MR. CLINE MARSHALL HIGH SCHOOL WESTERN CIVILIZATION II UNIT TWO CA * The Renaissance
• Monarchs vs. The Aristocracy: The Birth of Legislatures
• Monarchs Challenge the Church
• Two things stood as roadblocks for the rise of these new monarchs: the church and the nobles.
• Both of these groups feared the rise of the monarchs and weren't willing to surrender their power without a fight.
• However, these monarchs were very crafty, doing three things to gain ultimate power and control. * The Renaissance
• Monarchs vs. The Aristocracy: The Birth of Legislatures
• Monarchs Challenge the Church
• They directly challenged church authority.
• They included the middle class in their rulings and parliaments.
• They limited the position and power of the aristocracy.
• Let's first begin with the challenge to church authority.
• When the Medieval idea that the church should be in control of government came in, the new monarchs strongly disagreed.
• After all, one of the main ideas of the Renaissance was that people should be free to think on their own without constant interference from the church.
• Building on this ideology, kings and queens took a more worldly approach to governing, making moves to not only challenge the church but also to separate church and state. * The Renaissance
• Monarchs vs. The Aristocracy: The Birth of Legislatures
• Monarchs Challenge the Church
• This was a new tactic because medieval tradition believed that since the church claimed the right to peoples' souls, they should also rule over the peoples' government.
• However, with the coming of the Renaissance, the monarchs turned this idea upside down, basically saying to the church, 'Thanks, but we can take it from here!'
• One great example of this was the 14th century Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy, in which the church seat was moved to Avignon, France.
• With this move came the impression that the pope was simply a puppet in the hands of the French kings of the day, some of whom included Philip VI, Louis X, and Charles IV.
• This rise of secular power was also being felt in Italy as Machiavelli, one of the best-known Florentine writers, stressed that government rule should be based on the secular and not the religious. * The Renaissance
• Monarchs vs. The Aristocracy: The Birth of Legislatures
• Monarchs Challenge the Church
• This idea is bluntly stated in his early 16th century work, The Prince.
• Probably the best example of royalty 'thumbing their noses at the church' was the English Act of Supremacy in the year 1534.
• This controversial piece of legislation not only limited the church, it completely separated England from the Catholic Church, declaring King Henry VIII (you know, the guy with all the wives) the supreme head of the Church of England (Anglican or Episcopalian).
• Monarchs Include the Middle Class
• As the power of the church weakened, the monarchies pulled out the next weapon in their arsenal: the growing middle class.
• During the Renaissance, urban areas began to prosper as trade grew between cities and other countries. * The Renaissance
• Monarchs vs. The Aristocracy: The Birth of Legislatures
• Monarchs Include the Middle Class
• This newfound source of income freed the common class from the system of feudalism.
• Wealth was no longer to be held simply through land ownership but through commerce and trade.
• As cities grew, jobs were rapidly created.
• With these jobs came a brand new group of income earners or, in the monarchs' eyes, a brand new source of tax income!
• King Henry III of England is one of the first European monarchs to begin regularly taxing his subjects.
• Oddly enough, although the common class now had to pay taxes, they began to embrace their rulers as symbols of national pride. * The Renaissance
• Monarchs vs. The Aristocracy: The Birth of Legislatures
• Monarchs Include the Middle Class
• In short, it seems the freedom from feudalism was well worth the price of the taxes.
• Monarchs Challenge the Aristocracy
• To continue, this shift in finances and this new tax base gave the monarchies a treasury with which to fund their own standing armies.
• This was a huge change in political influence, since up to this point, kings and queens relied on wealthy landowners or the aristocracy for the raising of troops (feudalism).
• An excellent example of this change is the strong, national forces of Spain under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella.
• With this ability to raise an army, monarchs became strong central leaders who could directly challenge the power of the old aristocratic class. * The Renaissance
• Monarchs vs. The Aristocracy: The Birth of Legislatures
• Monarchs Challenge the Aristocracy
• The wealth of their countries was no longer found in the feudal system, meaning the majority of their populations no longer owed allegiance to the aristocratic nobility.
