Transcript The Holy Roman Empire_ The Thirty Years War_ and France

The Holy Roman Empire,
The Thirty Years War,
and France
Created by David Silverman
The Holy Roman Empire
Dates back to 962- When the pope crowned Saxon King Otto
I emperor

Reached the height of power during the 10th and 11th
centuries, but was eventually weakened by continual
conflicts with the papacy


The papacy was able to find support from the German
nobility, who did not like taking orders from imperial
dominance
The practice of electing an emperor was born in the
Golden Bull of Emperor Charles IV (1356)

This gave 7 German princes the right to elect an emperor,
instead of based on heredity

They usually picked weak rulers that they could easily
manipulate

By 1500, the empire had split into more than 300 semi-autonomous
entities that the emperor had little control over

Charles V (Habsburg family) tried to establish imperial control over the
state but encountered resistance from the Lutheran Reformation and the
German princes


Charles signed the Peace of Augsburg (1555) which granted the princes the
power to decide the religion based on their territory

This did not apply to Calvinists, so when Frederick III converted to Calvinism
this presented a problem as he was a member of the seven electors of the Holy
Roman Empire

A few other princes also challenged the religious status quo over the next two
decades
In other areas, like Bavaria, Protestantism was being eliminated by Jesuits
The Thirty Years War 1618-1648


The Thirty Years War began in Bohemia (Czech Republic) when the
Catholic Ferdinand of Styria was crowned King of Bohemia

Most Bohemians were Protestant and angry that the new king was intolerant of
their beliefs

In May of 1618, Bohemian Protestant nobles threw two of Ferdinand’s Catholic
advisors out of a window and into a pile of dung
Ferdinand was elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1619 after his cousin
Matthias passed away

Hours after being elected, he learned the Bohemians deposed him and elected
Frederick the Calvinist Elector of the Palatinate as their king

Ferdinand promised the Duke of Bavaria the Palatinate in exchange for his support in
putting down Frederick

They won the Battle of White Mountain, and Frederick became known as the Winter
King because he only held onto the Bohemian throne for that winter
Why the war continued on…

There were still armies that wanted to fight both for profit and to protect
Protestantism (including the King of Denmark)

Both Catholic and Protestant rulers were unhappy that the Holy Roman
Empire had given the Palatinate’s electoral vote to Bavaria

The German’s felt that their “German liberties” were under attack

This was exacerbated when Emperor Ferdinand confiscated Protestant land in
the north that the princes owned to try and create a unified Habsburg state

This time, Ferdinand turned to Albrect von Wallerstein, who by 1628
controlled an army of 125,000 and had won many key battles in the north
continued…

The Edict of Restitution (1629) outlawed Calvinism in the empire and
ordered Lutherans to turn over all seized property since 1552

28 cities and towns, 155 monasteries and convents, and 16 bishoprics

This made the King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus declare war to defend
Protestantism (and his interest in the German territory along the Baltic)

The France’s chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, financially supported the Swedish
army because of his concern of the increased strength of the Habsburgs in Germany

Adolphus died in battle, and Wallenstein was murdered on orders from the emperor
for suspicion of working with his enemies

German towns were decimated, famine resulted from the agricultural collapse, when
the war ended (Peace of Westphalia in 1648) over 8 million had died

Calvinism was now recognized, and princes would continue deciding the religion of their
territories

The Holy Roman Empire remained divided into semi-autonomous powers
France

The French Wars of Religion (1562-1598) were a series
of civil wars contending if France should continue to be
ruled as a monarchy, or by the powerful aristocracy

Calvinism was very popular in France, especially
because Calvin was French

Henry II (Valois family)- died in 1559 when he was
impaled in the eye from a jousting accident

Francis II, Henry’s sickly son, ruled for a year

Charles IX replaced his brother Henry, and ruled from
1560-1574

From 1574-1589 the third brother Henry III ruled

Catherine de Medici was a powerful woman and mother to all
three French ruling brothers

While the monarchy ruled, three prominent aristocratic
families struggled for power

They hoped the weak monarchy could restore their lost
power

The most powerful family, the Guises, turned to a strict,
reactionary form of Catholicism

Admiral Coligny of the Montmorency family, and the
Prince of Conde of the Bourbon family, both converted to
Calvinism

The Wars of Religion started in 1562 when the Duke of Guise had a group
of Calvinists (called Huguenots in France) killed for worshiping in a barn

After 10 years of fighting, both the Duke of Guise and the Prince of Conde
were dead

Henry of Navarre, a Bourbon Calvinist prince, married Charles IX’s sister
(Catholic), which concerned Catherine de Medici

She always tried to protect her children from the aristocracy, and urged her
son to attack the Huguenot aristocracy who were meeting in Paris (1572)

The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre resulted in the deaths of about 20,000
Calvinists

Admiral Coligny was killed but Henry of Navarre’s life was spared when he agreed to
return to Catholicism

In 1574, Henry III turned to the Calvinists to defeat the
powerful Catholic League the Guise family had formed

Henry III declared Henry of Navarre is heir, and when
Henry III was assassinated, Henry became King Henry IV

This Bourbon dynasty would rule France until the French
Revolution

Henry converted permanently to Catholicism and declared
“Paris is worth a Mass”


This started the French idea of Politique, putting the interests of
France above religious institutions
Although Catholic, he issued the Edict of Nantes, which
granted the Huguenots freedom of worship, as well as the
right to fortify their towns for protection

Resources

French Wars of Religion


https://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=BMm
NKYrp4U&index=18&list=PLf
zs_X6OQBOxudwbxvxBuTWvh6bwaVhQ
The Thirty Years War

https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=B18zwA
VO4q0&list=PLfzs_X6O
QBOxudwbxvxBuTWvh6bwaVhQ
&index=19

References

This PowerPoint
presentation was
adapted using
information from the
Princeton Review’s
Cracking The AP
European History Exam

Pearl,
Kenneth. Cracking the
AP European History
Exam, 2016. New York:
Random House, 2015.
Print.