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Home , Hieronymites, Isabella I of Castile, John I of Portugal, Reconquista

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BAYLOR UNIVERSITY BY ZACHARY WINGERD CONTENTS

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ISBN: 978-1-5165-1060-3 (pb) / 978-1-5165-1061-0 (br) CHAPTER 3 Vasco Da Gama and Conversations in Modern Portuguese Exploration: World History The Circumnavigation �����������������������������������������i of Africa and the Nascent Fifty Voices from 1400 to Present ��������������������������������������25 �����������������������������������������i Interacting with Past Table of Contents Perspectives: Vasco Da CHAPTER 6 Gama, “Journal of the �������������������������������������� iii First Voyage” (1498) Nzinga Mbemba (Afonso I) ����������������������������������������30 and Political Power on the West Coast of Africa: The Kingdom of Kongo and the CONTENTS African Slave Trade CHAPTER 4 �������������������������������������� 49 Introduction: History as Conversation Motecuhzoma the Interacting with Past ����������������������������������������1 Younger and Euro-Mexica Perspectives: Nzinga Mbemba Encounters: The Aztec (Afonso I), “Letters to the Empire and Spanish of ” (1526) Crusading in the Americas ���������������������������������������� 54 ��������������������������������������33 CHAPTER 1 Interacting with Past Ma Huan and Chinese Perspectives: Motecuhzoma, CHAPTER 7 Oceanic Excursions: “Aztec Accounts of the Ming China, Zheng He’s Spanish Entrada into and Voyages, and the Indian Mexico” (1519–1520) Ocean World ����������������������������������������37 Missions in Asia: ����������������������������������������7 Iberian Jesuits, Japanese Interacting with Past Shoguns, and the Counter Perspectives: Ma Huan, “The Country of Ku-Li CHAPTER 5 �������������������������������������� 57 [Calicut]” (1433) and the Interacting with Past ����������������������������������������13 Division of Western Perspectives: Francis Xavier, : The Holy “Letter from India, to the Roman Empire, the at ” Protestant Reformation, (1543) CHAPTER 2 and Ottoman Expansion ���������������������������������������� 61 and the ��������������������������������������41 Medieval Mediterranean Interacting with Past World: The Unification of Perspectives: Martin Luther, , the , “Against the Robbing and the Jewish Diaspora and Murdering Hordes of ��������������������������������������17 Peasants” (1525) ����������������������������������������45 Interacting with Past Perspectives: Isabella I of Castile, “The Decree” (1492) ����������������������������������������22 CHAPTER 11 ‘Abd-ul-Qadir Bada’uni and the Rise CHAPTER 17 of the Mughal Empire: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and CHAPTER 8 Religion and Imperialism “Enlightened” Politics: The Hans Staden and the in the Indian Subcontinent CHAPTER 14 European Enlightenment Transatlantic Development ��������������������������������������93 and the Social Contract Louis XIV and Divine of South America: ������������������������������������ 143 ‘Abd-al-Qadir Bada’uni, Right of Rule: Absolute Tupinamba, Brazilian “Chronicle concerning Akbar Monarchs, Atlantic Interacting with Past Sugar, and Quilombos and Religion” (1595) Perspectives: Jean-Jacques ��������������������������������������65 ����������������������������������������96 Slavery, and Sugar Rousseau, “The Social Contract” (1762) Interacting with Past ������������������������������������117 Perspectives: Hans Staden, �������������������������������������� 147 The Veritable History and Interacting with Past Description of a Country CHAPTER 12 Perspectives: Louis XIV, “Le belonging to the Wild, Elizabeth I and the Rise of Code Noir” (1685) ��������������������������������������121 Naked, Savage, Man-eating Protestant England: The CHAPTER 18 people, situated in the New Anglican Church, the Hasan al-Kafrawi and World, America (1557) Netherlands, and the ����������������������������������������69 Ottoman Egypt: , Spanish Armada CHAPTER 15 Christians, and Under ������������������������������������101 Ottoman Law Peter the Great and ������������������������������������ 151 Interacting with Past Imperial Russia: CHAPTER 9 Perspectives: Elizabeth I Westernization and the Interacting with Past of England, “The Golden Diego de Landa and Great Northern War Perspectives: Hassan Speech” (1601) al-Kafrawi, “Islamic Canon Indigenous Resistance ������������������������������������127 ��������������������������������������104 Law Concerning Jews and in : The Great Interacting with Past Christians” (1772) Maya and Pueblo Revolts Perspectives: Peter the Great, �������������������������������������� 156 ��������������������������������������75 “Edicts and Decrees” Interacting with Past CHAPTER 13 (1700–1723) ��������������������������������������131 Perspectives: Diego de Samuel de Champlain Landa, The Yucatan Before and the Rise of French CHAPTER 19 and After the Conquest America: New France, Thomas Paine and the (1566) ����������������������������������������79 Algonquin and Iroquois CHAPTER 16 American Revolution: Confederacies, and the The Glorious Revolution, Beaver Wars Tulišen and the Rise of French and Indian War, ������������������������������������109 the Manchu: Qing China, and British Empire CHAPTER 10 Chinese Rites Controversy, ������������������������������������ 161 Interacting with Past and the Canton System Perspectives: Samuel de Jeremiah II ������������������������������������135 Interacting with Past and the Expansion of the Champlain, “Voyages” Perspectives: Thomas Paine, (1608–09) Interacting with Past Muslim States: The Fall of “Common Sense” (1776) ��������������������������������������113 Perspectives: Tulišen, �������������������������������������� 166 Eastern Christendom, the Narrative of the Chinese , and the Embassy to the Khan of the Safavids Tourgouth Tartars (1723) ��������������������������������������83 ��������������������������������������139 Interacting with Past Perspectives: Jeremiah II, “The First Answer Concerning the Augsburg Confession” (1576) ����������������������������������������89 CHAPTER 23 CHAPTER 29 Napoleon Bonaparte and Nikolai Danilevskii and the New French Empire: Pan-Slavism: Russian The Napoleonic Wars and Conservatism, the Crimean the Congress of Vienna CHAPTER 20 War, and the Eastern ����������������������������������� 197 CHAPTER 26 Question Olaudah Equiano and ������������������������������������247 Interacting with Past Lin Zexu and the Decline Abolitionism: The Perspectives: Napoleon Zong Massacre, Sierra of Qing China: The Opium Interacting with Past Bonaparte, “Military Perspectives: Nikolai Leone, and Atlantic Wars, Taiping Rebellion, Addresses and Political Danilevskii, Russia and Emancipations Letters” (1812–1813) and the Boxer Uprising ������������������������������������221 (1869) ������������������������������������171 ������������������������������������� 200 ��������������������������������������251 Interacting with Past Interacting with Past Perspectives: Olaudah Perspectives: Lin Zexu, Equiano, The Interesting “Moral Advice to Queen Narrative of the Life of CHAPTER 24 Victoria” (1839) CHAPTER 30 Olaudah Equiano (1789) ��������������������������������������225 Simón de Bolívar and Fukuzawa Yukichi and the ��������������������������������������175 the Liberation of South Modernization of Japan: America: American Meiji and the Wars for Independence CHAPTER 27 Japanese Empire ����������������������������������� 205 ������������������������������������255 CHAPTER 21 Karl Marx and the Interacting with Past Industrial Revolution: Interacting with Past Mary Wollstonecraft and Perspectives: Simón Bolívar, Revolutionary Women: British Factories, American