Transcript the growing power of western europe, 1640-1715

THE GROWING POWER OF
WESTERN EUROPE, 1640-1715
Chapter Four
Civilization
• Western civilization radiated from Paris into a
zone of about 500 miles.
• Within this zone the most rapid changes
occurred
• For over 200 years it was the center of the
earth’s cultural diffusion, beginning in the 17th
century
• The growing power of western European
states
• Trading companies, science and cultural
instiutions had a profound impact on the rest
of Europe, the Americas, and eventually the
whole world.
• The ruin of the HRE, subsiding of religious
wars, decline of Spain and fading out of Italian
Renaissance gave way to the rise of
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England (domestic discord)
The Dutch (few in number)
And the French, had the greatest role.
The half of century following the Peace of
Westphalia (When?)
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• “The Age of Louis XIV”
The Grand Monarque and the Balance
of Power
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In 1643 he inherited his throne
At the age of FIVE
He took over personally at 23
Reigned for 72 years
No one else in modern history had such a
powerful position for so long a time.
• He was the actual head of the government
• He made France the strongest country in europ
• Using French $$$ for bribes or other
inducements
• He built up pro-French interest in almost every
country from England to Turkey
• His policies, method of government,
administration, diplomacy, became the model
• France was the leader in thought, fashion,
literature, architect, gardens, food, manners,
and language.
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Louis the XIV
The Sun King
Louis the Great
The Grand Monarque
Spain, the sick man of Europe
• Social decline
• Economic decline
• 1665 inherited by Charles II
– Imbecilic
– Impotent
– A product of generations of inbreeding
– Could not have children
• Spanish branch of ________ family would die
out with his death
• The future of Spain, holdings in America,
Spanish Netherlands, and holdings in Italy
• He live until 1700
• What do you think occurred at his death?
• Louis XIV married a sister of Charles II
• Hoped to take advantage of his brother-inlaw’s disabilities in carrying out his
expansionist ambitions
Louis’s Expansionist Policies
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I. Extend French border to the Rhine
Taking ?
Spanish Netherlands (Belgium)
The Franche-Comte’ (Free County of
Burgundy) (French speaking)
• II. ? He was related to Charles II
• Get all Spanish inheritance for himself
How to make France supreme?
• He intrigued with smaller and mid-sized
countries
• Contacted dissidents of countries against him
• If successful, he would have created the
“universal monarchy”
• The balance of power was the tool used to
stop him as it was used (headed by France) to
stop the Habsburg Empire
The Dutch Republic (section 18)
• Republics included:
– The Swiss cantons,
– Venice,
– Genoa,
– England for a few years
– The United Provinces
• The United Provinces was
– the wealthiest,
– most flourishing
– Most important in international diplomacy
– Most important in culture
• Dutch acquired a nationality of their own, and
a pride in their own freedom and
independence.
• During 30 Years War, Dutch were able to use
wealth and diplomacy rather than actual
fighting
• That allowed (during the 17th Century) for a
level of comfort and intellectual, artistic, and
commercial achievement unexcelled in Europe
Dutch achievements
• Classic Dutch poets and dramatists wrote and
allowed the spoken dialect to become a
literary language
• “Law of War and Peace” by Hugo Grotius a
treatise on international law
• Baruch Spinoza, from a a family of Portuguese
Jewish refugees, turned out philosophical
works, also, was a lens grinder
• Lens grinders in Holland developed the
microscope
• Leeuwenhoek, Swammerdam and others
become the founders of modern biological
science.
• Christian Huyghens (1629 -1695) greatest
Dutch scientist – physics, math-improved the
telescope (Dutch invention), made clocks with
pendulums, discovered Saturn’s rings, and
• Huyghens also launched the wave theory of
light
• Balthasar Bekker, World Bewitched, antiwitchcraft book
Dutch Painters
• Frans Hals, common people
• Jan Vermeer, burgher class
• Rembrandt, the mystery of human
consciousness (see page 149)
Masters of the Cloth Guild
St. Joseph’s Dream
Read page 150, Vermeer’s geographer
Baroque
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The artistic style of the 17th century
Fascination with lighting,
Interior spaces
Naturalistic image of human beings
Distinctive colors or subtle hues
In Holland, Baroque usually scenes from everyday
life
• Other Baroque artists identified with Catholic
Church, Peter Paul Rubens
Raising of the Cross, Rubens
Religion in the United Provinces
• TOLERATION
• Calvinists divided into
– The followers of the original doctrine of
predestination and
– Followers of theologian Arminius (condemned in
1618)
• In 1632 Arminians were tolerated,
• toned down doctrine of predestination
• Catholic minority received rights
• Jews were accepted
• Despised sects like the Mennonites were
tolerated
• No group had political or economic rights
equal to the Calvinists
• All these groups stimulated the intellectual life
and commercial enterprise of Holland
Dutch Exploration
• 1600 they had 10,000 ships
• 17th century owned most of the shipping in
northern Europe
• Carriers between Spain, France, England, and
the Baltic
• Settled in Bordeaux to buy wines
• Lent money to vinters
• Soon owned many vineyards in France
• Dutch sailed every sea
• Entered Pacific by SA and named Cape Horn after Hoorn in Holland
• Dutch East India Co. of 1602, replaced Portuguese in India and Far
East
• Founded Batavia in Java, Jakarta today
• 1600 reached Japan and beginning in 1641 were Japan’s sole link to
west.
