Introduction to Politics, Political Theory, and War
The Early Modern period in Europe (lasting from about 1500 to the late 1700s) was a time of profound shifts, both politically and militarily. At the beginning of the 1500s, Europe was coming out of the Middle Ages as a set of profoundly agrarian societies, all majority Catholic, with people who rarely left their own environs. The Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment all heralded a sea change in not only how ordinary people went about their daily lives, but also how and why wars were fought, and the ways in which government and the role of a monarch should function.
One of the largest conflicts in the first half of the seventeenth century was the Thirty Years’ War, which, though mostly fought in the German lands, involved all of Europe at one point or another. A major player in the Thirty Years’ War was the Catholic Habsburg family, who were the Holy Roman Emperors. However, many of the German lands under their control were Protestant, and disliked being under Catholic control. The Habsburgs, for their part, attempted to re-Catholicize their lands at various points in time, which only served to inflame tensions in the region.
Throughout this period, ruling dynasties such as the Habsburgs and Medicis were able to solidify their power through marriage, savvy negotiation, and conquest. The Medicis not only had effective control over the papacy from the late fifteenth century to the early seventeenth, they also connected themselves to other ruling dynasties in Europe, including those in France and Spain, by way of marriage. This also shored up alliances based on Catholicism between various regions of Italy, France, and Spain.
In France, quite a few Medicis married into the royal family, including Catherine de’ Medici’s marriage to King Henry II, and Marie de’ Medici’s marriage to Henry IV. Louis XIV, one of the most influential rulers of the early modern period, also had Medici blood, as he was Henry IV and Marie de’ Medici’s grandson. Louis XIV is known for consolidating French monarchial power through weakening of the clergy and nobility, and reforming French government and society. This type of governing was known as absolutism, where the monarch has ultimate power, and typically justifies this through the concept of the “divine right” of kings.
Absolute monarchy was less successful elsewhere, as in the case of England. Though King James I and VI and his son Charles I both tried to wield absolute power, they were limited by Parliament. In response, Charles abolished Parliament and attempted to rule alone, before being forced to re-call them so he could raise an army, a move that led to his eventual execution and the establishment of the Interregnum period in the British Isles, introducing a somewhat new form of government to Europe. This period ended after Oliver Cromwell's death, returning the Stuarts to the throne through the Glorious Revolution, when Parliament invited Protestants William and Mary of Orange (also a Stuart) to overthrow the Catholic King James II and VII.
Summary based on Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789 by Merry Wiesner-Hanks (see bibliography page)
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