W6L3Emerging Nation-States in Europe, Asia, and the Middle E.docx

W6L3
Emerging Nation-States in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East
In the next Module, we will learn about the European expansion
from an isolated series of kingdoms to the beginnings of
Empire. Ultimately, European empires would dominate the
Earth, with the British Empire famously covering one-fifth of
the globe at its peak. The latter growing importance of these
powerhouses will in turn increase the importance of their
histories. As a result, more modern attention tends to focus on
the conflicts during the religious Reformation and the
discoveries of the Renaissance than might have made sense to a
person living during the fourteenth or sixteenth centuries.
Ultimately these two intellectual movements would cause the
increasing centralization of secular governments, which would
in turn create a more solid sense of the nation-state.
What is a nation-state? Nation-states have common
characteristics, concerning borders, national unity and identity,
and economic, social, or cultural institutions.
1. There is a unifying identity to the territory itself. Where
proto-nations might expand or constrict their territory based on
conquest or arranged royal marriages, nation-states have a
specifically-defined borders and heartland. Those who live
within the core territory consider themselves to be part of that
place: and so the English are from England but the Welsh have a
different relationship with English governments.
2. We see national unity through legal systems, traditions,
language, and monetary values. A nation-state will have a
uniform tax code, for instance, and a thorough court system,
listed rights and values, or cultural assumptions through dress
and other measurements.

An imagined map of Europe, circa 1570. Here, “up” is
southwest instead of North. The head is Iberia, the chest is
“Gaul” or France, the heart and stomach are Germany and the
right arm is Denmark. The left arm is Italy, followed by the
great island of Sicily. While not drawn to scale, this shows the
various proto-nation states and their relationship to the whole of
the world.
Portugal became a kingdom in the twelfth century, as the
process of Reconquest cemented exactly what borders belonged
to the Portuguese kingdom and allowed Portuguese leaders to
begin creating a uniform set of institutions tailored to unique
traits of Portuguese culture. Spain took a longer route to
becoming a nation-state, since essentially Spain’s cohesion
stems from vastly different smaller kingdoms such as Castile,
Aragon, or Granada. Spanish unity began in 1492 with the final
expulsion of the Muslims. The Spanish nation-state is distinct
from the Spanish Empire across the seas, which ebbed and
flowed with Spanish influence without affecting the customs,
institutions, or culture of Spain itself.
French lands expanded and constricted from the rule of the
Capetians (the French house of Capet) beginning in 987 until
the overthrow of the absolutist King Louis XVI. Much of the
interaction between France and England during the Hundred
Years War (1337 to 1453) focused on territorial gains and
losses. The success of France established the beginning of
French nationhood on the Continent, after which France began
slowly to establish important traditions and institutions in an
increasingly firm border. Nevertheless, even today regions of
France are secure in their territories yet hold an identity distinct
from France as a whole. Normandy and Brittany have unique
traditions and customs and even speak alternative dialects and
languages. The customs dictating English nation-hood were
largely tied to the Reformation and its aftermath, as the English
Parliament enhanced its power until the English civil wars of
the seventeenth century, during which nobles struggled over the

proper role of Parliament and Monarchy. England is peculiar;
while the borders of England have been mostly static for years,
the creation of a new state Great Britain was followed by the
invention of the United Kingdom, which eventually became the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Among
these changes, England remained distinct from Scotland, Wales,
Ireland, and British territories.
The definition of nation-states is complicated and relies on the
fluidity of an individual’s identity within the larger structure of
society. Even today people argue over ideas of “Englishness”
and what constitutes an “American.” The nation-states forming
during the early modern period (roughly 1500 to 1800) contrast
with other, more modern European states like Germany, Russia,
and Italy, which did not became nation-states until the
nineteenth century.
A meeting at the Ottoman Court
The creation of nation-states is distinct from empires which are
nevertheless important to this time period. The Ottoman Empire,
for instance, established a great deal of unity from Turkey into
Greece, north along Eastern Europe and west into Asia in the
sixteenth century. It lasted from 1299 to 1923, but the Ottomans
were distinct from a nation. However strong their administration
was, it did not supplant local cultural traditions or use a single
unifying language. It was an empire with changing
characteristics, making it parallel more strongly to the Roman
Empire or the Chinese dynastic empires. The Ottoman
monarch Sulayman I built strong ties with France, Austria, and
Spain during the years of the Reformation and Counter-
Reformation. Sulayman was particularly influential for
establishing a specific Turkish judicial system and
implementing it throughout the empire, giving the Ottomans a
proto-nation-state background that helped modernize the state.
This period in turn saw a flourishing trade in Turkish art,
literature, scientific discovery, and architecture, which worked

together to create a sense of Turkish identity.
And yet, dispute a sense of national unity, the Ottoman Empire
remained an empire and not a nation-state. The collective rule
of 29 provinces with a number of smaller vassal states meant
that long-term characteristics of “Turkish-ness” across the
Ottoman subjects were impossible. Instead, the dialogue
covered influence, authority, and imperial might. Without a
common code, a collective culture or people, the Ottomans
remained a very powerful empire but not a nation-state.
Nation-States in Asia
Patriotism in Asian cultures had the advantage of a strong role
model: the dynasties of China. If nation-states are characterized
by common cultures and centralized administration, the Chinese
were influential in providing a good example of persistent
administration. And so, geographically protected areas were
able to adopt some Chinese traditions with their own local
cultural influences. The Korean Peninsula provided an ideal
geographically specific area where local villages and cities
could come together for a single strong nation-state before the
larger nearby empires were able to dominate cultures enough to
form nation-states themselves. Similarly, the island of Japan
came together to form a nation-state during this period. While
some European countries were unable to create a collective until
the later nineteenth century, Asian nation-states began to form
cohesive local traditions hundreds of years before.
Korea
An elaborate screen painted during the Joseon Age of Korea
Modern Korea is divided by ideology, dynastic power, and
opposing economic systems. North Korea is a communist
country; South Korea is capitalist. Despite this division, Korea
has shared a national heritage that placed Korea firmly in the
category of “nation-state” well before many European countries
achieved such a distinction. The tradition comes from a
civilization called Joseon, out of which we get the name Korea,

which slowly spread across the Korean peninsula beginning at
the end of the fourteenth century. From 1392 to 1897, Joseon
(or Choson) was the Korean state. Founded under Taejo Yi
Seong-gye, the state consolidated its rule through absolute
authority. The common idealism of Confucianism threaded a
collective worldview throughout the state that was reasonably
static in region. Once the peninsula was consolidated under
Joseon rule, the Korean culture began to develop rapidly,
beginning the long-standing traditions that are in place in some
ways still today, despite the political divisions of modern
Korea.
The Korean Confucianist ideals were combined with Japanese
efficiency and Chinese uniformity and administration during a
period of warfare in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As
the Japanese Daimyo consolidated under one authority, the new
alliance set the stage for intervention in Korea first through
Japan and then through the Qing Dynasty of China. Yet Joseon
persisted during these tough times, and after throwing off the
tributary status under Qing Rule in 1392, Korea endured over
two centuries of peace. Korean etiquette, art, architecture,
traditions, cultural mores, and social attitudes were largely
developed and enhanced during this period, creating a single,
geographically-specific and ethnically-homogenous nation-state.
Even modern Korean owes much to linguistic development
unique to the Joseon period.
A classic example of Joseon pottery
Joseon administration was Confucianist in design, like that of
China, and led by a unifying king. This monarch made major
decisions supported by the Yangban, a council of Confucian
scholars who acted as government officials. Eventually, the
Yangban would assume a position similar to that of nobles or
legislators, slowing gathering power and influence during the
Joseon period. The Yangban in turn gave instructions to
the Chungin, administrators in local districts. The Chungin

literally translates to “The Middle People” and they acted in
local communities as bureaucrats, justices, advisers, and
enforcers of law and policy. The Confucian-driven hierarchy
allowed local feedback to reach the centralized government
while also providing a smooth implementation for new policies
and laws. Furthermore, those at the local level could make
arrangements that would benefit a local town best instead of
requiring the king to assume knowledge of local politics when
crafting new legislation. Joseon Korea had six centralized
ministries: Personal, Taxation, Rites, Defense, Justice, and
Works. Each was responsible for a particular set of government
administration, like taxes or courts or building bridges and
roads. Through this clear organization, Korean administration
was efficient and strong yet flexible.
Joseon Korea set up administrative and cultural structures that
endured for hundreds of years. The development of science,
mathematics, and technology were stunning: medical advances
grew the body of knowledge concerning human anatomy and
treatments for illness while Court scholars tracked the
movement of the stars with great accuracy. The creation of an
automated, self-striking water clock allowed administration to
run on time rather than relying on general positioning of the
sun. A 1402 Korean-made map of the world shows a
surprisingly accurate detailed description of the Asian
continent. Artistic advancements in portrayals of landscape and
humans were similar to the advances during the Italian
Renaissance. The role of religion in government also facilitated
art and technology similar to that of the Catholic Church during
the Renaissance. Yet where Catholic authority was eventually
challenged and divided during the Reformation, Confucian
scholars maintained a central part of society, using belief and
self-improvement as the core for fashion, architecture, and
cultural idealism.
Japan
The island nation of Japan endured a period of warring smaller

states before a powerful military commander named Oda
Nobunaga began a mission to unify Japan into one single state.
By 1568, the Japanese population was among the world's
largest, with over ten million people living on the main islands
and even more populating the various smaller islands nearby.
Nobunaga was triumphant in collective allegiance from smaller
communities but was murdered in 1582. Nevertheless, the
sudden death of this man did not stop the transition of unity in
Japan. His successor, General Toyotomi Hideyoshi, continued
his work by defeating rival lords along the countryside. By
1603, the daimyo (rural nobility) had accepted a centralized
leadership. Japanese forces eventually began to leave Japanese
shores on a mission of conquest, but the relative failures abroad
did not mitigate what was occurring on the Japanese home
islands: a rapid development of legal, cultural, and
administrative centralization that drew Japan into the category
of "nation-state."
Daimyo and leader Oda Nobunaga
During this period, particularly under Hideyoshi, Japanese
villages were canvassed through land surveys called the Taiko
Surveys. The information gleaned from these census like
surveys helped Hideyoshi devise a plan for local governments
that was decentralized and informed of community tensions and
challenges but loyal to the centralized government and able to
make reports, enforce uniform codes, and create a harmonious
Japanese system of administration. Tolls and taxation ensure
smooth road-building, easy access to larger urban centers,
agricultural support, and revenue to maintain government
institutions. The disarming of the country side called the Great
Sword Hunt ensured that Japanese daimyo would not respond to
the new unified Japan with renewed attacks or civil war.
Early modern Japan also witnessed the rise of external
influences on Japanese artistic development. Tea trade spiked
and foreign traders began to visit the country in larger numbers.
Cities flourished throughout Japan and a special form of

