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Book No. – 48 (History)
Book Name – Western Civilisation: Their History and Their Culture (Edward Mcnall)
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1. ECONOMIC, RELIGIOUS, AND POLITICAL TESTS
2. A HALF CENTURY OF RELIGIOUS WARS
3. YEARS OF TREMBLING
4. QUESTS FOR LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS
5. LITERATURE AND THE ARTS
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LANGUAGE
A Century of Crisis for Early-Modern Europe (1560-1660)
Chapter – 15
Table of Contents
- On the night before St. Bartholomew’s Day in August 1572, Catherine de Medici, the Catholic queen mother of France, authorized the ambush of French Protestant leaders in Paris.
- Protestants attending a wedding were stabbed in bed or thrown from windows during the night.
- After the targeted Protestants were eliminated, Parisian Catholics took the opportunity to kill indiscriminately, targeting Protestants and others.
- By morning, the River Seine was clogged with corpses, and bodies hung from gibbets, marking the event known as the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day.
- This massacre was not an isolated event; religious mayhem and violence between Protestants and Catholics recurred throughout Europe from 1560 to 1660.
- Religious riots were often accompanied by economic hardships and prolonged wars, creating a century of crisis for European civilization.
- The early-modern period (1560-1660) resembled the late Middle Ages, but it was less uniform in nature and extent.
- Economic issues included price inflation (1560-1600), which disproportionately affected the poor, and a period of economic stagnation with regional exceptions.
- The main theme of political history during this period was intense warfare, but causes of war varied greatly by time and place, with some regions experiencing intervals of peace.
- The period from 1560 to 1660 is described as Western Europe’s “iron century”, marked by enormous turbulenceand severe trials.
ECONOMIC, RELIGIOUS, AND POLITICAL TESTS
- For nearly a century before 1560, most of the West experienced steady economic growth, and the discovery of the New World promised greater prosperity.
- By 1560, signs of economic and political troubles began to emerge, leading to storms of crisis.
- The great price inflation was unprecedented, with significant increases in grain prices in Flanders, Paris, and England from 1550 to 1600.
- This period of inflation is called the “price revolution”, as it had never been seen before.
- Two major explanations for the inflation are demographic growth and the influx of bullion from Spanish America.
- Europe’s population grew from 50 million in 1450 to 90 million by 1600, increasing demand for food and driving up prices.
- The influx of silver from Mexico and Bolivia after 1560 significantly increased the money supply, further fueling inflation.
- Entrepreneurs and landlords profited from inflation, while laboring people suffered as wages rose more slowly than prices.
- Higher prices for food staples disproportionately impacted the poor, leading to starvation during disasters like wars or poor harvests.
- The economic stagnation after 1600, following the price revolution, saw limited growth across Europe, with regions like Holland bucking the trend.
- Rich people generally maintained their wealth, but poor people saw no improvements, and their conditions worsened due to destructive wars and high taxes.
- Wars during this time, driven by religious rivalries, were inevitable. Catholics and Protestants viewed each other as enemies of the faith and fought to eliminate the other.
- Religious uniformity was enforced by states, believing that the government would fail if religious diversity persisted.
- Civil wars often broke out, with both sides believing victory was only possible through extermination of the other.
- Provincial and constitutional grievances also played a role in the turmoil. Many territories had been annexed by larger states, leading to resentment over absentee rule.
- Governments trying to enforce financial and religious policies sought to eliminate provincial autonomy, provoking rebellions.
- These rebellions often had patriotic, economic, or religious motivations, contributing to the turbulence of the period between 1560 and 1660.