Introduction to 15th/16th-Century Europe

Europe’s Reformations

Part I: Political Background

Europe & the Mediterranean in 1450

• Union of Aragon & Castile (1469)
• Hundred Years’ War Ends (1454)
• Fall of Constantinople (1453)
• Printing Press Invented (c. 1440)
• Renaissance in Italy (c. 15th century)

• Early Modern Europe started around 1450.

Europe & the Mediterranean in 1450

Europe 1450

Recovery after the Black Death

• Yersinia Pestis (1347-1353)
• Grain ships from Sea of Azov.
• Mortality Rate: 50%

• 25-30 million died.
• Serfs => Tenants.
• Labor shortages => Higher wages.

• New research by Monica Green on the Black Death.
• Started in the 13th century in Tian Shan mountains of Central Asia amongst marmmots and spread about by Mongol expansion.
  • Mongols spread it to China in the 13th century.
  • Plague outbreaks in 1218 and 1232.
  • evidence for spread to Baghdad during Mongol siege in 1257.
• Travels through pests (fleas, lice, ticks) that infect mammals.
  • infects the lymph nodes (large bubobes in neck, armpits, groin, etc.), then travels to the blood by the time the host is dying.
• Came to Europe and Mediterranean through trade and grain ships.
• Mortality rate around 50%.: “Manorial records, which also survive from England and which register the deaths of a lord’s tenants, all point to death rates between 40 and 70 percent”
• Estimates range form 30-50% of Europe’s population died.
• Population didn’t return to pre-1348 levels until 1500.

End of the Hundred Years’ War and French Unification

• France v. England (1337-1453)
• Inheritance Dispute
  • England claimed French crown.
• Ended with French Victory in 1453.

• Conquered Duchy of Burgundy (1477).
• Inherited County of Provence (1481).
• Inherited Duchy of Brittany (1491).
• Inherited/Conquered Brittany (1532).

• First
• The Hundred Years’ War was a series of conflicts between England and France over claims over the French crown.
• Second & Third
  • Started in 1337 when Edward III of England claimed the French crown through his mother, Isabella of France.
  • France “discovered” Salic Law, which barred inheritance through the female line.
• War went through several phases, with periods of truce and renewed fighting.
• Four
• Ended in 1453 with the French victory at the Battle of Castillon.
• Resulted in the expulsion of the English from all French territories except Calais.
• But French monarchy still didn’t control all of modern day France.
• Led to growing French power and expansion.
• Five
• Conquered Duchy of Burgundy in 1477.
  • Charles the Bold died in 1477 without an heir and his daughter Mary married Maximilian I of Habsburg (son of HRE). (Their son was Philip the Handsome, father of Charles V.)
  • French crown seized much of Burgundy, but Habsburgs retained some territories.
  • Led to brief war with Habsburgs. Split Burgundy.
    • Habsburgs kept the Netherlands, the county of Burgundy (Franch-Comté), and some eastern territories.
• Six
• Inherited County of Provence in 1481.
• Inherited County of Provence in 1481.
  • Count of Provence, René I, died without an heir and ultimately the French crown (King Louis XI) inherited it Charles du Maine, nephew of René I, renounced his claim to Provence in exchange for other lands.)
• Seven
• 1491, Inherited Duchy of Brittany through marriage to Anne of Brittany.
  • Anne was Duchess of Brittany and married King Charles VIII of France.
  • This marriage brought Brittany under French control, although it retained some autonomy until fully integrated later.
  • Inherited/Conquered Brittany in 1532.
    • 1532, under King Francis I, Brittany was formally integrated into the Kingdom of France.

France in 1450

Fall of Constantinople & Expansion of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Expansion

• The Ottoman Empire
• 1453, Constantinople
• 1480, Siege of Otranto in Italy
• 1517, Egypt and Syria
• 1523, Hungary

• The Ottoman Empire started as a small Islamic state in North Western Anatolia.
• Expanded gradually through trade and alliances with Christian states such as Genoa and Venice.
• First expanded across the Bosphorus into Europe through the conquest of Balkans in the 14th century.
  • Conquered much of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania.
• 1453, under Sultan Mehmed II, conquered Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
  • Renamed it Istanbul, made it the new capital of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1480, attempted to expand into Italy with the Siege of Otranto, but the death of Mehmed II led to the withdrawal of Ottoman forces.
• Continued to expand in the 16th century under Suleiman the Magnificent.
• 1517, conquered Egypt and Syria from the Mamluks.
  • Gave Ottomans control over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
  • Ottomans claimed the title of Caliph, leader of the Islamic world.
• 1523, conquered Hungary after the Battle of Mohács.
  • We will come back to this.

