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Henry VII
The New Ideas; Part 2
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The New Ideas; Part 2
The latter half of the fifteenth century saw the decay of feudalism and the building up of strong monarchies. It saw Louis XI create France; it saw that union of Aragon and Castile in the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, which made Spain; it saw the Tudor line begin to heal the wounds left by the Wars of the Roses, and set up a monarchy which was really supreme. In each country, too, came a vigorous growth of national spirit, and a pride in national power. This spirit of national ambition revealed itself in Charles VIII of France's expedition into Italy; in the long struggle between France and Spain, in which England took now one side, now the other; in the new idea that the religion of each nation was a matter for its own concern and its own decision; and in the rivalry for the New World. Thus in a sense the new characteristics which we observed as marking the Tudor England spring from a cause which is common to the whole of Europe, the growth of national feeling. For a time the new spirit was encumbered with the wreckage of the past - old beliefs, old policies, old traditions of the Medieval Papacy and the Medieval Empire. By degrees these were cleared away, and the new system, the society of "nations", set up in its place. True, that to begin with the important nations were only France, Spain, and England. Germany and Italy were still unnational, overweighted the one with the Empire, the other with the Papacy; and centuries had to elapse before these, or the unwieldy power of Russia, entered upon the scene of international politics. When we think of the State system of Europe in our own day, we are apt to forget how very new are some of its members.
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Chronology
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