architecture built specifically to endure the frequent occurrence
of earthquakes was the devised. By building houses with easily
collapsible walls and furniture with limited second stories, an
earthquake might demolish a house but prevent any injuries.
The focus in Japan was on saving lives and building material
goods that could be easily replaced. The Momoyama Castle,
built during this period, was an ornate building with extensive
decorations, gold leaf, painted screens, and international
influence. The developments in cultural and artistic expression
maintain a Japanese flavor that tied together shared
representative heritage as Japan moved forward as a nation-
state.
Ming and Qing China
Chinese settlements have an extended history of imperial
influence dominated by strands of dynasties throughout history.
We’ve learned about the Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties.
Interspersed with moments of disunity followed by a rise of a
new Dynasty, Chinese administrative power has persisted for
thousands of years. The Ming Dynasty, from 1368 to 1644, was
another strong example of central authority. The Ming was
characterized by a period of extreme efficiency, order, and
stability. From the capital of Beijing, the Han dynastic leaders
led the Ming Dynasty to a successful establishment of trade,
foreign exchange, cultural advance, and intellectual
development.
Ming Emperor Hungwu, left, and Empress Xiaoan, right
Under the Ming, China constructed an elaborate navy designed
to defend the enormous land mass of Chinese power while
enhancing overseas trade. The navy was able to command a
great trading partnership throughout the Pacific and Indian
oceans all the way to the coasts of Africa. The Ming enforced
military command through the development of a standing army
of over one million troops. These armies were used to
continually expand the empire, spreading to Japan and Korea in

time. They continued restoration of the Great Wall and Great
Canal while building up the impressive structures of the
Forbidden City, a royal neighborhood in Beijing. Perhaps as
many as 200 million people lived under Ming Rule.
The Ming Dynasty appears to be surrounded by other dynasties
and not terribly obvious for its importance. And yet, under the
leadership of emperors such as Hongwu (r. 1368-1398) and
Yongle (r. 1398 1424), Ming China became a society of satellite
rural communities that interacted in an efficient, rigid system
connecting them to the trade and decisions of larger urban
centers. The stability of Ming economy is similar to the
characteristics of Italian renaissance economies, which in turn
spurred so much in the way of intellectual innovation. And
similarly, Chinese agriculture thrived under this model.
Religious uniformity, with slight regional variation, helped
create a sense of Chinese identity and shared heritage. Networks
of communication couriers allowed for politicking, trade,
diplomacy, and legislation. Furthermore, the networks
facilitated a surplus of affordable food flooding local markets
from distant farms. The ready availability of food and goods
created a hierarchy of social class, including a gentry class that
could be highly educated. Even merchants and artisans could
afford to educate their children, enabling Ming culture to adopt
an upward mobility class structure. The resulting educated
classes produced innovations in philosophy, history, science,
mathematics, literature, arts, and urban planning.
Ming Court at leisure, playing a game similar to golf
However, the Ming Dynasty fell to an emerging power called
the Manchu. The Manchu gathered weapons and allies as early
as 1600, launching attacks in the 1620s that gradually weakened
the power of the centralized authority. In fact, it was weakened
enough that by 1636, the Manchu leader was able to claim
credible opposition through the creation of a new dynasty, the
Qing. In 1644, Beijing was sacked by the Manchu forces and the

Manchu Qing Dynasty established itself in the roots of the Ming
authority, in Beijing. It would last until the founding of the
People’s Republic of China in 1923.
Under the Ming leadership, China created a somewhat
consistent series of cultural traditions, philosophical and
religious doctrine, centralized government, and flourishing
prosperity. Yet it wasn’t quite a nation-state; challenging and
changing borders complicated the static geographic regions
known as “China” and the lack of a centralized single language
among 200 million or more inhabitants meant that no single
literature or education system could be shared by all.
Nevertheless, the Ming traditions were similar to those of
Renaissance Italy, and we have seen how the spread of those
eventually led to nation-building in Europe.
Conclusions
Ultimately, the label of “nation-state” is a difficult one to
ascribe to any particular group. The current emphasis on a static
nation-state with membership in the League of Nations is the
product of modern developments, modern wars, and modern
treaties. Yet such ideas could not have been borne without the
proto-nation-state of the early modern period. Without empires
giving way to states with unifying characteristics, interests, and
customs, the world as we know it today would be as malleable
as the early modern world had been. It could be subject to
massive reform and sudden, radical realignment. The
stabilization of a local economy, the centralization of
government, and the creation of an educated class that focused
on innovation are all essential components to establishing a
regionally-specific nation with a shared heritage and culture.
Without these common traits, the world today might be subject
to more wars and conflict over territorial disputes. Instead, our
world engages with a global struggle for cultural influence
through trade. And it is to the subject of globalization that we
turn.

W5L4
The Occupation of the Iberian Peninsula
American schoolchildren often have a fond memory for Spain in
the year 1492. “In fourteen-hundred ninety-two, Columbus
sailed the ocean blue.” From there, European exploration and
conquest of the American peoples became a flood, and the
founding of the United States was one of many consequences of
the voyages of Columbus. However, the year 1492 was
significant to global history for other reasons as well. The year
1492 also marked the expulsion of Muslims from Spain. Muslim
forces had occupied the Iberian Peninsula for almost 750 years.
Most associations of Islam tie regionally to the Middle East.
How did Muslims form a major part of European history?
It began in the eighth century, when the Umayyad Caliphate
began to conquer North Africa. They quickly moved into Egypt
and across the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. After
some resistance from local peoples, particularly the Berbers,
Islam was accepted en masse. Northern African remains today a
bastion of Islamic traditions. The Arab invaders and local
Berber peoples intermingled and married, creating a new culture
and ethnic group that maintained some older tribal customs but
adopted new Islamic traditions for a distinct new culture that
provided its adherents and residents with a sense of unity and
identity. They became known as the Moors.
Muslim-occupied Iberia in 790 CE
In 711, the Arab-Berber forces crossed the Strait of Gibraltar
and entered the Iberian Peninsula, the region of modern-day
Spain and Portugal. At the time, Iberia was not unified and the

invading armies were able to play on the lack of unity to
conquer the smaller kingdoms in rapid succession. By 756 the
conquest was complete and Muslim invaders embarked on a
700-year occupation. They even invaded France, crossing the
Pyrenees Mountains. However, they met a strong French army
on the other side, led by Charles Martel in 732. His armies
successfully repelled the Muslim forces, keeping them south of
the mountain range and contained within the Iberian Peninsula.
The subsequent culture of occupation was a curious blend of
Muslim, Christian, and Jewish traditions. Jews had found safe
havens in Iberian kingdoms, particularly when newly-converted
monarchs had expelled Jews from their kingdoms. At times the
relationships among these three loosely related religions was
tense and violent; at other times, the people benefited from
learning from each other and living in relative religious
tolerance. The rule is known as Al-Andalus: the Muslim rule of
Iberia.
In fact, the Muslim occupation of Iberia is also known as
the Golden Age of Moorish Rule, lasting from around the
administrative rule of Abd-ar-Rahman III in 912 until the
massacre at Granada in 1066. During this period, groups from
throughout Iberia shared knowledge and communities to create
new traditions, innovations, intellectual understanding, and
financial prosperity.
Traditionally, the treatment of Jews was complicated and
oppressive. Pagan and Christian rulers did not like having non-
conforming believers within their kingdoms. The Christian
Visigoths of Hispania (Spain) had persecuted the Jews
intensely; although no official doctrine advocated the idea,
many early Christians blamed Jews for the death of Christ.
Since Christian theology is built on Christ’s death as salvation,
one might think that the crucifixion was crucial to being saved,
but early Christians nevertheless wished to punish Jewish
communities hundreds of years later. The persecution could be

fierce or subtle. The Byzantine Emperor Leo I compelled Jews
to follow Christian traditions and rites, regardless of their
personal beliefs in the fifth century. Because of this violence,
the Jews almost welcomed the new leaders and the Muslim
tradition of charging a tax to non-believers continued unabated
in this new part of the Islamic Empire. Where most communities
wished for uniformity among religious beliefs, Al-Andalus
allowed for religious tolerance, though not equality, and the
restraint from attack, persecution, or harassment allowed local
cultures to flourish regardless of religious belief. Later, France
expelled the Jews outright in 1182 and England followed suit in
1290, but the tradition of tolerance in Muslim-occupied Iberia
created a natural place for these persecuted peoples to rest.
Some Jewish populations did not wait to be expelled or
persecuted, choosing instead to immigrate to the area during a
period of growth, tolerance, and prosperity.
A Mosque in Cordoba Spain combines elements of Islamic
design with Spanish coloring
Living under Moorish rule, Jews and Christians were allowed to
retain their own holy traditions. Jews were able to maintain and
practice Jewish law. As in other areas of the Islamic Empires,
the Al-Andalus placed a great emphasis on preserving history
and cultures. Great extensive libraries of books from Greco-
Roman, early Iberian, French, German, and English ideas were
collected and preserved. Legal codes and local traditions
experienced revival in the attempt to maintain traditions and
build on those ideas as Muslim scholars had done throughout
the Middle East. Cross-fertilization of ideas was encouraged
and the people known as the Mozarabs were a perfect example
of that. They were Christians who adopted Arabic customs,
artistic styles, and linguistics while still practicing traditional
Christian rituals and speaking in their vernacular Latin-based
languages that were proto-types for Spanish and Portuguese.
The collective knowledge is perhaps the longest legacy of Al-

