Crash Course European History: Religious Reform & State Power

Overview

• Host: John Green
• Topic: Spread of religious reform and state governance in Europe, with a focus on war and religious conflict.

Peace of Augsburg (1555)

• Temporary peace within the Holy Roman Empire.
• Failed to address broader European religious turmoil.

State Centralization and Militarization

• Monarchs began to centralize power to fund modern warfare.
  • Need for money led to better tax collection, piracy, and global expansion.
• Expansion by figures like Ivan the Terrible (Russia) and Suleyman the Magnificent (Ottoman Empire).

Religious Unification

• States aimed for religious unity to stabilize and prosper.
• Legal scholars helped unify state laws.
• "New Monarchs" sought to consolidate power.

Protestant Sect Formation

• Protestant sects promoted radical equality, challenging religious and political hierarchies.
  • Example: Anabaptists and Quakers.

Jean Calvin and Calvinism

• Calvin fled France post-Affair of the Placards (1534).
• Established a theocracy in Geneva; introduced predestination.
  • Strict laws to maintain godly behavior.
• Calvinism spread widely, influencing regions beyond Lutheranism.

Henry VIII and the Church of England

• Used Protestantism to divorce and gain land.
• Formed the Church of England, increasing state power.
  • Combined secular and religious authority.
• Divided citizenry over religious allegiance.

Elizabethan England

• Elizabeth I restored Protestantism after Mary I's Catholic reign.
• Defeated Spanish Armada, maintaining Protestant England.
• Lessons in economics: Expensive wars and inflation issues.

Religious Conflicts in France

• Spread of Calvinism led to conflicts and iconoclasm.
• Civil Wars marked by the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572).

Henry of Navarre and the Edict of Nantes

• Converted to Catholicism for political ease.
• Issued Edict of Nantes (1598) allowing Protestantism.
• Politique approach balanced religious divisions.

Role of Women

• Protestant Reformation encouraged literacy and education for women.
• Female influence in religious and political spheres noted, though contested by figures like Martin Luther.

Conclusion

• Major shifts in religious and political landscapes of Europe.
• Consolidation of power by new monarchs.
• Upcoming topics: Economic and social revolutions, transcontinental slavery system.

Next episode promises to explore commerce, agriculture, urban development, and the impact of slavery on European wealth and devastation.