Europe: 1300-1648

European Society

European society in the late Middle Ages was divided into three social classes: those who prayed, those who fought, and those who worked. The clergy, both secular and cloistered, were seen as the top of society since they were closer to God. Their duties, and those of the Church as a whole, were as consoler, protector, physician, and guide. For nearly a thousand years it had been the constant and central institution that gave meaning and purpose to medieval life. That purpose was salvation, which could only be achieved through the rituals of the Church and administered by the clergy. The second tier was reserved for those families that constituted the nobility. Their status derived from birth and ancestry and their position in society dictated that they tend to military affairs and that they dispense justice and law. Last were the commoners who ranged from wealthy urban magnates to nearly starving peasants in rural villages. The several groups that made up the non-nobility shared little beyond their lack of aristocratic pedigree, but this alone was enough to ensure their position at the bottom of the medieval social scale.

By the turn of the 14^th century Europe had experienced several centuries of population growth and prosperity. The population had risen to roughly 80 million—doubling in number in the previous three centuries. Though the intermittent wars waged by barons and kings continued to cause hardships and devastation for the broader population, the extent of these wars was more limited and less destructive than they had been in the previous centuries. The disturbing Viking, Magyar, and Muslim raids were shadows of the past and the enthusiasm of the Crusades to Outremer had subsided and was no longer a major drain of manpower and resources away from Europe. More importantly for the majority of the population, there had been no widespread natural catastrophes or outbreaks of disease. Vigorous trade, pilgrimages and movement of people into the expanding towns and cities created new economic opportunities based on an exchange of goods, services, and production. More than at any other time since the decline of Roman imperial unity, roads and byways connected more people to one another through commerce, travel and migration. Though the languages and customs might differ from region to region, there existed an underlying unity that Catholic Christendom provided.

While it provided basic cultural and political unity, Christianity was also the edifying bedrock of European civilization in the Middle Ages. In such an uncertain and difficult age, the population sought solace and guidance in their religion, and the head of the flock, the pope, was not only the leader of the faithful but also a powerful political figure who often imposed his will on the princes of Europe. People believed—because they were told so—that the only way to salvation was through the Catholic doctrine. Life must be lived in service of God and death was understood as the migration of the soul, which included a long sojourn in purgatory that would properly cleanse the soul for its ultimate entry into the unblemished heavenly realm. The nobility of the times donated land, money, and often family members to the church in order to gain heavenly favors and blessings. As a result, the Catholic Church had become an immensely wealthy institution that controlled vast tracts of land and managed enormous assets.

Popes vs Monarchs

In the early 1300s the popes demonstrated a willingness to abuse the spiritual power of the Catholic Church by becoming involved in the political affairs of the European laity. Though their religious supremacy was seldom challenged, their political meddling was often resisted and regularly resulted in tragedy and embarrassment for the Church due to a lack of general support for many of its political adventures. During the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, the Catholic leadership proved less and less capable of performing its traditional role as the guiding force of faith while it pursued its reaching ambitions as a main political player. The Catholic apologist Giles of Rome once declared that the pope, as Vicar of Christ, was the lord of the whole world and that all legitimate rights of government and property emanated from him and were revocable at his will. To many it was clear that the Church seemed more intent on controlling late-medieval society than on serving it.

Some of the rulers of Europe, most notably Philip IV of France (r. 1285-1314), were willing to challenge exalted theories of the Church’s universal supremacy. Philip “the fair”, as he was also known, needed funds for his constant wars against the English and to fund his desire to transform France into the leading European power. To this end he had borrowed enormous amounts of money from various sources, including Jews, wealthy merchants, and the order of Templar Knights. Waging war, increasing central authority, and paying the interest on these loans had become an onerous drain on the king’s treasury and in 1295 he took the bold step of raising new revenues by taxing the clergy and Church properties. Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294-1303) responded in 1296 by issuing the bull Clericis Laicos, which forbade the clergy to pay taxes to secular authorities without papal consent.

Philip’s response was to cut off the flow of money out of France by demanding that all moneys collected by the French Church were to be sent to the royal coffers rather than to Rome. The disagreement escalated further in 1301 when Philip had a French Bishop arrested, tried by a royal court, and imprisoned in Paris. This was a clear affront to the papal claim that only the Church had the right to deal with criminal accusations involving Church officials. Boniface threatened to excommunicate King Philip. This would effectively condemn Philip to hell since he would be unable to receive sacraments or share in Christian redemption. Furthermore, excommunication also meant that Philip’s subjects were no longer bound by their oaths of obedience, essentially dethroning him. Boniface attempted to justify his actions by promulgating the bull Unam Sanctam which claimed that the spiritual power of the pope was greater than the earthly power of kings and emperors.