Andalus, the Muslim occupation of Iberia. Long after the new
conquest by Christian forces, the more complex understanding
of astronomy, science, mathematics, medicine, and history were
preserved. Architectural villas in Spain were not possible
without the knowledge of mathematics brought by Muslims;
Spanish buildings have a complexity to their structure and
rooftops typically not found in the rest of Europe. The tools
necessary for exploration were further discovered and
developed by Muslim innovators: the compass, the astrolabe,
the sextant and the quadrant were used for maritime exploration
after the 1400s. Overall, Al-Andalus was a period of peace and
intellectual curiosity, punctuated with inter-communal conflict
and tension.
Much of this changed in 1066. On December 30 of that year, a
crowd of Muslims stormed the Granada palace, where a Jewish
religious leader had gathered about 1500 families for worship.
The mob killed approximately 4000 people during this
massacre. The conflict arose out of the rapid escalation of a
single person: Joseph Ibn Naghrela. He had become one of the
key advisers to the Berber King Badis al-Muzaffar. While
generally religious communities lived in different areas of town
and the Muslims left Jews alone so long as they paid their Jizya
tax, this particularly powerful Jewish leader had political
authority. Resentment, tension, and finally hostility
overwhelmed the community and ended in massacre.
A modern painting imagines what the Massacre of Granada may
have looked like
Until this point, Muslims and Jews had lived together in peace,
but the Massacre of Granada marked a change. After that
stunning day of religious violence, the situation in Al-Andalus
began to deteriorate rapidly. By 1090, a new invasion of
Muslims flooded the Peninsula from Morocco. They were called
Almoravids and they sought conformity and purity among
Muslim practice. More moderate experienced Muslims resisted

the Almoravid calls to stop tolerating Jewish and Christian
practices. This led to conflict and struggle within Muslim
leadership. The next few hundred years were centuries of
conflict and chaos, as rivalries among Muslims made life
difficult for bystanders. Some areas began to persecute non-
Muslims while others maintained the same level of tolerance.
The in-fighting allowed an open door for Christian reconquest
and in 1085 the city of Toledo was taken by Christian forces.
Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula came in from the north,
through France. As early as 900 already Aragon, Castile, and
Leon had been recaptured by Christian authorities and the
Muslims expelled to southern kingdoms. By 1236, with the
capture of Cadiz, approximately half of the Peninsula was in
Christian or contested hands, including Portugal and extended
areas of Aragon and Castile. By 1300, the majority of the
Peninsula was Christian, excepting only the Emirate of Granada
and southern coastal towns. Granada would not return to
Christian rule until 1492, when Castile and Aragon were united
under a single powerful Crown and the Treaty of Granada was
signed with their unified monarchy.
This broad, constant encroachment on Al-Andalus was a steady
mission to remove Muslim power in the same vein as the
Crusades. Powerful leaders of the Church allied with nobles and
kings from European Kingdoms to finance and provide military
power for the re-taking control of the Iberian Peninsula. Many
of the conquering armies were brutal and violent, fighting not
only for land but for God and eternal salvation. With such
personal forces on their side, the soldiers fought to win at all
costs, even when it meant slaughtering civilians and uprooting
families who had been in the same town for 600 or more years.
And after lands were taken, the new rulers of each town or
kingdom have a new agenda to enforce: ridding the local
population of the Islamic influences.
The Reconquest of Spain took 600 years and at times included
Crusaders

The invading Christian rulers used many tactics to expel
Muslim ideas. They began by attempting to stamp out non-
Christians completely. Moors and Jews were given the option of
converting to Christianity or leaving the kingdoms in Iberia.
Even conversion was not quite enough, though, as authorities
feared false conversion by those attempting to stay in the towns
where their families might have lived for the past 200 or 400
years. As an added precaution, they introduced the “Limpieza
de Sangre” or the measure of pure blood. Those who were
willing to adopt Christianity could only stay if they had been
descended from Christian families. This was hard to prove;
while expulsion was a real threat, elaborate books of genealogy
were fabricated to allow prominent families to remain in their
historic homelands. Nevertheless, the rule of generations only
allowed a family to remain in Iberia if they could prove their
antiquity for a certain number of generations. The Catholic
Inquisition added torture and intimidation to the mix, by taking
suspected Moriscos – descendents of Muslims who practiced
Christianity – and asked them repeatedly about their ancestries.
Any inconsistencies in their answers could mean banishment
from Iberia, or death.
The goal was uniformity after centuries of occupation from a
perceived foreign culture. While these destructive policies were
implemented, kingdoms also began seeking alliances with each
other through marriage and diplomacy. One such key marriage
occurred in 1469, when Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand of
Aragon. Their combined kingdoms created a unified Spain
whose only rivaling kingdom would be Portugal. With a large
court on their side and financial stability to employ following
a particular agenda, Ferdinand and Isabella sent new troops to
attack Granada and took the rest of Iberia from Muslim control
by signing the Treaty of Granada in 1492.

Contemporary portraits show Isabella and Ferdinand to be
comely monarchs, but this dramatic painting depicts two
auspicious monarchs accepting the bid of Columbus to sail the
Atlantic Ocean
These very religious Kings (for both Ferdinand and Isabella
were rightful rulers, and they were thus called the “Most
Christian Kings of Spain”) also spent money on something else:
a new trading path to India and China. A sailor named
Christopher Columbus sought their patronage for three new
ships. Ultimately, these ships would bring a better
understanding of the spherical world and the enormous two
continents and millions of people that resided just outside of
European knowledge. Ironically, while Ferdinand and Isabella
were bent on destroying Muslim culture and influence in their
kingdoms, Islamic traditions and inventions were vital to
sending Columbus along his way. Without the Islamic
developments of maritime sailing, Columbus would not have
been able to cross the Atlantic successfully to find the Americas
on the other side.
W5L3
The Crusades, 1095 to 1291
Christian Crusaders overrun Muslim defenders
Islam spread quickly throughout the Middle East, North Africa,
and into Asia. In 638, Muslim leaders took over Jerusalem,
where they quickly built large mosques and other Islamic
structures. The City of Jerusalem is holy for all three
Abrahamic religions. For Jews, it has been the center of their
homeland for three thousand years and contains many holy sites

from the Wailing Wall to the holy temple Mount Moriah. For
Christians, it is the site of the life of Jesus, with corresponding
historical importance through his journey as Savior for
Christian believers. For Islam, Jerusalem was the spot of
miraculous transition, where he ascended to heaven.
Furthermore, since Muslims believe in almost all of the
prophets from Jewish and Christian traditions, Jerusalem
remains as holy to Islam as it does to the other Abrahamic
traditions. And so it is no surprise that the occupation of
Israel’s most holy city would lead to struggle and conflict.
When Islamic authorities took over Jerusalem, they gave those
living within the city three choices: convert wholly to Islam,
resist the new Muslim government and risk execution, or follow
a set of strict rules for protected non-Muslim status. Non-
believers were afforded Dhimmi status: they were forced to pay
the Jizya tax and to wear clothing that marked them distinct
from true Muslim believers. They also had to live in pre-
determined neighborhoods and were forbidden to build new
houses of worship or expand their areas. Furthermore, Dhimmi
residents were not allowed to proselytize or send missionaries
to convert people. They were allowed to preserve their existing
culture, observe their rituals, and live by religious law so long
as they kept their non-conforming religion to themselves.
Under this special status, Jews returned to Jerusalem beginning
in the eighth century, after they had been forcibly expelled from
Jerusalem in 135 CE. Life under Muslim rule had to
accommodate some level of tolerance; indeed, the Islamic
Empire stretched too far across to persecute all of their non-
Muslim residents. A gentle policy balanced with some
discouraging element – the tax for non-conformity – allowed
some freedom that underscored the privileged status of Muslim
believers.
Much of this changed, however, when Muslim military leaders
marched on Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium.

Byzantium was the Eastern surviving portion of the old Roman
Empire. Byzantine culture and customs had evolved from their
Roman predecessors, but there remained many parallels. The
invading forces began to overrun Anatolia, what is modern-day
Turkey. The Byzantine Emperor Alexius I (1048-1118) sent
work to Pope Urban II (1035-1099), asking for assistance from
his Christian brethren. The Pope responded with as many
incentives as he could: he sent messengers to every Christian
King in Europe, asking that they unite in favor of Christendom.
In return for helping the Byzantine Empire retake Jerusalem,
soldiers would be offered indulgences to escape time in
Purgatory. In earthly rewards, they would also receive
ecclesiastical protection, lands, goods, and the spoils of war.
Christian warriors meet with Muslims during one of the
Crusades
The first four Crusades were the largest and most influential
waves of warfare, but there were eight Crusades total, ranging
from 1095 to 1291. The mixture of religious zeal and military
force turned ugly very quickly and the Crusaders were brutal in
their actions. On their way to Jerusalem for the First Crusade
(1095-1099), Crusaders came across a community of Jews living
in the Rhineland. They slaughtered the entire Jewish community
– men, women, and children – before moving along their
journey. Ultimately, they were successful in the task given to
them by the Pope. They recaptured the city of Jerusalem by
1099 after four years of siege and battle. Perhaps 100,000
people were involved in these wars. After the Christian
Crusaders took the city, they rounded up every Muslim resident
in Jerusalem, including elderly men and young girls, and killed
them all. They destroyed all Muslim holy sites and broke down
the mosques and Muslim buildings.
The Second Crusade occurred 50 years later, when the French
King Louis VII led a force to retake the Christian county of
Edessa, founded near Jerusalem. This Crusade was a disaster for