Perspectives: Fukuzawa “Message to the Congress Yukichi, “Good-bye Asia” The French Revolution of Angostura” (1819) Cotton, and French Socialism (1885) and Women’s Rights ������������������������������������� 209 ��������������������������������������260 ������������������������������������179 ������������������������������������229 Interacting with Past Interacting with Past Perspectives: Mary Perspectives: Karl Marx, Wollstonecraft, CHAPTER 25 “The Manifesto of the CHAPTER 31 A Vindication of the Antonio Lopez de Santa Communist Party” (1848) ��������������������������������������233 Max Nordau and the Rights of Woman (1792) Anna and Mexican ��������������������������������������183 Zionist Movement: Eastern Independence: Mexico, European Jews, Zionism, Comancheria, and US and the Dreyfus Affair Expansionism CHAPTER 28 ������������������������������������263 ����������������������������������� 213 CHAPTER 22 Otto von Bismarck and Interacting with Past Interacting with Past German Unification: Perspectives: Max Nordau, Jean-Jacques Dessalines Perspectives: Antonio Lopez and Revolutionary Slaves: Realpolitik and the “On the General Situation de Santa Anna, “Manifesto of the Jews” (1897) The Haitian Revolution Creation of Germany and Concerning the Texas ��������������������������������������267 and Atlantic Slave Campaign” (1837) Rebellions ������������������������������������� 217 ������������������������������������237 ������������������������������������187 Interacting with Past Interacting with Past Perspectives: Otto von Perspectives: Jean-Jacques Bismarck, “Political Dessalines, “Constitution of Speeches” (1863 and 1870) Haiti” (1805) ��������������������������������������242 ��������������������������������������192 CHAPTER 41 CHAPTER 35 Mao Zedong and the Georges Clemenceau and Making of Modern China: the Great War: World War The Chinese Civil War CHAPTER 32 I (Western Front) and the and the Great Proletarian Versailles Treaty Emilio Aguinaldo and the Cultural Revolution ������������������������������������299 CHAPTER 38 Failed Wars for Philippine ������������������������������������ 351 Independence: The Interacting with Past Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Interacting with Past Spanish-American War Perspectives: Georges Conquest of Europe: Perspectives: Mao Zedong, and the United States’ Clemenceau, “The Versailles Fascist Nationalism and “Manifesto of the Chinese Pacific Empire Treaty” (1919) the Advent of World War People’s Liberation Army” ��������������������������������������303 ������������������������������������271 II (1947) Interacting with Past ������������������������������������325 �������������������������������������� 355 Perspectives: Emilio Interacting with Past Aguinaldo, “True Version CHAPTER 36 Perspectives: Adolf Hitler, of the Philippine Revolution” “Declaration of War Against (1899) Mohandas Gandhi and the United States” (1941) CHAPTER 42 ��������������������������������������276 the Decline of the British ��������������������������������������330 Haile Selassie I and Empire: British India, the Decolonization Noncooperation, and of Africa: Ethiopia, the Indian Independence Atlantic Charter, and the CHAPTER 33 ������������������������������������309 CHAPTER 39 Organization of African Karl Pearson and the Interacting with Past Joseph Stalin and the Unity Science of Empire: Modern Perspectives: Mohandas Great Patriotic War: The ������������������������������������ 359 Science and the “Scramble Gandhi, “Satyagraha Soviet Union and World Interacting with Past for Africa” (Noncooperation)” (1920) War II (Europe) ������������������������������������281 ��������������������������������������313 Perspectives: Haile Selassie ������������������������������������333 I, “Address to the United Interacting with Past Interacting with Past Nations” (1963) Perspectives: Karl Pearson, Perspectives: Joseph Stalin, �������������������������������������� 363 “National Life from the CHAPTER 37 “Speech at the Red Army Standpoint of Science” Parade on the Red Square” (1900) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1941) ��������������������������������������286 and the Creation of the ��������������������������������������338 CHAPTER 43 Republic of Turkey: World Ernesto “Che” Guevara War I (Middle East) and and the Rise of Marxism in the Armenian Genocide : Cold War CHAPTER 34 ������������������������������������317 CHAPTER 40 Guatemala, the Cuban Vladimir Lenin and Interacting with Past Ho Chi Minh and the Revolution, and the Congo the Rise of Russian Perspectives: Mustafa Kemal Cold War in Asia: World Crisis Communism: World War Atatürk, “Six-Day Speech” War II (Pacific) and the ������������������������������������ 367 I (Eastern Front) and the (1927) Indochina Wars Russian Civil War ��������������������������������������321 ������������������������������������341 Interacting with Past ������������������������������������291 Perspectives: Ernesto “Che” Interacting with Past Guevara, “Colonialism is Interacting with Past Perspectives: Ho Chi Minh, Doomed” (1964) Perspectives: Vladimir Lenin, “Vietnamese Declaration of �������������������������������������� 371 “The Chief Task of Our Independence” (1945) Day” (1918) ��������������������������������������346 ��������������������������������������296 CHAPTER 47 Yasser Arafat and the Plight of the Palestinians: CHAPTER 50 CHAPTER 44 Israel, the Palestinian Gamal Abdel Nasser and Liberation Organization, Vladimir Putin and the Arab Nationalism: Modern and the Lebanese Civil Russian War on Terror: Egypt and the Arab-Israeli War The Russian Federation, Wars ����������������������������������� 399 Chechen Separatists, and the Syrian Proxy War ������������������������������������375 Interacting with Past ������������������������������������427 Interacting with Past Perspectives: Yasser Arafat, Perspectives: Gamal Abdel “Speech at the UN General Interacting with Past Nasser, “Speech to Egyptian Assembly” (1988) Perspectives: Vladimir National Assembly ������������������������������������� 403 Putin, “UN Speech Members” (1967) Concerning the Middle East ��������������������������������������380 Crisis” (2015) ��������������������������������������431 CHAPTER 48 Thabo Mbeki and the CHAPTER 45 Creation of the African John Paul II and the Union: South Africa, Collapse of Communism Apartheid, and the Great in Eastern Europe: The Africa War Eastern Bloc, Polish ����������������������������������� 409 Solidarity, and the Velvet Interacting with Past Revolution Perspectives: Thabo Mbeki, ������������������������������������383 “Address to the 38th Assembly of the OAU” Interacting with Past (2002) Perspectives: John Paul II, ������������������������������������� 413 “Address to the 34th General Assembly of the United Nations” (1979) ��������������������������������������387 CHAPTER 49 Osama bin Laden and the American War on Terror: CHAPTER 46 Saudi Arabia, Baathist Margaret Thatcher and Iraq, and the Rise of the Western Conservatism: Sunni Islamic State Modern Britain, the ����������������������������������� 417 Iranian Revolution, and Interacting with Past the Soviet-Afghan War Perspectives: Osama bin ������������������������������������391 Laden, “Letter to America” (2002) Interacting with Past ������������������������������������� 421 Perspectives: Margaret Thatcher, “Speech to Conservative Party Conference” (1980) ��������������������������������������395 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I must begin by thanking my wife Lindsey for reading chapters and offering feed- back and support throughout the writing process. I thank my children Josh, Jonny, and Julie who helped to redirect my attention to what is more important than writing about life, and that is experiencing it.

