Religion and Politics Entangled
Introduced| English |
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| Issues of religious reform exacerbated/ˈɪʃuːz ɒv rɪˈlɪdʒəs rɪˈfɔːm eɡˈzæsəbeɪtɪd/ |
Religion sharpened existing conflicts
- Issues of religious reform exacerbated 加剧 conflicts between the monarchy and the nobility, as in the French wars of religion.
- The CED's verb is exacerbated, not caused — the monarchy-nobility conflict of 1.5 was already there.
- So religion supplied a new language and new allies for a struggle that predated it.
The CED says religious reform ____ monarchy-nobility conflicts.
The struggle predates the Reformation.
The Habsburgs on two fronts
- Habsburg rulers confronted an expanded Ottoman Empire while attempting unsuccessfully to restore Catholic unity across Europe.
- Two commitments at once, and the CED marks the second unsuccessful.
- A state fighting on two fronts must choose, and the choices it makes are the evidence for what it valued.
States on both sides used religious conflict for political and economic ends.
So a cross-confessional alliance is evidence for the CED's sentence, not a puzzle.
States used religion instrumentally
- States exploited religious conflicts to promote political and economic interests.
- The CED says this plainly, and it applies to Catholic and Protestant states alike.
- So an alliance that crosses a confessional line is not a puzzle — it is evidence for this sentence.
Exacerbation, instrumental use, or a settlement?
Sort each development in the entanglement of religion and politics.
The CED gives which motive for the Edict of Nantes?
Toleration here is an exception adopted for order.
Religious reform exacerbated conflicts that already existed. The CED's verb is deliberate — the monarchy-nobility struggle of 1.5 predates the Reformation, and religion supplied it with new language and new allies rather than creating it.
Select both consequences the CED gives the Peace of Westphalia.
It granted princes, bishops and local leaders control over religion.
And a few chose pluralism
- A few states, such as France with the Edict of Nantes, allowed religious pluralism in order to maintain domestic peace.
- The CED gives the motive explicitly: domestic peace, not principle.
- A few is its qualifier — toleration in this period is an exception adopted for order.
The Habsburgs confronted an expanded Ottoman Empire while attempting ____ to restore Catholic unity.
A state on two fronts must choose, and its choices are evidence.
Westphalia ended an ideal
- 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.
- Two consequences in one sentence: the end of an ideal, and the decline of an institution.
- It also closes unit 1's sovereignty thread: religion is now decided locally, which is the opposite of 1.5's monarchical monopoly at the imperial level.
A Catholic power subsidises Protestant armies against a Catholic rival. Nothing about that is inconsistent once you read the CED's sentence: states exploited religious conflicts to promote political and economic interests. The confessional label describes the war's language, not always its aims.
Religious reform exacerbated monarchy-nobility conflicts, as in the French wars of religion. Habsburg rulers confronted an expanded Ottoman Empire while attempting unsuccessfully to restore Catholic unity. States exploited religious conflicts to promote political and economic interests, and a few, such as France with the Edict of Nantes, allowed pluralism to maintain domestic peace. Westphalia (1648) ended the ideal of universal Christendom and accelerated the Holy Roman Empire's decline.