Figure 1.--Here we see three noble children in 1556 which we know because the date and ages of the children is painted on the portait. What we do not know is the identity of the artist. It could be Dutch artist Antonis Mor. Other art historian sugest Spanish court painters. Some believe that the portait may be the children of Spanish King Philip II. The boys are wearing trunk hose, the precursors of breeches and modern trousers. It is imprtant to note that this is not children's clothes. Children wore scaled down versions of their parents clthing. The 2-year old could be a boy or girl. Yongerr boys were dressed like women.

Most historians defines the modern era as beginning in the 16th century. It was a time of unprecedented change compared to the glacial rate of change during the Medieval era. The 16th century followed on the Renaissance which had opened the eyes of Medieval Europeans. The Italian Renaissance w\had passed its prime and was now spreading north, reaching realatively isolated kingdoms like England. Columbus had completed his voyages opening the New World and the era of discoveries. These and other developments were to lead to a European intellectual, economic, and military expansion that was to create our modern world. There were changes in vurtually every aspect of life. Europeans begin to look and think like modern peoople, however, different the fashions may appeara at first glance. At the time the gold and silver that flowed into Spain from its American colonies were seen as the basis of national power. In the long run, the most significant item obtained by the Spanish in the Americas may have been the humble potato. Life was still hard, but along with cultural change came economic growth. Europe was more prosperous in the 16th century than at any time since the fall of Rome. This economic growth was apparent in the evolution from Medieval Feudalism to a nascent capitalist economy. The modern mechanisms of international commerce are forming including banks and other financial institutions, maritime trading fleets, and most importantly an entrepreneurial bourgeois class. Some of the great minds which launched Western science appaered in the 16th century. Their work was not only of enormous economic and cultural importance, but also trans formed warfare. The invention of gunpowder was not only of military impotance, but had a huge cultural and political impact. The Feudal system had divided Europe into a number of small principalities. Many were dominated by castles which enabled them in some cases to amass power to resist the king and national government. (It is no acciddent that two of the most important European royal families were founded by Feudal lords with string castles: the Hapsburgs and the Hollenzollerns.) Gunpowder along with the Renaissance and other factors meant the demise of the Feudal system in Europe, althoghh it continued to play a major role in Eastern Europe, especially Russia. The invention of the printing press and moveable type in the 15th century had by the 16th century fueld the intelectual ferment set in motion by the Renaissance. The books that appeared were often printed in the vernaular giving rise to modern versions of European languages and launching the nationalism that would eventually transform the face of Europe. Another outcome of that ferment was the Reformation begun when Martin Luthur posted his 95 Thesis on the Church door in Wittenberg. The Reformation along with the Renaisance transformed man's concept of himself and the universe. It also weakened the Catholic Church which had been the one unifying force much of Europe.

Modern Divide

Most historians defines the modern era as beginning in the 16th century. It was a time of unprecedented change compared to the glacial rate of change during the Medieval era.

The Renaissance

The 16th century followed on the Renaissance which had opened the eyes of Medieval Europeans. The Italian Renaissance had passed its prime and was now spreading north, reaching realatively isolated kingdoms like England. Columbus had completed his voyages opening the New World and the era of discoveries. These and other developments were to lead to a European intellectual, economic, and military expansion that was to create our modern world. There were changes in vurtually every aspect of life. Europeans begin to look and think like modern people, however, different the fashions may appeara at first glance.

Overseas Empires

Spain and Portugal with their famed Conquistadores carved out vast empires in the America. The Pope helped divude the world between the two countries to prevent war between the two Catholic nations. It was the Spanish with Cortez's defeat of the Aztecs (1519) and Pizarro's defeat of the Inca that created an empire of fabulous wealth and shipped back unprecedent amounts of gold and siver back to Spain. France began its imperial outreach with the voyages to North America of Jacques Cartier (1491-1557). English efforts to found colonies in North America failed. The English were more successful in preying on Spanish trasure fleets in the Caribbean

