The Age of Religious Wars

• late 16th-early 17th centuries
• bloody conflict b/w Protestants and Catholics across Europe
• caused by both religious conflicts and bitter dynastic rivalries
• Calvinists vs. Catholic rulers (France, Netherlands, England, Scotland- mid to late 16th century); fought for right to govern territories/practice religion openly
• Lutherans vs. Calvinists vs. Catholics (N. and Central Europe- 30 Years' War)
• English Puritans revolted against Stuart monarchy and Anglican Church by mid-17th century

• religious conflict usually in central Europe (early to mid 16th century); Lutherans and Zwinglians struggled to secure rights and freedoms
• Calvinists fought for recognition in France, the Netherlands, England, and Scotland (mid to late 16th century)
• Lutheranism became legal religion in H.R.E after Peace of Augsburg (1555); didn't recognize non-Lutheran Protestants (Anabaptists and Calvinists were considered heretics)
• struggle for religious freedom increased in most countries outside H.R.E
• after Council of Trent (1563) Catholics began Counter-Reformation led by Jesuits
• Geneva became refuge for persecuted Protestants and int. school for Protestant resistance
• Calvinism adopted organization that increased regional and local religious authority; board of presbyters (elders) represented individual groups of Calvinists; directly shaped policy
• Counter-Reformation adopted centralized church; hierarchy (pope-->priest); pope and his bishops had the most power
• Calvinism appealed to people who preferred political decentralization; Roman Catholic Church devoted to one head and one law

• successor to mannerism
• presented life in grandiose, 3-d display of raw energy
• Peter Paul Rubens, Gianlorenzo Bernini (Catholics)
• demonstrates opposition b/w Calvinism and Catholicism
• Catholic Counter-Reformation preferred baroque style
• Protestant artists were restrained
• Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch Mennonite)

• intellectuals perceived wisdom of religious pluralism and toleration more quickly than politicians
• skepticism, relativism, and individualism became respectable in 16th and 17th centuries
• Sebastian Castellio disapproved of Calvin for his role in execution of Michael Servetus (Antitrinitarian)
• Michel de Montaigne (French essayist) scorned dogmatic mind
• Valentin Weigel (Lutheran) advised people to look within themselves for religious truth/no longer listen to churches and creeds
• religious strife/civil war best controlled by rulers who were politiques (treated theological doctrine lower than political unity, urged tolerance, moderation, compromise, and indifference in religious matter); Elizabeth I of England one of the most successful
• Mary I of England, Philip II of Spain, and Oliver Cromwell treated religion too seriously; refused to compromise; didn't achieve political goals
• wars of religion=internal national conflicts and int. wars
• Catholic vs. Protestant subjects; struggled for control of crown of France, the Netherlands, and England
• Catholic gov. of France and Spain made plans and sent armies against Protestant regimes in England and the Netherlands
• Thirty Years' War (1618) clearly showed the int. magnitiude of religious conflict
• war brought every major European nation directly and indirectly into its fight before its end (1648)

• 1562-1598
• Huguenots (French Protestants: Besancon Hugues, leader of Geneva's political revolt against House of Savoy in 1520s-->prelude to Calvinist Reformation)
• Huguenots under survellance in France in early 1520s; Lutheran writings and doctrines began to circulate in Paris
• capture of French King (Francis I) by Emperor Charles V at Battle of Pavia (1525)=strong motive for Protestant persecution in France
• French gov. wanted to satisfy Habsburg victor (fierce opponents of German Protestants) to get their king back
• 10 years later, Protestants plastered anti-Christian placards in Paris (and other cities) on October 18, 1534 ; resulted in mass arrests of suspected Protestants
• Government retaliation-->exile of John Calvin and other members of the French reform party
• Edict of Fontainebleau: subjected French Protestants to the Inquisition (1540)
• Henry II established new measures against Protestants in Edict of Chateaubriand (1551)
• French monarchy remained opponents of Protestants until Henry IV of Navarre (1589)
• Habsburg-Valois wars ended with Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis (1559); momentary peace
• beginning of internal French conflict and shift of European balance of power from France to Spain
• Henry II wounded; Francis II ruled; weakened monarchy
• 3 powerful families saw chance to control France; began to compete for the young king's attention; Bourbons (south/west France), Montmorency-Chatillons (center of France), Guises (strongest/eastern France)
• Guises easily controlled Francis II; Francis (Duke of Guise)=Henry II's general; his brothers (Charles and Louis)=cardinals of church; Mary Stuart (Queen of Scots/widow of Francis II)=niece of Francis, Charles, and Louis Guises=militant, reactionary Catholicism
• Bourbon and Montmorency-Chatillon families=Huguenots (for political reasons)
• Bourbon Louis I (Prince of Conde) and Montmorency-Chantillon admiral Gaspard de Coligny became political leaders of French Protestant resistance; tried to kidnap Francis II in Conspiracy of Amboise (1560); Calvin condemned conspiracy-considered it disgraceful to Reformation

