| Period |
Britain Rulers Main Title: King of England/Britain Please Note: years in parentheses refer to the last year of a given ruler's reign |
Britain Politics | Britain Religion |
Low Countries Rulers Main Title: Duke of Burgundy Please Note: years in parentheses refer to the last year of a given ruler's reign |
Low Countries Politics |
Low Countries Religion |
France Rulers Main Title; King of France Please Note: years in parentheses refer to the last year of a given ruler's reign |
France Politics In Progess |
France Religion In Progess |
Period |
Sweden Rulers Main Title: King of Sweden Please Note: years in parentheses refer to the last year of a given ruler's reign |
Sweden Politics |
Sweden Religion |
Holy Roman Empire/Austrian
Habsburgs Rulers Main Title: Holy Roman Emperor Please Note: years in parentheses refer to the last year of a given ruler's reign |
Holy Roman Empire/Austrian
Habsburgs Politics |
Holy Roman Empire/Austrian
Habsburgs Religion |
| 1450-1480 |
Lancaster Henry VI (1461)/ York Edward IV Stewart James II (1460)/James III |
End of the Hundred Years' War
(1453); Wars of the Roses (1455-1461; 1469-1470); James III and James
IV of
Scotland consolidate royal power |
Valois Philip "the Good" (1467)/Charles the Bold (1477)/ Habsburg/Valoi Maximilian I-Mary of Burgundy, as regents |
Philip
"the Good" consolidates power over the Low Countries (1425-1467);
Charles the Bold continues the process; civil unrest breaks out
in the Low Countries on Charles the Bold's death (1477) |
The Devotio Moderna
promotes literacy, schooling, and inner spirituality in the Low
Countries; humanism comes to the Low Countries; |
Valois Charles VII (1461)/Louis XI |
1450-1480 |
n/a |
Maximillian I |
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| 1480-1500 |
York Edward IV(1483)/Edward V(1483)/Richard III (1485)/ Tudor Henry VII Stewart James III (1482)/James IV |
Final of the Wars of the Roses ends at the Battle of Bosworth Field with Henry VII victorious (1483-1485); Tudor era commences; Henry VII consolidates royal control of finances; James IV of Scotland continues to consolidate royal power | Habsburg Maximilian I-Mary of Burgundy, as regents(1482)/Maximilian I, as regent (1493)/Philip "the Handsome" |
revolt
in the Low Countries persists until 1492; Philip "the Good" proclaimed
ruler of the Low Countries in 1493; Philip "the Good" marries Joanna
"the Mad," daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile |
Humanism flourishes in the Low
Countries, promotes different attitudes towards church rituals, church
hierarchy, and scripture |
Valois Louis XI (1483)/Charles VIII (1498)/Louis XII |
1480-1500 |
n/a |
Maximillian I | Reichsregiment at the Diet of Worms attempts to institute centralizing reforms (1495); Defeat of the Holy Roman Emperor's forces by the Swiss. | ||||||
| 1501-1520 |
Tudor Henry VII (1509)/Henry VIII Stewart James IV (1513)/James V |
James IV of Scotland
continues to consolidate royal power; Battle of Flodden between England
and
Scotland results in a decisive English victory (1513) |
Efforts to round up Lollards in
various parts of England. |
Habsburg Philip "the Handsome" (1506)/Charles V |
1515 Charles V is proclaimed as
ruler over the Low Countries; Margaret of Austria begins her rule as
regent (1517) |
Erasmus becomes the leading
light of Low Countries humanism; Luther's ideas arrive in the Low
Countries (1519) |
Valois Louis XII (1512)/Francis I |
1501-1520 |
n/a |
Maximilian I
(1519)/Charles V |
Martin Luther published the 95 Theses (1517) | |||||
| 1521-1540 |
Tudor Henry VIII Stewart James V (1542) |
See relgious matters on
England; Scotland's politics were dominated by relations with
England and France. |
Luther's works circulated in
England; first Protestants burned at the stake (1530-1535); Act of
Supremacy declares Henry VIII "the only supreme head on earth of the
Church of England"(1534); Ten Articles (1536); Suppression of the
Monasteries (1536); Act of Six Articles (1539) |
Habsburg Charles V |
the
regency of Margaret of Austria ends (1530); Charles V centralizes power
in the Low Countries, locating it in the councils in Brussels and
Mechelin and in the provincial courts, thereby sidelining the nobility
more and more; the provincial States and the States General maintain
their influence by cooperating with Charles V; Mary of Hungary,
figurehead, serves as regent (1531-1540) |
Charles
V bans Luther's writings and presides over a book burning (1521);
Charles V establishes the Inquisition in the Low Countries (1522); the
first Protestants are executed (1523); the Anabaptists emerge
(1530); the first Anabaptists are executed (1534); Anabaptists become a
