Chapter 16: Transformations in Europe, 1500–1750 1
Chapter 16
Transformations in Europe, 1500–1750
Use the following to answer questions 1-18:
Key Terms
1.papacy
2.Renaissance (Europe)
3.indulgence
4.Protestant Reformation
5.Catholic Reformation
6.witch-hunt
7.Scientific Revolution
8.Enlightenment
9.bourgeoisie
10.joint-stock company
11.stock exchange
12.Little Ice Age
13.deforestation
14.Holy Roman Empire
15.Hapsburg
16.English Civil War
17.Versailles
18.balance of power
19.How did the ideas of the Renaissance, Reformation, and Scientific Revolution affect the Enlightenment? Was the Enlightenment only an intellectual concept?
Ans:The ideas of the Renaissance and Reformation were important to the development of the Enlightenment because they established a precedent of thinking outside the realm of the Catholic Church. The Reformation proclained that nature and religion could coexist, as could science, without direct involvement from the pope or the church. Scientific revolutionaries such as Copernicus, Brahe, Galileo, and Newton used the ideas of Greek and Roman (pre-Christian) thinkers as a jumping-off point for their notions about the world around them, although many did not totally discount the idea of Christianity working in harmony with science. The Enlightenment took advantage of the relative acceptability of using knowledge to challenge political institutions and proposed new models, such as the idea of natural rights, that challenged the existing monarchies. The resulting changes in society therefore made the Enlightenment much more than an intellectual concept.
20.How did the basic tenets of Lutheranism and Calvinism differ from those of Catholicism? What was the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation?
Ans:Students should recognize the different paths to salvation—the Catholic belief in salvation through good works, the Lutheran emphasis on faith, and the Calvinist belief in predestination. They should also understand the different philosophies regarding church ornamentation and hierarchy. The “Catholic Reformation” addressed the Protestant challenge at the Council of Trent. While many Catholic beliefs were clarified, the council mostly reaffirmed papal and church power.
21.Discuss the failure of Charles V to unify Europe and the ability of European monarchies to centralize state control in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Ans:Students should discuss the attempts by Charles V to unify Europe under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire. They should describe his coalition and its purpose: to prevent the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Although the Ottoman Empire was turned away in 1529, Charles V eventually gave up his goal of European unification after decades of bitter fighting. Spain, France, and England began to build successful states based on political centralization and religious unity. Royal authority was boosted by limiting the authority of the church, although different nations took a wide array of routes to that end. For example, Spain united behind the Inquisition, France switched from Calvinism back to Catholicism, and England created the Church of England. Monarchs also promoted national institutions, such as standardized national languages and political offices.
22.Warfare was nearly constant in Europe during the early modern era. Using the chronology at the beginning of the chapter, list the wars and examine their economic and human costs. Why were these wars fought, what was their outcome, and what was their significance in European history?
Ans:Students should acknowledge the widespread death and destruction of the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants, as well as of the internal and international wars of the era. Their financial expense should also be addressed. Despite the enormous costs in human life and money, these wars led to tremendous innovations in weaponry and skill. All states developed armies and navies to suit their particular needs. For instance, England, an island nation, had no standing army and a large navy. The continental states had much larger armies than navies. Refinements (rather than revolutions) in technology in such areas as firearms, shipping, and metallurgy were important, as were advances in communications and transportation. The development of modern diplomacy was a lasting result of that era of warfare and was evident in the precarious and shifting balance of power.
23.From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, how did the European states “pay the piper,” as the chapter suggests? Were politics and warfare related to European economies and economic development?
Ans:Wars were waged for political gain, and the high cost of warfare demanded further increases in revenue. Monarchs promoted alliances with commercial elites, as well as across religious boundaries. States also began to tax the nobility and raise those taxes directly. Colonialism helped promote economic growth, and government protection and stimulus further increased economic development. On the other hand, Spain is an example of a country that kept increasing its military expenditures without promoting economic development. It also ignored alliances for the sake of religious uniformity and aristocratic privilege.
24.Describe the disparities among the various social classes in European urban society between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Who were the bourgeoisie? What conditions did the poorer classes endure?
Ans:During these centuries, the contrasts in wealth were startling. The new prosperous class of urban dwellers, referred to by the French as the bourgeoisie, gained its wealth from manufacturing, finance, and trade. Its connections to the monarchy and the monarchy's need for revenue were important. Students should be able to contrast that new wealthy class with the rural aristocracy, as well as with the urban poor and the artisan classes, in areas such as marriage, education, and child rearing. Although serfdom had been on the decline in Europe for a long time, the peasantry lived under worse conditions as a result of constant warfare, economic conditions, and environmental problems. By 1700 the introduction of American crops improved the diet by providing potatoes and corn to peasants. However, with deforestation, peasants lost their source of lumber and wild game as well as nuts and berries. Many were forced to move to urban areas, where they became beggars, prostitutes, and criminals. The misery of these people erupted in uprisings and mob violence.
25.Describe the experiences of women in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe.