• ambitious aristocrats and discontented townspeople joined Calvinist churches in opposing Guise-dominated France
• more than 2000 Huguenot congregations in 1561; majority of the population were Huguenots only in Dauphine and Languedoc; made up about 1/15 of population; held important geographic areas; heavily represented among more powerful parts of French society
• 2/5 of French aristocracy became Huguenots; hoped to establish principle of territorial sovereignty (like Peace of Augsburg); Calvinism served forces of political decentralization
• John Calvin and Theodoe Beza sought favor with powerful aristocrats to advance their movement; Beza converted Jeanne d'Albert (mother of future Henry IV); prince of Conde converted in 1558 under influence of Calvinist wife; Calvinist religious convictions proved useful to political goals
• military organization of Conde and Coligny merged w/ religious organization of French Huguenot churches; created powerful combination that benefited political and religious rebels
• Calvinism justified/inspired political resistance; resistance made Calvinism viable religion in Catholic France
• merging of secular and religious motives--> suspicion on religious appeal of Calvinism; religious belief was not the only reason for becoming a Calvinist in France in 2nd half of 16th century

• Catherine de Medicis (queen mother) became regent for Charles IX after Francis II's death
• unsuccessfully tried to reconcile Protestant and Catholic factions at meeting in Poissy
• feared power/slyness of Guises; sought allies among Protestants; first concern=preserve the monarchy
• issued January Edict (after conversations w/ Beza and Coligny) in 1562; granted Protestants freedom to worship publicly outside towns (privately within them); and to hold synods (Presbyterian court)
• royal toleration ended when duke of Guise massacred Protestant worshipers at Vassy in Champagne (March 1562); marked beginning of French wars of religion
• Huguenot armies didn't help Catherine and Charles IX; resulted in the Guise's control

• first French war of religion (April 1562-March 1563); duke of Guise assassinated
• troops from Hesse and Palatinate fought with Huguenots; showed how large the struggle was
• bloodiest of all conflicts in September 1568-August 1570; Conde died; Huguenot leadership passed to Coligny; Coligny=better military strategist (beneficial)
• Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1570) ended third war; crown acknowledged power of Protestant nobility/granted Huguenots religious freedoms within territories/right to fortify cities
• Catherine had tried to balance Huguenots and Guises; wanted a Catholic France, but feared Guise-dominated monarchy
• after Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, power shifted toward Bourbon faction and Huguenots; Coligny became Charles IX's most trusted adviser
• Catherine began to plot w/ Guises against rise of Protestants; feared Coligny's hold on king; Louis of Nassau (leader of Protestant resistance to Philip II in Netherlands) gained Coligny's attention; Coligny used influence to win king of France over to a planned invasion of Netherlands to support Dutch Protestant
• would have placed France against powerful Spain
• Spanish victory over Turks at Lepanto (1571) sobered Catherine and her advisors

• supported by Catherine; bad judgment
• Coligny was attacked by an assassin 4 days after Henry of Navarre married Marguerite of Valois (king's sister); Catherine and Guises=responsible; failed; feared king's reaction/Coligny's response
• Catherine convinced Charles that Huguenots would take power (inspired by Coligny) and only execution of Protestant leaders could save the crown from a Protestant attack on Paris
• Saint Bartholomew's Day (August 24, 1572): Coligny and 3000 Huguenots were murdered in Paris; 20,000 killed over 3 days
• Pope Gregory XIII=happy because Protestants were oppressed
• Philip II of Spain=happy; France couldn't oppose his oppression of rebellious subjects in Netherlands
• after massacre, struggle b/ Protestants and Catholics was no longer internal contest for power in France; became international struggle