Union of Aragon & Castile

Married in 1469

Isabella of Castile (1451-1504)

Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516)

Union of Aragon & Castile, cont.

Spain in 1500

• Castile, Aragon, Sicily, Sardinia
• 1492, Reconquista complete
• 1492, Sponsored Columbus
• Joanna of Castile & Philip the Handsome

• The marriage united the territories of Castile and Aragon under a single monarchy.
• However, both kingdoms retained their own laws, institutions, and customs.
• 1492, completed the Reconquista with the conquest of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold since the Muslim conquest of Iberia in 711.
• Sponsored Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the New World in 1492.
• Laid the foundation for the Spanish Empire in the Americas.
• Their daughter, Joanna of Castile, married Philip the Handsome, son of Maximilian I of Habsburg.

The Rise of Charles V (1500-1558)

Charles V

• Duke of Brabant (1506)
• Inherited Kingdom of Spain (1516)
• Elected Holy Roman Emperor (1519)

• Charles V inherited a vast array of territories through his family connections.
• 1506, inherited the Burgundian Netherlands from his father, Philip the Handsome
  • Duke of Brabant, Lord of the Netherlands, Count Palatine of Burgundy and claimed the title of the Duke of Burgundy (French).
• 1516, inherited the crowns of Castile and Aragon from his maternal grandparents, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon after the death of
  • His mother, Joanna of Castile, was declared mentally unfit to rule.
• Became King Charles I of Spain.
  • Ruled Castile, Aragon, Nethelands, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spanish colonies in the Americas.
• 1519, elected Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V after the death of his paternal grandfather, Maximilian I.
• His election was aided by the wealth of the Spanish crown.
  • The other competitor was Francis I of France.
• As Holy Roman Emperor, ruled over a vast and diverse empire that included much of Central Europe, parts of Italy, and the Habsburg hereditary lands in Austria.

The Transformation

Europe 1450

Europe 1525

A Collision of Monarchies

Europe 1525

• Habsburg-Valois Rivalry
  • Milan
  • Burgundy
• Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry
  • Hungary
  • North Africa

• Valois rivalry with Spain began in 1494 when Charles VIII of France invaded Italy to claim the Kingdom of Naples through the Angevin inheritance from Rene of Provence.

  • Spain had a claim over Naples through the Aragonese line.

• France was kicked out of Italy in 1495.

• Rivalry got stronger when Francis I became king in 1515.

• Francis I sought to expand French influence in Italy and challenge Habsburg dominance.

• Existing tensions with Habsburgs over Burgundy.

• Francis I claimed the title of Milan through his grandmother, Valentina Visconti.

• Habsburgs controlled Milan through Charles V.

• Led to more wars.

• Ottoman-Spain rivalry began after 1492.

  • Ottomans gave refuge to Muslim and Jewish refugees from Spain.
  • Supported the Moriscos.
  • 1516, Ottomans conquered Egypt and Syria, gaining control over the Red Sea and threatening Spanish interests in the Mediterranean.

• 1526, Ottomans defeated the Kingdom of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács and killed King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia.

  • Led to a power vacuum in Hungary.
  • Charles V sought to assert Habsburg control over Hungary through his brother, Ferdinand I.

• Led to ongoing conflicts between the Ottomans and Habsburgs in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.

• Charles V invaded Algeria in 1541 but was repelled.

The Wars

Europe 1525

• The Italian Wars (1494-1559)
• The Habsburg-Ottoman Wars (1526-)

• Italian Wars began in 1494 when Charles VIII of France invaded Italy to claim the Kingdom of Naples through the Angevin inheritance from Rene of Provence.
• While initially conquered Naples, Charles VIII was forced to withdraw due to a coalition of Italian states, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire in the year 1495.

Part II Societal Background

Society: Three Estates

• First Estate: Clergy
• Second Estate: Nobility
• Third Estate: Commoners

• Society made up of Three Estates

Seigneurialism or Noble Rights

• Not Feudalism
• Acquiring Nobility
  • Birth, War, Offices.
• Nobility of the Sword vs. Nobility of the Robe
• Nobility = 1-5% of the population.

