Chapter 14

Habsburgs

German princely family who ruled in alliance with the Holy Roman Empire and controlled most of Central Europe; had a serious dynastic struggle with the House of Valois; the princesses of this house included Margaret of Parma and Mary of Hungary;

"Paris is worth a mass"

Henry IV's statement, before converting to Catholicism

Lepanto

Philip II's naval victory against the Ottomans, which was a turning point, as it destroyed entirely the Ottoman threat

Twelve Years' Truce

Spain and the Netherlands agreed to this in 1609; "tacitly recognized the existence of the state of Holland"; allowed Spain time to prepare for the final assault on the Netherlands; allowed Philip II to hope to mop up all his other wars before the time came 'round to turn again to this one, so that he would be prepared to give it full attention - "circumstance smiled upon his efforts"

Wallenstein

a "ruthless and brilliant" count, who commanded Catholic military forces for Spain, soundly defeating the Dutch; his forces were later destroyed at the battle of Lutzen, against Gustavus Adolphus

Philip III

*king of Spain after his father; intent on resolving all of Spain's European conflicts so that when the Twelve Years' Truce ended, he could turn his full attention to recovering his Burgundian inheritance; these hoped were disappointed by the outbreak of war in central Europe; gained possession of a vital link in his supply route between Italy and the Netherlands; "ever optimistic", he died in 1621

politiques

Catholic peers who joined with the Huguenots to protest the excesses of the crown and the Guises; inspired by the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, which closed the gap between Catherine de' Medici, and the leaders of the extreme Catholic movement; wanted a practical settlement of the wars; led by the duc d'Anjou, next in line to the throne after Henry III; blamed for the murders of Henry Guise and his brother, and revenge was exacted upon them, although Henry III was the true culprit

Protestant Wind

Elizabeth's politically savvy term for the storm which destroyed the Spanish armada; meant that God was on the side of the English

Battle of the White Mountain

Ferdinand's Catholic forces annihilated Frederick's army; a turning point in the history of central Europe

Thirty Years' War

Seriously? You want me to define this? Y'know, no. It was a big, confusing conflict. That's all you're getting from me.

duc du Condé

a Bourbon and the leader of the overall french Protestant movement in France; sentenced to death under the rule of Francis II, under the influence of his "beautiful young wife", the staunchly Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots; five days before his execution, however, Francis died, and his younger brother, the ten-year-old Charles IX became king, under the regent of his mother, Catherine de Médicis, who reprieved him

Rocroi

a French victory in 1643; Louis XIII died just five days beforehand; Spain had gambled on a knockout blow against the French, but "exhausted French troops held out and the Spanish invasion failed"

Michael Romanov

a Muscovite assembly of landholders, the Zemsky Sobor, chose him over Sigismund III as tsar of Muscovy; a native Russian; "made a humiliating peace with the Swedes . . . in return for Swedish assistance against the Poles"; eventually Poland backed off, in return for "large territorial concessions"

William of Orange

a leading Protestant, and one of the largest landholders in the Netherlands; urged Margaret of Parma to adopt a policy of toleration along the lines of the peace of Augsburg, and asserted that he would resign from office rather than support anything else; many Protestant noblemen were publicly executed by the Duke of Alba and his Council of Blood, but he instead "assumed leadership of the two provinces that were now united against the tyranny of Philip's rule" - the northwestern states of Holland and Zeeland

Richelieu

a senior French minister to King Louis XIII; wrote "war is one of the scourges with which it has pleased God to afflict men"; involved in France's decision, midway through the Thirty Years' War, to declare war on Spain

Catholic League

a society, in Paris and elsewhere, that pledged it's first allegiance to religion; took up where the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre had left off, slaughtering "ordinary people who unluckily professed the wrong religion"; formed to combat the politique movement, headed by the duc d'Anjou; after that guy's death, talked openly of altering royal succession in order to prevent Henry of Navarre, a Protestant, from becoming the next king after Henry III; "began to develop theories of lawful resistance to monarchical power"; controlled the Catholic towns, including Paris, when the final civil war began, the war of the three Henries; their extremism kept the moderate politiques away from court, without which there could be no settlement; Henry III and Henry of Navarre besieged the city, which only barely stayed strong; proclaimed a Catholic rival when Henry IV became king, but accepted him once he converted to Catholicism - they were fairly exhausted, and now seen as rebels instead of patriots; collapsed a couple years into his reign

joint-stock company

a system where the wealthy could invest and then their money was used to hire ships; Queen Elizabeth herself was a secret donator; the funds were used to hire pirates to fight the Spanish armada