Philip decided to strike first by tasking his well-educated and unscrupulous lawyers to draw up a long list of accusations against Boniface. The French King also convened the first meeting of the Estates General, an assembly representing the three tiers of French society: the clergy, the aristocracy, and the commoners. This body supported Philip’s assertions that Boniface was a heretic and criminal who should be removed from the seat of St. Peter in Rome. The resulting confrontation between king Philip and Pope Boniface ended with the death of the pontiff—he was captured by Philip’s supporters and beaten, dying a few days later—and the subsequent election of a French pope. This pope, Clement V (r. 1305-1314), was seen by most as a mere puppet of the French king. After Philip’s lawyers turned on the Poor Knights of the Temple and accused them of various scandalous and heretical practices, the pope disbanded the Templar order, thereby erasing the debt that Philip owed them and turning over much of their vast French property to him.

The Avignon Papacy

Clement also moved the seat of the papacy from Rome to Avignon, a city within the Holy Roman Empire located on the border with France. The new location of the seat of Christianity ensured that the Avignon popes would be under the shadow of France and loyal and obedient to the whims of the French Kings, but this situation created immense disaffection among the Christian faithful who were certain that such a drastic move could only invite calamity and God’s wrath. The perception of ecclesiastical weakness and corruption led to a crisis of confidence and trust, and attempts to reform the church resulted in a schism that lasted for nearly forty years. The scandal left the Catholic Church severely shaken and its failure to assuage its own excesses invited further disapproval and doubt.

The spiritual crisis caused by the pope’s move to Avignon deepened as the plague swept away the lives of countless clergy and inspired criticism of the Church. The center of Christendom remained in Avignon for seventy-two years, and while popes often announced their intention to return to Rome at a propitious time, that time never came. The distance from Rome deprived the popes of their Italian revenues but their economic problems were swiftly surmounted as they resourcefully created new methods of collecting funds. A strong bureaucracy was built to gather incomes from rents, monasteries, and donations more efficiently. The popes and other Church officials also adopted the highly controversial practices of selling indulgences and accepting payments for the appointment of offices. Indulgences were considered a “charitable contribution” that counted as a penance for committed sins. In other words, the Church was selling forgiveness for sins, and for the right price, outright salvation. According to Catholic doctrine, when individuals died, even if they had confessed all their sins and had been forgiven, there remained blemishes that had to be cleansed in purgatory before their souls could traverse to heaven. The stay in purgatory could be long, but if one purchased an indulgence, that time in purgatory could be reduced, hastening one’s entrance to heaven.

The Black Death

Just as the Avignon popes were beginning to acclimate themselves to their new environs, periods of famine further undermined the social stability of Europe. Beginning around 1310 climatic changes wreaked havoc on the yearly routines of farmers. Rainy summers and harsh winters upset the delicate equilibrium of food production and consumption and while malnourishment and starvation took their toll numbering in the millions, they were merely the prelude for the ravages of the Black Death. Emerging in western China and traveling with merchants to the ports of southern Italy, the Black Death seized Europe in 1347, decimating an already vulnerable population. Death at such a scale—30-50 percent of the population perished—had never been witnessed and it understandably rattled the foundations of European Medieval society. Europeans, demoralized and panic-stricken, asked themselves “who or what is the cause of this calamity?” Without a clear identifiable source, people allowed hysteria to cloud their better judgment and were willing to accept a myriad of causes, including punishment from God, the wicked work of the devil, witchcraft, planetary conjunctions, poisonous vapors, the presence of cats, or heinous plots by their neighbors as the source of this maleficence. Adding to the confusion, the pestilence did not discriminate between rich and poor, young or old, male or female, the devout or the irreverent.

Map Spread of Black Death

The Black Death is a disease originating in rodents, which can be transmitted to humans by fleas that bite infected animals and then feed on human blood. Once a person is infected, symptoms appear similar to a severe flu with the exception of large swellings called buboes in the throat, armpits, and groin. The disease in this form is not always fatal in a normal, healthy population, but it can be devastating on victims already weakened by malnutrition. Moreover, the disease appears to have mutated into two deadlier subvarieties: septicaemic plague, which infects the bloodstream, and pneumonic plague, which attacks the lungs and becomes highly infectious. The trade networks that connected the growing cities of Europe proved to be the perfect conduits for the spread of the disease. Eventually, the plague travelled north and east along roads and sea-lanes, it finally slowed as it reached the Baltic where brown rats were more resistant to the disease and contact among large population centers was more sporadic. The worst ravages of the plague lasted until 1352, but outbreaks returned every decade or so for the rest of the 14^th century and well into the 15^th century, leaving many areas with such a reduced population that it would take nearly 300 years for the numbers to recover.

