AP European History

EHAP Review

The Centralization of Political Power

England

Existing System of Government in England

• Local administration members of the gentry (not technically members of the nobility, but still had large estates and were dominant political figures) were chosen to become JPs. The JPs were voluntary unpaid officials that served as the principal public servant in the more than forty counties. Since the gentry wanted appointments for reasons of status, the king could always count on their support.
• Lawmaking though the Parliament grew in power, it always remained subordinate to the crown. Nevertheless, the English kings knew that they couldn’t take severe measures without its consent. The Parliament contributed to the unification of the country, even though it took away power from kings.
• Judiciary the common law (based on the interpretations and precedents made by individual judges), not Roman law was in effect, and traveling judges administered it. This helped unify the country as well.

Changes made by Henry VII and Henry VIII

• Henry VII founder of the Tudor dynasty, Henry VII came to power shortly after the War of Roses, a civil war that weakened the nobles greatly. He was a conservative, and strengthened the crown by applying the traditional methods, such as:
  1. He carefully built up funds without overtaxing his subjects; he put collection and revenue in the hands of a small, efficient group of his officials. Avoided foreign entanglements.
  2. He increased the power of the JPs and had the Star Chamber (a group of royal councilors) resume hearing appeals, which strengthened royal power and decreased noble power because nobles could no longer control the local courts.
  3. Henry VIII tended to enact more radical measures than did his father, such as:
  4. In 1513 he beat invading Scottish army @ Flodden, near England’s north border.
  5. Decided to break with the Roman Catholic Church after advice from Thomas Cromwell. This had the effect of stimulating the economy since church funds stayed in the country and the church lands were annexed. It also greatly strengthened the Parliament and gave it more responsibility.
  6. The break with the Church also had the effect of making a reorganization of the administration necessary. They made six departments, each with specific functions. Cromwell was the executive of the councils. A Privy Council was also established, consisting of the king’s advisers.

France

Existing System of Government in France

• Local administration there was no real system for local government, and aristocrats were virtually independent rulers until the new monarchs came along.
• Royal administration had three departments: the Chancery (had charge of formal documents), the Treasury ($), and the Parlement of France (the court of law). Roman law was used, which helped the king because the monarch was then able to issue ordinances.
• Lawmaking representative assemblies, known as Estates, limited the throne’s power because the estates had to approve measures made by the king before they were enacted. The throne was forced to negotiate with the estates, especially to raise taxes. Nevertheless, the Estates never were as powerful as the English Parliament. The taxes (the sales tax, hearth tax, and salt tax) all went to the crown and after 1451, they could be collected on the king’s authority alone.
• Army unlike the English, they had a standing army that was rarely used but always a threat, so it increased the king’s power. However, it took an enormous amount of funding.

Changes made by Louis XI and Charles VIII

• Louis XI began his reign after the Hundred Years War, which weakened the crown. At the beginning of his reign, there was anarchy, and the king had no power. However, changes he made reestablished the crown’s power. For example:
  1. He beat Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who was Charles V great-grandfather (ick!) and he then reannexed Burgundy except for the Low Countries, which the duke’s daughter kept.
  2. Nicknamed “the spider” because, using his diplomatic tactics, he annexed so much crap.
• Charles VIII he began the invasion of Italy, which was eventually a failure, since the Hapsburgs kicked his butt. However, it did provide a distraction for the restless and aggressive nobles.

Changes made by Louis XII, Francis I and Henri II

• Louis XII began reign after Charles VIII and before Francis I. He made many changes, including:
  1. He increased the size and complexity of the administration.
  2. Adopted the sale of offices (simony) that stimulated social mobility and corruption.
  3. Due to the fact that the clergy and nobles were exempt from taxation, the crown was forced to rely on the lower classes, which couldn’t provide enough money to upkeep the standing army and the country. So, under Louis XII, the country began taking loans from banks (Fugger).
• Francis I took over after Louis XII, made most changes of any new monarch in France, such as:
  1. Gaining power over the Church with the Concordat of Bologna (1516), which allowed him to make appointments, and, though it was not stated, it effectively allowed him to control the Church without breaking from it (see Henry VIII).
  2. He began a major reorganization of the government. He legalized the sale of offices, formed and inner council and centralized all tax gathering and accounting responsibilities in 1523.
  3. He passed the lit de justice, which states that if an assembly is delaying passing a monarch’s law the monarch can then appear before the assembly and make it the law.
  4. During his reign the Estates General stopped meeting and consequently lost influence.
  5. After his reign, the monarchy was the strongest that it had ever been. Unfortunately, the advent of the Reformation screwed everything up again – Calvinism!
• Henry II son of Francis I. Under his rule, the French finally lost the Italian war to the Hapsburgs.

