Religious Wars #1
What were his priorities as leader of the most powerful European nation?
Under Philip II, Spain reached the peak of its power. In the end, however, despite the gold and silver flowing into his coffers from the American mines, the riches of the Portuguese spice trade, and the enthusiastic support of the Habsburg dominions for the Counter-Reformation, he would never succeed in his two greatest goals: suppressing Protestantism and defeating the Dutch rebellion.
What factors made the 16th cen. the "century of gold" for Spain?
Until the English defeated the mighty Spanish Armada in 1588, no one person loomed larger over Europe in the second half of the 16th cen. than Philip II of Spain. Philip was heir to the western half of the Habsburg dominions following the retirement of his father, Charles V, in 1556; the Eastern half (including Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary) went to Philip's uncle, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. He was a generous patron of the arts, and his reign coincided with the height of the Spanish Golden Age (the "Siglo de Oro" or "Golden Century"), the era of Cervantes, the playwright Lope de Vega, Teresa of Ávila, and the painters Diego Velazquez and El Greco.
What was Philip II of Spain like as both a ruler and a person?
A reclusive and introverted man, he managed his kingdom by pen and paper rather than by personal presence. He was also a well-educated and pious Catholic, although his cold-fish demeanor suggested to more than one Pope that his outward devotion was more practical and political in nature than truly spiritual.
What were the political and cultural factors that led to conflict between England and Spain?
A series of events led inexorably to war between England and Spain, despite the efforts of both Philip II and Elizabeth to avoid a direct confrontation. The English saw the Spanish invasion of the Netherlands as little more than a prelude to a cross-channel invasion of England. These events made a tinderbox of English-Spanish relations. The spark that finally set it off was Elizabeth's execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-87).
What was the unintentional consequence of his harsh efforts to suppress the Dutch Revolt?
A special tribunal, known to the Spanish as the Council of Troubles and to the Dutch as the Council of Blood, took control in the Netherlands. The Count of Egmont—and several thousand other rebel leaders—were publicly executed before Alba's reign of terror ended. In addition, Alba tried to bleed the Netherlands financially, levying harsh taxes that unified resistance against him nearly as much as did his violent repression. The combined persecution and taxation sent tens of thousands into exile during Alba's cruel 6-year reign, and Alba became the hated face of Spanish Catholic rule.
Be able to identify her major courtiers, including Walter Raleigh,
A true Renaissance man, Raleigh was a statesman, soldier, spy, writer, poet, and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in founding the first English colony in North America, Virginia. He suppressed rebellion in Ireland, captained Elizabeth's flagship, the Ark Royal, against the Spanish Armada, and held various political positions under Elizabeth I. He was executed by James I for unauthorized attacks on Spain.
Why did England become increasingly drawn into the conflict in the Netherlands—and which side did England favor?
After the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Elizabeth was the only foreign protector of Protestants in France and the Netherlands. In 1585 she signed the Treaty of Nonsuch, which provided English soldiers and cavalry to the Dutch. Funds that had previously been funneled covertly to support Henry of Navarre's army in France now flowed openly.
Be able to identify the Duke of Alba.
Alba was one of the best generals of the era, having led Charles V's forces to victory over the Schmalkaldic League, and he was an inflexible man (he was nicknamed "The Iron Duke") with no illusions about the nature of his mission.
Why did Edward VI of England attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne of England?
Before Edward VI died in 1553, he took steps to prevent his Catholic half-sister, Mary Tudor, from succeeding him to the throne of England. His plan was to make Lady Jane Grey, the teenaged daughter of a powerful Protestant nobleman, his successor instead.
How did the organizational form of the conflicting Calvinist and Catholic churches reflect the wider political conflict?
Calvinism adopted a decentralized Presbyterian organization that magnified regional and local religious authority (and that led to inevitable splits). By contrast, the Counter-Reformation Catholic Church was hierarchically organized from Pope to parish priest. Calvinism thus proved attractive to proponents of political decentralization (and eventually democracy), whereas Catholicism remained favored by rulers who modeled their own governments on the Church: "one king, one church, one law" throughout the land.
Be able to identify her major courtiers, including Robert Dudley.
Dudley was, according to many of their contemporaries, Elizabeth's true love. He was a key adviser to her, and when she died, she was found to have kept his last letter to her with her at all times.
Be able to identify the Battle of Lepanto: causes, outcome, and legacy.
