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Isabella and Ferdinand had used the
Inquisition to investigate suspected
heretics, or
nonbelievers in Christianity.
Philip believed it was his duty to
defend Catholicism against the
Muslims of the
Ottoman Empire and the Protestants
of Europe. In 1571, the pope called
on all
Catholic princes to take up ar
Isabella and Ferdinand had used the
Inquisition to investigate suspected
heretics, or
nonbelievers in Christianity.
Philip believed it was his duty to
defend Catholicism against the
Muslims of the
Ottoman Empire and the Protestants
of Europe. In 1571, the pope called
on all
Catholic princes to take up ar
Isabella and Ferdinand had used the
Inquisition to investigate suspected
heretics, or
nonbelievers in Christianity.
Philip believed it was his duty to
defend Catholicism against the
Muslims of the
Ottoman Empire and the Protestants
of Europe. In 1571, the pope called
on all
Catholic princes to take

SPAINS EMPIRE AND

EUROPEAN ABSOLUTISM
A Powerful Spanish Empire
A devout Catholic, Charles not only fought Muslims but also
opposed Lutherans. In 1555, he unwillingly agreed to the Peace
of Augsburg, which allowed German princes to choose the
religion for their territory. The following year, Charles V
divided his immense empire and retired to a monastery. To his
brother Ferdinand, he left Austria and the Holy Roman Empire.
His son, Philip II, inherited Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, and
the American colonies.

Philip II’s Empire Philip was shy, serious, and—like his father
—deeply religious. He was also very hard working. Yet Philip
would not allow anyone to help him. Deeply suspicious, he
trusted no one for long. As his own court historian wrote, “His
smile and his dagger were very close.”
Perhaps above all, Philip could be aggressive for the sake of his
empire. In 1580, the king of Portugal died without an heir.
Because Philip was the king’s nephew, he seized the Portuguese
kingdom. Counting Portuguese strongholds in
Africa, India, and the East Indies, he now had an empire that
circled the globe. Philip’s empire provided him with incredible
wealth. By 1600, American
mines had supplied Spain with an estimated 339,000 pounds of
gold.

Between 1550 and 1650, roughly 16,000 tons of silver bullion

were unloaded from Spanish galleons, or ships. The king of
Spain claimed between a fourth and a fifth of every shipload of
treasure as his royal share. With this wealth, Spain was able to
support a large standing army of about 50,000 soldiers.

Defender of Catholicism When Philip assumed the throne,

Europe was experiencing religious wars caused by the
Reformation. However, religious conflict was
not new to Spain. The Reconquista, the campaign to drive
Muslims from Spain had been completed only 64 years before. In
addition, Philip’s great-grandparents Isabella and Ferdinand had
used the Inquisition to investigate suspected heretics, or
nonbelievers in Christianity.
Philip believed it was his duty to defend Catholicism against the
Muslims of the Ottoman Empire and the Protestants of Europe. In
1571, the pope called on all Catholic princes to take up arms
against the mounting power of the Ottoman Empire.
Philip responded like a true crusader. More than 200 Spanish and
Venetian ships defeated a large Ottoman fleet in a fierce battle
near Lepanto. In 1588, Philip launched the Spanish Armada in an
attempt to punish Protestant England and its
queen, Elizabeth I. Elizabeth had supported Protestant subjects
who had rebelled against Philip. However, his fleet was defeated.
(See map opposite.)
Although this setback seriously weakened Spain, its wealth gave
it the appearance of strength for a while longer. Philip’s gray
granite palace, the Escorial, had massive walls and huge gates
that demonstrated his power. The Escorial also
reflected Philip’s faith. Within its walls stood a monastery as
well as a palace.
DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA 1588
In the summer of 1588, Philip II sent about
130 ships carrying 19,000 soldiers to the
English Channel. English warships, however,
outmaneuvered the Spanish vessels and
bombarded the Armada with their heavier
long-range cannons

Golden Age of Spanish Art and Literature

Spain’s great wealth did more than support navies and build
palaces. It also allowed monarchs and nobles to become patrons
of artists. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain experienced
a golden age in the arts. The works of two great painters show
both the faith and the pride of Spain during this period.
El Greco and Velá zquez Born in Crete, El Greco (GREHK• oh)
spent much of his adult life in Spain. His real name was Domenikos
Theotokopoulos, but Spaniards called him El Greco, meaning “the
Greek.” El Greco’s art often puzzled the people of
his time. He chose brilliant, sometimes clashing colors, distorted the
human figure and expressed emotion symbolically in his paintings.
Although unusual, El Greco’s techniques showed the deep Catholic
faith of Spain. He painted saints and martyrs as huge, long-limbed
figures that have a supernatural air. The paintings of Diego Velá
zquez (vuh• LAHS• kehs), on the other hand, reflected the
pride of the Spanish monarchy. Velá zquez, who painted 50
years after El Greco, was the court painter to Philip IV of Spain.
He is best known for his portraits of the royal family and scenes
of
court life. Like El Greco, he was noted for using rich colors.