Frederick V

aka the "Winter King"; a devout but politically incapable Calvinist, who made the mistake of accepting the Bohemian crown when Ferdinand II succeeded to the imperial title; married to the politically ambitious Elizabeth, daughter of King James I of England; "ruled a geographically divided state known as the Palatinate, which included two separate, strategically important, strips of land, both bordered by Catholic places; made the disastrous decision to accept the position of King of Bohemia; once he accepted the crown of Bohemia, he had three different wars on his hands, which he managed to lose almost immediately after the Battle of White Mountain; Ferdinand II's forces annihilated his; fled north to Holland with his now-not-so-ambitious wife, leaving Bohemia to face a terrible retribution; the above battle was a turning point in the history of central Europe, as Calvinism in Bohemia was completely destroyed, its king's lands carved up, Prague sacked, and elective monarchy abolished; in Holland, he "refused to accept the judgment of battle . . . lobbied for a grand alliance to repel the Spaniards from the Lower Palatinate and to restore religious balance in the Empire"; few had sympathy for his personal plight, but "his political logic was impeccable"

Drake

an extremely successful pirate, hired by Queen Elizabeth I to fight off the Spanish Armada; after his remarkable success, he was knighted

Gustavus Adolphus

awesome king of Sweden; decided to enter the German conflict in 1630; in two years, he changed the course of the Thirty Years' War in favor of the Protestants; decisively turned the tide of war at the battle of Lutzen, where he was also killed =(

Defenestration of Prague

caused by Ferdinand II's election to the position of ruler of Bohemia, and his subsequent persecution and repression of Protestantism; when he violated the limitations he had promised to obey, a group of Protestant noblemen "marched to the royal palace in Prague n May 1618, found two of the king's chief advisors, and hurled them out of an upper-story window"; they fell into a pile of manure on the street outisde, and so lived; claimed that they had been saved by God; "initiated a Protestant counter-offensive throughout the Habsburg lands"

Boer War

caused by the British desire for diamonds and gold that was to be found under the ground where the Afrikaners lived, slightly inland from the east coast by the tip of Africa; the British prevailed

"Spanish fury"

caused by the Duke of Alba's being sacked, due to the excessiveness of his actions; his army was left unpaid, wild, and in disarray; they sacked Antwerp; "effectively ended Philip's rule over his Burgundian inheritance"

Christian IV

energetically led Denmark and invaded Sweden from both the east and west, capturing the towns of Kalmar and Alvsborg, and threatening to take Stockholm; Sweden was forced to "renounce all claims to northern routes and [to recognize] Danish control of the Arctic trading route; really cool guy

Edict of Nantes

granted limited toleration of the Huguenots; granted by Henry IV at the very end of the sixteenth century; the culmination of decades of attempts to find a solution to the existence of two religions in one state; "a compromise that satisfied no one, but . . . that everyone could accept"; did not manage to entirely still the passions of the Catholics and Huguenots

Valois

had a massive struggle with the Habsburgs; a French dynasty that included lotsa kings; the Guises courted support from Spain in open defiance of their dynastic interests, after the assassination of the Duc de Guise by a Protestant fanatic, which gave the Guises a personal vendetta and further pulled the government apart

Duke of Alba

had a record of success matched only by his record for brutality; Philip II gave him a large military force, despite the fact that Margaret had already restored order in the Netherlands; sent from Spain as an army of occupation; "gave no quarter to the Protestants of the Netherlands"; lured leading Protestant noblemen to Brussels, where he publicly executed them; est. a court which came to be known as the Council of Blood; made an example of several small towns that had been implicated in the iconoclasm; many Protestants fled beyond his jurisdiction; eventually drove the Protestants into rebellion, which in turn forced the Spanish government to maintain its army by raising taxes for the provinces which had stayed loyal; caused a whole lot of other problems; the protestants began to launch a series of successful revolts, and he was relieved from command; the Spanish army was left in chaos, plundering the land

voertrekerdauters

the Afrikaner term for a woman on the Great Trek

"sea-dogs"

headed by Drake; fought the Spanish armada; their ships were much smaller and more maneuverable than those of the Spanish; they could also re-load more easily, and attack before running, instead of just pounding the other boat, which earned them this name

French Wars of Religion

in a word... confusing. Um, civil wars. Basically... wars, like... in France. aaaand... they were bad. Lots of bad stuff happened, mostly to Huguenots.

