RELIGIOUS WARS

1559-1648

• 1562-1598 French civil wars

• Dutch revolt against Philip II

• Scottish rebellion against Mary Stuart

• Spanish attack on England 1588

• Thirty Years’ War 1618-48

• Puritan revolution 1640-1660

• Glorious Revolution 1688-89

• The two main crusaders:John Calvin and St. Ignatius Loyola

• Calvinists seized control of Scotland, northern provinces of the the Low Countries, temporarily England, France, Germany, Poland, and Hungary

• Catholics controlled Flanders, France, Austria, Spain, and Bohemia

• After 1689 European international politics reverted to secularism

• The political trend during this time was toward centralized, authoritarian state.

• Opened with Phillip II of Spain and ended with Louis XIV of France

• It was an era of absolutism, but not for the Dutch or the English

• It was an era of great inflation and the development of mercantilism - Amsterdam became the commercial center of Europe

• There was an intellectual Revolution in mathematics, physics, and astronomy

• It was the age of Galileo, Descartes, and Newton• It was the period of the Baroque of great art and theater, of

Shakespeare and Molière• Western capitalism v’s Eastern agriculture• Spain, France, England, Holland all improved, Holy Roman

Empire, Poland, Ottoman Empire all deteriorated• Propertied v’s the propertyless

• 1559 Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis between Phillip II of Spain and Henry II of France

• French gave up claims to Italy; Spain stopped trying to dismember France

• Habsburg victory; Valois lose

• But started a new era of warfare neither country could handle

• Calvinists and Catholics both ‘conservatives’ - no religious deviation would be tolerated in Christendom

• Both sides recognized new secular forces changing Europe a) overseas expansionb) commercial capitalismc) dynastic rivalryd) nationalisme) state sovereignty

• It would be the last medieval crusade and the first modern war

• Calvin died in 1564, the Council of Trent ended in 1563, Loyola died in 1556

• People no longer mediated disputes

• The Roman Inquisition and the Index of Prohibited Books kept Catholics ‘pure’ The Consistory of Geneva kept Calvinists ‘pure’

• Charles V sacked Rome in 1527 - not Wittenburg

• Elizabeth I of England and Henry IV of France pursued policies of moderation and compromise

• Mary, Queen of Scots, Phillip II, Catherine de Medici proved ruthless but ruined their countries

• By 1570 Huguenots were arguing against tyrannical rule - male or female. A policy favored by the great noblemen who wanted to depose monarchs and return to the old feudal days

• To Protestants “Jesuit” meant “Machiavellian”

SPAIN• Four great rulers:

Ferdinand, king of Aragon-1479-1516 Isabella, queen of Castille (wife)Charles I (HRE V) grandson 1516-56Phillip II son 1556-98

• It was also the age of exploration for Spain• 95% of the people were peasants but couldn’t provide enough grain• Nobility were exempt from taxation• 1571 Battle of Lepanto defeated the Turks• 1580 Phillip annexed Portugal

French Wars of Religion 1562-1598

• French collapse had many reasons:a) Huguenots and Catholicsb) Aristocracy and the Crownc) Bourgeoisie and political rightsd) Paris mobe) Riots in the provinces

• BUT religion triggered the crisis

• Francis I (1515-1547)Henry II (1547-59)Francis II (1559-60)Charles IX (1560-74)Henry III (1574-89)

• 1516 Concordat of Bologna - French bishops and abbots nominated by the monarch

• The king was not all-powerful, he lacked money• Opposition began during the reign of Henry II• 3 opponents: Guise, Montmorency, Bourbon

• Montmorency was very wealthy• Bourbons claimed the throne through blood• Guise - strongest group - ultra-Catholic• Henry II was killed at a tournament in 1559 at the Peace of

Cateau-Cambrésis, the throne went to his oldest son - Francis II

• All the sons were dominated by their mother - Catherine de Medici

• Catherine tried to reconcile the Huguenots and the Catholics like Elizabeth I had done

• The Catholics turned against her and supported the Guises• Guises controlled northern France, Paris and were helped by

Phillip II of Spain who wanted to see France destroyedElizabeth of England supported the Huguenots

• 1562 the Duke of Guise ordered his men to slaughter a group of praying Huguenots - starting the French religious wars

• Killings mounted as both sides randomly killed any and all people

• For 10 years the killing continued - paid for by aristocrats who loved fighting

• In 1572 a peace was declared so the Bourbon prince Henry of Navarre could marry the sister of the king Charles IX

• The Guises saw this wedding as a disaster• Catherine de Medici, jealous of her sons, joined with the Guises• St Bartholomew’s day the Catholics ambushed the Huguenots in

their beds• Prince Henry was allowed to live after promising to become

Catholic

• Thousands of Huguenots were killedThe pope paid the messenger 100 gold coins

• King Charles was sick - the House of Valois was discredited and the Huguenots were still around

• 1574 Henry died and was replaced by his neurotic brother Henry III

• Catholics and Huguenots hated Henry and the fighting resumed

• 1576 Henry of Guise formed the Holy League to destroy all Huguenots

• Prince Henry of Navarre, heir to the throne, renounced his Catholicism and led the Huguenots

• The War of the Three HenriesGuise v’s Valois v’s Navarre

• 1588 Phillip II order Guise to stage a riot in Paris to prevent the French from interfering with his Armada

• The king fled the city and left Guise in charge, he forced the king to make him chief minister

• But Phillip’s Armada was badly defeated and he was powerless to help Guise

• Henry III plotted to have Guise assassinated• Henry III joined with Henry of Navarre to crush the

Catholics, but III was also assassinated by a fanatical monk

• Only Henry of Navarre was left• It took Henry 10 years to end the war because Philip

kept trying to invade France from Flanders• 1598 Henry and Phillip made peace restoring the

terms of 1559

• 1598 Henry issued the Edict of Nantes declaring Catholicism the official religion of France (nobles could practice Protestantism in the privacy of their own houses)