the Christian forces and a strong Muslim victory, as they
successfully resisted the Crusaders and overtook land even
beyond the borders of the disputed Edessa. However, French
troops rallied on their way home. When they landed in Lisbon,
the Crusaders assisted the Portuguese attempts to retake the city
of Lisbon, today Portugal’s capital city. We will learn about the
occupation of Lisbon and the “Reconquista” of the Iberian
Peninsula in the next Lecture.
The Christian occupation of Jerusalem ended in 1187, when the
Muslim leader Saladin (Salah-ad-Din) retook the city. Saladin
(1138-1193) was a powerful military leader whose authority had
built gradually until he had amassed a large army of loyal
soldiers. Upon successfully recapturing Jerusalem, Saladin gave
orders that no Christian was to be harmed in retribution, but
allowed to go free under the terms set before in Muslim-
occupied Jerusalem. They could choose to pay the Jizya tax and
continue to observe Christian traditions while living under
Saladin’s authority. The Pope reacted quickly, calling upon all
the Christian monarchs again to mount a new Crusade to
recapture the Holy City. Two kings led the charge: Richard the
Lion-Hearted of England (r. 1189-1199) and Philip II of France
(r. 1180-1223).
Many recognize Richard I of England from tales of Robin Hood.
Richard’s absence from England was substantial. In fact, of the
ten years during which he was King of England, Richard was
only in England for six months. In his absence, England was
ruled by a Council of nobles and eventually his uncharismatic
brother, John. Ultimately, John I would succeed Richard and
sign the Magna Carta, an early prototype of the Constitution.
Richard and Philip marched to regain Jerusalem and they were
indeed successful. Richard led forces against Saladin directly,
crushing the Muslim armies and establishing Christian rule
within the city. Once again, Muslim citizens, both soldiers and
civilians, were executed regardless of age or ability. Saladin

died a few months later in Damascus in 1193. And Richard
began the trip to England. However, he would not make it
smoothly; on the way home he was captured in Austria by
Leopold V and delivered to Henry VI, the Holy Roman
Emperor. The Emperor demanded an exorbitant ransom from the
people of England. Prince John, acting as regent, raised taxes to
fund the enormous sum of £65,000 to free his brother. Resisting
taxpayers gave rise to the legend of Robin Hood in Sherwood
Forest who “stole from the rich to feed the poor.” Richard was
eventually released but died soon after his return to England by
a young boy’s crossbow.
Royal Crusaders fought for their beliefs, for honor, and for
status on the battlefield
The Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) was a war against Egypt to
take Jerusalem without the threat of an Egyptian retaliation.
However, the army did not make it to their destination, deciding
instead to turn North and attempt to sack Constantinople, a very
wealthy but Christian city. Since a Byzantine emperor asked for
the beginning of the Crusades in order to preserve the city of
Constantinople and the region of Anatolia, it is ironic that the
Crusades would later come to destroy the Byzantine capital.
What followed was fifty years’ rule over the Eastern Empire by
Western forces.
The remaining waves of Crusaders marked mostly minor battles.
In 1212, the “Children’s Crusade” was to be an army of children
marching to Palestine. However, as they passed through
Marseilles, many of them were captured and sold into slavery;
the majority who escaped died of malnutrition and disease.
Popes Innocent III and Honorius III commissioned Andrew II of
Hungary (1177-1235) to lead the Fifth Crusade (1218 to 1221)
to retake Jerusalem again. They occupied the port of Darius and
turned to march on Cairo, at which point a nighttime attack of
Sultan forces resulted in brutal battle and record losses. The
Sixth Crusade (1228-1229) was a smaller affair led by the Holy

Roman Emperor Frederick (r. 1212-1250), who managed to
negotiate with the Egyptian Sultan the renewed occupation of
Jerusalem through edict rather than force. This did not last
long; the city was lost again within the decade. Finally, King
Louis IX of France (r. 1226-1270) led two separate Crusades:
the Seventh Crusade (1249-1254) and the Eighth Crusade (1270-
1291) in failed attempts to retake Jerusalem once again. He died
during the attempt and his failures marked the end of Christian
Crusaders seeking to take and hold the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Although numbers are almost impossible to maintain, scholars
have been able to create estimates from the surviving
descriptions of living conditions, traveling conditions, battles,
and sieges. These projects of guess-work tell us that as few as
one million and as many as nine million people died during the
Holy Wars over Jerusalem. A very large proportion of them
were innocent bystanders and not soldiers.
The majority of Christian forces were mercenaries: soldiers who
fought for pay instead of defense. Such men often used
Christian excuses or justifications to engage in brutality and
fierce combat. The period of the European Renaissance valued
honor on the battlefield, and the Crusades provided an
opportunity for any man, young or old, rich or poor, to earn his
credentials of bravery on the field. Yet doubtless many
participants were also fierce believers, who genuinely believed
the world would be a better place if Christians ruled every city
and non-believers were to die. The massacres of Jewish and
Muslim communities speak to this attitude.
This sixteenth century “world map” shows how Christian
Europe viewed the world: on the left, we see Europe, on the
right Asia, and at the bottom Africa. These were held together

by the Holy Land, which is the center of the world. Off to the
side, we can also see the unrelated lands of the Americas.
What was the legacy of the Crusades? When each wave of
violence is taken in turn, they seem to be a lesson in failed
restraint. Consider the brutal behavior, massacres and death, the
almost pointless gains and losses over the same city spanning
200 years. And yet, the Crusades were highly influential in the
world. It centralized the position and authority of the Catholic
Church within Europe and provided a sense of solidarity among
kingdoms that traditionally fought against each other, not with
each other. This would later contribute to the development of
nation-states and national identity.
Furthermore, although Islamic knowledge, innovation, and
scientific development had influenced some areas of Europe, the
presence of European soldiers from throughout the continent
within Muslim communities provided a steady stream of new
understanding. Cultural innovation can be shared through any
form of human interaction, including trade and warfare. The
Crusades spread Islamic ideas throughout European
Christendom and contributed heavily to the further development
of the Renaissance.
The travel and cultural difference observed on their travels
allowed Europeans to share the different kinds of communities
outside of Europe. This understanding of the world beyond
one’s own village revealed knowledge and goods from Asia that
had limited influence prior to the travels of Crusaders. This
knowledge would become heavily important as new smaller
communities began demanding Asian goods like silks, spices,
and exotic animals. Ultimately, the demand for such goods
would lead European sailors and traders to leave the coasts and
sail across the Atlantic Ocean. European trade flourished with
this information, creating the beginning of global networks.

W5L2
The Founding of Islam and its Spread to the Middle East and
Asia
Islam is Arabic for “submission.” Those who practice Islam are
called Muslims. Islam is a religion for those who wish to
dedicate themselves to God, to sacrifice selfishness and
personal desires in order to live a higher life through the light
and peace of Allah. As we will see in the next few pages, the
goals of Islam as set in the Qur’an are to live in harmony with
believers and non-believers sharing the same communities. The
time of the foundation of Islam was a time of violence, but after
a period of initial warfare, Muslim ideals were executed with a
level of tolerance unseen in contemporary religious
communities. Even today, the overwhelming majority of
Muslims are peaceful and tolerant – a 2011 poll of Americans of
different faiths showed that Muslims were the most forgiving,
tolerant, and peaceful of all believers, perhaps by necessity to
counteract the negative image of fringe believers that is cast on
all Muslims. Occasionally, Westerners or outsiders refer to
Islam as “Mohammedism” but this implies that Mohammed is a
central holy figure to Islam the way Christ is a central figure to
Christianity. A more accurate parallel would be with St Paul,
since Mohammed and Paul both spread the teachings of their
faith rather than died and performed miracles as the core of the
belief. Neither were divine as Jesus is. They were instead
spokesmen for God.
Basic Beliefs
The Muslim faith is an extension of the beliefs of Judaism and

connects even to some of the events involved in the founding of
Christianity. They identify Jesus Christ as a major prophet
although not the son of God. The ideals of Islam were tied to
important prophets of the past: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael,
Moses, and Jesus. The Qur’an speaks of them specifically,
building on their teachings and claiming authority through the
“first Muslim” Abraham. Since the Jewish people see Abraham
as the father of their culture, and as these are all prophets in the
Christian faith, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are intricately
related monotheistic faiths whose history is bound to each
other.
The founding of Islam occurred in 610 CE and centered on the
life of one man: Mohammed (570 – 632). Mohammed was born
on the Arabian Peninsula and orphaned at a young age. He was
raised by extended relatives. As a very spiritual person,
Mohammed spent his days in prayer and meditation. Then, in
610 CE, at the age of 40 years old, he received revelation: the
voice of Gabriel came to him and announced Islamic theology.
Over the course of two decades, Mohammed received revelation
on a regular basis, recording what he was told and relating it to
his followers. Those around him recorded his teachings on palm
leaves and recited them from memory. They were not recorded
formally under well after Mohammed’s death, at which time the
Islamic ruler Uthman commanded that they be collected into a
bound book known as the Qur’an. It is a book of the Word of
God, taken by divine revelation and gifted to mankind in
delicate poetry. Because of the corruption of poetry through
translation, Muslims insist that the book has to be read in
Arabic, lest key lessons become lost in translation.
A medieval copy of the Qur’an, elaborately and elegantly
decorated by hand
The teachings of the Qur’an centered on a set number of beliefs
known as the Five Pillars of Islam:
· There is no god but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet.

