Trey Stanley, Sachin Katyal, Christopher Claybourne
April 17, 2016
World History I
Monarchies for Dummies
During the Middle Ages, much of European monarchies started becoming the standard of government. An absolute monarch is a king or queen that holds all of the power within their empire. The goal of a monarch is to control every aspect of the society and lives of the civilians from the taxes that people paid, to jobs they can have. During the era of feudalism, there were many aspects that posed for a shift in government. Because of the agricultural advancements during feudalism, there was a greater increase in population. As a result of this, towns and cities grew to create more trade and commerce. Because of all this money and wealth, there were more needs for the government have greater control over how the money is spent and traded throughout the empire. Thus, a monarchy was born with one person that controlled every aspect of the empire, including taxes, the jobs people have, and much more. This idea of having one ruler did offer a lot of benefits. Decisions were made quickly and swiftly because only one person would be making the final arrangement. Yet, there were also many impediments to the monarchy as with only one person in charge decisions might not be in the best interest of the people. Although the decisions were swift they were also unchallenged meaning that if the monarch decided they wanted something they would get it regardless of the repercussions.
King Philip II of Spain |
In the 1500s Spain, a monarch rose to power going by the name of Philip II. During the 1500s, Philip II became the King of Spain and inherited the Spanish Netherlands and American Colonies. Philip II, although was known as ruthless, was actually very shy and serious. Along with that, he was very religious and was a heavy believer in the Christian faith as he was Catholic. He was known as one of the strongest leaders of Spain as he put Spain into a time of Golden Age at the beginning of his reign. Towards the end of his reign, though, he put Spain into a time of descent and destruction. As a result of the great population increase at the time in Spain, many problems arose. There was inflation that was caused by the needs of an increasing population, the increased production of the silver bullion, the currency of the time, and the poor decisions of Philip II. As Philip II required more silver bullion to enter the market, prices of goods and services increased and the value of money decreased. Spanish clothes and manufactured goods were more expensive than other countries. This led to Spaniards buying their products from other countries, such as France England, and the Netherlands that held the same products at a cheaper price. As more money flowed into Spain’s enemies pockets Spain needed to borrow more money from other countries to finance their wars. Since Philip II had to borrow money from other countries all of their income went straight to other countries to pay off their debts. Since all of their income was going to paying off their debts they could not maintain their infrastructure which caused the Spanish state to file bankruptcy three times. Philip’s choices to recover from the distraught that he caused Spain to be in, he made resulted in the collapse of Spain’s power in the world. Philip’s neglect to focus on the future led to his eventual downfall as shown in the Prince, “who have to regard not only present troubles, but also future ones, for which they must prepare with every energy, because, when foreseen, it is easy to remedy them; but if you wait until they approach, the medicine is no longer in time because the malady has become incurable”(The Prince, 9-10). Philip’s heavy dedication to Catholicism caused great years of war across Spain and neighboring countries Philip felt that he needed to protect and defend Catholicism from Muslims and protestants. As a result, he kicked these religions and more, such as Jews and Moors, from his empire. This created 11 years of violence. This is similar to how Louis disturbed the current inhabitants which led to the loss of his rule, “taking away their dominions from the Venetians”. In 1568, his army managed to kill 1,500 Protestants. With the explosion of the large groups of people, and prolonged massive warfare, the Spanish empire collapsed; the Netherlands and the American Colonies were lost, the Spanish economy collapsed, and international relationship no longer existed. The lack of people resulted in the absence of valuable business people and artisans that help provided the flow of money in the economy of Spain.
Spanish Empire During the Early Reign of King Philip II |
“[...]“when cities or countries are accustomed to living under a prince, and his family is exterminated, they, being on the one hand accustomed to obey and on the other hand not having the old prince, cannot agree in making one from amongst themselves, and they do not know how to govern themselves”(The Prince, 21).
Symbol Used to Represent King Philip II During the Golden Age of Spain |
With all of these strategies collected from ideas from other empires, the Spanish Empire would have never failed. If King Philip II had not ruled his empire based on Religion, then warfare would have not started. With that warfare cam many deaths, international relationships were ruined, and Spain went through a time of turmoil. With these guidance, it can help King Philip II along with the future generations of monarchs.
Work Cited:
"Spain’s Empire And European Absolutism" Holt McDougal World History. Houghton, n.d. Web. 17 April.
2016. <http://my.hrw.com/tabnav/controller.jsp?isbn=9780547521084>.
"Absolute Rulers of Russia" Holt McDougal World History. Houghton, n.d. Web. 17 April.
2016. <http://my.hrw.com/tabnav/controller.jsp?isbn=9780547521084>.
"Transcript: Rising Power of Monarchs." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2016. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
Machiavelli, Niccolò, and David Wootton. The Prince. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co, 1995. Print.