The reactions to the plague were as varied and often as illogical as the alleged causes: family members abandoned each other, some, believing that it was the end of the world gave themselves in to pleasure and debauchery, others flocked to the churches to pray for forgiveness. In Germany, bands of men and women who were convinced that the plague was a punishment sent by God to a sinful humanity, gathered throughout the country and flogged themselves and one another, claiming that this physical punishment would stop the contagion by redeeming their sins and allaying God’s wrath. Initially, many people were sympathetic to the roving Flagellants and welcomed them to their communities. However, the roaming mob drew the ire of the authorities when it turned to persecuting Jews and attacking Church officials. The former had historically been easy targets due to complex religious and social issues. In many communities, such as Strasbourg, the presence of Jews was perceived to be the cause of the plague, for it was believed they were working with the Muslim stronghold of Granada to overthrow Christianity. Flagellants justified their attack on the clergy through claims that the recent behavior of the Church—the pope living in Avignon and accusations of priests and monks abandoning the sick—was the immediate source of God’s fury. By late 1349, the pope had condemned the Flagellants, and aristocrats as well as town officials sent armed men to disperse them, violently if necessary.

Peasant Revolts

In the Middle Ages, below the upper strata of the aristocracy, the clergy, and growing class of wealthy merchants and craftsmen, was the ever-present mass of rural peasants. They formed the largest part of the population and their labor fed and supported the entire structure of medieval society. For centuries the peasants had accepted their harsh conditions of life as something intrinsic in the nature of humanity, unchanging and immutable. But the same calamity that brought death and ruin also brought new opportunities for the peasant class. In the countryside, the widespread mortality of the plague created a severe shortage of labor and eroded the medieval bonds that tied peasants to the land. The relationship between landlord and peasant began to shift and peasants tried to take advantage of this developing situation by demanding higher wages, better treatment, and more freedoms. Landlords, desperate to find peasants to work the land in the wake of the plague recognized that they had to cope with the new demands from peasant laborers. In response, rulers and landowners attempted to stem the tide of rising labor expenses by enacting restrictive wage laws that kept pay at or below pre-plague levels. They also scoured the countryside looking for peasants who had abandoned the land and often raided villages with the intention of forcing the residents into servitude.

As if the situation for peasants could not get any worse, after a brief lull during the outbreak of the Black Death, the armies of the Hundred Year’s War once again roamed the continent looting and destroying the countryside, especially in France. Over and over again the peasants saw their fields laid waste and their homes destroyed as the local nobles did nothing to stop the atrocities. Instead they added to the peasants’ distress with new exactions. When a lord was captured or a castle lost, the peasants had to contribute what little they had to pay the ransom. This situation was particularly appalling because the nobles were not fulfilling their oaths to protect the people, yet would unleash unrestrained punishment on their subjects if the required taxes, fees, and ransoms were not paid. When the peasants’ hopes for a better life were frustrated by the repressive measures of the authorities and landlords, they rose in violent rebellions all over Europe. The lack of concerted effort and absence of military experience led to certain failure for the rebels and the battle-hardened nobility often put down these revolts in the bloodiest of fashions, destroying villages and massacring peasants at will, sometimes decorating the trees and town walls with their bodies.

The Hundred Years’ War

In this period of religious and demographic instability, the unremitting violence only served to aggravate the misery of the age. While war was endemic throughout the Middle Ages, it was never as destructive or enduring as the Hundred Years’ War, fought between England and France from 1337 to 1453. Aggregated to the conflicts that routinely appeared in every corner of the continent, the Hundred Year’s War was symptomatic of the corrosion of the feudal order.

Map of 100 Years' War

The war was the result of a combination of factors, which included a dispute over the French crown, control over Flemish wool markets, and English dominion over the French territories of Ponthieu and Aquitaine. Fought primarily on French soil, this confused struggle devastated the land, denuded the pretense of the nobility as the protectors of the people, and eroded the socio-military system that had been the hallmark of the medieval world. The adoption of firearms and the technologies needed to manufacture them spelled the end of the mounted knight, which had dominated the battlefield for centuries and established the infantry as the preferred instrument of war. Armed with crossbow, longbow, gun, or pike, the infantryman was both easier to recruit and dismiss while requiring a fraction of the training and expensive maintenance needed by knights. By the end of the war in the middle of the 15^th century, the lower-class soldiers no longer feared, respected, obeyed, or looked up to the nobility and the rigid social structures that had existed for hundreds of years began to deteriorate.

