41.
Peloponnesian War: *
MAP
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42.
Spanish Succession War: *
In the end Phillip renounced the French throne & was confirmed as King of Spain, retaining peninsular Spain & possessions outside Europe. Spanish territories in Europe were divided between Austria, Britain & Savoy. Long term impacts included Britain's emergence as the leading European maritime & commercial power & the end of the Dutch Republic as a major power, the creation of a centralised Spanish state and the acceleration of the break-up of the Holy Roman Empire.
43.
the Interregnum in Germany: *
The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II died in 1250. He amassed an impressive collection of titles (king of Sicily, Germany, Italy & Jerusalem). Under him the Empire reached its territorial peak. However his success in Italy made the popes his enemy. Pope innocent IV deposed him in 1245 & anti-kings were supported by the papacy: Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia was the first anti-king to Frederick's son Conrad IV (died 1254). He was succeeded as anti-king by William of Holland (died 1256).
After 1257, the crown was contested between Richard of Cornwall (supported by the Italian Guelph party) and Alfonso X of Castile (supported by the Hohenstaufen). Richard died in 1273 & Rudolf I of Germany, a minor count, was elected (first of the Habsburgs to hold a royal title) though he was never crowned emperor. He was followed by 2 weak kings, Adolf & Albert, neither crowned emperor. After Albert’s assassination (1308), King Philip IV of France prompted the election of his brother, Charles of Valois, as next King of the Romans. He mistakenly believed he had backing from the French Pope Clement V (Avignon papacy); he freely spent French gold to bribe the electors. The other strong contender was Rudolf, the Count Palatine. Neither pope nor the powerful German princes of the Empire wanted to see France dominate. In the 1308 election the princes led by the Archbishop of Mainz, Peter von Aspelt, arranged for a compromise candidate to win, the Luxembourg count Henry VII. He had few national ties & was seen as more suitable by the great territorial magnates who had lived without a crowned emperor for decades. Both Charles & Rudolf, were seen as potentially strong rulers who might restrict the authority of the princes. Henry VII was crowned king 1309, and emperor in 1312.
Political instability re-emerged after Henry's death in 1314. Several elections were contested & multiple candidates elected & multiple coronations in opposition. Only with Frederick III (1452–1493), the second emperor of the House of Habsburg, did the Holy Roman Emperor return to an unbroken succession of emperors.
44.
British Colonial Empire: *
The roots of empire are clearly visible in men like Walter Raleigh & the 17th century Plantation of Ireland (in particular Ulster in 1606). In both we see reflections of strong Calvinist belief. In Ireland the proximity to the native Catholic population promoted strong Reformist leanings. The Church of Ireland in 1615 lurched towards Calvinist doctrines & underwent a period of radical Calvinism, more extreme than England would experience until the Civil War. Raleigh developed a hatred of Roman Catholicism in his childhood, & was quick to express it after 1558. He fought with the Calvinist Huguenots armies in the French religious civil wars. He was instrumental in the English colonisation of North America and was granted a royal patent to explore Virginia, paving the way for future English settlements. In 1584, he founded the Roanoke Colony on the coast of present-day North Carolina, but lack of supplies caused the colony to fail.
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Map showing territories that were at one time or another part of the British Empire. British Overseas Territories are underlined in red
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45.
Rousseau (& English influence): *
The Social Contract (1762) is Rousseau’s most famous work. However the idea has roots back in 17th century England. The central assertion of the social contract posits the idea that law & political order are not natural, but are instead human creations. Such a theory completely eviscerates the “divine rights” principle of earlier epochs. Most social contract theories begin with an examination of the human condition absent of any political order. The Englishman Hobbes (1588–1679) termed this a "state of nature". Here individuals' actions are bound only by their personal power & conscience. His seminal work, Leviathan (1651) is the earliest & most influential example of social contract theory. He concludes that in the state of nature life would be ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’. This state of nature ("the war of all against all") could only be avoided by strong, undivided government. Another influential Englishman, Locke (1632–1704) develops this state of nature idea; his conception of nature is based on reason which is markedly different from Hobbes' (whose idea is based on passion). In his state of nature all men exist independently, are born free; government is limited in its power because it only exists through consent by the governed. Rousseau’s political philosophy proposed a social contract, or a tacit agreement between the individual and the state. Although he differs from both Locke & Hobbes, the foundation stones of his ideas were laid in England, not in France.
46.
Mirabeau (& English influence): *
During a term in prison (1777-82) he wrote Des Lettres de Cachet et des prisons d'état (published 1782); it reflects an accurate knowledge of French constitutional history & demonstrates that the lettres de cachet are philosophically unjust & constitutionally illegal. In the 1780s following a turn in the Dutch Republic he went to England. Here his Considérations sur l'ordre de Cincinnatus (1785) was translated into English. This work is based on a pamphlet published in America attacking the order of Cincinnatus (founded in 1783) as a hereditary association between officers who had fought in the American Revolutionary War. He liked the arguments, rearranged & rewrote them and supplemented the work with materials provided by Ben Franklin. Franklin, who shared Mirabeau's opinions on the topic, feared the creation of a quasi-noble order; its use of the eagle in its emblem evoked traditions of heraldry & the English aristocracy. However at the time he was serving as the US Minister to France & could not criticize the "noble order". In 1787 Mirabeau’s treatise on lettres de cachet was also translated into English & much admired. He was admitted into the best Whig literary & political societies of London through his school friend Gilbert Elliot (himself a leading Whig MP). He was a close friend of Lord Shelburne & Sir Samuel Romilly.
