2.1 Contextualizing 16th- and 17th-Century Challenges and Developments

Learning Objective Unit 2.A: Explain the context in which the religious, political, and cultural developments of the 16th and 17th centuries took place.

• KC-1.2 Religious pluralism challenged the concept of a unified Europe.
  • KC-1.2.I The Protestant and Catholic reformations fundamentally changed theology, religious institutions, culture, and attitudes toward wealth and prosperity.
  • KC-1.2.II Religious reform both increased state control of religious institutions and provided justifications for challenging state authority.
  • KC-1.2.III Conflicts among religious groups overlapped with political and economic competition within and among states.
• KC-1.4 European society and the experiences of everyday life were increasingly shaped by commercial and agricultural capitalism, notwithstanding the continued existence of medieval social and economic structures.
  • KC-1.4.III Population shifts and growing commerce caused the expansion of cities, which often placed stress on their traditional political and social structures.
  • KC-1.4.IV The family remained the primary social and economic institution of early modern Europe and took several forms, including the nuclear family.
  • KC-1.4.V Popular culture, leisure activities, and rituals reflecting the continued popularity of folk ideas reinforced and sometimes challenged communal ties and norms.
• KC-1.5 The struggle for sovereignty within and among states resulted in varying degrees of political centralization.
  • KC-1.5.I The new concept of the sovereign state and secular systems of law played a central role in the creation of new political institutions.

2.2 Luther and the Protestant Reformation

Thematic Focus (CID): Cultural and Intellectual Developments — The creation and transmission of knowledge, including the relationship between traditional sources of authority and the development of differing world views, had significant political, intellectual, economic, cultural, and social effects on European and world societies.

Learning Objective Unit 2.B: Explain how and why religious belief and practices changed from 1450 to 1648.

• KC-1.2.I.B Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin criticized Catholic abuses and established new interpretations of Christian doctrine and practice. Responses to Luther and Calvin included religious radicals, including the Anabaptists, and other groups, such as German peasants.
• KC-1.2.I.C Some Protestant groups sanctioned the notion that wealth accumulation was a sign of God’s favor and a reward for hard work.

Illustrative examples:

• New Protestant interpretations of Christian doctrine and practice:
  • Priesthood of all believers
  • Primacy of scripture §Bullet Predestination §Bullet Salvation by faith alone
• Protestants who viewed wealth as signs of God’s favor: §Bullet Calvinists

2.3 Protestant Reform Continues

Thematic Focus (CID): Cultural and Intellectual Developments — The creation and transmission of knowledge, including the relationship between traditional sources of authority and the development of differing world views, had significant political, intellectual, economic, cultural, and social effects on European and world societies.

Learning Objective Unit 2.B: Explain how and why religious belief and practices changed from 1450 to 1648.

• KC-1.1.II.B Protestant reformers used the printing press to disseminate their ideas, which spurred religious reform and helped it to become widely established.
• KC-1.2.II.B Some Protestants, including Calvin and the Anabaptists, refused to recognize the subordination of the church to the secular state.
• KC-1.2.II.C Religious conflicts became a basis for challenging the monarchs’ control of religious institutions.

Illustrative examples:

• Reformers using press to disseminate ideas: §Bullet Martin Luther §Bullet Vernacular Bibles Religious conflicts caused by groups challenging the monarch’s control of religious institutions:
  • Huguenots
  • Puritans
  • Nobles in Poland

2.4 Wars of Religion

Thematic Focus (SOP): States and Other Institutions of Power — European states and nations developed governmental and civil institutions from 1450 to the present to organize society and consolidate political power, with a variety of social, cultural, and economic effects.

Learning Objective Unit 2.C: Explain how matters of religion influenced and were influenced by political factors from 1450 to 1648.

• KC-1.2.III.A Issues of religious reform exacerbated conflicts between the monarchy and the nobility, as in the French wars of religion.
• KC-1.2.III.B Habsburg rulers confronted an expanded Ottoman Empire while attempting unsuccessfully to restore Catholic unity across Europe.
• KC-1.2.III.C States exploited religious conflicts to promote political and economic interests.
• KC-1.2.III.D A few states, such as France with the Edict of Nantes, allowed religious pluralism in order to maintain domestic peace.
• KC-1.5.I.B The Peace of Westphalia (1648), which marked the effective end of the medieval ideal of universal Christendom, accelerated the decline of the Holy Roman Empire by granting princes, bishops, and other local leaders control over religion.

Illustrative examples:

• Key factors in the French wars of religion:
  • Catherine de’ Medici
  • St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre
  • War of the Three Henrys
  • Henry IV
• Habsburg rulers: §Bullet Charles V State exploitation of religious conflicts:
  • Catholic Spain and Protestant England
  • France, Sweden, and Denmark in the Thirty Years’ War
• States allowing religious pluralism:
  • Poland
  • The Netherlands

2.5 The Catholic Reformation

Thematic Focus (CID): Cultural and Intellectual Developments — The creation and transmission of knowledge, including the relationship between traditional sources of authority and the development of differing world views, had significant political, intellectual, economic, cultural, and social effects on European and world societies.

