Politics and the State in the Renaissance (1450-1521)

McKay 441-446

Agenda

• Renaissance Quest Tuesday• Begin “New Monarchs”• Homework• Read Chapter 14 (453-458)

Roots of the New Monarchs

476 793 1215 1300 1453

Fall of Rome

Viking Invasions

Begin

King John Signs Magna

Carta

Birth of Parliament under Edward I

End of the 100 Years War

Black Death Begins

No Central Authority Feudalism Begins

Noble Power begins to weaken

New MonarchiesCharacteristics

• term generally associated with Louis XI, Henry VII, and Ferdinand/Isabella (Renaissance Rulers)

• Began to centralize power & rule in modern sense

• Suppressed feudalism & nobility• Curtailed power of Catholic Church• Stressed heredity rule

– Favored by Bourgeoisie (town people)

• Create professional armies• Levied taxes

– Pay for large armies– Kept order (commerce)

• Began to use Roman Law for prestige– title of majesty and sovereign

Magna Charta

France• Black Death and 100 Years war devastating

– Depopulation, economic disruption, devastated agriculture

• Charles VII (1422-1461) – Physically frail, emotionally insecure (father was

insane, mother promiscuous)– expelled English in 1453

• Except Calais– Reorganized royal council

• Gave more power to middle class– Lawyers, bankers became chief advisers

– Began standing army• Established regular companies of cavalry,

archers (paid by king)– Controlled taxes

• Gabelle (salt tax) and Taille (land tax)• Helped pay for large army

France• Louis XI (1461-1483)

– Son of Charles VII– Spider King

• Had led rebellions against his father and even allied with Charles VII’s arch enemies

• Known for his treacherous (machiavellian) character of spinning webs of plots and conspiracies

– Used standing army to control nobles• Took control of Anjou, Bar, Maine,

Provence– Promoted economic growth

• Restored old Roman roads• Encouraged Trade fairs• Silk weaving• Welcomed foreign craftsmen• Traded with England, Hanseatic

league

FranceKing Francis I

• King Francis I– Concordat of Bologna

(1516)• Rescinded Pragmatic

Sanction– Had denied Pope

revenue– Pope receives annates ($

from French clergymen)

– But Louis gets to appoint bishops and abbots

– IE. King still controls Catholic Church in France

– France remains Catholic during Reformation

• Renaissance Quest tomorrow!!!!• Renaissance Essay Wednesday

– Compare and Contrast the Italian Renaissance with the Northern Renaissance

• Be specific

England• King Henry IV dominated by nobles

– Fur collar crime rampant• Parliament controlled by feudal

lords (blocked consolidation)• War of the Roses (1455-1471)

– Civil War between noble families• Yorkists and the Lancastrians

– Trade, commerce, agriculture, industry all suffered due to chronic disorder

• Tudors (of York) emerge victorious after War of Roses

• Had slowed trade, agriculture, industry

York Lancaster

England• Henry VII (1485-1509)

– Passed laws against livery and maintenance

– Weakened Barons• Lords prevented from maintaining

private armies and wearing livery (family insignia)

– Used diplomacy to avoid war• Eliminates the power of Parliament $$$• Married son Arthur to Catherine of

Aragon• Ally with France

– Royal council• 12-15 (mostly middle class) used as

executive advisers– Passed laws favoring upper middle class

• Trade, money interests

England• Star Chamber

– King’s private council/ trial– No jury present – Ignore parliament– Decided property disputes,

disturbances of peace– Accepted because it kept

order• Had no standing army

– But Utilized justices of the peace to police local towns

• Encouraged wool exports• Diplomacy

– Crushed Irish invasion– Married Margaret (daughter) to

Scottish king

Spain• Aragon and Castile

– Ferdinand and Isabella unite Spain through marriage• Ferdiand was not ultra religious• But wanted to appear moral and anti-herectical

– True unifying force was Catholicism• Crusade against Moors• Inquisition served as unifying legal force• Catholicism viewed as Spanishness

• Reconquesta-Jews and Moors expelled in 1492– Moriscos (Muslim converts)– Marranos (Jewish converts) – viewed as “unfaithful” and heretics– Inquisition tortured thousands

• Ferdinand received papal permission• If it became unpopular he could blame the Pope

– Hermandades- “brotherhoods”• Local police & judges brutally suppressed crime

– Spain emerges as “defender of the faith”• Exported Catholicism to New World• Crusade mentality permeates society

Rise of Hapsburgs• Maximilian I (1493-1519)

marries heiress of Burgundy and Netherlands

• Their Son Philip marries Joanna of Spain (heiress to Ferdinand and Isabella)

• Their son Charles inherits Austria, Netherlands, Burgundy, Spain, New World– Elected HRE in 1519

as Charles V• Fear of Universal

Monarchy spreads – Upsets Balance of

Power

Holy Roman Empire’s New Monarchy• Not a “New Monarchy”• Never able to centralize control over vast

territory• Comprised of 4 States

• Princely States- hereditary dynasties (Brandenburg)

• Ecclesiastical- Abbacies (owned vast amounts of territory)

• Imperial Free Cities- (about 50) bourgeoisie dominated

• Imperial Knights-lords of small estates (loyal to HRE)

– Emperor• Elected by Princes (fiercely

independent/jealous)• By 1452 had dwindled to 7 electors

– Elected Hapsburgs from Austria• Rule until 1806

Charles V“I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to my men, and German to my horse.”

Stage is Set for Revolution• Image of Church greatly diminished• Few reform-minded leaders in Church• Monarchs are centralizing power• Fear of Universal Monarchy ushers in new

allies