Chapter 14 - Religious Wars

The Crisis of Western States

AP European History

Mr.  Moravek

Peace of Augsburg:  established the local authorities responsibility to select the religion of the area, one faith one king

• Created confusion as princes converted back and forth
• Left no room for moderates

1. Both sides philosophical outlook was absolute
2. Left no room for moderates, attacked by both sides

• Extremists dominated European politics

1550-1650 time of internal and external conflict throughout Europe

French Wars of Religion

• Civil War, particularly destructive to the development of the nation

Background:

• As a result of Reformation France had a Catholic Monarchy, but a divided population between Calvinists and Catholics

1. Both beliefs became highly MILITANT
2. Protestants led by the Bourbons (Henry of Navarre)
3. Catholics led by the Guise

Huguenots:  French Calvinists who were persecuted

• Came from all levels of society
• Mostly tradesmen and artisans, nobility (40-50%) including the Bourbon line (related to kings)
• Made them a powerful political threat, despite representing 7% of population
• Centered in growing towns and cities which also represent a challenge to growth of Monarchical power

Opposed by Catholic Monarch and rise of “Ultra-Catholic” party

• Ultra-Catholics get support from pope and Jesuits

French Monarchy:

• King Henry II died (Jousting)
• Francis II became king

1. House of Guise became influential
2. Sought to persecute Henry of Navarre

• Charles IX (Catherine de Medicis was Regent)

1. Guise eliminated Protestant influence at Court and began to attack protestant areas
2. Protestants fought a defensive war
3. War worsened with the assassination of duc de Guise

• Both sides brought in mercenary help (Spain, Swiss)

1. St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

• Guise used arraigned marriage of Henry of Navarre as an opportunity to kill the entire protestant leadership

• Impacts:

1. Deepened hatred and divisions
2. Prolonged the civil war
3. Medici blamed, monarchy seen as on the Catholic side

Theory of Resistance:  Lawful to resist a monarchy acting in an unlawful manner

• Protestants
• Politiques:  Catholics who joined w/ protestants as a protest against the massacre

1. Catholic League:  Collection of Catholic towns that opposed Protestantism
2. War of the Three Henry's:  King Henry III, Henry Guise & Henry of Navarre
3. King Henry III could not control the Ultra-Catholics

1. Assassinated Henry Guise and his Brother
2. Henry III driven out of Paris by the Ultra-Catholics

1. King Henry III and Henry of Navarre made a pact to defeat the Ultra-Catholics
2. Henry III was assassinated by a priest
3. Henry of Navarre became king (Henry IV 1594)

• Drove out the Spanish, united France
• "Paris is worth a Mass"
• Edict of Nantes:  religious freedom, right to fortify cities

1. Extremists continued to fight, Henry IV eventually assassinated

• Restored the place of the monarchy and unity of the French

Spain and Philip II

Charles V of Germany retired:

• Left German Empire to Fredrick I
• Left Spanish Empire to Phillip II
• Mid 16th Century Spain was the greatest social and econ. Power of Europe

1. Spain, Netherlands, Milan, Naples, Portugal and New World
2. Great Naval power (Sp. + Port.)

Phillip II:  Militant Catholic, great administrator of government

Spain under Phillip II:

• very wealthy (gold / silver from New World)
• very Catholic (used force and cruelty)
• very strong control of nobles
• Netherlands were predominately Protestant (problem)
• Phillip II was also engaged to Mary Tudor

Problems facing Phillip and Spain:

• Wealth was based on money, not production
• Catholicism brought them into foreign wars with the Ottomans, Netherlands and English
• The rest of Europe saw Spain as a threat
• Rebellion in Netherlands over taxation and religion

Philip:

• Great Administrative mind:  "King of Paper"
• Stood against Ottoman expansion in the Mediterranean Sea

1. Battle of Lepanto:  Coast of Greece, defeated Ottoman Navy (decisive victory)

• Devout Catholic

1. Inquisition
2. Involvement in the French Wars of Religion
3. Marriage to Mary Tudor

• Rivalry w/ England

1. Religious
2. Personal (Elizabeth said no)
3. Economic:  English "Sea Dogs" (Francis Drake)
4. Military:  Netherlands and France (keep others fighting, stay out of conflict)
5. Spanish Armada 1588, bad plan

• Turning point, people did not know it

Results:

• Spain’s heyday as a continental power was over
• England ensured that it would remain protestant
• England prepared to become a world power
• Dutch emerge as an independent group and a commercial center of Europe

• Netherlands revolted

1. 17 independent provinces
2. Manufacturing / banking center of Europe
3. General discontent galvanized around rel. differences
4. Spanish rel. policy violated the Peace of Augsburg