• With this reality came the monarchies' chance to limit the power of the aristocracy.
• The first way we see this happening is through the hiring of non- aristocratic subjects to the administration of the monarchs' bureaucracies.
• In simpler terms, the kings and queens of Europe began using common men to replace the aristocracy.
• This gained the royals even more public support while further limiting the nobility. * The Renaissance
• Monarchs vs. The Aristocracy: The Birth of Legislatures
• Monarchs Challenge the Aristocracy
• This new group of common bureaucrats soon became known as parliaments.
• They replaced the aristocracy in areas of counsel and even consent in the monarchies' decision-making process.
• These new parliaments, named from the Latin word parliamentum (or 'to discuss'), enabled the royals to raise money through taxes while also keeping a close eye on the nobility.
• In many ways, they acted as a go-between for common men and their kings.
• In many European nations, these parliaments soon dwindled into mere puppets under the control of the ruling royals. * The Renaissance
• Monarchs vs. The Aristocracy: The Birth of Legislatures
• Monarchs Challenge the Aristocracy
• However, this was not the case in England, where the king faced increasing pressure by his parliament to invite a greater selection of subjects to attend parliament.
• This is known as the Principle of Common Consent.
• With the growth of parliaments and the increase of the monarchs' positions of power, one question needed to be answered: what to do with the old aristocracy?
• The monarchs cleverly answer this question with the introduction of court life to their realms.
• In this practice, the royal courts became the center of life for the nobility, in essence reducing the aristocracy to a royal entourage. * The Renaissance
• Monarchs vs. The Aristocracy: The Birth of Legislatures
• Monarchs Challenge the Aristocracy
• Nobles were required to live at court, and as a result, were under the constant surveillance of the king.
• This allowed the monarchs to control the nobles and, more importantly, allowed them to prevent a coup or uprising of the wealthy.
• In reality, the introduction of court life was almost a deal made between the aristocracy and the monarchies.
• The monarchies funded the wealthy lifestyle of the nobles but gained almost absolute power.
• In turn, the aristocracy gave up their power for life in a gilded cage, complete with luscious foods, parties, and hunting trips galore.
• All and all, not a bad deal for either side! * The Renaissance
• The Formation of Modern Nation States
• Europe Prior to the 1500s
• In today's modern world, the idea of nations and nationalities is widely understood.
• For instance, I'm an American, and so are these guys. These folks are not.
• Although we're all rather friendly, we come from different nations, and this makes sense to us.
• However, this concept was not always understood.
• In fact, prior to the 1500s, the known world was without concrete nations or, to use the scholarly term, nation-states.
• We are going to focus on these modern nation states and how they came about. * The Renaissance
• The Formation of Modern Nation States
• Europe Prior to the 1500s
• For our purposes, we'll focus on two main factors which led to the rise of nation states.
• They are the same as those that led to the rise of parliaments: the decline of feudalism and the decline of Church power.
• To begin a nation state is a defined territory with a sovereign government, made up of people sharing a common culture, history, and language.
• It's what's usually meant when we hear terms like nation or country.
• The medieval period of Europe, which lasted from about the 5th to the 15th century, saw most of Europe entrenched in feudalism.
• And, although the common folk may have heard of a king, it was the wealthy land owner who ruled their lives. * The Renaissance
• The Formation of Modern Nation States
• Europe Prior to the 1500s
• Their allegiance was to him and his land, not to a crown or a country.
• However, this all started to change during the 15th century.
• The Decline of Feudalism
• After the Crusades, European soldiers began returning home with tales of the wealthy East.
• This led to the development of trade routes between the East and the West, and in just a short time, towns and cities began developing along these routes.