Louis XIII

king of France after his father, Henry IV; controlled mostly by his regent, Cardinal Richelieu

Gustav I Vasa

led the uprising of the Swedish aristocracy in 1523, effectively ending Dutch domination; "won the right to rule over a poor, sparsely populated state" - and even this, although the throne was hereditary, he had to share with the powerful aristocracy, which had supported his rebellion

Guise(s)

the Catholic contender for power in France; staunchly supported by Mary, Queen of Scots

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

occurred in 1572; Catherine had arranged a marriage between her daughter Margaret and the Huguenot leader Henry of Navarre; would symbolize the spirit of conciliation between the crown and the Huguenots; this significant event was attended by many Protestant leaders, and thus "presented an opportunity of a different kind" to the Guises and their supporters; on the wedding day, "the streets of Paris ran red with Huugenot blood"; frenzied but inefficient slaughter, which let Henry of Navarre escape unharmed, as well as a number of other important Protestants; the violence spread from Paris to the countryside, and many more Protestants were killed; the most widely passionate event in the history of France, up until the French revolution; had several important effects; first, it prolonged the wars, what with the Protestant desire for revenge; also, "by accepting the results of massacre, the monarchy sanctioned it, and spilled Protestant blood on themselves"; there was no longer a distance between the crown and the leaders of the Catholic movement

Catherine de' Medici

orphaned as an infant; raised in convents; instructed by Italian nuns; the wife of Henry II of France, who died in a jouting tournament celebrating the Treaty of Cateau Cambrèsis; the power behind the throne during the reigns of her sons Charles IX and Henry III; concerned overall with ensuring her son' succession and preserving the power of the monarchy; acted as "regent of France" after her husband's death; wanted peace and was willing to accept almost any strategy for securing it; first negotiated with the Bourbons, but forced to accept that the Guises were stronger; attempted the reconciliation of marrying her daughter Margaret off to Henry of Navarre, thus allying the Valois with the Protestant Huguenots - Huguenot leaders from all over France attended the great event, and were promptly murdered en masse by the Guises; aka the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre

Time of Troubles

resulted from Ivan IV killing his own heir; a long issue over who should, then, succeed him, because his "half-wit" son was not up to the job; false "Dimitri"s, etc.

Revolt of Netherlands

that whole bunch of problems in, well, Sweden and stuff, and how Spain, and Philip II, had a hard time accepting the independence of Holland, and the cruelty of the Duke of Alba, and stuffs like that; culminated in the Twelve Years' Truce

Philip II

the "king of paper"; also king of Spain;maintained a grueling work schedule, due to his vast kingdoms; managed to repel forever the Ottoman threat at the battle of Lepanto; brutally aggressive against the English Protestants; married to Mary I of England for a bit, then invaded Elizabeth's England, but the Spanish Armada was destroyed; the gravest crisis of his reign was the revolt of the Netherlands, aka his Burgundian inheritance; hired the brutal Duke of Alba to enforce order and Catholicism, but eventually the Protestants won out, and one group of provinces voted to depose him, and another to remain loyal to him; refused to accept the dismemberment of his inheritance, but instead concluded the Twelve Years' Truce

voertrekerseuns

the Afrikaner term for a man on the Great Trek

Huguenot

the French Protestants movement which endured severe persecution in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; its members included, notably, Henry of Navarre, (before his coronation and conversion), and other such

Bourbon

the Protestant contender for power in France

Henry IV

the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre occurred at his going-to-be-wedding with Margaret; he managed to escape the bloodshed and was next in line for the throne after it became apparent that Henry III, the brother of his (wife? - did they actually get married?) would have no male heir, and after the death of the duc d'Anjou, leader of the politique movement; after Henry Guise's death, made a pact with Henry III, and "together royalist and Huguenot forces besieged Paris"; would have succeeded, too, but for the arrival of a Spanish army, probably from some interfering dude like Philip II; after Henry III's death, he was excommunicated by the Pope, and the Catholic League came up with a rival for him; reportedly said "Paris is worth a mass" when he decided to accept the Catholic faith; crowned in 1594; a strong and capable ruler; proclaimed the Edict of Nantes; finally assassinated in 1610, "but by then he has reestablished the monarchy and brought a semblance of peace to France"

the Rad

the Swedish council of state, through which Swedish nobility exerted a strong check on the monarch; gave the nobles a powerful voice in Swedish affairs, over Gustav I Vasa, whom they had played a significant part in raising to the throne

Zemsky Sobor

the assembly of landholders in Muscovy, which chose Michael Romanov, a native Russian, tsar instead of Sigismund III

Mathias

the childless Holy Roman Emperor who, in 1617, began making plans for his cousin, Ferdinand Habsburg, to succeed him; relinquished his Bohemian title to ensure a Catholic majority among the electors who would decide this, because Ferdinand was extremely Catholic - let's just say that this caused a whole LOT of problems

