  RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE The Rivals of Spain. When the early voyages to America and Asia were ended, the French, the English, and the other northern peoples of Europe seemed to be beaten in the race for new lands and for new routes to old lands. The French had sent a few fishermen to the Banks of Newfoundland, and that was all. The English had made one or two voyages and appeared to be no longer interested. (See 166.gif, Cabot) The Dutch seemed to be only sturdy fishermen, thrifty farmers, or keen traders, occupied much of the time in the struggle against the North Sea, which threatened to burst the dikes and flood farms and cities. The Trade-Winds. The Portuguese and the Spaniards had a great advantage in living nearer the natural starting-point for such voyages. To go to Asia ships went by way of the Cape of Good Hope. To go to America a southern route was taken, for in the North Atlantic the prevailing winds are from the southwest, while south of Spain the trade-winds blow towards the southwest, making it easy to sail to America. To take the northern route, which was the natural one for French and English sailors, would be to battle against head winds and heavy seas. The Spaniards and the Portuguese divide the World. The Spaniards and the Portuguese believed that their discoveries gave them the right to all new lands which should be found and to all trade by sea with the Golden East. Two years after the first voyage of Columbus the Spaniards agreed with the Portuguese that a line running 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands should separate the regions claimed by each. The Spaniards were to hold all lands discovered west of that line, and the Portuguese all east of it. This left Brazil within the region claimed by the Portuguese. The rest of North and South America lay within the Spanish claims. It is the future history of this region that especially interests us as students of American history.
The Main Question. Were the Spaniards to keep what they claimed and continue to outstrip their northern rivals? The answer to this question is found in the history of Europe during the sixteenth century. Unfortunately for the Spaniards they were drawn into quarrels in Europe which cost them many men and much money. The consequence was that they were unable to make full use of their discoveries, even if they had known how. Before the century was ended their rivals, the English and the French, were stronger than they; and the Dutch, their own subjects, had rebelled against them. The English and the French desire a Share. Men had such great ideas of the immense wealth of the Indies that the successes of one nation made the other nations eager for some part of the spoil. Englishmen and Frenchmen were not likely to allow the Portuguese to take all they could find by sailing eastward around the Cape of Good Hope, and the Spaniards to keep whatever they discovered by sailing directly westward or by following the route marked out by Magellan. Both would search for new routes to the East, and both would lay claim to lands they saw by the way, regardless of any other nation. Many quarrels came from this rivalry, but quarrels arose also from other causes. King Charles and King Francis. About the time CortÉs conquered Mexico, his master, King Charles of Spain, began a war against Francis, the king of France. As long as these two kings lived they were either fighting or preparing to fight. Had Charles been king of Spain only, there might have been no trouble, but he ruled lands in Italy and claimed others which the French king ruled. He also ruled all the region north of France which is now Belgium and Holland, and he owned a district which forms part of eastern France near Switzerland. As he was the German emperor besides, the French king thought him too dangerous to be left in peace. These wars have little to do with American history, except that they helped to weaken the king of Spain and to prevent the Spaniards from making the most of their early successes in colonizing. Religion a Cause of Strife. Religion was the most serious cause of quarrel in the sixteenth century, and the king of Spain was the prince most injured by the struggle. At the time of Prince Henry of Portugal and of Columbus all peoples in western Europe worshiped in the same manner, taught their children the same beliefs, and in religious matters they all obeyed the pope. But by 1521 this had changed. The troubles began in Germany when Charles V was emperor. Before they were over Philip II, son of Charles, lost control of the Dutch, who rebelled and founded a republic of their own. The English finally became the principal enemies of Spain. The French, most of whom were of the same religion as the Spaniards, came to hate Spanish methods of defending religion, especially after the Spaniards had massacred a band of French settlers in America.