• Over time, these towns began demanding independence from local lords, realizing they could stand on their own. * The Renaissance
• The Formation of Modern Nation States
• The Decline of Feudalism
• Making matters even worse for the feudal lords, towns became beacons of freedom for poor workers looking for life beyond the yoke of feudalism.
• Instead of feeling trapped by generations of poverty, the poorer classes seized the opportunity to become free merchants and craftsman within these new towns.
• In short, as towns grew, feudalism's grip began to weaken. • Monarchs Emerge
• As feudal lords were losing their grip, a number of European monarchs seized the opportunity to consolidate power by allying themselves with the growing merchant class.
• An excellent example of this was Louis XI who ruled France from 1461-1483. * The Renaissance
• The Formation of Modern Nation States
• Monarchs Emerge
• When Louis XI took the throne, France was still in the grips of feudalism.
• However, during his reign, he won the allegiance of the merchant class by encouraging trade through the building and maintaining of roads, which made commerce much easier.
• Of course, he imposed taxes to pay for these improvements, but since trade was increasing, people were more than willing to trade in feudalism for taxation from a strong, stable king.
• In fact, Louis XI is seen as one of the first modern kings of France who helped take his country from a group of feudal kingdoms to a unified country.
• Perhaps one of the best examples of a monarch bringing about a strong nation state through trade is Henry VII of England's Tudor dynasty. * The Renaissance
• The Formation of Modern Nation States
• Monarchs Emerge
• Henry VII came to power at the end of England's civil war known as the Wars of the Roses.
• Like Louis XI of France, he encouraged trade by improving the infrastructure of England.
• He also negotiated several trade agreements and bolstered the English economy.
• The greatest of these was the Intercursus Magnus of 1496, which gave England a strong hold on the European wool trade.
• By the end of his reign in 1509, England was a prosperous nation unified under the Tudor dynasty.
• Feudalism not only fell due to the increase of cities and towns. It was also violently ejected by some European rulers. * The Renaissance
• The Formation of Modern Nation States
• Monarchs Emerge
• For instance, throughout much of medieval times, Russia was really not much more than the area of Moscow.
• However, over the course of several hundred years, the princes of Moscow swallowed up more land, eventually growing their claims to what is today modern day Russia.
• When Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible, came to power as Czar of Russia in 1547, he waged war against the nobility, killing many on his path to unquestioned power.
• Like Louis XI and Henry VII, he gained the loyalty of the merchant class by giving them positions in his new state bureaucracies.
• Although thousands of nobles died, Russia emerged as a strong, centralized nation. * The Renaissance
• The Formation of Modern Nation States
• Church Power Declines
• Coupled with the decline of feudalism, 15th century Europe also saw great changes in the power of the Church.
• This led to the formation of modern nation states.
• One of the very best examples of a budding nation standing up to the Church is England's 1534 Act of Supremacy.
• You may recall that in this bold move, King Henry VIII declared himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
• Not only did this hamstring the Catholic Church in England, it also gave the people a sense of national pride.
• They were no longer pawns in the Church's game, but Englishmen and women who had a brave king! * The Renaissance
• The Formation of Modern Nation States
• Church Power Declines
• France also got involved in the action in 1438 when King Charles VII unveiled the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges.
• This also gave more power to the monarchy and grew the national sentiment in France by removing the Pope as the ultimate authority over the French Church.
• Unlike England and France, the Catholic faith actually grew in Spain.
• However, this was not due to the Pope, but to the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella.
• These two, unlike Henry VIII, were staunch Catholics who rallied their people to remove all Muslim influence from the borders of Spain. * The Renaissance
• The Formation of Modern Nation States
• Church Power Declines
• With this finally accomplished at the end of the 15th century, Spain emerged as unified nation, giving allegiance to their king and queen.
• Yes, the Pope and the Church were respected, but the king and the queen were at the helm.
• Just like the other nations of Europe, the monarchs, not the Pope or feudal lords, made their nation a global power with its own defined boundaries and a strong centralized government