Europe Transformed: Reform and State Building

CHAPTER 15

Historical Overview

• 15th C Europe - Revival of the arts & letters

• 16th C – Religious Renaissance• Reformation

• 1560- 1650 – wars triggered by religious division and economic ramifications

• 17th State building• Search for order• Absolutism & limited constitutional monarchy

The Reformation of the 16th C

• Focus Questions:– What changes created the environment

conducive to the renaissance and reformation?

– What were the main tenets of Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anabaptism, and how did they differ from each other and from Catholicism?

Protestant Reformation

• Reform movement that divided the western Christian church into Catholic and Protestant groups

• Movement sparked by corruption & material concern of the Papacy & rulers

A. The Growth of State Power

• Factors that led to the Reformation of the 16th C– Movement to reestablish the centralized

power of monarchical government in the late 1400s

• “Renaissance states” or “New Monarchies”– Spain, England, France

Renaissance States

• Concentration of royal authority

• Attempts to suppress the nobility

• Control the church and lands

• Obtain new sources of revenue in order to increase royal power and enhance military forces– Renaissance Monarchs concerned with the

acquisition and expansion of political power

The Prince

• Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 -1527)

• Most influential thinker concerning political power in the western world– Political activity cannot me restricted by moral

considerations– Abandoned morality as a basis for the

analysis of political activity• The ends justified the means, or on achieving

results regardless of the methods employed

B. Social Changes that led to Renaissance

• 1. Recovery of European economy

• 2. Manufacture and trade increased– Italians and Venetians expanded their wealthy

commercial empire– Hanseatic League: commercial and military

alliance of north German coastal towns

•Hamburg was a founding member of the Hanseatic League.

•This illustration from a fifteenth-century treatise on the laws of the city shows a busy port with ships of all sizes.

© The Bridgeman Art Library

Harbor Scene at Hamburg

C. Changes in Hierarchy• First Estate: Clergy

• Second Estate: Nobility (2-3%)– Declined in real income

• Third Estate: Peasants and inhabitants of towns and cities (85 -90%)– Desire for better standard of living fueled

religious reform movements– Serfdom declined, resistance to

exploitation increased

D. Urban Third Estate• 4. Merchants & Artisans became more

stratified in the cities– Patricians (Merchant class)

• Trade, Industry and Banking allowed them to dominate economically, politically and socially

• Competed with wealth of Church & nobles

– Petty Burghers• Shopkeeper, artisans, guild masters, guildsmen

– Property-less workers• 30 – 40% of urban population• Squalid conditions led to call for radical change

E. Print Revolution

• 1455 – 1456 Movable metal type– By 1500 1,000 printers

• Religious, Latin and Greek classics, medieval grammars, legal handbooks and philosophy

– Encouraged scholarly research & desire to attain knowledge

– Stimulated expansion of lay reading public• Generally led to expansion of learning, knowledge

and made it more accessible

E. Christian/ Northern Renaissance Humanism

• Objective of movement to reform Christianity– Believed in human ability to reason and

improve themselves through education– Could instill an inner piety or inward religious

feeling that would bring about a reform of the church and society

– To change society you must first change the people

F. Corruption of the Church

• 1450 – 1520 the “Renaissance Popes” failed to meet the spiritual needs of the people

• Preoccupied with worldly pursuits• Leading military conquests• Advanced financial interests and political careers

– Sale of indulgences

• Collection of relics

G. Martin Luther

• Reformation in Germany– Monk and professor, University of Wittenberg

• Rejected idea that people could be saved through good works

• Faith alone that justifies and brings salvation through Christ

• Doctrine of Salvation or justification by grace through faith alone– Became primary doctrine of Protestant

Reformation

A sixteenth-century engraving of Martin Luther in front of Charles V at the Diet of

Worms© The Bridgeman Art Library

Indulgences• Monk Johann Tetzel

– “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs”

• 95 Thesis, 1517– Indictment of the abuses in the sale of indulgences

• 1520– Called upon princes to overthrow the papacy in

Germany and establish a reformed German church• Excommunicated in 1521

Tenets of Lutherism

• Peasant Revolt 1521, Luther Sided with Princes

• 300 German states embraced reforms– New religious Services replaced Catholic Mass– Luther denounced clerical celibacy & married– Took body and blood of Christ literally– End of sale of indulgences– Justification of grace through faith alone– Translation of bible into German

Luther Versus the Pope

•.

© Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY

Switzerland’s Reformation• Zwinglianism: Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531)

– Reforms:• Relics and images were abolished• Paintings and decorations were removed from the

churches and replaced with whitewashed walls• Mass was replaced by a new liturgy consisting of

scripture reading, prayer and sermons• Monasticism, pilgrimages, the veneration of saints,

clerical celibacy and the popes authority were all abolished

» 1531 war between protestants & Catholics, he was killed

John Calvin• systematic theologian

and organizer of the protestant movement

• 1536, Institutes of the Christian religion– Synthesis of protestant

thought

© The Art Archive/University Library, Geneva/Gianni Dagli Orti

Tenets of Calvinism• Doctrine of Justification by faith alone

• Predestination, (the eternal decree) – god had predestined some people (an elect) to

be saved and others to be damned or (reprobate)

– Calvinists an unshakable conviction that they were doing gods work on earth making it a dynamic activist faith.

The Morality Police: Consistory

• (1536) worked to reform Geneva City,

• Established a church

• Established a consistory – enforced moral discipline, – functioned as a court to oversee the moral

life, daily behavior, and doctrinal orthodoxy of Genevians.

• punished dancing, singing, obscene songs, drunkenness, swearing and playing cards as crimes

English Reformation

• Reform rooted in politics

• King Henry VIII (1509 – 1547), Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn. – church courts Voided the marriage

• Act of Supremacy,1534 – declared that the king was the only supreme head

on earth of the Church of England• This gave him control of doctrine, clerical appointments

and discipline• No other reforms passed

Anglican Church (England)

• Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer– Reforms

• Moved towards protestant doctrines• New Act of parliament gave the clergy the right to

marry and created a new protestant church service

Tenets of Anabaptists• Radical reformers

– advocated adult baptism, – return to the practices and spirit of early Christianity– considered all believers to be equal.– Each church chose its own minister, who might be

any member of the community– All Christian’s were considered priests,

• women often remained excluded

– separation of church and state, – Refused to hold political office or bear arms

Social Impact of Protestant Reformation

• Placed the family at the center of human life

• Stressed mutual love between man and wife– Reality is that women remained subordinate– expectations of women remained

• obedient to men • chief duty was to serve and please men• child bearer.

Catholic/Counter-Reformation

• Call for reform from Franciscans, Dominicans, & Augustinians– Emphasis on preaching to lay people– Oratory of divine love – emphasized personal

spiritual development & outward acts of charity

– Emergence of New Mysticism – Catholic piety, revival of monasticism

3 Pillars of Reformation

• The Society of Jesus– Jesuits

• A Reformed Papacy

• Council of Trent

Ignatius of Loyola 1491 - 1556

• Society of Jesus (Jesuits)– Absolute obedience

to papacy– Strict hierarchical

order for society– Use of education to

achieve goals– Dedication to

engage in “conflict for god”

– Propagation of faith

© Scala/Art Resource, NY

Reformed Papacy

• Addressed corruption of the renaissance popes– Pope Paul III (1534 – 1549)

• Appointed a reform commission• 1537 Report blamed church’s problems on corrupt

policies of popes and cardinals• Formally recognized the Jesuits• Began the Council of Trent

Council of Trent (1545-63)

• Final Decrees– Reaffirmed Catholic teachings in opposition to

Protestant beliefs– Scripture and tradition were affirmed as equal

authorities in religious matters– Only church could interpret the scripture– Faith and good works was necessary for

salvation– Belief in purgatory and use of indulgences

strengthened

Catholics and Protestants in Europe by 1560

Marriage Ceremonies

• Institution of marriage– Legally binding

contract– Arranged marriages

common– Best interest of family– Size of dowry

• Money to husbands family

– Lower classes sought permission from nobles to marry

© The Art Archive/Santa Maria della Scala Hospital, Siena/Alfredo Dagli Orti

Marriage Ceremonies

•At the left is an eighteenth-century painting of the wedding of the Spanish nobleman Martin de Loyola to the Inka princess Nusta Beatriz.

© The Art Archive/La Compania Church, Cuzco/Mireille Vautier

Europe In Crisis, 1560 -1650

• Focus Question:– Why is the period between 1560 and 1650 in

Europe considered an age of crisis, and how did the turmoil contribute to the artistic development of the period?