The Great Schism

The pope finally returned to Rome in 1377 after the insistence of several aristocrats and suggestions to the French King that it would please God, perhaps enough to turn the tide in his war with England. However, Pope Gregory XI died the year after the papacy returned to Rome and during the conclave of cardinals that met to elect a new pope, threats were made against the safety of the French cardinals. Under this pressure, they agreed to vote for an Italian pope, Urban VI (r. 1378-1389), and they participated in all the festivities and public liturgies. Once he received his office, Pope Urban threatened to reform the College of Cardinals and to end forever the French dominance of the Church. By late summer of 1378 the French cardinals withdrew from Rome and, possibly under the influence of the King of France, issued a declaration that the election of Urban VI was invalid since they had voted under duress. They demanded that Urban step down but he refused and they elected another pope, a French cardinal, who took the name of Clement VII (r. 1378-1394). The second pope quickly made his way to Avignon while Urban remained in Rome.

This division initiated the Great Schism, which lasted until 1415. For nearly forty years there were two lines of popes and the rulers of Europe aligned themselves behind one or the other. The two popes sought to fully use their power to select clergy and church officials, thus extending the confusion to the lower levels of the Church hierarchy since both popes appointed cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, abbots, etc. The anxiety and consternation that the Great Schism created cannot be overstated. The question over which pope was the true Vicar of Christ ultimately involved the greater uncertainty of salvation: what if one obeyed the wrong pope and was damned? The situation further deteriorated when a council of cardinals met in Pisa and elected a new pope, demanding that the other two rival popes resign. They duly refused and the net result of the Council of Pisa was the addition of a third pope.

In 1413 the emperor-elect Sigismund insisted that a new general council be held to seek a final solution to the schism. The council assembled in the city of Constance at the end of 1414. By this time the issue facing the church was no longer just how to bring Christendom back together, but also how to make the necessary changes to prevent an outbreak of any similar scandal in the future. There were also reformers within the council who were determined to bring about a moral regeneration of the church by eliminating all the abuses that had emerged in the past century. These reformers believed that the Church as a whole was greater than any one individual within it—even the pope—and that a system should be created that would limit the pope’s power. While they acknowledged that Christ established the papal office, they argued that the main role of the pope was to serve the Christian community and he must be worthy of his divine office. If he proved unworthy, he should be removed.

Map of Catholic Division

The members of the Council of Constance issued a decree in the spring of 1415, called Haec Sancta, which declared that the assembly was lawful and guided by the Holy Spirit. That it represented the interests of the entire Catholic Church, and its power was endowed directly by Christ and that all persons, including the pope, were bound to obey the council’s decisions. In 1415 the popes from Pisa and Rome were deposed and given a comfortable retirement while the cardinals that they had appointed were allowed to join the council. The pope in Avignon was not so easily removed, but when his own cardinals abandoned him and joined the council, he fled to Aragon. The Council of Constance then elected a new pope, Martin V (r. 1417-1431), and effectively ended the Great Schism. While the Council of Constance succeeded in reuniting the Church, it did not accomplish much in regards to reforming the abuses of the clergy and the practices of selling indulgences or simony (selling offices or high positions within the Church). These issues would return to haunt Christianity during the Protestant Reformation and remained a focus of discontent and criticism.

The Renaissance

The combination of the vast mortality and devastation resulting from the Black Death and the Hundred Years’ War and the scandals that humbled the Church spurred a search for answers that neither the clergy or the nobility could provide; the search led to renewed interest in the classical age and inspired new movements in philosophy, art, architecture, and literature—this era of change and renewal is referred to as the Renaissance. This period featured a shift of focus from the traditional medieval values to an appreciation for the achievements of the Greek and Roman ancients and their belief in human potential. It was also an era of recovery for Europe as it gradually emerged from the devastation wrought by the disasters that had recently tested European society. It is a testament to the human spirit that such catastrophes as famine, disease, war, crisis of faith, and economic depression led to such a tremendously dynamic era as the Renaissance. But it was not a simple or easy journey, and for everything it was and represented, the Renaissance was not, as it is sometimes argued, a rejection of Christianity or of its morals—most of the major figures of this period continued to be devout Christians and much of the literature, art, and architecture were inspired by their faith. Their creativity was further spurred because the popes of the time tended to be more secular in their outlook and their immediate concerns were centered on political and economic issues which allowed for more innovative freedom without the burden of overbearing religious censorship.

Just as the definitions of the Renaissance vary from the ending of the middle ages and beginning of the modern world, to a simple cultural expression that affected only a few, there is also a lack of agreement over its exact beginning and end. Most historians and scholars, however, concur that it was bookended by the Black Death and the 30 Year’s War—roughly from 1350-1648. And while the exact meaning of the Renaissance and the approximate dates that it encompassed are open topics for discussion, what is not debatable are the circumstances and location of its emergence. We have already examined the reasons for the change, now let us examine the location. The Renaissance flourished in Italy and spread to other parts of Europe aided by trade, travel, and the printing press. Wealthy Italian merchants, bankers, and landowners became the main sponsors of the Renaissance movement as they wished to demonstrate their power and influence through major building projects and art. Since the spirit of the period focused on the greatness of the classical age, the Italian potentates wanted their architecture, art, and literature to imitate the Greek and Roman culture. In the same vein, students sought an education separated from the church-dominated curriculum that had pervaded for centuries. The ancients provided the framework—based on literature, history, philosophy, grammar, ethics, and rhetoric—for humanism, which put the study and improvement of human capabilities above the traditional religion-centered sequences of education. Humanists sought the wisdom of the classics by poring over ancient texts and developed methods of scholarly research and criticism that continue to be used to this day.

