31.3 Europe: a.d. 1601 to 1700  (Page 3/30)

One of Italy's great men, Galileo Galilei, astronomer, experimental physicist and mathematician was throttled by the Inquisition, still being promoted by the Church. The outstanding anatomist of the age was Marcello Malpighi, born at Bologna and teacher of medicine there for 25 years. His descriptions of capillaries, Malpighian tufts and corpuscles are only a few of his multitude of important anatomical discoveries. (Ref. 222 , 53 , 125 , 213 )

The island of Sicily remained rooted to the past, pretty well untouched by the machinations of politics and commercialization seen in the market society of most of Europe. (Ref. 292 ) (Continue on page 947)

Central europe

Most of central Europe was still a part of the Holy Roman Empire, which, however, consisted of several more or less separate parts. First there was a loosely bound union of almost completely independent German states, seven in number, each ruled by an "Elector" and nominally subject to the Habsburg emperor, who was routinely elected by those Electors. The Protestants of the north gave no support militarily, unless the emperor paid for it. Secondly, there was the true Habsburg Empire, which consisted of the Archduchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Bohemia-Moravia, Silesia, the Kingdom of Hungary and other Balkan territories conquered from the Turks. The Habsburgs also had claims to the throne of Spain with all its possessions in Europe. (Ref. 131 ) But from 1618 to 1648 the terrible Thirty Years War raged, disrupting the entire continent. This was basically a war of mercenary soldiers, and in lieu of pay they lived on the country, with resulting robbery, pillage and outrage. Neither side won, but hostilities finally stopped with the Treaty of Westphalia. The trouble started in the previous century when Ferdinand took over the German and Austrian half of Charles V's Habsburg Empire. The northern German barons protested against that Catholic ruler, and the conflagration started as a civil conflict of Protestant, northern Germany against Catholic, southern areas. It very soon became complicated, however, by the intervention of various other domestic and foreign elements. Some feel that foreign interference and pressures on the German princes actually precipitated the conflict. It had some similarities to the civil war in England and the War of the Fronde in France, in that in each case the crown was Catholic and the recalcitrant nobles tended to be Protestants. It is to be re-emphasized that the Thirty Years War was brutal and destructive, involving a semi-guerrilla force, which plundered, raped and killed wantonly. It was a series of bloody campaigns in which civilians often suffered more than soldiers. The following material, giving more of the actual details of this war, has been taken chiefly from Roden (Ref. 184 ), unless otherwise indicated. (Continue on page 948)

The thirty years war

Underlying causes

To some this was primarily a religious war in defense of one of the three faiths involved. The Calvinists fought for recognition as co-equals with Lutheranism and Catholicism. For most rulers it was a political struggle; for the Habsburgs it was a struggle to retain some measure of control over the various political-units in Germany and to keep some semblance of empire. It was also a civil war among jealous territorial princes and a dynastic struggle among ruling families such as the Wittelbachs in Bavaria. It was a predatory war fought by mercenary generals for fame, power and booty. Finally, it was an international war for territorial and economic gains, including efforts of Dutch, - Spaniards, Swedes, Bohemians and French.