pacifist denomination in the Low Countries (1540) |
Valois Francis I |
1521-1540 |
Vasa
Gustav I |
end of the Nordic Union; freedom
from the Hanseatic League (1534-1536); creation of a militia under royal control + a navy |
Diet of
Västerås:
Gustav I convinces the deputies of the towns and nobles to give him
control of the lands and wealth of the Swedish Catholic Church and to
change the confession to Lutheranism (1527) |
Charles V |
German Peasant War
(1524-1525) Schalkaldic League (of Lutheran princes) formed (1531); |
Diet of Worms (1521) outlaws
Luther; Protestantism born at the Diet of Speyer in 1529; Augsburg
Confession declared 1530 |
||
| 1541-1560 |
Tudor Henry VIII(1547)/Edward VI (1553)/Mary I (1558)/Elizabeth I Stewart James V (1542)/Mary Queen of Scots |
England endures a period of shifting political fortunes in which Henry VIII turned towards Catholicism, Edward VI towards Protestantism, Mary back again to Catholicism, and Elizabeth finally to Protestantism; Scotland endures English assaults from 1543 to 1551 known as the "Rough Wooing"; 1554-1560 Scotland was under the regency of Mary of Guise-Lorraine; Scotland shifts to Protestantism in1560 under the Lords of the Congregation | Chantries Acts (1545, 1547); Introduction of English-language Book of Common Prayer under Edward VI (1549, 1552); Forty-Two Articles (1553); persecution of Protestants under Mary (1554-1558); Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity (re-establishing Protestantism in England, 1559) |
Habsburg Charles V (1556)/Philip II |
States
General refuse Philip II's requests for funds (1556, 1558); Philip II
leaves the Low Countries to adminsiter his empire from Castile (1559);
Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559); Margaret of Parma
appointed
regent |
Protestantism
spreads throughout the Low Countries (c. 1540s); Calvinism arrives on
the scene (c. 1550s); 'eternal edict' of 1550 declares that all
heretics (i.e. Protestants) are to be executed and have their
good declared forfeit; regional Inquisitions instituted, become active |
Valois Francis I (1547)/Henry II (1559)/Francis II (1560)/ Charles IX |
1541-1560 |
Vasa
Gustav I |
creation of militia under royal
control &a navy; Vasa monarchy made hereditary by the Riksdag (1544) |
Charles V (1555)/Ferdinand I
(1558) |
First and Second Schmalkaldic
Wars (1547, 1552-1555); imposition (1548) and revocation of the
Augsburg Interim (1555); Peace of Augsburg (1555) |
Regensburg Colloquy held, fails
to reach a compromise between Protestants and Catholics (1541); Death
of Martin Luther (1543); Council of Trent starts meeting in 1545; Peace
of Augsburg principle of cuius regio eius religio (1555). |
|||
| 1561-1580 |
Tudor Elizabeth I Stewart Mary Queen of Scots (1567)/James VI |
Mary Queen of Scots gives birth
to the future James I (1566); Mary Queen of Scots ousted (1567) |
Elizabeth turns the Church of
England into a mildly Calvinist state church; the Kirk of Scotland
becomes staunchly Calvinist and Presbyterian governance structure
emerges |
Habsburg/Orange- Nassau Philip II (1598)- Willem I |
new bishoprics instituted in order to centralize control over religious and political behavior (1561); Philip II refuses to end the executions of heretics (1565); Low Countries nobles of Protestant leanings submit the Petition of Compromise demanding an end to the Inquisition; Duke of Alva arrives to pacify the region, promptly executes loyal nobles Egmond and Horn, founds the Council of Troubles to go after dissidents (1567); Margaret of Parma resigns as regent (1567); William of Orange offers himself as leader of the revolt (1568); the Duke of Alva imposes the 10th (10% sales tax) and 20th (5% impost on sales) Penny taxes (1571); Sea Beggars take Den Brielle (1572); Pacification of Ghent, an attempt to reunify all of the Low Countries against Philip II comes into force (1576); Union of Utrecht, a constitutioinal document of the Dutch Republic, signed by key northern provinces (1579) | The beeldenstorm,
a Calvinist-led uprising involving illegal preaching and destruction of
church property, unfolds (1566); first national synod of the Dutch
Reformed Church held at Dordrecht (1578) |
Valois Charles IX (1574)/Henry III |
1561-1580 |
Vasa
Erik IV (1568)/Johan III |
competition for power in the
eastern Baltic w/Poland-Lithuania, Russia, Denmark-Norway; Erik IV deposed by brother (1568) |
Ferdinand I (1564)/Maximilian II
(1576)/Rudolf II |
Calvinism comes into the Reich
as a religious force; Council of Trent completes its meetings in 1563 |
||||
| 1581-1600 |
Tudor Elizabeth I |
Elizabeth offers protection to