• first tried to accept the world around them; resorted to active political resistance when it didn't work
• Calvin condemned willful disobedience and rebellion against lawfully constituted governments as un-Christian; taught that lower magistrates had the right and duty to oppose tyrannical higher authority
• John Knox (exiled Scots reformer) crushed by Mary of Guise (Regent of Scotland) and Mary I of England; laid groundwork for Calvinist resistance; First Blast of the Trumpet against the Terrible Regiment of Women (1558) declared removal of pagan tyrants were Christians' dugy
• Classical Huguenot theories of resistance appeared in 3 major works: Franco-Gallia (Francois Hotman-humanist argument that Estates General of France held higher authority than French king); On the Right of Magistrates over Their Subjects (Theodore Beza-justified correction/overthrowing of tyrannical rulers); Defense of Liberty against Tyrants (Philippe du Plessis Mornay-asked authorities beneath the king to take up arms against tyranny in other lands as guardians of the rights of the body politic)

• Henry III=last of Henry II's sons to wear the French crown
• monarch wedged b/w radical Catholic League (formed in 1576 by Henry of Guise) and vengeful Huguenots
• Henry tried to take a "middle" path (politique) like his mother Catherine; received support from increasing number of neutral Catholics and Huguenots (political survival of France>religious unity)
• Peace of Beaulieu: granted Huguenots almost complete religious and civil freedom (1576); France wasn't ready for religious toleration; after 7 months, Catholic League forced Henry to return to quest for religious unity
• Henry III truncated the Peace of Beaulieu and limited areas of permitted Huguenot worship (1577); Huguenot and Catholic factions returned to their anarchical military solutions
• Protestants led by Henry of Navarre (legal heir to French throne by virtue of his descent in a direct male line from St. Louis IX)
• Catholic League became dominant in Paris (with help of Spain) in mid-1580s
• Day of the Barricades: Henry III attempted to rout the league with a surprise attack in 1588; effort failed; fleed Paris; assassinated duke and cardinal of Guise
• murders resulted in more conflict: Catholic League was furious; king forced to ally with Protestant Henry of Navarre (1589)
• enraged Dominican friar killed Henry III; Henry of Navarre (Bourbon Huguenot) succeeded childless king as Henry IV
• Pope Sixtus V and Philip II=mad; didn't want Protestant/politically strong France; Spain sent troops to help Catholic League
• Henry IV believed royal policy of tolerant Catholicism=best way to achieve peace; well-liked by people; people believed iin his right to succession; publicly abandoned Protestant faith and embraced traditional/majority religion of France (catholicism)
• Huguenots=horrified; Pope Clement VIII=skeptical
• Catholic League=dispersed; ties w/ Spain=broken; wars of religion in France ended by 1596

• proclaimed formal religious settlement (April 14, 1598)
• Treaty of Vervins (May 2, 1598) ended hostilities b/w France and Spain
• Edict recognized minority religious rights withing officially Catholic France; religious truce; granted Huguenots (1 million+) freedom of public worship, right of assembly, admission to public offices and universities, and permission to fortify towns; these new freedoms must be within their towns/territories
• right to fortify towns reveals distrust b/w French Protestants and Catholics
• the edict "only created a state within a state"
• Catholic fanatic assassinated Henry IV (1610); best remembered for Edict of Nantes (political/economic policies=important too); laid foundation for transformation of France into absolute state (under Cardinal Richeliu and Louis XIV)
• Edict of Nantes would be used again by Louis XIV in 1685

• Philip II and Spain were the strongest in the second half of the 16th century (until the English defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588)
• Philip=heir to intensely Catholic and militarily supreme W. Habsburg kingdom
• Charles V gave E. Habsburg lands to Philip's uncle (Ferdinand I); these lands and imperial title remained in possession of Austrian branch of family until 1918

• populous and wealthy Castile=solid base
• bullion from Spanish colonies in New World provided additional wealth; regularly arrived in Seville
• silver mines opened in Potosi (Bolivia) and Zacatecas (Mexico) in 1540s; provided $ needed to pay bankers and mercenaries
• Philip II never managed to pay off his debts
• contributed to the bankruptcy of the Fuggers when he didn't pay his debts

