3º ESO

Topic Eight:
The birth of
Modern States
15th century overview
As a result of the political and
economic setbacks of the 14th
century, by about 1400 there was no
dominant state in Europe
• Germany and Italy were already
fragmented, and in neither there
was any clear preponderance.
• The Iberian peninsula was still split
up in different reigns.
• France suffered a civil war between
two powerful families, the
Burgundians and the Armagnacs.
The situation made far worse when
Henry V of England, invaded
Normandy in 1415 and extended
English control to some parts of
France.
But this unstable balance was
destroyed after 1450:

• In France, English were

expelled from French soil
(except from Calais) by 1453.
• In England, failure in France
and the loss of Normandy
provoked civil war, the War of
the Roses. In 1485, a new
dynasty, the Tudors,
succeeded in restoring order.
• In Spain, the warring
kingdoms of Castile and
Aragon were united in 1479,
and in 1492 their combined
forces completed the
reconquest of the last Islamic
strongholds.
In Germany, a series of dynastic alliances united the Habsburg lands with those of
Luxemburg and Burgundy.
All these possessions,
and later those of the
Spanish royal family,
came to the emperor
Charles V (1519-1556),
making him the greatest
Christian ruler since
Charlemagne.
He systematically
expanded each of these
inheritances and
Habsburg hegemony
dominated Europe for
two centuries.
The inhabitants of these
countries, particularly the
commercial classes, were
prepared to tolerate the
royal absolutism in return
for security and
suppression of civil war.

Civil war and economic setbacks had

weakened the old nobility, and the
church was also brought increasingly
under royal control.
The secular state, in which politics are
divorced from religion and organized
around an impersonal, centralized and
unifying system of government, was still
two centuries away
The Authoritarian Monarchies in Europe
Although the creation of the Authoritarian Monarchies was a common
process in Europe through the 15th century, there were only three well
consolidated monarchies: France, England and Spain.

•Once the Hundred

Years War ended, France
had a long period of
political and social
stability. Then, French
Kings from Louis XI to
Francis I unified the
country and reinforced
their position and
power.
•In England the situation was
different. After the Hundred Years
War, the conflicts continued: there
was an internal confrontation
between the York and the Lancaster
families that concluded in the Two
Roses War. The aristocratic power
declined and opened the way to the
royal power. Henry VIII and Elisabeth
I consolidated the Authoritarian
Monarchy in England.
•In Spain, the territorial unification process took place during the Catholic Kings
reign: they could unify all the Iberian areas except Portugal. The noblemen lost
part of their political influence but kept their economic and social position.
Later on, Spain became the hegemonic country in Europe during Charles I and
Philip II reigns.
However, The Holy Empire and Italy did not experience this territorial
unification process and they maintained their political desegregation until 19th
Century
England
15th century overview
During the last years of 15th century
(1455-85), a civil war claiming the
throne of England took place between
the noble houses of York (whose badge
was a white rose) and Lancaster (later
associated with the red rose): the War
of two Roses. The war ended with the
victory of the Earl of Richmond, Henry
VII, who founded the House of Tudor,
which subsequently ruled England and
Wales for 117 years.