During the first half of his reign, Philip's attention was focused almost exclusively on the Mediterranean and the Turkish threat. By history, geography, and choice, Spain had traditionally been Catholic Europe's champion against Islam. During the 1560s, the Turks advanced deep into Austria, while their fleets dominated the Mediterranean. Between 1568 and 1570, armies under Philip's half-brother Don John of Austria (illegitimate son of Charles V) first suppressed a morisco rebellion in Granada and then turned to the eastern Mediterranean. In 1571 a Holy League of Spain, Venice, and the Papal State (and others, including the Knights of Malta) was formed by Pope St. Pius V to check Turkish aggression, with Don John in command. In what became the largest battle of the 16th cen., Don John's fleet met the Ottoman navy under the Ottoman Grand Admiral, Ali Pasha, off Lepanto in the Gulf of Corinth on Oct. 7, 1571. The fleets that met that day were massive: Ali Pasha commanded 256 galleys and 56 smaller galliots and 84,000 men (including 36,000 Christian slaves at the oars), while Don John's fleet comprised 206 galleys (and 60,000 men) and 6 massive galleasses, which combined features of the galley and the galleon. The largest contingent of ships came from Venice. The battle itself took 4 hours and featured a dramatic confrontation between Don John's flagship, the Real, and Ali Pasha, who was killed in combat. When it was over, 30,000 Turks had been killed and over ⅓ of the Ottoman fleet was sunk. The Christian victory at the Battle of Lepanto was of enormous strategic importance. Ottoman expansion and slaving in the western Mediterranean was halted and Turkish influence in the east began to be slowly rolled back.
How did Elizabeth's policies towards dissenting Protestants and recusant Catholics differ?
Elizabeth hoped to avoid both Catholic and Protestant extremism by pursuing a middle way, and she populated the bishoprics of England with like-minded prelates. But Elizabeth could not prevent the emergence of subversive Catholic and protestant zealots. When she ascended the throne, Catholics and Catholic sympathizers were a near-majority in England, and conspiracies—both real and imagined—ran rampant.Elizabeth acted swiftly against Catholic assassination plots and rarely let emotion override her political instincts. She executed fewer Catholics during her 45 years on the throne than Mary Tudor had executed Protestants in five. However, she showed little mercy when dealing with threats, and the public executions of the Jesuit Martyrs and of St. Margaret Clitherow (crushed to death by heavy weights for the crime of hiding priests) were calculated to terrorize England's "recusant" Catholics into conversion or, at the very least, into submission. On the other hand, Elizabeth dealt more cautiously with the Puritans, those working within the Anglican Church to pull it in a more Protestant direction by "purifying" it of every vestige of "popery." The Puritans had two special grievances: 1) the retention of Catholic liturgical forms, which made it appear to the casual observer that no Reformation occurred, and 2) the continuation of the episcopal system of church governance, complete with claims of authority based on apostolic succession. However, 16th cen. Puritans were not (yet) separatists. They enjoyed wide popular support and worked through Parliament to create an alternative national church of semiautonomous congregations governed by representative presbyteries (hence, Presbyterians), after Calvin's model. Elizabeth dealt firmly but subtly with this group, conceding absolutely nothing that lessened the hierarchical unity of the Church of England and her control over it. The more extreme Puritans wanted every congregation to be autonomous, with neither episcopal nor presbyterian control. Elizabeth gave this group, the Congregationalists, a stark choice: conformity, exile, or death.
What sort of a society was 16th cen. Spain?
Europe's population approached 100 million by 1600. The downside, as ever, of increased economic activity is price inflation as demand for goods and services increases. A steady 2% annual inflation had serious effects on Europe by mid-century. As the money supply and population increase outpaced production, there were more people attempting to purchase the same amount of food...meaning that prices went up while wages stagnated. This problem was especially acute in Spain, where wealth remained concentrated in the aristocratic military class that spearheaded the conquest of the New World. Meanwhile, the Castilian peasantry—the backbone of Philip's great empire—became the most heavily taxed people of Europe. In 16th cen. Spain, the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" was wider and more dramatically visible than anywhere else in Europe.
How did Henry III's scheming push him towards Henry of Navarre even though the latter was a Protestant?
