04. The Rise of the Great Powers, 1500-1648

New Monarchy

In The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli advised that effective rulers must do whatever was necessary in order to secure their power and achieve what they saw as the good of the state. To argue his point, Machiavelli cited numerous examples of political successes and failures from the past and his present. Among his contemporaries were several rulers who, because of their ability to achieve their political ends, earned Machiavelli’s admiration. Most notable among them were Henry VII of England, Louis XI and Francis I of France, and Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Twentieth century historians would label these rulers as “New Monarchs.” What made them “new” were their active efforts to weaken feudal restrictions on their power and make their crowns sovereign.

The traditions of feudalism limited the exercise of royal authority. Kings, after all, were feudal lords bound by contract to those noblemen who were their vassals. As it was becoming increasingly clear that wealth meant power, kings sought to increase their wealth. The expanding wealth created by the Commercial Revolution could and should, kings believed, provide increased tax revenues upon which greater power could and should be exercised. Greater royal power would mean greater stability within a state, something much wanted by the middle class of merchants and artisans. Internal stability would enable trade and wealth to expand. The nobility, on the other hand, did not want to lose their right under feudal law to consent to royal taxes and insisted that the royal power to tax be limited. The nobility also did not want to lose the political and military autonomy feudalism allowed them. On the background of this divergence of interests nobles were inclined to take up arms to protect their ancient rights and liberties. Feudal warfare created chaotic conditions that disrupted commerce. Thus the middle class became the natural ally of kings. Kings wanted to establish law and order. The middle class wanted law and order established. In both England and France New Monarchy emerged from the chaos of feudal warfare.

In rejecting the restrictions of feudalism, New Monarchs needed a legal basis upon which to justify their actions. They turned to Roman Law. The Renaissance with its emphasis on the Classical Greek and Roman intellectual heritage provided ready access to Roman legal philosophy and experience. Two principles of Roman law became the foundations of New Monarchy. One was highly idealistic - Salus populi suprema lex – “the well-being of the people is the supreme law.” The other was more realistic: Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem – “What pleases the prince has the force of law” (Palmer et al., 72). New Monarchs could maintain that the increased power they sought was justified by the fact that they embodied the well-being of their subjects. In order that that embodiment might continue, kings emphasized that their power must be hereditary. Feudalism, with its emphasis on contracts, rights, and liberties, was disruptive and dangerous – a relic of a chaotic past. Sovereign monarchy meant peace and prosperity. Sovereignty was the goal of the New Monarchs.

The New Monarchs

Henry VII (1485 - 1509) came to power on the background of a feudal civil war in England known as the “Wars of the Roses.” Lasting from 1453 to 1485 the Wars of the Roses pitted the powerful baronial families of Lancaster (symbolized by a red rose) and York (a white rose) in conflict for the English crown. In 1485 Henry Tudor, a member of the Lancastrian family, overthrew the last Yorkist king, Richard III, and claimed the throne. In 1486 he married Elizabeth of York, uniting the two families and founding what would become the illustrious Tudor dynasty.

What makes Henry a “New Monarch”? Having come to power through feudal conflict, he readily understood that feudalism was disruptive and destabilizing. England was experiencing significant economic growth and its continued well-being would be best served through a strong and sovereign monarchy. Henry took steps to ensure that peace prevailed. Defying the traditions of feudal law, he outlawed the practice of “livery and maintenance” whereby noblemen had their own private armies. To keep the nobles in check, he created a special court wherein the king, through his royal council, was both prosecutor and final judge. Because the room in which the court first met was decorated with stars, it became known as the Court of the Star Chamber. (Star Chamber has since come to mean any extralegal – beyond the law – exercise of justice.) Henry justified his actions on principles of Roman law whereby the prince was the reflection of majestas, the power of the state.

To administer his government, Henry relied on men of proven ability and loyalty, again negating the tradition whereby feudal lords would provide their advice and consent to royal policy-making. Henry proved to be a man of great energy who paid close attention to administrative detail. While there was some opposition - more of an annoyance than a threat and easily suppressed, the English people were receptive to Henry’s authority. Henry worked well with Parliament, largely because the House of Commons saw the financial value of internal peace. England prospered. The overall wealth of the state increased, and, consequently, so did the wealth – and power – of the crown. It was during Henry’s reign that England developed a profitable woolen textile trade with the Netherlands. In 1493 Henry negotiated a dynastic marriage with Spain whereby Ferdinand and Isabella’s daughter Catherine would marry Henry’s son Arthur. (The wedding took place in 1501.) When Henry died in 1509, he passed on to his son, Henry VIII, a secure crown, a full treasury, a prosperous and unified kingdom, and a precedent for the active exercise of royal power.

New Monarchy in France was reflected though the policies of two remarkable kings, Louis XI and Francis I. Louis XI (1461 - 1483) was known as “The Spider” as his efforts to centralize royal control over all of France seemed to bring all within the king’s reach. Seemingly lackluster and dull, Louis was in reality a brilliant administrator who, as did Henry VII in England, asserted his authority by having defeated a rebellion by the Dukes of Burgundy. So grateful for the peace that he brought France, the Estates-General requested Louis to govern without it. The Estates-General was the French equivalent of the English Parliament: an assembly of clergy, nobility, and wealthy commoners that had long claimed feudal rights to limit the power of the crown. Louis gladly accepted the offer.

Francis I (1515 - 1547) built royal authority in France by exerting influence over the Church. Actively pursuing French dynastic interests in Italy, Francis concluded an agreement with Pope Leo X in 1516 known as the Concordat of Bologna. Through the Concordat the French king was granted the right to appoint French bishops and abbots. This would ensure that men loyal to the crown would hold spiritual authority over France. The papacy, in return, received “annates” (annual payments) drawn from the revenues of Church lands in France. The Concordat, in effect, ended the spiritual independence of the Catholic Church in France and made it dependent upon the crown. Thus, through the policies of Louis XI and Francis I, the French monarchy achieved power unimaginable under feudalism. It would prove only temporary as France would lapse into religious civil war in the late 16^th century. Nonetheless, the precedent had been set and by 1650 France would be the most powerful monarchy in Europe.

At the time Machiavelli wrote The Prince, Spain, while a great power, was not a unified state under a single crown. Rather it was two kingdoms, Castile and Aragon. What did unify Spain was its religion – Catholicism. In 1469 Queen Isabella of Castile married King Ferdinand of Aragon but both monarchs retained their sovereignty over their respective states. Nonetheless, the two rulers acted in common cause – the reconquista, the reconquest and liberation of all Spain from the Moors. The Moors were Muslims from North Africa who had first entered Spain in the 700s. The reconquista, therefore, had overwhelming religious significance; it was, in effect, a crusade. In 1492 Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, fell to Isabella’s and Ferdinand’s armies. The entire Iberian Peninsula was now under Christian rule. In the same year all Jews who had not converted to Christianity were expelled. The 700-year crusade was over. Spain’s religious fervor, however, was not.