The Red Rose The White

of the House Rose of the
of Lancaster House of York
About the middle of the 15th century Richard, duke of York , came to
the fore as leader of the opposition Lancastrian king Henry VI . The
Yorkists gained popular support as a result of discontent over the
failure of English arms in the Hundred Years War and over the
corruption of the court. After lots of battles in which the two
dynasties achieved successively the throne, in 1485, the Lancastrian
claimant, Henry Tudor, defeated and killed the Duke of York and
ascended the throne as Henry VII .
Henry VII's marriage to Duke of York
daughter, Elizabeth of York, united
the houses of Lancaster and York.
The Wars of the Roses were ended.
It is generally said that with them
ended the era of feudalism in
England, since the nobles became
too weak, as a class, to contest the
strong monarchy of the Tudors. The Tudor Rose: a combination of the Red Rose
of Lancaster and the White Rose of York
Tudor dynasty
The first monarch,
Henry VI Tudor,
descended patrilineally
from the rulers of a
Welsh principality and
maternally from a
legitimized branch of
the English royal House
of Lancaster.
In total, five Tudor
monarchs ruled their
domains for just over a
century (from 1485
until 1603).
The Tudor line failed in 1603 with the death of Elizabeth I of England, who died
without issue. Through secret negotiations she arranged before dying the
succession of the House of Stuart to the English throne, uniting the Kingdoms of
England and Scotland in a personal union.
Henry VIII wanted to produce a
male heir. He feared that without
an heir his nation would again be
thrown into civil war. His marriage
to Catherine had only produced
daughters, and she was too old to
bare any additional children.
After being denied the right to
divorce, King Henry VIII convinced
Parliament to declare the Church in
England separate from that of the
Catholic Church, and to place
himself at the head of the Church.
After becoming the head of the newly formed church, King Henry VIII granted
his divorce. He than married Anne Boleyn. After she failed to produce a male
heir, King Henry VIII had her executed on charges of treason. He would marry
four more times, and would have only one son, who would rule as King
Edward VI. During his reign, Henry VIII oversaw the legal union of England and
Wales with the Laws in Wales Acts.
Edward would only rule for a short time, and
would die in A.D. 1553. Following his death
Henry’s Catholic daughter came to the throne.
Her name was Mary, and she got married to the
Spanish king, Phillip II.
Queen Mary
attempted to use fear
and death to bring
the Catholic Church
back into England.
After putting many
people to death, she
“Bloody” Mary I
became known as
Elizabeth I Bloody Mary.
Queen Mary was overthrown by her half-sister Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth
was protestant, and helped to strengthen the Church of England. She brought
all the people together by making the Church of England more like the
Catholic Church, while still maintaining it as a separate church. She reigned
from 1558 to 1603.
During the reign of Elisabeth I, the relations between
Spain and England gradually got worse.

In May 1588, Phillip II sent the Spanish Armada (La

Armada Invencible) against England. Phillip had
political and religious reasons to attack England:
• Phillip was the most powerful ruler in Europe, and
he wanted to prove it.
• English pirates like Francis Drake were raiding
Spanish ships and stealing Spanish treasures.
• Elisabeth I was helping Spain’s enemies in the
Netherlands.
• Elisabeth, as she was Protestant, was ordering the
torturing and imprisonment of Catholics.
Finally, the Spanish plan broke down and the
Armada just sailed round England, Scotland and
Ireland and back to Spain.
Under Queen Elisabeth I England became much
richer and improved living standards. However,
Elisabeth’s policies towards people were often cruel
Stuart dynasty and Civil War

When Elisabeth died without

descendants, James VI of Scotland,
from the House of Stuarts, became
king both of England and Scotland.
Charles I Stuart, made some
unpopular decisions (expensive wars,
taxes…) that set Parliament and
Monarchy at odds.
The result was a long and bloody Civil
War (1642 to 1648) that brought
many changes.

Maps of territory held by Royalists (red) and Parliamentarians

(green), 1642—1645
Oliver Cromwell was the leader of the
Parliament’s supporters. His orderly
army defeated the Royal army. Charles I
was captured and executed on 30th
January 1649. From 1649 to 1660
England was run as a republic. Cromwell
became the leader of the country until
he died in 1658.
In 1660, the Monarchy was restored
Charles II became the new king of
England Oliver Cromwell
Execution of

1642 to 1648: 1649 to 1660: English 1660: Restoration

Charles I

Civil War Cromwell Republic of Monarchy

1649:
Wales
In the early 1500s, Wales was divided into two parts. One part was
already controlled by England, but the other part was controlled by Lords
whose power grew over time.
The problem for the English was not the Welsh themselves, but these
Lords (called Marcher Lords). If Wales was not totally under English
control it could be used by other countries to attack England.
The ‘solution’ to the problem was the
Act of Union of England and Wales in
1536 during the reign of Henry the VIII.
These Acts had the following effects on
the administration of Wales:
• All Wales was divided into shires with
English law Courts.
• Wales would send MPs to Parliament
at Westminster.
Ireland
England had been worried about Ireland for
hundreds of years. Ireland could be used as a base by
England’s enemies – France and Spain.
By 1485 England had tried many times to take over
Ireland but failed. Henry VII claimed to be the King of
all Ireland, but only controlled the area around
Dublin known as ‘the Pale’.
After 1485, England tried different ways of taking
over Ireland: as driving Irish Catholics away from
their land and replacing them with Protestant English
and Scottish. Every method England attempted was
extremely expensive.
During the 1600s Ireland was eventually taken over by the English. By 1690
Catholics held only 20% of the land and were very poor. The government
passed laws against the Catholics – preventing them from voting or having jobs
in government. The Act of Union of 1800 between Ireland and Britain signified
that Ireland was completely taken over.
Scotland