I am thankful for the support of my department, especially my chair Kim Kellison. I also received encouragement from my family, specifically my father Raymond, and friends Joe Stubenrauch, Don Cox, Andrew Clayton, Theophan Alvarez, Fr. John Ballard, as well as my colleagues in Tidwell B01, David Smith, Bracy Hill, Lauren Poor, and Luis Morera. I offer a special thanks to Brad Hoff for his insight on chapters dealing with Middle Eastern history.

I am also indebted to the staff at Cognella who offered guidance especially Bob Farrell who first encouraged my premise for the book and Gem Rabanera who I corresponded with throughout the process.

This book reflects my own attempt to make sense of World History. Although I wrote it in 2015 and 2016 the text is a conglomeration of my own education and teaching experiences over the past couple of decades. Therefore, I ultimately owe a debt to my professors at LeTourneau University and the University of Texas at Arlington as well as my colleagues and students at Lon Morris College and Baylor University.

I freely admit that the mistakes in content and judgment are my own. I can only say that I hope to improve my understanding of our global past and present by being attuned to the ongoing conversation of history.

Zachary Wingerd

Waco, Texas

Fall 2016 INTRODUCTION: HISTORY AS CONVERSATION

FACTS VERSUS TRUTH

“Facts are the enemy of truth!” shouts Don Quixote when presented with evidence that contradicts his reality.1 Facts are true, but even verifiable details, if stated out of context, can cause us to misunderstand the grander story. Textbooks, full of neatly organized facts, can be misleading if they offer details detached from the greater experience of what it is to be human. In trying to understand history, a record of humanity written by humans, we should keep in mind that none of us, in truth, can be reduced to a single action. It is your life as a whole that contains your story. History can be written as a list of names, dates, and events, but these facts become stale without the flesh and blood of human causation. The purpose of this book is to place historical facts within the context of individual lives and therein proceed to a more nuanced understanding. Regardless of how you ultimately judge the people presented in this book, you should take the time to understand their circumstances and then listen to

1 The phrase “facts are the enemy of truth!” was coined in Dale Wasserman’s 1966 musical Man of La Mancha, which is loosely based on the life of the Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes and his 1615 novel Don Quixote. In the novel, Don Quixote is viewed as a madman because he sees the world as it should be (his truth), and not at it is (the facts). Cervantes forces the reader into the awkward position of choosing to empathize with a romantic lunatic or condemn a compassionate dreamer.

1 their words. Without the appropriate background, Don Quixote’s declaration that “facts are the enemy of truth!” makes little sense. Don Quixote attempted to live according to his romantic dream, but was disillusioned unto death when confronted with physical reality. There is a double lesson in this, which is applicable to those who read history. Not only should facts be considered within their greater context, but we should be careful not to ignore evidence that contradicts a truth we have accepted.

THIS IS A HISTORICAL MOMENT

The primary goal of this book is to offer the reader enough historical and biographical context to be able to understand and thoughtfully react to the conversations passed down to us. Participating in the conversation of history is itself historical. I cannot detach myself from my own context and therefore my conversation is connected to the time and place in which it happens. Even as I acknowledge the past influences that have brought me to this point, I must also realize that this present moment conditions my discussion of that past. History is not a sterile group of facts, but rather a fragmented record of a continuous conversation about who we are and what we are doing. History is memory, and memory is not simply the retrieval of stagnant knowledge, but a reawakening or reinterpreting of something experienced in the past, in refer- ence to the present. Perhaps we too much emphasize the distinction between past and present. The past is not detached from us. Rather, we daily experience the consequences of history.

A CONVERSATIONAL APPROACH TO GLOBAL HISTORY

This textbook will not guide the reader in encyclopedia-type fashion through the “important” facts. Instead, in an effort to present history in a more personal way, each chapter has been dedicated to one author and one of their written contributions to the historical conversation. Through speeches, political statements, books, and journals, men and women offer particular interpretations of various moments in history. These authors, though as humans no more important than anyone else, have been chosen because their records survive and contain reflections on not only their culture, but their perspectives of and interactions with others. Even so, numerous other documents could have been selected. One of the guiding thoughts of the author, whose primary audience is American students, is to offer perspectives that are diverse. The United States has played a large role in recent history, and the book will reveal that—but how often do we as Americans only listen to our own voices? The hope is that, in carefully reading this book, you might develop a global perspective. This is only an initiation into the conversation, but if you can appreciate the lives and statements of these fifty non-American authors, you will have made progress out of the cave of our often self-centered nationalism (Figure 0.1).

2 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY FIGURE 0.1. “America First” by Dr. Seuss (1941). In 1941 American cartoonist Theodor Geisel (i.e., Dr. Seuss) produced images for a New York newspaper. This one criticizes the “America First” movement, which opposed US entrance into World War II. The adult reads the story in a matter-of-fact way. She proclaims that people are dying, but because they are not Americans it is not worth getting upset. The boy and girl, who do not understand the world in terms of national identity, simply see that fellow children are being eaten by a wolf and therefore are concerned. Dr. Seuss is asking whether or not we might lose our compassion for other human beings when we cling so strongly to nationalism.

Another difference that the reader will notice in comparison to the standard textbook is that informa- tion about many of the major events in history will not be compartmentalized in one section or chapter. Much of the same information will be present, but it will be revealed as it is relevant to the individual. The advantage of this is that the reader receives the information from the various perspectives of the selected authors. For example, there is not a chapter dedicated to World War II. To learn about this conflict, you should especially read the chapters devoted to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Ho Chi Minh. You will also find information relevant to World War II in the chapters on Mao Zedong, Haile Selassie, and Pope John Paul II. Each chapter will have general statistics and a historical overview, but the focus is on the individual. Even global experiences, like a world war, are personal, and therefore should be understood personally.

CONNECTING PAST AND PRESENT CONVERSATIONS

The theme of this book is the connectedness of all humanity, both past and present. We live in different historical contexts, but all humans deal with the same basic questions. History does not repeat itself in

Introduction: History as CONVERSATION 3  an exact sense, but we as individuals, cultural groups, and political units experience similar situations and are guided by the same sorts of influences. This book presents history as a conversation by allowing the primary sources to drive the narrative. Each document leads to the next to help the reader understand that the discussions we have today actually began hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago, and will continue. This book offers you an overview of the last six hundred years of the human experience, but also an opportunity to respond to those persons who have left us their thoughts. Beginning with the Chinese explorations of the Ming and ending with the emerging Russian Federation, this is a story of the past from those who lived and are living it. There is a symbiotic relationship between the individual and their country in which it is impossible to separate one from the other. You cannot understand Napoleon Bonaparte detached from revolutionary France, but neither can you grasp the significance of the era of revolutions without Napoleon. The fact that some of Napoleon’s writings have survived the last two hundred years means that I can listen to his past perspective and react to it in my present.