• dramatic social change came to people in Europe with new American wealth (2nd half of 16th century)
• increased wealth-->increased population
• Europe's population>70 million by 1600
• increased wealth and population leads to inflation; 2% per year increase in prices
• more people and more coinage in circulation; less food and fewer jobs; wages didn't increase as prices increased
• affected Spain strongly; new wealth concentrated in the hands of a few; gap b/w "haves" (privileged and educated classes) and "have-nots" (unpriviliged) increased
• poor suffered the most in Spain; Castile peasantry (backbone of Philip II's empire) were taxed the most; their labor contributed most to making Spanish hegemony in Europe possible

• lesser nobility organized into loyal/efficient national bureaucracy; Philip II managed kingdom by orders, not personal presence; pious Catholic (popes thought he used religion for political purposes too)
• generous patron of arts and culture; Escorial (palace, church, tomb, and monastery in Madrid)
• Philip's son Don Carlos (mad and treacherous) died suspiciously; his contemporaries thought he was responsible for his son's death

• first half of Philip's reign=focused on Turkish threat in the Mediterranean
• Philip's half brother (Don John of Autstria) suppressed and dispersed the Moors in Granada
• Holy League of Spain: Venice, Genoa, pope, and Spain (under Don John's command) formed to stop Turkish belligerence in Mediterranean (1571)
• largest naval battle of 16th century: Battle of Lepanto; Don John's fleet vs. Ali Pasha's navy in Gulf of Corinth (1571); 1/3 of Turkish fleet=sunk/captured; 30,000 Turks dead
• Turks eventualy rebuild fleet and regain control of E. Mediterranean; for some time, Spain controlled the Mediterranean
• Philip's armies suppressed resistance in Portugal in 1580; union with Portugal increased Spanish seap power; brought Portugal's overseas empire (Africa, India, and Brazil) into Spain's grasp

• Spain's attempt to conquer N. Europe=fail
• Philip tried to impose his will on England and France

• Netherlands=richest area in Europe; ruled by Margaret of Parma (assisted by council of state); head of council=Antoine Perrenot (Cardinal Granvelle)
• hoped to stop Protestants by reforming church internally
• planned to break down traditional local autonomy of 17 Netherlands provinces; wanted to establish centralized royal gov. directed from Madrid
• goal=politically and religiously united country
• merchant towns of Netherlands=most independent in Europe; many (like Antwerp) were Calvinist
• opposition to Spanish overlords led by Count of Egmont and WIlliam of Nassau (William of Orange/William the Silent)
• William of Orange placed political autonomy and well being of Netherlands above religious creeds; used to be Catholic; became Calvinist after Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre
• Cardinal Granvelle continued his plan of reorganizing the church in the Netherlands; intended to tighten control of Catholic hierarchy over country/accelerate its merging as a Spanish ward
• Orange and Egmont organized Dutch nobility in opposition; successfully removed Granvelle from office in 1564
• popular unrest grew (among urban artisans)

• first fusion of political and religious opposition to Margaret of Parma's rule (1564)
• opposition resulted from Philip II's insistense to enforce decrees of the Council of Trent throughout the Netherlands
• Louis of Nassau led opposition with support from Calvinist nobilities (lesser) and townspeople
• national agreement called the Compromise was created; resisted decrees of Trent/Inquisition
• Calvinists rioted throughout country in 1566; Louis asked for aid from French Huguenots and German Lutherans

• rebellion againt Margaret of Parma failed; higher nobility of Netherlands would not support it
• Philip II dispatched Duke of Alba to suppress revolt; 10,000 of his men journeyed from Milan in 1567
• Council of Troubles (Spanish)/Council of Blood (Dutch) reigned over Netherlands; rebels were publicly executed
• Spanish raised new taxes; forced Netherlands to pay for suppression of its own revolt; "tenth penny" (10% sales tax) met with resistance from merchants and artisans; couldn't be collected in some areas even when lowered to 3%
• tens of thousands left Netherlands during Alba's six year rule

• William of Orange=exile in Gernamy during turbulent years; emerged as leader of braod movement for indepence of Netherands from Spain
• N. Calvinist provinces (Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht)=base for political resistance; merged w/ Calvinism
• early victories of the resistance demonstrate the popular character of the revolt; capture of the port city of Brill by sea beggars (int. group of anti-Spanish exiles and criminals; many were English); William of Orange used sea begars
• Queen Elizabeth disassociated herself from sea beggars and barred their ships from English ports (because of their piracy)
• Beggars captured Brill and other seaports in Zeeland and Holland; sparked rebellions against Alba in many towns and spread resistance south
• people of Leiden resisted Spanish siege (1574); Dutch opened dames and flooded country to stop Spanish; Duke of Alba was replaced by Don Luis de Requesens (became commander of the Spanish forces in Netherlands in 1573)

