Introduction
The early modern era of the European history existed between the 15th and 19th centuries (1400-1800). This essay analyses this period in the European history. It points out historical events at the time, some of which continue to shape the image of Europe to date. Some of the events highlighted include the renaissance, significant individuals of the time, Christianity, Christian reformations and inquisitions, discovery and trade, commercial revolution and development of philosophy.
According to Michelet & Alonzo (186), the transition from the medieval to the modern period was marked by a number of events. One remarkable feature of the events of this time was wars of conquests. With the advent of mercantilism, this was one way of increasing and accumulating wealth by the empires. In 1415, the Portuguese attacked and conquered Ceuta. In 1453, the Ottoman Empire conquered the city of Constantinople.
In the year 1492, the great explorer Christopher Columbus led a Spanish fleet into discovering the Americas. In 1494, France, under King Charles the 8th attacked Italy. Four years later, Vasco de Gamma led a Portuguese fleet to India. In 1517, Martin Luther began the famous reformations of the church, with his criticisms mainly targeting the excesses of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1532, Machiavelli, widely acclaimed as the father of political science, published his first works ‘The Prince’. The last and probably most significant event was the signing of the Peace Treaty of Westphalia in 1968.
The Renaissance
It was during the early modern era that Europe experienced emergence of diverse cultural developments, many of which were a break-away from traditional practices of the medieval period. The renaissance can therefore be accredited for paving the way to early modern civilization in Europe.
This cultural movement began in Italy in the 14th century before spreading to the rest of Europe in the subsequent centuries. The movement, which as earlier noted was in an effort to beak away from long-held traditions, was opposed to the method of learning that was based on classical sources in exchange of sources that were more empirical and relevant at the time. It also touched on painting, which was a popular art then. It advocated for adoption of linear perspective in art and wide-ranging educational reforms (Prapantja 342).
Significant Individuals
Johannes Gutenberg invented the mechanical printing press in 1439, having pioneered the use of the movable type printing. Astrologer Nicolas Copernicus came up with a theory that suggested that the sun, and not the earth, is the center of the universe. The theory is called heliocentric cosmology theory and has gained prominence ever since it was formulated. His work published in the book ‘On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres’ gave way for the scientific revolution. Machiavelli is another prominent individual of the time. The Italian philosopher and politician published his work, ‘the prince’ based on the realist political theory.
Among royalties, Charles the Bold, the last Valois Duke of Burgundy was another significant figure whose death would become instrumental to shaping the history of Europe. He was regarded as the last representative of feudalism and his daughter’s marriage to her archduke of Austria gave the Habsburgs total control of the Burgundian Inheritance (Taylor 124).
King Henry the 8th was the king of England and a notable figure in the monarchy. He is popularly known for waging political opposition with Rome, although he also suppressed the protestant movement in England. The opposition and struggles with Rome eventually led to the breaking off of the Church of England from papal jurisdiction. He dissolved the monasteries in England and proclaimed himself to be the supreme head of the Church of England. His other achievement was the uniting of England and Wales under a legal process in 1542.
Despite protesting the Roman Catholic, King Henry professed catholic faith until the time of his death when he reportedly became protestant (Grosvenor 416).
Christianity
In the early modern era, Christianity was ushered in by the fall and conquest of Constantinople by the ottomans. The end of the hundred years of war and movements of the reformation of the church were other events that marked the beginning of Christianity. These included the Lutheran, Zwinglian and Calvinist movements.
This period was characterized by crusades and military action against those who followed Jan Hus in Bohemia. The last crusade of 1456 was intended to halt the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. However, it spilt over to become a full war and the siege of Belgrade was lifted. This was a major victory for Christians and the pope announced the victory to date.
Until 1550s, all Christians were presumed to exist under one church, the Roman Catholic Church. However, at this time, the peace treaty of Augsburg led to the establishment of religious, political and regional division in Christianity. This agreement was incorporated in international law at the treaty of Westphalia, which formally brought to end Christian hegemony. From then henceforth, states would determine their own religions and individuals were granted the rights to practice their religions at designated hours in public and private at will. Eventually, wars of religion were ended with the treaty (Simone 76).