Forced by his weakened position into unkingly guerrilla tactics and emboldened by news of the English victory over the Spanish Armada that same year, Henry successfully plotted the assassination of both the Duke and his brother the Cardinal of Guise. These assassinations sent France reeling once again. Led by yet another Guise brother, Charles, Duke of Mayenne, the Catholic League reacted with a fury that matched the earlier Huguenot response to the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The King now had only one course of action: he struck an alliance with the Protestant Henry of Navarre in April 1589.
What role did Elizabeth's captains such as Drake and Raleigh play?
Francis Drake (1545-96), began to prey regularly on Spanish shipping in the Americas. Drake's circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580 served notice to the rest of Europe of English ascendency on the high seas.
What political event led to the first government crackdown on Huguenots in France?
French Protestants, who were primarily Calvinists, came to be known as "Huguenots," a term derived from Besançon Hugues, an early French-Swiss Protestant of Luther's generation. The French government hoped to pacify their Habsburg conqueror (the champion of Catholicism) and so to win the swift release of their monarch. These repressive measures against the native French reformers were repeated a decade later, in October 1534, after Protestants plastered the walls of Paris and other cities with anti-Catholic placards. Among its other consequences, the mass arrests of Protestants in 1534 led to Calvin's initial flight to Geneva. In 1540 the Edict of Fontainebleau made French Protestants subject to the inquisition. Henry II (1547-59) established legal procedures against Protestants in the Edict of Chateaubriand in 1551. Save for a few brief interludes, the French crown remained a staunch foe of Protestantism until Henry of Navarre took the throne in 1589.
Who were the 3 Henrys of the War of the 3 Henrys?
Henry III (1574-89) was the last of Henry II and Catherine's sons to wear the French crown. The Protestants were led by Henry of Navarre, now (thanks to the high mortality rate of the Valois men) next in line for the French throne.
What were Henry IV's policies as king?
Henry IV was a successful and popular king, and the new dynasty he founded—the Bourbons—would lead France into its Golden Age of power and glory in the 17th and 18th cen. Working with his chief minister, the Duke of Sully, Henry placed the nation's finances on a sounder footing, promoted agriculture, encouraged education, and began public works projects aimed at both restoring the damage caused by the war and at beautifying the countryside of France and its great capital of Paris.
What is his legacy as the founder of the Bourbon dynasty?
Henry's legacy includes both the Edict of Nantes (a noble, if flawed, effort at peacemaking) and his work with the Duke of Sully, which laid the foundation of later French power. The transformation of France into the absolute monarchy of Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV was made possible by Henry's reforms. It would be in pursuit of the political and religious unity that had eluded Henry IV that Louis XIV, calling for "one king, one church, one law," would revoke the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This action would force France and Europe to learn again by bitter experience the hard lessons of the wars of religion. Rare is the politician who is able to learn from the lessons of history and avoid repeating its mistakes.
What is the significance of the phrase "Paris is well worth a Mass"?
Henry's personal qualities also helped; he was widely liked and esteemed for his leadership abilities. He dressed and spoke informally and carried himself with a confidence that especially endeared him to the soldiers of France. Henry also had the wit and charm to neutralize the strongest enemy in a face-to-face encounter. He came to the throne as a politique, long weary with religious strife and fully prepared to prioritize peace and national reconciliation above all. He believed that a royal policy of tolerant Catholicism would be the surest way to foster domestic tranquility and so, on July 25, 1593, he publicly abjured his Protestantism and embraced the traditional and majority religion of his country. "Paris," he said, "is well worth a Mass." The Huguenots were understandably shocked and mortified by this turnabout, and Pope Clement VIII remained highly skeptical of Henry's sincerity. But the majority of the war-weary French people rallied to his side. By 1596 the Catholic League was dispersed, its ties with Spain were broken, and the wars of religion in France finally ended.
Be able to identify Catherine de Médicis, Francis de Guise, and Gaspard de Coligny in particular.
However, after Henry's death, Catherine's successive regencies for their three sons made her one of the most powerful women in French history. A classic politique, Catherine maintained her family's power by any means necessary. Francis de Guise also took a lance to the face in a tournament—but he survived with the nickname "the Scar." Admiral Gaspard de Coligny (1519-72) became the political leaders of the French Protestant resistance.
Be ready to answer the question of who was and was not a politique and be able to support this judgement with specific examples.
However, after Henry's death, Catherine's successive regencies for their three sons made her one of the most powerful women in French history. A classic politique, Catherine maintained her family's power by any means necessary. William was a politique who placed his religious convictions in service of his political goals.
