The Age of Reformation

III. The Struggle for Power

CHAPTER III 'The Struggle for Power� THE latter half of the sixteenth century witnessed a sharp struggle for power resulting from the convergence of forces liberated by the religious upheavals of the preceding period. Europe's economy was subjected to severe strain by the spectacular rise in prices which began about the middle of the century. The war expenditures and devaluation pol­ icies of European governments had something to do with the inflationary movement, but the main cause was the mounting flood of precious metal which poured into Eu­ rope from Spanish America after the opening of the fabu­ lously rich silver mines at Potosi in Peru (1545). The influx of bullion far surpassed the normal need of a growing economy for an expanding medium of exchange and so pushed prices skyward, first in Spain and then in the rest of Europe. As always, inflation led to social stress, hurting the classes which like the older nobility depended upon fairly fixed incomes and favoring the entrepreneur and speculator. A "new nobility" began to appear in England and France, consisting of members of the bourgeoisie or the gentry who were able to climb to titles of nobility amid the economic or political ruin of older feudal families. Religious animosities added to the general tension. Eu- The Struggle for Power 93 rope was becoming a continent of exiles and displaced persons. The political exile had been a familiar figure in Italy since the party struggles of Dante's day. Now in Europe at large the refugee from an unsuccessful political revolt was joined by the religious outcast, and many towns were coming to accept as familiar figures the exiled Jew or Catholic, the fugitive Lutheran orCalvinist or Anabaptist. Finally, the economic, social, and religious tensions were reflected in and aggravated by political tensions. The rela­ tively simple dynastic war between Hapsburgs and Valois (1522-1559) gave place in the latter part of the century to a series of struggles which were partly international, partly civil wars. In these struggles religion sometimes re­ inforced patriotism but just as often undermined it. The wars and rebellions reflected the general economic and so­ cial instability as well as the new intransigence of religious groups (like the Calvinists and Jesuits). Governments strug­ gled against bankruptcy with varying degrees of success. Ruined nobles and rising merchants often became war­ mongers, for different reasons but hoping for personal gain in the result. Embittered religious exiles urged governments on to more belligerent stands than they would otherwise have taken. The struggle for power which ensued was not only between states but also between churches and classes. Rebellions led to wars when traitors were supported by sympathizers or coreligionists abroad, and wars in turn in­ duced rebellions. In the years 1568-1572, for instance, there were rebellions in Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Eng­ land. In each case the rebels were more formidable because of the threat of support from friends abroad: the Moriscoes in Spain from Moslems in North Africa, the Huguenots in France from English Protestants, the Calvinists in the Neth- 94 The Age of Reformation erlands from French and English sympathizers, the Catholics in the north of England from Catholic Spain. The roots of war and rebellion were never simply economic or po­ litical or religious; they were all of these. In fact, in the confusion of social, political, and ideological elements in its wars and revolutions, the later sixteenth century was not unlike the twentieth. Mid-Century: The Crucial 50'S During the ten years or so after the deaths of Luther (1546), Henry VIn (1547), and Francis I (1547), crucial decisions were made and important events took place which were to influence the course of European history for half a century. The 1550'S are the turning point of the sixteenth century. War broke out in Germany in 1546. It was partly a religious war of Lutheran against Catholic, partly a political revolt of discontented princes against the emperor Charles V. Charles won a signal victory over the rebels at Mtihlberg in 1 547, but he was unable to impose the kind of peace settlement he would have liked, a broad but firm re­ Catholicizing of Germany. Lutheranism was by now too deeply rooted and the independence of the princes too firmly established for that. The emperor was weary of his long years of trying to roll back the Turkish tide on the...