Politically, the Renaissance represented a transformation in the balance of power. Throughout the Middle Ages the main rivals to the authority of kings had been the Church, the independent cities, and the baronial class. By 1648 all of these had been vanquished or subjected to the central power of the crown. As a result, territorial organisms began to take shape throughout Europe, creating political and economic institutions, systems of control, and the military machinery that laid the foundations of the modern state. The state came to represent an impersonal presence that had its own interests, separate from the concerns of the people or of the ruler that governed it, and in the minds of government officials, the interests of the state were of primary importance.

Exploration and Expansion

Apart from the cultural and political manifestations of the Renaissance, this period also included the impetus for exploration and expansion. Underlying the motivation for exploration was the overpowering fascination with the exotic Far East. Asia was a mysterious and alluring place of wealth, luxury, and magic. A corner of the world where legend and fantasy were interwoven with reality and where the fabulous stories about Amazons, the Fountain of Youth, the Legend of Prester John, and the gates of Paradise could possibly be real. While these and other legends inspired sailors and adventurers, more compelling and tangible still, was the search for the profitable supply of goods from the East. Europeans sought luxury items such as silk, jewels, and porcelain, and basic commodities like spices and medications from India and the islands of Southeast Asia. Access to the markets that supplied these imports was not always secure or stable due to various political, military, or natural impediments. Furthermore, diminishing profits were a constant worry for European merchants since they had to rely on the precarious relationship with Muslim middle-men. In light of this situation, European merchants desired to avoid these complications and go directly to the source—and become the primary beneficiaries—of this prosperous trade.

The Mediterranean had been the primary marketplace for Europe for at least two millennia, but developments in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were changing the economic landscape. The growing power of the Ottoman Empire, the unpredictable Muslim souks, and the constant upheaval of war convinced merchants to look for another route to the East. But which way could they go? An overland route posed numerous and nearly insurmountable challenges, so the only reasonable choice was to circumnavigate Africa. The problem with this endeavor was the dearth of knowledge concerning that vast continent. The most advanced maps still did not provide any reliable information about Africa south of the Sahara and there was even less knowledge about the Indian Ocean. In the early 1400s Portugal took the lead in exploring the western coast of Africa. The stormy waters of the Atlantic offered greater challenges than the relatively tranquil Mediterranean but Portugal developed and borrowed technologies that provided them with specific advantages that allowed them to explore the Atlantic.

From 1415 to 1497 the Portuguese extended Europe’s reach southward towards the cape of Africa. It took them over eighty years to finally reach India, but in the process, Portugal gradually created economic structures that would dramatically impact the relationship between Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Even before the Portuguese navigated to the coast of Africa, they had claimed and settled in various islands in the Atlantic and established a plantation system that exploited the labor of African slaves. The Europeans did not introduce this dehumanizing and oppressive captivity; it had existed in Africa since time immemorial. But forced servitude—of both Native Americans and Africans—would become a staple in the Atlantic economic triangle for the next 3 centuries.

While Portugal expanded its interests to the coast of Africa, its Iberian neighbor to the east, Spain, was preoccupied with internal issues such as the Reconquista, political union and consolidation, and religious orthodoxy. It was in the troubled Spanish court of Isabella and Ferdinand that Christopher Columbus sought sponsorship for an exploratory journey west. Columbus believed that the Earth was only about 18,000 miles in circumference and that by heading directly west, he could reach Asia in a much shorter time than circumnavigating around Africa. He based his theory on his understanding of various sources, including the Travels of Marco Polo, the Geography of Ptolemy, and various other historical and geographical accounts. While we can only guess at his motivation, it is likely that he had a combination of economic, political, and religious incentives.

At first, Columbus could not find a receptive ear to sponsor his enterprise, but when the armies of Spain finally conquered Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Iberia, the Spanish sovereigns became more receptive and granted the required funds and resources to embark on his journey—Columbus convinced them that their sponsorship would enable him to spread Catholic Christianity to Asia. Availing himself of the best Iberian maps, technology, and sailors, he set sail and after a thirty-three day voyage, arrived in the Caribbean. Believing that he was somewhere near India, he called the natives “Indians” and proceeded to search for a passage to the Asian continent. In subsequent voyages, perhaps out of frustration at not being able to achieve his objective of finding the fabled wealth of Asia, Columbus grew increasingly cruel and abusive towards the native population. It is estimated that over ninety percent of the Amerindian population of the Caribbean Islands died from war, disease, starvation, mutilation, abuse, and exploitation at the hands of Europeans. By the middle of the 1500s there were several islands that were completely bereft of natives—where perhaps millions had once lived.