INTERACTING WITH PAST PERSPECTIVES

The primary sources (i.e., the fifty documents written by the selected historical characters), which deter- mine chapter placement, are presented chronologically as opposed to thematically. There are three reasons for this. First, sometimes identifying a theme can be artificial, as the author is asking the reader to focus on only one connection. Most of the documents contain a variety of thoughts, even if, on the surface, there is one theme. Second, often it is good to leave a topic and review it later through another lens. This way you have time to digest an argument and, while considering something seemingly different, you may make a connection. Finally, various actions and dialogues happen simultaneously, so it makes sense to read the conversation chronologically. In each of our lives we have to accept an overlapping cacophony of voices and happenings. We must choose to either forget them or integrate them into our own narrative of memory. In order to appreciate the diverse arguments in this book, we should struggle to respect or at least empathize with the historical figures. Although no two people have the exact same sensations, we all have feelings that to some degree are universally experienced. There are different types of slavery and revolution, but all humans feel “enslaved” in some form or fashion. All people go through phases when they would like to “revolt” against the status quo, at least in the sense of wanting change. We are all humans, but our political, economic, cultural, and religious situation influences our answers to the “big” questions: Who are we? What are we trying to accomplish? What is the ideal society? What justifies violence? Answers to such universal questions are not detached from a particular context, but they do have the common theme of self-justification. Arguments differ, yet whatever is the prevailing instrument of determining the “truth,” that is what will be cited. The appeal to an outside authority, including Scripture, the Scientific Method, the Constitution, or any other “higher” source, is often meant to

4 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY validate a very specific political goal. Science, Reason, Religion, and History have all been used to justify carnage, dispossession, subjugation, and theft. On the other hand, these have also been used to benefit humanity in finding relief from physical and spiritual suffering, as well as encouragement of classical toleration and humanitarianism.

MODERN WORLD HISTORY

This is a history of individual perspectives, but you should keep in mind the greater movement of history. For hundreds of years, factors such as imperialism and trade connected the world. Unlike a work of fiction, in which the author guides the reader to an unexpected end, you should know where the book is heading. You already know the ending; it is the ever changing present. The question is, how did we arrive at this point? One major topic is the Europeanization of the world. In the 1400s, when this history begins, Europe, one of the smaller continents, was divided into warring states. Even though there were times of seeming Christian unification against the spread of , European politics and resources were never as consolidated as those of the Chinese. Ming China’s civilization, from its architectural feats of the Forbidden City and Great Wall to its highly educated and ordered bureaucracy, surpassed the fragmented kingdoms of Christendom. Perhaps the cultivation of the Eastern Christian Empire of Byzantium could have contended with China, but in the 1400s it fell to the Muslim Turks. In the fifteenth century, Islam rivaled as the dominant monotheistic religion. Muslim armies and traders had spread their faith and culture from Arabia into the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean worlds. And yet today, geographically speaking, much of the world uses European languages, especially English, whereas , Turkic, and Mandarin are more concentrated in the Middle East and Asia. Why is this? Globalization is not just about international connectedness; it is also the prevalence of Western culture. Aggressive European imperialism spread not only language but both traditional and developing ideas of religion, politics, and economics. Western propaganda has long promoted this hegemony as progress, but every culture has accepted or resisted it to varying degrees. It is easier to see European influence in continents colonized hundreds of years ago, such as Australia and the Americas. However, in most of Asia and Africa direct Western control was shorter, more concentrated, or nonexistent. The greatest modern resistance to Western ascendancy is found in the Middle East and Russia. Although historically Russia shares a Christian lineage with the West, the vast Slavic nation has long understood its culture as distinct from Europe. The seventy-year yoke of communism only exacerbated the East–West divide, and many today are still affected by Cold War misinformation. Even more so have the Islamic societies wrestled to integrate Western ideas and practices without sacrificing religious beliefs. One example of this is the rise of militant groups bent on establishing Sharia law in Muslim-dominated countries. The current political crises, from the war on terror to the Syrian crisis, are rooted in the past several hundred years of global interactions. These situations are the products of that history.

Introduction: History as CONVERSATION 5  READING THE WEB OF HISTORY: HOW TO READ THIS BOOK

When you read this book, consider that collectively the chapters represent a historical web. The chapters do not function so much as stepping stones, but rather as interconnected pieces that point to the past, present, and future. Do not be too hasty to pass judgment. It is intellectually healthy to be able to formu- late an argument and defend it. However, the ability to admit our own subjectivity when making a claim and the willingness to consider an opposing position is an integral part of intellectual maturity. If you desire to participate in the conversation, it is not enough to simply read and respond to a primary source. You must develop an understanding of the historical context, as well as the particular factors that guide individual perceptions. Each chapter opens with a brief timeline that is meant to help the reader quickly grasp the pertinent chronology. The chapter is then divided between the narrative, which includes both biographical informa- tion as well as an introduction to the particular historical period, followed by the primary source. At the end of each chapter there are questions for reflection in relation to the particular historical moment, as well as ours. The questions posed are meant to encourage discussion not of the dead past, but of the past alive in the present. All people in this text are fully human. My assumption is that no superiority exists based on race, nationality, or gender, yet each person, within the confines of their historical context, chooses to project their perspective and qualify their own correctness. Indeed, one criticism of this work may be the apparent support of controversial statements by those figures normally condemned. To clarify, the objective of this book is to foster a clearer understanding of viewpoints in order to have a more honest conversation. When a statement is footnoted in the primary source sections, it is not to condone, but to verify. The ultimate acceptance of any argument rests with the reader, but one of my hopes is that a “fair” hearing may be had before condemnation or acceptance.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

• What are some of the biased perspectives that you may bring to the conversation? • How has your national, religious, economic, and social formation conditioned you to praise or demonize certain countries, individuals, or ideas?

6 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY CHAPTER 3

VASCO DA GAMA AND PORTUGUESE EXPLORATION

THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF AFRICA AND THE NASCENT PORTUGUESE EMPIRE

VASCO DA GAMA 1415 Portuguese conquer in North Africa Vasco da Gama was born in 1460 in the fishing town of , Portugal. His father, Estêvão da Gama, was governor of Sines and a in the , a Portuguese crusading organization that participated in the Reconquista. In 1480, Portuguese develop sugar plantations with slave labor on after he completed his studies in mathematics and navigation, Vasco da Gama also joined the military order. In 1481 the Order of Santiago’s master ascended to the throne as King John II of Portugal. After leading a successful seizure of French 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounds Cape ships in 1492, the monarch favored da Gama to sail in the name of Portugal. of Good Hope Since the early fifteenth century, Portuguese sailors routinely sailed south from Iberia, down the west coast of Africa, returning with gold, slaves, and eventually 1494 The Treaty of sugar from Madeira. 1498 Vasco da Gama first to round Africa to India HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 1519–1522 Magellan’s crew In 1415, King conquered the Muslim North African port at circumnavigates the globe Ceuta. The king’s son, Henry, encouraged his father to extend his power into Africa and the Atlantic. Henry wanted to locate the source of gold brought

25 FIGURE 3.1. “Prester John of the Indies and the of Mogadishu” (extract from a sixteenth-century Spanish portolan chart). First produced in thirteenth-century Italy, portolan charts were maps with crisscrossing lines representing the thirty- two compass headings used by navigators to calculate distance. Unlike other medieval geographic representations, which sought to show the cosmic relationship between God and creation, portolan charts were intended to be cartographically accurate. This chart depicts the East African coast, Arabia, Persia, and India, along with notable rulers. In this image of East Africa, the mythical Christian ruler “Preste Iuan de las Indias” (Prester John of the Indies) is enthroned as a European-style monarch and flanked by the cross symbol. Opposite is a Muslim sultan “Rei de Magadallo” (King of Mogadishu), rendered as a stereotyped Arab ruler with a scimitar, headdress, and crescent image on his shield.

across the Sahara Desert by camel caravan. He was also fascinated with the medieval legend of Prester John, a supposedly wealthy Christian king who ruled in East Africa (i.e., Ethiopia; Figure 3.1). In 1520, Prince Henry, known as the Navigator, became the of the and organized missions to sail down the African coast in search of the famed prince, as well as to establish trade relations. The trade in West African gold was accompanied by the Portuguese purchase of slaves. Slavery had long been practiced in the Mediterranean world by both Muslims and Christians. The demand for slaves in the fifteenth century increased with the development of sugar plantations on the islands off the coast of West Africa. In the 1520s, Portuguese captains, under the command of Prince Henry, oversaw the settlement of Madeira Island. Enslaved Africans under the lash of Portuguese masters grew and refined the highly profitable sugar.