• 1612 founded Manhattan
• 1621 est. Dutch West India Co.
• Colonies in Brazil, Caribbean, (Caracas, Curacao)
• 1652 capture Cape of Good Hope from Portuguese
• Moved inland took over khoikhoi, descended from these settlers
are the Afrikaner people
The Bank of Amsterdam
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Founded 1609
European money in chaos
Coins minted by cities, states, private persons
Debased coins mixed in with non-debased
B of A took all coins evaluated the gold and silver
content and exchanged them for gold florins minted by
the bank
• Florins had a standard weight and purity which people
could rely on
• It became an internationally sought $$$ and accepted
everywhere
• Depositors could write checks.
• Safety of deposits were guaranteed by govt.
and attracted deposits from all over thus
allowing the bank to make loans
• Amsterdam was the financial center of the
world until the French Revolution
Dutch Politics
• Power was a seesaw between burgher and
princes of Orange.
• Burghers- pacifistic and business oriented
• Princes – responsible for military security
• When threatened with invasion stadholder
had power
• 1650 William II died, no new stadholder
elected for 22 years
William of Orange
• William III born 1650, 8 days after dad died.
• Grave, reserved, small, stocky, thin lips and a
determined spirit
• Spoke Dutch, German, English, and French.
• Understood Latin, Italian and Spanish.
• Practiced Dutch Calvinism
• Lived plainly, hated flattery, disliked the
pompous and social conversations.
• Opposite of the Sun King, his enemy
• 1677 married the king of England’s niece,
Mary Stuart
Dutch Foreign Affairs
• 1651 England passed the Navigation Act
• This would have bad consequences for Dutch
shipping-the main source of income.
• This led to a series of 3 wars.
• 1667 Louis XIV claimed the Spanish
Netherlands and Franche-Comte (saying his
Spanish wife had rights)
• He brought his army to the Sp. Netherlands
Balance of Power kicks in
• Dutch allied with English and Sweden = the
Triple Alliance
• Louis withdrew from the Spanish Netherlands
• In 1672 Louis XIV attacked again crossing the
Spanish Netherlands with forces 5X larger
than the Dutch
• 3 of the 7 Dutch provinces were occupied
• William was elected stadholder in 6 provinces
• 1673 stadholderate was made hereditary in
the house of Orange
– William attempted to centralize
– United Provinces were a decentralized patrician
republic until 1795
Meanwhile,
• William formed an alliance with Denmark,
Brandenburg, and with the Austrian and
Spanish Habsburgs
• Louis XIV was forced into negotiations
• Peace signed in 1678, Treaty of Nimwegen
– Dutch preserved territory
– Louis got Franche-comte and towns in Flanders
King of England
• 1689 William of Orange became King of
England
• England was a great addition to the Balance of
Power against France
19. BRITAIN: THE CIVIL WAR
• Britain played no significant part in the 30 Years
War
• Were not at the table for the Peace of Westphalia
• In the 1640’s Britain was engaged in a civil war
• Milder than the Wars of Religion
• Between Calvinists “Puritans” and the moderate
Protestants of the Church of England
• Puritans asserted rights of Parliament against the
royalty
• British civil war took many lives but was less
destructive than the wars on the Continent
• Warfare between England and Catholic Ireland
was the worst
England in the 17th Century
• In 1600, 4 – 5 million
• Made debut as one of chef peoples in modern
Europe
• 1630-1640 20,000 Puritans went to New
England and 20,000 to West India Islands
• 20,000 Scottish Presbyterians settled in
northern Ireland pushing out the native Celts
• Some Catholics went to MD
• Church of England members went to VA during
mid-century civil war
• These migrations did not get much attention from
the govt.
• After mid-century govt. began to build an empire
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NY conquered from the Dutch
Jamaica from the Spanish
PA and the Carolinas were established
12 colonies founded before 1700
Literature
• National culture was developing
• William Shakespeare’s plays helped to shape
the English language
• John Milton’s epic poems
• English classical literature reverse of French
classical writing
Music and Architecture
• Thomas Campion
• Henry Purcell
• Christopher Wren, architect
Economically
• English were enterprising and affluent, 1600
far surpassed by the Dutch
• Larger and more productive country than the
Dutch
• Coal mines
• Sheep and manufacturing of woolens largest
export
• Main wealth was in the land, landlords not
merchants were richest class
• Traded with Russia on the White Sea,
• Were in the Baltic and Mediterraneans
• 1600 established East India Co.
Background to Civil War
• 17th century kings clashed with Parliament
• Unlike on the Continent, Parliament, in
defeating the king, arrived at a workable form
of government
• Elsewhere triumph of representative
institutions led to political dissolutions
• Government remained strong and came under
parliamentary control– a great movement
toward liberalism & representative institutions
• 1603 Queen Elizabeth died
• James VI of Scotland, son of Mary Stuart,
inherits the crown of England as James I
• James I wrote on book on royal absolutism
• He believed “the divine right of kings”
doctrine, kings were only responsible to God
• King, as father to his people, made the best
choices for their welfare
• James read to Parliament about royal rights
• Always needed money, could not live within
his budget