New Monarchies

Taylor Trosper

New Monarchies during the Renaissance
New Monarchs--obsessed with expansion of territory and political power

1. France
   • Hundred Years' War-- depopulation, desolate farmlands, ruined commerce, independent and unruly nobles --kings couldn't assert authority
     • created national sentiment--wanted to blame someone for the war
   • Charles VII
     1. established a royal army--cavalry and archers
     2. right to levy taille without further consent of Estates General (annual tax on land or property)
        • less power for Estates General (parliamentary body)--> more power to king
     3. secured Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges--strengthened liberties of French church at the expense of the papacy
        • King began taking control over French Church
   • King Louis XI "The Spider"
     1. retained the taille as a permanent tax imposed by royal authority
        • secured a regular income
     2. Problems:
        • had trouble repressing the French nobility
        • Charles the Bold-- duke of Burgundy; attempted to create a middle kingdom between France and Germany; when he died, Louis annexed his territory
     3. encouraged growth of industry and commerce--bolster economy
        • introduced new industries such as the silk industry in Lyons
     4. believed to have created a base for development of a strong French monarchy
2. England
   • War of the Roses-- house of Lancaster (red) vs. house of York (white)-->Red won
   • Henry VII
     1. worked to reduce internal dissension and establishb a stron monarchical government
     2. eliminated proivate wars of nobility by abolishin their private armies
     3. Court of Star Chamber--did not use juries, allowed torture to be used to extract confessions; used to control irresponsible activity of the nobles
     4. successful in extracting income from financial resources such as the crown lands, judicial fees and fines, and customs duties
     5. used dimplomacy to avoid wars--avoided having to call Parliament to grant funds
     6. encouraged commercial activity--increased wool exports, royal export taxes on wool rose
3. Spain
   • Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon ("Most Catholic Monarchs")
     1. dynastic union of two rules, not political union
        1. both kingdoms maintained their own parliaments, courts, laws, coinage, speech, customs, and political organs
     2. worked to strengthen royal control of government
     3. royal council stripped of aristocratsand filled with middle-class lawyers--operated on the belief that the monarchy embodied the power of the state
     4. hermandades--organized to maintain law and order
        • transformed into a new national militia whose goal was to stop the wealthy landed aristocrats from disturbing the peace
        • disbanded when administration became strong enough to deal with lawlessness
     5. corregidores--replaced corrupt municipal officials
        • enabled monarchs to extend the central authority of royal government into towns
     6. reorganized the military forces of Spain--best army in Europe by 16th century
     7. secured right to select the most important church officials in Spain--guaranteed foundation of Spanish Catholic church --clergy used for extension of royal power
     8. instituted reform in the Catholic church
        • Cardinal Ximenes--restored discipline and eliminated immorality among monks and clergy
     9. religious uniformity--Jews and Muslims persecuted --conversos (converted to Christianity)
        • Inquisition reintroduced
        • all professed Jews expelled from Spain
        • Muslims expelled from Castille
     10. Charles I--grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, inherited all their land, very powerful
4. Holy Roman Empire
   • Habsburg dynasty
     1. success because of well-executed policy of dynastic marraiges
   • Frederick III
     1. lost Bohemia and Hungary, gained Franche-Comte, Luxembourg and part of the Low Countries by marrying Maxilmilian to Mary (daughter of Duke Charles the Bold)
        • made dynasty international power, brought undying opposition of French monarchy because rulers of France feared they would be surrounded by Habsburgs
   • Maximilian I
     1. attempted to centralize administration by creating new institutions common to the empire through the Reichstag (imperial diet or parliament)
        1. opposition from German princes
     2. Marriage alliances--Pilip of Burgundy (his son with Mary) was married to Joanna (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella)
        1. they produced a son, Charles, who became an heir to all three lines (Habsburg, Burgundian, and SPanish)
   • German states began building up bureaucracies, developed standing armies, created fiscal systems, and introduced Roman law
     • posed a threat to the church, emperor, and other free imperial states