26 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY Due to its rich soil and warm weather, Madeira was an ideal place for sugar production. The oceanic winds powered the windmills necessary for crushing the sugar cane. Easy access to slave markets in Africa provided a labor force that could be worked to death and cheaply replaced. This pattern of plantation slavery that developed on Madeira was the model for sugar cultivation transplanted in the following cen- tury to Portuguese-controlled Brazil, and later to the islands of the Caribbean. Castile employed similar methods in the . Before the conquest of the Americas, colonizers, including , saw the profits accrued through slavery and sugar in Madeira and the Canaries.

A NEW ROUTE TO ASIA

After Prince Henry’s death in 1460, state-sponsored Portuguese expeditions waned. They were revived with the 1481 ascension of John II. Since the times of the , the Republic of Venice had held a virtual monopoly on oriental imports to Europe. John II eagerly sought to compete in the lucrative spice trade and sent out men to collect information on alternative routes to Asia. The king found his opportunity in 1488 when Captain Bartolomeu Dias’s expedition returned from sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, proving that a water route around Africa to India was possible. During Columbus’s Castilian-sponsored voyages to the West Indies in the , the Portuguese continued to gather geographic information for an expedition to the . At this time, Portuguese King Manuel I entrusted Vasco da Gama with the mission of creating a commercial treaty with the king of Calicut. Da Gama’s four ships departed from in the summer of 1497 and successfully rounded the south coast of Africa. By March of 1498, da Gama had anchored his ships off the coast of Arab-controlled territory in East Africa. Fearing hostility towards his crew because they were Christian, da Gama disguised himself as a Muslim. He was not able to ingratiate himself with the Sultan of Mozambique and an angry crowd forced him to flee. Further north up the African coast, the Portuguese began to loot Arab merchant vessels. They briefly visited the port of Malindi, where they found a captain who could navigate the ships to Calicut.

THE CALICUT MISSION

The Portuguese fleet arrived in Calicut in May 1498. The King of Calicut, the Zamorin, listened to da Gama’s commercial proposals, but his gifts did not impress the wealthy monarch. Da Gama also tried to convince the Zamorin of his legitimate status as a representative of the Portuguese king, because rival merchants portrayed him as a pirate. In 1499, despite initial disagreements, the Portuguese returned to Lisbon with ships full of spices. Plagued with scurvy, over half of da Gama’s crew died. One of the ships was lost and he failed to create a commercial treaty with Calicut. Despite the large quantity of spices that brought a huge profit to the , the mission seemed a failure. However, da Gama’s trip proved the

Chapter 3: Vasco Da Gama and Portuguese ExpLORATION 27 FIGURE 3.2. “Treaties of Tordesillas and Saragossa.” After Columbus’s discoveries in 1492, both the of Castile and Portugal wanted to clearly make their claims known on paper. The result was the , which gave the Portuguese the right to conquer non-Christian lands to the east of the mid-Atlantic longitude, and Spain those to the west. The document was authored by Pope Alexander VI and signed in 1494 by the monarchs Isabella, Ferdinand, and John II. With the addition of the 1529 Treaty of Saragossa, the world was divided between Portuguese and Spanish imperial rights. These treaties were generally respected by both empires, but were challenged once other European states began to colonize.

profitability of the spice trade once Portugal established strategic coastal outposts in East Africa and the Indian subcontinent (Figure 3.2).

NASCENT PORTUGUESE EMPIRE

The second Portuguese expedition to Calicut was captained by Pedro Álvares Cabral. The flotilla, including the famous Dias, landed on the coast of South America in 1500, giving Portugal its initial claim to Brazil. The expedition then continued south and eastward around the Cape of Good Hope, where four ships, including Dias’s vessel, were lost in a storm. Cabral initiated a treaty with the Zamorin of Calicut, but the Portuguese factory (i.e., warehouse) was attacked in a riot when the Europeans fell afoul of Muslim merchants. Cabral blamed the deaths of the seventy Portuguese on the Zamorin, and allied with cities that were at odds with Calicut. The Portuguese exploited the political disunity on the Indian coast to lay the foundations of an empire that was as much political as commercial.

28 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY In 1502, fifteen heavily armed ships and eight hundred men set sail for Calicut under the leadership of da Gama, whose express purpose was to punish the Zamorin. In route, da Gama forced the East African sultanate of Kilwa to pay tribute to Portugal, captured Arab merchant ships, and ordered the massacre of the passengers aboard a pilgrim ship by locking the Muslim men, women, and children below deck and burning them alive. When da Gama reached Calicut, he demanded that the Zamorin sign a new treaty and expel all Muslims. When the king refused, the Portuguese fleet bombarded the unfortified city. They captured several ships, cut off the crew’s hands, ears, and noses, and sent these along with an offensive letter to the Zamorin. This violence brought trade to a halt along the coast of southwest India and da Gama returned to Portugal in 1503.

CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE

Da Gama’s second failure to enter into successful trade relations with Calicut placed him in the king’s disfavor. He remained in Portugal as other captains carved out an Indian Ocean empire. Meanwhile, another Portuguese navigator who had fallen out of royal favor, Ferdinand Magellan, defected to Spain. Originally inspired by Columbus, the Spanish continued to seek a spice trade route that would compete with Portugal’s. Magellan agreed to the task of circumnavigating South America and trying to reach Asia via the Pacific Ocean. King Charles V, grandson of Isabella of Castile, provided Magellan with five ships and an international crew of 270 men. In 1519, the fleet sailed from to South America. Magellan discovered the strait, now named for him, that would allow his remaining three ships to enter the South Pacific in 1520. The fleet headed northwest, claiming for Spain the island of Guam and then the Philippine archipelago in 1521. While in the , Magellan had two of the local rulers baptized Christians. In an attempt to solidify their alliance with Spain, he led an attack party on their enemies, which resulted in his death. With only enough crew to man two of the ships, the survivors sailed to the famed Spice Islands and loaded the vessels with the valuable commodities. After having to abandon another ship in the Indian Ocean and being reduced to rice rations, only eighteen of the original crew arrived in Spain in 1522, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe.

DA GAMA’S FINAL VOYAGE

In 1524, after the ascension of a new Portuguese king, John III, da Gama was appointed viceroy to Portuguese India, and his sons as captains of Malacca. He once again travelled to the Indian subcontinent, where the Portuguese controlled the port cities of Cochin, Calicut, Goa, and others. Vasco da Gama contracted malaria and died on Christmas Eve, only a few months after assuming his post in Cochin. His body was eventually interred in the of the Hieronymites, near Lisbon, whose construction was funded by the profits of the Portuguese expeditions to India that he initiated.

