explain in simple terms

182 Chapter 23 . The Trans to its own laws and customs. He was able to draw on the finan- cial resources of wealthy lands such as the Low Countries and Finance The new monarchs included Henry VIll of England Spain to maintain a powerful army. Yet Charles did not have Louis XI and Francis I of France, and Fernando and Isabel of the ambition to extend his authority by military force. Instead. Spain, All the new monarchs sought to increase their wealth he used his army mostly to put down rebellions. by developing new sources of revenue, The French kings levied direct taxes on sales, households, and the salt trade. A new Foreign Challenges Foreign difficulties also prevented sales tax dramatically boosted Spanish royal income in the Charles from establishing his empire as the arbiter of Europe. sixteenth century. For feat of provoking rebellion, the English The prospect of a powerful Holy Roman Empire struck fear kings did not introduce new taxes, but they increased revenues in the kings of France, and it caused concern among the by raising fines and fees for royal services. Moreover, after sultans of the Ottoman Empire as well. Charles's holdings Henry VIII severed ties between the English and Roman surrounded France, and the French kings suspected that the churches, he shut down all of the monasteries and took posses sion of all their land and wealth. This financial windfall en- emperor wanted to absorb their realm and extend his author- abled Henry to enhance royal power by increasing the size of ity throughout Europe. To forestall that possibility, the French kings created every obstacle they could for Charles. the state and adding to its responsibilities. After the English Even though they were staunch Roman Catholics, they aided Reformation, for example, the state provided relief for the German Lutherans and encouraged them to rebel. The poor and support for orphans, which previously had been felt to churches and monasteries. French kings even allied with the Muslim Ottoman Turks against the emperor. State Power With their increased income the new mon For their part, the Ottoman sultans did not want to see a archs enlarged their administrative staffs, which enabled them powerful Christian empire threaten their holdings in eastern to collect taxes and implement royal policies more reliably Europe and their position in the Mediterranean basin, With than before. The French and Spanish monarchs also main the encouragement of the French king, Turkish forces con- tained standing armies that vastly increased their power with quered Hungary in 1526, and three years later they even laid respect to the nobility. Their armies with thousands of infan- siege briefly to Vienna. Moreover, during the early sixteenth trymen were too large for individual nobles to match, and they century Ottoman forces imposed their rule beyond Egypt and equipped their forces with cannons that were too expensive for embraced almost all of north Africa. By midcentury, Turkish nobles to purchase. The English kings did not need a standing holdings posed a serious threat to Italian and Spanish ship- army to put down the occasional rebellion that flared in their ping in the Mediterranean. island realm and so did not go to the expense of supporting All of these domestic and foreign problems prevented one. Yet they too increased their power with respect to the Charles V from establishing his vast empire as the supreme nobles by subjecting them to royal justice and forcing them to political authority in Europe. His inability to suppress the comply with royal policy. Lutherans was especially disappointing to Charles, and in The debates and disputes launched by the Protestant 1556, after agreeing that imperial princes and cities could Reformation helped monarchs increase their authority. In determine the religious faith observed in their jurisdictions, lands that adopted Protestant faiths-including England, much the emperor abdicated his throne and retired to a monastery of Germany, Denmark, and Sweden-rulers expropriated the in Spain. His empire did not survive. Charles bestowed his monasteries and used church wealth to expand their powers, holdings in Spain, Italy, the Low Countries, and the Americas That option was not open to Roman Catholic kings, but on his son, King Philip II of Spain, while his brother Ferdinand Protestant movements provided them with a justification to inherited the Habsburg family lands in Austria and the mobilize resources, which they used against political as well as imperial throne. religious adversaries. The New Monarchs The Spanish Inquisition The Spanish Inquisition was the most distinctive institution that relied on religious justifica In the absence of effective imperial power, guidance of public tions to advance state ends. Fernando and Isabel founded the affairs fell to the various regional states that had emerged Spanish Inquisition in 1478, and they obtained the approval of during the middle ages. The city-states of Italy were promi- the pope to operate the institution as a royal agency. Its origi- nent because of their economic power: since the eleventh cen- nal task was to ferret out those who secretly practiced Judaism tury they had been Europe's most important centers of trade, or Islam, but Charles also charged it with detecting Protestant manufacturing, and finance. The most powerful European heresy (beliefs contrary to the doctrines of the Roman church) states, however, were the kingdoms of England, France, and in Spain. Throughout the late fifteenth and sixteenth centu- Spain. During the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, rul- ries, the Spanish Inquisition served political as well as rell- ers of these lands, known as the "new monarchs," marshaled gious purposes. Moreover, its reach extended well beyond the their resources, curbed the nobility, and built strong central- Iberian peninsula. Just as the fear of witchcraft crossed the ized regimes. Atlantic Ocean and inspired witch hunts in England's North