– Religious wars– Revolutions & constitutional crisis– Economic & social disintegration – Witchcraft craze

Politics & Wars of Religion

• French Wars of Religion (1562 – 1598)– Religion and people’s resentment of growing

monarchical power and centralization• Wars ended with Henry of Navarre’s coronation

and conversion to Catholicism, 1594

• Edict of Nantes, 1598– Catholicism Frances Official Religion– Guaranteed Huguenots right to worship, full

political privileges

King Phillip II of Spain

• Inherited Spain, Netherlands, Italy and America– Insisted on Strict conformity to Catholicism to

control his possessions• Led to prolonged revolt in Spanish Netherlands• Following decades of revolt

– Independence of The United Provinces of Netherlands recognized, core of modern Dutch State

– By the 17th C Spanish power had begun to wane, bankrupt, obsolete military, inefficient government, eclipsed by England

Procession of Queen Elizabeth I, 1558

© Stapleton Collection/CORBIS

•Elizabeth Tudor, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn •England became the leader of the Protestant Nations of Europe and laid the foundations for world empire

1560 – 1650 Economic Crisis• Population declines of the 16th and 17th C

– Population of Europe increased from 60 million in 1500 to 85 million by 1600, recovery of the black death

– Population decline by 1650 due to war, famine and plague continued

– Another little ice age after the middle of the 16th century:

• average temps fell, affected harvests and gave rise to food shortages

Witch Craft Mania

• 16th and 17th Centuries – (actually began in the 1100’s in France, and

continued into the 1800s with the Salem Witch trials in Massachusetts)

• 75% accused – women, single, widowed, 50 years old +

• 100,000 prosecuted (conservative number)• Underscores distrust and devaluation of

women in European society

15th &16th Witch Trials

• 75% of those accused were lower class women, – Milkmaids, peasants and servant girls.

• Nicholas Remy a witchcraft judge in France in the 1590s – found it “not unreasonable that this scum of

humanity, should be drawn chiefly from the feminine sex”

Indigenous Perspective

• Conflict rooted in Empire Building– Imposing new Patriarchal and Christian order

on “Pagan” peoples

• Financial Incentive– Cost of Trials– Women dispossessed of traditional authority– Wealth– Property– independence

17th C Economic Trends• Mercantilism

– Prosperity of a nation depends on plentiful supply of bullion

– Favorable balance of trade– Government should stimulate & protect industries

& trade• Grant trade monopolies• Subsidies• Transportation investments• Tariffs• colonies

17th C Economic Trends• Joint Stock Company

– New form of commercial organization– Individuals bought shares and received dividends– Board of directors ran company & made

decisions• Companies & investors reaped financial rewards of

colonization• 80% Europeans worked on land• Increasing rents & price of food• Higher taxes• impoverished

Military Revolution

• Advancements in technology and organization

• Political importance of military ability and power

• New Economic burden placed on the common people to support the state apparatus– Higher taxes imposed to pay for military

Focus Question

• What was Absolutism? What were the main characteristics of absolute monarchies that emerged in France, Prussia, Austria & Russia

Absolutism

• Response to crisis of 16th & 17th C• Means for Achieving Stability (wealth & power

for minority)• Sovereign power or absolute authority in the

state rested in the hands of the king who claimed to rule by divine right– Authority to make laws, Levy taxes, Administer

justice– Control state administration, determine foreign

policy

France, Louis XIV

• Best example of Absolutism– Built a large standing army– Impoverished France– Created multiple enemies of the country

• Similar monarchies arose in Prussia, Austria & Russia

England, Limited Monarchy

• 1600s kings attempted to rule with absolute authority– Resistance from Parliament & Puritans– Civil War, 1642-1648

• Parliament won (1649)• Executed Charles I• Abolished monarchy & House of Lords• Proclaimed England a Republic or commonwealth

– Military dictatorship & then restoration of monarchy followed

Mary & William

• 1689 Monarchy upheld with Bill of Rights affirmed– Parliament right to make laws & levy taxes– Right of citizens to keep arms & have a jury

trial– Destroyed divine right theory of kingship– Right to participate in affairs of state– 100 years later Parliament gained real

authority