Western Civilization

Danube, known collectively as Austria, the house of

Habsburg had become one of the wealthiest landhold-

ers in the empire and by the mid-fifteenth century

began to play an important role in European affairs.

Much of the Habsburg success in the fifteenth century

was due not to military victories but to a well-executed

policy of dynastic marriages.

Much was expected of the flamboyant Maximilian I

(1493–1519) when he became emperor. Through the

Reichstag, the imperial diet or parliament, Maximilian

attempted to centralize the administration by creating

new institutions common to the entire empire. Opposi-

tion from the German princes doomed these efforts,

however. Maximilian’s only real success lay in his mar-

riage alliances, which led to his grandson, Charles V,

inheriting the traditional lands of the Habsburg, Bur-

gundian, and Spanish monarchical lines at the begin-

ning of the sixteenth century, making him the leading

monarch of his age (see Chapter 13).

The Struggle for Strong Monarchy in

Eastern Europe

In eastern Europe, rulers struggled to achieve the cen-

tralization of their territorial states but faced serious

obstacles. Although the population was mostly Slavic,

there were islands of other ethnic groups that caused

difficulties. Religious differences also troubled the area,

as Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox Christians, and

pagans came into conflict.

Much of Polish history revolved around a bitter

struggle between the Crown and the landed nobility

until the end of the fifteenth century, when the preoc-

cupation of the Polish monarchy with problems in

Bohemia and Hungary, as well as war with the Russians

and Turks, enabled the aristocrats to reestablish their

power. Through their control of the Sejm (SAYM)or

national parliament, the magnates reduced the peas-

antry to serfdom by 1511 and established the right to

elect their kings. The Polish kings proved unable to es-

tablish a strong royal authority.

Since the conversion of Hungary to Roman Catholi-

cism by German missionaries, its history had been

closely tied to that of central and western Europe. The

church became a large and prosperous institution, with

wealthy bishops, along with great territorial lords,

becoming powerful, independent political figures. For a

brief while, Hungary developed into an important

European state, the dominant power in eastern Europe.

King Matthias Corvinus (muh-THY-uss kor-VY-nuss)

(1458–1490) broke the power of the wealthy lords and

created a well-organized central administration. After

his death, Hungary returned to weak rule, however,

and the work of Corvinus was largely undone.

Since the thirteenth century, Russia had been under

the domination of the Mongols. Gradually, the princes

of Moscow used their close relationship to the Mongol

khans to increase their wealth and expand their posses-

sions. In the reign of the great prince Ivan III

(1462–1505), a new Russian state—the principality of

Moscow—was born. Ivan III annexed other Russian

principalities and took advantage of dissension among

the Mongols to throw off their yoke by 1480.

The Ottoman Turks and the End of

the Byzantine Empire

Eastern Europe was increasingly threatened by the stead-

ily advancing Ottoman Turks. The Byzantine Empire

had, of course, served as a buffer between the Muslim

Middle East and the Latin West for centuries, but it had

been severely weakened by the sack of Constantinople in

1204 and its occupation by the West. Although the Pale-

ologus dynasty (1260–1453) had tried to reestablish

CHRONOLOGYThe European State in the Renaissance

France

Louis XI the Spider 1461–1483

England

Civil War 1450s–1485

Richard III 1483–1485

Henry VII 1485–1509

Spain

Isabella of Castile 1474–1504

Ferdinand of Aragon 1479–1516

Marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella 1469

Introduction of the Inquisition 1478

Expulsion of Jews 1492

Expulsion of Muslims 1502

Holy Roman Empire

Maximilian I 1493–1519

Eastern Europe

Hungary: Matthias Corvinus 1458–1490

Russia: Ivan III 1462–1505

Fall of Constantinople and Byzantine

Empire

1453

The European State in the Renaissance 295

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

`ˆÌi`Ê܈̅Ê̅iÊ`i“œÊÛiÀȜ˜ÊœvÊ

˜vˆÝÊ*ÀœÊ*Ê

`ˆÌœÀÊ

/œÊÀi“œÛiÊ̅ˆÃʘœÌˆVi]ÊۈÈÌ\Ê