In 1485 Scotland was a separate

country. Since the 1300s there had
been occasional fighting between
England and Scotland. Scotland
was friendly with England’s old
enemy – France. England was
naturally worried.
Queen Elizabeth died in 1603. King
James VI of Scotland was the
closest relative, so he also became
King James I of England. However,
even though both countries shared
the same monarch, there was no
change in the situation.
Between 1701-1713 England was at war
with France, and there were great fears
that James II would land in Scotland
accompanied with a French army and
claim the throne of Scotland for his son.
In 1707 an act was passed joining the two
countries:
Act of Union of England and Scotland.
These Acts had the following effects on
the administration of Scotland:
· Scotland gave complete freedom to trade
with England and her colonies.
· Scotland would send 45 MPs to
Parliament at Westminster.
· Scottish Parliament would be closed.
· England would give Scotland nearly
£400,000 to pay off her debts.
Spain
The Catholic Kings
The Catholic Kings reign can be considered as the beginning of the Modern
Age in Spain since, once the Reconquista was finished, the territorial
unification and the reform of the institutions took place. The monarchs tried
to reduce the influence of the nobility.

Map of Europe at the end of 15th century

In 1479, Isabella was proclaimed Queen of Castile. When Isabella’s brother,
king Enrique IV of Castile, died, his daughter Juana was proclaimed Queen.
However part of the nobility wanted Isabella to inherit the crown since they
were not sure that Juana was Enrique’s daughter. Both candidates, Juana and
Isabella, and their supporters began a war which ended when the Portuguese
troops that supported Juana were defeated by the Castilians.
The same year, Fernando was appointed King of Aragon, once his father died.
The Kingdom of Aragon was integrated by Aragón, Catalonia, Valencia, Balearic
Islands, Naples and Sicily.
After the marriage, both
kingdoms united however
each of them maintained
its own institutions so
there was only a territorial
union. The only institution
in common was
Inquisition.

The Crown of Castile in the The Crown of Aragon at its

15th century greatest extent in the 1380s
The Catholic Monarchs set out to restore
royal authority in Spain. To accomplish
their goal, they first created a group
named the Holy Brotherhood (Santa
Hermandad) These men were used as a
judicial police force for Spain, the
forerunner of the today’s Guardia Civil . To
replace the courts, the Catholic Monarchs
created the Royal Council (Consejo Real),
and appointed chief magistrates to run
the towns and cities. This establishment of
royal authority can be seen as one of the
crucial steps toward the creation of one of
Europe's first strong nation-states.
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Tribunal de la Santa
Inquisición) commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition, was a tribunal
established in 1478 by Catholic Kings. It was intended to maintain Catholic
orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the medieval inquisition which
was under papal control.
Ferdinand and Isabella
were noted for being
the monarchs of the
newly-united Spain at
the dawn of the
modern era. The Kings
had a goal of
completing the
Christian Reconquest
of the Iberian
Peninsula and to
The Capitulation of Granada by F. Padilla:
conquer the Muslim Muhammad XII (Boabdil) confronts Ferdinand and Isabella.
kingdom of Granada.