Ans:Students should understand some of the basic difficulties of explaining the experiences of women. First, women throughout the world generally lived in patriarchal societies and therefore ranked below men. However, social class played an extremely important part in defining their life experiences. Women of the elite class enjoyed a life much different from that of the lower classes. Most European women married, and their lives were defined by their husbands' status and their children. Widowed and single women had lower status. Single women had few opportunities open to them; however, becoming a nun was one of the few respectable options for a single life. Students should discuss the traditions of arranged marriage and romantic marriage among Europeans. Among the elite classes arranged marriage remained important, but among the lower classes romantic marriage became fashionable. These changes had important demographic results. Delaying marriage also resulted in the rise of brothels and rape. Education was also determined as much by class as by gender. Some women of the elite and bourgeois classes were educated; in fact, Europe led the world in female literacy. Men and women of the lower classes did not have access to education. The chapter includes a discussion of witchcraft and the large number of women, rather than men, who were accused. The Christian belief that women were morally inferior to men led accusers to assume that women, especially widows and single women, were more susceptible to the Devil's temptations. Women were also likely to be accused because they were often midwives and healers and thus influenced life and death.
26.How can one explain the witch-hunts that swept through Europe in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Who were the victims? Why were so many of the accused women?
Ans:The minds of most Europeans were shaped by a mixture of Christian and folk traditions. Europeans believed in supernatural and magical causes for events. Disasters such as crop failures could be construed as punishment for sin or as evil magic. In the seventeenth century, authorities tried over a hundred thousand people, three-fourths of them women, for practicing witchcraft. Many were tortured until they confessed to casting spells and using evil magic, and many were executed. The Christian belief that women were morally inferior to men led accusers to assume that women, especially widows and single women, were more susceptible to the Devil's temptations. Women were also likely to be accused because they were often midwives and healers and so influenced life and death. Explanations for these witch-hunts vary. Some believe that women who were outside male authority, such as widows, were accused because of their potential independence and power in society. It is also posited that the witch-hunts were a violent reaction to the social tensions, rural poverty, and environmental strains of these centuries. Finally, historians also consider that some of the accused were actually practicing witchcraft against their enemies.
27.Describe the Scientific Revolution. Why did it begin? Who were some of the notable minds responsible for this revolution? Was there widespread acceptance of their ideas?
Ans:Students should explain that the Scientific Revolution emerged out of the Renaissance rediscovery of Greek thought. In the sixteenth century some great thinkers began to challenge the discoveries of the Greeks, particularly Aristotle, and began a movement to explain the workings of the universe based on natural causes and mathematics. The contributions of Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton all combined to alter the way of thinking established by Aristotle. Student should understand the heliocentric theory of the universe. Galilieo was condemned for his writings. The scientific method also made contributions to social thought, which, along with economic and political changes, resulted in the Enlightenment.
28.The jewel of the papal building spree of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries was
Ans:Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
29.Forgiveness of past sins, an indulgence, might be given for any of the following reasons except
A)performing a pious act.
B)giving a donation to the church.
C)becoming a monk.
D)saying a particular prayer.
E)making a pilgrimage.
Ans:CPage:444
30.Martin Luther insisted that the only way to salvation was through
A)relying on “good works.”
B)faith in Jesus Christ.
C)loyalty to the Vatican.
D)paying money to the church.
E)none of these.
Ans:BPage:445
31.The movement that began with the rejection of the pope's authority was the
A)Protestant Reformation.
B)Catholic Reformation.
C)Orthodox Reformation.
D)Peasant Movement.
E)Babylonian Captivity.
Ans:APage:445
32.To promote his ideas, Luther used
A)peasant armies.
B)indulgences.
C)troubadours to sing of his greatness.
D)tournaments, festivals, and games.
E)the printing press.
Ans:EPage:445
33.John Calvin preached that salvation was granted by
A)predestination
B)good works.
C)sobriety.
D)good thoughts.
E)the pope.
Ans:APage:446
34.Calvinism went further than Lutheranism in
A)encouraging political rebellion.
B)empowering ordained clergy.
C)simplifying religious rituals.
D)building extravagant churches.
E)insisting on loyalty to the Vatican.
Ans:CPage:446
35.In light of the challenges to the Catholic Church, many reforms were enacted, such as
A)mandating poverty for the Catholic institution.
B)instituting dietary restrictions to symbolize purity.
C)reforming the education of the clergy.
D)allowing priests and nuns to marry.
E)using the vernacular during mass.
Ans:CPage:446
36.Ignatius of Loyola founded the
A)Dominicans.
B)Inquisition.
C)Council of Trent.
D)Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).
E)Franciscans.
Ans:DPage:446
37.The Protestant challenge to the church and its supporters was intense and emotional, resulting in
A)a compromise representing theological common ground.
B)bitter “wars of religion.”
C)the election of Pope Leo X.
D)European monarchs begging the pope for forgiveness.
E)all of these.
Ans:BPage:446
38.Europeans viewed the natural world through two beliefs systems:
A)folklore, including magic, and Christian and Judaic teachings.
B)science and ancestor worship.
C)conflict dualism and Greek mythology.
D)militarism and socialism.
