Transcript Religious Wars

RELIGIOUS WARS
1559-1648
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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 expansion
b) commercial capitalism
c) dynastic rivalry
d) nationalism
e) 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 1516-56
Phillip 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 Catholics
b) Aristocracy and the Crown
c) Bourgeoisie and political rights
d) Paris mob
e) 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
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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 destroyed
Elizabeth 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 killed
The 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 Henries
Guise 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 StateGeneral 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’
• 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 reimposing unity on western Europe
• England was never conquered and the
Netherlands borders remained the same
The Thirty Years’ War
• The site of the Thirty Years’ War which
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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)
• a) acknowledged Calvinism as a major religion
b) each German prince was sovereign
c) independence of the United Provinces of the
Netherlands was acknowledged
d) France acquired the Alsace region
e) the pope could not participate in German
affairs
f) North German State became Protestant
South German states remained Catholic