What is there to be said in her favor?
However, as always, there are alternate views, and many modern historians have pointed out that the policies of fiscal reform, naval expansion, and colonial exploration that were the sources of English success under Elizabeth got their start under Mary.
How did the Massacre of Vassy lead to the start of the Religious Wars in France?
In 1562, after consulting the Calvinist theologian Theodore Beza and Coligny, she issued the January Edict, granting Huguenots the freedom to worship openly in the countryside (not in towns) and to meet in synods. In March this move towards toleration came to an abrupt end when the Duke of Guise attempted to disperse a Huguenot congregation worshipping near his property in the town of Vassy in Champagne. Protestants claimed that the Duke sent his men into the large barn where services were being held with orders to "kill them all"; Guise maintained that his men were armed only with swords and had been fired upon from inside the barn. The outcome, however, was certain: 50 dead, including 5 women and a child. The Massacre of Vassy (March 1562) was the first act of the French Wars of Religion.
How did Elizabeth manipulate her public image for political purposes?
In her coronation portrait, Elizabeth resembles a China doll, dressed in the robes of power, with very little individuality. By contrast, this 1595 portrait of by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger is one of the few to show the queen without the "mask of youth." Many of Elizabeth's portraits made use of classical iconography to symbolize her status as "The Virgin Queen." Here, the sieve she holds is a reference to the Roman Vestal Virgins, who were said to be able to carry water in a sieve so long as they retained their virginity. In many of her portraits, Elizabeth is depicted as "Gloriana," the Faerie Queen—a semi-magical figure. In others, she is depicted as a mighty empress, standing astride the map or dispersing her enemies
What was the Day of the Barricades, and how did Henry de Guise die?
In the mid-1580s the Catholic League, supported by the Spanish, became completely dominant in Paris. In what came to be known as the Day of the Barricades, Henry III attempted to rout the League with a surprise attack in 1588. The effort failed badly, and the king had to flee Paris.As the two Henrys prepared to attack the Guise stronghold of Paris, however, a fanatical Dominican lay brother named Jacques Clément approached the king with a bundle of letters, pulled a concealed knife as he handed them over, and stabbed Henry to death. Clément was himself instantly killed by the royal bodyguards, so he did not witness the immediate effect of his action, done in the name of a Catholic France: the Bourbon Huguenot Henry of Navarre was now king.
What was the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and what sort of church did the Church of England become?
In the resulting "Elizabethan Religious Settlement," inflexible extremes were not permitted, and "enthusiasm" of any sort was discouraged in favor of a very English "reasonable" respect for tradition. The "Three-Legged Stool" of Anglicanism was the trinity of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. After Elizabeth, the Church of England was to hold the high middle ground in English culture, and to be an institution of unique legitimacy, linked to the prestige of the Crown.
How did the Protestant attitude towards political resistance change after the Massacre?
It was now no longer an internal contest for power and influence between noble French families; nor was it simply a Huguenot campaign to win basic religious freedoms. Henceforth, in Protestant eyes, it became an international struggle to the death for sheer survival against an adversary whose cruelty justified any means of resistance.
What role did the downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots play in the crisis that led to the Spanish Armada?
Mary was the daughter of King James V of Scotland and Mary de Guise and was raised in France as a devout Catholic. She had returned to Scotland after the death of her husband, Francis II of France, in 1561. There she found a successful, fervent Scottish Reformation that had won legal sanction the year before in the Treaty of Edinburgh. As hereditary heir to the throne, Mary was not intimidated by the Protestants who controlled her realm. She established an international French court culture, the gaiety and sophistication of which impressed and worried the famously dour and serious-minded Scottish Presbyterians. In 1583, Elizabeth's secretary and spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, uncovered a plot against Elizabeth involving the Spanish ambassador, a frequent visitor to Mary. After the deportation of the ambassador, popular loathing of Spain and sympathy for the Protestants of France and the Netherlands reached its peak. In 1586 Walsingham uncovered still another assassination plot against Elizabeth, the so-called Babington Plot (named for the chief conspirator)—and this time he had incontestable proof of Mary's complicity. Elizabeth feared that the execution of a sovereign, even a dethroned one, weakened royalty everywhere. She was also well aware of the outcry that Mary's execution would create throughout the Catholic world, and Elizabeth needed peace with English Catholics. But her hand was forced by the evidence Walsingham provided: a coded letter in which Mary said, "Let the great plot commence." Mary's 1587 beheading ended all Catholic hopes for a bloodless reconversion of Protestant England. And Philip II ordered his Armada to assemble and prepare to sail on England.
