secular power slowly replaces Papacy• Nation States slowly replace city states and

feudalism• Merchant trade slowly replaces Agriculture• Education slowly replaces Ignorance• Freedom slowly replaces Feudal serfdom

Background• Renaissance - People Changing their World

instead of just accepting it as it is – Beginning Nation States (list them)– Beginning Modern Thinking (Individualism,

Humanism, Scientific Investigation)– Merchants gain freedom and slowly build a

middle class outside of the typical 3 Estates (peasants, nobility, clergy)

– Beginning of the End of the Pope’s power

Differences• Middle Ages Renaissance• Church Power Nation Power

• Pope rules King Rules

• Little travel Lots of travel

• Communities matter Individuals matter

• Learn and Accept it Learn and Question it

• Geocentric Heliocentric

• Catholic and united Protestants divide

• City states Nation states

• Feudalism Capitalism

• 3 Estates 3 Estates plus merchant class

• No perspective Perspective in art

• Heredity and position matter Money matters

Nations gain Power As Church loses it

• Nations begin fighting each other for power– Italian Penisula Wars lead to the– Habsburg-Valois Wars (paper or plastic?)– Peasants Wars because of Reformation lead to the– Religious and Civil Wars

• France and War of 3 Henris• Dutch and Spanish Conflicts• Spain vs. England - Spanish Armada• All culminate in the

– 30 Years War 1618- 1648 which ends religious warfare and sets the political stage for political conflicts of the next 300 years

Individuals gain InfluenceAs Freedom Grows

• The Kings, Nobles and Churchmen were so busy fighting that few noticed the individuals around them were gaining tremendous confidence in themselves and doubting the abilities of the powerful to rule

• The Church lost its ultimate authority when the Protestants split the Catholic church and Luther said “each person is a priest”

• Printing press let people talk to each other and helped individuals be heard over the king & Pope

• Colleges created to better educate the clergy also educate the sons of new rich merchants

All of the Above allow two

Generally Persecuted Groups to Gain Influence:Artists and Intellectuals

Inspire Change in the World• Renaissance and Baroque Artists led the

drive for scientific observation as they tried to paint and sculpt accurately

• Writers and thinkers pursue a new philosophy based on freedom for individuals and importance of people

• List some artists and intellectuals of the Renaissance

Artistic and Philosophic Investigations Create the

Scientific Revolution• Copernicus says the stars and planets matter• Brahe charted them• Kepler explained their motion scientifically• Galileo made it all practical plus gravity• Newton explained all motion• Francis Bacon (inductive/empirical) and

Rene Descartes (deductive) give us new ways of thinking about thinking

Dominant Question of the Renaissance

• What Religion are You?– Catholics and Protestants Divide Western ChristianityCatholic Lutherans Calvinists AnglicansPope Martin Luther John Calvin King Henry VIII

PuritansPresbyterians Church of

EnglandHugeunots

Spain Germany Geneva EnglandItaly Scandinavia France Charles IS. America England

NetherlandsPaul III Prot Princes William of OrangeLoyola Gustov Adolphus CromwellPhilip II German Peasants New Model ArmyJesuitsMary ICatherine Medici

The Answer is…

• The Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 settled the Religious Question.By 1648, Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists and Anglicans are all ok

• But, who will control all this diversity?

• The Next Big Question was…

Religious Big IdeasCatholicism lost its hold on Europe because of corruption and

dissention within the church as well as greed for political power

Luther was successful because he tapped into ideas already being considered around Europe, the printing press, the political protection offered by the Protestant Princes in Germany

Calvin organized and structured Protestantism

Catholics and Calvinists tried to spread so they caused most of the wars

Religion was often used as an excuse to take political power

(Henry VIII, French kings and German princes)

Religious leaders knew that by conquering territory they could change the local religion and so they supported many wars

(Spain in New World, Calvinists in Netherlands and New England)

Some religious freedom led people to also want political, economic and social freedoms (Reformation led to peasant revolts)

Some Political Must Know Dates• Constantinople defeated by Ottoman Empire – 1453

– Well educated people move back West

• Creation of Nation States – France- 1461 Spain – 1469, England 1485, Russia -1462

• Sackings of Florence and Rome – 1496, 1526• Diet of Worms – 1521

– Martin Luther and Lutheranism survive • Peace of Augsburg – 1555

– Accepts Luthanism as legitimate in Europe

• Spanish Armada Defeated – 1588– Beginning of Spanish decline and English rise– Preserves Dutch Independence and makes them Top Country

• Henri IV ends French Civil Wars 1589– Edict of Nantes allows Hugeunots to co-exist in France

• Peace of Westphalia – 1648– Calvinism accepted; new nations added

• Cromwell beheads Charles I – 1649

Italian Renaissance:15th Century

• Trade routes from middle east go through Italian city states, especially Venice

• Florentine bankers (Medici) bring the financial power to Florence and fund art/learning

• European Cultural and Social Influence centered in Florence

• European Religious and Political power centered in Rome under the Pope

Spanish Dominate 16th Century• Hapsburgs gain control of central Italy in

Hapsburgs-Valois War• Several Spanish Popes and Cardinals take the

power of the papacy – Julius II and Leo X and other Borgia family popes

• Spanish explorers gain gold and land in South America and become richest country in the world

• Spanish Hapsburg family also elected HRE in 1515 so they also control central Europe

• Ends under Philip II – Costly wars end in defeat (Spanish Armada)– Loses Netherlands to Calvinist Independent Dutch– Gold wasn’t being found in as large of amounts

Dutch: Constitutionalist & Capitalist First

• 1610 – 1660 or so is the Dutch “1/2 Century”

• First to become merchant nation

• First to have an active Parliament

• First to have use corporations

• Best bankers and insurance systems so they gathered in money and used it for capital

French and Englishfight to Dominate 18th Century

• English 2nd to be Constitutionalist and Capitalist because of the Civil War led by Oliver Cromwell

• French perfect Absolutism under Louis XIV and Colbert’s Mercantilism

• The Rivalry begins with Restoration of Charles II in 1660 and ends with the French and Indian War of 1756 (English win)

Top Countries

• 15th Century – Italy

• 16th Century – Spain

• 17th Century – Dutch; French

• 18th Century – French and English

• 19th Century – English

• 20th Century – United States

• 21st Century - ???