Chapter 14: Religious Wars and State Building
Chapter Summary
The Age of Religious Wars was a period of economic hardships and religious turmoil that affected almost every European state. We could say that this century was a century of crisis. Catholics fought Protestants and nations fought nations in bloody battles that seemed to go on without end.
There is little doubt that the Protestant Reformation, and the fury of religious debate and enthusiasm it released, was directly responsible for a century of religious wars. No one stood immune from the Lutheran challenge -- indeed, the answer to the question of which Church one ought to belong could mean life or death. In such an atmosphere, religious conflict was certain, despite the fact that most people were caught surprised by the wars of religion which greeted the end of the 16th century and for most of the 17th century. Religious unity was now gone and the men and women of Europe bore the scars of that loss.
Political theorists penned treatises that ran the full gamut of emotions. The theorists among the French Huguenots and English Puritans argued in favor of human liberty and institutional change that would preserve that liberty. At the same time, Jean Bodin in France, and Thomas Hobbes in England, attacked the question of government by arguing for an absolutist government that would bring about peace and order.
By the end of the 16th century, Spain had been humiliated by their defeat at the hands of the English in the Spanish Armada, and the Netherlands had declared themselves free from Spanish influence. The Spanish "seaborne empire" was about to collapse as English and Dutch shipping came to dominate global trade. And in the middle of the 17th century the English found themselves in the midst of civil war, a war that resulted in the beheading of Charles I in 1649, and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell.
But all was not lost. The Iron century also produced great literary treasures: in England William Shakespeare wrote his plays and sonnets and John Milton composed Paradise Lost; in Spain Cervantes wrote his Don Quixote; and in France, Montaigne composed his Essays which combined the very best of the literature of all ages.
Section Menu
Chapter 
Organize
Learn
Connect
Instructors now have an easy way to collect students’ online quizzes with the Norton Gradebook without flooding their inboxes with e-mails.
Students can track their online quiz scores by setting up their own Student Gradebook.