for the next century.
As Spain focused on western exploration and its empire in the New World, the Portuguese continued their domination of coastal Africa,
the Indian Ocean, and the Spice Islands. A small country with limited manpower, Portugal had to be content as the middleman of a “oating
empire.” It was an early player in the transatlantic slave trade, controlled sea routes, and garrisoned trading posts, but was unable to exert
control over large sections of the interior of Africa and India. Inevitably, Portugal could not maintain control of its far-ung colonies and lost
control of them to the Dutch and British who had faster ships with heavier guns.
The international importance of Spain grew under Charles V, who inherited a large empire. Charles was a Hapsburg, a family that
originated in Austria and, through a series of carefully arranged marriages (recall that divine right promoted intermarriage among royalty),
created a huge empire stretching from Austria and Germany to Spain. While one set of Charles’s grandparents were Hapsburgs, his other
grandparents were Ferdinand and Isabella, who themselves had married to solidify the Spanish empire. Talk about family connections.
Anyway, in 1519, Charles was elected Holy Roman Emperor by German princes, which meant that he then held lands in parts of France,
the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany in addition to Spain. These possessions, plus the new colonies in the Americas, brought wars as well
as riches. Spain fought France for control of Italy and the Ottoman Turks for control of eastern Europe, which led to an expansion of
Ottoman rule into much of Hungary (more on that later). In Germany, Charles defended Catholicism from the encroachment of Protestantism
(recall that Spain was allied with the Catholic Church during the counter-reformation). Frustrated over trying to manage such an enormous
empire at a time of expansion in the New World and revolution in Europe (the Protestant Reformation and Scientic Revolution, for
example), he decided in 1556 to retire to a monastery and thereby abdicate the throne. He gave control to his brother, Ferdinand I, over
Austria and the Holy Roman throne of Germany. To his son, Philip II, he conferred the throne of Spain and jurisdiction over Burgundy (in
France), Sicily, and the Netherlands as well as Spain’s claim in the New World. We’ll talk more about Ferdinand’s half of the empire later in
this chapter. Phillip II also gained control over Portugal.
Under Philip II, the Spanish Empire in the west saw some of its greatest expansion in the New World and a rebirth of culture under the
Spanish Renaissance, but it also started showing signs of decay. A devoutly religious man, Philip oversaw the continuation of the Spanish
Inquisition to oust heretics, led the Catholic Reformation against Protestants, and supported an increase in missionary work in the ever-
expanding empire in the New World. Increasingly Protestant and increasingly eager to develop their own empire, the Dutch (of the
Netherlands) revolted. By 1581, the mostly protestant northern provinces of the Netherlands gained their independence from Spain and
became known as the Dutch Netherlands. The mostly Catholic southern provinces remained loyal to Spain (this region would later become
Belgium).
Exhibiting further signs of weakness, Spanish forces ghting for Catholicism in France fared poorly, and to the shock of many Spaniards,
the English defeated and devastated the once mighty Spanish Armada as it tried to attack the British Isles. The defeat invigorated the English,
who by the late sixteenth century were expanding their own empire, and signaled containment of Spanish forces.
Although Spain amassed enormous sums of gold from the New World, it spent its wealth quickly on wars, missionary activities, and
maintenance of its huge eets. By the mid-seventeenth century, Spain still had substantial holdings, but its glory days had passed. England
and France were well poised to replace it as the dominant European powers.
2. England
As you read above in the discussion regarding the Protestant Reformation, King Henry VIII, who ruled from 1509 to 1547, nullied the
pope’s authority in England, thereby establishing (under the Act of Supremacy) the Church of England and placed himself as head of that
church. This was so that he could divorce his wife and marry Anne Boleyn in an eort to father a male heir. He didn’t succeed in getting a
male heir. Instead, he got another daughter, Elizabeth I, who oversaw a golden age in the arts known as the Elizabethan Age.
The Elizabethan Age (1558–1603) boasted commercial expansion and exploration and colonization in the New World, especially after the
English eet destroyed the Spanish Armada in 1588. During this time, the Muscovy Company was founded as the rst joint-stock company,
and the British East India Company quickly followed suit. Drake circumnavigated the globe. The rst English colonists settled in Roanoke
colony in present-day Virginia. And to top it all o, Shakespeare wrote his masterpieces. Simply put, England under Elizabeth experienced a
golden age.
The religious battles that were unleashed by the Protestant Reformation still unsettled the region. Anglicans (Church of England) were
battling Catholics, while other Protestant groups such as the Puritans were regularly persecuted. When James I came to power in 1607 after
the death of Elizabeth, a reign that brought together the crowns of England and Scotland, he attempted to institute reforms to accommodate
the Catholics and the Puritans, but widespread problems persisted. The Puritans (who were Calvinists) didn’t want to recognize the power of
the king over religious matters, and James reacted defensively, claiming divine right. It was at this point that many Puritans decided to cross
the Atlantic. The Pilgrims cross to Plymouth colony (1620) occurred during James’s reign. Jamestown colony, as you might have guessed, was
also founded during the reign of James I. The English aren’t known for their innovative place names.
Charles I, son of James, rose to power in 1625. Three years later, desperate for money from Parliament, he agreed to sign the Petition of
Right, which was a document limiting taxes and forbidding unlawful imprisonment. But Charles ignored the petition after he secured the
funds he needed and, claiming divine right, ruled without calling another meeting of parliament for eleven years.
In 1640, when Scotland’s resentment toward Charles resulted in a Scottish invasion of England, Charles was forced to call Parliament into
session. Led by Puritans, this Parliament was known as the Long Parliament because it sat for twenty years from 1640 through 1660. The
Long Parliament limited the absolute powers of the monarchy. In 1641, the parliament denied Charles’s request for money to ght the Irish
rebellion, and in response he led troops into the House of Commons to arrest some of the members. This sparked a civil war. Parliament
raised an army, called the Roundheads, to ght the king. The Roundheads, under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, defeated the armies of
Charles I, who were called Cavaliers. The king was tried and executed. Oliver Cromwell rose to power, not as a monarch, but as Lord
Protector of what was called the English Commonwealth.
When Cromwell ruled as Protector, he ruled with religious intolerance and violence against Catholics and the Irish. He encouraged
Protestants to settle in Northern Ireland (this would cause many problems in future centuries). All of this caused much resentment, and after
Cromwell died, Parliament invited Charles II, the exiled son of the now-beheaded Charles I, to take the throne and restore a limited
monarchy. This is called the Stuart Restoration (1660–1688). A closet Catholic, Charles II acknowledged the rights of the people, especially
with regard to religion. In 1679, he agreed to the Habeas Corpus Act (which protects people from arrests without due process). Following
Charles II’s death, his brother James II took over.
James II was openly Catholic, and he was unpopular. Like so many before him, he believed in the divine right of kings. In a bloodless
change of leadership known as the Glorious Revolution, he was driven from power by Parliament, who feared he’d make England a Catholic
country, and he ed to France. He was replaced in 1688 by his son-in-law and daughter, William and Mary, the Protestant rulers of the