· The gift of life is found through prayer, and one must pray
five times daily facing the direction of Mecca
· Blessed are the poor; Muslims are advised to give generously
to widows, orphans, poor, weak, disabled, or elderly. The
recommended amount is about 2 percent of an annual income.
· Fasting is a holy act: Muslims fast for the ninth lunar month
of the year, called Ramadan, eating only at nighttime
· Knowing God can be increased through pilgrimage. Muslims
are encouraged to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in
their lives.
Gender roles are explicitly defined in Muslim beliefs. The
Qur’an states clearly that men and women are equal before
Allah, created as equal children in the world. It also states very
clearly that women are not the possessions of men. While
Christians believe that women are inherently evil and suffer
monthly pains in retribution of Eve’s Original Sin, Islam does
not weigh Eve’s sins on her daughters. Instead, the Qur’an sees
men and women as equally important to society. Both men and
women are encouraged to seek education. And yet, many
Muslim civilizations have used time and authority to place
women in a menial position antithetical to the teachings of the
Qur’an. While the holy text clearly states that women are equals
in society, who can own property away from their husbands and
demand kind treatment, some stricter societies have adopted
contrarian laws that prevent women from fully exercising these
rights. The Qur’an’s exhortation for both men and women to
dress modestly and restrain themselves from excess in music,
drink, and food have led to tighter restrictions on women than
men.
In addition, Islamic beliefs exhort jihad, which can be translated
to English as “struggle.” The point of Jihad is to resist against
the temptations of this life in order to gain reward in the next
life. Just as those who believe in Buddhism, Confucianism,
Judaism, and Christianity encourage a sense of self-sacrifice

and self-improvement to gain serenity, nirvana, or entrance to
heaven, Muslims engage with the struggle on Earth.
Traditionally, as Islam came under attack and then went on the
offensive in establishing empires, Jihad was seen as a military
effort to protect the community and preserve the religion. Some
fundamentalist Muslims have translated this struggle into
political or economic means, but the use of violence commonly
precludes the possibility of claiming the identity “Muslim” for
oneself. Those who follow the beliefs of Islam will be rewarded
in heaven, while those who reject it will burn in hell for all
eternity.
Foundation and Spread of Muslim Ideas
Quraysh wise men hold council in this sixteenth-century
painting
As Mohammed began teaching those around him, his followers
grew and he established his authority in Medina. Yet they were
not widely accepted; like most new religions, the teachings
were distrusted by outsiders. The area home to modern-day
Saudi Arabia was a place of military conflict and warfare among
competing ethnic groups. Very soon, violence broke out against
Mohammed’s followers. Neighboring communities rejected the
form of morality that endorsed giving away belongings and
living chastely. They also feared that his teachings could
challenge existing belief systems within the community.
Followers were attacked; Mohammed and his family began
receiving death threats. Mohammed and his supporters fled
Mecca into Medina in order to find a peaceful place to practice
their religion.
But Mohammed turned out to be a skillful military commander.
After gathering devout followers and amassing dedicated
people, he was able to create an army. He turned to the
surrounding groups of Quraysh people to convert them to the
way of God. In 624, he began a conquest of successful raids
targeting caravans. A great battle between Mecca and Medina

exhausted area resources. However, by the time of Mohammed’s
death in 632, Islam had taken the great city of Mecca and
established the long-lasting structures of Islamic beliefs and
political authority within the region.
Those living within the city included Jews, Christians and
Pagans. Although some groups were targeted for persecution,
most people had the choice of conversion or paying a non-
conformity tax, called the jizya. So long as they paid their tax,
non-Muslim residents were free to reject the state religion and
worship as they desired. During this period, the separation of
church and state was an impossible concept. Charging a tax was
a surprisingly gentle way of allowing tolerance within a single
city. This taxation method may have been what led to such
overwhelming conversion: threats of violence and execution can
lead to a new religion being rejected or resisted. Instead, the
illusion of choice followed by social pressure enabled large
groups of converts to adopt the new faith within a few decades.
Religion in Conquest
Between 610 and 850, Islam went from a small group of
persecuted followers to an Empire
The death of Mohammed brought new challenges to the
fledgling Muslim community. Though it had conquered and
converted many people throughout the Mecca and Medina areas
in Arabia, his death left a void in leadership: all of his children
were daughters and only one would survive to bare children.
Without a clear male heir – so important to the community at
the time – to lead, the Muslim community fell into dispute.
Some of the Muslim leadership elected Mohammed’s father-in-
law, Abu Bakr, to be caliph, the spiritual figurehead and leader
of the Muslim community. The election system worked in the
short-term, but since it was in the hands of men rather than

divine designation, each successively elected leader bred new
dissent within the community. Eventually this would erupt in
civil warfare. For the time being, though, these caliphs ensured
that there was no mass exodus of the religion. They kept the
beliefs and worship services uniform while continuing to
expand the Muslim Empire.
Conquest was important for sustaining the religion while
expanding its base, particularly in a period when peace was
afforded to precious few. Those who did not go on the offensive
risked being conquered themselves. Under the leadership of the
elected Caliph, Islamic forces conquered Damascus in 636 and
Jerusalem by 638. The Empire was expanding in multiple
directions, stopped only occasionally by troops such as the
Byzantine army that helped keep them at bay across Anatolia.
However, not all empires were successful at keeping Muslim
armies away. The Sassanid Empire collapsed almost
immediately after the first piercing invasion. The Persian
Empire resisted somewhat longer but then fell to the Caliphate
army in 637. Soon Arab armies conquered areas across the
Arabian Peninsula, taking Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and regions
throughout Central Asia. By 640, the conquering forces turned
to Africa, taking Egypt and moving into Northern African
territories swiftly and easily.
An empire was founded through these conquering armies that
left religious and administrative structure in their wake.
Through the combined forces of religious belief and military
might, the authority from Mecca spread across vast areas and
invoked loyalty from new converts, money from resisting
subjects who wished to continue a different faith by paying the
non-conformity taxes, and uniform government through a
system of efficient administration. In many areas, the caliphs
did not actually emphasize conversion, since they wished for
the tax revenue from the new subjects more than saving their
souls. Eventually, though, conquered people began converting

and the Islamic Empire grew in size and strength.
However, the strength would not last. The persistent election
process of gaining an emperor and leader Caliph did not inspire
loyalty as well as the appearance of divine inspiration. As a
result, civil war broke out among political, tribal, religions, and
economic lines. Long-term familial disputes returned, no longer
dampened by a sense of shared religious duty. Economic
struggles created class tension. And a dispute over leadership
divided Islam into two primary halves: the Shi’a and the Sunnis.
Schism in Beliefs
Calligraphy expressions by Shi’a artists on the left and Sunni
artists on the right
The crisis in leadership occurred in 656 CE, when Caliph
Uthman was assassinated by a group of Egyptian horsemen. The
lack of divinity in selecting leaders had struck discord among
Muslim followers throughout the empire. The man elected after
Uthman’s death was Ali, a son-in-law to Mohammed by
marrying the Prophet’s daughter Fatima. Ali barely received
election in the face of strong opposition. Under his rule, his
supporters included the Shiat Ali, or the “Party of Ali,” who
were both religious and political supporters. The name Shiat
became Shi’a or Shi’ite. That party had been unhappy with the
election of caliphs, since it did not relate directly to
Mohammed. Ali, on the other hand, had married his daughter.
Through this relationship, it seems a sense of divinity flowed
through him, that the daughter of the Prophet could fall in love
with such a man. However, those who had supported the elected
caliphs before Ali disagreed – without a blood relationship,
there was no added divinity. Ali was just another leader and, in
their opinion, a poor one at that. This second group focused on
legitimacy of authority through the sunna. Consequently, they
called themselves the Sunnis. As these two primary groups
divided, a third group stepped in and assassinated Ali, creating
a new power vacuum during which the newly opposed groups
began to struggle violently.

The Shi’a emphasized the importance of morality and religious
purity. Shi’a law is the political-legal system that enforces
religious codes through law itself. For the Shi’a, Islam’s
primary beliefs were the most important element of life and
must be enforced through government and administrative means.
They only recognized imams – Muslim religious, political, and
community leaders – who were descended from the assassinated
leader Ali. One by one, between 632 and 669, eleven imams
were assassinated, martyred, or hunted down until no direct
descendents were left. Nevertheless, Shi’a Muslims believe that
there remains direct descendents out there who will, one day,
reveal themselves as a Messiah.
The Sunnis were more successful. Continuing to support the
system of Caliphs as political leaders to rule the empire, they
became the dominant force of Islam and the favored group in
Islamic empires. Instead of Shi’a law, the majority of Muslims
followed the Sunni ideas of local rule, where Islamic beliefs
influenced but did not dictate local rule of law. Islam remains
separated today in these two large swaths – although more,
different, ideological divisions have occurred in the years since
– and still today only about 15 percent of Muslims are Shi’a.
They occupy over 90 percent of the Muslims living in Iran and
over 50 percent of Iraq. In other Muslim countries, believers are
overwhelmingly Sunni.
Under a more divided, more cautious leadership, Islam
continued to spread. The trade routes, particularly the Silk Road
that crisscrossed Asia into the Middle East, were one primary
artery of spreading the details, beliefs, and standards of Islam.
Trade during this period was fraught with danger. Yet the
sharing of cultural practices, particularly that of religion, was a
common motivation to continue trading despite the danger of
bandits, natural disaster, or loss of goods. Sharing religious
beliefs and technological ideas was one of the key benefits for

trade, and traders across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia
began sharing the basic tenets of Islam with their trading
partners along the roads.
Imperial structure also persisted in spreading the beliefs of
Islam. The Sunni Umayyad Caliphs of the eight century were
able to use the structure of Islamic rule, combining religious
and political elements, in their bid to expand an existing empire
across Asia Minor. Where earlier caliphs had attempted to
conquer but not convert – using the revenue from religious
taxes to fund the Empire – the Umayyad Caliphate actively
sought conversion in the new areas of occupation. We will
encounter the Umayyad Empire again later in this Module, when
we learn about the spread of Islam across North Africa and into
the Iberian Peninsula. Throughout the Empire, the Umayyad
leaders built elaborate, decorative mosques to symbolize both
unity and power. Many of these impressive buildings stand still
today.
An Abbasid leader holds court in this Medieval portrait
The Abbasid Caliphs in northern Iran threw off the power of the
Umayyad Caliphs in the mid-eight century and developed an
independent empire going into Asia. They spread into the
nomadic cultures of Central Asia, who had been displaced by
the Huns moving in China. Conversion there provided a sense of
unity among roving bands of people. The authoritative figures
of the Abbasid Caliphs gave these Central Asian groups a form
of protection from the newly-centralized government of the
Tang Dynasty in China. The Abbasid leadership rejected the
leadership of the Umayyad Caliphs and embraced instead the
authority inherited through an uncle of Mohammed. Deciding
that the descendents through the kinship of Mohammed was
stronger than the early Islamic leadership, they revolted and
claimed their divine authority before trying to establish an
empire of heterogeneous culture. They focused on establishing
cultural norms and a single, unifying language: Arabic. This