Don Quixote
The publication of Don Quixote de la Mancha in 1605 is often
called the birth of the modern European novel. In this book, Miguel
de Cervantes (suhr• VAN• teez) wrote about a poor Spanish
nobleman who went a little crazy after reading too
many books about heroic knights.

The Spanish Empire Weakens

Certainly, the age in which Cervantes wrote was a materialistic
one. The gold and silver coming from the Americas made Spain
temporarily wealthy. However, such
treasure helped to cause long-term economic problems.
Inflation and Taxes One of these problems was severe inflation,
which is a decline in the value of money, accompanied by a rise
in the prices of goods and ser-
vices. Inflation in Spain had two main causes. First, Spain’s
population had been growing. As more people demanded food
and other goods, merchants were able to raise prices. Second, as
silver bullion flooded the market, its value dropped. People
needed more and more amounts of silver to buy things.Spain’s
economic decline also had other causes. When Spain expelled
the Jews and Moors (Muslims) around 1500, it lost many
valuable artisans and business people. In addition, Spain’s
nobles did not have to pay taxes. The tax burden fell on the
lower classes. That burden prevented them from accumulating
enough wealth to start their own businesses. As a result, Spain
never developed a middle class. Making Spain’s Enemies Rich
Guilds that had emerged in the Middle Ages still dominated
business in Spain. Such
guilds used old-fashioned methods. This made Spanish
cloth and manufactured goods more expensive than those
made elsewhere. As a result, Spaniards bought much of
what they needed from France, England, and the
Netherlands. Spain’s great wealth flowed into the pockets of
foreigners, who were mostly Spain’s enemies.
To finance their wars, Spanish kings borrowed money
from German and Italian bankers. When shiploads of silver
came in, the money was sent abroad to repay debts. The
economy was so feeble that Philip had to declare the
Spanish state bankrupt three times.
The Dutch Revolt In the Spanish Netherlands, Philip had
to maintain an army to keep his subjects under control. The
Dutch had little in common with their Spanish rulers. While
Spain was Catholic, the Netherlands had many Calvinist
congregations. Also, Spain had a sluggish economy, while
the Dutch had a prosperous middle class.
Philip raised taxes in the Netherlands and took steps to
crush Protestantism. In response, in 1566, angry Protestant
mobs swept through Catholic churches. Philip then sent an
Identifying
Problems
Why didn’ t
Spain’ s economy
benefit from the
gold and silver from
the Americas?

Tulip Mania
Tulips came to Europe from Turkey around 1550. People went
wild over the flowers and began to buy rare varieties. However,
the supply of tulips could not meet the demand,
and prices began to rise. Soon people were spending all their
savings on bulbs and taking out loans so that
could buy more. Tulip mania reached a peak between 1633 and
1637. Soon after, tulip prices sank rapidly.
Many Dutch families lost property and were left with bulbs that
were nearly worthless.
A. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects As you read
about the SpanishEmpire, briefly note the causes or effects
(depending on which is missing) of eachevent or situation.
B. Determining Main Ideas On the back of this paper, explain
how Philip II wasan example of an absolute monarch.
Causes Effects
1. The gold and silver coming from its vast empire
made Spain incredibly wealthy.
2. Spain suffered from severe inflation.
3. The Spanish economy declined and at times
Spain was bankrupt.
4. Philip raised taxes in the Netherlands and tried
to crush Protestantism.
5. The Dutch became wealthy from trade and banking.
6. European monarchs became increasingly more
powerful.
Section 1
CHAPTER
21
In-Depth Resources: Unit 5
The Independent Dutch Prosper
The United Provinces of the Netherlands was different from other
European states of the time. For one thing, the people there
practiced religious toleration. In addition, the United Provinces
was not a kingdom but a republic. Each province had an elected
governor, whose power depended on the support of merchants and
landholders.