The "Reformers." Many men became discontented at the way the Church was managed. At first all were agreed that the evils of which they complained could be removed if priests, bishops, and pope worked together to that end. After a while some teachers in different countries not only complained of evils, but refused to believe as the Church had taught and as most people still believed. They did not mean to divide the Christian Church into several churches, but they thought they understood the words of the Bible better than the teachers of the Church. The Reformation. At that time people who were not agreed in their religious beliefs did not live peaceably in the same countries. The princes and kings who were faithful to the Church ordered that the new teachers and their followers should be punished. Other princes accepted the views of the "reformers," and soon began to punish those of their subjects who continued to believe as the Church taught. In Germany these princes were called "Protestants," because they protested against the efforts of the Emperor Charles and his advisers to stop the spread of the new religion. This name was afterwards given to all who refused to remain in the older Church, subject to the bishops and the pope. Catholic and Protestant Leaders. The most famous leaders of the Roman Catholics at this time were Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard, Reginald Pole, an Englishman, and Carlo Borromeo, an Italian. Loyola had been a soldier in his youth, but while recovering from a serious wound, resolved to be a missionary. With several other young men of the same purpose he founded the Society of Jesus or the Jesuit Order. Of the Protestants the greatest leaders were Martin Luther, a German, and John Calvin, a Frenchman. Luther was a professor in the university at Wittenberg in Saxony, which was ruled by the Elector Frederick the Wise. Calvin had lived as a student in Paris, but when King Francis resolved to allow no Protestants in his kingdom, Calvin was obliged to leave the country. He settled in the Swiss city of Geneva. The Lutheran Church. Luther's teachings were accepted by many Germans, especially in northern Germany. He translated the Bible into German. After a while his followers formed a Church of their own which was called Lutheran. It differed from the Roman Catholic Church in the way it was governed as well as in what it taught. The French Huguenots. Calvin lived in Geneva, but most of those who accepted his teachings continued to live in France. The nickname Huguenots, or confederates, was given to them. They were not permitted by the French king to worship as Calvin taught, but by 1562 so many nobles had joined them that it was no longer possible to treat them as criminals. They were permitted to hold their meetings outside the walled towns. The leader whom they most honored was Admiral Gaspard de Coligny. Both he and they, as we shall see, soon had reason to fear and hate the Spaniards. But we must first understand the difficulties which the king of Spain had in dealing with his Dutch subjects. The King of Spain and the Netherlands. Philip II inherited from his father Charles seventeen duchies, counties, and other districts north of France in what is now Belgium and Holland. Charles had known how to manage these people, because he was brought up among them. The task of managing them was not easy. Each district or city had its own special rights and its people demanded that these should be respected by the ruling prince. Charles had remembered this, but Philip wished to rule the Netherlanders, as these people were called, just as he ruled the people of Spain.
Protestants in the Netherlands. The trouble was made worse because many of the Netherlanders became followers of Luther or Calvin, and brought their books into the country. Now Philip, like his father Charles, was faithful to the teachings of the Church, and thought it was his duty to punish such persons. The result was that Philip soon had two kinds of enemies in his Netherland provinces, those who did not like the way he ruled and those who refused to believe as the Church taught, and the two united against him. After a while most of the Lutherans were driven away, but the Calvinists kept coming in over the border from France. The Netherlands. The Netherlands, or Low Countries, are well named, especially the northern part where the Dutch live, because much of the land is below the level of the sea at high tide, and some of it at low tide. For several hundred years the Dutch built dikes to keep back the sea, or pumped it out where it flowed in and covered the lower lands. Occasionally great storms broke through the dikes and caused the Dutch months or years of labor. A people so brave and industrious were not likely to submit to the will of Philip II. The chances that they would rebel were increased by the spread of the new religious views, which the Dutch accepted more readily than their neighbors, the southern Netherlanders. The southern Netherlanders who became Calvinists generally emigrated to the northern cities, like Amsterdam, where they were safer.
William of Orange. William, Prince of Orange, was the leader of the Dutch against Philip II. He had been trusted by Charles, Philip's father, who had leaned on his shoulder at the great ceremony held in Brussels when Charles gave up his throne to Philip. William was called the "Silent," because he was careful not to tell his plans to any except his nearest friends. When Philip returned to Spain, William was made governor or stadtholder of three of the Dutch provinces--Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht. Philip was angry because William and other great nobles in the Netherlands opposed his way of dealing with the heretics and of ruling the Netherlands. In this both the southern Netherlanders and the northern Netherlanders were united, although the southern Netherlanders remained faithful to the Roman Catholic religion. Spain and England. The English at first had no reason to quarrel with the king of Spain. They were friendly to the Netherlanders, who were his subjects. During the Middle Ages they sold great quantities of wool to the Netherland cities of Bruges, Brussels, and Ghent, and bought fine cloth woven in those towns. The friendship of the ruler of the Netherlands seemed necessary, if this trade was to prosper. It was the trouble about religion which finally made the English and the Spaniards enemies. Henry VIII. During the reign of Henry VIII, King of England, the king, the parliament, and the clergy decided to refuse obedience to the pope. The king called himself the head of the Church in England. Lutheran views crept into the country as they had done into the Netherlands, but King Henry at first disliked the Lutherans quite as much as he grew to dislike the pope. The English Church. So long as Henry lived not much change was made in the beliefs or the manner of worship in the Church. During the short reign of his son, the English Church became more like the Protestant Churches on the Continent, except that in England there were still archbishops and bishops, and the government of the Church went on much as before. When Henry's daughter Mary was made queen she tried to stop these changes, and for a few years her subjects were again obedient to the pope, but she died in 1558 and her half-sister, Elizabeth, became queen.
The English Church and the Catholics. In religious matters Queen Elizabeth did much as her father and her brother had done. All persons were forced to attend the religious services carried on in the manner ordered in the prayer-book. Roman Catholics could not hold any government office. They were punished if they tried to persuade others to remain faithful to the older Church. Philip did not like this, but for a time he preferred to be on friendly terms with the English.
Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth ruled England for forty-five years. The English regard her reign as the most glorious in their history. Before it was over they proved themselves more than a match for the Spaniards on the sea. They also began to seek for routes to the East and to attempt settlements in America. Their trade was increasing. The Greek and Roman writers were studied by English scholars at Oxford and Cambridge. Books and poems and plays were written which were to make the English language the rival of the languages of Greece and Rome. This was the time when Shakespeare wrote his first plays.
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