Hello everybody! I'm Antonio José and this is my first time to write on this blog.
Today in our Social Sciences lesson, Paqui has started the class checking the notebooks for see if we had done the homework. Then we have corrected the homework, about Philip II the objectives of reign and problems.
-Defense of Catholicism: He refused to give his subjects religious freedom and he forbade Protestism in his kingdoms. This caused huge problems, especially in the Low Countries.
- He reinforced the Inquisition to chase heretics.
- He forbade the students to study abroad.
- He forbade the import of books from Europe
- He established the concept of "blood cleanliness": the people who had Muslim of Jewish ancestors couldn't get posts in the administration.
- Repression of the Moorish of Granada: prohibition of speaking Arabic, wearing their clothes and preserving their customs. This caused a revolt in the Alpujarras in 1567. The punishment was severe: 80,000 Moorish were exiled to other parts of the Peninsula.
-Preservation of his Empire: This led to several wars:
- Wars against France: The French were defeated in the Battle of Saint Quentin, in 1557, but Felipe II continued to interfere in France: he took part in the wars of religion, supporting the Catholics.
- Revolt in the Low Countries: Authoritarianism of the governors and religious policy provoked a revolt against the king in the Northern Provinces (Holland), which declared the independence. The conflict lasted 80 years and it wasn't solved until 1648.
- Confrontation with the Ottoman Turks: the Turks threatened the Mediterranean and a coalition was organized to confront them. The Holy League defeated the Turks in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
- Conflict with England: the English supported the Protestants and their corsairs attacked the fleets that came from the Indies. Felipe II decided to invade England and he prepared a big navy, the Invincible Armada. But the Armada sunk in 1588.
All these wars were very expensive and they ruined the economy. Felipe II was forced to declare bankruptcy several times.
Like every day, we have written some words on the glossary. For example:
blood cleanliness-limpieza de sangre
to vanish-esfumarse, desaparecer
Moorish-Morisco (former Muslim who has converted to Catholicism)
Huguenot-Hugonote (Calvinist in France)
bogeyman-coco, hombre del saco
West Indies Fleet-Flota de Indias
privateer-corsario (legal pirate, who has received carte blanche, permission, to attack ships of another nation)
carte blanche-patente de corso
to the detriment of-en perjuicio de
At the end of the lesson Paqui has given the homework for tomorrow, to read the point 3.ECONOMY IN THE 16th CENTURY.
Here you have a image of the Battle of Lepanto:
And that's all for today!