Learning Objective Unit 2.D: Explain the continuities and changes in the role of the Catholic Church from 1450 to 1648.

• KC-1.2.I.D The Catholic Reformation, exemplified by the Jesuit Order and the Council of Trent, revived the church but cemented division within Christianity.

Illustrative examples:

• The Catholic Reformation:
  • St. Teresa of Avila
  • Ursulines
  • Roman Inquisition
  • Index of Prohibited Books

2.6 16th-Century Society and Politics

Thematic Focus (SCD): Social Organization and Development — Economic, political, and cultural factors have influenced the form and status of family, class, and social groups in European history, which has, in turn, affected both the individual and society.

Learning Objective Unit 2.E: Explain how economic and intellectual developments from 1450 to 1648 affected social norms and hierarchies.

• KC-1.4.I.C Established hierarchies of class, religion, and gender continued to define social status and perceptions in rural and urban settings.
• KC-1.4.IV.A Rural and urban households worked as units, with men and women engaged in separate but complementary tasks.
• KC-1.4.IV.B The Renaissance and Reformation raised debates about female education and women’s roles in the family, church, and society.
• KC-1.4.III.C Social dislocation, coupled with the shifting authority of religious institutions during the Reformation, left city governments with the task of regulating public morals.
• KC-1.4.V.A Leisure activities continued to be organized according to the religious calendar and the agricultural cycle, and remained communal in nature.
• KC-1.4.V.B Local and church authorities continued to enforce communal norms through rituals of public humiliation.
• KC-1.4.V.C Reflecting folk ideas and social and economic upheaval, accusations of witchcraft peaked between 1580 and 1650.

Illustrative examples:

• Continued social hierarchies:
  • Prestige of land ownership
  • Aristocratic privileges regarding taxes, fees for services, and legal protections
  • Political exclusion of women
• Debates about female roles:
  • Women’s intellect and education
  • Women as preachers
  • La Querelle des Femmes
• Regulating public morals:
  • New secular laws regulating private life
  • Stricter codes on prostitution and begging
  • Abolishing or restricting Carnival
• Communal leisure activities:
  • Saint’s day festivities
  • Carnival
  • Blood sports
• Rituals of public humiliation:
  • Charivari
  • Stocks
  • Public whipping and branding
• Factors in witchcraft accusations:
  • Prominence of women
  • Regional variation
  • Social upheaval

2.7 Art of the 16th Century: Mannerism and Baroque Art

Thematic Focus (CID): Cultural and Intellectual Developments — The creation and transmission of knowledge, including the relationship between traditional sources of authority and the development of differing world views, had significant political, intellectual, economic, cultural, and social effects on European and world societies.

Learning Objective Unit 2.F: Explain how and why artistic expression changed from 1450 to 1648.

• KC-1.1.III.C Mannerist and Baroque artists employed distortion, drama, and illusion in their work. Monarchies, city-states, and the church commissioned these works as a means of promoting their own stature and power.

Illustrative examples:

• Mannerist and Baroque artists whose art was used in new public buildings:
  • El Greco
  • Artemisia Gentileschi
  • Gian Bernini
  • Peter Paul Rubens

2.8 Causation in the Age of Reformation and the Wars of Religion

Learning Objective Unit 2.G: Explain how the religious, political, and cultural developments of the 16th and 17th centuries affected European society from 1450 to 1648.

• KC-1.2 Religious pluralism challenged the concept of a unified Europe.
  • KC-1.2.I The Protestant and Catholic reformations fundamentally changed theology, religious institutions, culture, and attitudes toward wealth and prosperity.
  • KC-1.2.II Religious reform both increased state control of religious institutions and provided justifications for challenging state authority.
  • KC-1.2.III Conflicts among religious groups overlapped with political and economic competition within and among states.
• KC-1.4 European society and the experiences of everyday life were increasingly shaped by commercial and agricultural capitalism, notwithstanding the continued existence of medieval social and economic structures.
  • KC-1.4.III Population shifts and growing commerce caused the expansion of cities, which often placed stress on their traditional political and social structures.
  • KC-1.4.IV The family remained the primary social and economic institution of early modern Europe and took several forms, including the nuclear family.
  • KC-1.4.V Popular culture, leisure activities, and rituals reflecting the continued popularity of folk ideas reinforced and sometimes challenged communal ties and norms.
• KC-1.5 The struggle for sovereignty within and among states resulted in varying degrees of political centralization.
  • KC-1.5.I The new concept of the sovereign state and secular systems of law played a central role in the creation of new political institutions.