Introduction I n the 15th century observers such as the philosopher and clerical statesman Nicholas of Cusa suggested that the Middle Age had attained its conclusion and a new era had begun The Papacy the symbol of the spiritual unity of Christendom had lost much of its prestige in the Great Western Schism a period from 1378 to 1417 in which there were two and later three rival popes Lay ideals in the Italian peninsula also began to affect the Papacy In the 16th century the Protestant Reformation reacted against the worldliness and corruption of the Holy See and the Roman Catholic church responded in its turn by a revival of piety known as the Counter-Reformation While the forces that were to erupt in the Protestant movement were gathering strength the narrow horizons of the Old World were wid ened by the expansion of Europe to America and the East The 16th century in Europe was a period of vigorous economic expansion This expansion in turn played a major role in the many other transformations social political and cultural of the early modern age By 1500 the population in most areas of Europe was increasing after two centuries of decline or stagnation The bonds of commerce within 8
The Council of Constance took action to end the Great Western Schism an event that contributed to the papacy losing some influence in the late Middle Ages 9
The emergence of modern europe Europe tightened The great geographic discoveries then in process were integrating Europe into a world economic system New commodities many of them imported from recently discovered lands enriched material life Both trade and the production of goods increased as a result of new ways of organizing production Merchants entrepreneurs and bankers accumulated and manipulated capital in unprec edented volume Most historians locate in the 16th century the beginning or at least the maturing of Western capital ism Capital assumed a major role not only in economic orga nization but also in political life and international relations Culturally new values many of them associated with the Renaissance and Reformation diffused through Europe and changed the ways in which people acted and the perspec tives by which they viewed themselves and the world This world of early capitalism however can hardly be regarded as stable or uniformly prosperous Financial crashes were common the Spanish crown the heaviest borrower in Europe suffered repeated bankruptcies in 1557 1575 77 1596 1607 1627 and 1647 The poor and destitute in soci ety became if not more numerous at least more visible Even as capitalism advanced in the West the once-free peasants of central and eastern Europe slipped into serfdom The appar ent prosperity of the 16th century gave way in the middle 10
InTroducTIon and late periods of the 17th century to a general crisis in many European regions Politically the new centralized states insisted on new levels of cultural conformity on the part of their subjects Several states expelled Jews and almost all of them refused to tolerate religious dissenters Culturally in spite of the revival of ancient learning and the reform of the churches a hysterical fear of witches grasped large segments of the population including the learned Understandably historians have had difficulty defining the exact place of this complex century in the course of European development In western Europe nation-states emerged under strong monarchical governments breaking down local immunities and destroying the unity of the European respublica Chris tiana Christian republic Centralized bureaucracy came to replace medieval government Underlying economic changes affected social stability Secular values prevailed in politics and the concept of a balance of power came to dominate international relations Diplomacy and warfare were conducted by new methods Sovereigns established permanent embassies in other states and on the battlefield standing armies of professional and mercenary soldiers took the place of the feudal array that had reflected the social structure of the past At the same time scientific discoveries cast doubt on the traditional cosmology The systems of 11
