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Habsburg and Bourbon Europe 1470-1720
Book by Lockyer, Roger
- GenresHistory
594 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
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About the author
Roger Lockyer
22 books9 followersA specialist in the history of Tudor & Stuart England, Roger Lockyer was reader in history at Royal Holloway, University of London.
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May 12, 2020
Lockyer's book is a wonderful textbook on the period in question, written with a delicacy of prose rarely found among contemporary academics of similar stature. His main theme is that early modern Europe witnessed the struggle between the "liberties" of the nobility and the centralizing inclinations among the various sovereigns which eventually gave rise to absolutism (with France as the example par excellence). The United Provinces stand out as a hybrid model (with their Estates-General coupled with a quasi-monarchical stadtholderate, though the provinces could individually ignore the Estates) which worked to a certain extent, while the Liberum Veto of the Polish Sejm proved inconducive to her survival amidst a tourbillon of hostile states (Russia, Sweden, the Ottomans; not to mention the Cossacks, Transylvania...). While tracing the political trajectories of these incipient nations and regions, Lockyer makes the case that religious reform slowly became politicized as Protestantism came to be associated with the "liberties" of the nobles (as it did with the French Huguenots) while Tridentine Catholicism became tied up with the advance of the state. While politiques like Richelieu attempted to disentangle religion and politics in favor of secularized aims--especially in the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War--the Catholic church still proved to be a valuable prop to centralizing monarchs, as in the hereditary lands of the Austrian Habsburgs.
Speaking of Habsburgs, the book stays true to its title, with the majority of its pages dedicated to the almost 150-year struggle between the French (ruled by the Valois, then Bourbon) and the Habsburgs. Nevertheless, Lockyer deservedly spends a good chunk of the book (Part II) discussing the religious and intellectual background of the period, such as humanism, the Renaissance, and the Reformation. This was important as it provided the foundation upon which many of the decisions and controversies described later could be understood. Lockyer also dedicates space to discussing economics, and particularly insightful for me was his dissection of the weaknesses of the Spanish economy. The influx of silver from the Americas was ultimately insufficient for her aims in Europe, which included crusading against the Turks, protecting Northern Italy, crushing the Dutch revolt, and fighting Elizabethan England. And as time went on, the New World colonies found it more productive to spend the capital within their own territories and trade with the Protestant Nations for finished goods. The Spanish attempted to rectify this by issuing a copper-based currency called Vellon, but it obtained the copper from Sweden, which had to be shipped through the rebellious Dutch and paid for with...silver! Lockyer also mentions that the nobility and clergy disdained trade and preferred to just reap what they already could from their lands rather than invest in factories or increasing productivity. They also preferred the stability of wool and the Mesta. The Dutch, English, and French eventually proved more dynamic and better able to extract wealth from their land and populations. Castile, which provided the majority of Spanish income against the fueros (privileges) of the other kingdoms, like Valencia and Aragon, could not support the near-constant war and finally buckled when plague hit the region.
There was a paucity of information on quotidian life for the peasantry, merchants, etc., other than generalizations about the heaviness of the tax burden. The suffering and depredations of the various wars were ignored as well with the exception of throwaway lines and a short section disputing the extent of the destructiveness of the Thirty Years' War. The book's focus is politico-military, but in that sphere it is sublime.
Speaking of Habsburgs, the book stays true to its title, with the majority of its pages dedicated to the almost 150-year struggle between the French (ruled by the Valois, then Bourbon) and the Habsburgs. Nevertheless, Lockyer deservedly spends a good chunk of the book (Part II) discussing the religious and intellectual background of the period, such as humanism, the Renaissance, and the Reformation. This was important as it provided the foundation upon which many of the decisions and controversies described later could be understood. Lockyer also dedicates space to discussing economics, and particularly insightful for me was his dissection of the weaknesses of the Spanish economy. The influx of silver from the Americas was ultimately insufficient for her aims in Europe, which included crusading against the Turks, protecting Northern Italy, crushing the Dutch revolt, and fighting Elizabethan England. And as time went on, the New World colonies found it more productive to spend the capital within their own territories and trade with the Protestant Nations for finished goods. The Spanish attempted to rectify this by issuing a copper-based currency called Vellon, but it obtained the copper from Sweden, which had to be shipped through the rebellious Dutch and paid for with...silver! Lockyer also mentions that the nobility and clergy disdained trade and preferred to just reap what they already could from their lands rather than invest in factories or increasing productivity. They also preferred the stability of wool and the Mesta. The Dutch, English, and French eventually proved more dynamic and better able to extract wealth from their land and populations. Castile, which provided the majority of Spanish income against the fueros (privileges) of the other kingdoms, like Valencia and Aragon, could not support the near-constant war and finally buckled when plague hit the region.
There was a paucity of information on quotidian life for the peasantry, merchants, etc., other than generalizations about the heaviness of the tax burden. The suffering and depredations of the various wars were ignored as well with the exception of throwaway lines and a short section disputing the extent of the destructiveness of the Thirty Years' War. The book's focus is politico-military, but in that sphere it is sublime.
Displaying 1 of 1 review