After 10 years of many battles the Granada War ended in 1492 when the
Emir Boabdil surrendered the keys of the Alhambra Palace in Granada to the
Castilian soldiers.
 The religious unification would continue less than three months after the
surrender of Granada when the Catholic Kings issued the Alhambra Decree. In it,
Jews were accused of trying "to subvert their holy Catholic faith and trying to
draw faithful Christians away from their beliefs."
Some Jews were even only given four months and
ordered to convert to Christianity or leave the country.
The punishment for any Jew who did not convert or
leave by the deadline was death. The Spanish Jews
fled to Portugal (driven out again in 1497), to North
Africa, and to south-eastern Europe where they
formed flourishing local Jewish communities, Sephardi
Community.
The estimated number of repelled Jews vary between
130,000 and 800,000. Other Spanish Jews (estimates
range between 50,000 and 70,000) chose to avoid
expulsion by conversion to Christianity. However, their
conversion did not protect them from Spanish
A signed copy of the Edict of Expulsion Inquisition, whose persecutions and expulsions were
common.
Navarra was
incorporated to the
Castile Kingdom in
1512. When Pope
Julius II declared a
Holy League against
France, Navarre tried
to remain neutral.
Ferdinand used this
as an excuse to attack
Navarre, conquering
it while its potential
protector France was
beset by England,
Venice, and
Ferdinand's Italian
armies.
All the territories conquered in America belonged to the Castilian Crown and they
were called Reinos de Indias or simply Las Indias.
The union of the
crowns of Aragon and
Castilla led to modern
Spain. Spain was
Europe's leader
throughout the
16th century and most
of the 17th century, a
position reinforced by
wealth from colonial
possessions.
Spain reached its apogee during the reigns of the first two Spanish Habsburgs,
Carlos I (1516–1556) and Felipe II (1556–1598). The Spanish Empire expanded
to include great parts of the America, islands in the Asia-Pacific area, areas of
Italy, cities in Northern Africa, as well as parts of what are now France,
Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. It was the first empire
about which it was said that the sun never set.
Juana and Felipe
In 1504, Isabel died and,
although Fernando tried
to maintain his position
over Castilla, the Royal
Court of Castile (Las
Cortes Generales de
Castilla) chose Isabel la
Catolica's daughter
Juana la Loca (Joanna
the Mad) as the new Juana la Loca and Felipe el Hermoso

Queen.
Her husband, Phillip the Handsome (Felipe el Hermoso), was the Habsburg
son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, and Mary of Burgundy. He
became king-consort Felipe of Castile. Because of Juana’s insanity, in 1506
Philip assumed the regency on her behalf, but he died later that year. Since
their oldest son Charles was only six, the Cortes reluctantly allowed Juana's
father, Fernando of Aragon, to rule the country as the regent.
As only monarch, Fernando
adopted a more aggressive
policy, enlarging Spain's
sphere of influence in Italy. As
ruler of Aragon, he had been
involved in the struggle
against France and Venice for
control of Italy; these conflicts
became the center of
Fernando's foreign policy as
king. Fernando took both
Naples — to which he held a
dynastic claim — and Navarre,
as we said before.
Fernando's death led to the ascension
of young Charles to the throne as
Carlos I of Castilla and Aragon
founding the monarchy of Spain. His
Spanish inheritance included all the
Spanish possessions in America and
around the Mediterranean. Upon the
death of his father in 1506, Charles
had inherited the Netherlands,
growing up in Flanders. In 1519, with
the death of his paternal grandfather
Maximilian I, Charles inherited the
Habsburg territories in Germany, and
was duly elected Emperor Charles V
that year.
Charles I
Charles was born in Ghent and
brought up in the Netherlands
until 1517 when he arrived in
Castilla.
As his mother, Juana la Loca, the
legitimate queen, was alive, the
negotiations with the Castilian
Cortes in Valladolid were
difficult. In the end Charles was
accepted under some conditions
(he would learn to speak
Spanish, he would not employ
foreigners and he would respect
the rights of his mother, Queen
Juana) and the Cortes paid
homage to him in 1518.
 Castilian inheritance

Aragon inheritance

Fernando II Maximilian I inheritance

Isabel of Maximiliano I Mary of
of Aragon Castilla of Habsburg Burgundy
Mary of Burgundy inheritance

Holy Sacred Empire borders in 1530

Milan annex in 1535

Phillip the
Juana la Handson
Loca

Carlos V
After this, Charles
departed to the
kingdom of Aragon. He
managed to overcome
the resistance of the
Aragon and Catalan
Cortes and finally he was
recognized as king of
Aragon jointly with his
mother.
Soon resistance against the Emperor rose because of the heavy taxation and
because Charles tended to select Flemings for high offices. The resistance
culminated in the Revolt of the Communities (Guerra de los Comuneros)
between 1520 and 1521.
The rebel movement took on a radical anti-feudal dimension. In 1521, rebel
leaders Padilla, Bravo and Maldonado were beheaded and the army of the
Comuneros fell apart. At the same time, there was another anti-feudal revolt
by craftsmen guilds (gremios, called Germanías in Valencian) against the King
Charles I in the Kingdom of Valencia.
Foreign policy:

Carlos I became the most powerful monarch in Christendom. His foreign

policy was aimed at:

•France: The king of France, Francisco

I, found himself surrounded by
Habsburg territories, so in 1521
Francis invaded the Spanish
possessions in Italy and Navarre,
which inaugurated a second round
of Franco-Spanish conflict. The war
was a disaster for France, which
suffered defeats (for example in
Pavia in 1525, at which Francisco
was captured and imprisoned in
Madrid)
As a result, Francisco I abandoned Milan, and the Duchy was incorporated to
Spain.
 • Protestantism: This religious Reformation
of the Christian Church started in 1517 in
Germany. The Spanish king set himself up
as the leader of Counter Reformation.
Although Carlos I defeated the Protestants
in Mühlberg in 1547, he eventually had to
admit the two religions by the he Peace of
Augsburg, which allowed German princes
to select either Lutheranism or Catholicism
within the domains they controlled.