• The French learned that a strong central government was the only answer to national problems - i.e. Absolute monarchy

REVOLT IN THE NETHERLANDS

• Mid-sixteenth century Netherlands was very different from either France or Spain

• 17 autonomous provinces, the most important being Flanders, Brabant, and Holland

• Antwerp was the largest city and chief financial center of western Europe

• 1506-1556 HRE Charles V was the ruler of the Low Countries

• Control of the country was handled by the State-General with delegates from each province

• The Low Countries was also a popular place for Protestants and religious toleration- Erasmus

• Phillip II inherited the dukedom of Burgundy in 1556

• Phillip tried to introduce Spanish politics and religion to the Low Countries and encountered stiff resistance

• He personally disliked the Low Countries and never visited after 1559

• Phillip did all he could to eradicate Calvinism

• Between 1560 and 1600 the Low Countries split to create Belgium and Holland

• William of Orange and the counts Egmont and Horn tried to persuade Phillip to alter his policies

• 1566 lesser nobles asked Phillip to stop the Inquisition

• Phillip refused - Calvinist fury shocked the Low countries

• By 1560, Calvinism was a strong, militant minority in most of the cities in the Netherlands.

• Lutheranism had posed no serious threat to Spanish rule.

• Calvinism is what worried the Spaniards

• The Netherlands were slit up into seventeen provinces under Spanish rule.

• These provinces possessed a large middle-class population

• Calvinism appealed to the middle classes with an emphasis on any form of labor well done.

• It took deep root among financiers in Amsterdam and people in the northern provinces.

• Working-class people were also converted, partly because their employers would hire only other Calvinists.

• In 1559 Philip II appointed his half-sister, Margaret as regent of the Netherlands.

• She pushed Philip’s orders to wipe out Protestantism.

• She introduced the Inquisition.• Charles V had steadily increased taxes in the

Low Countries• When Margaret raised taxes even more,

fanatical Calvinists, mostly from the poor class, went on a rampage.

• On March 3, 1568, fifteen hundred men were executed. Margaret was sickened and resigned

• For 10 years, civil war raged in the Netherlands between Catholics and Protestants and between the seventeen provinces and Spain

• In 1576, the 17 provinces united under the leadership of Prince William of Orange

• Philip II then sent his nephew, Alexander Farnese, duke of Parma, to make the revolt come to an end.

• Farnese arrived with an army of German mercenaries, a great knowledge of the geography, and a perfect plan

• Many cities in the south fell, including Bruges and Ghent

• And finally Antwerp fell, the financial capital of northern Europe Calvinism was forbidden in these areas and Protestants had to either convert or leave

• The ten southern provinces remained under the control of the Spanish Habsburgs

• The seven northern provinces were led by Holland and formed the Union of Utrecht

• In 1581 the provinces declared their independence from Spain and formed the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

• Philip II considered himself the international defender of Catholicism and did not want these provinces to become independent.

• England had allied with the new seven provinces because if they were defeated, they knew that they would be next

• Elizabeth put £250,000 and 2,000 troops into the Low Countries.

‘la felicissima armada’‘la felicissima armada’• Philip prepared his vast fleet of ships to sail from

Lisbon to Flanders, fight off Elizabeth’s navy if necessary, and escort his barges across the English Channel.

• In 1588 an armada of 150 ships was constructed.• Most of the ships were Spanish but some were

from Portugal and Naples.• It was the largest fleet ever seen in Europe.

• Once the armada joined forces with the Duke of Parma, they would invade England.

• After the invasion England would be brought under Spanish Catholic rule.

• May 9 1588, led by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, the armada arrived at English Channel and they solidified a crescent formation.

• The strict formation would be hard for the English to break.

• However, the English had superior ships, designed by John Hawkins, that were faster and carried more weaponry.

• The English intended to sail around the armada and destroy any stragglers.

• The aid expected from the Duke of Parma never arrived.• Without any support the armada was forced to spend too

much time in the Channel.• It was not the English that defeated the Spanish but a

violent storm.• The Spanish couldn’t find any safe harbors and many

men starved as the wrecked ships limped back to Spain• The armada pushed forward and anchored at Calais.• That night the English sent in fire ships to scatter the

armada.

• This defeat prevented Philip II from re-imposing unity on western Europe

• England was never conquered and the Netherlands borders remained the same

The Thirty Years’ WarThe Thirty Years’ War• The site of the Thirty Years’ War which involved

all of Europe except England• It was a conflict between Catholics and Protestants • The Protestant princes of Germany resisted the

Catholic Habsburg monarchs• The war started in 1618 in Bohemia• Ferdinand of Styria became king of Bohemia in

1617 and started prosecuting Protestants• Defenestration of Prague - 1618

• Ferdinand was the Habsburg heir to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire

• When the Protestants rebelled war started

• Philip III of Spain sent help to Ferdinand

• The Czechs were soon suppressed and forced to become Catholic

• Protestant Denmark helped Bohemia in hope of gaining German land

• The Danes were soon defeated, Protestant Sweden entered the war

• Now religion was not as important as politics• In 1635 Cardinal Richelieu of Catholic France joined

the war against the Habsburgs to prevent Spain from becoming too powerful

• In 1648 the war ended with Germany devastated and France Europe’s leading power.

The Peace of Westphalia (1648)The Peace of Westphalia (1648)

• a) acknowledged Calvinism as a major religionb) each German prince was sovereignc) independence of the United Provinces of the Netherlands was acknowledgedd) France acquired the Alsace regione) the pope could not participate in German affairsf) North German State became ProtestantSouth German states remained Catholic