Dutch Art During the 1600s, the Netherlands became what

Florence had been during the 1400s. It boasted not only the best
banks but also many of the best artists in Europe. As in
Florence, wealthy merchants sponsored many of these artists.
Rembrandt van Rijn (REHM•BRANT vahn RYN) was the
greatest Dutch artist of the period. Rembrandt painted portraits
of wealthy middle-class merchants. He
also produced group portraits. In The Night Watch (shown
below), he portrayed a group of city guards. Rembrandt used
sharp contrasts of light and shadow to draw attention to his
focus. Another artist fascinated with the effects of light and dark
was Jan Vermeer

(YAHN vuhr• MEER). Like many other Dutch artists, he chose

domestic, indoor settings for his portraits. He often painted
women doing such familiar activities as pouring milk from a jug
or reading a letter. The work of both Rembrandt and Vermeer
reveals how important merchants, civic leaders, and the middle
class in
general were in 17th-century Netherlands
Dutch Trading Empire
The stability of the government allowed the Dutch people
to concentrate on economic growth. The merchants of
Amsterdam bought surplus grain in Poland and crammed it into
their warehouses. When they heard about poor
harvests in southern Europe, they shipped the grain south while
prices were highest. The Dutch had the largest fleet of ships in
the world—perhaps 4,800 ships in 1636. This fleet helped the
Dutch East India Company (a trading company controlled by the
Dutch government) to dominate the Asian spice trade and the
Indian Ocean trade. Gradually, the Dutch replaced the Italians as
the bankers of Europe.

Absolutism in Europe
Even though Philip II lost his Dutch possessions, he was a
forceful ruler in many ways. He tried to control every aspect of
his empire’s affairs. During the next few centuries, many
European monarchs would also claim the authority to rule
without limits on their power.
The Theory of Absolutism These rulers wanted to be absolute
monarchs, kings or queens who held all of the power within their
states’ boundaries. Their goal was to control every aspect of
society. Absolute monarchs believed in
divine right, the idea that God created the monarchy and that the
monarch acted as God’s representative on earth. An absolute
monarch answered only to God, not to his or her subjects.
Absolutism
Absolutism was the political belief that
one ruler should hold all the power
within the boundaries of a country.
Although practiced by several monarchs
in Europe during the 16th through
18th centuries, absolutism has been
used in many regions throughout
history. In ancient times, Shi Huangdi
in China, Darius in Persia, and the
Roman caesars were all absolute ruler

SETTING THE STAGE In 1559, King Henry

II of France died, leaving four

THE REIGN OF LUIS XIV

Religious Wars and Power

Struggles
In 1572, the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris sparked a
six-week, nationwide slaughter of Huguenots. The massacre
occurred when many Huguenot nobles were in Paris. They were
attending the marriage of Catherine’s
daughter to a Huguenot prince, Henry of Navarre. Most of these
nobles died, but Henry survived.
Henry of Navarre Descended from the popular medieval king
Louis IX, Henry was robust, athletic, and handsome. In 1589,
when both Catherine and her last son died, Prince Henry
inherited the throne. He became Henry IV, the first king
of the Bourbon dynasty in France. As king, he showed himself
to be decisive, fearless in battle, and a clever politician. Many
Catholics, including the people of Paris, opposed Henry. For the
sake of his war-weary country, Henry chose to give up
Protestantism and become a Catholic. Explaining his conversion,
Henry reportedly declared, “Paris is well worth a mass.”
In 1598, Henry took another step toward healing France’s
wounds. He declared that the Huguenots could live in peace in
France and set up their own houses of worship in some cities.
This declaration of religious toleration was
called the Edict of Nantes.
Aided by an adviser who enacted wise financial policies, Henry
devoted his reign to rebuilding France and its prosperity. He
restored the French monarchy to a strong position. After a
generation of war, most French people welcomed peace. Some
people, however, hated Henry for his religious compromises. In
1610, a fanatic leaped into the royal carriage and stabbed Henry
to death

Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu After Henry IV’s death,

his son Louis XIII reigned. Louis was a weak king, but in
1624, he appointed a strong minister who made up for all of
Louis’s weaknesses.

Cardinal Richelieu (RIHSH• uh• LOO) became, in effect, the

ruler of France. For several years, he had been a hard-working
leader of the Catholic church in France. Although he tried sin-
cerely to lead according to moral principles, he was also ambi-
tious and enjoyed exercising authority. As Louis XIII’s minister,
he was able to pursue his ambitions in the political arena.
Richelieu took two steps to increase the power of the
Bourbon monarchy. First, he moved against Huguenots. He
believed that Protestantism often served as an excuse for
political conspiracies against the Catholic king. Although
Richelieu did not take away the Huguenots’ right to worship,
he forbade Protestant cities to have walls. He did not want
them to be able to defy the king and then withdraw behind
strong defenses.

