Protestant Reformation and Spanish Habsburg Dynasty
The Protestant Reformation
The Reformation was a religious movement which began in the first half of the 16th century. It instigated the division of the Christian church and the founding of protestant churches.
Causes of the Reformation
- The low clergy’s lack of training.
- The bad example set by the high clergy, they did not respect the customs or morals that they preached.
- The church’s wealth. The high clergy lived a life of luxury. The church possessed extensive lands and taxed the humble population.
- The buying and selling of ecclesiastical positions.
- The sale of indulgences. When the church needed money, it sold indulgences, through which it helped believers to be forgiven for their sins.
These circumstances angered the majority of believers. Many peasant revolts occurred, in which they demanded both religious and economic reforms.
Luther’s break from Rome
The German priest Martin Luther was scandalized by the amount of corruption in the Church. He published 95 Theses criticizing bad practices carried out by the church. This marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
His main principles were:
- Free interpretation of the Bible. Priests should be abolished because anyone could read and interpret the Bible in their own way. Therefore, he initiated the translation of the holy book into various languages.
- Forgiveness and salvation do not depend on the good deeds a person does in life, but on faith and God’s will.
- Rejection of the veneration of the Virgin Mary, saints and holy relics.
- Opposition to the Church owning property and support for the nobles taking over the Church’s possessions.
The spread of the Reformation
Lutheranism spread rapidly across northern Europe. The movement also diversified and other reformers appeared with new doctrines:
- John Calvin: His beliefs were based on predestination, meaning that people were destined for salvation or damnation from birth.
- The Pope would not give his consent for King Henry VIII to divorce Catherine of Aragón (the daughter of the Catholic Monarchs). Therefore, he broke with the Catholic Church and he appointed himself head of the Church of England or Anglican Church.
Religious Wars and the Counter-Reformation
Rivalry between Catholics and Protestants caused the religious wars and persecutions on grounds of faith which occurred throughout Europe.
Consequences of religious division in Europe
Protestants and Catholics persecuted each other in the areas they dominated. The Pope and the Emperor became less influential. The Protestant kings and nobles gained more power by taking over their national churches and their possessions.
The Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was a religious, intellectual and political movement led by the Catholic Church against the Protestant Reformation. The Council of Trent established the Catholic Church’s course of action in three main areas: the clarification of their teachings, internal reform and the repression of Protestantism.
- The clarification of their teachings. The dogmas and principles that the Protestants had rejected were maintained.
- Internal reform. Measures were taken to resolve internal corruption. Seminaries and universities were founded to improve the training priests received. Bishops were more strictly controlled, the sale of indulgences was prohibited.
- The repression of Protestantism, whose followers were considered heretics. The Inquisition was reinforced and an Index of forbidden books, which opposed the Catholic faith, was published.
The Catholics maintained their power over southern and central Europe.
Sale of indulgences: to provide forgiveness of sins (indulgence) in exchange of money for the church.
Index of forbidden books: books censored by Counter-Reformation.
The Spanish Habsburg Dynasty
In the 16th century, the Spanish Monarchy became the most powerful in Europe. The two monarchs of that century, Carlos I and Felipe II, belonged to the Habsburg dynasty. They had similar political objectives:
- To maintain their territories through numerous wars against other kingdoms.
- To defend Catholicism. Their domestic policy continued to be discriminatory.
- Outside Spain, they religiously motivated wars against the Protestant states.
Economy and society in the 16th century
Initially, the economy prospered due to the riches obtained from the Americas, especially silver and gold.
- It enabled the kings to finance the numerous wars they were involved.
- The arrival of metals enriched the nobility. They used the silver and gold to buy luxury products, but did not invest in production. Therefore, the majority of the population became poorer.
- The craft industry began to grow due to an increase in demand from the American territories. However, the rise in prices made Spanish products more expensive and it became cheaper to buy them abroad.
At the end of the 16th century, the Spanish economy went into decline due to the rising prices and the decline of the craftwork industry. The industry could not compete with those from abroad. This fall in production also affected trade, which also went into decline.
Carlos V
Carlos waged various wars against France, the Ottoman empire and the German princes.
Carlos V
When Isabella ‘the Catholic’ died, her daughter Juana ascended the throne of Castilla. She was married to Felipe I, Duke of Burgundy and son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Felipe died suddenly and Juana was declared unfit to govern due to an alleged mental illness.
Carlos I, Juana’s eldest son, inherited a huge territorial patrimony in Europe, the Americas and the North of Africa.
The beginning of his reign
Carlos was born in the Low Countries so he did not speak Spanish. This upset the Castilian nobility, who viewed the monarch as a foreigner. Castilla was experiencing an economic crisis and Carlos increased the taxes collected.
This provoked the Revolt of the Comuneros in which the lower nobility and bourgeoisie in some cities rose up against the government. The king’s representatives and the high nobility who supported him defeated the ‘comuneros’ at the Battle of Villalar.
At the same time, in Aragon, the bourgeoisie and peasants rose up against the nobility. This is known as the Revolt of the Brotherhoods.
The king supported the nobility and the uprising was suppressed. As a result, the monarchy became more powerful.
Carlos waged various wars against France, the Ottoman empire and the German princes.
Felipe II
Carlos V divided up the territories he inherited due to the difficulties he experienced in controlling them. He gave Austria and the Imperial Crown to his brother Ferdinand, and his son Felipe II was given the rest of his territorial patrimony. Felipe II also inherited the kingdom of Portugal, together with the Portuguese territories in the Americas, Africa and Asia. After the conquest of the Philippines and the incorporation of the Portuguese territories, Felipe II’s dominions stretched across the globe. In 1561 he made Madrid the capital of his kingdom.
Domestic problems
Carlos V had left the Crown in financial ruin and Felipe II had to declare the Crown bankrupt. In the year he began his reign. He also had to declare economic insolvency on two other occasions. The policy of imposing Catholicism and discriminating against the religious minorities caused the Moriscos to revolt in the War of the Alpujarras.