Spain

Existing System of Government in Spain

• The Iberian Peninsula was divided into three different sections, as follows:
  1. Portugal in midst of its overseas exploration.
  2. Castile the largest and richest area. It was still fighting the Muslims on its Southern frontier. This led to nobles gaining a lot of political power.
  3. Aragon small area same size as Portugal.
• In October 1469 Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand of Sicily, which led to a ten-year civil war which the two monarchs won.

Changes made by Ferdinand and Isabella

• Although Ferdinand and Isabella made no attempt to form a monolithic state (all united) they did somewhat unify Spain into a federation where the nobles lost power.
• Each province was treated differently, and changes were made as follows:
  1. Aragon remained a federation of territories administered by viceroys who were appointed by the king but allowed local customs to remain intact. Each province was allowed to keeps its own representative assembly, called the Cortes.
  2. Castile in Castile, they were determined to assert their superiority and restore order to the countryside (which was screwed up by civil wars). They did this by establishing the Cortes of Castile, an assembly dominated by urban representatives who shared the wish for order since peace helped trade. The Cortes also had tribunals to try criminals.
• They also made general changes, such as:
  1. They overhauled the entire administration by saying that “ability rather than social status should determine appointments.” They kicked out the nobles as local administrators, and replaced them with people from a lesser class of nobility called the hidalgos (similar to gentry in England) who occupied positions called corregidors, which were local judicial officers.
  2. They weakened the clergy and after they got rid of the Muslims in 1492, the Pope allowed them to make appointments. So, by Charles V’s reign they had power over the church.
  3. Also, in 1478, the Pope granted them the power to have an independent Inquisition to kick out all non-Christians, such as the Muslims and Jews. Without other religions, Spain was more united. Plus, the Inquisition, like the Italian wars, kept the nobles busy.
  4. They instituted a sales tax so revenues increased. They were able to this because, like the French, the Spanish taxes could be raised without the Cortes consent.
  5. They instituted Castilian law, which all came from the throne and was similar to Roman law.
  6. After Isabella’s death, Ferdinand concentrated on foreign affairs and reannexed several provinces from France and entered the war in Italy, which under Charles V (Hapsburg) they won against Henry II of France. They won because they had the best standing army.

The Holy Roman Empire under Charles V

• • Charles V was the king of Spain but the Cortes didn’t like him because he requested additional tax funds so that he could take the Spanish troops and try to unify the HRE. So, effectively, he wasted all of Spain’s $ from the new world on stupid wars! Naturally, when Charles V left for war, the poor people revolted but the nobles put down the rebellion before Charles V came back. The nobles sided against the peasants only because along with attacking Charles, they attacked the nobles.
• • After the uprising, he kept his administration entirely Spanish. While he was fighting outside wars, he relied entirely on a skilled administrator, Francisco de los Cobos, who enlarged the administration and the system of councils. He made two types of councils, one of each department of government and the other for each territory ruled. At the head was the Council of State. A federation emerged, like US.
• • Though corruption was widespread, centralization gave monarch lots of power. Spain’s administration was the most detailed, though it was not always the most efficient.
• • Charles’ major problem was $ because he wasted all of it on his stupid wars (like the one against the Ottomans, and all the ones against the Schmalkaldic League in HRE) in Europe. Since Aragon was more independent, the entire tax burden fell on Castile, but Castile did get a monopoly of trade with the New World, which gave them lots of silver. However, the monopoly eventually led to foreign domination since no one else could get the $. Consequently, Philip II had to declare Spain bankrupt several times because of the wars.