Map of European Exploration 1400

By the time of his death in 1506, Columbus had made four voyages to the Americas, every time searching in vain for the Asian mainland. And though the route to Asia was not found, his explorations had considerable impact in Europe as others realized that what they were exploring and charting was an entirely new landmass—a Mundus Novus—that soon enticed adventures to search for fortune and fame across the Atlantic. Amerigo Vespucci, an educated “Renaissance Man”, explored the coastline of South America and took careful notes and measurements of what he saw. His vivid descriptions and reports were published and his name was attached by cartographers to the land as “Terra Ameriga” (in the German versions it was written as “Terra Amerika”), the origin of the continent’s name.

The realization that this was indeed an entirely new continent was received with mixed feelings back in Europe. The continent’s existence challenged the biblical and classical understanding of the world’s geography at a time when classical knowledge formed the bedrock of the Renaissance. America, as a separate landmass and not an extension of Asia, was a difficult concept for many—even among the educated—to internalize. But while much of the rest of Europe failed to comprehend the significance of the new paradigm, thousands of Spaniards were drawn to the Americas in search of opportunity. Most were men without prospects or who had nothing to keep them back in Europe and whose main motivation was economic opportunity. The region of Extremadura, in southern Spain, provided a large number of adventurers of the lower noble class, the hidalgos, while many others came from overcrowded towns or as displaced veterans of war.

Soon these explorers recognized that the new lands lacked the desired spices and luxury goods from the East and that other forms of wealth had to be found. While there existed the possibility of gaining gold and silver, no major lodes were found in the Caribbean region. Instead, most of the newly arrived Spanish adventurers were granted land as an encomienda, a territory they could exploit for profits which contained forests, water, and native slaves to supply the labor. In exchange, the Spaniard was expected to protect and convert the natives in his charge to Christianity. This system devastated the native population and failed to provide the sufficient profits that most Iberian adventurers sought. Thus their search for new opportunities and a passage to Asia continued.

England, the Netherlands, and France defied the Spanish and Portuguese claims to the New World and entered the age of exploration in search for a northern passage to Asia, since one had yet to be found in the central or southern region of the Americas. John Cabot, an Italian sailing for England, was the first to sail west and explore North America in 1497. He failed to find the desired route but did explore the coast of Newfoundland and Maine. By 1521 the Spanish had sailed around South America to Asia and completed the circuit back to Europe; but this route was fraught with danger and took nearly two years to complete. Searching for an easier and shorter passage west, the French sent Jacques Cartier in the 1530s to North America and lay the foundations for French claims to Canada. The Netherlands entered the competitive fray by forcing the Portuguese out of many markets in the Indian Ocean and eventually joined the English and French in North America, settling the area that is now New York City.

Conquest of the Aztec & Inca Empires

The Americas had been populated by humans for millennia, perhaps as far back as 40,000 years. Sophisticated societies had risen and fallen over that time span, and by the time that Columbus set foot in the Caribbean, there remained two great political empires: the Aztecs in central Mexico, and the Inca Empire that straddled the Andes Mountains of South America. They were both heirs to thousands of years’ worth of accumulated knowledge and their cultures reflected the great achievements of their predecessors. Both possessed complex social, political, religious, and economic structures and ruled over millions of people. But empires are usually born of violence and brutality and they sow anger and resentment among those that are conquered or absorbed into the polity. Such was the case with both of these empires, and when the Spanish arrived, they provided an ideal partner for those that sought to throw off the yoke of Aztec and Inca domination.

The Spanish monarchy did not send thousands of soldiers to traverse the space of oceans and mountains to conquer the Americas. The conquest was realized by adventurers who found that the drudgery of an encomendero’s life in the Caribbean was insufficient to satisfy their hunger for gold and glory. Yet the victory over the Aztec and Inca Empires was not simply the result of an individual’s sheer will or the audacity of Spanish adventurers, rather it was the complex combination of technology, disease, and the tens of thousands of allies who willingly swelled the ranks of the Spanish contingent. Hernando Cortés arrived in the Aztec capital with only 600 Spaniards, but he also bore Spanish steel and gunpowder, smallpox, and thousands of natives who were either disgruntled subjects or enemies of the Aztecs. This proved to be a lethal combination that toppled the Aztec hegemony by 1521. Francisco Pizarro, using similar ploys and taking advantage of a civil war, subjugated the Andean empire of the Incas so that by 1535 Spain dominated the new order that arose in the Americas.