•America: the new territories were

considerably extended by Hernan Cortes
and Francisco Pizarro. Moreover, Magellan
circumnavigated the globe in 1522.

Peace of Augsburg front page

Phillip II
In 1556 Carlos I abdicated his various titles,
giving Spain, the Netherlands, Naples, Milan and
Spain's possessions in the Americas to his son,
Felipe II. His brother Ferdinand, got the Austrian
lands and succeeded him as Emperor. Charles
retired to the monastery of Yuste, dying in 1558.

Domestic Policy:
The Spanish Kingdom was not a single monarchy with one legal system but a
federation of separate kingdoms. Felipe tried to turn into an absolutist realm,
but he often found his authority overruled. In the Kingdom of Aragon, Philip
was obliged to put down a rebellion in 1591–92, when his secretary Antonio
Perez, who was born in Guadalajara, made Felipe confront to the Court of
Aragon.
Foreign Policy:

• Netherlands: In 1568, Philip waged a war against Dutch territories, but he

could not avoid the independence of the north protestant provinces of
the Netherlands, officially independent with Peace of Westphalia, during
the reign of Phillip IV.
• England: (see above)
• Turkish: The campaigns against Turkish
was aimed to stop Muslim influence in
the East. In 1571 there was a decisive
victory against the Turks at the Battle of
Lepanto, with the allied fleet of the
Holy League, which he had put under
the command of his illegitimate
brother, Juan de Austria.
• Pacific Ocean: New expeditions took place in the West once America had
almost been explored. Phillip II reached Philippines Islands and settled
there some colonies.
• Portugal: after the death of King Sebastian, Philip II was proclaimed king of
Portugal in 1580. Until 1640 the two kingdoms would be under the Spanish
crown, while Portugal maintained autonomous law, currency, and
Government
Spanish society and economy in 16th century

Despite the large amounts of silver and gold that

were imported from America, the economic
situation of Spain in the 16th century continued
to be terrible: there was massive inflation,
agricultural production was insufficient and
industry (except sheep wool industry) greatly
weakened. There was just one sector that
experienced some improvement: trade.
In the early sixteenth century the Spanish population reaches five million
people, growing to eight million over the next hundred years. The population
was mostly rural.
Social status remained as in feudal times: at the top, the king and nobles,
who owned large territories. The clergy maintained its economic and political
force. The rest of the population lived in very poor conditions and were
subject to heavy obligations: tithes (diezmo), epidemics, famine, persecution
of heretics ...
Phillip III (1598-1621)
During the reign of Philip II
the monarchs began to
decline to exercise the duties
of government, and it would
be handed to favourite
ministers: Validos. The
favourite of Philip III was the
Duke of Lerma, who
maintained a peacetime.
Domestic politic was marked
by the expulsion of the
Moriscos in 1609 and the
economic and agricultural
problems.
Philip IV (1621 to 1665)
The favorite of King Philip IV, the Conde
Duque de Olivares, devoted great efforts
to defeated the rebels in the Netherlands
(the Thirty Years War). Despite some
initial victories (Breda) in 1648, Spain had
to sign the Peace of Westphalia, which
meant the loss of some provinces in
Netherland and the end of a complete
Catholic Europe project. The Peace of
Westphalia meant the decline of the
Spanish monarchy.
The war impoverished even more to
Spain. Portugal used the situation to
separated from the Spanish Crown (1640),
while France got the Roussillon and
Sardinia (1659).
Carlos II (1665 to 1700)
Charles II led the Habsburg
monarchy to a permanent decline.
Several factors led to this decline:
the inability of the king, corruption
of the Favourites (Validos),
economic crisis and loss of
hegemony in international politics.

When Charles II died without

descendant, the War of Succession
broke down. Felipe de Borbon, the
French candidate to the throne,
would become the new king and
open the Borbon dynasty.