• Spanish mercenaries (leaderless and unpaid) killed 7000 people in Antwerp; event came to be known as the Spanish Fury
• 10 Catholic southern provinces (Belgium) and 7 Protestant northern provinces (Netherlands) unified to oppose Spain; union=Pacification of Ghent (1576)
• declared internal regional sovereignty (in matters of religion) permitted political cooperation of signatories
• Netherlands version of territorial settlement of religious differences brought about in the H.R.E by the Peace of Augsburg (1555)
• Union of Brussels: formed in 1577; united Netherlands against Spain
• Don John (victor over Turks at Lepanto) took control of Spanish land forces in November 1576; experienced first defeat when confronted with united Netherlands' resistance; signed Perpetual Edict (removed all Spanish troops from Netherlands in 20 days); ended Philip's plans of controlling the Netherlands

• Don John and Alaexander Farnese of Parma (Margaret's son) revived Spanish power in S. provinces; fear of Calivinist extremism led to breaking of the Union of Brussels
• Southern provinces formed Union of Arras (1579); made peace with Spain; later helped Counter-Reformation
• N. provinces formed Union of Utrecht in response

• Philip II declared William of Orange an outlaw; placed a bounty on his head; stiffened resistance of the N. provinces
• The Apology: William publicly denounced Philip as a tyrant (1580); speech to Estates General of Holland
• Union of Utrecht met in the Hague and formally rejected Philip's rule in 1581; French duke of Alencon (youngest son of Catherine de Medicis) = middle way b/w Spanish and Calvinist overlordship; N. provinces (except Holland and Zeeland) accepted him as a titular ruler; Alencon tried to take control of provinces in 1583; failed and was deposed
• William of Orange assassinated in 1584; his son, Maurice continued Dutch resistance (with help from England and France)
• Philip II began to interfere in English and French affairs; secretly signed the Treaty of Joinville (1584) with the Guises and sent armies into France under Alexander Farnese
• hostilities w/ England increased (openly supported Dutch rebels)
• Spain was preoccupied with France and England; allowed N. provinces to drive out all Spanish soldiers by 1593; France and England formally recognized independence in 1596; peace w/ Spain achieved in 1609 (12 Years' Truce gave N. provinces virtual independence); full recognition came from Peace of Westphalia

• Before Edward VI died, he made Lady Jane Grey his successor; teenage daughter of a powerful Protestant nobleman/granddaughter of Henry VIII's younger sister Mary (his successor in the place of the Catholic Mary Tudor)
• Popular support of a hereditary monarchy and
• uprisings throughout England dethroned Jane within days of her crowning (later beheaded)

• 1554: married Phillip II of Spain
• Incredibly unpopular and eventually lead to initiation of militant Catholicism
• Under his influence lead a foreign policy in 1558; cost England its last enclave on the continent, Calais
• Parliament repeals Protestant reforms of Edward
• and reverts to Catholic religious practices of her father
• Great Protestant leaders under Edward (John Hooper, Hugh Latimer, Thomas Cranmer) executed for heresy
• Protestants heavily persecuted, many burned at the stake; “Marian Exiles” fled to Germany and Switzerland (Frankfurt, Strasbourg, and Geneva); John Knox prominent among exiles
• exiles were exposed to radical Protestant views; most later held positions in the Church of England in Elizabeth I’s reign

• Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn; half-sister of Mary I
• Success in both domestic and foreign policy
• Made religious settlement (between 1559-1603) with her advisor Sir William Cecil (1520-1598) through Parliament; overall unifying England
• Merged centralized Episcopal system w/ Protestant doctrine and traditional Catholic ritual
• Anglican Church contained inflexible religious extremes for decades
• 1559: Act of Supremacy passed, repealing all of Mary I’s anti-Protestant legislation
• Elizabeth declared “supreme governor” over spiritual and temporal affairs
• 1559: Act of Uniformity passed; mandated every
• English parish have a revised version of the second Book of Common Prayer (1552)
• 1563: Thirty-Nine Articles; revision of Cranmer’s original forty-two