the Dutch Republic (1585-1588); Mary Queen of Scots executed
(1587); Spanish Armada (1588); |
Habsburg/Republic Philip III-the States General & Willem I (1584) |
Plakkaat van Verlatinge,
Act of Abjuration, a repudiation of Philip II as ruler of the Low
Countries, adopted by the States General (1581); William of Orange
assassinated by a Catholic loyalists (1584); end of the Calvinist
republic in the southern Netherlands (1584); rule of the Earl of
Leicester of England in the northern Provinces (1585-1587); States
General (of the northern Netherlands) meet for the first time (1588) |
Second national synod of the
Dutch Reformed Church held at Middelburg (1581) |
Valois Henry III (1589)/ Bourbon Henry IV |
1581-1600 |
Vasa
Johan III (1592)/Sigismund, also ruled Poland-Lithuania (1599)/Karl IX |
territories around Gulf of
Finland conquered, though only Narva left by early 1590s; Sigismund, a Catholic frequently absent from the realm deposed by his uncle Karl IX (1599) |
Rudolf II |
||||||
| 1601-1620 |
Tudor Elizabeth I (1603)/ Stewart James I/VI |
James I/VI attempts to gain more
royal control over revenues through various expedients and fails, one
result Parliament takes political action against his ministers using
impeachment; James I/VI promotes a British identity through his
diplomacy and court |
Habsburg/Republic Philip III-the States General |
VOC,
the Dutch East India Company founded (1602); 12-Year Truce with Spain
begins (1609) Prince Maurits of Orange takes overall control of the
Dutch Republic (1618); Johann van Oldenbarnevelt, Grand Pensionary of
Holland, executed (1619) |
Remonstrance
of the moderate Protestant ministers (Arminians) submitted to the
States General (1610); Synod of Dordt decides the religious settlement
in the Republic (1618) |
Bourbon Henry IV (1610)/Louis XIII |
1601-1620 |
Vasa
Karl IX (1611)/Gustav Adolph I |
Sweden intervenes in Russia's civil war, the Time of Troubles (1609); Kalmar War fought between Sweden and Denmark-Norway (1611-1613); Gustav Adolph buys peace by yielding on original terms of conflict and by paying a large ransom to have the town of Älvsborg returned; Sweden successfully takes territory from Russia on the Baltic coast | Rudolf II (1612)/Matthias (1619)/Ferdinand II | Struggle between Rudolf II and
Matthias, and then Matthias and
Ferdinand II over control of the various lands of the Holy Roman
Empire, including Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary; Thirty Years' War begins in 1618 with the revolt of the Bohemian nobles |
Through the reign of Ferdinand II concessions made to Protestants in Bohemia, Hungary, and Moravia; with accession of Ferdinand II in to the thrones of Bohemia (1617) and Hungary (1618) strict pro-Catholic policy implemented in the H. R. E. | ||||
| 1621-1640 |
Stewart James I/VI (1625)/Charles I |
Personal Rule of Charles I w/o
Parliament (1629-1640); the Covenanters take power in Scotland c. 1638 |
Archbishop Laud introduces
anti-Puritan measures (1633 onwards); Charles I attempts to introduce
the Prayer Book in Scotland (1637) |
Habsburg/Republic Philip III(1621)/Philip IV-States General |
12-Year
Truce with Spain ends (1621); WIC, Dutch West India Company founded
(1621-1624); Prince Maurits dies (1625); Fredrik Hendrik assumes the
role of chief stadholder (~1625) and helps to solidify the Republic's
military and political position |
concerns regarding to the
Socinians (anti-Trinitarians and those simply labeled as such) expressed |
Bourbon Louis XIII |
1621-1640 |
Vasa
Gustav Adolph I (1632)/Christina |
Swedish interventions in Poland-Lithuania (1621-1629) and Germany (1629-1648), respectively part of the Northern Wars and the Thirty Years' War succeed in expanding Swedish influence along the Baltic | Ferdinand II (1637)/Ferdinand III |
Bohemian (1618-1624); Danish (1625-1629) phases of the Thirty Years' War; and Swedish (1630-1635) and Franco-Swedish (1635-1648) periods of the Thirty Years' War | ||||
| 1641-1660 |
Stewart Charles I (1649)/Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector (1658)/Charles II (reign begins in 1660) |
Short Parliament (1640) and Long
Parliament (1641-42); English Civil War (1642-1648); beheading of Charles I (1649); Interregnum with England chiefly ruled by Oliver Cromwell as head of the Protectorate (1653-1658); Scotland ruled by the Covenanters through 1651 thereafter by English Parliamentary forces |
Period of great religious
experimentalism that produces Quakerism, experiments with Calvinism,
and many other new forms of Protestantism; the established church is in
flux. |
Habsburg/Republic Philip IV (1655)/Carlos VI-States General |
Frederik
Hendrik dies (1647); William II of Orange takes over as chief
