Rise of Nation-States1450-1500

http://ap_history_online.tripod.com/

apeh5.htm

Background• Feudal system had grown out of the tribal

system of the Barbarians• Feudal system built around decentralized local

govt• No formal states (countries) existed in 1400 in

Europe

• The Point: Between 1400 and 2006, Europe has changed from a decentralized group of many tiny states to about 40 nation states which are currently banding together in the European Union.

Catalysts

• Confusion and chaos during 14th and 15th C

• too much for feudal lords to handle.

Rise of the middle class (more money and power to merchant peasants) meant that the feudal lords were outpowered

War between the major feudal lords ended up creating a single King over a state

• Idea of Political State begins– The tools of diplomacy, - embassies, 1st in states

Ren.Italy. – Divine Rights begins and the monarch now

became absolute. – Centralization of govt.  A centralized

government = more stable (and less free) than a decentralized govt. 

– Law and order come from one place, decisions rest on one person or one group of people and the little people have little to say about it.

Spain - 1469• In 1469,

– Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile = Spanish unification as a nation state

Major Events of Ferdinand and Isabella: 1474-1516

• Unification of Spain into a nation state

• The Discovery of the Americas (1492) by Christopher Columbus.

• The Reconquista in 1492: The expulsion of the Muslims and Jews from Spain

• marriage alliances to consolidate Spanish power.

• The start of the Spanish Inquisition:

The Spanish Inquisition!!!

Reconquista

Joanna the Mad: 1504-06

Charles I of Spain (V of HRE)

The grandson of Isabella and Ferdinand

raised by his aunt Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands.

His spiritual guide was the theologian Adrian of Utrecht (later Pope Adrian VI) who led a religious and educational reform movement promoting literacy among the masses. http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/t/tiziano/2portrai/charles5.html

The Holy Roman Empire:800 - 1871

“The Holy Roman Empire - not Holy, not Roman, and not an Empire.” Voltaire

• It consisted of almost 300 semi-sovereign parts, over which an emperor, who was elected by a group of seven German princes, ruled with little authority.

• HRE did not establish a centralized govt• Nearly always ruled over by a member of

the Hapsburg family

Holy Roman Empire

England

• Background:– Settled by anglo-saxons– Christianized in about 450– Conquered by Vikings in 700s– Conquered by Normans in 1066– Feudal until 1485– Running feud with France because Normans

are French and the English are Anglo

England – united in 1485

• 100 Years War (1337-1453) with France forced consolidation of many nobles under the power of the king

• End of 100 Years War led to War of the Roses

• Henry Tudor won and united England

100 Years War

War for the Roses

• The Battle of Towton, near York, was the biggest battle of the Wars of the Roses thus far. Both sides agreed beforehand that the issue was to be settled that day, with no quarter asked or given. An estimated 40,000—80,000 men took part with over 20,000 men being killed during (and after) the battle, an enormous number for the time and the greatest recorded single day's loss of life on English soil

• Henry Tudors supporters defeated Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Henry became King Henry VII of England and Richard was slain during the battle.

• Henry then strengthened his position by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and the best surviving Yorkist claimant.

• He thus reunited the two royal houses, merging the rival symbols of the red and white roses into the new emblem of the red and white Tudor Rose.

• Henry shored up his position by executing all other possible claimants whenever any excuse was offered, a policy his son, Henry VIII, continued.

Henry VII: 1485 - 1509

• During the War of the Roses, the York and Lancaster Houses fought over who would dominate the monarchy.

France:1461Louis XI king of France (1461 83), restored unity and stability

to France after the ravages of the Hundred Years' War. • After Charles the Bold's defeat and death in 1477, Louis

continued the war against Charles's daughter, Mary of Burgundy. He added Anjou, Maine, Provence, and other regions to his kingdom in 1480 81; in 1482 he divided the Burgundian territories with Mary's husband, Maximilian of Habsburg (later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I).

• Louis consolidated royal power, using bribery, diplomacy, intrigue, treachery, and war.

• laid the foundation for the absolute monarchy in France,• promoted industry and commerce which increased the

country's wealth.

Louis XI the Spider King

Russia: 1462

• Background:

• Over ruled by Mongols and Tartars

• Ivan III the Grand Duke of Moscow refused to pay tribute in 1455 and Russia united behind him

• Very barbaric compared to Western Europe

Ivan III the Great: 1462-1505

• Italy:

• Italy did not become a unified nation until the 19th century.

• During the Renaissance ambitious rulers of France (Charles VIII and Francis II) and Spain (Charles V) invaded Italy and kept it from uniting

• Niccoló Machiavelli wrote The Prince. Machiavelli was one of the first to call out for Italian unification.

Ottoman Empire

• Turkish Muslims who conquered Constantinople in 1453 now spread into Eastern Europe

• Stopped at Vienna by Charles V

• A constant threat to the power of European kings and a threat to the Pope

• Important Characteristics of Nation - States:

• Growing Bureaucratization: More and more was needed to have a centralized state.

• Permanent Army: more wars = bigger need for armies

• Growing need to tax: to pay for the armies and for the wars

• arguments for Representative govt (Pope’s Council, Parliament in England, Estates General in France, 7 Electors in HRE and not really one yet in Spain)

• King wins this battle in all but England

• Results:– Stable government = possibility for economic,

social and political growth rather than constant intranational war

– Increased power and size of government so more people felt its power more directly

– Increased competition between states rather than only within states

When Richard III diedRichard III, the younger brother of Edward IV, was made duke of Gloucester at age nine. He fought for Edward at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury in 1471. When Edward died in 1483 he took control of Edwards heirs, Edward V and his brother Richard. The young brothers were held in the Tower of London and murdered in June 1483. Richard III was crowned king that year. He was killed at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

The unofficial heir to Lancaster was now Henry Tudor.  Tudor was descended on his mother's side from John of Gaunt's illegitimate Beaufort children, and on his father's side from an unauthorized liaison between Henry V's widowed French queen, Katherine of Valois and Owen Tudor, a Welsh esquire. With the backing of the French king and an army gathered from the jails and mercenaries of France and the remnants of the Lancastrian army, they prepared to invade England in the summer of 1485.