Inquisitions and Reformations
The term inquisition refers to institutions mandated with trying and convicting offenders in accordance with the laws of the Catholic Church. In the modern era, the Spanish inquisition, which existed between 1478 and 1834, was responsible for persecuting individuals guilty of crimes of heresy such as sorcery, blasphemy, and witchcraft. The inquisition had jurisdiction within christen members only, while secular courts charged non-Christian members (Vivekananda 187).
In the late modern are, the Portuguese and Roman inquisition emerged. The Portuguese inquisition existed as a local version of the popular Spanish inquisition while the Roman inquisition covered the Italian peninsula extending to Avignon.
In the 16th century, a number of changes were proposed for the Corpus Christianum, initializing the start of the reformation and are of modernity. The changes proposed were in challenge of the Catholic Church by Martin Luther, thereby pioneering the reformation. With his ninety-five theses, Luther began the protestant reformation In Europe. The reform movement was protected by the electorate of Saxony, an independent electorate of the Holy Roman Empire. One of the electors, Fredrick the 3rd, came up with a university that gave Martin Luther a chance to become a professor of philosophy and was recognized by that. In 1517, he published the ninety-five theses at the entry of all saints Church. The thesis criticized the church’s selling of indulgences and the concept of purgatory.
The reform movement developed spiritual cracks and later split, leading to the emergence of a number of protestant churches like Lutherans Calvinists which are existing even today. In England, the reformation led to the emergence of Anglicanism and the period was known as the English reformation.
In 1545, the catholic reformation began as a reaction to the protestant rebellion. The Catholic Church acknowledged some of the worldly ways of its clergy therefore; it sought to address this in efforts to restore the church’s glory as the sole true church. It wished to prevent further split of the church and swaying of her faithful to the newly formed protestant denominations.
Structural reforms enacted by the church established seminaries that would offer proper training for priests to adhere to Christian life and theological tradition of the church. Religious life was reformed to reflect spiritual foundations and spiritual movements that focused on establishing a personal relationship with Christ were formed. These included the Spanish Mystics and the French school of spirituality. The other reform was on political activities and included the formation and adaptation of the Roman inquisition to implement Christian values and punish waywardness (Tylor 421).
New religious orders were instituted. These were the Capuchins, Ursulines, Theatines, Discalced, Carmelites, the Barnabites and Jesuits. The Jesuits in particular increased presence of rural parishes, targeted corruption in the church and generally set examples to be emulated by the entire Christian community.
Russia’s Tsardom
The first Tsar of Russia, Ivan the 4th, was crowned in 1547. He promulgated the Sudebnik laws in 1550, establishing Russia’s first feudal body. Ivan annexed three parts of the disintegrated Golden horde, thereby doubling the already large territory of Russia. The annexed parts: Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian Khanate transformed Russia into a multiethnic and transcontinental state (McConnell 32).
Discovery and Trade
The age of discovery began in the 15th century into the 17th century. Countries of Europe were up travelling by sea in search of new lands and trading commodities. The rise in trade was sparked by growing capitalism, which emphasized accumulation and expansion of capital and means of production. This era was also marked with the rise of mercantilism, which emphasized trade in bullion; gold and silver. Therefore, traders rose in search of these precious commodities. This led to discovery of lands unknown to them such as the Americas and India. Contacts with the otherwise isolated parts of the world led to globalization.
The European traders and explorers had to search for new routes because the already existing ones were controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Muslims. These were viewed as impediments to commercial activities and were avoided (Mead 231).
The Commercial Revolution
The period of the commercial revolution experienced increased economic expansion, mercantilism and colonialism. The discovery of commodities that were rare in Europe such as silk and spices created a desire among European merchants in the trade of these goods. The discoveries made by the European Nations, international trade networks were put in place in the area.
