AP Euro Peter Straubinger

Megatest Essay #4 Period 8

The state of European politics has always been a fluid, ever-changing one.

Countless factors can influence the interplay between the continent’s many diverse

cultures, and the politics of the 16th and 17th centuries were no exception. During these

times, science and religion were two of the most influential factors; both ideals would

often alternate between collaboration and conflict. Three events that best demonstrate the

dynamic nature in which science and religion affected European politics are the Age of

Exploration, the Scientific Revolution, and the Protestant Reformation.

The Age of Exploration was one of the most influential eras upon Europe’s

history. With the discovery of not only a new world, but new people and resources, there

began a mad scramble among the European powers to exploit and colonize the untold

resources that lay awaiting them in new lands. However, to make travel across the globe

possible, new scientific advances would be necessary. Hence, the desire for power and

wealth among Europe’s nations drove a rapid advancement in technological and scientific

discovery. However, not all of the powers in Europe immediately recognized the value of

exploration. It was Portugal, in the hands of Prince Henry the Navigator, which pioneered

the Age of Exploration. Recent inventions such as the magnetic compass, along with

advances in shipbuilding craft, made possible the exploration of lands far beyond what

was previously imagined. Under Henry’s guidance, Portugal rapidly set out across the

Atlantic Ocean, establishing colonies and trading ports within Africa and India. Given the

valuable spice these regions possessed, along with other commodities, Portugal amassed

wealth in an unprecedented fashion and rapidly rose to a dominant position of power.

Understandably, other European countries began to follow Portugal’s example, setting

forth their own expeditions. Spanish explorers such as Columbus, Cortes and Pizarro are

some of the Age’s best known figures. Columbus was the first to discover the Americas,

and Cortes and Pizarro later subjugated the native populations and harvested the wealth

of the South American “New World”. The mind-boggling riches which were acquired by

Spain during this time resulted directly in the ill-fated Spanish Armada, the greatest naval

force that the world had ever seen. More and more countries, such as France, England

and the Netherlands, were tempted by the lure of wealth and power that lands across the

seas promised and set forth to claim their own lands.

Given that the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) was a nigh-omnipresent force

through most of Europe’s history, it is understandable that all aspects of life, including

scientific research and knowledge, were heavily influenced by religious dogma. Around

the time of the Scientific Revolution, the RCC’s official stance on science was through

the “discoveries” of its three official scientists: Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Galen. The “facts”

that the RCC perpetuated were often flawed, following with the original scientific errors

these three men made. Galen, for example, posited a dual circulatory system in the

human body; this idea, however, could not be researched, as dissecting a body was

viewed as immoral and sinful by the RCC. However, a new age of thinkers began to

emerge, galvanizing a revolution in the ways that Europeans viewed science. Nicolaus

Copernicus was one of the first men to begin to challenge the blindly accepted doctrines

that were held by the RCC. His work pointed towards disproval of the old geocentric

theories, suggesting instead that the sun was the center of the universe. This obviously

irked the RCC, who believed that the Earth, having been created by God, must be the

universe’s center in keeping with its divine importance. Tycho Brahe, a Danish
astronomer, further supported these views with his research into planetary revolution.

Robert Boyle, a later player in the Scientific Revolution, was integral to the movement;

he pioneered the Scientific Method, which stated the necessity for facts and experiments

in order to draw a truthful conclusion. Finally, Sir Isaac Newton was arguably the “peak”

of the revolution. He drew upon past scientist’s conclusions, tempered by his own

discoveries, and established universal laws governing the workings of the universe.

This rapid disproval of Church-supported doctrine was understandably distressing

to the RCC. No longer could the complex forces and inner workings that governed the

physical world be explained through divine intervention. Instead, deductive reasoning

and mathematics showed concrete, consistent proof of inherent physical laws, which

were independent of any supernatural influence. As people realized the error in the RCC’s

teachings, they began to become disillusioned with dogma; the protests of the Scientific

Revolution led to subsequent challenges in other fields.

The Protestant Reformation is quite possibly the greatest period of religious

upheaval in European history. Where the Reformation originally began can be disputed;

some say that it can be traced back to any number of injustices or self-serving decrees the

RCC spawned, while others say that it was Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, a list of protests

against problems within the Catholic Church. At any rate, if Martin Luther was not the

direct cause of the Reformation, he was certainly the figure that granted the movement its

wings. His 95 Theses contained condemnations of the practice of simony (The sale of

positions within the Church) to the sale of indulgences (A practice of trading money for

spiritual salvation). Though Luther had no idea of the consequences that his revolutionary

ideals would lead to, Europe was plunged into a shocking period of religious strife and
warfare. With Protestants (Who, by this point, were represented in many splinter factions)

fighting against the socially entrenched RCC, bloody times were in store for all of

Europe. Except for Greece, they seemed to make out pretty well.

Beginning in 1531, war broke out within the Holy Roman Empire. The Protestant-

formed Schmalkadic League battled Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in a fight for

religious independence. While Charles seemed to hold far more power than the

Protestants, over twenty years of widespread warfare (often extending beyond simply the

Holy Roman Protestants and Catholics) led to the Peace of Augsburg. This treaty stated

that the prince of each Holy Roman domain could select whether it would support

Lutheranism and Catholicism. This marked a major step forwards for Protestant aims.

Similarly, France also experienced periods of religiously-inspired bloodshed, the worst

example of which was the infamous St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. While the number

of deaths is not known, it is possible that nearly 100,000 Huguenots (A sect of French

Calvinists) were slain in the slaughter and resulting violence. Rather than condemning the

atrocity, the RCC designated September 11, 1572 as a holy day to praise the Massacre.

Peace was not achieved until 1598 during which time Henry IV of Navarre, newly elected

King of France, converted from Calvinism to Catholicism and passed the Edict of Nantes

in a remarkable display of intelligence and pragmatism. The Edict allowed Huguenots to

freely practice in any of 200 areas within France. Unfortunately, the greatest violence of

the Protestant Reformation was still to come.

The Thirty Years’ War ranged from 1618 to 1648. While most of the battles were

centered within the Holy Roman Empire, nearly all of Europe’s major powers were

involved. Though the Peace of Augsburg still stood, disputes arose in greater and greater
quantities between Catholics and Protestants. Eventually, a schism occurred, and the two

religious factions squared off for battle. The resultant war could be considered the first

European “world war”, as there was hardly a corner of the continent not involved with

the conflict. A horrendously damaging even, it is estimated that Swedish armies alone

destroyed 2,000 castles, 18,000 villages, and nearly one-third of all German towns. The

violence ceased with 1648’s Treaty of Westphalia, which marked a renewal of the Peace

of Augsburg, and a heavy restriction of the papacy’s influence upon German, Hollandais

and Swiss affairs. However, the most important result of the Treaty of Westphalia

extended far beyond this. It marked a new standard of diplomatic interaction in Europe, a

groundbreaking development for a continent so often embroiled in war.

European political interactions often have a habit of being fickle and fragile,

mainly due to the presence of highly varied cultures in such a dense proximity. In light of

this, it is no great leap of the imagination to see why such great events as the Age of

Exploration, Scientific Revolution, and Protestant Reformation could turn Europe’s

political state topsy-turvy. However, emerging from each of these periods, Europe

emerged with new laws, new technologies, and most importantly, new ideals which

would stand the test of time even today.