• Seigneurialism is the system of rights and privileges held by the nobility in early modern Europe.
• Feudalism is a tricky term and we know more about what it was not than what it was because of the diversity of practices across time and space.
• In early modern Europe there was a type of feudalism in which lords held rights over land and the people living on that land.
  • Rights to raise pigeons. Rights to the forest.
  • Rights to judicial authority over the land.
  • These were called seigneurial rights.
  • They also came with duties to the monarch or ruler such as military service.
  • In theory, they paid the blood tax, but differing types of nobility changed that theory.
  • but didn’t pay taxes like commoners.
• In the 1500s, nobility could be acquired through birth, military service, or holding certain offices.
• The primary deviation was the development of office holding as a means of nobility. These judicial offices were appointed at first, but then monarchs realized over the sixteenth century that they could sell hereditary rights over these offices to raise money.
  • Then the hereditary offices could be sold between families (effectively selling offices).
  • Purchasing judicial offices became a way for wealthy bourgeois families to enter the nobility.
  • These are the nobility of the Robe.
• But others could enter via military service as well.

Upward Mobility: Pontus de la Gardie

Pontus de la Gardie

• Born a commoner in France (1520).
• Northern 7 Years’ War mercenary (1565).
• Favorite of John III of Sweden (1569).
• Married Sofia

• Pontus de la Gardie rose from commoner to nobility through military service.
• Exemplifies some social mobility in early modern Europe.
• Originally planned to join a monestary.
• Became a mercenary soldier, later served Sweden.
• 1565, joined a regiment of mercenary soldiers in the Northern Seven Years’ War between Sweden and Denmark.
• Distinguished himself in battle, promoted to officer ranks.
• 1569, became favorite to John III of Sweden.
• 1571, nobility status granted.
• 1580, married Sofia Gyllenhielm, an illegitimate daughter of John III.
• Went from commoner to noble through military service and royal favor.

The First Estate: Clergy

• About 1% of the population.
  • In Venice, 0.5% of the population.
  • In France, just over 1% of the population.
• Secular vs. Regular Clergy
  • Secular: Parish Priests, Bishops, Cardinals
  • Regular: Monks, Nuns, Friars
• Investiture Issues and Solutions

• Secular clergy are those who live and work in the world, such as parish priests, bishops, and cardinals.
• Regular clergy are those who live according to a religious rule, such as monks, nuns.
• There were also Friars. Friars were members of mendicant orders who lived in the world but took vows of poverty and relied on charity. They primarily focused on preaching and serving the poor.
• These groups could often lead to tensions and conflicts over authority and jurisdiction.
  • This was especially the case between friars and parish priests because both of them operated in the same communities.
  • Frequently led to criticisms of one another and competition for resources and influence.
• Most priest were form commoner backgrounds and came from their communities.
  • in Venice most parish priests were elected by the parish chapter that ran the parish church itself.
• Bishops and higher clergy were often from noble families.
• The issue often became one of investiture, or who had the authority to appoint clergy to positions.
  • Monarchs often sought to appoint bishops and abbots to ensure loyalty and control over the regions that would be loyal to then.
  • The papacy often resisted this, seeking to maintain control over appointments.
  • Since the 11th and 12th centuries, the Church tried to invest greater control over the appointment of the leaders of the church.
• By 1500, there were general compromises:
  • In England, the Pope retained the right to appoint bishops, but the monarch had significant influence over the process because he retained the right to demand homage from bishops and abbots for the lands they held.
  • In France, the Concordat of Bologna (1516) gave the French king the right to nominate bishops and abbots, but the Pope retained the right to confirm these appointments.
  • Concordat of Vienn (1448) allowed Cathedral chapters to choose a new Bishop for their diocese, but pope collected annates (fees for the first year of a bishop’s income) and had to confirm the appointment.
  • The takeaway is that there was a balance whereby monarchs had significant influence over appointments to the higher clergy.
• Led to pluralism and absenteeism where the higher clergy held multiple positions and neglected their duties.
  • Many positions were used as sources of income for noble families or the French would use the clergy as diplomats because their funds from the church paid them.

The Third Estate: Commoners

• About 95% of the population.
• Burghers vs peasants.
  • Burghers: Townspeople, Merchants, Artisans
  • Peasants: Rural Farmers, Laborers
• Serfdom Declining
  • Labor Shortages after Black Death
  • Shift to Tenant Farming
• Urbanization and Growth of Townspeople.