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.
posted by Was @ 4:09 PM
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