Mercantilism thrived very well in Europe in the 16th and the 18th centuries as the predominant school of thought. This period oversaw substantial government control of the economy and significant rise of capitalism. Among its features, it emphasized utilization of land for agriculture and mining. Raw materials were to be used within the domestic economy for manufacture of goods. It encouraged large working populations, therefore, calling for annexation of new lands and slavery for cheap labor. It prohibited export of gold and silver and importing of foreign goods apart from raw materials.
Mercantilism held the idea that the level of world trade was fixed and the only way that a country could increase its share of wealth was by taking it from another state. This foresaw wars like those of the Anglo-Dutch and Franco-Dutch in an effort to annex lands. In order to attain raw materials for industrial production, imperialism increased to seize colonies as sources of the much needed raw materials. The colonies were also to provide markets for industrial products and provide cheap labour in industries. To this effect, companies like the imperial British East Africa and the Dutch East India were established. Mercantilism and its beliefs began to lose ground toward the end of the 18th century.
Theories were formulated to deal with economic aspects of the new found wealth. There was increased national interest, with each country hoping to increase its power and national pride through the newly acquired wealth. The period of the commercial revolution was marked with the proliferation of conflicts among countries of Europe in pursuit of national interests, growth of non-manufacturing sector such as banking and insurance industries and an increase in general trade.
The increased explorations can be explained by a number of factors. Scholars of the monetarist orientation believe that the age of exploration was driven by a shortage of bullion. The European economy used silver and gold as currency. Shortage of these had led Europe into an economic depression, so many left on voyages in search of these valuable commodities.
Explorations were also common as a result of conflict that existed between the Muslims and the Iberians in Europe. The Muslims controlled trade routes. Due to the conflicts, Iberians were not allowed access to these routes. Therefore, they sought to navigate and find alternative routes (Reischauer 341).
Piracy
This is the period between mid-17th century and mid-18th century. The pirates also took part in voyages all the way from Bermuda and the Americas to the Indian Ocean and the red sea to rob Muslims and East India Company.
Spanish pirates were joined in the early 18th century by Anglo-American sailors. These sailors found themselves unemployed at the end of the Spanish war of succession. They in turn engaged in massive piracy in the Caribbean, the American east seaboard, the West African coast and the Indian Ocean (Reischauer 365).
Establishment of European States
The period between 15th and 18th century saw the rise of European colonies, strong and centralized governments and the emergence of European nation states that bear today’s states in Europe. The treaty of Westphalia in 1648 brought to an end a number of wars that had crippled the continent for many years. The treaties also were instrumental in establishing sovereign states.
The peace of Westphalia comprises two to peace treaties of Osnabruck and Munster signed in May and October of 1648 respectively. These ended the thirty year’s war in the Holy Roman Empire and the eight year’s war between Spain and the united republic of Netherlands. The peace treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 ended the war between France and Spain (Taylor 122).
The Age of Absolutism
This is the era of unrestrained monarchical power. Institutions such as the church, legislatures and social elites had no say regarding the excesses monarchies at the time. Absolutism came up when feudalism came to an end and its emergence was also facilitated by power integration in a monarchy and decline of influence of the nobility in the region.
French Power
For much of the early modern era, France stood as a superior power in Europe. It engaged in three major wars, all of which it emerged victorious. These were the Franco-Dutch war, the war of the league of Augsburg and the war of Spanish succession. The French king, Louis the 14th believed that kings possessed divine rights as he was crowned by God, therefore, accountable only to him. It thus follows that his was an absolute monarchy.
King Louis established a centralized government whose core purpose was to help remove the remnants of feudalism. Likewise, French culture gained momentum, flourishing over and above that of other states in Europe. Renowned figures of the French culture include Moliere, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine and many others (Haas 98).
The English Civil Wars
Prior to the revolutions, English civil wars were fought as armed conflicts between members of parliaments and those of the royal class. These ended with the victory of the parliamentarian group during the battle of Worcester. With this victory, the domination of the Church of England in Christian worship also acme to an end. The protestant movement was established and consolidated in Ireland.
The overall result of the wars was a mutually agreed precedence that the monarchy would not rule without the consent of parliament. During the ruler-ship of King Charles the 2nd, some monarchies like English and Scottish were restored around 1660. This restoration led to the institution of European parliamentary democracy which is in place till today.