E)pacifism and egalitarianism.
Ans:APage:448
39.Europeans believed that when natural disasters like earthquakes occurred, the cause was
A)plate tectonics.
B)supernatural forces.
C)an imbalance of humors in the body.
D)that they were illusions.
E)an unvirtuous ruler.
Ans:BPage:448
40.Women, especially widows, were often accused of being witches because it was believed that
A)all women were evil.
B)witches usually killed their husbands.
C)women who lived without male authority were susceptible to evil.
D)black cats preferred the company of women.
E)men were incapable of evil.
Ans:CPage:448
41.The Scientific Revolution demonstrated that the workings of the universe could be explained by
A)the will of God.
B)the temperatures in the hemisphere.
C)natural causes.
D)the alignment of the planets.
E)prayer and divine revelation.
Ans:CPage:449
42.The astronomer who discovered spots on the sun and mountains on the moon was
A)Tycho Brahe.
B)Johannes Kepler.
C)Isaac Newton.
D)Galileo Galilei.
E)Nicholas Copernicus.
Ans:DPage:450
43.The scientist who asserted that mathematical laws governed the universe was
A)Isaac Newton.
B)Boethius.
C)Virgil.
D)John Harvey.
E)Henry the Navigator.
Ans:APage:450
44.Many religious and intellectual leaders viewed the new science with suspicion, as shown by the
A)trial of Leopold and Loeb.
B)exile of Newton.
C)execution of Lavoisier.
D)election of Voltaire.
E)condemnation of Galileo.
Ans:EPage:450
45.Bourgeoisie means
A)wealthy urban class.
B)lower middle class.
C)nobility.
D)clergy.
E)royalty.
Ans:APage:451
46.The Dutch East and West Indies Company gained financial supremacy in all Europe by
A)establishing a monopoly on products from the Indies.
B)forming themselves as a joint-stock company.
C)reducing the risk of overseas cargo trade by attracting many investors, thus spreading out the financial burden.
D)allowing trade of stocks in the market in Amsterdam.
E)doing all of these.
Ans:EPage:452,454
47.Like merchants in the Islamic world, European merchants relied on
A)family and ethnic networks.
B)religious persecution.
C)nobility to fund all excursions.
D)joint-stock companies.
E)luck.
Ans:APage:452
48.One of the painters who exemplified the Renaissance in northern Europe was
A)Machiavelli.
B)Renoir.
C)Matisse.
D)Bruegel.
E)Beethoven.
Ans:DPage:442
49.Although European peasants were free during the early modern era,
A)they were obliged to provide ten years of military service.
B)they were forced to head the decision-making offices of the government.
C)their standards of living may have declined between 1500 and 1750.
D)they rarely lived to age fifty.
E)they were forced into overseas service as missionaries.
Ans:CPage:455
50.The Enlightenment in Europe was
A)a uniform philosophical movement directed by the Royal Society.
B)derived from Aristotelian scientific thought.
C)the study of alchemy to make light on demand.
D)a blending of intellectual schools of thought from many diverse areas with the idea of improving the human condition.
E)based in Chinese and Amerindian naturalism.
Ans:DPage:450
51.What new crops helped the rural poor of Europe avoid starvation?
A)Manioc and peas
B)Cassava and rice
C)Blueberries and cranberries
D)Potatoes and corn
E)Wheat and millet
Ans:DPage:455
52.As the iron industry expanded, the consumption of fuel caused
A)a reduction in the use of iron and copper.
B)less destruction of forest woodlands because iron was used instead of wood.
C)deforestation.
D)the rise of a wealthy class of timber industrialists.
E)little to no change in the consumption of resources.
Ans:CPage:455
53.Unlike in other parts of the world, marriage patterns in early modern Europe reflected
A)marrying younger and having larger families.
B)marrying younger and having smaller families.
C)a freer choice of one's marriage partner instead of an arranged marriage.
D)a high rate of infant mortality.
E)a celibate religious lifestyle.
Ans:CPage:456
54.The Holy Roman Empire was ruled by the
A)Bourbons.
B)Huguenots.
C)Burgundians.
D)Habsburgs.
E)Romanovs.
Ans:DPage:457
55.In 1555, by the Peace of Augsburg, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V allowed German princes to choose
A)Catholicism or Calvinism.
B)Catholicism or Lutheranism.
C)Calvinism or Lutheranism.
D)a new emperor.
E)Islam or Christianity.
Ans:BPage:457
56.Charles V failed to unify all of Europe, but Spain, France, and England successfully unified their states by
A)limiting the power of the church and the nobility.
B)instituting mercantile economic policies.
C)building castles with large fortifications.
D)marrying their daughters to princes from other kingdoms.
E)using Ottoman mercenaries.
Ans:APage:457,459
57.To ensure that his subjects did not resist royal authority, King Philip II of Spain
A)used the Spanish Inquisition to suppress opposition.
B)exiled dissidents to the American colonies.
C)forced the conversion of all Spanish Jews to Christianity.
D)sentenced all Protestants to life imprisonment.
E)assigned a “secret” police force to spy on all citizens.