Religion had been very influential in every day life prior to the Age of the Hapsburgs, which ran from 1492-1634. However, the role of religion was not completely diminished when the Hapsburgs controlled the majority of Europe. In fact, religion mostly shaped Europe in the Age of the Hapsburgs. It was the apparent movement (or attempted movement) away from emphasis on religion that sparked much of the fighting (i.e. France and the Wars of Religion and the Thirty Years War) that took place during this era, and it was wars such as these along with social movements such as the Commercial Revolution that made the Age of the Hapsburgs what it was.

France’s Wars of Religion were fueled by a religious divide between the Catholics and the Huguenots, which broke down into the Guises and the Bourbons. At this time period Catherine deMedici was in power at that time with Henri and was unable to maintain control in the country. Chaos essentially broke out with the beginning of the wars and the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1972) exemplifies much of the fighting that took place throughout the approximate 50-year time span that these wars of religion were going on.

The Age of the Hapsburgs was not all about fighting and religion and in the Commercial Revolution, Europe is seen focusing on the social aspects of the nation and much of this was targeted to move the nation away from involving religion in all aspects of life. With the Commercial Revolution Europe saw the rise of a capitalist economy as well as the introduction of mercantilism. Mercantilism was the idea that the New Monarchs should be behind the economy not the church. During the Commercial Revolution the New monarchs tried to consolidate national power and to unite the country as a whole as opposed to being many small, united religious groups within one nation. The Commercial Revolution also addressed social structure, which resulted in a lack of a middle class due to small numbers of the very wealthy and masses of the very impoverished. The power of the countries and who was in control was also a shift in that the Church (or Lord) was no longer in control of the country, it was the King and/or Queen instead. Religion was still used during the Commercial Revolution however, and the Protestant Work Ethic was used to motivate the poor because it was said that under the Protestant Work Ethic the poor should be at least working and trying to help bring themselves out of poverty. The Commercial Revolution however, still recognizes religion as a contributor to the shaping of Europe during the Age of the Hapsburgs because there was the d

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