Spina’s Empire and European Absolutism

Slide 1: 

1. Charles V inherited Spain, Spain’s American colonies, parts of italy, along with lands in Austria and the Netherlands
2. He also ruled parts of Germany because he was also the Holy Roman Emperor. First time since Charlemagne that a European Ruler controlled so much territory
3. Charles was a devout catholic and did not like Muslims or Lutherans
4. He was forced to sign the peace of Augsburg, which allowed German princes to choose the religion for their territory.

Slide 2: 

1. This prompted him to divide his empire between his brother Ferdinand, to which he left Austria and the holy Roman Empire
2. His son philip II inherited Spain, The Spanish Netherlands, and the American Colonies.
3. Charles V then retired

Slide 3: 

1. Philip was known to be shy, serious, a hard worker, deeply religious and suspicious of everyone.
2. Was said that “His smile and his dagger were very close”
3. He was also aggressive. When the king of Portugal died without an heir he seized the throne (Philip was the nephew of Portugal’s king).
4. This gave him control of lands in Africa, India, and the East Indies. He now had an empire that circled the globe.
5. This empire provided him with incredible wealth. By 1600 American mines supplied Spain with 339,000 pounds of gold ($24,966 per pound today) and 16,000 tons of silver ($303 per pound today)
6. Also claimed between a fourth and fifth of every royal treasure as his royal share. this allowed him to have a standing army of close to 50,000

Slide 4: 

1. When Philip gained the throne, Europe was experiencing religious wars cause by the reformation.
2. Religious conflict is nothing new since 64 years earlier was the Spanish Reconquista where the Spaniards pushed the muslims out of Spain.
3. Philip believed it was his duty to defend catholicism against the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire and Protestants of Europe

Slide 5: 

1. Sent 20 spanish and venetian ships against the Ottoman empire during the crusades
2. In 1588 sent a Spanish Armada in an attempt to punish Protestant England and Queen Elizabeth the 1st, but that fleet was defeated
3. Loss to Queen Elizabeth was a set back to Spain. Wealth of the empire would help it survive a little while longer.
4. The Escorial was a demonstration of philips power and faith. Had both a monastery and a palace

Slide 6: 

• Treasure would cause long term economic problems
• one of the problems was inflation. which is a decline in the value of money, accompanied by a rise in the prices of goods and services
• inflation had two main causes:

1st: Spain’s population grew and demand for food and other goods did as well.

2nd: As more silver flooded the market, its value dropped

 people needed more and more silver to buy things as a result.

Slide 7:

1. Other causes as well. Spain expelled the Jews and moors (muslims) around 1500 it lost many artisans and business people.
2. Spain's nobels also did not pay taxes. That burden fell on the lower class. Spain never developed a middle class because of it.

Slide 8: 

1. Guilds emerged in the middle ages still dominated businesses in Spain.
2. The spanish guilds used old fashioned methods to make clothes, which made them more expensive than their France, England and the Netherlands.
3. As a result the wealth from spain flowed into the pockets of foreigners, most who were enemies of Spain.
4. To finance wars, Spanish kings borrowed money from German and Italian bankers.
5. As soon as shipment of silver came in they were sent abroad to pay off debts.
6. Economy was so bad Philip had to declare bankruptcy three times.

Slide 9:

1.  In the Spanish Netherlands, Philip had to maintain an army to keep his subjects under control.
2. The dutch had little in common with their Spanish rulers
3. Dutch economy was strong and had a middle class.

Slide 10: 

1. Philip raised taxes in the Netherlands and took steps to crush protestantism.
2. When angry protestant mobs swept through Catholic churches philip sent an army under Spanish Duke of Alva to punish the rebels.
3. On a single day in 1568 the duke executed 1,500 Protestants and suspected rebels

Slide 11:

1. Dutch continued to fight the spaniards for another 11 years.
2.  In 1579, the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands united and declared their independence from Spain.
3. They became the United Provinces of the Netherlands
4. 10 southern provinces (present day belgium) were catholic and remained under Spanish Control

Slide 12:

1. United Provinces of the Netherlands was different from other European states of the time.
2. They practiced religious tolerance.
3. It was not a kingdom, but a republic.
4. Each province had an elected governor whose power depended on the support of merchants and landholders

Slide 13:

1. Famous dutch artist is Rembrandt van Rijin. (Ryen)
2. Painted portraits of wealthy middle class merchants.
3. Night Watch portrayed a group of city guards.
4. Uses contrasts of light and shadow to draw attention to focus .

Slide 14:

1. Stability of government allowed the Dutch people to concentrate on economic growth.
2. Merchants of Amsterdam bought surplus grain in Poland and crammed it into their warehouses.
3. When they heard about poor harvests in southern Europe, they shipped the grain south while prices were high.
4. Dutch had the largest fleet of ships in the world, 4800.
5. Fleet helped the Dutch East India Company (trading company controlled by the Dutch government) to dominate the Asian spice trade and indian ocean trade

Slide 15:

1. Most kings during this time wanted to be absolute monarchs.
2. Kings or Queens that held all of the power within their states boundaries.
3. Absolute monarchs believed in the divine right, the idea that God created the monarchy and that the monarch acted as God’s representative on Earth.
4. Absolute monarch only answered to God.

Slide 16: 

1. Monarchs grew increasingly more powerful after the Middle Ages.
2. Growth of national kingdoms helped centralize authority.
3. Growing middle class usually supported monarchs because they promised a peaceful supportive climate for business.
4. Breakdowns in the church allowed monarchs to grab even more control.

Slide 17:

1. 17th century was time of great turmoil in Europe.
2. Religious and territorial conflicts led to almost continuous warfare that cause government to build huge armies that required a large amount of taxes to pay for.
3. These policies led to widespread unrest and even peasant revolts.

Slide 18:

1. Monarchs responded to this by trying to impose order by increasing their own power regulated everything from religious worship to social gatherings.
2. Created new government bureaucracies to control their countries’ economic life.
3. Goal was to free themselves from the limitations imposed by the nobility and by representative bodies such as parliament.
4. Only with such freedom could they rule absolutely, as did the most famous monarch of his time.
5. Louis the XIV of France.