Columbian Exchange

The initial contact between European and American civilizations involved not only conflict and conquest but connection. Since the two hemispheres had been separated from each other since the submersion of the Bering land bridge more than ten thousand years earlier, many varieties of living organisms had developed in each hemisphere that were totally unknown in the other. The Eastern Hemisphere had wheat, grapes, horses, cows, sheep, goats, and pigs; the Western Hemisphere had potatoes, tomatoes, maize, cacao, and tobacco. The introduction of native flora and fauna from the Americas to Europe and Africa, and vice-versa, is referred to as the Columbian Exchange, in reference to Christopher Columbus. Because of the profound changes it wrought on so many societies and cultures across so many continents, few events can match the Columbian Exchange for the size and scope of its impact on the patterns of world history.

Some exchanges of crops improved the quality of life in both hemispheres. The impact was immediately obvious in the Americas. Wheat and grapes were grown for the first time in the New World, to make the bread and wine that were central to the European diet and religion. Farm animals brought in by the Iberians provided transport, labor and food, and they flourished in the Americas. European weeds and grasses made it possible for the North American prairie and the South American pampas to support livestock. By binding the soil together with their long, tough roots, these grasses provided the conditions for the grazing of sheep, cattle, and horses, as well as the planting of crops like wheat.

For the Eastern Hemisphere, this introduction had notable consequences that eventually led to a rising population in Europe. Maize, potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts, and manioc proved hardy and rich in nutrients and would eventually become staples in Europe, Africa, and Asia. People around the world sought out other American plants, like tobacco and cacao—the source of chocolate—,as well. Microorganisms were also part of the Columbian Exchange and they proved far more devastating for the Amerinds than the Europeans. Smallpox, measles, and chicken pox, to which most Europeans had been subjected as children and thus developed immunities, ran rampart through unprotected Native American populations. As a result, farming and production were interrupted, social structures shattered, villages depopulated, and entire regions abandoned.

Spanish-Habsburg Empire

For Spain, the colonization of the Americas yielded untold riches and fueled the incredible rise of a peripheral kingdom to a world power. The ruling family of Spain, the Habsburgs, also controlled southern Italy, and more importantly, sat on the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. With the wealth of the Americas and the political power they wielded, Spain dominated European politics and economics for much of the sixteenth century. Spain surpassed Italy as the leading commercial power in Europe and become the most powerful nation in Europe within fifty years, in part because Charles V wore the crowns and held the titles of these lands and thus was the pivot around which European politics, economics, diplomacy, and religious issues revolved.

Yet this wealth created a paradox where massive riches entered into the European currency but created new depths of misery among the poor due to rampant inflation and shortages of food. Little of this New World wealth seemed to stay in Spain. Most of it ended up in banks in Amsterdam, Paris, and London in order to pay off debts accumulated through colonial enterprises. When the rest of Europe realized the behemoth that Spain was becoming because of their New World possessions, they began to diversify their economies and invest in manufacturing. Spain, by contrast, sat on its wealth and when it finally began to diversify its economy, was significantly behind its European counterparts.

The Protestant Reformation

While the glow of the Renaissance began to dim in Italy by 1530, the same spirit and style was embraced and molded by eager scholars, artists, and intellectuals beyond the Alps. Manifestations of modern thought, classicism, and humanism became widespread throughout the rest of Europe thanks to travel and the broader availability of books—made possible by efficient and affordable printing. Similar to Italy, in the northern part of Europe, Renaissance ideas inspired many thinkers to look to the past, but they distinctly showed a strong preference to go beyond the Greco-Roman classics and include traditions that contributed to their religious faith. The goal of these Christian Humanists was to strengthen their beliefs through education and a more polished understanding of the New Testament. And while these scholars and authors were not anti-Catholic, they openly criticized ecclesiastical dogma and clerical behavior; they were appalled by the flagrant corruption of the clergy and believed there was more value in replicating Jesu’s teachings and actions than in blindly obeying the formal doctrines and demands of the Church.

Thus the Reformation was both a compliment to the Renaissance and an antithesis—it embodied the spirit of individualism, reflection, and curiosity, but at the same time it brought religion back to the forefront of the European cultural narrative. The figure most associated with the Reformation was Martin Luther, and while he was certainly instrumental in laying the groundwork, Luther was not a single voice in the din of Catholic orthodoxy, rather he was part of a dissident chorus that was beginning to grow in numbers. Llolards, Hussites, and others had become critical of church practice and doctrine. He was remarkable in that he did not begin as a member of these nonconformist groups, but found that he had much in common with them later as he was questioned by the Church. Luther was a Catholic monk (he was also a priest and a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg) who was terrified by the thought of damnation and the imposing challenges of attaining salvation. After intense study and reflection, he had an epiphany in 1513: salvation was not earned through good behavior, constant prayer, or rituals, rather it was “a gift of God won by faith.” This gift was earned for humanity through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross; to be saved, one need only have faith in Christ.

