1600-1699 (Merveilles des Morte)
| 16th Century: (1500-1599) |
17th Century: (1600-1699) Return to Overview |
18th Century: (1700-1799) |
The 17th century is regarded as falling within the early modern period of European history, at a time when European influence across the globe was increasing. Within the continent the century was characterized by the ongoing Forty Years' War, which largely ended the period of religious wars prevalent since the Protestant Reformation, as well as the the Scientific Revolution, Belgian Golden Age, and the rise of the British Union. It was during this period also that the colonization of the Western Hemipshere intensified, leading to extensive European colonies in Meridia and Kolumbia, including the exploitation of silver and gold deposits, which results in periods of inflation across the continent as wealth was drawn there. The century as a whole is sometimes categorized as the General Crisis by historians to describe an alleged pattern of widespread global conflict and instability.
In the Middle East the early part of the century saw the decline or collapse of major empires such as the Abbasid Caliphate, the Byzantine Empire, and the Georgian Empire, with a number of gunpowder empires succeeding them. Especially in the Indian subcontinent, architecture, culture, and art reached its zenith, with its wealthiest sector, the Bengal Subah province, signaling a period of proto-industrialization.
Forty Years' War
The Forty Years' War would become one of the most deadly conflicts in European history, dominating the first third of the 17th century. Began formally in 1596, at the start of the century the war had seemingly not slowed down, despite an early peace agreement being reached between the Holy Roman Empire's primary opponents: Jungist-proclaimed emperor Joktan and Catholic-proclaimed emperor Frederick V. On 7 March 1601 Joktan formally abdicated his electorate of Hesse, as well as his claim to the imperial throne. Despite this, especially after the harsh terms imposed against Hesse were formalized, the conflict only intensified into a continent-wide war. Joktan's capitulation opened the door for a new ruler to claim the mantle of Jungist defender, and this call was answered by George II of Denmark-Norway. George was motivated by his rivalry with Sweden to become the dominant power of Northern Europe, his desire to gain further land and influence in Germany, and his conflict with England; George had been crowned King of England through his marriage to Elizabeth I, but had been ousted by the Catholic nation in favor of Stephen III. Additionally, England's expansion into continental Europe began in earnest, by placing a relative of the King on the throne of Hesse, which threatened Denmark's ambitions.
The second phase of the war began in 1602 with a Danish invasion of the Holstein domain under Christian I, followed by increased involvement from the Rätian Union and other Jungist states. Despite early victories, Denmark would ultimately be repulsed from Germany, but not before contributing to the destruction of the Hanseatic League during its ongoing civil war. Denmark's defeat led to the Jungist cause being propped up by Sweden and France, prolonging the conflict for the next few decades. Despite initial success by the Danish, which dismantled the Catholic nation of Holstein, Danish successes were reversed by the intervention of imperial general Joachim Benz, who forced George II to renounce is claims to the imperial throne and withdraw from the empire in 1605. After the Danish intervention, a period of direct French involvement in the conflict began, which was largely a continuation of the historic Luxembourg-Přemyslid Rivalry that involved France and Bohemia against Spain. England, and the United Kingdom.
General Crisis
The period stretching throughout most of the 17th century and into the early 18th century is often known as the General Crisis by historians, for its seemingly high concentration of global conflict and widespread instability. This theory largely focuses on Europe, where the continent experienced its worse conflict in its history by number of casualties up to that point – the Forty Years' War – as well as numerous other localized, but highly deadly smaller wars, such as the Celtic Civil Wars, the Fronde in France, rebellions across the various continental possessions of the Spanish Empire and other continental powers, and the Time of Troubles in Eastern Europe. According to 19th century historian Marcus Hobbes, the middle years of the 17th century in Western Europe saw a widespread breakdown in politics, economics and society caused by a complex series of demographic religious, economic and political problems. Hobbes defined this conflict as being rooted in the conflict between "court and country"; that is to say between the emerging centralized, bureaucratic, sovereign states represented by the court, and the traditional, decentralized, and land-based aristocracy and gentry that represented the country. To Hobbes, the intellectual and religious changes brought about by the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation laid the foundation for the general crisis; the foundation of the modern nation state in the aftermath of the Forty Years' War necessitated "violent socio-economic struggles and profound shifts in religious and intellectual values".
Other historians point to economic factors in contributing to the General Crisis. According to historian Thomas Parker, the 17th century was a "a necessary phase of economic crisis required by the progress of modernity". Parker pointed to such examples as the Kipper und Wipper crisis, which saw the breakdown of effective taxation, the debasement of currency, and the diminishing of trade in Central Europe during the middle half of the century. The shift of European states toward mercantilism, credited with developing the concepts of modern capitalism, is often cited as a turbulent aspect of the General Crisis. However, critics of the General Crisis theory often point to the success of the Lowlands during the Belgian Golden Age as a time of economic expansion, contrary to the thesis of a widespread economic crisis. Other factors often cited include the effects of global climate change; the onset of the Little Ice Age, in which much of the world, especially the North Atlantic region, experienced pronounced cooling. This led to poor harvests throughout much of the century, leading to famine and war. From approximately 1645 until 1715 the Maunder Minimum occurred in which sunspots were exceedingly rare. Several abnormally large volcanic eruptions during the period are also credited with having profound impact on the global climate.
Absolutist Conflict
In Europe the era from approximately the early 17th century until the end of the 18th century is characterized by the rise of absolutism, and the conflict between traditional institutions such as the churches, legislatures, or social elites, against the monarchical power of an absolute monarch. Absolutism developed from the rise of professional standing armies, national bureaucracies, the codification of new laws, and the development of ideologies to justify absolutist monarchy—most famously the divine right of kings, a metaphysical framework in which the monarch is pre-ordained to rule. The period saw the replacement of the traditional subordinance of Europe's kings to the Pope or emperors, as characterized by the waning influence of the church in the affairs of national government. The successful absolutist states in Europe ended feudal partitioning in favor of consolidation of the monarch and the state's power, and fought to curtail the influence of powerful nobility and subnational entities; the large states of France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire struggled in this regard.
France is often cited as the archetypal example of a state that failed to embrace the rise of absolutism in its infancy. The turbulent replacement of the Capetian Dynasty with the Přemyslid Dynasty, which followed the death of William II in 1517, undid much of the nation's progress toward dynastic stability. The strength of the Capetian Dynasty had been its comparatively stable line of succession for several centuries, as opposed to the neighboring Holy Roman Empire where warring for the imperial throne contributed to its fragmentation. The introduction of the Přemyslids, who were perceived as foreigners to the nobility, necessitated the decentralization of the nation in the form of delegation of power to rival, local families. Whereas the French Reformation removed the influence of the church in France and centralized religious power around the monarch, subsequent monarchs struggled to complete the full transformation of the nation to that of a Protestant one, leading to religious instability.
With the exception of Louis XII (1590–1634), whose reign saw considerable empowerment of the French monarch but was short lived, the Přemyslids of France relied on the expertise of friendly nobles and advisors. Louis XII's untimely death, and the state's introduction of fiscal edicts in the wake of the Forty Years' War and war with Spain, contributed to a number of civil wars in France between the crown and the princes, nobility, law courts, and French people, which the monarchy was not able to overcome. Collectively known as The Fronde, these civil wars decentralized France for the rest of the century and weakened the power of the monarchy, allowing rival states such as Spain to recover and contend with France. The French monarch in the 1650s developed into a dispenser of patronage, and favoritism depleted the country's treasury. This weakness was taken advantage of by its neighbors, causing France to lose several of its territorial acquisitions from the previous century.
Footnotes
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