What was the long-term effect of her religious policies on England and English culture?
Mary's brief 5-year reign left a major impact on English culture—and not to the benefit of the Church to which she was devoted. Thanks to her marriage to Philip and her executions of popular figures such as the Anglican Bishops Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer, she succeeded in associating Catholicism, in the popular English mind, with oppression both at home and abroad.
How did Mary I of England earn her famous nickname?
Mary's domestic policies were equally shocking to the English people and even more divisive. During her reign Parliament repealed the Protestant statutes of Edward and England—on paper—reverted to the Catholic Church. The great Protestant leaders of the Edwardian Age—John Hooper, Hugh Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer—were tried and executed for heresy. Hundreds of Protestants either joined them in martyrdom (282 people were burned at the stake during Mary's reign, earning her the notorious epithet "Bloody Mary") or took flight to the Continent. These "Marian exiles" settled in Germany and Switzerland, forming especially large communities in Frankfurt, Strasbourg, and Geneva (John Knox, the future leader of the Scottish reformation was among them). There they worshipped in their own congregations, wrote tracts justifying armed resistance, and bided their time until the situation back home changed.
Why is the reign of Elizabeth I looked upon as a "golden age" for England?
Mary's successor, Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was perhaps the most astute politician of the 16th cen. in both domestic and foreign policy. Assisted by a shrewd advisor, Sir William Cecil (1520-1598), Elizabeth turned the kingdom of England into a true nation-state and a great power. Between 1559 and 1563 she and Cecil guided a religious settlement through Parliament that prevented England from being torn asunder by religious differences in the 16th cen. Both a committed Protestant and a Machiavellian politique, Elizabeth merged a centralized episcopal system, governed by the crown, with broadly defined Protestant doctrine and traditional Catholic liturgical forms. Elizabeth's reign is famous as the first Golden Age of English literature, the age of poets such as Edmund Spenser (The Faerie Queen) and Sir Philip Sidney (Astrophel and Stella); and of the dramatists Christopher Marlowe (Doctor Faustus) and William Shakespeare.
What role did her marriage to Philip of Spain play in her policies?
Once enthroned, Mary proceeded to live up to the worst fears of the Protestants. In 1554 she entered a highly unpopular political marriage with Philip of Spain and pursued a pro-Spanish foreign policy that led to the loss of Calais.
What personal qualities led to his success?
One secret of Henry's success was his common touch (not at all characteristic of the later Bourbons) and his populist impulses. He was given to saying such things as: "If God grant me life, I will see to it that every working man in my kingdom shall have his chicken to put in the pot."
How did Catherine's desire to preserve her family's power lead her to play the Catholic and Protestant leaders against one another?
Perpetually caught between fanatical Huguenots and Guise extremists, Catherine had always sought to play the one side against the other. Like the Guises, she wanted a Catholic France; she did not, however, want Guise-dominated monarchy. After the Peace of St.-Germain-en-Laye, her policy tilted noticeably toward the Bourbon faction, and Coligny became Charles IX's most trusted adviser. But Catherine was not finished. Now, unbeknownst to the king, she reached out once again to the Guises, tempting them with the possibility of a return to favor. There was reason for Catherine to fear Coligny's influence over her son. Louis of Nassau, leader of Protestant resistance to Philip II in the Netherlands, had gained Coligny's ear. Coligny used his position to win the King of France over to a planned invasion of the Netherlands in support of the Dutch Protestants. Such a course of action would have set France directly on a collision course with mighty Spain. Catherine recognized—far better than did her still-inexperienced son—that there was nothing to be gained for France in such a contest. She and her advisers had had this point underlined emphatically for them by the stunning Spanish-led victory over the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in October 1571, which we shall examine later.
Why did Lutheranism fail to catch on in France?
Protestantism took root slowly in France; as early as the 1520s the theologians of the Sorbonne were arguing vigorously against the Lutheran writings circulating in Paris. The capture of Francis I by the forces of Charles V at Pavia in 1525 provided a motive for the first wave of Protestant persecution in France.