Economic Change

Life was still hard, but along with cultural change came economic growth. Europe was more prosperous in the 16th century than at any time since the fall of Rome. The European economy continued to grow and develop increasing sophisticated financial institutions (15th century). This was especially the case in the Italian city states. But we begin to see important financial institution beginning to reach northern Europe. Here the Fuger family in Austria was of huge importance. Jakob 'the Rich' (1459 - 1525) was the family's youngest son and not much was expected of him. He was destined for a quiet Church life, but as a teenager was sent to Venice where with an astute mind for figures. Jalob immersed himself in finance and turned a wealthy family involved in textiles, into the riches family in Europe, controlling silver and copper mining--essentially European coinage. He became one of the wealthiest men in history, probably only surpassed by Elon Musk. Converting 16th century sums into modern sums is difficult. But he my have amassed a fortune of as much as US $0.5 trillion. No family or individual had more influenza on the European economy (15th and 16th centuries). This immense wealth was in part the result of trading metals from Hungarian and Tyrolean mines. They had especially close relations with the Hapsburg, both Austrian and Spanish. This led to lucrative loans to not only Hapsburg, but other European rulers and church figures including the Papacy. Jakob became the banker for major European rulers, including Maximilian I of Austria. This included massive loans enabling Maximilian to buy his was into becoming Holy Roman Emperor (1508). Maximilian is reported to have paid 800,000 florins to Imperial electors--most of which came from Jacob. The amount was unusual, but such bribes were standard in imperial politics. But there were would be huge knock on impacts. Jakob wanted his money back. He was also loaning money to the Papacy, specifically Julias II (r. 1503-13). Pope Julias was faced with the huge expenses of rebuilding St. Peter's basilica in Rome. A major was of doing that was selling indulgences. This all came to a head with one Johann Tetzel, a Dominican friar in Germany. Tetzel received another commission from Archbishop Albert of Mainz (who Jakob had loaned money to acquire his position) and Pope Leo X (r. 1513-21) to sell special plenary indulgences for another campaign in Germany (1517). Tetzel was a fabulous preacher and salesman with a famous slogan "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs" He has been doing this for some time, raising enormous sums. And along side Tetzel was Jakob's representative to make sure the Fuger banks got their allotted cut as repayment for the loans. Tetzel had been doing this successfully for some time. Only this time he came to the attention of a scholarly monk in Wittenberg--Martin Luther. Had it not been for Tetzel, Luther probably would have lived out his life in anonymity, engaging in scholarly debates within the Church. But he was so outraged about what Tetzel was doing that he nailed his 95 Thesis to the church door. The result was not the scholarly debate he intended -- it wad the Protestant Reformation. Often ignored is that the Pacy's reaction as not just because of theological issues, but Luther was unintentionally attacking the financial structure of the Papacy. The Fuger story did not end in 1517. Jakob died (1525). His family banks were still very important, but impacted by his connections with Catholic monarchies. This was not only because of the rise of Protestantism, but because they kept defaulting on his loans.--both the German and Spanish Hapsburg. But then came the real disaster for the Fugers. Spanish expansion in the Americans was driven by gold and silver. The Spanish discovered basically a silver mountain in Upper Peru (modern Bolivia)--Potosí (1545). While gold made headlines, silver was the medium of commerce. It was the single greatest silver find in history. Enormous quantities of silver entered the European and world market with huge economic consequences. One of which was significantly reducing the value of the Fuger silver mines. But the larger impact was economic growth. This economic growth was apparent in the evolution from Medieval Feudalism to a nascent capitalist economy. The modern mechanisms of international commerce are forming including banks and other financial institutions, maritime trading fleets, and most importantly an entrepreneurial bourgeois class. At the time the gold and silver that flowed into Spain from its American colonies were seen as the basis of national power. In the long run, the most significant item obtained by the Spanish in the Americas may have been the humble potatowhich fueled a substantial expansion of he population.

Intelectual Ferment

Some of the great minds which launched Western science appaered in the 16th century. Copernicus disputed the Church's view that the earth was the center of the universe. The Renaissance had sprung from Europe, but the Church's attack on men like Galileo shifted the advances in Science to the north which had hiterto been the backward area of Europe. Their work was not only of enormous economic and cultural importance, but also trans formed warfare. The invention of gunpowder was not only of military impotance, but had a huge cultural and political impact. The Feudal system had divided Europe into a number of small principalities. Many were dominated by castles which enabled them in some cases to amass power to resist the king and national government. (It is no accident that two of the most important European royal families were founded by Feudal lords with string castles: the Hapsburgs and the Hollenzollerns.) Gunpowder along with the Renaissance and other factors meant the demise of the Feudal system in Europe, althoghh it continued to play a major role in Eastern Europe, especially Russia. The invention of the printing press and moveable type in the 15th century had by the 16th century fueld the intelectual ferment set in motion by the Renaissance. The books that appeared were often printed in the vernaular giving rise to modern versions of European languages and launching the nationalism that would eventually transform the face of Europe.

The Reformation

Another outcome of that ferment was the Reformation begun when Martin Luthur (1483-1546) posted his 95 Thesis on the Church door in Wittenberg (1517). Luthur had no intention at the time in chhallenging the Church, he was a monk. His action, however, was in fact the launching of the Reformation. The Reformation along with the Renaisance transformed man's concept of himself and the universe. It also weakened the Catholic Church which had been the one unifying force much of Europe. It also set in motion some of the most destructive wars in European history. It was a Defender of the Faith, Henry VIII that set the Reformation in motion in England. His lesser known son Edward VI played a major role in the success of the Revolution.

Conflict

English envy of the fabulous wealth produced by Spain's colonies caused Elizabeth I to secretly authorize English priveteers like Drake (the feared "El Drago"), Hawkins, and Raleigh to attack the Spanish treasure ships. This and the Reformation launched by Elizabeth's father Henry VIII caused Philip II to unleash the vast Great Armada on England. The resulting miracilous vistory of the small but better prepared English fleet was one of the great turming points of European history. With the destruction of the Armada began the decline of Spain as a great power and the beginning of the rise of England as the world's preeminent naval power.