Economic Change and Political Consolidation (^) ‹ 83
increasingly necessary for a ruler’s power and influence, the importance and nature of the
military changed. New military tactics (including the salvo, in which all lines of infantry fired
simultaneously, rather than row by row) and equipment necessitated a more professional,
trained army. Standing armies were formed, growing ever larger, in part through conscrip-
tion. These military changes further decimated the agricultural population, both through
conscription and death, as warfare took its inevitable toll. Funding the military and wars
required money, which monarchs raised through increased taxations. Because the nobility
was largely exempt from taxes, the peasantry bore the brunt of this new economic burden.
These economic and social pressures, together with simmering religious tensions which
had never been fully resolved, strained the fabric of traditional society. Poverty forced
increasing numbers of peasants into begging and vagrancy. Rebellions flared across Europe,
led by nobles resisting erosion of their position and privilege and by peasants protesting
their extreme poverty. In many communities, religious, social and economic instability
found its expression in a series of witch hunts. Economic and personal hardships were
attributed to the workings of the devil through witches. Often located in regions where
religious upheaval was greatest, the accusations caused a form of mass hysteria, in which
people feared both witchcraft and the accusation of witchcraft. Frequently, the targets of
these accusations were women, for whom the decline in typical forms of charity was most
dire, and who were easy targets. Long thought to be both intellectually and morally weaker
than men, women were seen as more susceptible to evil influences, and confessions of “con-
sorting” with the devil were common, often elicited through torture.
Thirty Years’ War
The instability and upheaval of this period is probably best illustrated by the Thirty Years’
War. Though the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 tamped down the fires of religious conflict in
Germany, it did not remove them altogether. German Catholic and Lutheran principali-
ties continued to jockey for power. Additionally, the Peace of Augsburg failed to legitimize
the Calvinist sect, which was increasingly popular in some areas. In 1617, the Austrian
Archduke Ferdinand, a member of the powerful Catholic Habsburg family, became ruler
of predominantly Calvinist Bohemia, and later emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. As he
took measures to centralize royal power and the Catholic faith in Bohemia, Calvinist nobles
expressed their displeasure by defenestrating (throwing out a window) a few of Ferdinand’s
key advisers. The Calvinist rebels appealed to other Protestant states for assistance, while
Ferdinand sought help from other German Catholics, Spain, and the papacy. Ultimately
the Catholic forces prevailed, giving Spain access to a coveted trade route from Italy to
the Netherlands, and solidifying the position of both the Catholics and the Habsburgs in
Germany.
In 1625, the Danish king Christian IV, fearing that a powerful Holy Roman Empire
threatened his sovereignty, came to the aid of the Protestant state of Saxony, invading north-
ern Germany. The imperial forces were led by Albrecht von Wallenstein, a Bohemian noble-
man whose wealth came from confiscated Protestant land. Though Denmark had gained
some marginal support from France and Britain, it wasn’t enough. Devastating the land
as it went, Wallenstein’s army defeated the Danish forces, giving the Holy Roman Empire
control of Baltic ports such as Hamburg, and ending Denmark’s supremacy in that area.
Later, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, motivated by the same desires and fears
as King Christian but with a stronger military acumen, successfully invaded northern
Germany and the Holy Roman Empire but was eventually killed in battle. With his death
and the return of Wallenstein at the head of the imperial forces, the Swedish army was13_Bartolini_Ch13_081-088.indd 83 27/04/18 1:54 PM