16th Century European History: Society, Economy, and Power
Demographic and Economic Expansion
Demographic Factors of the 16th Century
Page 11, Exercise 1: Demographic factors explain the expansion of the 16th century through:
- The decline of epidemic crises.
- The labeling and cultivation of new lands.
- The century knew no great wars, along with the introduction of new American crops.
Mining and Steel Production Development
Exercise 3: This was due to the development of mining and steel production, driven by the needs for metals for the manufacture of firearms and boats for the oceans and overseas trade.
Economic Consequences of New Trade Routes
Exercise 4: What were the economic consequences of the opening of discoveries and new European trade routes? There was a slow decline in the importance of the Mediterranean in trade, shifting towards the Atlantic axis.
Social Structure and the Feudal System
Social Organization in the 16th Century
Page 13, Exercise 1: How society was organized in the 16th century: the nobility and the clergy constituted the privileged classes, and the majority were commoners or underprivileged.
Power and Wealth of Privileged Classes
Exercise 2: What was the power and wealth of the privileged classes based on? The hereditary nobility, originally, was a kind of class of warriors and large landowners.
The Structure of the Feudal System
Exercise 3: What did the feudal system consist of? It consisted of the administration of justice, the appointment of public office, collecting taxes, and monopolies, etc., in territories under the lordship.
Social Characteristics in Dress and Work
Exercise 4: Deducing characteristics of the images in terms of dress, work, and everyday objects: clothes clothe the poor and those working in the fields; the nobles were dressed and did not work.
The Rise of Authoritarian Monarchies
Defining the Authoritarian Monarchy
Page 17, Exercise 1: How is an authoritarian monarchy defined? It is one in which the monarch's power and authority are in conflict; little by little, the idea of the king's absolute power shall be imposed in front of the nobility and the church.
Strengthening the State and Monarchical Power
Exercise 2: What media did great monarchies exploit to strengthen the state and the power of their monarchs? They used instruments of power: a mercenary standing army, a state Hacienda (Treasury) able to keep the whole political, military, and administrative apparatus, and an administration served by a bureaucracy of royal officials chosen between nobles, courtiers, and counselors.
Machiavelli and the Reason of State
Exercise 3: What idea did the text of Machiavelli convey regarding the sentence that "the means justify the ends"? We must, as he said, understand that while he cannot deviate from the path of goodness, if necessary, he must know how to enter into evil. Machiavelli: Machiavelli-inspired doctrine founded on the preeminence of reason of state over any other moral character.
Historical Definitions and Concepts
Subsistence Crisis
A farming crisis typical of economies in the former regime caused by crop failure. These were due to unfavorable weather conditions, other natural factors, and falling farm yields.
Dominions
Territories over which the lords wielded enormous economic, political, and judicial power over the land and the peasants who cultivated it. These could be of two types: territorial or jurisdictional.
Evangelism
The diffusion process and conversion to Christianity.
Sovereignty
The state's supreme power, over which no other power exists.