Download - ABSOLUTISM: SPAIN
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