Second, he sought to weaken the nobles’ power. Richelieu

ordered nobles to take down their fortified castles. He
increased the power of government agents who came from the
middle class. The king relied on these agents, so there was less
need to use noble officials.
Richelieu also wanted to make France the strongest state in
Europe. The greatest obstacle to this, he believed, was the
Hapsburg rulers, whose lands surrounded France. The
Hapsburgs ruled Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, and parts of
the Holy Roman Empire. To limit Hapsburg power, Richelieu
involved France in the Thirty
Years’ War.
Writers Turn Toward Skepticism
As France regained political power, a new French intellectual
movement developed. French thinkers had witnessed the
religious wars with horror. What they saw
turned them toward skepticism, the idea that nothing can ever be
known for certain. These thinkers expressed an attitude of doubt
toward churches that claimed to have the only correct set of
doctrines. To doubt old ideas, skeptics thought, was the first step
toward finding truth.
Montaigne and Descartes Michel de Montaigne lived during the
worst years of the French religious wars. After the death of a
dear friend, Montaigne thought deeply about life’s meaning. To
communicate his ideas, Montaigne developed a
new form of literature, the essay. An essay is a brief work that
expresses a person’s thoughts and opinions.
In one essay, Montaigne pointed out that whenever a new belief
arose, it replaced an old belief that people once accepted as
truth. In the same way, he went
on, the new belief would also probably be replaced by some
different idea in the future. For these reasons, Montaigne
believed that humans could never have absolute knowledge of
what is true.

Another French writer of the time, René Descartes, was a

brilliant thinker. In his Meditations on First Philosophy,
Descartes examined the skeptical argument that
one could never be certain of anything. Descartes used his
observations and his reason to answer such arguments. In doing
so, he created a philosophy that influenced modern thinkers and
helped to develop the scientific method.
Louis XIV Comes to Power
The efforts of Henry IV and Richelieu to strengthen the
French monarchy paved the way for the most powerful ruler
in French historyLouis XIV. In Louis’s view, he and the
state were one and the same. He reportedly boasted, “L’état,
c’est moi,” meaning “I am the state.” Although Louis XIV
became the strongest king of his time, he was only a four-
year-old boy when he began his reign.

Louis, the Boy King When Louis became king in 1643

after the death of his father, Louis XIII, the true ruler of
France was Richelieu’s successor, Cardinal Mazarin
(MAZ• uh• RAN). Mazarin’s greatest triumph came in 1648,
with the ending of the Thirty Years’ War.
Many people in France, particularly the nobles, hated
Mazarin because he increased taxes and strengthened the
central government. From 1648 to 1653, violent anti-
Mazarin riots tore France apart. At times, the nobles who
led the riots threatened the young king’s life. Even after the
violence was over, Louis never forgot his fear or his anger
at the nobility. He determined to become so strong that they
could never threaten him again.

In the end, the nobles’ rebellion failed for three reasons.

Its leaders distrusted one another even more than they dis-
trusted Mazarin. In addition, the government used violent
repression. Finally, peasants and townspeople grew weary
of disorder and fighting. For many years afterward, the peo-
ple of France accepted the oppressive laws of an absolute
king. They were convinced that the alternative—rebellion—
was even worse.

Louis Weakens the Nobles’ Authority When Cardinal

Mazarin died in 1661, the 22-year-old Louis took control of
the government himself. He weakened the power of the
nobles by excluding them from his councils. In contrast, he
increased the power of the government agents called
intendants, who collected taxes and administered justice. To
keep power under central control, he made sure that local
officials communicated regularly with him.
Economic Growth Louis devoted himself to helping France attain
economic, political, and cultural brilliance. No one assisted him
more in achieving these goals than his minister of finance,
Jean Baptiste Colbert (kawl• BEHR). Colbert
believed in the theory of mercantilism. To prevent wealth from
leaving the country, Colbert tried to make France self-sufficient.
He wanted it to be able to manufacture every-
thing it needed instead of relying on imports.
To expand manufacturing, Colbert gave government funds and
tax benefits to French companies. To protect France’s industries,
he placed a high tariff on goods from other countries. Colbert
also recognized the importance of colonies, which provided raw
materials and a market for manufactured goods. The French
government encouraged people to migrate to France’s colony in
Canada. There the fur
trade added to French trade and wealth.