Free Response Midterm #2

Compare and contrast the religious policies of TWO of the following:

Elizabeth I of England

Catherine de Medicis of France

Isabella I of Spain

Outline

I. Elizabeth I of Spain

A. Protestant

B. Never married

C. Politique

D. Considered to have had a successful reign as Queen

II. Isabella I of Spain

A. Married to Ferdinand

B. Catholic Spain

C. Spanish Armada

Elizabeth I of England and Isabella I of Spain had both similarities and differences in the way they reigned. Both of these two rulers were women and were popular in their respective country that the ruled. They had different religions themselves, and their countries had different religions. During the period that they reigned, England had more success than Spain did. The way Elizabeth I of England ruled compared to Isabella I of Spain allowed England to be more successful because its ruler gave all of her focus to the well being of the country, making her a better ruler than Isabella.

Elizabeth I of England ruled in a way that not many rulers take. She never married because she wanted to have her undivided attention turned to England. She is a great example of a politique, someone who does everything for the well being of the State. She was loved by her people and had a long reign as Queen. She was successful against the attack of the Spanish Armada which gave England power over a recovering Spain. She was a Protestant Queen who turned England back to a Protestant nation after her sister Mary had tried to make it Catholic. This was an advantage for England because of the Protestant Reformation that was taking place throughout all of Europe.

On the other had, Isabella I of Spain differed in the way she ruled. She was married to Ferdinand of Spain. They ruled together as a monarchy of Spain. One of the major mistakes of her reign that lead to a decrease in Spain's power was the Spanish Armada. She sent a fleet of ships to invade England but bad weather and faster English ships left them in defeat. This gave England the best navy in the world during the time period of their reigns. She was a Catholic ruler of a Catholic country during a time where the Protestant Reformation was taking place. Her reign was not as successful as Elizabeth because of her religion, and the loss of its navel power to England.

The two Queens did have similarities in the way they ruled their respective countries. They both were the same religion as the countries they ruled. Both rulers were liked by their people, which is an advantage for their reign. Both had long reigns that were overall successful. Both were women which is an obvious way they were similar to each other. Women have different thought of politics and were viewed differently then men. Both were viewed as intelligent by their people even though Isabella may have made more mistakes that cost her country.

Both queens had similarities and differences in their political policies but during their time period, Elizabeth's policies made more sense. The major factor that lead to her success was her being a politique and never marrying. If Isabella would have given more focus to her country Spain may have had a large amount of gains and a smaller amount of losses. England was lucky the have a Protestant ruler during a time of Protestant Reformation. Elizabeth was overall the better queen because of the success of her reign, but the two Queens did not have a large disparity in their policies of political reign.

Free Response Midterm #4

Discuss the political and social consequences of the Protestant Reformation in the first half of the sixteenth century.

Outline

I. Strain in relations between Protestant and Catholic nations

A. Wars broke out

B. Less unity between different European nations

II. Strain within own countries

A. civil wars

B. flaws more visible

C. more vulnerable to attacks

In the first half of the sixteenth century consequences of the Protestant reformation could be seen. Europe was not as united as it once was when only one religion was accepted. After the Reformation, more people began voicing their opinions and things and this caused revolts and wars between countries, along with flaws within to be more prominent. The Reformation did have bright spots where economies were increased and religious tolerance began. The consequences of the Reformation during the first half of the century, both political and social, caused strain in relations between the common people and the nobility of their country, along with relations between country and country that lead to an overall weakening of Europe at the time before it was later strengthened as a whole.

One of the most visible consequence of the Protestant reformation during the first half of the 16th century can still be seen today. The Catholic Spanish Armada of Spain was a fleet of ships sent to attack Protestant England. The Armada was embarrassingly destroyed and Spain went from a strong European power to being in grave danger of falling apart. Spain has still not recovered fully and this weakened Europe as a whole. Another consequence of the Protestant Reformation was the Pilgrimage of Grace from 1536-1537. This was a group of Catholic followers who demonstrated against Henry VII, the Protestant English King. This showed the flaws within England itself as some of the common people within England were against the political leaders. This could be seen as a weakness to other European powers such as France.

Relations between neighboring European countries were also strained. England's Queen Elizabeth I had Mary Queen of Scots imprisoned in the Tower of London. Elizabeth was a Protestant Queen and Mary was Catholic of Catholic Spain. The Protestant reformation then had a great consequence on Spain, their Queen was imprisoned. The Reformation helped certain countries at the time it was happening, but other countries were taking steps backwards. Thoughts of alliances were beginning to form between the powers of Europe who shared the same religion after the Reformation. Social, gaps and separation could be seen in countries where the common people had different views than the nobility. This causes uproars from within the countries, leaving them vulnerable to factors outside of their own borders. The Reformation was so dominating and radical, it caught the attention of everyone, and took attention off the preexisting problems.

