Outlines for “A History of the Modern World” 9th Edition
Palmer, Colton, and Kramer
Chapter 3: Economic Renewal and Wars of Religion
3.11: The Opening of the Atlantic
1. Introduction
a. The wars of religion
i. Period from 1560-1648 was not just a time of Wars of Religion
1. religion was ‘burning issue’ but also constitutional, economic and social questions arose
2. Lines drawn are not distinct as other motives direct alliances
b. Modern global economic system begins to develop
i. Capitalism, new trade routes, new worlds
2. The Opening of the Atlantic
a. Cross-Atlantic trade was more favorable for Europeans; more devastating for the New World
i. depopulation, slave trade, destruction of cultures
ii. Transformation was experienced on both sides of the new global contacts
iii. Marks the beginning of modern global history
iv. Atlantic was a barrier to Europeans now it’s a bridge
b. Europe’s transformation
i. new commercial class
ii. naval power supercedes land power
iii. population grows
1. with the help of the potato
iv. Euro-centric view of culture
1. cultural relativism
3. The Portuguese in the East
a. Improvements in shipbuilding made ocean going possible
i. 1317 Venetians had established Flanders galleys, to trade with North Sea
ii. rigging of sails
iii. compass (sailors could sail out of sight of land)
iv. mechanical rudder
1. Portuguese colonized Azores in 1450 and discovered Westerlies to return to Europe
v. shared knowledge
b. Trade goods in the east were of superior quality
i. silk, rugs, porcelain, steel
ii. drugs, sugar, spice
c. Two circles of trade existed
i. East of the Mediterranean (Arab)
ii. West of the Mediterranean (Italian cities)
iii. East and West met in Alexandria, Beirut or Constantinople to trade
d. da Gama (Port.) makes his way by sea to India and lands of the Malabar Coast
i. Established commerce is challenged
ii. da Gama returns with military force (21 vessels)
1. War with Arabs, Venetians, Turks ensues
2. Serious atrocities were committed against the “infidel” by the Portuguese
a. Cities torched, prisoners butchered, dismembered hands, noses and ears were sent back as trophies
b. Brahmin mutilated was left alive to bear them to his people
e. Portuguese continue expanding presence east and establish a trade empire
i. Church representatives soon follow
1. St. Francis Xavier baptized thousands in India, Indonesia and Japan in 1550
ii. low cost of sea transport made goods less expensive and demand increased
4. The Discovery of America
a. Columbus sails west to reach the east
b. Difficulty measuring longitude at sea made estimates of distance to east overly optimistic
c. perspectives on the New World were mixed
i. Gold, Glory God
ii. conquistadors fell on existing cultures
iii. mining and disease depopulated natives and slaves replaced them as the labor force
1. 100, 000 brought by 1560 and continued for 200 more years
d. Magellan’s voyage completes the circumnavigation of the globe
i. Found Southwest passage in 1520
ii. Length of southern route prompts northern exploration
e. Spain and Portugal divide trade world between them
i. Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
1. divided the world in half down the middle of the Atlantic
a. east goes to Portugal, west to Spain
2. Cabral
a. Discovered Brazil for Port (within the line of demarcation)
5. The Spanish Empire in America
a. Colonial rule
i. encomienda: natives work for Spanish part time and work their land the rest
1. really a feudal system
ii. White population remained small
1. creoles (American born whites) were looked down upon by Castilians
2. mestizos (mixed White and Indian)
iii. Catholicism
iv. Spanish were less cruel than existing tribes (Aztecs and human sacrifice)
1. but “Black Legend” arose in Europe of their cruelty
v. universities are established in each viceroyalty
1. University of Limas (1551), Mexico (1553)
a. Harvard not established until 1636
vi. Discovery of Potosi silver mines
1. in what is now Bolivia
2. methods of extracting silver by use of mercury at same period as discovery
3. 500, 000 pounds of silver, 10, 000 of gold flowed yearly to Spain
4. helped finance counter reformation
b. Spanish and Portuguese have shared monopoly of ocean trade
c. Northern Europe will have to settle wars of religion before looking to the seas
3.12: The Commercial Revolution
1. Introduction
a. Economic readjustment occurring from overseas trade, population growth, and gradual rise in prices (inflation)
i. Europe’s population total is 90 mil in 1600
1. population growth was largely in the rural areas
a. Eng =5 mil, France=20, Russia=10
i. London and Paris=200, 000
ii. Atwerp, Seville, Lisbon=100
ii. Price revolution
1. population growth caused higher prices for food production
a. new land brought under cultivation was less fertile and production costs rose
2. More money in circulation led to inflation
a. increase in volume of money from debasing
b. increase in gold from new sources
iii. Population growth and economic growth checked inflation
iv. Population growth and inflation stimulated the economies of Europe
v. Commercial Rev.= economic changes in Europe marked by rise of capitalistic economy and transition from town-centered to a nation-centered economic system, occurred very slowly but lasted until Industrial Rev.