• Moderate Protestantism made official religion of the Church of England
• Elizabeth hoped to avoid extremism from Catholics and Protestants by pursuing a middle front
• First Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker represented this ideal
• Elizabeth couldn't prevent emergence of subversive Catholic and Protestant zealots
• Extremist Catholics conspired against her at the beginning of her reign, wanting to put Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotts in the throne
• Mary Stuart direct heir to throne; granddaughter of Margaret of Parma
• Catholic radicals encouraged by Jesuits and Spain (she rejected Phillip II’s hand in marriage and they disliked her Protestant sympathies)
• Deliberately remained unmarried throughout reign; possibility of royal marriage diplomatic advantage
• Executed fewer Catholics than Mary I did Protestants during her reign (despite threats of assassination and treason); was still very ambitious
• Cautious with Puritans (Protestants within the national church who wanted to “purify” it of every vestige of “popery” and to make its Protestant doctrines more precise)
• Puritan grievances: disapproved the retaining of Catholic ceremony and vestments (made it appear that no reformation occurred); against the continuation of the Episcopal system of church governance
• 16th century Puritans not true separatists; had popular support and were led by prestigious men like Thomas Cartwright; worked through Parliament to create alternative national church of semiautonomous congregations governed by respected presbyteries following the model of Calvin and Geneva
• Elizabeth dealt with Puritans firmly and subtly; gave no leeway to reform that lessened her power over church and state
• Extreme Puritans wanted all congregations to be autonomous (a law unto itself); no Episcopal or Presbyterian control (Congregationalists)
• Elizabeth and her second Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift, refused to tolerate them; felt their views on independence partially attempted to transform established social order and structures of authority
• The Conventicle Act of 1593: such extremists (Congregationalists) must conform to the practices of the Church of England or face exile or death

• 1567: Spanish Duke of Alba marched into the Netherlands; received as a convenient staging area for a Spanish invasion of England
• 1570: Pope Pius V (1566-1572), favored military conquest of Protestant England; excommunicated Elizabeth for heresy; encouraged internal and int. resistance against the queen
• 1572 piratical sea beggars (many=Englishmen) occupied the port of Brill in the Netherlands and aroused the surrounding countryside against the Spanish
• England signs a mutual defense pact with France after Don John's victory at Lepanto
• 2 English seamen, John Hawkins (1532-1595) and Sir Francis Drake (1545-1596) began to prey regularly on Spanish shipping in the Americas
• Drake’s circumnavigation between 1577-1580 was one in a series of dramatic demonstrations of English ascendency on the high seas
• After Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Elizabeth = only protector of Protestants in France and the Netherlands
• signed Treaty of Nonsuch (1585): English soldiers and cavalry sent to the Netherlands
• Funds previously used to covertly support Navarre’s army in France now flowed openly
• The “last straw” between Spain and England was the execution of Mary Stuart and the start of real conflict

• -Daughter of King James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise
• -Resided in France since she was 6 years old
• -Thoroughly French and Catholic; returned to Scotland after death of her husband (French king Francis II) in 1561
• -Successful Protestant Reformation established in Scotland already, sanctioned by the Treaty of Edinburgh (1560)
• -Became Queen by divine and human right; Protestants did not intimidate her
• -Established international French court culture; impressed Protestant nobles whose religion made their lives exceedingly dour
• -John Knox watched Mary closely, publically fuming against the queen’s private Mass and other Catholic practices; Scottish Law made a capital offense for everyone else; he won support in role of watchdog from Elizabeth and Cecil
• -Elizabeth despised Knox because of the First Blast of the Trumpet against the Terrible Regiment of Women; aimed at provoking a revolt against Mary Tudor (published a year after Elizabeth's ascent to the throne)
• -She (and Cecil) tolerated Knox because they knew he would never permit Scotland to succumb to Mary’s French and Catholic ways
• -1568: Public scandal forces Mary’s abdication and flight to her cousin Elizabeth in England; Mary’s lover, the earl of Bothwell=suspected of having killed her actual husband, Lord Darnley; when packed court acquitted Bothwell, he subsequently married Mary
• -Outraged reaction from Protestants forced her to flee, leaving her throne to her 1 year old son James VI of Scotland (later became Elizabeth’s successor as king James I)
• -Upon arrival she was put under house arrest for 19 years because she was an international symbol of a possible Catholic England; consumed by the desire to be England’s queen
• -1583: Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s secretary, uncovered a plot against Elizabeth involving Spanish Ambassador Bernardino de Mendoza; he was deported a year later; popular antipathy toward Spain and support for Protestant resistance in France and the Netherlands became massive throughout England
• -1586: Walsingham discovers the “Babington Plot” after Anthony Babington was caught seeking Spanish support for an attempt at the queen’s life; proof of Mary’s complicity
• -Elizabeth felt the execution of a sovereign weakened royalty everywhere; knew it would cause an uproar throughout the Catholic world (with whom she sincerely wanted peace)
• -Had no choice in the matter; Mary was executed in 1587; no more Catholic hopes for a bloodless reconversion of Protestant England
• -Pope Sixtus V, fearing Spanish domination as much as he hated English Protestantism, could no longer withhold public support for a Spanish invasion of England; Phillip II ordered his armada to make ready

