Monarchies For Dummies

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

   Although there are many problems with the absolute monarchy in the reign of King Philip II, it can be improved upon by looking at other, yet more successful, monarchs.  Looking at the collective mistakes and effects of King Philip’s empire, it is clear, that the main source of his problems were religious influences and the idea of absolute monarchy.  Because of his religious influences, he caused warfare that took thousands of lives away, he drove Spain into an economic collapse, and lost the powerful role that Spain played in the world.  Looking at other empire’s at the time, there are many ideas that Spain could have done to prevent these events.  The first is that the monarch that Spain should have should not be dependent on inheritance but rather by skill.  This is seen during Russia at the same time where they were rehabilitating from a very similar scenario.  King Ivan the Terrible drove Russia into an economic collapse as well but it is Peter the Great the learned from his mistakes and brought them back. Ivan the terrible had killed his oldest son leaving his younger, yet mentally unfit, son to be the King of Russia.  This resulted in a great economic downfall.  This proves that inheritance does not mean that a person is fit to run an empire.  Peter the Great rehabilitated Russia by learning from Ivan the Terrible and his son. Shown by The Prince,  

“[...]“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

Peter learnt that he could no longer govern every part of the civilians lives and make every single decision based on his own ideas.  The Prince shows that citizens should learn how to govern themselves.  This problem is resolved in Russia when Peter ruled Russia alongside his half-brother.  He also did not control every part of the citizen's lives as he had many people that he listened to for advice.  According to various other sources, this is also seen to be an effective strategy towards leading a monarch seen in The Prince, “It is necessary,[...] that these innovators [...] have to depend on others”(The Prince, 25).  The Prince states that in order for Monarchs to be successful, they have to learn to listen to others.  Because this is proven to work in Russia, this should be used in the Spanish Empire.  Another example of good principles is found in the Roman Empire. The Romans increased the size and strength of their empire by following five key principles. According to ABC-Clio, “they sent colonies and maintained friendly relations with the minor powers, without increasing their strength; they kept down the greater, and did not allow any strong foreign powers to gain authority.” By doing this they maintained control over their newly acquired nations, they kept alliances with other nations, and they prevented other nations from rising up and becoming stronger than them.  The Prince also mentions this when they mention, “Because such a government, being created by the prince, knows that it cannot stand without his friendship and interest.”  The Prince mentions how it is important to keep relationships with others as it is important for the survival of an empire.  This is shown to be effective seen in the Roman Empire.  Because there were no longer international relationships in the Spanish empire, they could rely on anyone to aid them in a time of need.

   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.