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Unit Four
Western Civilization
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
1. GROWTH OF THE NATION-STATE: How has the rise of the Nation as a political, economic, social and cultural institution influenced world events?
2. WARFARE: How has the nature of War and Peace impacted world history?
3. ECONOMIC GROWTH: How has the evolution of Economic Systems as well
as technological developments impacted world civilization?
OVERVIEW:
Sometime in the 7th and 8th centuries the modern political state began to emerge out of the decentralized systems of feudal Europe. One historian has called this the “Invention of the State.” Gradually the map of modern Europe began to emerge. It was a long and complicated process. No two countries pursued the same path, most ended in a different stage of political development. Nonetheless there appears to be some similarity or pattern in their passage from tribal confederations to nation-states. We will try to identify some of those similarities. Already one aspect appears clear: initially, these early states seem organized around a tribal leader. Whether he was called a king, emperor or simply leader, he ruled based upon the will and consent of the group. His powers were greatly limited in comparison to the power of kings like Louis XIV and Henry VIII. This leadership style has been called a king who was “first amongst his equals”, that is he was "elected" by his equals to rule over them in a limited way. If he became too powerful he was quickly removed. But over the next few centuries these monarchs grew in power. The process was long and almost always irregular. Soon these "New Monarchies" became more and more powerful. In Unit One, when we talked of the rise of feudalism, we mentioned how the kings and queens began to use the power of taxation to develop their own armies. Soon kings and queens were able to establish themselves on their respective thrones and limit the power of their "equals".
The nation-state that they represented also grew with them. It too started out as a small decentralized state, a feudal state. But it was to grow. By the 15th and 16th centuries a new type of political state was emerging in Western Europe. We call this new state the Nation-State. It was strong enough to defend itself. It had a national army, which owed allegiance to the nation and the leader not to the local lords. It was able to carry out various administrative tasks for its people, like giving them a postal system. It could financially support itself through taxes. Moreover the new state was almost always identified with a national group with their own language, traditions and culture.
In this unit we will use the creation of the French State as our main focus. After a brief summary of early English, Russian and Spanish history, we will trace France from its first king, Hugh Capet, to the absolutism of Louis XIV. Using the model Sidney Painter has created for us, we shall trace the evolution of kingship as seen in the French State. We will also see how the role of economic development, class structure and religion influenced the French State and its advancement.
Finally we shall look at the Thirty Years War. This war, which lasted from 1618 to 1648, was the first real modern, European war. Some have called it the first national war, one in which these new nation-states participated in for the first time. It started out as a religious war, which was fought using medieval weapons, but it ended as a political-dynastic conflict with new weapons that were to shape the modern world. Moreover, the size and identity of the armies grew so that by the end of the war large national armies representing all strata of society faced each other. This was a great portent of things to come. The war also helped to prevent the unity of a future nation-state, Germany. This will be our example of the failure of a European nation-state to emerge and its consequences.
Keep these questions in mind as you trace the role of the Nation-State in this unit.
CONTENT QUESTIONS:
1. What is a nation-state?
2. What were the forces that encouraged the development of the nation-state? What discouraged their growth?
3. What caused the emergence of the New Monarch?
4. What caused the rise of the Absolute Monarch?
5. How did the Nation-State of France exemplify all these characteristics?
6. What was the impact of the Thirty Years War on Europe?
KEY TERMS:
"First Amongst Equals” “Germanic Monarchy” Feudal Monarchy Absolutist Monarchy
New Monarch Gulf Stream
Hugh Capet Investiture Controversy
Barons William the Conqueror
Parliament Hundred Years' War
Edict of Nantes St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
War of the Three Henries Cardinal Richelieu
Raison d’ etre Peter the Great
Tudors Holy Roman Empire
Thirty Years War Peace of Westphalia
Albrecht Wallenstein Gustavus Adolphus
Ireland England
Scotland Wales
Normandy Prussia
Andalusia Burgundy
Provence Brittany
Flanders Bordeaux (Aquitane)
Saxony Bavaria
Moscow Castile
Aragon Portugal
War of the Roses Plantagenant kings
Tudor kings Reconquista
Ferdinand and Isabella Kievan Russia
Monguls Catherine the Great
Pragmatic Sanction Golden Bull
Feudal Monarchy Ukraine
TIME LINE:
711 Moors land in Spain
962 Otto I crowned Holy Roman Emperor
987 Hugh Capet elected King of France
1019-1054 Yaroslav the Wise rules Kiev
1066 Norman Conquest of England
1077 Canossa
1120 St. Denis Cathedral: birth of Gothic architecture
1122 Concordat of Worms settles the investiture controversy
1212 Battle Of Las Navas de Tolosa; Alfonso VIII of Castile and
allies win victory over the Moors
1215 Magna Carta signed
1257 German princes establish electoral college to elect emperor
1268 Philip IV crowned King of France
1305-1378 The Avignon Papacy
1314 Jacques de Molay burned at stake by Philip IV
1337 Hundred Years' War begins
1346 Battle of Crecy
1356 Golden Bull signed
1406 France establishes postal system
1415 Battle of Agincourt
1429 Joan of Arch raises siege of Orleans
1436 Pragmatic Sanction
1453 End of Hundred Years War
1461 Louis XI crowned King of France
1469 Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabel I of Castile are married
1492 Catholic monarchs complete unification of Spain by recapturing Granada
1515 Francois crowned king of France
1533 Henri II marries Catherine de Medici
1534 English Act of Supremacy makes the king head of the Church of England
1547-1584 Ivan IV (the Terrible) rules Russia
1555 Peace of Augsburg
1572 Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
1584-89 War of the Three Henries
1589 Assassination of Henry III brings Henry of Navarre to French throne
as Henry IV
1598 Edict of Nantes
1610 Henry IV assassinated; Louis XIII assumes throne
1614 Start of Thirty Years' War
1618 “Defenestration of Prague”
1624 Richelieu becomes prime minister
1631 Magdeburg falls
1632 Battle of Lutzon
1643 Battle of Rocroi
1643-1715 Reign of Louis XIV
1648 Treaty of Westphalia ends Thirty Years War
1689-1725 Peter the Great rules Russia
1762-1796 Catherine the Great rules Russia
SOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH:
A. Bibliography:
Andrews , Michael Alford. The Birth Of Europe: Colliding Continents And The Destiny Of
Nations. (1991).
Barraclough, G. The Origins of Modern Germany. (1946, rev 1997).
Billington, James. The Face of Russia. (1998).
Bryce, James. The Holy Roman Empire. (1961).
Car, Raymond. Spain: A History. (2000).
, The Thirty Years' War. (2001).
Fawtier, R. The Capetian Kings of France.(1962)
Fowler, Ken. The Age of the Plantagenets and the Valois (1967).
Heer, F. The Medieval World: Europe 1100-l350. (1964).
Jackson, G. The Making of Medieval Spain. (1972).
Lopez, R. S. The Birth of Europe. (1967).
Painter, Sidney. The Rise of the Feudal Monarchies. (1951).
Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. A History of Russia. (1993).
Strayer, J. R. On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State. (1970).
The Thirty Years War. (1938).