A concise history of Christianity by Peterson R. Dean

Author:Peterson, R. Dean
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Church history
ISBN: 9780534132781
Publisher: Belmont, Calif. : Wadsworth Pub. Co.
Published: 1993-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

The Nation-States

The great period of the nation-states began in the fifteenth century. What is now Spain struggled to free that region from domination by the Muslim Moors. The feudal landholdings were united gradually into four large regions: Castile, Aragon, Granada, and Navarre. The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile in 1469 united the largest portions of Spain under a single monarchy. By the end of their rule in 1516, the regions of Granada and Navarre had been conquered and Spain was at last united 1

Monies from the expanding Spanish empire in the New World gave Ferdinand and Isabella considerable power. They freed themselves from control by nobles. The "Catholic Sovereigns," as they were called, undertook an aggressive program of extinguishing heresy throughout their lands. With the help of the Spanish Inquisition led by Cardinal Ximenes (1436-1517), Jews, Muslims, and other dissenters were systematically persecuted. They were converted to Catholicism by force, killed, or driven into exile. The Inquisition successfully kept Protestants out of the country. The Spanish Inquisition not only vigorously persecuted dissenters but also undertook programs of reform and education within the church. It left Spain "the most Catholic" of countries and became a model for reform used throughout the Roman Catholic church Portugal was one of the most powerful of the nation-states during the early sixteenth century. It had successfully freed itself from domination by Spain, had developed its own language as a source of unity, and had created a vast overseas empire as a base for its power. It too successfully persecuted Jews, Muslims, and Protestants, remaining firmly in the Catholic faith

Louis XI (1461-1483) is often considered the first ruler of the modern nation-state of France. He built upon the feelings of nationalism created by the expulsion of the English from the Continent in the Hundred Years' War Using the middle class as a source of power, he successfully limited the control of the feudal nobility. He built roads, ports, and other waterways and promoted commerce and successfully extended the borders of his kingdom Through warfare he captured such regions as Burgundy, Picardy, and a portion

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