focus on administrative pragmatism led to a full century of
flourishing power, which witnessed the cultural and intellectual
flowering of Muslim innovation. Ultimately, the Mongols would
overrun the Islamic empires. The political structures would
dwindle and the once-central authority became fractured into
multiple smaller states. Yet the belief in Islam remained strong
and the religious leadership maintained its primary position in
these smaller states.
Islam into Asia
From the Arabian Peninsula, Islam spread to India. Arab traders
had long visited the central portion of Asia and gathered along
the Malabar Coast to trade animals, different kinds of cloth,
spices, and other rare goods. Along with traded items came the
sharing of ideas, language, and religion. After Arabia underwent
the process of Islamicization, missionary activities spread into
the subcontinent of India and the first mosque in India was built
around 629 CE. Missionaries introduced Islam to small
communities through elective conversions and education. By the
mid-900s, the Punjab became the target of intense missionary
work and the Ghaznavid Empire began to launch more
determined raids into the area. The goal was more political than
religious, but the two elements were combined under the
leadership of the Ghaznavids. By the twelfth century,
Mohammed of Ghor led a successful invasion into India during
a period of weakness, after the Gupta Empire had fallen and
India was isolated into separate weaker kingdoms. This
established the Delhi Sultanate, a brief period of five Islamic
Kingdoms from the Turkish area that ruled India. Still today,
Islam is a major religion in the Indo-Pakistani region and the
early modern history of India is dominated by the conflict
between the growing number of Muslim leaders and their rule
over Hindu subjects. Ultimately, the dispute between religions
would lead to the separation of Pakistan from India.
Tabula Rogeriana, 1154: Cartographer Al-Idrisi designed a

world map based on Muslim knowledge and influence.
Note: during this period, south was “up” and north was “down”
so this world is the reverse of modern conventions
What country in the world has the highest number of Muslims?
The answer might surprise you. Many people might guess a
Middle Eastern country like Saudi Arabia or Iran. Perhaps
Pakistan caught your eye. However, the most populous Muslim
country is Indonesia. How did Islam settle so far away from
Arabia?
Although it took longer to spread as far as the Pacific Islands of
Southeast Asia, Islam left evidence of early occupation by the
thirteenth century. Prior to that, the inhabitants of Indonesia
had worshipped Hinduism and Buddhism that were imported
with naval trade. The kingdom of Srivijava rose from the
seventh century to the tenth century, mimicking the Phoenicians
in trade and influence. By the thirteenth century, Islamic
practices occupied the island of Sumatra, and by the end of the
sixteenth century Java also adopted Islam as the state religion.
The story of Islam in Indonesia begins in the early middle ages,
but its flourishing highlights occurred in the early modern
period.
Ultimately, Islam spread until it occupied major portions of
Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and even parts of Europe. Today
it is the second-largest religion in the world. The growth of
Islam began with persecution but grew into a complicated
mixture of imperial domination and religious messages. And the
growth of Islam was further encouraged by a sort of
Renaissance ideal: the cultural foundation of Islam was one of
science, discovery, and innovation that would eventually inspire
the world.
Islamic Golden Age

The period of developing influence and prosperity under Islamic
authority is called the Islamic Golden Age. The praise of this
period rests on the sudden and vastly important discoveries
hailed under Islamic rule. Many of these technological,
mathematic, and scientific discoveries are still important today.
A consensus among many historians is that the Islamic Golden
Age was largely responsible for the sudden intellectual and
artistic developments in Europe during the Renaissance.
Islamic culture placed a heavy emphasis on history. A very
influential historian named al-Tabari (839-923) wrote an
extensive history of the world that tied the development of
kingdoms to the theology of Islam. Although the uniformity of
Islamic beliefs in local communities hindered new philosophical
ideas from gaining ground, their dedication to history helped
save some philosophical ideas. Islamic foundation interpreted
the past as part of the belief system, so understanding history of
the world would only extend the knowledge of prophets, divine
inspiration, and access to natural phenomena. The expansive
libraries found throughout the Islamic Empire made a point of
locating and preserving ancient ideas. The works of Aristotle
might not have survived if not for these efforts; the later impact
on the Italian Renaissance and humanism came not from Italy’s
inheritance from the Roman Empire, but through preservation
efforts across Islamic regions. Furthermore, the sheer expanse
of the Empire allowed for cross-fertilization. The ideas of
ancient thinkers like Plato and Aristotle reached the intellectual
ideas of China and India, forming a tremendous body of study
and innovation. All of the collective works found and preserved
through Islamic efforts were translated into Arabic and
considered by active intellectual circles during the Golden Age.
Influential discoveries of this period fall into a few categories:
mathematics, science, philosophy, medicine, art, and
engineering.
A building of the Parisian Insitut de Monde Arab (Institute of

the Arabian World) shows off Islamic mathematics and design.
On the right, see how the windows are designed in geometric
shapes that widen or narrow in order to control the amount of
sunlight entering the building at all times
Perhaps the most notable development of thought and discovery
during the Islamic Golden Age was the contributions
of mathematics. Islamic scholars were able to benefit from
mathematical thinking in Ancient Greece, Babylon, and India.
The consequential discoveries include algebra, extended Greek
geometry, trigonometry, and complex abstract concepts like
irrational numbers. Algebra is highly important for it creates a
series of equations through which one can know an unknown
amount. The use of place-holders like ‘x’ or ‘y’ led to an
incredible number of discoveries about the known and suspected
natural world.
The Greek focus on geometry had led Greek mathematicians to
the edge of irrational numbers, but their religious worldview
made them very uncomfortable with the abstract ideas presented
in such things. Consider the number zero, which represents
nothing. The concept was very difficult to understand in a world
that witnessed things all around them. Nothingness was a direct
challenge to many religious beliefs. An example of irrational
numbers is the square root of a negative number – since both
numbers are negative, finding the solution would involve
creating a positive number so the square root is literally
impossible. And yet, for plotting reasons, the concept of such a
negative number must exist. And thus we have irrational
numbers. These complex ideas can shake the foundation of some
religious beliefs, just as the concept of zero was shunned by
Christian leadership for so many centuries. But for Muslim
thinkers, the evidence for irrational number concepts was too
strong to ignore. The numbering system that we used today
(1,2,3, etc) was established in India and then brought to
Northern Africa and Europe, where they were dubbed “Arabic
numbers.” Muslims scholars embraced the complexity of such

concepts and applied it to other mathematical ideas. Through
their work, complex systems from irrational numbers to
trigonometry were fully laid out and applied to real-life
situations.
Other mathematical developments under Islam were equally
reliant on using concepts from regionally separate ideas. Of
these are the binominal theorem and Pascal’s Triangle, which
demonstrate the relationship between numbers and the natural
world. Prime numbers – numbers that can only be divisible by 1
– were mapped out under Islamic thinkers. Omar Khayyam and
Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi were among the better-known of hundreds
of contributors to math. Their work collectively showed how
mathematics could create stronger buildings, more elaborate art,
and better ships.
Calligraphy replaces the use of images in Islamic temples, as
you can see in this elaborate example from the Blue Mosque in
Sultan Ahmet
Art and calligraphy were intricately connected in the Arabic
world. Islamic beliefs are very clear in noting that Mohammed
was a prophet but not a God. In order to prevent Muslims from
worshipping Mohammed, his image is banned from recreation.
Artistic imagery was discouraged in general, lest people
worship those physical things in the same way that some
Christians worshipped holy relics, bones of saints and martyrs,
or images that seemed to reveal the Virgin Mary in wood stains.
Instead of expressing art through image, subsequent Islamic
artists circumvented this discouraging ban by developing highly
technical and description calligraphy. The use of mathematics in
determining decoration seemed to thread the natural order of the
word – maths – with creative expression to produce a divinely
inspired decoration.
Architecture also employed mathematics in design for specific
purposes. By expanding on knowledge in geometry and algebra,
engineers seeking to build strong walls could do so by
incorporating strength through numbers. Modern imaging of

castle walls and turrets show that rather than building in a
straight slope upwards – as enormous European cathedrals were
designed – with a wide base and a narrow top, Islamic walls and
buildings used interlocking pieces to quadruple the strength of a
regular wall without having to use extra stone. By using arches
instead of squares, the natural pressure created in a circle could
be used to triple the strength of a wall or window. The domes
atop such buildings create an almost indestructible roof that
uses the power of geometrical force to distribute weight evenly
on all sides of the circle. This practice contrasts with the
European style of using rectangles with only four points of
weight-bearing knaves. Cylindrical towers enforced strength
within themselves through the natural power of the unbreakable
circle. By interlocking smaller pieces into large, puzzle-like
walls, the buildings were almost impossible to knock down by
invaders. Muslim engineers were able to figure out the
mathematical relationships between spaces and buildings in
order to enhance the strength of a structure without having to
use three or four times as much stone.
Geometry helped create stronger, more elaborate architecture in
medieval Islamic cities
Astronomy experienced considerable attention under the Islamic
Golden Age. In the eighth and ninth centuries scholars collected
astronomical notes from scientific communities spanning Greek,
Indian, and Sassanid Empires. By the tenth century, they
broadly accepted the Ptolemaic system of astronomy, which
placed Earth as the static center of the universe around which
all stars, planets, and comets rotated. They also made great
strides in understanding the paths of the moon and sun.
However, between 1050 and 1400 Islamic scientists re-
examined the Ptolemaic system, finding some insufficient
explanations for charting star movements. Essentially, the idea
of the Earth remaining static did not make mathematical sense.
By challenging its weaker ideas but maintaining some of the
stronger central claims of the ancient astronomical
explanations, Islamic Astronomers were able to recast the old

Egyptian-Greek idea and replace it with a more accurate
description of a moving Earth. Their work helped to create a
more thorough body of knowledge about the universe.
Ultimately these discoveries would directly
influence Copernicus in the sixteenth century, when he
committed heresy by proclaiming that the Earth moved around
the sun.
This better understanding of stars, comets, moons, and planets
allowed Muslim scholars to invent the astrolabe, an instrument
that could use the position of the stars and the time of day and
year in order to figure out one’s precise location on Earth. In a
period when many people throughout the globe thought the
Earth was flat, Muslim scientists not only figured out its
spherical reality, but used that information to plot shipping
courses without having to keep land within sight. Previously,
losing sight of land could lead to getting forever lost on the
high seas. The astrolabe was one of many great developments
that would finally lead Europe to sail towards the Americas.
Astrolabes were used to measure the position and location of a
ship during navigation
Furthermore, Islamic discoveries in medicine led to a complex
body of literature for ailments and treatments to chart key
treatments in medicine. Books describing optimum progress in
childhood development allowed for a more consistent
monitoring by parents while treatises on pregnancy, menses,
menopause, and causes of death allowed healers to understand
what ailments were natural and which might require surgery or
intervention. Descriptions of particular diseases were highly
important. Once again, much of these collections involved
building on the medical literature of Greek, Hindu, and
Babylonian doctors of old. Understanding the different
functions of organs, blood, and urine helped improve medieval
treatments. The application of herbs and natural plants to
specific diseases could reduce fevers or contain rashes and help
heal a sick person fasting than before.
Conclusions