Chapter 3: Vasco Da Gama and Portuguese ExpLORATION 29 INTERACTING WITH PAST PERSPECTIVES: VASCO DA GAMA, “JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE” (1498)1

An unknown sailor kept a journal, from which the following passages come. Although these are not the words of da Gama, they represent a Portuguese perspective of Calicut over half a century after Ma Huan experienced the Hindu-governed city. Like Ma Huan, who confused Hinduism with Buddhism, this Portuguese author confuses a Hindu temple for a Christian church. On the following day [May 21] these same boats came again alongside, when the captain-major sent one of the convicts to Calicut, and those with whom he went took him to two from Tunis, who could speak Castilian and Genoese.2 The first greeting that he received was in these words: “May the Devil take thee! What brought you hither?” They asked what he sought so far away from home, and he told them that we came in search of Christians and of spices. … When he had eaten he returned to the ships, accompanied by one of the Moors, who was no sooner on board, than he said these words: “… You owe great thanks to God, for having brought you to a country holding such riches!” We were greatly astonished to hear his talk, for we never expected to hear our language spoken so far away from Portugal.3 … They also wear moustaches. They pierce the ears and wear much gold in them. They go naked down to the waist, covering their lower extremities with very fine cotton stuffs.4 But it is only the most respectable who do this, for the others manage as best they are able. The women of this country, as a rule, are ugly and of small stature. They wear many jewels of gold round the neck, numerous bracelets on their arms, and rings set with precious stones on their toes. All these people are well-disposed and apparently of mild temper. At first sight they seem covetous and ignorant. … On … Monday, May 28th, the captain-major set out to speak to the king and took with him thirteen men, of which I was one. … The reception was friendly, as if the people were pleased to see

1 A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497-1499, trans. and ed. by E. G. Ravenstein (London: Hakluyt Society, 1898), 48–61. 2 The captain-major is a reference to da Gama, whose crew included convicts pardoned by the king of Portugal. Death sentences were at times commuted to exile if the criminal agreed to serve on ships and ultimately live abroad. As this punish- ment was a means of , it was agreeable to all involved. 3 The fact that the two North African Muslims spoke Castilian (Spanish, which is linguistically close to Portuguese) means they possibly lived or traveled in al-Andalus. 4 Ancient Indus River Valley civilizations cultivated cotton and cloth became the staple fabric in the Indian subcontinent three thousand years before da Gama arrived. Although the opulent of Europe wore imported silk, wool and linen were the most common materials for clothing.

30 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY us, though at first appearances looked threatening, for they carried naked in their hands. A palanquin was provided for the captain-major, such as is used by men of distinction in that country …5 … When we arrived [at Calicut] they took us to a large church. … Within this sanctuary stood a small image which they said represented Our Lady. … In this church the captain-major said his , and we with him.6 We did not go within the chapel, for it is the custom that only certain servants of the church, called quafees, should enter. Thesequafees wore some threads passing over the left shoulder and under the right arm, in the same manner as our wear the stole. They threw holy water over us, and gave us some white earth, which the Christians of this country are in the habit of putting on their foreheads, breasts, around the neck, and on the forearms …7 Many other saints were painted on the walls of the church, wearing crowns. They were painted variously, with teeth protruding an inch from the mouth, and four or five arms.8 … The king was in a small court reclining upon a couch … the king threw [into his cup] the husks of a certain herb which is chewed by the people of this country because of its soothing effects, and which they call atambor …9 The captain, on entering, saluted in the manner of the country: by putting the hands together, then raising them towards Heaven, as is done by Christians when addressing God, and immediately afterwards opening them and shutting fists quickly. The king beckoned to the captain … And the captain told him he was the ambassador of a King of Portugal, who was Lord of many countries and the possessor of great wealth of every description, exceeding that of any king of these parts; that for a period of sixty years his ancestors had annually sent out vessels to make discoveries in the direction of India, as they knew that there were Christian there like themselves. This, he said, was the reason which induced them to order this country to be discovered, not because they sought for gold or silver … and, finally, he had been instructed to say by word of mouth that he [the King of Portugal] desired to be his friend and brother. In reply to this the king said that he was welcome; that, on his part, he held him as a friend and brother, and would send ambassadors with him to Portugal …

5 A palanquin was an oriental form of transport for an honored traveler. It is a seat, enclosed by a ceiling and walls of fabric, attached to two poles, and usually carried by four to six men. 6 The “large church” was a Hindu temple. The statue was probably the local goddess Mari. 7 Quafees were Brahman priests and the “white earth” probably ritual ash made from cow dung. 8 Several Hindu deities, such as Vishnu and Ganesha, are portrayed as having four or more arms. These depictions, like medieval European saints with halos, were not necessarily meant to be literal, but symbolic portrayals emphasizing strength and ability. 9 Atambor, the areca nut wrapped in betel leaves, was a traditional psychoactive drug chewed throughout the Indian Ocean world.

Chapter 3: Vasco Da Gama and Portuguese ExpLORATION 31 On Tuesday, May 29, the captain-major got ready the following things to be sent to the king, viz., twelve pieces of lambel [striped cloth], four scarlet hoods, six hats, four strings of coral, a case containing six wash-hand basins, a case of sugar, two casks of oil, and two of honey.10 And as it is the custom not to send anything to the king without the knowledge of the Moor, his factor, and of the bale, the captain informed them of his intention. They came, and when they saw the present they laughed at it, saying that it was not a thing to offer to a king, that the poorest merchant from Mecca, or any other part of India, gave more, and that if he wanted to make a present it should be in gold, as the king would not accept such things. When the captain heard this he grew sad … they declared that they would not forward his presents, nor consent to his forwarding them himself. When they had gone there came certain Moorish merchants, and they all depreciated the present which the captain desired to be sent to the king.

10 Bartolomeu Dias selected these items for da Gama’s expeditions, as such trade goods were acceptable on the African coasts.

CONCLUSION

As Portuguese captains built an oceanic domain around strategically located trading ports on the coasts of Africa and south Asia, the Spanish conquered empires in the Americas. Although violence was employed and city-states subdued in establishing Portuguese dominance in the Indian Ocean, the loss of life and political identity was minimal compared to the creation of Spanish America. From the same peninsula from which da Gama heralded, Hernan Cortes also emerged. By the time da Gama was named viceroy of Portuguese India, really a collection of port cities, Cortes had conquered the Aztec Empire and was governor of New Spain.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

• How ought da Gama, who opened the door for interoceanic trade and also massacred innocents, be regarded? • What have been the long-term effects, culturally, linguistically, and politically, of the Spanish and Portuguese empires?

32 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY CHAPTER 5

MARTIN LUTHER AND THE DIVISION OF WESTERN CHRISTENDOM

THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION, AND OTTOMAN EXPANSION

MARTIN LUTHER 1506 Construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica begins Martin Luther was born in 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, an electorate (i.e., state) within the Holy Roman Empire. His father supervised the mining and smelting 1517 of copper and served as a local council representative. He intended his son to Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses become a lawyer. Luther studied at three preparatory schools, which emphasized Latin, the academic and religious language of central and western Europe. After 1519 passing through the three stages of the Trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric), he Charles V becomes Holy Roman Emperor entered the University of Erfurt and received his master’s degree in 1505. Luther studied law and philosophy, but ultimately preferred theology. He 1521 argued that human reason was useful in understanding the institutions of this material world, but only through divine revelation (i.e., the Bible) could God 1525 be known. Luther related that one night during a thunderstorm he was nearly Peasants’ War struck by lightning. Fearful of losing his life, he vowed to become a if God might spare him. Much to his father’s chagrin, Luther sold his books and joined 1531 Schmalkaldic League founded a monastery. Luther was ordained a priest in 1507 and the following year began attending 1555 classes and lecturing at the University of Wittenberg. In 1512, Luther received Peace of Augsburg his doctorate of theology. Wittenberg was a notable city because of the university, established in 1502, as well as the palace built by the elector of Saxony, Frederick III.