Nobility had to deal with issues and complaints from the Religious officials. Martin Luther who played a major part in the Protestant reformation was prosecuted by the Catholic Church at the start of the Reformation. Out of Lutheranism sprouted many variations of Protestant religion. This caused the Protestant Reformation to gain power and speed, in turn causing more consequences. People who remained Catholic were imprisoned, executed, or exiled from their homes. Even though it was a religious reformation, people were still being murdered for their beliefs. Religious wars the the Thirty Years War were results of the Reformation itself.

The Protestant Reformation caused rocky roads for the people of Europe in the first half of the 16th century. Radical changes were being made and as always there were supports and people who were against it. The Reformation was not all bad, as certain countries such as the Dutch Republic later went through a "Golden Age" of prosperity. But during the first half of the 16th century when the changes were beginning to take place, the reformation to a toll on European society. This had to get worse before they could get better from the Protestant Reformation, and that is exactly what it did.

Midterm DBQ

Analyze the concerns and goals of participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace and of those who opposed the movement.

The Pilgrimage of Grace participants were Catholics who were against the Protestant Reformation. They made armed demonstrations and protests from 1536 to 1537 against Henry VII, head of the Anglican Church, and Thomas Cromwell his Lord High Chancellor. Cromwell implemented a series of policies that included the confiscation of Catholic Church lands. The goals of these participants were to stop the Protestant Reformation and give more rights back to Catholics. They had concerns with the protestants growing more powerful and having a protestant King in Henry the VII. The goals of the Pilgrimage of Grace were to give power back to the Catholic Church in Europe and take credibility from Proestants, but instead their concerns of the Protestant Reformation overshadowed them and their goals were not reached.

The "Oath of Honorable Men" the participants must take says, "You shall not enter into our Pilgrimage of Grace for worldly gain. Do so for the love of God, for the Holy Catholic Church militant....(Doc. 1)." This oath shows that the members of the Pilgrimage must only protest for the Catholic Church, not for their own gain. The members must do this through their love for God. At the time protestants and catholics had very different views and religion was a source of tension, even though both groups are Christians. In a petition presented to the King's Council, written by Robert Aske in December of 1536, many things are asked of the Council. "To have the supreme head of the Church be the Pope in Rome as before (Doc. 5)." Henry VII had become the head of the Church by the Act of Supremacy in 1534. The demonstrations and protests of the Pilgrimage of Grace were in part reactions to this act. The Pope had been the face of the Church for past centuries. Now, the King, a protestant political figure head, was also the leader of the Church. This was a major concern of the Catholics who started these armed demonstrations. After the petition, a random pamphlet attributed to Sir Thomas Tempest (a former member of Parliament for Newcastle) said that, "The King should grant our petition against the traitor Thomas Cromwell and his adherents, or at least exile them from the realm (Doc. 6)." Calling Cromwell a traitor was a failed attempt to take away credibility of the King's Lord High Chancellor. The protesters goal here was to get rid of the person who was influencing the King the most, and taking away from the Catholic Church's land.

In December of 1536, Henry VII wrote a letter that gave pardon to the marchers and protesters. "Let it be confessed to you, the King's subjects and commoners, have recently committed rebellion that might have ruined your country (Doc. 9)." this is stated in the beginning part of his letter, where he says that Catholics who rebel against the Protestant way are ruining their own country. The King then goes on to state that he has pity on them and will pardon their offenses. This gave the protesters more time to demonstrate against the Protestant King and followers. The members still had concerns that the Protestant Reformation would continue so they did not stop their protests to restore power to the Catholic Church.

In the first trials against the members of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1537, 223 people were tried and 144 convicted. Of those people, the vast majority were commoners, but the group with the highest conviction rate were the members of the clergy with 80% of those tried convicted (Doc. 10). The trials lasted from January to March, but the Pilgrimage stopped protesting in February of that year. In 1537, Robert Aske stated in his testimony before his execution that, "Once the monasteries in the north gave great help to the poor men and laudable service to God. Now no hospitality is shown to travelers (Doc. 11)." This gentleman and member of the Pilgrimage felt that because the goals the protesters set were not achieved, the country was not as good as it could be. He felt that a Catholic Europe during his time period would be better than the Protestant Europe it was becoming. His testimony before his death gives meaning to the fact that the Reformation was to powerful for the Pilgrimage of Grace and their goals were never reached.