• Protestants resented Spanish rule
• Margaret of Parma regent (Philip II's 1/2 sister)
• Calvinists go of Iconoclasm rampage

1. Put down by Margaret and Protestants alike
2. Philip II still sent troops
3. Duke of Alba

• Massacred protestants, deepened divisions and hatred

1. Open revolt
2. William of Orange key figure in resistance
3. Spanish army mutinied:  "Spanish Fury" at Antwerp

• Pacification of Ghent 1576
• 12 Years Truce:  ended conflict and established a free / antagonistic  Dutch State

Struggles in Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe and the Reformation:

• Muscovy:  no reformation, remained Eastern Orthodox Christian
• Poland-Lithuania:  Protestantism crept in, but tolerated
• Will fight as much as the west, difference was that their wars were dynastic

Poland-Lithuania

• 16th Century:  Poland was the preeminent power in Eastern Europe

1. Death of the last Jagiellion monarch threw more power to nobles
2. Polish Diet:  Parliamentary body
3. Sigismund (Swedish) became new king, Diet limited his power

• Engaged in a series of dynastic wars

Time of Troubles:

• Began with the death of Ivan the Terrible (killed his son)

1. Civil War, Boyars refused to acknowledge a strong Tsar

• Attacked by Poland-Lithuania and Sweden

1. Sigismund captured Moscow and sought to make himself Tsar
2. Boyars agreed on Michael Romanov as Tsar, repel invaders

• Began the Romanov dynasty

Rise of Sweden:

• Gustav I Vasa led the independence movement
• Charles IX next monarch, defended the Swedes from Sigismund claim to the thrown
• Danish King Christian IV invaded Sweden, force unfavorable treaty upon Swedes

1. Develop alliances with England and Dutch

• Gustavus Adolphus:  Raised to be king, very good military tactician

1. Reorganized the military (squadrons and regiments), increased training
2. Emphasized mobility in military
3. Best military of the day
4. Married into Prussian nobility
5. Expanded Swedish control over Baltic trade

30 Years War:

• Europe was waiting for a major war to break out
• Tensions b/w Dutch & Spanish, Spanish and French, German Catholics and German Protestants, England and Spanish, Swedish and everyone in the Baltic Region
• 30 Years War fought in the HRE by everyone in Europe
• Spark that started the war:  German succession

1. Electors:  3 C, 3 P, one the emperor (as King of Bohemia)
2. Kingship of Bohemia would determine the religion of the next HRE

• Bohemian Revolt:
• Mathias (HRE) appointed his cousin Ferdinand as King of Bohemia (ensure next HRE a C)

1. Ferdinand (Hapsburg) violated the rights of the protestants
2. March on the royal palace in Prague

• Defenestration of Prague
• Began open revolt against Ferdinand

• Mathias died, Ferdinand became Ferdinand II (HRE)
• Fredrick V (P) claimed the crown of Bohemia
• Fredrick V also controlled the Palatinate, strategically important link b/w Spanish lands in Italy and the Netherlands
• War broke out

1. Catholic v. Protestant (Everyone participated)
2. Battle of White Mountain

• Catholics under Albrecht von Wallenstein crush the Protestants

1. Ferdinand confiscated Fredrick’s lands and cruelly persecuted the Protestants

Problem:  Hapsburgs had become too powerful, posed a threat to Protestantism and the free Dutch state

• Philip  III + Ferdinand = loss of balance of power
• Hapsburgs pressed their advantage, Philip III declared war on Dutch

1. England, Holland, German Protestants, Danish (Christian IV) respond
2. von Wallenstein won again

• Ferdinand pressed his luck, tried to eliminate Protestantism

1. United Lutheran and Calvinist opposition
2. Swedes join the battle / France helped pay for war
3. Catholic sack Magdeburg

• Protestant forces grew under the command of Gustavus

1. Protestants began to win
2. Eventually were worn down (could not replace losses as easily)

France v. Spain

• Fr. under the leadership of Cardinal Richelieu (Louis XIII) declared war on Spain
• Fought in the Netherlands, signaled a shift in the war political v. Religious
• Destructive war in which Spain eventually went bankrupt and forced to settle for peace

Peace of Westphalia

• European powers lost their will to fight, the war was incredibly destructive
• Restored the Peace of Augsburg
• Settled various wars and conflicts through a series of agreements

Impacts:

• War left HRE divided and economically ruined

1. Unification will be delayed

• Emergence of Politics over religion in foreign affairs

1. France helped the protestants

• End of massive religious wars

1. Europe was worn out, 30 Y.W. was extremely destructive