2. Changes in Commerce and Production
a. Medieval towns and surrounding area formed an economic unit
b. Guild system
i. Master craftsmen produced articles for locals, peasants produced agricultural products to town
ii. guildsman owned capital (his workbench, tools, house, materials)
iii. Master worked along side his journeymen, apprentices
iv. Still not capitalists
1. produced only upon order
2. little risk, little profit, little innovation
c. Guild masters lack the capital and networking to conduct long distance trade
i. Lacked capital to tie up in stocks of unsold wares, knowledge of distant customers needs, quantities and prices
d. New, middlemen merchants filled the gap between manufactures and consumers
i. Fugger Bankers
1. Johann Fugger, small town weaver moved to Augsburg in 1368
a. Established business in new kind of cloth (called fustian) cotton mixed
b. Began also to deal in spices, silks and invested profits in mining
c. Lent $ to popes, financed Charles V election as HRE in 1519
2. financed Hapsburgs
3. financed Portuguese trade
4. fabulous wealth declined with Hapsburgs
ii. Putting out system
1. English entrepreneurs avoided guild restrictions by putting out work to country people
2. gave them looms, spinners
3. (domestic system)cottage industry
4. Owner of capital distributes the means of production
5. Locals produce small lots of goods
6. owner collects goods and moves them to markets
3. Capital and labor
i. Cottage industry signified a new divergence between capital and labor
ii. Separation of owner from laborer
iii. Larger scale production could be achieved
iv. Guildsmen shift to subcontractors
b. New industries
i. Printing
1. Demand for books increases as literacy increases
2. Printers borrowed from capitalists to meet demands of large overhead
ii. Shipbuilding
iii. Weapons manufacture
1. New Monarchs needed thousands of uniforms, muskets, barracks, fortifications
2. New, larger armies are appearing
3. Uniforms, food, barracks
a. Stimulated “mass production” models of manufacture
iv. Large scale trade created an economic network between European countries
c. New Banking practices
i. Practice of loaning money for interest is called usury
1. forbidden in Medieval as avarice
2. Church officials began to distinguish between usury and “legitimate return”
ii. Feeling of “reasonable” return begins to be accepted
iii. Bank of Amsterdam stimulates economic growth through new business ventures
d. Commercial capitalism
i. Entrepreneur owns the capital, means of production, knows the market
ii. Replaced by industrial capitalism by 1800s
e. Mercantilism
i. Force gold and silver to flow into rulers kingdom (Doctrine of Bullionism)
1. set the poor to work
2. develop new crafts and manufactures
3. favorable balance of trade
a. raise the export of finished goods
b. reduce the export of raw materials
c. reduce import of non-raw material goods
4. establish a favorable balance of trade causing payments of bullion to accrue in the kingdom
ii. achieved through nationwide system of regulations signifies the transition from city to national scale economies
iii. England moves to control guilds
1. Statute of Artificers 1563
a. Regulates the artisans entering the guilds
iv. France
1. keeps guilds around to tax
v. Countries are use national wealth to support merchants
vi. English Poor Law 1601
1. Put indigents, poor, vagabonds, and others to work
2. Relieve destitution created by economic changes
vii. Competition promoted creative steps to develop new industries
1. espionage, importing knowledgeable workers, restrict distribution of “state” industrial secrets
a. 2 Turkish youths who understood the dyeing arts of Middle East were brought to England in 1582
viii. National support allows the development of new economies
1. subsidies for production of desirable goods
2. political protection of fledgling industries
3. tariff system breaks down established “internal” tariffs
4. Organization of national “companies” helped merchants deal with various threats abroad and granted monopolies over trade goods to members
a. Pirates
b. Hostile foreign governments
i. English and Dutch East India Companies
5. Companies began to erode Portuguese and Spanish monopolies in the Americas and Orient
3.13: Changing Social Structures
1. Introduction
a. Social structure refers to the composition, functions, and interrelationships of social classes
