Spanish Empire Dialogue By Max Johnson Character 1: Peasant from the Middle Ages; Character 2: A middle class civilian

of the Spanish Empire Character 1: Spare some change for an old and sickened beggar? Character 2: I can do nothing of the sort. In this economy that has bankrupt three times, the only thing I can seem to pass along is a friendly smile. Character 1: Preposterous! What foolishness do you speak of; the economy has never been bankrupt!! I suppose you and your sickened head might think that the church has also lost much of its power Character 2: well thats exactly what has happened!! Now that King Philip II has inherited Spain, the church has lost control and reason has taken faiths place! Character 1: Thats scurrility! Charles V is the king of Spain. Although you cant really call Spain a country with its government so decentralized! Character 2: My dear friend you must get your facts straight. Spains government has become much more centralized than it ever was before! Alas, I believe you may be from the Age of Faith Today it is the Age of Reason! Fate must have pushed us together in order to exchange an informational dialogue about the changes that occurred during the transition from the Age of Faith to the Age of Reason! Character 1: Thats astonishingso what is the 16th century like?

Character 2: Well for me its just fine, but the Dutch in the Netherlands are being treated horribly by King Phillip! He has raised taxes on the Dutch Protestants, causing a Dutch revolt!! I do believe Phillips traditionalist ways will be the end to Spain The Dutch have banded together with the Northern Provinces of the Netherlands and they have formed the United Provinces of the Netherlands, splitting off from Spain entirely! Character 1: Thats terrible! Well at least religion isnt causing any problems. Character 2: Quite the opposite my good sir! King Phillip II has a deep intolerance towards anyone that isnt Catholic; especially Protestants and Muslims. Character 1: What is this Protestant religion you speak of? Character 2: Why, its a fast growing religion in Spain; a reaction against the Roman Catholics many absurd doctrines and practices. I must say it makes much more since to me than Catholicism. Character 1: And what has King Phillip done to stop this? Character 2: He assembled a massive naval fleet- what the civilians are calling the Spanish Armada- and attacked Protestant England! Luckily, England defeated this fleet. Character 1: well how is Spains economy doing? Character 2: Not too goodinflation caused by a growing population and the drop in value of the bullion has sent Spains economy into bankruptcy three times! Surprisingly, the Dutch have risen to be the bankers of Europe, due to their growing Dutch trade. The Dutch have been storing grain and timber in surplus, and then have been selling it to the rest of Europe when its supplies were low and demand high!

Character 1: And I suppose the Dutch are just reveling in their newfound power well I for one am glad that I dont live under control of that lunatic of yours, King Phillip II!! Character 2: Yes, and I havent even gotten to the worst part yet! Character 1: Oh, do tell! Character 2: King Phillip II has become what he is calling an Absolute Monarch! Character 1: Well what in the heavens above is that?! Character 2: He believes that it is his right to have power over everything within his states boundaries. The worst part is that whenever people question him, he says he is ruling with Divine Right, which shuts up all naysayers right then and there. Character 1: Do you mind elaborating? Character 2: Certainly. King Phillip claims that it is his divine right to rule, that God created the monarchy, and that he was chosen to act as Gods embodied representative on Earth. Have fun ridiculing the likes of that! Character 1: Blasphemy! There is no way that that tyrant was chosen by God! Character 2: And thats precisely how many of my fellow civilians feel. I would be fine with being ruled by one person, but the fact King Phillip only has one viewpoint causes many problems and bad choices to occur. Character 1: Well thats one obvious negative effect I can see. Are there any positive effects of Europes rise to power?

Character 2: As a matter of fact there are! With the centralization of government, crime has dropped, there is much more control, and everything is much more regulated. Although, I would trade all of these to go back to the way it used to be during the Age of Faith; everything was much easier back then. Character 1: Yes, it sure sounds that waywell I must be going. Character 2: And where could a beggar like you possibly have to go? Character 1: Well I for one do NOT want to be ruled by that tyrannous fool, so Im going to do something about it before it starts. Good day sir!