stadholder, but dies suddenly (1647-1650); William III become eligible
for the stadholderate, but is a minor and is sidelined by the States
General; era of the True Freedom regime under the Grand Pensionary of
Holland Jan de Witt begins; First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-54) |
campaign against the Socinians
begins; struggle between the theologians Cocceius and Voetius commences |
Bourbon Louis XIII (1643)/Louis XIV |
1641-1660 |
Vasa
Christina (1654)/Karl X (1660) |
War with Poland-Lithuania,
Denmark-Norway, the Dutch Republic, Brandenburg-Prussia, Austria,
Russia begins with an invasion of Poland-Lithuania in 1655, continues
to the end of the reign |
Ferdinand III (1657)/Leopold I |
End of the Thirty Years' War
with the Peace of Westphalia (1648); marks the end of the Holy Roman
Empire as an effective political force as princes in the empire had the
right to choose their own foreign policy which is the start of the
modern state system of Europe |
Peace of Westphalia offers
tolerance to the different confessions and restricts the right of
princes to impose religious confession on their subjects; the Thirty
Years' War was the last war fought for religious purposes in Europe |
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| 1661-1680 |
Stewart Charles II |
Restoration Settlement in
England and Scotland; reign of John 2nd Earl of Lauderdale in Scotland
as Charles II's chief minister in Scotland (1662-1680) |
laws against dissenters and
Catholics (non-Church of England Protestants) Clarendon Code enacted in
England; Presbyterians excluded from the Kirk and hounded in Scotland;
Presbyterian uprisings (1666, 1679) |
Habsburg/Republic Philip IV (1655)/Carlos II-States General |
Second Anglo-Dutch War
(1665-1667); execution of Jan de Witt and his brother (1672); rampjaar,
Year of Disaster (1672); William III of Orange assumed power as chief
stadholder (1672); French attempts to take over the Republic in the
1670s repulsed |
campaign against the Socinians
continues; struggle between the supporters of Cocceius and Voetius
continues |
Bourbon Louis XIV |
1661-1680 |
Vasa
Karl XI |
Anti-Swedish coalition falls
apart, Sweden able to make peace with adversaries on favorable terms;
Karl XI focuses on increasing his power domestically, has a lacklustre
record abroad |
Leopold I |
Spent much of his reign fighting the French and the Ottoman Turks | ||||
| 1681-1700 |
Stewart Charles II (1685)/James II (1688) |
Glorious Revolution in England
(1688/89); Revolution Settlement in (1688/1690) |
James II attempts to win
toleration for Catholics through an alliance with dissenters;
government repression of Presbyterians in Scotland; Toleration Act
extends tolerance to dissenters, open persecution of Catholics ends in
England
(1689); Kirk of Scotland restored but no tolerance extended to
Episcopalians |
Habsburg/Republic Philip IV (1655)/Carlos II-States General |
William III of Orange assumes
leadership over Britain and Ireland with his wife Mary (1688/89); War
of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697) |
campaign against the Socinians continues; struggle between the supporters of Cocceius and Voetius fades | Bourbon Louis XIV |
1681-1700 |
Vasa
Karl XI (1697)/Karl XII |
Karl XII adopts aggressive
foreign policy to fend off the attacks of Russia, Poland-Lithuania,
Denmark-Norway |
Leopold I | defeated Turks decisively by
1697; War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697), first of the French
and Indian Wars of North America (1689-1763) did not settle the
conflict with France. |
||||
| 1701-1720 |
Stewart William III and Mary (1702)/Queen Anne (1714) Hanover George I |
Union of 1707 joins Scotland and
England into a unitary state; Jacobite risings, chief one in 1715,
disturb politics in Scotland and England; succession crisis around
Queen Anne resolved by the House of Hanover being chosen |
Toleration Act in Scotland
extends freedom of worship to Episcopalians (1712) |
Bourbon/Republic Philip V-States General |
William III of Orange dies
(1702); War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713); Peace of Utrecht end
the War of the Spanish Succession (1713) |
campaign against the Socinians continues | Bourbon Louis XIV (1715)/Louis XV |
1701-1720 |
Vasa
Karl XII (1718) |
Northern War (1700-1721)
chiefly against Russia, Denmark-Norway, Poland-Lithuania results in
Sweden losing its status as a great power. |
Leopold I (1705)/Joseph I (1711)/Charles VI | War of the Spanish Succession
(1701-1713); Peace of Utrecht ends the War of the Spanish Succession;
Charles VI loses out to Philip V in the battle for the throne of Spain. |