Spain's+Empire+and+European+Absolutism

Spain's Empire and European Absolutism

Bold:
 * 1) Philip- Son of Charles V. Charles V divided his immense empire and retired to a monastery. To his brother Ferdinand, he left Austria and the Holy Roman Empire. His son, Philip II, inherited Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, and the American colonies.
 * 2) absolute monarchs - kings or queens who held all of the power within their states’ boundaries.
 * 3) Divine Right - The idea that God created the monarchy and that the monarch acted as God’s representative on earth. An absolute monarch answered only to God, not to his or her subjects.

People:
 * 1) Philip- Shy, serious, and—like his father—deeply religious. He was also very hard working. Yet Philip would not allow anyone to help him. Deeply suspicious, he trusted no one for long. Philip could be aggressive for the sake of his empire. In 1580, the king of Portugal died without an heir. Because Philip was the king’s nephew, he seized the Portuguese kingdom. Counting Portuguese strongholds in Africa, India, and the East Indies, he now had an empire that circled the globe. Philip believed it was his duty to defend Catholicism against the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire and the Protestants of Europe. In 1571, the pope called on all Catholic princes to take up arms against the mounting power of the Ottoman Empire.
 * 2) Elizabeth I- She had supported Protestant subjects who had rebelled against Philip. However, his fleet was defeated.
 * 3) El Greco and Velázquez- Born in Crete, He spent much of his adult life in Spain. His real name was Domenikos Theotokopoulos, but Spaniards called him El Greco, meaning “the Greek.” El Greco’s art often puzzled the people of his time. He chose brilliant, sometimes clashing colors, distorted the human figure, and expressed emotion symboli cally in his paintings. Although unusual, El Greco’s techniques showed the deep Catholic faith of Spain.
 * 4) Diego Velázquez- His paintings, reflected the pride of the Spanish monarchy. Velázquez, who painted 50 years after El Greco, was the court painter to Philip IV of Spain. He is best known for his portraits of the royal family and scenes of court life.
 * 5) Rembrandt van Rijn- Was the greatest Dutch artist of the period. Rembrandt painted portraits of wealthy middle-class merchants. He also produced group portraits. In The Night Watch, he portrayed a group of city guards.
 * 6) Jan Vermeer- He chose domestic, indoor settings for his portraits. He often painted women doing such familiar activities as pouring milk from a jug or reading a letter.

Ideas/Events:

A POWERFUL SPANISH EMPIRE:
 * By 1600, American mines had supplied Spain with an estimated 339,000 pounds of gold. Between 1550 and 1650, roughly 16,000 tons of silver bullion were unloaded from Spanish galleons, or ships.
 * Isabella and Ferdinand had used the Inquisition to investigate suspected heretics, or nonbelievers in Christianity.
 * More than 200 Spanish and Venetian ships defeated a large Ottoman fleet in a fierce battle near Lepanto. In 1588, Philip launched the Spanish Armada in an attempt to punish Protestant England and its queen, Elizabeth I.

GOLDEN AGE OF SPANISH ART AND LITERATURE:
 * During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain experienced a golden age in the arts. The works of two great painters show both the faith and the pride of Spain during this period.
 * The publication of Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605 is often called the birth of the modern European novel.
 * Some critics believe that Cervantes was mocking chivalry, the knightly code of the Middle Ages. Others maintain that the book is about an idealistic person who longs for the romantic past because he is frustrated with his materialistic world.

THE SPANISH EMPIRE WEAKENS:
 * Inflation in Spain had two main causes. First, Spain’s population had been growing. As more people demanded food and other goods, merchants were able to raise prices. Second, as silver bullion flooded the market, its value dropped.
 * Spain’s economic decline also had other causes. When Spain expelled the Jews and Moors (Muslims) around 1500, it lost many valuable artisans and business- people. In addition, Spain’s nobles did not have to pay taxes. The tax burden fell on the lower classes. That burden prevented them from accumulating enough wealth to start their own businesses.
 * Spain’s great wealth flowed into the pockets of foreigners, who were mostly Spain’s enemies.
 * In the Spanish Netherlands, Philip had to maintain an army to keep his subjects under control. The Dutch had little in common with their Spanish rulers. While Spain was Catholic, the Netherlands had many Calvinist congregations.
 * the Spanish duke of Alva in 1568, executed 1,500 Protestants and suspected rebels.

THE INDEPENDENT DUTCH PROSPER:
 * The Dutch continued to fight the Spanish for another 11 years. Finally, in 1579, the seven northern provinces of the Netherlands, which were largely Protestant, united and declared their independence from Spain. They became the United Provinces of the Netherlands. The ten southern provinces were Catholic and remained under Spanish control.
 * In addition, the United Provinces was not a kingdom but a republic. Each province had an elected governor, whose power depended on the support of merchants and landholders.
 * During the1600s,the Netherlands became what Florence had been during the 1400s. It boasted not only the best banks but also many of the best artists in Europe.
 * The stability of the government allowed the Dutch people to concentrate on economic growth. The merchants of Amsterdam bought surplus grain in Poland and crammed it into their warehouses.

ABSOLUTISM IN EUROPE:
 * As Europe emerged from the Middle Ages, monarchs grew increasingly powerful. The decline of feudalism, the rise of cities, and the growth of national kingdoms all helped to centralize authority.
 * Monarchs used the wealth of colonies to pay for their ambitions. Church authority also broke down during the late Middle Ages and the Reformation. That opened the way for monarchs to assume even greater control.The 17th century was a period of great upheaval in Europe. Religious and territorial conflicts between states led to almost continuous warfare.
 * Monarchs tried to impose order by increasing their own power. As absolute rulers, they regulated everything from religious worship to social gatherings. They created new government bureaucracies to control their countries’ economic life.