Religion and the Rise of Capitalism · Chapter
II: The Economic Revolution explained
This chapter examines the profound economic transformation of Europe in the sixteenth century, which provided the backdrop for the religious revolution.
What happens
This chapter examines the profound economic transformation of Europe in the sixteenth century, which provided the backdrop for the religious revolution. It describes the shift from a fragmented, localized medieval economy to a dynamic, expanding capitalist system driven by new discoveries, financial innovation, and the rise of powerful banking houses like the Fuggers. The chapter highlights how economic pressures, including state financial crises, the rise of a money-market, and the exploitation of new trade routes and resources, reshaped society and politics, setting the stage for conflicts between traditional moral frameworks and emerging economic realities.
Themes in this chapter
Impact of Economic Revolutions
The chapter details the profound economic transformation of the sixteenth century, including the rise of capitalism, new trade routes, financial concentration, and the collapse of medieval rural society, all of which reshaped European civilization.
Conflict Between Ethics and Economics
The text contrasts the traditional moral framework of the Middle Ages with the amoral pursuit of profit by financiers and states, exemplified by the Fuggers' dealings and the comparison to Machiavelli's Prince.
The Role of the Church in Society
The Church is depicted as a source of wealth to be plundered by states (e.g., Henry VIII) and as entangled with financial interests, as when the Fuggers financed Tetzel's indulgence campaign.
Characters to notice
- The Fuggers
The Fugger banking family is central to the chapter's analysis of financial power, illustrating how they financed monarchs and the Church, controlled mines and trade, and wielded immense influence over European politics.
- King Henry VIII
Mentioned as a ruler who dissipated the treasure accumulated by Henry VII and plundered the Church, exemplifying the desperate financial straits of monarchies in this era.
- Emperor Charles V
Cited as a borrower from the Fuggers, who used their loans to buy the imperial crown and later to fund military campaigns against Protestants, showing the entanglement of finance and politics.
- Niccolò Machiavelli
Referenced in the context of the morality of the money-power, with the financier's ethics compared to those typified in Machiavelli's Prince.
- Christopher Columbus
Mentioned as a figure whose voyages were part of the climax of economic effort, not merely a happy accident or scientific curiosity.
- Johann Tetzel
Noted as the agent whose indulgence campaign was partly financed by the Fuggers, who took half the proceeds, linking finance directly to religious controversy.
- John Wyclif
Used as a temporal marker: the economic organization of England under Henry VII differed little from that of Wyclif's age, emphasizing the rapid change by Henry VIII's death.
- King Henry VII
Mentioned as a thrifty monarch whose accumulated treasure was later dissipated by his son, illustrating the fiscal challenges of the period.
Key passages
“The religious revolution of the age came on a world heaving with the vastest economic crisis that Europe had experienced since the fall of Rome.”
The religious upheaval occurred during the most severe economic turmoil Europe had faced since the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Sets the stage by linking religious change directly to economic crisis.
“Behind Prince and Pope alike, financing impartially Henry VIII , Edward VI and Elizabeth, Francis, Charles and Philip, stood in the last resort a little German banker, with branches in every capital in Europe, who played in the world of finance the part of the condottieri in war, and represented in the economic sphere the morality typified in that of politics by Machiavelli's Prince.”
Ultimately, a small German banking family, with offices across Europe, financed both Protestant and Catholic rulers, acting as mercenaries in finance and embodying the same amoral pragmatism as Machiavelli's political prince.
Highlights the power and moral ambiguity of the Fuggers and similar financiers.
“The Discoveries were neither a happy accident nor the fruit of the disinterested curiosity of science. They were the climax of almost a century of patient economic effort. They were as practical in their motive as the steam-engine.”
The great voyages of discovery were not accidental or purely scientific; they were the result of a century of deliberate economic striving, driven by practical needs like those that later inspired the steam engine.
Emphasizes the economic motivation behind exploration.