The goals of the Pilgrimage of Grace were never reached because the concerns and factors against them were to great. Thomas Cromwell hired a writer named Richard Morrison to say, "When every man rules, who will obey (Doc. 7)." Here Cromwell's thoughts are saying that the rebels are not making anything better for themselves, they are making it worse. They should just stay and obey the King, rather they go and continue to protest. Their plans were stopped when the King and Cromwell had enough and the majority of the members were convicted after only a year of protesting. The Protestant Reformation taking place during these demonstrations was the reason the demonstrations were not successful. The country was in religious reform and the majority of people were reforming with it.

DBQ 1/14/11

Analyze how political, religious, and social factors, affected the work of scientists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Scientific revolution took place during the 16^th and 17^th centuries with a multitude of ground breaking discoveries. Political, religious, and social factors affected not only the works of scientists during this time period, but the way the discoveries and persons were viewed in the public eye. The scientists during this time period were often criticized and threatened for their scientific discoveries or methods. People in high political, religious, and social power affected the work of the scientists more than anything else. The negativity brought to works of scientists during the 16^th and 17^th centuries by political authority and religious officials are the very reason why the works were influential on the public during this time period.

Religious officials high in the Church affected the way the works of scientists were viewed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The fuss made by the Church against scientific discoveries that disagreed with their teachings is why the works became so popular. Galileo Galilei expanded on Copernicus’s idea of a heliocentric universe while the bible taught the universe revolved around Earth, or a geocentric model. An Italian monk named Giovanni Ciampoli sent a letter to Galileo in 1615 telling him he needs to differ to the Church. “It is indispensable, therefore, to remove the possibility of malignant rumors by repeatedly showing your willingness to defer to the authority of those who have jurisdiction over the human intellect in matters of the interpretation of Scripture” (Doc 3). Letters like this to Galileo made the public more interested in his discoveries, allowing them to spread through Europe. The Church tried to gain control over scientific discoveries to boil them down, but inadvertently spread them and gave them more meaning. Other religious figure heads, such as John Calvin, a French Protestant, understood the importance of scientific works and encouraged them to be shown to the public, not condemned for the selfish reasons of Church integrity (Doc 2).

During a time of religious reformation, science was able to thrive with new discoveries. Social stature was affected by the new forming of religions and religious ideas and had opened peoples mind to new things. A French monk and scientist, Marin Mersenne, wrote a letter to his noble patron in 1635 confirming that in his experiments, he found that the discoveries of Galileo were true (Doc 5). The fact that a monk, a lower building block in the Church agreed with scientific discoveries even though higher authority was against it. The negativity of high power along with the support of the common people allowed for the radical works of scientists to be fully noticed. Scientists now could experiment to try and prove these discoveries right or wrong, a social factor that affected the works of scientists greatly. Social separations between male and female also affected the work of scientists. Margaret Cavendish, a female scientist said in her book in 1666, “But I, being a woman, do fear they would soon cast me out of their schools” (Doc 9). Science was predominantly male dominated as was every major profession during this time period.

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Dutch Republic

Discuss ways that the 17^th-century Dutch Republic differed from its neighbors, telling how these differences attributed to the country’s success.

The Dutch Republic experienced advances in many categories such as science and art during the 17^th century. The Republic went through a “Golden Age” and experienced one of the most successful and prosperous times in their history. The Dutch Republic’s neighbors, also influenced by the Renaissance, were also experiences advances but they came along with hardships for fellow countries. France was another successful country in Europe, but unlike the Dutch, had an absolute monarchy, powerful nobles, and no religious tolerance. The Dutch Republic, unlike France, needed a decentralized government, a strong merchant class, and religious tolerance to its advantage to become successful during the 17^th century.

Most European countries did not have religious tolerance at the time. The Dutch Republic differed in this matter and tolerate multiple religions but gave Calvinists the most rights. The Republic strengthened as its merchant class was made stronger. Huguenots in France had to flee when the Edict of Nantes was revoked and traveled to the Dutch Republic. Because of the religious tolerance, they were allowed in, and the merchant class grew, which strengthened the economy. A strong economy help sustain the Dutch while a majority of its neighbors neighbors, who did not have religious tolerance, watched their economies decline.

Another way the Dutch differed from its neighbors was its decentralized form of government. Most European countries had an absolute monarchy at the time. This means all the power was in the hands of the King or Queen. The nobles in these types of governments also had a large amount of power over the common people. In the Dutch Republic, their form of government allowed the people to elect rulers of their different provinces. This makes the lower classes happier and more faithful to the elected rulers, instead of absolute monarchs who appoint themselves. In Machiavelli’s book The Prince, he states that they key to success of a prince, or any form of government for that matter, is the people being happy enough to follow and not cause problems.