41 As Saxony’s governor, Frederick the Wise was a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor, who presided over most of central Europe.

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

The Holy Roman Empire had its roots in the attempt to resurrect the fallen Western Roman Empire. In 800, Pope Leo crowned the king of the Franks, , as the Christian emperor and defender of the capital of Western Christendom, Rome. The imperial title was passed down the line of Germanic rulers, who sought to unite the developing kingdoms of central Europe. The boundaries were ever shifting and the peoples diverse, but the majority was German. In the time of Luther’s childhood, Queen Isabella’s political maneuverings set into motion a Spanish connection. In 1516, Ferdinand and Isabella’s grandson Charles was crowned king of Castile and (i.e., Spain). Three years later, at the age of nineteen, he initiated his reign as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. As Spain was blossoming into a global realm, the Holy Roman Empire was threatened, externally by Ottoman expansion in Eastern Europe, and internally by religious divisions initiated by Luther. Charles V’s rule over the fragile alliance of Christian states was validated by hereditary rights, as well as the papacy, at that time embodied in Leo X.

ST. PETER’S BASILICA

Leo X inherited a massive building project from his predecessor. The Western development of art and architecture known as the Renaissance was birthed in the fourteenth-century Italian city-states. The movement revived Roman and Greek styles and blended them with Christian themes. For almost a thousand years, the Byzantine basilica Hagia Sophia was the largest church in the world. However, after the in 1453, the building was converted into a mosque. The new Saint Peter’s Basilica, located in Rome, was fashioned in the Renaissance style and surpassed Hagia Sophia in size. In 1516, authorized Johann Tetzel, a priest, to sell indulgences in the German-speaking lands to help fund the building of St. Peter’s. Theologians argued that salvation was attained through both word (i.e., confession) and deed (i.e., charitable acts). They also taught that most Christians, though they may not be damned to hell, would not enter directly into heaven. Instead, a departed Christian would remain in purgatory, a place of torment, until the sinner had been completely purged of his or her sins. Leo X offered a special dispensation known as an indulgence, in which, through a charitable donation, sins could be forgiven. Tetzel traveled central Europe preaching that if a Christian gave money to build St. Peter’s, they, or someone of their choosing, would receive mercy in the afterlife.

42 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY NINETY-FIVE THESES

Tetzel’s preaching of indulgences quickly reached the ears of Luther who, in 1517, sent a letter to the local . The letter included a separate document, later called theNinety-Five Theses,which detailed his objections. The bishop forwarded the document to Rome. As a priest and a professor, Luther sought to expose what he interpreted as non-Christian teachings that exploited the pious poor. The original criti- cisms were written in Latin, but a greater stir happened when his students translated the document into German and distributed printed copies. Luther meant the Ninety-Five Theses to be debated in academic fashion, but his accusations were very personal. Luther indirectly attacked Tetzel as an enemy of Christ because he preached indulgences instead of Scripture. Luther also openly questioned the love and justice of the pope who would only assuage suffering souls for money.

PEASANT’S WAR

In 1520, Leo X sent a (i.e., edict) to Luther threatening his excommunication if he did not re- cant his statements. Luther publically burned the bull. Frederick the Wise, who sympathized with Luther’s views, interceded with Charles V to give the accused a fair hearing, as well as safe conduct to and from the city of Worms. In 1521, Luther defended his beliefs before the emperor at the Diet of Worms. Luther was again asked to rescind his criticisms. The question came down to where the true source of authority lay for a Christian. Luther responded that he did not trust the councils of and who in their humanity had misled the Church. Instead, he argued that truth is found through reasoned interpretation of Christian Scripture. This statement, which placed religious authority in the individual rather than the Church, directly challenged the power of the pope, and by extension the Holy Roman Emperor. Charles V proclaimed Luther an outlaw. On his way home, Luther was “kidnapped” by a group of masked men hired by Frederick the Wise. They safely deposited him at Wartburg and he secretly resided there for a year. He used this sabbatical to translate the into German (Figure 5.1). Meanwhile, in Wittenberg, the application of Luther’s teachings by some of his colleagues led to the challenging of secular and religious authorities. Self-proclaimed prophets travelled the city, preaching social equality, adult baptism, and that the return of Christ (the end of the world) was near. At the request of the city council, Luther returned to Wittenberg in 1522 and reestablished civil and religious order. However, these radical reformers traveled through the German lands fomenting social unrest and violence. In 1524, German peasants, inspired by ideas of equality and feeling the burden of taxation and re- cent crop failures, revolted against their landlords. Luther sympathized with the peasants’ sufferings, but condemned their rebellion. In 1525, Luther published a tract arguing from the New Testament that the political leaders had the responsibility to quell the uprising. It is estimated that the nobility slaughtered one hundred thousand people.

Chapter 5: Martin Luther and the Division of Western CHRISTENDOM 43 FIGURE 5.1. “The Great Whore of Babylon” (1534) from the workshop of Lucas Cranach. The black and white original was among numerous illustrations accompanying Luther’s 1534 German translation of the Bible. The reference is to the apocalyptic book known as Revelation: “… and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour … having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations …” (, chapter 17:3–6). In the background is an angel with the author of Revelation, the Apostle John. The “whore” represents the papacy and the earthly leaders flocking to her appear as German nobility. Luther first openly accused the pope of being the Antichrist in his 1520 publication entitled On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church.

PEACE OF AUGSBURG

Luther spent the decades after the Peasants’ War organizing doctrines and practices for those Christians who followed his interpretation of the Bible. Because Luther was protected by those princes whom he had converted, the Lutheran Church prospered. He married a runaway , Katharina von Bora, who bore him six children. Although he continued to write scathing reviews of the papacy, Charles V was more concerned with French militarism in the Italian states, as well as Ottoman conquests in Eastern Europe. During the , the Holy Roman Empire united with England and the against France and the Republic of Venice. Charles V defeated the French in the midst of the Peasants’ War. Desperate to defeat Charles, the French allied their Christian kingdom to the expanding Muslim Ottoman Empire. After the conquest of the Byzantine Empire in the 1400s, Ottoman momentum in the

44 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY placed the eastern capitals of the Holy Roman Empire in danger. Although the Holy Roman Empire survived the 1529 siege of Vienna, Ottoman forces continued to be a threat for the next century and a half. After the Franco-Ottoman threat diminished, Charles V returned to the issue of suppressing the non- Catholic presence within his empire. Anticipating military aggression, those German Lutheran princes formed an alliance in 1531 known as the Schmalkaldic League. Charles V defeated the Lutheran coalition and offered political reconciliation in the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. The treaty established the principle of cuius regio, eius religio, which affirmed the right of each prince to determine the religion of his kingdom. In exchange for political loyalty, Charles tolerated Lutheranism. After 1531, Luther’s health was in a state of decline. He continued to be the German mouthpiece of the Protestant Reformation until a stroke in 1546. He died in Eisleben and was buried underneath the pulpit in Wittenberg’s Castle Church. The following year, during the Schmalkaldic War, imperial soldiers occupied Wittenberg. Despite the fact that Luther was the author of many of the emperor’s troubles, Charles V ordered that the body of the reformer be left in peace.