Be able to identify her major courtiers, including Philip Sidney
Sidney was an English poet, courtier, scholar, soldier, and one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. His works rank among the finest poetic creations of England's greatest poetic era. Sidney was killed fighting the Spanish in the Netherlands; as he lay wounded, he gave his water to one of his injured men, saying "thy need is yet greater than mine."
What led up to the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and what was its outcome and legacy?
The Duke of Guise was assassinated in 1563 by a Huguenot named Jean de Poltrot, in retaliation for the Massacre of Vassy. His death ended the first French religious war, but it was only a time out. In his testimony at trial, Poltrot implicated Coligny and Theodore Beza. Though Coligny denied responsibility for Guise's death, a bitter feud arose between Guise's son Henry and the admiral, which culminated in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572. Even before this, the bloodiest of all the conflicts took place from 1568-70. This was actually something of a blessing for the Huguenots, as Coligny was by far the better military leader. In the Peace of St.-Germain-en-Laye (1570), the third war ended with the crown allowing religious freedom for the Huguenots in their territories and granting them the right to fortify their towns. Word of the Massacre of Vassy spread rapidly across Europe thanks to mass-produced prints such as this one from Germany. Catholic and Protestant printers depicted the event from their own point-of-view. It was the single worst European war atrocity of the 16th cen. The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II (no friend to Protestants himself) called it "a shameful bloodbath," and even Ivan the Terrible of Russia expressed his disgust at the violence in a letter to the Emperor.
What was the "80 Years' War" in Dutch history?
The Dutch speak of their religiously-motivated war for independence from Spain as the 80 Years' War, which includes both the continent-wide 30 Years' War and the 50 years of rebellion in the Netherlands that preceded it.
What was the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis?
The Habsburg-Valois wars ended with the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559, and Europe experienced a moment of peace. But only a moment. The same year marked the beginning of internal French conflict and the shift of the balance of power in favor of Spain, which remained the most powerful European nation throughout the 16th and early 17th cen.
You should know the year of the Spanish Armada.
The Spanish Armada (May-June 1588)
What was the Spanish Fury and what were its consequences?
The greatest atrocity of the war came in 1576, when Spanish mercenaries, unpaid and poorly led, ran amok in Antwerp, leaving 7,000 people dead in the streets in what came to be known as the Spanish Fury. The atrocity accomplished what neither religion nor patriotism had been able to achieve; the 10 largely Catholic southern provinces (roughly modern Belgium) came together with the 7 Dutch provinces in a treaty called the Pacification of Ghent. For the next two years the Spanish faced a Netherlands solidified under the Union of Brussels. Don John, the victor of Lepanto, faced his first defeat in 1576 when he took command of Spanish forces in the Netherlands; in 1577 he was forced to sign the Perpetual Edict, promising to withdraw all Spanish troops, thus handing the country to William of Orange.
Be able to identify her major courtiers, including Francis Drake,
The most daring of Elizabeth's sea captains, Drake was second-in-command of the English fleet in the victorious battle against the Spanish Armada in 1588, aboard his famous galleon The Golden Hind. Drake's exploits (such as his circumnavigation) made him a hero to the English, but his privateering led the Spanish to brand him a pirate, known to them as El Draque. Philip II of Spain offered a bounty of 20,000 ducats for his capture or death—the equivalent of $8 million in modern currency.
What economic effect did Spain's control of the New World have on Europe?
The new American wealth brought dramatic social change to Europe at large throughout the late 1500's. As the money Philip injected into the economy circulated, the entire continent benefitted; and as Europe grew wealthier, it grew more populous. The population of the ever-more-influential towns of France, England, and the Netherlands first tripled, and then quadrupled, by the early 17th cen.
What were the long-term political effects of the Armada?
The news of the Armada's defeat gave heart to Protestant resistance everywhere. Although Spain continued to win impressive victories in the 1590s, it never fully recovered from this defeat. Spanish soldiers faced unified and inspired French, English, and Dutch armies. By the time of Philip's death on Sept. 13, 1598, his forces had been successfully rebuffed on all fronts. His 17th cen. successors—Philip III (1598-1621), Philip IV (1621-65), and Charles II (1665-1700)—were all inferior leaders who never knew responsibilities equal to Philip's. Nor did Spain ever again know such imperial grandeur. The French soon dominated the Continent, while in the New World the Dutch and the English progressively whittled away Spain's once-glorious overseas empire.
