Development of the Modern Nation-States

The Modern Nation-States
During the 15th century, a series of conflicts broke out throughout Western

Europe that ended with the formation of three key nation-states: Spain, France, and

England. Each of the nation-states developed differently, each having a set of innate

strengths and weaknesses. Throughout the Modern Era, the foundations created in the

Renaissance eventually led to the rise and fall of these kingdoms.

Of these nation-states, Spain emerged quickly as the powerful nation-state of

Europe; unfortunately the innate weaknesses within this creation would lead to its

eventual downfall. For example, the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella created a united

Spain, yet both Aragon and Castile maintained a sense of division. Rather than a

singular, united state, Spain seemed internally divided by the Castilians and Aragones

having their own cortes (parliaments) and different weights and measures. During the

rise of the Empire, the Spaniards seemed united, but by the time the demise came, chasm

between the two Spanish states seemed to widen. Along with this internal political

conflict, Spain failed to develop any real modern infrastructure. In 1492, the Spanish

Inquisition began, removing the Jews and Moors from society. Unfortunately for Spain,

the Jews and Moors maintained a large percentage of merchants. Hence, rather than

stabilizing the nation-state with a common religion, there was no strong merchant class

to develop infrastructure that would hold onto wealth. Therefore, as the Spanish Empire

increased its gold supply, more of the gold was transferred to foreign countries

because of Spanish purchasing of foreign goods. As the Spanish Nation-State was formed

and stabilized, the innate political and economic problems would plague the Spanish

Empire.

France formed a nation-state in 1453 when the French monarchy was able to

unite and expand his land holdings at the end of the Hundred Years' War. Within its

creation, the French strength was the development of a powerful monarchy, but its

weakness was the powerless Estates-General. At the end of the Hundred Years' War, a

wave of nationalism swept over France in creation of its nation-state. The Valois

Monarchy established a united French nation-state as it pushed the English out of

France. Unfortunately, along with the strength, the Estates-General surrendered its

power of taxation when it gave Charles VII a permanent tax known as the taille. With a

permanent income, the Monarchy no longer had to rely on the Estates-General, hence

establishing the foundation of absolutism. As the Valois Dynasty gained power in

France, it began to assert its authority in other areas such as Burgundy and Italy. In

the end, the Valois Dynasty, with no accountability to the Estates-General, began its

own demise with decades of wars that seemed to gain no real power. Therefore, the

French nation-state formed with a strong monarchy but its reliance on absolutism seemed

to illustrate an innate weakness.

As the Spanish and French nation-states developed with innate weaknesses that

would negatively impact their progress throughout the Modern Era, England would

developed with innate strengths. After the Hundred Years’ War, there seemed to be a

regression towards feudalism with the War of the Roses, an English civil war in which

the nobles seemed to be reasserting authority in the York Dynasty. In the end, though,

Henry Tudor won, creating the Tudor Dynasty. Henry VII (Tudor) worked immediately to

centralize his authority. By removing the private armies of the nobles (ending livery

and maintenance) and establish the Court of Star Chamber, Henry removed any obstacles

of the nobility could establish. Hence, the authority of the monarchy was centralized.

As the burgher king, Henry also began to conspire with the merchants in hoping to

create a modern economy and infrastructure. He sold the burghers titles of nobility and

rights to monopolies that would both reward the merchants for loyalty as well as

increase the English wealth. Instead of moving towards absolutism, Henry VII also began

to work with Parliament. Even though Parliament did not determine the fate of England

at this time, Henry VII established the precedent of the monarchy seeking approval of

Parliament. Hence, if a king was not able to withstand the responsibility of leading,

Parliament already had the political infrastructure to establish political stability.

With the nobles being humbled, merchants being freed to economy develop, and Parliament

being able to gain needed political experience, Modern England was established with a

innate foundation that would continue to develop.

Overall, the establishment of the Renaissance monarchies created the modern

nation-states of Spain, France and England. With innate strengths and weaknesses, the

future of these states was already predestined by 1500 as the Modern Era continued to

develop.