b. Major social groups emerging out of the commercial revolution
i. Landed aristocracy
ii. Peasantry
iii. Middle classes
iv. Urban poor
c. The beneficiaries of slow inflation were the peasants that held land and paid lords a set price
d. Those that fared the worst were those dependant on wages
e. Yeoman (freeholders) developed between the landed gentry and the rural poor
f. Large class of unpropertied rural workers remained in poverty
g. Upper landed class members were in mixed situations
i. Fixed rents versus payments in kind
1. could resell wheat at higher price and make profit (if payment in kind)
2. Social Classes
a. Aristocracy
i. Broad spectrum of financial situations
1. began to develop more refined tastes and education
ii. Some looked for appointments in government or the military to increase income
iii. Recent nobility competed with older noble families
1. Older noble ancestry become a badge of status for favored consideration
b. Bourgeoisie
i. Early meaning was group between landed aristocracy and laboring poor
1. originally meant a person living in a town or borough
ii. Later Marx uses bourgeoisie to mean owners of capital
iii. Social lines began to blur
1. Bourgeoisie buying lands in the country
2. Aristocracy buying stock in merchant countries
3. Consciousness of social differences remains
iv. Structure of the middle class
1. Urban elites than ruled the cities
2. Growing middle class of intellectual talent
a. Capable middle class sons might work side by side with younger sons of nobility in government posts
3. Clergy was drawn from all classes but most came from the middle class
4. Guild masters were scattered from top to bottom in the middle class
5. Low middle class included shopkeepers, innkeepers, journeymen
c. The working class (the mass of population)
1. Largely illiterate, unskilled wage laborers, unemployable, paupers
2. Given to irregular habits
3. 1600s saw rise of relief efforts for the poor
a. workhouses
b. hospices
4. Most of the poor worked at menial occupations
a. Fieldwork, livestock, mining, fishing, oddjobbers, domestic service, excrement removers
5. Inflation outpaced wages and the working poor were the hardest hit as the commercial revolution unfolded
3. Social Roles of Education and Government
a. Reformation increased demand for educated clergy
b. Growth of commerce made it necessary to literate workers
c. Growth of government administrations increased need for literate workers
d. Increasing demand for lawyers
e. Early demand for increased literacy was financed by endowments (1580-1640)
i. New school model was advanced “college”
ii. Schools for girls increased to prepare them for participation in more sophisticated court life
iii. Bright minded students were gathered from all segments of the social classes
1. half of Oxford’s students were “plebian”
a. Esquires, gentlemen and clergy making up the rest
f. Governments could influence economic development
i. Granting monopolies
ii. Borrowing
iii. Issuing charters to trading companies
iv. Appointments to government jobs
v. Dispensing privileges
1. Royal court noble, country noble
4. Eastern versus Western Europe
a. West
i. Commercial revolution was advantageous to the middle class
b. East
i. Commercial revolution was advantageous to the upper class
1. benefited from rising prices and market for grain
ii. Lot in life of peasants declines
iii. Junkers (lords of northeast Germany) prosper and control increases as central governments were less defined
1. serfdom called “hereditary subjection” in Germany
a. couldn’t marry, leave, etc. without the lord’s permission
iv. Robot increased
1. Bohemian word for peasant duty to work 3-4 for days a week for lord
a. Called corvee in France
2. peasantry in east sank deeper into serfdom
v. Landlords of the east become deeply entrenched in power with great autonomy
vi. Western peasants are freer
1. becoming small proprietors, fee under the law
2. this is decisive in later history of the two regions
3.14: Philip II and the Counterreformation
1. Philip II (1556-1598)
a. 1556 Charles V abdicates, divides his holdings, and moves to a monastery
b. he tried for 35 years to preserve religious unity of Germany
i. Ferdinand (his brother) gave Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, and HRE
ii. Philip II got Spain, New World, and Spanish Netherlands, Bugundy, Milan, Naples, Tunis