How did the English fleet respond, and how did the battle off the coasts of England and the Netherlands play out?
The overall battle with the Armada was a series of smaller engagements, in which the English and their Dutch allies used innovative tactics that signaled the birth of a new era. At the Battle of Gravelines, for example, the English sent unmanned "fire boats" into the Spanish fleet with devastating effect. Rather than attempt to board and fight at close quarters with the Spaniards, as at Lepanto, the English at Gravelines stood off in a line and fired cannon broadsides that left the enemy crippled and sinking—this would become the standard tactic throughout the Age of Sail. Ultimately, the invasion barges that were to transport Spanish soldiers from the galleons onto the English beaches were prevented from leaving Calais and Dunkirk; the Armada was never able to link up with the Spanish troops in the Netherlands under the Duke of Parma. The swifter English and Dutch ships, assisted by what came to be known as an "English wind," dispersed the waiting Spanish fleet, over one third of which never returned to Spain.
How did his effort turn out?
The popular support for the principle of hereditary monarchy was too strong—and Mary herself too forceful—for Edward's scheme to work. Popular uprisings in London and elsewhere led to Jane Grey's removal from the throne and imprisonment within days of her crowning, and, when Jane's father took part in an uprising in opposition to Mary's proposed marriage to Philip II of Spain, she was beheaded, along with her equally-young husband and her father.
What role did Pope Pius V and the Catholic Church play in bringing together the Christian forces?
The spiritual dimension of the battle had been clear to all—the League sailors prayed the Rosary together the night before the battle, and Pope Pius V had asked that all of Christendom join them in prayer. Ali Pasha is supposed to have told his Christian galley slaves, "If the day is yours, then God has given it to you." After the victory, Pius instituted the Feast of Our Lady of Victory to commemorate the battle, which is now celebrated by the Catholic Church as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
What was the state of the fight for Dutch independence by the end of the 16th cen.?
These new Spanish fronts strengthened the Dutch position as Spain became badly overextended, and all Spanish soldiers were driven out of the northern provinces by 1593. In 1596 France and England formally recognized Dutch independence. Peace was not concluded with Spain until 1609, however, when the Twelve Years' Truce gave the Dutch their virtual independence. Full recognition came finally as part of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which ended the 30 Years' War.
Be able to identify the religious affiliations of the main families scheming for power in France after the death of Henry II: the Houses of Guise, Bourbon, and Montmorency-Chatillon.
They were the Bourbons, whose power lay in the south and west; the Montmorency-Chatillons, who controlled the center of France; and the Guises, who were dominant in eastern France. The Guise family was by far the strongest and had little trouble in establishing firm control over the young king, the House of Guise was synonymous with militant Catholicism. The Bourbon and Montmorency-Chatillon families, by contrast, developed strong Huguenot sympathies, largely for political reasons.
Be able to define a politique and be prepared to discuss the major leaders of the period according to this concept.
Where religious strife and civil war were best held in check, rulers tended to subordinate theological doctrine to political unity, urging tolerance, moderation, and compromise—even indifference—in religious matters. Such rulers came to be known as politiques, and the most successful among them was Elizabeth I of England. By contrast, rulers such as Mary I of England and Philip II of Spain, who took their religion with the utmost seriousness and refused every compromise, did not achieve their goals in the long run.
How did the focus of religious conflict shift after the 1555 Peace of Augsburg?
While war-weary German Lutherans and Catholics agreed to live and let live under the principle of cuius regio, eius religio, the Peace of Augsburg had excluded non-Lutheran Protestants; the Calvinists did not yet have the political strength to demand freedom, while all three major denominations (Calvinists included) scorned the Anabaptists as anarchists.
During the phase of the conflict known as "the Dutch Revolt," who led the cause of Dutch independence?
William the Silent was one of those who had gone into exile. He now emerged as the leader of a broad movement for full Dutch independence from Spain. The northern, Calvinist-inclined provinces of Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht (of which Orange was the stadtholder, or governor, became his base. As in France, political resistance in the Netherlands gained both organization and inspiration by merging with Calvinism. The popular, nationalistic nature of the Dutch Revolt in these early stages was made clear when the people of Leyden opened the dikes and flooded their own land rather than surrender it to the hated Spanish. By this time, Alba had been recalled by Philip (in 1573) and replaced as commander; as the old soldier remarked, "Kings use men like oranges; first they squeeze the juice and then throw away the peel."