The scientific, mathematic, architectural, and artistic
developments of the Islamic Golden Age had far-reaching
implications for the development of the world. Their empire was
not simply a conquering force like that of the Mongols or some
elements of the Greeks like Alexander of Macedonia. Perhaps
their success was the result of actively seeking to understand
the intellectual achievements of the areas they dominated. As a
result of this search for knowledge, combination understanding
– the act of combining discoveries from disparate people like
Greek philosophers and Indian scientists – created brand new,
greater understanding of the scientific, medical, and
mathematical world. The great achievement of Islam was to
prize knowledge and to feel free to use the understandings of
other cultures to enhance their own understanding.
As a result of these new innovations, ideas reached Italy, and
the Renaissance was born. Discoveries by Muslim engineers
could be used throughout Europe and eventually led directly to
the Age of Discovery where European sailors figured out how to
reach the Americas as they tried their best to find an alternate,
highly theoretical, and somewhat experimental pathway to
India. These accomplishments and those that followed were
only possible through the understandings of the Islamic Golden
Age and its forceful attitude of blending knowledge from
different cultures for supreme understanding. The cultural
achievements of the Islamic empires are perhaps their greatest
gift to the world.
W6L2
Religious Reform: Protestants, Catholics, and a Global
Movement

On October 31 of 1517, a young man named Martin Luther
nailed an extensive document on the door of his local cathedral
in Wittenberg, Germany. His document contained 95 theses, or
arguments, against the use of Indulgences to fund the works of
the Catholic Church. At the time of this action, the Catholic
Church had expanded to form the basis of society in most
European kingdoms. In addition to caring for the souls of
Christian subjects, the Catholic Church also cared for their
bodies in the form of hospitals, convents, and monasteries. Sick,
elderly, and poor people sought services through the Catholic
Church. They also had extensive ecclesiastical legal courts that
presided over the more sinful crimes of sexual dishonesty,
heresy, blasphemy, or failure to attend church. The backbone of
most communities was the Priest and his household.
Accordingly, the Church was supremely powerful and seemed
almost impervious to criticism or reform.
Martin Luther’s complaints had to do with the increasing
elaborate ceremonies and traditions that had no place in the
Bible or liturgy, but had come from the orders of popes. This
included, but was not limited to, the presence of Indulgences.
Indulgences were a form of relief from Purgatory that could be
purchased through money, services, or donations to the Church.
The Catholic Church taught that all humans had some sin, and
that sin had to be paid for before a spirit could enter heaven.
The time spent in Purgatory could be reduced by good works
while on Earth, prayers said by loved ones or paid praying
servants, or through Indulgences. Luther saw these Indulgences
to be symptomatic of the corruption of the Church: an obvious
scheme to raise money.
Preceding Movements
Luther’s challenge was intended to begin reforms to the existing
structure of the Church, but it set off a firestorm of protests.
Luther was not the first person to challenge church practice or
doctrine during this period. England’s John Wycliffe led a
group of followers called the Lollards away from Catholic
dogma. They were declared heretics and brutally persecuted in

the 1400s. The Czechoslovakian Jan Hus worked at the
University of Prague to reform the Church during the same
period. Both movements had local success but little widespread
influence. These movements had also resented the increasing
political clout and pressure exhibited by the Church. In some
cases, Church authorities could support or select disputed
occupants of the throne. They were sufficiently powerful to
order local nobles and monarchs to put together military forces
and march on Jerusalem during the Crusades. While many
political authorities had jumped at the opportunity to prove
their nobility and honor, other groups began to challenge the
legitimacy of Catholic power across Christendom. They were
largely unsuccessful, but Luther was different: a convergence of
social disruption, political opportunism, and Catholic resistance
allowed Protestant rebellion to bloom. Sympathetic groups
across Europe saw Luther’s challenge as a point for unification
against contemporary Church authority and an opportunity for
reform.
Germany
The ideas proposed through Luther’s pages proved to be popular
among German people. They were thoughtful and accessible and
spread quickly. Furthermore, the ideas and popular struggle
gave German princes an ideal opportunity to throw off the
shackles of Catholic involvement in order to govern more
freely. It also had the sense of populism, as the reforming ideas
for a nascent Protestant Lutheran Church served the local
people more than any loyalty to the Bishop in Rome. Specific
newly proposed alterations, such as a new understanding of the
Eucharist as a metaphor for Christ’s blood and body rather than
a miraculous transformation into actual flesh and blood,
appealed in particular to the German Princes. The 1521 Diet of
Worms began to engage with the specific proposals. Far from
being a list of foods for consumption, a diet was a meeting of
eastern European legislators to discuss policy. By 1529,
individual German kingdoms embraced the reforms and settled
in to defend their decision from surrounding kingdoms. German

leaders pledged to protect each other from Catholic forces and
to support each other during the social change. Those who allied
together joined the Schmalkaldic League, incorporating the
Duchies of Saxony and Hesse with the Imperial Cities of
Augsburg, Hanover, Frankfurt am Main, and Kempten, and
other small kingdoms. Furthermore, German princes influenced
their long-term allies in Scandinavia; Sweden and its colonies
became Lutheran with a formal dissolution of Papal relations in
1523; Denmark and its associated colonies became Protestant in
1529 by royal edict.
Scandinavia
German duchies and kingdoms had long fostered a sound
relationship with Scandinavia through partnerships like the
trade-based Hanseatic League (1250 to 1600). The Hanseatic
League was an alliance of merchants and political leaders along
the Black and North Sea. It was designed to capitalize on
emerging mercantile trade. Since German and Scandinavian
states were closely related, it is no surprise that Reformation
ideas spread quickly to Kingdoms like Sweden and Denmark
through the conversion of the Swedish and Danish monarchs.
Since the Danish King was also the overlord of Norway and
Iceland, and Swedish King monarch to Finland, the whole of
Scandinavia was converted to Lutheranism through a top-down
Reformation implemented through government policy. Denmark
embraced Protestantism in 1529 through royal edict; Sweden
became Lutheran in 1523 with a formal dissolution of Papal
relations.
England
If the German reformations followed a trend of popular demand
and the Scandinavian experience was more of a top-down
government reformation, England can be seen as a parallel to
Scandinavia. Like the reformations in Denmark and Sweden,
England became a Protestant country through legal means rather
than popular demand. The case of England relied on an
influential King Henry VIII who wished for an heir to the
throne. Courtiers saw this as an opportunity to convince their

monarch of the usefulness of the religious dispute occurring on
the Continent. When the Pope refused to allow Henry VIII to
divorce his well-connected Catholic wife (who was Aunt to the
staunchly Catholic and powerful Holy Roman Emperor Charles
V), Henry agreed to listen to his advisers at Court and seek the
divorce through Parliament. In the process, he had to grant
Parliament new unprecedented powers. Ultimately, these new
powers would lead to the long-term authority of a legislative
body rather than a monarch.
However, the Break with Rome in 1534 was not the end of the
Reformative process. Challenges to retake England for the Pope
continued throughout the sixteenth century. Henry VIII was
succeeded by his son, Edward VI, who was a minority with
staunchly Protestant advisers. His brief reign ended in 1553,
when Mary Tudor came to the throne. Mary was an avid
Catholic whose greatest wish was to redeem the memory of her
mother by returning England to the Catholic fold. She did this
while persecuting any heretical Protestant in the Home Counties
near London. Her commitment to executing heretics earned her
the title “Bloody Mary.” She even imprisoned her sister
Elizabeth, heir to the throne, in an attempt to prevent Protestant
rebellions in Elizabeth’s name.
Here are the Tudor monarchs from left to right: Mary I, Edward
IV, Henry VIII, Queen Jane, and Elizabeth I
In a twist of fate for Mary’s unfortunate life, she died without
achieving most of her goals in 1558, having thought that her
growing stomach cancer was a pregnancy to save the realm from
Protestant rule. Instead of a Catholic heir, Mary died to leave
England to her Protestant sister Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth
came to the throne fully aware of the negative approach of
forcing religion on her subjects. To combat religious tension in
the kingdom, she enacted the Act of Uniformity, to create a
single Church of England. She tolerated some Catholics so long
as they did not seek to overthrow her government. Her advisers

were a mix of Anglican, Puritan, and Catholic believers,
ensuring that a sense of religious toleration persisted throughout
her reign, in spite of Jesuit assassination plots. Elizabeth also
died without issue, leaving her kingdom to her cousin James VI
of Scotland, a Presbyterian and Protestant. He became James I
of England, where he authorized the well-known King James
Bible.
Schism within the Protestant Movement:
Challenging the Church with the successful support of a large
group of people opened the flood gates for reform. Yet
Protestants were not united in their rejection of Catholic
authority and specific doctrine. They soon realized their own
divisions of belief and groups gathered together to form distinct
Protestant sects. Some followed the teachings of Huldrych
Zwingli in Switzerland, believing very simply that the Bible
was truth; anything not in the Bible was not truth and might
even be heresy. Based on that assumption, Zwingli attacked the
tradition of fasting and the celibacy of priests. Other reformers
followed John Calvin in Geneva, where he gradually developed
his own doctrine as the city broke with Rome, dissolved
monasteries and other religious institutions, and abolished mass.
Eventually, Calvin established a new dogma: humans could only
approach God through faith in Christ, not good works or
donations or attendance of religious rituals. He interpreted
portions of the Bible to mean that a select group of humans
were predestined to go to Heaven regardless of their actions,
while others would most certainly go to Hell. God remained the
lawgiver and judged each person for their lives, but
predestination was a major core element of Calvinism.
Puritans banned the frivolous blasphemous celebration of
Christmas and other feast days
John Calvin’s hard line on celebrations and frivolous enjoyment
would strongly influence a group of Protestants in England,
called Puritans. Puritans devised a complicated rigor of biblical
practice that forbade the celebration of festivals, holidays,

