WHI.32

media type="custom" key="29537129" align="right" = = =Explain the role of religion in the wars among European nations in the 15th and 16th centuries.=
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** Topics on the Page **

 * Overview of the Wars **
 * England **
 * **Henry VIII**
 * **Elizabeth I**
 * France **
 * ** Catherine de Medici **
 * Spain **
 * **Philip II**
 * **Dutch Declaration of Independence**
 * Germany **
 * **The Thirty Years' War**

** Overview **
The Protestant Reformation posed a serious threat to the Catholic Church in Europe in the 16th century. Because the religious and political spheres of the time overlapped significantly, the tension between these two religious groups provoked persecution, violence, and military operations within and among European nations.

Click here for a flowchart and brief overview of the religious wars in Europe.

Click here for a brief time table of the 1500's

England
One of the most prominent examples of religious tension in England was during the [|English Reformation], which took place during the 16th century. This resulted in the separation of the Church of England from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. Click here for an overview of the English Reformation.


 * The reformation began with King Henry VIII when he attempted to divorce his wife, Catherine because she could not produce a male heir.
 * This was an issue because the Church did not believe in divorce nor allow it. If Henry sought a divorce, the Church could excommunicate him, which meant he could never go to Heaven.
 * When his appeal to the Pope was denied, Henry ordered the Archbishop of Canterbury to grant him a divorce, so that he could marry another woman.
 * This led England to break away from the Catholic Church in Rome, effectively placing Henry as the head of the church in England. In 1534, Parliament made Henry Supreme Head of the Church.
 * Henry then aimed to dissolve the monasteries through his government officials, who went around searching for information to close down the monastaries. This was headed by chief minister, [|Thomas Cromwell]
 * [|This] video discusses the ascension of Queen Elizabeth to the throne, and the feud with Scotland

**France**
[|This] website discusses the French Wars of Religion [|Map] shows the day by day moves in the Wars of Religion and gives a small explanation of significance.
 * The French Protestants (known as Huguenots) represented a fairly small portion of the country's population but controlled much of the government's most politically active areas. Because of this, the Huguenots were disproportionately powerful in France.


 * As the Huguenots began to assert their power for religious tolerance, Catholic aristocrats in France fought back, starting a chain of violent battles and failed peace agreements.

The Catholic monarchy, led by regent Catherine de Medici, attempted to keep a balance of power between both sides so that neither would become more powerful than her and her family. However, a poorly calculated move by de Medici sparked the Catholics to start the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572), killing over twenty thousand Protestants.



Click [|here] for an eye-witness account of the massacre.

Click here to learn more about Catherine de Medici, wife of Henry II. of France, one of history's most important female political figures.


 * Fighting continued for another decade and a half.
 * In an attempt to restore balance to France and end the wars, Protestant King Henry of Navarre converted to Catholicism shortly after his coronation as King Henry IV of France, knowing that he would never reach his aims as a Protestant, famously saying "Paris is worth a mass."
 * In 1598, Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes, which would allow Protestants to worship publicly, assemble, attend school and hold public office. Although the Edict legally ended the violence, Catholics still harbored negative feelings toward Protestants.
 * [|Explanation] of the Edict of Nantes

To learn more about the French Religious Wars and King Henry IV, watch this video.

Read more on King Henry's quotation:

Click here for a map of the Religious and Political Divisions of France, 1585-1598.

Official Text of the Edict of Nantes (1598)

**Spain**
King Philip II of Spain (1556-1598) believed himself to be the great defender of Catholicism in Europe. During his rule, Philip II focused his efforts primarily against the Islamic Ottoman Empire and the Protestant Netherlands.

Fearing the spread of Islam across the Mediterranean, Philip II and his powerful navy lead a campaign to hold off an invasion by the Ottoman Turks. His victory greatly diminished the threat of Ottoman control by exposing the fallibility of its navy.

Bolstered by his victory over the great Muslim power, Philip II turned to the growing Protestant population in Europe. His first attack was on the Netherlands, a Spanish territory where Protestantism had firmly taken root. Unfortunately for Spain, the attempted imposition of Catholicism on the Dutch served to energize Calvinists throughout the provinces, leading them to revolt against their Spanish rulers. Queen Elizabeth I of England allied her Protestant nation with the Dutch rebels.



Click [|here] to see Dutch Declaration of Independence signed 1581. [|This] video discusses in depth the Dutch Revolt.

After the execution of Mary I, Queen of Scots, Philip saw no more hope for a peaceable conversion to Catholicism. Queen Mary's Catholic routes threatened England's Protestantism. Click [|here] for a biography of Mary, Queen of Scots. Click here to learn more about Elizabeth I, the Queen of England at the time of the defeat of the Armada. in England. The famous Spanish Armada was sent to England in the hopes of an invasion, resulting in a for Catholic Spain. The defeat gave new hope to Protestants throughout Europe.

To hear Elizabeth I's speech in 1588 about the Spanish Armada, click here. [|Here] is a lesson for the British defeat of the Spanish Armada

Click [|here] for an interactive game about Elizabeth I.

**Germany**
Germany was the site of the Thirty Years' War, a conflict that whilst the fighting was generally restricted to Germany, affected all of Europe. (Note: Germany was not the unified country it is now in the 17th century. Instead it was made up of many small states with separate rulers.)


 * Between 1560 and 1715, Europe witnessed only thirty years of international peace. The greatest "international" conflict of the period was the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), a war that had its origins in the complicated religious and political environment of the period.


 * Beginning with the Defenestration of Prague, the Thirty Years' War was an issue of succession.
 * The next person in line for the throne of Bohemia, Ferdinand, was Catholic, and many feared he would change the drastically order of the state.
 * Throughout the Thirty Years' War, many countries were involved, including France and Spain. Ending the war, the Peace of Westphalia allowed for the rulers of states to choose which religion they want to rule with.


 * Martin Luther and his 95 theses were the foundation for Lutheranism, a severe break from accepted church doctrine on the transaction of indulgences, essentially church-affiliated purchases of salvation, and led to the formation of Lutheranism.
 * This new way of viewing man's relationship with God and the clergy represented a fundamental aspect of the conflicts among nations and between religions, especially in Germany, during the 15th and 16th centuries.
 * John Calvin, on the other hand, broke in the opposite direction, instead positing the laws of God must be unquestionably obeyed by those hoping for salvation, but still adhering to a a deterministic view, claiming most men are damned no matter how pious they are in life.
 * The contrast of these two dynamics of belief only added vigor to the ongoing wars. More information on Luther and Calvin's influence upon the religious-based conflicts of the time can be found here.

Click [|here] to watch a video of the Thirty Years War Click here for a timeline of the Thirty Years War



Works Cited: The Wars of Religion. Retrieved March 1, 2007, from Discovery and Reformation Web site: [|http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REFORM/WARS.HTM]

St. Bart's Massacre. Retrieved March 1, 2007, Web site: [|http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REFORM/WARS.HTM]

The Wars of Religion-Spain. Retrieved February 28, 2008. Web site: [|http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REFORM/WARS.HTM]

Painting of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre by François Dubois. Retrived March 7, 2000, from Wikipedia: []

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zObXSVvliAs

Edict of Nantes. Retrieved February 20, 2010. Web site:http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/nantes.html

Kreis, Steven. "The History Guide: Lectures on Early Modern European History". Retrieved February 24th, 2013 from: @http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/lecture6c.html