|
The Late Middle Ages witnessed the rise of strong, royalty-based nation states throughout Europe, particularly in England, France, and the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula: Aragon, Castile, and Portugal. The long conflicts of the later Middle Ages strengthened royal control over their kingdoms, and were extremely hard on the peasantry. Kings profited from warfare which extended royal legislation throughout their kingdoms and increased the lands they directly controlled.[267] Paying for the wars required that methods of taxation become more effective and efficient, and the rate of taxation often increased.[268] The requirement to obtain the consent of those being taxed meant that representative bodies such as the English Parliament or the French Estates General gained power and authority.[269] Throughout the 14th century, French kings sought to expand their influence throughout the kingdom at the expense of the territorial holdings of the nobility.[270] They ran into difficulties when attempting to confiscate the holdings of the English kings in southern France, leading to the Hundred Years' War,[271] which lasted until 1453.[272] Early in the war the English under Edward III (r. 1327–77) and his son Edward, the Black Prince (d. 1376),[AF] won the battles of Crécy and Poitiers, captured the city of Calais, and won control of much of France.[AG] The resulting stresses almost caused the disintegration of the French kingdom during the early years of the war.[275] In the early 15th century, France once more came close to dissolving, but in the late 1420s the military successes of Joan of Arc (d. 1431) led to the victory of the French kings over the English and the capture of the last of the English possessions in southern France in 1453.[276] The price was high, as the population of France at the end of the Wars was likely half what it had been at the start of the conflict. Conversely, the Wars had a positive effect on English national identity, doing much to fuse the various local identities into a national English ideal. The conflict with the French also helped create a national culture in England that was separate from French culture, which had been the dominant cultural influence in England before the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War.[277] The early Hundred Years' War also saw the dominance of the English longbow,[278] and the appearance of cannon on the battlefield at Crécy in 1346.[232] In modern-day Germany, the Empire continued, but the elective nature of the imperial crown meant that there was no enduring dynasty around which a strong state could form.[279] Further east, the kingdoms of Poland, Hungary, and Bohemia grew powerful.[280] The Iberian Peninsula kingdoms continued to gain land from the Muslim kingdoms of the peninsula;[280] Portugal concentrated on expanding overseas during the 15th century, while the other kingdoms were riven by difficulties over the royal succession and other concerns.[281][282] England, after losing the Hundred Years' War, went on to suffer a long civil war known as the Wars of the Roses, which lasted into the 1490s,[282] and only ended when Henry Tudor (r. 1485–1509 as Henry VII) became king and consolidated his hold on England after his victory over Richard III (r. 1483–85) at Bosworth in 1485.[283] Scandinavia went through a period of union under the Union of Kalmar in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, but dissolved once more after the death of Margaret I of Denmark (r. in Denmark 1387–1412), who had united Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. The major power around the Baltic Sea was the Hanseatic League, a commercial confederation of city states that traded from Western Europe to Russia.[284] Scotland emerged from English domination under Robert the Bruce (r. 1306–29), who secured papal recognition of his kingship in 1328.[285] |
About us|Jobs|Help|Disclaimer|Advertising services|Contact us|Sign in|Website map|Search|
GMT+8, 2015-9-11 22:11 , Processed in 0.143754 second(s), 16 queries .