International Balance of Power
Between 1701 and 1714, the Spanish war of succession was fought by a number of European states with the aim thwarting efforts for France to unite with Spain. This was seen as a distortion to the balance of power in the continent to those opposed to the unification. The peace treaty of Utrecht was represented by King Louis the 14th of France and Phillip the 5th of Spain, representatives Queen Anne of Great Britain, and the duke of Savoy. The treaty made it illegitimate for France’s efforts to unite with Spain thereby preserving the balance of power in Europe. Consequently, Spanish supremacy of naval power was superseded by Britain.
Colonial Expansion
Colonialism refers to overseas empires created by European nations. Conies were established to provide raw materials and cheap labour to industries in Europe and as a way of expressing national prestige and superiority by the states in Europe. The more colonies a country had the more prestige it gained from its neighbours. Colonialism facilitated the growth of Christianity to the spheres of influence in the sub-Saharan Africa, Philippines among others.
Pope Alexander the 6th was in charge of the newly discovered land which was founded between Spain and Portugal and divided it accordingly. However, this division was disputed by England and France. Great Britain claimed colonies in North America and the West Indies. Those of North America rebelled against British rule in 1733 opposing heavy taxation. The thirteen colonies under British rule formed what was popularly known as British America. This existed as the case until 1783 when they were granted independence by the treaty of Paris. With independence, these states became the original states of the United States of America (Grosvenor 341).
The treaty of Tordesillas had allotted Spain central and southern America. It thus built its empire in the regions, which were rich with human and material resources and large amounts of silver and gold. Portugal built its empire in the relatively resource-lacking Brazil. To compensate for the lack of resources, the Portuguese developed the land for the production of sugar.
The Ottoman Empire concentrated its activities in northern Africa. Between 1519 and 1551, it seized Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli. The Solomonic dynasty ruled east Africa into the modern era. The Songhai Empire took control of the trans-Saharan trade seizing the towns of Timbuktu and Jenne in 1468 and 1473 respectively. The empire made Islam the official religion in the area (Lapidus 189).
In India, the Great Mughai Empire rose in 1526 as an Islamic Persianate. It ruled most parts of India as Hindustan until the early 18th century. The empire dominated most of south and west Asian territories and exhibited remarkable orderliness in governance, economic prosperity and religious diversification.
17th Century Philosophy
The 17th century philosophy marked the break from medieval and occultist approach. During this period, great philosophers emerged in Europe in systems of epistemology, metaphysics, logic, politics and physical sciences. The philosophers were widely categorized into rationalists and empiricists. Great advances in modern science were witnessed in the mid 17th century with the invention of the theory of gravity by Isaac Newton. This era also marked the age of reason and enlightenment that flourished up to the 19th century (Tylor 167).
Enlightenment began in France led by philosophers such as Voltaire and Montesquieu. It spread over to Germany leading to the rise of German philosophy with Immanuel Kant as a leading philosopher. These were influential in philosophical developments in Scotland, Russia and Poland.
End of the Early Modern Era
The early period is presumed to have ended in the late 18th century with the beginning of revolutions. This period was succeeded by a number of political changes in Europe, the Napoleonic wars in France, the reorganization of Europe following the redrawing of the map of Europe, the emergence of new nationalism and the beginning of industrial revolution.
Conclusion
The early modern era in Europe was characterized by a number of events, most conflicts in the political and religious fronts. These conflicts were necessary and instrumental in shaping the continent and establishing the much needed balance of power. The conflicts on Christianity oversaw the establishment of a decentralized religious system that cater for spiritual needs of various groups, thus avoiding any more conflicts as witnessed to date.
The political-cum economic conflicts led to the establishment of concrete and self sufficient states that have maintained European stability to date. The treaty of Westphalia is one significant achievement of the early modern era whose contribution to the establishment of peace still applies in to date. Therefore, we can conclude that this era were important in establishing viable institutions that have continued to run the world peacefully.
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