APEH:Rise of the “New Monarchs”

The “New Monarchs”• Main idea: From mid-15th to early 16th

centuries, monarchs in Western Europe consolidated power and created the foundation for the modern states of England, Spain, and France

• NOT absolute rulers – struggled for power with church and nobles

• NOT ‘nation-state’ – still no real concept of ‘nationalism’ until 18th c.

Characteristics• Reduced power of nobles – taxation,

seizing of lands, hiring/building standing armies

• Reduced influence of church – put state over church

• Created efficient bureaucracies – centralized control by monarch

• Increased power of new middle class – bourgeoisie backed monarch

FRANCE – Valois• Louis XI (r. 1461-83) –

“Universal Spider”• Large standing army,

increased taxes, increased control over Church, brutal toward nobles, supported trade & merchants

• First ‘modern king’ of France

FRANCE - Valois• Francis I (r. 1515-47) – rival

to Charles V (HRE) & Henry VIII (ENG)

• Taille – direct head tax on land & property

• Concordat of Bologna (1516) – king had power to appoint bishops to Church in France

• First Euro king to make alliance with Ottoman Empire

ENGLAND - Tudor• War of the Roses (1455-77)

– York vs. Lancaster• Henry VII (r. 1485-1509) –

first Tudor monarch, father of Henry VIII

• Star Chamber – secret court to deal with nobles

• Banned nobles’ armies• Shared power with

Parliament, especially taxation

ENGLAND - Tudor• Henry VIII continued to

build monarch’s power• Takeover of Church –

Anglican• Style of leadership

influenced three children who would reign

SPAIN - Trastámara• Ferdinand of Aragon (r.

1478-1516) & Isabella of Castile (r. 1474-1504) – marriage united Spain

• 1492 – Reconquista – final defeat of Moors in Granada & expulsion of all Jews (30-60k expelled) – goal Christianize all Spain

• Expulsion depleted Spain’s new middle class – long-term economic disaster

SPAIN - Trastámara• Spanish Inquisition

initiated by Isabella prior to Reformation, controlled by monarchy

• Tomás de Torquemada monk who led S.I.

• Targeted conversos – Jews and Muslims who had converted to Christianity

• By 1500 – Spanish Church strongest in Europe – no Reformation

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE - Hapsburg• NOT a “new monarchy”• Made up of over 300

semi-independent political entities

• Emperor had no centralized control, no power of taxation outside own lands

• Maximilian I (r. 1486-1519) – first Hapsburg to rule HRE

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE - Hapsburg• Charles V – HRE (r.

1519-1556); Charles I – Spain (r. 1516-1556)

• Most powerful ruler of 16th c. Europe

• “New monarch” in Spain, but not in HRE

• Constantly at war during reign – Valois, Muslims, Lutherans

Charles V’s Full TitleCharles, by the grace of God, Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King of Germany, King of Italy, King of all Spains, of Castile, Aragon, León, Navarra, Grenada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, Majorca, Sevilla, Cordova, Murcia, Jaen, Algarves, Algeciras, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, King of Two Sicilies, of Sardinia, Corsica, King of Jerusalem, King of the Western and Eastern Indies, Lord of the Islands and Main Ocean Sea, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Lorraine, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Limburg, Luxembourg, Gelderland, Athens, Neopatria, Württemberg, Landgrave of Alsace, Prince of Swabia, Asturia and Catalonia, Count of Flanders, Habsburg, Tyrol, Gorizia, Barcelona, Artois, Burgundy Palatine, Hainaut, Holland, Seeland, Ferrette, Kyburg, Namur, Roussillon, Cerdagne, Zutphen, Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgau, Oristano and Gociano, Lord of Frisia, the Wendish March, Pordenone, Biscay, Molin, Salins, Tripoli and Mechelen.

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE - Hapsburg• Charles V abdicated

in 1556• Split holdings between

brother Ferdinand (HRE) and son Philip (Spain); created two Hapsburg lines

• Retired to monastery, died in 1558