Lutzen

the clash of the armies led by Gustavus - Protestant - and Wallenstein, the ruthless and brilliant Catholic count, and victor against the Danes; the Swedes won the field, but lost Gustavus - a deciding battle between Catholic and Protestant forces; put an end to Ferdinand's ability to "redraw the religious map of the empire" at will

Peace of Westphalia

the collective term for the series of agreements that "established the outlines of political geography in Europe for the next century"; focused on the Holy Roman Empire, reflected Protestant successes in the final two decades of war, and reestablished territorial boundaries as they had been in 1624; also weakened the HREmperor's political control over German states; gave the Habsburgs control of both Bohemia and Hungary, recognized Calvinist rights to toleration, recognized also the independence of Swiss cantons, etc.

Ferdinand II

the cousin of Mathias, the childless Holy Roman Emperor; extremely Catholic, defeated Protestantism in the Battle of the White Mountain and against the alliance headed by Christian IV and the Danes, but then lost to Gustavus Adolphus at the battle of Lutzen

Council of Blood

the eventual name for the military court established by the Duke of Alba to punish participants in the revolt of the Netherlands; "handed down more than 9000 convictions, over 111 of which carried the death penalty"; because of it, many Protestants fled Alba's jurisdiction; policies such as this drove Protestants into rebellion

War of Three Henries

the final civil war, between Henry III, the then-king of France; Henry Guise, a Catholic guy, and Henry of Navarre, this Protestant dude; at this point, the crown was in the weakest possible position; "Paris and the Catholic towns were controlled by the League, the Protestant strongholds by Henry of Navarre; *gets bored and decides to try and make note-taking exciting*; in the bitter cold winter of 1588, Catholic champion Henry Guise and his dear beloved brother were summoned to the bedchamber of King Henry III, and there brutally murdered by orders of the king himself; nevertheless, the moderate politiques were blamed for the murder, and violently persecuted in retribution; having thus disposed of one Henry, Henry invited the OTHER Henry to join him in besieging Paris; they did so, but their union of Huguenot and Catholic forces bore no fruit

India, the tip of Africa, the Spice Islands, and the west coast of Africa

the four areas controlled by the Portuguese which, when they could no longer control them, which the Dutch and British split between themselves - British got 1 & 4, Dutch 2 & 3

British East India Company

the joint-stock company in England that was in charge of exploiting profits in India

Dutch East India Company

the joint-stock company in the Netherlands that was in charge of spice trade in the East Indies

Afrikaans

the language spoken by the Protestant Dutch men and women who came to the tip of Africa to live; a combination of Dutch, English, and Germans - spoken nowhere else

Duc d'Anjou

the leader of the politique movement and the youngest son of Henry II and Catherine de Médicis; next in line to the throne after Henry III, but when he died, Henry of Navarre was to be next, which had Catholic Leaguers talking about altering the lines of succession

Afrikaners

the name that the Protestant Dutch men and women who came to the tip of Africa to live gave themselves

Magdeburg

the town noted for its tragic destruction; imperial forces under Wallenstein besieged, captured, and torched it in 1631, setting the standard for a war already noted for "cruelty between combatants and atrocities against civilians"; about 3/4 of the 4o,ooo inhabitants were slaughtered; the sack here marked a turning point in Protestant fortunes, giving "the international Protestant community a unifying symbol that enhanced Gustavus' military efforts"

Charles IX

the uncle of Sigismund III; when the aforesaid was deposed as king of Sweden due to his too pro-Catholic tendencies, this man became king instead; died during the middle of the Danish war, and was succeeded by his son, Gustavus Adolphus

Sigismund III

when elected to the Polish throne, also heir to the throne of Sweden; caused lots of problems for everyone; a bit too pro-Catholic for the taste of the Swedes, who deposed him after a few years in favor of his uncle, Charles IX; never really gave up on obtaining that throne, but during Muscovy's Time of Troubles, he switched to bothering them instead, first supporting one of the false Dimitri's claim to the throne, but after that failed, he asserted his own right; Polish forces poured across the frontier,and in 1610 they took Muscovy and he proclaimed himself tsar, intending to unite the two massive states; the Russian boyars came together for once to contest this claim, deposing him here as well and instead appointing Michael Romanov; Sweden and Muscovy then united to drive the Polish off

Dumas

wrote "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte-Cristo"; a famous Romantic writer; the first of these not actually historically accurate - portrayed Richelieu as the villain, and the three musketeers protecting the king from him