West European Studies

The strength of the Papacy grew substantially during the Middle Ages with the beginning of the 11th century. This was the time when the First Crusade took place and the Pope was able to exercise and increase his authority, not over the clergy and laity, but also on the secular rulers and kings and Europe. Popes issued charters of founding universities, convened church councils, appointed papal judges delegate and commissioned preachers. The articulation of canon law, papal authority directly affected the lives of all Christians, as well as Jews and Muslims living under their authority. (History of Europe) During this time the popes consequently gained authority over a vast region of Italy surrounding Rome. The Pople were the rulers of the regions donated by Charlemagne and then Louis the Pious and his son Lothar I confirmed and expanded early Carolingian grants to the papacy. Despites several setbacks and revolts popes continued to rule these regions until 1859. (Papal States)

Under the Umbrella of the Holy Roman Empire the Church had a vast authority of much of the Western Europe. The Western Schism in the late 14th and early 15th century started to undermine the papal authority. During the reformation period many reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer and others campaigned against the papal authority and challenged it. The result of this campaign was that most of the Western European nations like Germany and England become Protestant and the popes lost their authority their. Soon the Scandinavia, The Netherlands, Hungary and Scotland also rejected papal authority. The French Revolution resulted in the loss of papal authority in France, though it was still a largely Catholic nation. In 1797 Napoleon invaded Italy, sacked Rome and took the Pope Pius back as a prisoner. Though he later resumed his authority after the fall of Napoleon, it was short-lived and in 1859 all the Papal States were liquidated. (The Papacy in History and Prophecy  Papal States)

When the reformation movement undermined or completely annihilated the power of papacy in the Western Europe the European nations started the great age of discovery and exploration. During this era several technological improvements also helped the Europeans to make more accurate and sophisticated navigation techniques. They were able to correct the readings of the compass, use the astrolabes more precisely for latitude determination and finally were also able to employ the dead reckoning for longitude determination.

In the 15th and 16th centuries the exploration of the world oceans started and continued with great rigor. Portugal made most of its maritime empire in the east with the exception of Brazil in the new world. This empire soon ended in 1580 when the king of Spain assumed Portuguese throne. The Spanish American Empire was vast and included much of the central America, South America with the exception of Brazil and Mexico and much of the North America including southern, southwestern and California-Pacific coastal regions of present day United States. (Western Colonization)

France has its major colonies in Nova Scotia and Quebec, Newfoundland to the Great lakes and gradually expanded to the parts of trans-Appalachian west. (New France) The strong French presence resulted in war between France and Britain, which was fought both in the colonies and the mother countries. In 1713 the French lost large part of New France but held Quebec and much of surrounding region. During the Seven Years war in Europe in 1756 the war between the British and French again started. During the first two years of the conflict the French and their allies were successful. But then the British sea power reinforced the British and American strength and in 1759 Quebec was captured and in 1760 Montreal surrendered to the British with all of the New France. This was the end of the second largest colony in the North America after the British. (New France)