Incensed at the sale of salvation through indulgences, Luther posted a list of grievances, called the Ninety-Five Theses, on the door of his church in 1517. Within the list, Luther outlined the abuses of the clergy and the errors of Church doctrine. He railed against the sale of indulgences arguing that salvation was given by God alone, and was not to be sold by the pope or any ecclesiastical official. Luther was fortunate in that the local German nobles agreed with him, they too believed that the Catholic Church had become corrupt and they saw Luther’s boldness as an opportunity to weaken the Church’s influence within their territories. This was a crucial development since protection and sponsorship by powerful aristocrats enabled Luther to continue publishing (without their protection he would have most likely been executed for heresy).

By 1521 it was clear that the pope was more interested in silencing Luther than in enacting any kind of reforms, therefore Luther decided to break away from Catholicism and create his own Protestant denomination: Lutheranism. In Luther’s Christianity, there was no need for a supreme authority or a mediator between God and mankind, all one needed was faith and the Bible. Hundreds of thousands flocked to Luther’s message resulting in the irreversible division of European Christianity. But Luther also sowed the seeds for the sundering of Protestantism. In arguing that each person has the ability to read and interpret the New Testament, he opened the way for disagreement and formation of other congregations. Soon there were dozens of separate protestant denominations, each with its own ideas, rituals, and agendas.

Map of Europe Religious Divisions

The success of Protestantism alarmed the Catholic hierarchy and produced urgent calls for reform. Beginning in the mid-1530s, Pope Paul III (r. 1534-1549) instituted several changes that would finally lead to progress within the Catholic Church. The Catholic Reformation (or Counter-
Reformation) sought to end clerical abuses and corruption, to strengthen control over local parishes, and to reemphasize the role of the Church as a moral guide for the faithful. Pope Paul also organized the Council of Trent, which met intermittently from 1546-1563, to study and propose solutions to the problems and challenges facing the Church. Ultimately, the neither Pope Paul III nor the Council of Trent worked to change Catholic dogma or rituals, to do so would have been to accept that Luther was right and the Church was wrong.

The Thirty Years’ War

Several northern rulers converted to Luther’s brand of Christianity. Most were moved by genuine religious conviction, but others were more interested in terminating any religious and monetary obligations they had towards the pope in Rome and in seizing Church property. The strains caused by religious differences were enmeshed with economic, social, and political grievances that erupted into open violence by the middle of the sixteenth century. The religious wars would last for nearly a century and culminate in the brutal Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648).

In the Holy Roman Empire religious discord aggravated the long-standing struggle for power between the emperor and the princes—dukes, counts, margraves, etc. The resulting conflict led to a settlement between Emperor Charles V and the Protestant princes known as the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. The agreement granted Lutherans the right to worship and established the principle of cuius regio, eius religio—each ruler determines his own religion. Rulers of the territories within the Holy Roman Empire could now determine and enforce religious issues within their lands. Peace was maintained as long as the Habsburg Emperors respected the freedoms granted by the agreement. But in 1618 Ferdinand II, the imperial heir, transgressed on the rights of the Protestants of Bohemia and threatened to seize their property. When he became Emperor in 1619, this dispute erupted into a full-scale civil war; on one side was the rebel Protestant Union and on the other the imperial Catholic League. This conflict could have been limited and short if it had remained restricted to internal strife, but Protestant rulers from Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, England, and other territories aided the beleaguered Protestants. The Catholic Habsburg rulers of Spain (close relatives of the Austrian Habsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire) sent money and troops into the war and soon so did other Catholic rulers. This conflagration erupted into a pan-European war that lasted until 1648.

Over the next three decades the fortunes of each side ebbed and flowed—the only certainties were the brutality and butchery of the campaigns and the terrible consequences of the war. Because of the religious nature of the conflict, the forces on either side were equally guilty of committing atrocities against both combatants and civilians of the opposing faith. It is estimated that over seven million people were killed and millions more injured. The constant march of armies and ravaging of territories wrecked the economy by crippling agriculture, industry, and trade within the Holy Roman Empire. All sides were exhausted after thirty years of war; most of the rulers that had ignited the conflict were dead and the religious disputes no longer applied (after the first decade, Protestants and Catholics began fighting on the side that offered the most gains and not for religion). By 1648 most of the parties involved agreed to negotiate a peace resulting in the settlement known as the Peace of Westphalia. Although this was not to be the last war that Europeans fought against one another, it would be the last of the major religious wars. It is unfortunate that it took such a terrible cost to convince the rulers of Europe that religious beliefs cannot be enforced.