Religious Transformations that Caused Changes in Attitude towards Monarchy
The Roman Empire kingdom was associated with a high rate of Christianity in the 17th century. Tradition awareness on the aspect of Christianity was spreading faster in the Roman Empire. Like any other transformation, Christendom represented Europe as envisaged by those believed to be the original authors of the scripture. The holy Roman empire is among the regions that were affected by the culture of religion. The rise of power by the catholic church was accompanied by an increase in the’ number of people trusting churches as the only organ that would deliver justice to the people. Religious experiences in Europe played an important role in changing the attitude of people regarding monarchies. Jewish communities that were being persecuted in different parts of Europe, such as Poland, created revolution and resistance from Christianity across Europe against monarchies governorship[1]. Catholic church authority was strengthening in Rome than the sovereignty of monarchies. To save the monarchy from being surpassed by religion, the king was forced to transform that will help strengthen and survive the monarchy; among the king’s changes involved increasing taxes. The transformation was not accepted well by the people. They were increasing the taxes and selling of the taxes, which many kings in Europe created a bad image in people’s eyes. People started seeing them as opportunists and selfish people who only cared for themselves. The transformation changed the attitude of people against monarchies.
Implementation of the “Peace of Westphalia” settlement in 1648 in Europe also helped change the attitude against monarchies. Peace of Westphalia movement was focused on meeting the rights and frontiers in charge of taking into accounts the verdict of resources and battle states. The policy helped in ending the war between Spain and the Dutch[2]. The settlement also focused on the aspect of the larger question of justice and religion across Europe. The rise of the movement drove a new idea amongst Christian on the aspect of monarchies. For instance, politicians began to speak for European interests to defend against the ambitions of particular such as the roman kingdom. The spiritual inheritance dynamic in Europe gained more energy than the sum of policies composed by different monarchies in Europe. The growth of evangelism elicited a different attitude towards monarchies by the people. As a result of the Peace of Westphalia, the Netherlands gained its independence.
Furthermore, France has acknowledged as a significant western power, thanks to the treaty of Westphalia implementation. The treaty also led to the breaking of the Holy Roman Empire in Europe, which helped grant freedom to other countries such as Germans to determine religions of their choices. With the breakage of the roman empire, people started developing new different attitudes towards monarchies.
Intellectual changes
Intellectual changes in Europe entails the rise of the age of enlightenment. The age of enlightenment was also referred to as the age of reasoning. The period was spreading faster in Europe during the early modern period. Evidently, in the rise of political turmoil in England, Locke implemented people’s right to change governments. Locke advocated for government changes that were not protecting the natural right of people’s lives, liberty, and democracy. The new ideas prompted by the age of enlightenment in Europe gave people new ideas that helped shape their political systems, thus changing their attitude on the idea of monarchies.
The renaissance period in Europe forms an example of Europe’s intellectual changes that led to a change in attitude on monarchies. Renaissance period promoted the discovery of classical philosophy, art, and literature in Europe. Spain forms the country mostly known for the renaissance period. Exploration and discoveries in commerce’s growth were experienced in Spain and other parts of Europe during the early modern period. One of the cultural values that resulted in changes in the people’s attitude to monarchies in Spain is the invention of gunpowder and the rise in human philosophy[3]. The renaissance period in Spain was focused on the factor of modernization and postmodernism. The culture had diffused in Europe as the population was increasing. Furthermore, renaissance and reformation culture focused on educating people on ways people should carry themselves and the perspectives in which they should view themselves. Renaissance culture has taken the interest of many people by the beginning of the early modern period. Most people started to demand a transformation, thanks to the renaissance push on changing people’s welfare. Their attitude towards monarchies changed after learning the benefits they will be prone to upon accepting the monarchies dynasty. People in Spain started retaliating against monarchy rule as the renaissance advocated for justice and consideration, which was not provided in the monarchy leadership. During the renaissance period in Spain, the human philosophy that helped change people’s attitudes involves focusing on the aspect of individualism, humanism, and skepticism. Monarchical leadership in Spain was mainly focusing on caring for and protecting the humanism and dignity of the noble people. The poor were left unattended and cared for by the kings. The new idea of human philosophy regarding their rights and aspects of humanism drove intellectual knowledge that made them oppose monarchies. Their attitudes started changing thanks to knowledge gained from the philosophies.
Moreover, the renaissance period in Spain brought the aspect of individualism among the people. People started to fight for their rights and position in society regardless of their social status. The monarchies, on the other hand, was not providing the aspect of individualism. The kings and noblemen in Spain practiced an autoreactive form of leadership, while the poor and other social classes were ignored. Individualism elicited the culture of people wanting to think for themselves. Members of groups, churches, and families in Spain were given the aspect of who they were by knowing philosophies. Creativity and desire to be independent and rule themselves made them have a change in attitudes on monarchies. During the renaissance period, skepticism gave rise to the idea and knowledge that rose the people’s interest to experiment with new things such as leadership.
[1] Malcolm, Alistair. “Monarchy Transformed: Princes and Their Elites in Early Modern Western Europe. Robert von Friedeburg and John Morrill, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. xii+ 394 pp. $120.” Renaissance Quarterly 73, no. 2 (2020): 643-645.
[2]. Pfister, Christian, Rudolf Brázdil, Jürg Luterbacher, Astrid EJ Ogilvie, and Sam White. “Early Modern Europe.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History, pp. 265-295. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2018.
[3]. Blanc, Guillaume. “Demographic Change and Development from Crowdsourced Genealogies in Early Modern Europe.” (2020).