The Spanish Empire was under the control of the Hapsburg Kings

Charles V inherited an empire including Spain, colonies in America, parts of Italy, and lands in Austria and the Netherlands.

Charles was a devout Catholic and opposed Muslims and Lutherans.

In 1555, he agreed to the Peace of Augsburg-princes decided their own religions

When he died he left his brother Ferdinand Austria and the Holy Roman Empire.

Charles V

Charles son Phillip II inherited Spain, the Spanish Netherlands and the American colonies.

He gained control of the Portugal and the their empire in 1580.

The empire had incredible wealth. By 1600, American mines had supplied

Spain with an estimated 339,000 pounds of gold.

The great gold and silver reserves permitted Spain to have a standing army of 50,000 soldiers.

Phillip II was also a great defender of the Catholic faith.

In 1588, Phillip launched the Spanish Armada in an attempt to punish Protestant England and its queen, Elizabeth I. Elizabeth had supported Protestant subjects who had rebelled against Phillip.

This event was a major setback for Spain in which it never would truly return. It did continue to have wealth, power and influence in the future, but not what it might have had otherwise.

El Greco-Domenikos Theotokopoulos His name means “the Greek” His art often used clashing colors,

distorted human figure and expressed emotion symbolically

The Catholic faith was found in his work-he often painted huge, long-limbed figures of saints and martyrs

THE DORMITION OF THE VIRGIN

PORTRAIT OF AN OLD MAN

Another well known Spanish painter Court painter for Philip IV Best known for portraits of the royal

family and court life

DIEGO VELAZQUEZTHE SURRENDER OF BREDA

Miguel de Cervantes is well known for Don Quixote de la Mancha

It is considered by many the first of the modern European novel

Spain had been weakened by a series of issues:

-inflation-the expelling of the Jews and Muslims led

to the loss of many artisans and business people

-the nobles did not pay taxes-Spain did not have a middle class-Spain borrowed money it could not pay

back

The Spanish and the Netherlands had little in common:

The Spanish were Catholic, Dutch protestant (Calvinists)

The Spanish economy was poor, the Dutch had a strong middle class

Phillip raised taxes in the Netherlands and attempted to crush Protestantism

On 1568, the Duke of Alva executed 1500 Protestants and suspected rebels

In 1579, the United Provinces of the Netherlands was declared independent. The ten southern provinces (today’s Belgium) were Catholic and remained under Spanish control

What made the Netherlands different?-The people practiced religious tolerance-The area was not a kingdom but a republic

with each province with an elected governor-It had a strong middle class and solid

economy-They had the world’s largest fleet-They also had the Dutch East India Company

that dominated the Asian spice and Indian trade

-They also had significant artists

THE NIGHTWATCH SELF PORTRAIT (1641)

THE ART OF PAINTING THE ASTRONOMER

AbsolutismAbsolute monarchy-all powerDivine right-God created the monarchy and

the monarch acted as God’s representative on Earth

CAUSES-Religious and territorial conflicts created

fear and uncertainty-The growth of armies to deal with conflicts

caused rulers to raise taxes to pay troops-Heavy taxes led to additional unrest and

peasant revolts-The new middle class

Effects-Rulers regulated religious worship and

social gatherings to control the spread of ideas

-Rulers increased the size of their courts to appear more powerful

-Rulers created bureaucracies to control their countries’ economies