INTERACTING WITH PAST PERSPECTIVES: MARTIN LUTHER, “AGAINST THE ROBBING AND MURDERING HORDES OF PEASANTS” (1525)1

In his 1520 On Christian Liberty, Luther promoted the idea that a Christian was subject only to God. Luther was speaking in terms of spiritual freedom, but his words were manipulated to argue for political revolution. In addition to the governmental and religious strife, economic tension created by the 1523–1524 crop failures set the stage for peasants in Swabia to declare their grievances in the “Twelve Articles” (1525). They appealed to Luther for theological justification. Although he initially criticized the abuses of the land- lords, ultimately Luther used Christian Scripture to justify the position of the princes as God-ordained and therefore called for the peasants to submit. In my preceding pamphlet I had no occasion to condemn the peasants, because they promised to yield to law and better instruction, as Christ also demands (Matt. vii. 1).2 But before I can turn around, they go out and appeal to force, in spite of their promises, and rob and pillage and act like mad dogs. From this it is quite apparent what they had in their false minds, and that what they put forth under the name of the in the Twelve Articles was all vain pretense. In short, they practice mere devil’s work, and it is the arch-devil himself who reigns at Mühlhausen, indulging in nothing but robbery, murder, and bloodshed; as Christ says of the devil in John viii. 44, “he was a murderer

1 James Harvey Robinson, Readings in European History, 2 vols (Boston: Ginn & Company, 1906), 2: 106–108. 2 Written on behalf of the peasants, Luther’s “Admonition to Peace” was intended to reprimand the nobility who were not following Scriptural mandates of fair treatment of laborers. He also warned the peasants against the manipulation of Scripture to justify violence.

Chapter 5: Martin Luther and the Division of Western CHRISTENDOM 45 from the beginning.”3 Since, therefore, those peasants and miserable wretches allow themselves to be led astray and act differently from what they declared, I likewise must write differently concerning them; and first bring their sins before their eyes, as God commands (Isa. lviii. 1; Ezek. ii. 7), whether perchance some of them may come to their senses; and, further, I would instruct those in authority how to conduct themselves in this matter. With threefold horrible sins against God and men have these peasants loaded themselves, for which they have deserved a manifold death of body and soul. First they have sworn to their true and gracious rulers to be submissive and obedient, in accord with God’s command (Matt. xxii. 21), “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s,” and (Rom. xiii. 1), “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” But since they have deliberately an sacrilegiously abandoned their obedience, and in addition have dared to oppose their lords, they have thereby forfeited body and soul, as perfidious, perjured, lying, disobedient wretches and scoundrels are wont to do. Wherefore St. Paul judges them, saying (Rom. xiii. 2.), “And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.” The peasants will incur this sentence, sooner or later; for God wills that fidelity and allegiance shall be sacredly kept. Second, they cause uproar and sacrilegiously rob and pillage and that do not belong to them, for which, like public highwaymen and murderers, they deserve the twofold death of body and soul. It is right and lawful to slay at the first opportunity a rebellious person, who is known as such, for he is already under God’s and the emperor’s ban. Every man is at once judge and executioner of a public rebel; just as, when a fire starts, he who can extinguish it first is the best fellow. Rebellion is not simply vile murder, but is like a great fire that kindles and devastates a country; it fills the land with murder and bloodshed, makes widows and orphans, and destroys everything, like the greatest calamity. Therefore, whosoever can, should smite, strangle, and stab, secretly or publicly, and should remember that there is nothing more poisonous, pernicious, and devilish than a rebellious man. Just as one must slay a mad dog, so, if you do not fight the rebels, they will fight you, and the whole country with you. Third, they cloak their frightful and revolting sins with the gospel, call themselves Christian breth- ren, swear allegiance, and compel people to join them in such abominations. Thereby they become the greatest blasphemers and violators of God’s holy name, and serve and honor the devil under the semblance of the gospel, so that they have ten times deserved death of body and soul, for never have I heard of uglier sins. And I believe also that the devil foresees the judgment day, that he undertakes

3 The “arch-devil himself who rules at Mühlhausen” is a reference to Thomas Müntzer. Müntzer, a Protestant theologian, was one of the early supporters of the Peasants’ War. He provided theological justification for a social and economic reordering as well as continued violent resistance to the nobility. At the 1525 Battle at Frankenhausen Charles V’s troops defeated Müntzer’s army and publically beheaded him in Mühlhausen.

46 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY such an unheard-of measure; as if he said, “It is the last and therefore it shall be the worst; I’ll stir up the dregs and knock the very bottom out.” 4 May the Lord restrain him! Lo, how mighty a prince is the devil, how he holds the world in his hands and can put it to confusion: who else could so soon capture so many thousands of peasants, lead them astray, blind and deceive them, stir them to revolt, and make them the willing executioners of his malice … And should the peasants prevail (which God forbid!),—for all things are possible to God, and we know not but that he is preparing for the judgment day, which cannot be far distant, and may purpose to destroy, by means of the devil, all order and authority and throw the world into wild chaos, — yet surely thy who are found, in hand, shall perish in the wreck with clear consciences, leaving to the devil the kingdom of this world and receiving instead the eternal kingdom. For we are come upon such strange times that a prince may more easily win heaven by the shedding of blood than others by prayers. 5

4 Luther mentions the imminence of “the judgment day” twice in this document. In Christian eschatology, the belief concerning the end of the world, the second coming of Christ will occur after the earth has been ravaged by famines and wars. Another sign will be that the Antichrist will appear in order to deceive and unite as many people against God as possible. For centuries people had predicted the apocalypse in their own times, but Luther began to make such an argument after the Roman Church failed to listen to his calls for reformation. The reality that the pope continued to rule and, from Luther’s perspective, deceive the masses meant that he must be the foretold Antichrist. 5 Luther argues with the same language of holy war as did the medieval crusading preachers. He contends that if a soldier dies killing the rebel peasants, who are automatically damned to hell like Muslims and Jews, that person can “win heaven by the shedding of blood.”

CONCLUSION

The Peasants’ War foreshadowed the wars of religion that would rack northern and western Europe until the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. Taken in tandem with Renaissance humanism, the Reformation encouraged the development of rationalism and individualism. The evolution of Western ideas con- cerning the role of the individual in politics and religion are revealed in Luther’s belief that a person has the right to interpret Scripture using reason. Like the Roman Church, the monarchies of Europe would be challenged with similar anti-tradition and individual-rights arguments. While the Church lost ground in Europe in the sixteenth century, the Portuguese and Spanish spread this form of Christianity to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Although much of the global conversion to Roman Christianity was forced, some rulers accepted Catholicism voluntarily, most notably Nzinga Mbemba, king of Kongo.

Chapter 5: Martin Luther and the Division of Western CHRISTENDOM 47 QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

• The German peasants were suffering because of social and political inequalities, and the nobility had no intension of alleviating their pain. Why did Martin Luther not support their revolution? • What justifies violent rebellion against the government?

48 CONVERSATIONS OF MODERN WORLD HISTORY