• Spring of 1587: Sir Francis Drake shelled the port of Cadiz, inflicting heavy damage on Spanish ships and stores, as well as interrupting Spain’s war preparation
• Proceeded to raid coast of Portugal, forcing Spanish to postpone invasion to 1588
• May 30th 1588: 130 ships bearing 25,000 sailors and soldiers under the command of the duke of Medina-Sidonia set sail for England
• England won, Spanish invasion barges transporting soldiers unable to leave Calais and Dunkirk
• Swifter English and Netherlands’ ships helped by “English wind” dispersed the waiting Spanish fleet, one-third of which never returned to Spain
• Spain continued to win in the 1590’s it never fully recovered
• By the time of Phillip’s death on Sep. 13th 1598 his forces had been rebuffed on all fronts
• Successors were inferior leaders, and Spain never again knew such imperial grandeur
• French soon dominated the continent, and the Dutch and England whittled away at Spain’s overseas empire
• Elizabeth died on March 23, 1603

• Fought in HRE, last and most destructive of the wars of religion
• Entrenched hatred of the various sides and their determination to sacrifice all for their religious beliefs
• When peace was made in 1648, peace terms shaped the map of northern Europe similar to what we know it as today

• Almost ungovernable land of about 360 autonomous political entities
• Independent secular principalities, ecclesiastical principalities, free cities, knights ruling small areas from castles
• Peace of Augsburg (1555) gave each of them sovereignty, within their own borders
• Each levied its own tolls and tariffs and coined its own money, making land travel and trade impossible
• Many had great power pretensions, Germany being decentralized and fragmented
• Germany being central always acted as a highway for traders and merchants; Europeans rulers pressed Germany because of trade and because some held land and/or legal privileged
• Princes looked for trade beyond Germany and opposed consolidation of HRE
• Not loath to turn towards France or kings of Denmark and Sweden for allies against the Hapsburg emperor
• After Council of Trent, Protestants suspected existence of imperials and papal conspiracy to recreate Catholic Europe of pre-Reformation times
• Imperial diet (controlled by German princes) demanded strict observance of constitutional rights of Germans and set forth agreements with emperor
• Emperor now only ruled to degree which he was prepared to use force of arms against his subjects

• HRE population divided equally between Protestants and Catholics, the former having a slight edge by 1600
• Peace of Augsburg attempted to freeze territorial holdings of Lutherans and Catholics (ecclesiastical reservation)
• Some Lutherans gained and kept control in Catholic areas and vice versa
• Only increases suspicion and antipathy between two sides
• Protestants more successful in gathering rights to worship in Catholic lands as opposed to the other way around
• Catholics demanded people now in Catholic positions of power who were at one point on the Protestant side be removed and they be returned to Catholic holding; Protestants ignored this ·
• Religious strife within Protestantism, last half of the 16th century had warring Protestant factions within German universities
• New scientific and material culture appearing in intellectual and political circles

• Unrecognized within HRE
• Gained strong foothold within the empire when Frederick III, a devout convert to Calvinism became elector Palatine and made it the official religion of his domain
• Heidelberg became a German Geneva in the 1560’s
• 1609: Palatine Calvinists headed a Protestant defensive alliance that received support from England, France and the Netherlands
• Lutherans began to fear Calvinists, believing they threatened the Peace of Augsburg and they argued over the outward criticism of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist

• Jesuits as active as Calvinists during this time
• Catholic Bavaria, supported by Spain became militarily and ideologically for the Counter-Reformation what the Palatine was for Protestantism
• Jesuits launched missions throughout the empire, winning Strasbourg and Osnabruck by 1600
• 1609: Maximilian I, duke of Bavaria organized Catholic league to counter a new Protestant alliance that was formed in the same year under the leadership of Calvinist Elector Palatine, Frederick IV
• League had great army under command of Count Johann con Tilly

• Hapsburg Ferdinand, archduke of Styria and heir to the imperial throne, ascends to throne in Bohemia
• Educated by Jesuits, Catholic determined to restore traditional faith to the eastern Hapsburg lands (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary)
• Revoked religious freedoms of Protestants which had been in force since 1575 and broadened by Emperor Rudolf II in his letter of Majesty in 1609
• 1618: Defenestration of Prague; Protestants defenestrate his regents
• 1619: Ferdinand II became HRE by unanimous vote of the 7 electors
• Bohemians disposed him in Prague and declared Calvinist elector Palatine, Frederick V their king
• Spain sent troops to Ferdinand, who was also allied with Maximilian of Bavaria and Lutheran elector John George I of Saxony
• Maximilian wanted the electoral title and John saw an easy route to territorial gain
• Ferdinand’s army under Tilly routed Frederick V’s troops at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620
• Ferdinand subdued and reCatholicized Bohemia and conquered Palatinate
• Maximilian pressed conflict into Northwestern Germany, claiming land as he went

• Events in the previous period raised fears of reconquest and reCatholicism of the empire
• Lutheran king Christian IV of Denmark, who already had territorial claim within the empire as duke of Holstein, was eager to extend Danish influence over coastal towns of the North Sea
• With English, French, and Dutch encouragement he entered Germany in 1626 on the Protestant side but was quickly defeated by Maximilian
• Conquest made Maximilian a stronger and untrustworthy ally; Ferdinand hired Albrecht of Wallenstein, a powerful mercenary Protestant; gained a lot of land by joining Ferdinand during the conquest of Bohemia
• Carried campaign into Denmark, by the end of it commanded a massive army and was no longer under the control of the emperor
• Wallenstein had broken the resistance, and Ferdinand was able to issue the Edict of Restitution, reasserting Catholic safeguards of the Peace of Augsburg
• Reaffirmed illegality of Calvinism, ordered return of all church lands Lutherans had required

• Gustavus Adolphus II of Sweden, king of a Lutheran nation, became leader of Protestant forces within the empire
• Controlled by two interested bystanders: French minister Cardinal Richelieu who wanted the Hapsburg armies tied down in Germany for the benefit of France and the Dutch who had not forgotten Spanish Hapsburg rule in the 16th century
• In alliance with Brandenburg and Saxony, the king won at Breitenfeld in 1630, reversing the course of the war; won because of king’s military genius (mobile warfare)
• Died at the hands of Wallenstein’s forces during the Battle of Lutzen (1632), a costly battle for both sides that created a brief standstill
• Ferdinand resented Wallenstein’s independence and had him assassinated in 1634; By that time he completed the emperors task, and was offering his services to the Protestant side
• Peace of Prague in 1635: German Protestant states, led by Saxony, reached a compromise with Ferdinand
• France and Netherlands continued to support Sweden and refused to join agreement

• 1635: French openly enter war, sending both men and finances
• French, Swedish, and Spanish soldiers looted all of Germany
• The Germans were too disunited and devastated to repulse the foreign armies
• War killed estimated one-third of the German population

• Ended all hostilities within the HRE
• Written in French, the treaty rescinded Ferdinand’s Edict of Restitution and reasserted religious settlement of the Peace of Augsburg
• Calvinists receive legal recognition
• Independence of the United Provinces of the Netherlands and the Swiss Confederacy was proclaimed in law
• Bavaria became an elector state
• Brandenburg-Prussia emerged as the most powerful northern German state
• German Princes became supreme over principalities
• Pope opposed Treaty, but France used it to gain territory anyways
• France and Spain remained at war outside until 1659, French victories forced Treaty of Pyrenees on the Spanish
• France became Europe’s dominant power
• Hapsburg Spain never recovers
• Treaty continued German division and political weakness into the modern period
• Only Austria and Brandenburg-Prussia maintain international significance
• 17th century, distinctive nation-states (each with their own political, cultural, and religious identity) reached maturity and established the competitive nationalism of the modern world

Wars ended with recognition of minority religious rights and a guarantee of the traditional boundaries of political sovereignty