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The New Monarchies: (aka The Renaissance Monarchies or Renaissance States) 15 c – 16 c. Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley H.S. Chappaqua, NY Ms. Snyder Culver City High School. Western Europe.
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The New Monarchies:(aka The Renaissance Monarchies or Renaissance States)15c – 16c Ms. Susan M. PojerHorace Greeley H.S. Chappaqua, NY Ms. Snyder Culver City High School
Western Europe • The Iberian Peninsula, the French territories, and the British Isles formed the westernmost borders of Europe • Agriculturally, the French lands were the richest in all of Europe
Characteristics of the New Monarchies • Kings began to build institutions of modern states. • Growing reach made them “new”. • Able to raise and command armies, impose taxes, summon advisers to represent their will. • Growth of bureaucracies => more consolidated effective power. • Role of advisers grew in importance. • Imposed taxes on salt, wine, other goods
Characteristics of the New Monarchies Offering lords noble titles and offices nobles dependent on monarchs for power and honor loyalty to the throne. Armies raised against annoying nobles. They enlisted the support of the middle class in the towns tired of the local power of feudal nobles. Rulers made laws and imposed administrative unity that hadn’t existed before.
Characteristics of the New Monarchies Advances in warfare made consolidation easier -- what could not be inherited or married could be conquered
THE WESTERN POWERS • No common pattern emerged in the consolidation of western European states • England by administrative centralization, France by good fortune, and Spain by dynastic marriage
Post Hundred Years War • Charles VII (1422-1461) • Royal Army • Levied a taille(annual direct tax on land)
Louis XI “The Spider/Spider King” • (r.1461-1483)
Added territory: Burgundy France Comte Alsace-Lorraine Political Power Criticized by Machiavelli (Swiss Mercenaries)
LOUIS XI FAILS TO NAB LOW COUNTRIES • Failed to gain the Burgandian Low Countries for France after the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 • The marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian of Hapsburg was a significant turning point in European history • It initiated the struggle for control of the Low Countries that lasted for more than two centuries
FRENCH FINANCES • The long years of wars established the principle of royal taxation that was critical to nation building in France • It allowed the crown to raise money for defense and consolidation • Most of the tax burden fell to the commoners, the so-called Third Estate • Taxes included the taille(land), gabelle (salt) and the aide (various goods including meat and wine)
Francis I (1515-1547) • King through marriage • Contact with Italy had brought Renaissance to France • Educated with some humanist ideas
Patron of the Arts • Brought Leonardo da Vinci to France • Much of its art collection still in the Louvre today! • Palace of Fountainebleau • Symbol of grandeur
England • Post-Hundred Years War • War of the Roses (1455-1485) Rivalry for the throne Lancaster York
Natural defenses of an island nation, = England could have been the first European nation to consolidate had it not been for noble ambition and a weak crown (see War of the Roses, 1455-1485) • Henry VII & Henry VIII put an end to (1) dynastic instability and (2)created a new nobility that owed their titles and loyalty to the Tudors THE TAMING OF ENGLAND Subduing the nobles was critical to the Tudors success in consolidating England
Henry VII, 1st Tudor King • 1485-1509 • Results of War of the Roses • Restore royal prestige • Dynastic marriages • Court of Star Chamber • To ensure fair enforcement of laws against prominent people • Court of criminal equity (things that seemed illegal, but were technically legal) • Deal with pesky nobles
THE MARRIAGES OF SPAIN • Before the 16th century there was little hope of a unified Spain • The Spanish people were divided in several separate states • The two dominant states were Castile, the largest and richest, and Aragon, which was composed of a number of quasi-independent regions
Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain The Madonna of the Monarchs
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA • In 1469, teenagers Ferdinand (Aragon) and Isabella (Castile) exchanged wedding vows • 1479, the two crowns were united and the Catholic monarchs ruled the two kingdoms jointly and took the first steps toward forging a single Spanish state Ferdinand and Isabella, Artist: David Galchutt
THE RECONQUISTA • The most notable achievement of the Spanish monarchs was the recovery of the lands that had been conquered by the Moors (what the Spanish called the Muslims)
RECONQUISTA COMPLETE • The final stages of the reconquista began in 1482 and lasted a decade • Waged as a holy war and funded in part by the pope and Christian princes of Europe • Granada finally fell and the province was absorbed into Castile