Politics and the State in the Renaissance (1450-1521)

1. Politics and the State in the Renaissance (1450-1521) McKay 441-446

2. Agenda • Renaissance Quest Tuesday • Begin “New Monarchs” • Homework • Read Chapter 14 (453-458)

3. Roots of the New Monarchs End of the 100 Years War King John Signs Magna Carta Fall of Rome Black Death Begins No Central Authority Noble Power begins to weaken Feudalism Begins 476 793 1215 1300 1453 Viking Invasions Begin Birth of Parliament under Edward I

4. New MonarchiesCharacteristics • term generally associated with Louis XI, Henry VII, and Ferdinand/Isabella (Renaissance Rulers) • Began to centralize power & rule in modern sense • Suppressed feudalism & nobility • Curtailed power of Catholic Church • Stressed heredity rule • Favored by Bourgeoisie (town people) • Create professional armies • Levied taxes • Pay for large armies • Kept order (commerce) • Encourage industry • Encourage humanism Magna Charta

5. France • Black Death and 100 Years war devastating • Depopulation, economic disruption, devastated agriculture • Charles VII (1422-1461) • Physically frail, emotionally insecure (father was insane, mother promiscuous) • expelled English in 1453 • Except Calais • Reorganized royal council • Gave more power to middle class • Lawyers, bankers became chief advisers • Began standing army • Established regular companies of cavalry, archers (paid by king) • Controlled taxes • Gabelle (salt tax) and Taille (land tax) • Helped pay for large army

6. France • Louis XI (1461-1483) • Son of Charles VII • Spider King • Had led rebellions against his father and even allied with his father’s arch enemies • Known for his treacherous (machiavellian) character of spinning webs of plots and conspiracies • Used standing army to control nobles • Took control of Anjou, Bar, Maine, Provence • Promoted economic growth • Restored old Roman roads • Encouraged Trade fairs • Silk weaving • Welcomed foreign craftsmen • Traded with England, Hanseatic league

7. FranceKing Francis I • King Francis I • Concordat of Bologna (1516) • Rescinded Pragmatic Sanction • Had denied Pope revenue • Pope receives annates ($ from French clergymen) • But Louis gets to appoint bishops and abbots • IE. King still controls Catholic Church in France • France remains Catholic during Reformation

8. England • King Henry IV dominated by nobles • Fur collar crime rampant • Parliament controlled by feudal lords (blocked consolidation) • War of the Roses (1455-1471) • Civil War between noble families • Yorkists and the Lancastrians • Trade, commerce, agriculture, industry all suffered due to chronic disorder • Tudors (of York) emerge victorious after War of Roses • Had slowed trade, agriculture, industry Lancaster York

9. England • Henry VII (1485-1509) • Passed laws against livery and maintenance • Weakened Barons • Lords prevented from maintaining private armies and wearing livery (family insignia) • Used diplomacy to avoid war • Eliminated the power of Parliament $$$ • Married son Arthur to Catherine of Aragon • Created alliance with Spain • Royal council • 12-15 (mostly middle class) used as executive advisers • Passed laws favoring upper middle class • Trade, money interests

10. England • Star Chamber • King’s private council/ trial • No jury present • Ignore parliament • Decided property disputes, disturbances of peace • Way of weakening/ killing unruly nobles • Most nobles accepted because it kept order • Had no standing army • But Utilized justices of the peace to police local towns • Encouraged wool exports • Diplomacy • Crushed Irish invasion • Married Margaret (daughter) to Scottish king

11. Spain • Aragon and Castile • Ferdinand and Isabella united Spain through marriage • Ferdinand was not ultra religious • But wanted to appear moral and anti-herectical • True unifying force was Catholicism • Crusade against Moors • Inquisition served as unifying legal force • Catholicism viewed as Spanishness • Reconquesta- Jews and Moors expelled in 1492 • Moriscos (Muslim converts) • Marranos (Jewish converts) • viewed as “unfaithful” and heretics • Inquisition tortured thousands • Ferdinand received papal permission • If it became unpopular he could blame the Pope • Hermandades- “brotherhoods” • Local police & judges brutally suppressed crime • Spain emerged as “defender of the faith” • Exported Catholicism to New World • Crusade mentality permeates society

12. Rise of Hapsburgs • Maximilian I (1493-1519) married heiress of Burgundy and Netherlands • Their Son Philip married Joanna of Spain (heiress to Ferdinand and Isabella) • Their son Charles inherited Austria, Netherlands, Burgundy, Spain, New World • Elected HRE in 1519 as Charles V • Most powerful ruler (on paper)

13. Holy Roman Empire’s New Monarchy • Not a “New Monarchy” • Never able to centralize control over vast territory • Holy Roman Empire • comprised of 4 States • Princely States- hereditary dynasties (Brandenburg) • Ecclesiastical- Abbacies (owned vast amounts of territory) • Imperial Free Cities- (about 50) bourgeoisie dominated • Imperial Knights-lords of small estates (loyal to HRE) • A polyglot empire • Multiple languages and cultures • Emperor • Elected by 7 Princes who held special title of Electors Charles V “I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to my men, and German to my horse.”

16. Stage is Set for Revolution • Image of Church greatly diminished • Few reform-minded leaders in Church • Monarchs are centralizing power • Fear of Universal Monarchy ushers in new allies