Due to the decentralized form of government, the merchants and middle class citizens were a bigger part of the country, unlike its neighbors. In other European countries, the nobles and monarchs had all the power, while in the Republic the strong merchant’s class upheld a more balance economy than in other countries. The diversity and acceptance of multiple religions led to more skilled workers in the Republic than any other neighboring country. This is proven by the success that the Republic had in the 17^th century.

If the Dutch would have tried to be like other European countries, they would not have experience the amount of success they did. The Dutch Republic had its own unique style of government and religious views along with a different class make-up that allowed for its successes. These three things are the main contributing factors to the success of the Republic itself. They coincided with each other to help the Republic. The economy grew as more people came because they wanted religious freedom. The decentralized government kept the people happy and feeling that they had more power than they really did. Lastly the middle working class was built on the previous two things, overall boosting the economy and success of the Dutch Republic in the 17^th century.

Theis

2. Analyze the various Protestant views of the relationship between church and state in
the period circa 1500–1700.

3. Analyze the various effects of the expansion of the Atlantic trade on the economy of
Western Europe in the period circa 1450–1700.


4. Compare and contrast the economic factors responsible for the decline of Spain with
the economic factors responsible for the decline of the Dutch Republic by the end of
the seventeenth century.

5. Analyze various ways in which the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) represented a
turning point in European history.

Free Response 1/11/11

Analyze the ways in which European monarchs used both the arts and the sciences to enhance state power in the period circa 1500–1800.

European monarchs were able to enhance their power with advances in science and the arts during the 16^th and 17^th centuries. New ideas were being thrown around by scientists while artists and architects broke down barriers of the art world that had not been touched before. The shocking new discoveries and ideas allowed the State to gain power. A scientist like Galileo with his ideas of a heliocentric universe was an example where Church teaching was disputed. Scientific discoveries and new art types disagreed with some Church teachings and in ways took away from the power of the Church, and added to the monarchs.

In the palaces of the monarchs, extravagant art could be found anywhere. Artists had begun to make beautiful paintings taking new artistic ventures. Pagan gods being painted in the nude could be seen in the palaces as they grew in popularity. Hugh murals and extravagant paintings hung from walls and ceilings to show the power and elegance on the monarchs. This in turn upset Church officials because it was not “right” to have nude paintings and pictures of pagan gods. The Church was losing a grip on its power it had worked for and the monarchs used the paintings and other works of art to add to the power loss of the church and add power to the state. There were people who liked this type of art work and if the monarchy showed they like it, common people would feel they had something in common with the monarchy and would in turn be more faithful.

The advances in sciences during this era also aided to the power of the state and the lack of credibility of the Church. The Church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe when actually the sun was the center with everything revolving around it. This is known as a heliocentric universe. Copernicus first came up with the idea but Galileo Galilei is popularly thought of when it comes to this idea. His idea and teaching was shot down by the Church because it went against their teaching when it is actually the way the universe is. While he did not make his discovery to add to the power if the state, it did have a ripple effect that gave the state more power. There was a certain amount of power to be shared between church and state. When the church lost power, the state gained it and vice versa. During this period the monarchs supported people who made radical discoveries and advances that had the chance to help increase the committed followers to the state. In Machiavelli’s book The Prince, he says that a government must have the support of the low classes to be strong. By supporting new ideas that the lower classes supported, the state was able to enhance its power.

Developments in architecture could be seen also that added to the effect that monarchs were all powerful. Take for example the living conditions the monarchs had. They had the largest homes by far in all of Europe, adding an aura of power to them. Top line clothing was worn and the best food was served. While the monarchs did indeed have power, they were able to make it seem as if they had more than they really had by using architecture and fashion. The people on the outside looking in see them and at first impression, see how much power they really have. Lower classes may not like it all the time but they have to respect it. The respect the monarchs earned is a key component to the power they gained from arts and sciences.

Without art and science being prominent in the 16^th and 17^th century, the monarchs would not have been able to gain the same amount of power they did. Material things had become dominant as they are today and the monarchies took advantage of the resources they had at hand. The Church lost power due to radical ideas during this period of Renaissance able to give the state all the power it needed and more. The state now was ahead of the church in power instead of the two being even as it had been before the Renaissance took place. Sciences and arts were the reason the state gained its power during the Renaissance instead of losing it all to the church and the people.

Thesis Statement

The War of Spanish Succession, the Treaty of Utrecht, and the European Balance of Power

The Treaty of Utrecht assured that England would remain a dominant power after the War of Spanish Succession due to its rise of control of the slave trade, while also giving England power over France at the time.