dancing, games, and sports. Their disdain for ceremony clashed
with the developing rituals of the Church of England in the
seventeenth century, as Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud
began to embrace older, traditional Catholic elements in the
celebrations. In order to quell the stirring conflict between
Anglicans and Puritans, Stuart monarchs began passing laws to
restrict the potential movement, freedom, and civic offices of
Puritans. They were charged special fines for not attending
church and administered a test to ensure only true believers
were allowed to stand for office. These restrictions encouraged
some Puritans to move out of England and into the Netherlands.
Still others began to settle in communities in New England in
the seventeenth century.
Catholic Counter-Reformation
Catholic leadership did not simply observe this rapid change in
religious affiliation in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Scotland,
and England with passive eyes. In response to the growing
unrest and challenges to Church authority throughout
Christendom, Pope Clement VII attempted to respond to the
growing unrest but was distracted by the shocking and brutal
sack of Rome by foreign armies in 1527, when the Holy Roman
Emperor took custody of the Pope’s person while his troops
pillaged the city. The Reformation continued unabated as the
Pope was captive. His successor Pope Paul III responded more
actively to the increasing chaos by calling a meeting to consider
Protestant accusations. His goal was to implement reasonable
reforms designed to address some superficial issues without
agreeing to wholesale reforms as proposed by Protestant
Radicals. This meeting was called the Council of Trent. It began
in 1542 and met intermittently until 1563. The new policies and
reforms established during this series of meetings would
constitute a counter-movement known as theCatholic Counter-
Reformation. It would also fundamentally change the Church
structure and presence in many European kingdoms.
The primary change enacted by the Trent Reforms covered the
local abuses of priests and bishops, who often held multiple

benefices at once in order to collect all of the incomes without
performing the duties to those local flocks. The sale of
indulgences, once a major source of revenue for the Church,
was discouraged from Trent forward. The Council analyzed the
basic structure of the bishopric and the hierarchy from lowly
acolytes to regional Archbishops and confirmed the seven
sacraments. In basic doctrine, the Catholic Church refused to
compromise with the Protestants. Any chance of piecing
together a single Christendom was lost as kingdoms were either
“lost” to Protestants or “gained” by Catholic forces. The
Council upheld the miraculous transformation of
transubstantiation: the presence of the blood and body in Christ
in the bread of the Eucharist. The overall conclusion of Trent
was that faith was not enough to gain entrance to heaven: good
works was just as vital to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Bishops seek purity of souls through interviews during the
Catholic Counter-Reformation
In order to win back kingdoms and the hearts and minds of
European peoples, the Council of Trent created new Orders:
Theatines, Ursulines, Capuchins, Carmelites, and Jesuits. The
Council pushed these new and existing Orders of monks and
nuns to focus on primarily creating havoc in Protestant
countries, routing out heresy in Catholic countries, and treating
the souls of all through a combination of ministry and torture.
The Inquisition gained steam. Residents with poor reputations
were isolated, interrogated, tortured, and cleansed through full
reformation of spirit or execution. The Jesuits, founded by St
Ignatius of Loyola in 1534, were particularly motivated to take
down the Protestant monarchy of England through whatever
means possible, including assassination. Jesuits used military
hierarchies and symbolism in their orders. Their goal was
salvation of the lost flock through good words, education, and
secret advances, but Protestants saw them as a foreign military
force. In England, harboring a Jesuit became an act of treason in

the 1580s. Jesuit presence in South and Central America would
lead to widespread conversion of local peoples encountered
throughout the Spanish Empire.
The goal of these Catholic reforms was survival and victory.
Catholic officials first attempted to stem the losses of unhappy
Christians and disloyal Christian monarchs. Then they sought to
take back converted countries through persuasive diplomats,
subversive missionary work, and outright war. Battles over the
Spanish control over the Protestant Netherlands were largely a
product of the Reformation and struggle for souls. These small-
scale wars were then dominated by the Thirty Years War (1618
to 1648) in Germany. These wars began as religious disputes
among the Holy Roman Empire and smaller kingdoms in
Germany, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Poland, and similar areas.
Soon cracks in government administration, loyalty of mercenary
soldiers, famines, and droughts created absolute havoc on these
regions. The people engulfed in this war experienced major
change: they were exhausted by the religious wars, starved by
poor harvests, and divided by identities and financial
opportunities. Germany may have lost between 15 to 30 percent
of their entire population under the auspicious goals of seeking
religious freedom. Politically, larger German kingdoms and
city-states were divided into even smaller entities,
decentralizing authority in the German area during a period of
centralized secular authority in other countries like England,
Spain, and France. The battles created new peace-keepers in
Europe through countries like Sweden and Switzerland, while
other countries from England to the Netherlands used the
religious wars as an opportunity to build up naval empires. This
would become particularly important in the coming centuries as
exploration and colonization became the new goals for
sovereign supremacy.
Eastern Europe was fractured into hundreds of different
kingdoms by the end of the Thirty Years War
Social Impact of Reformations
The effects of the Reformation were widespread in Christian

kingdoms regardless of whether they adopted the new Protestant
ideals or the reformed Catholic principles from Trent. The most
powerful change was political: governments took advantage of
the struggling Church to abolish uncomfortable policies or to
challenge the ecclesiastical authorities within the state. In
England, the power of Parliament was enhanced enormously and
the ecclesiastical courts were all but abolished. In France,
Spain, and Italy, clerical privileges were amended and their
criminal immunities rewritten. For instance, the tradition of
trying clergy in the lenient ecclesiastical courts was largely
abolished, except in England, where it was offered wholesale to
any literate layperson guilty of their first-offense felony.
Centralization of monarchical authority was a direct result of
the Reformation, and it was the first step towards the
development of European nation-states.
Social change was widespread as well. Scholars have made
much of the rise of witchcraft persecutions, especially as they
focused on independent, single women. Spinsters, or older
unmarried or widowed women, suffered in great numbers. The
idea of neighbors invoking spells and worshipping the devil
caused fear in Southern France in the fourteenth century but
transformed into powerful tools of oppression and fear during
the widespread changes of the Reformation. Sorcerers and
Witches were accused of orgies, spellwork, curses, medical
manipulation, and sexual misdeeds. Many people who were
secretive, unattractive, or unpopular in a local community were
subsequently accused of witchcraft, put on trial, and punished
severely. Some kingdoms enacted laws that executed people for
witchcraft, despite the dubious nature of evidence in these
crimes. Frequently whole towns became mired in cross-
accusations, leaving dozens of people maimed, tortured, or
executed in the process.
The prosecution of a witch: the trial, the ordeal, and the
execution after conviction

Proofs of witchcraft were malleable, involving gut instinct and
story-telling rather than explicit, tangible evidence. The ordeal
was a great way to prove witchcraft; if a river accepted the
accused into the depths of water, her name could be cleared but
only if she drowned. If she survived by swimming or floating,
she was determined to be a witch, too evil for the water to
accept her, and executed for her crime. Guilt could be
interpreted in the presence of birthmarks, testimony from other
convicted witches, blasphemy, birth defects in a child or
miscarriage (as in the case of Anne Boleyn, whose miscarriage
of conjoined twins was considered evidence of her consorting
with the Devil), mysterious fires, accidents, deaths, fevers,
boils, or simple bad luck. As a result of these kinds of proofs,
almost anyone could be considered a witch. The height of
witchcraft trials and witch hunts occurred throughout Europe
between 1580 and 1630. Perhaps as many as 100,000 people
were burned alive, hung, or drowned by force in the efforts to
discover practicing witches in a community. It seems that the
tide of witchcraft was largely connected to changes in religious
belief; in Protestant countries witches and spells followed
disdain for the kinds of Catholic rituals and prayers that might
be used to curry favor with the Devil, while in Catholic
countries sorcery was seen as the work of Protestant-style
independence, and heresy, requiring inquisition-style
investigation. In all cases, a fear of independent women
manifested itself in the prominent majority of women executed
for so-called witchcraft. Some scholars have found that as many
as 80 percent of those put on trial for witchcraft were women.
European thought mused that since women were daughters of
Eve, and therefore impressionable conductors of evil as Eve
once was, women would make for impressionable agents of the
Devil. Accordingly, juries often worked against women in these
cases.
Another major impact the Reformation had on society affected
the poor, the elderly, and the disabled. Traditionally,
monasteries and convents had cared for such people. They acted

as a religious social safety net for society while performing the
good works required by the Catholic Church to get into heaven.
The dissolution of monasteries and convents in Protestant
countries was a financial solution to political entities that both
undermined the power of the fallen Catholic Church while
raising funds for governments and awarding nobility with new
landed opportunities. However, what was suddenly absent were
the services required for salvation in the Catholic Church that
saved the less privileged from extreme hardship. In medieval
Europe, monks and nuns had established schools, hospitals, and
poor houses. Without their institutions, what would happen to
the poor, the homeless, the recently disabled, or the elderly? If
one lost one’s hands in an accident and could not work to feed
one’s family, what options were available? After the
Reformation, their fates varied by area.
In England, for instance, these changes led to a huge rise in
homelessness and vagrancy. People began wandering the
countryside in hopes of finding shelter or care. Where before
they would have had a place in a monastery as part of a monk’s
lifetime of servitude, vagrants became criminals by virtue of
their disabilities or poverty. Vagrancy laws targeted the poor
and disabled until 1563, when Elizabeth I enacted the first Poor
Law that ordered a person’s home Parish to be responsible for
those who lost jobs or limbs or ability to care for themselves.
This was the beginning of a state-sponsored welfare system that
replaced the services of a good-works-based charity system in
Europe.
Global Reformations
The struggle over specific religious dogma lit European
kingdoms on fire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But
Europe was not unique in the endeavor to separate politics from
religion through the cleansing process of reform. All across the
world, from Asian Empires to North African trading states and
into the New World, religious structures were being pulled
down, refined, and rebuilt. Although we are beginning to
understand the global impact of this phenomenon just now, it

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