Transcript Age of Absolutism in Europe (1600

Age of Absolutism in
Europe
(1600-1800)
Age of Absolutism
► Absolutism
defined
► Absolutism in Spain (17,1)
► Absolutism in France (17,2)
► Absolutism in Britain (17,3)
► Absolutism in Central and Eastern Europe
and the Thirty Years’ War (17,4 + 17,5)
Absolutism/Absolute Monarchy
► Complete
authority in the hands of one
monarch
► The reigns of absolute monarchs were often
characterized by:
 A desire to create religious unity (which often
led to religious intolerance/oppression)
 Expansion and war (associated with a desire to
promote nationalism/national prestige)
 Prosperity, then decline
Divine Right
► Authority
to govern given by God
► Claimed by most absolutists
Charles V
►
Charles V inherited the
thrones of both Spain and
the Hapsburg Empire in
1519.
 NOTE: “Hapsburg Empire”
= Austria and HRE
►
►
Retired to a monastery in
1556
Empire split
 Grandson Philip II inherited
Spain and Netherlands
Philip II of Spain
Philip II (1556-1598)
1.
RELIGION
-- devout Catholic
-- harshly persecuted Protestants with Spanish
Inquisition
2.
EXPANSION/WARS
-- defeated Ottomans in 1571
-- fought Protestant uprising in Netherlands (Dutch
Netherlands ultimately won independence)
-- attempted invasion of England, 1588
3.
PROSPERITY
-- Spanish Golden Age was characterized by
wealth and expansion of education and culture
Golden Age of Spain
Attempted Invasion of England
(1588)
► The
climax of Philip II’s reign came when he
sent the Spanish fleet (armada) to invade
arch-rival England in 1588.
► Why invade England?
 Defense of Catholicism against Protestantism
(England was Europe’s largest Protestant
nation)
 Rivalry for colonies/empire in New World
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
► As
130 ships, 20,000 men, and 2400 cannons bore
down on the English coast, a fierce storm (Queen
Elizabeth called it a “Protestant Wind”) thwarted the
invasion.
► The Spanish Armada was destroyed.
► Britain became the world’s great naval power.
Decline of Spain
► Defeat
of Spanish Armada and rise of
England
► Economic collapse
 Inflation caused by huge influx of gold from
America
 Overspending on wars and expansion
 Destruction of middle class by Philip II (many
non-Catholics)
France in the 1500s
► Torn
by religious wars between Catholics
and Huguenots
King
Henry
IV
St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
August 24, 1572
Henry
IV’s
wedding
day
France had religious difficulties
Henry IV (1589-1610)
► Henry
IV, a Huguenot,
converted to Catholicism in
1593 after his ascendency
triggered religious wars.
► Henry issued the Edict of
Nantes in 1598:
 Declared religious toleration in
France
How did
Henry IV’s
reign end?
► Built
royal bureaucracy
 Royal officials throughout the
country carrying out King’s
policies
Assassination of Henry IV, 1610
Catholic agitator Francois Ravaillac’s assassination of
Henry IV showed ongoing religious strife in France.
Louis XIII (1610-1643)
► Inherited
age 9
throne at
His words were never many, as being so extream
[sic] a stutterer that he would sometimes hold his
tongue out of his mouth a good while before he
could speak so much as one word; he had besides
a double row of teeth, and was observed seldom or
never to spit or blow his nose, or to sweat much,
'tho he were very laborious, and almost
indefatigable in his exercises of hunting and
hawking, to which he was much addicted....
► Never
actually
governed
 Who did?
Cardinal Armand Richelieu
►
►
►
►
Appointed “Chief Minister”
in 1624 and, essentially,
led France until his death
in 1642
Attacked/persecuted
Huguenots
Gave nobles royal govt.
positions to decrease their
power
Led France to victory with
Protestant side in Thirty
Years’ War to make France
the preeminent power on
mainland Europe.
Richelieu referred to the
French people as “mules.”
Louis XIV (1643-1715)
► Ascended
to throne at
age 5
► Left governing to
Cardinal Jules Mazarin
until 1661, then
himself ruled
► Brought divine right
absolutism to France
and was France’s
greatest monarch
The Sun King
► Louis
XIV took the
sun as his symbol.
 After all,
everything
revolved around
him.
► Louis was famously
quoted as saying:
“L’etat c’est moi.”
Louis XIV’s Accomplishments
► Expanded
France’s colonial empire
overseas
► Expanded France’s borders in a series of
wars
► Controlled nobles expertly
► Created a huge bureaucracy -- royal
officials (intendants) carried out his
wishes throughout France
► Economic policies made France the
wealthiest nation in Europe
Economic Policy
►
►
►
Louis’ brilliant finance
minister, Jean-Baptiste
Colbert, helped France to
prosper.
Colbert pursued Mercantilist
policies, using France’s
growing colonial empire to
produce wealth.
Colbert also used intendants
to dramatically increase the
efficiency of tax collection.
Palace at Versailles
Versailles
►
►
►
10,000+ rooms
Housed countless nobles,
who were kept occupied
with elaborate
entertainment
Nobles competed for
meaningless jobs and
access to the king.
Louis XIV’s Failures/Mistakes
► Bankrupted
France with
costly wars and Versailles
► Persecution of Huguenots
 Louis revoked Edict of Nantes
in 1685
 Over 100,000 Huguenots fled
France
 The Huguenots were a key
part of the middle/business
class, so their departure hurt
the French economy badly.
War of the Spanish Succession
► Louis
attempted to join the thrones of Spain
and France when his grandson, Philip V,
inherited the Spanish throne in 1700.
► England and France’s other European rivals
would not allow it and declared war.
► The war became the longest and costliest of
Louis’ conflicts.
► France lost significant territory in the Treaty
of Utrecht (1713).
Absolutism in England
► James
I and the Stuarts
► Rise and Fall of Charles I
► English Civil War
► Cromwell and the Puritan Commonwealth
► Stuart Restoration
► Glorious Revolution
End of the Tudor Dynasty
► Queen
Elizabeth I chose not to marry and died
without an heir in 1603.
Rise of the Stuart Dynasty: James I
► Elizabeth’s
nearest
relative was King James
of Scotland, who, upon
her death assumed the
throne of England and
began the Stuart
Dynasty.
► King James was
staunchly Protestant and
believed in divine right.
Charles I (1625-1649)
► Son
of James I
► Tried to bring the
absolutism of other
European powers to
England
► How
did it go?
Troubles with Parliament
► The
English Parliament
was determined to
share power with the
King, rather than be
dominated by him.
► They were used to
being consulted by the
Tudors.
► In 1628, Parliament
forced King Charles to
sign the Petition of
Right.
The Petition of Right prohibited
the king from raising taxes
without Parliament’s consent
and from imprisoning people
without just cause.
The “Dissenters”
► One
reason that Charles developed a hostile
relationship with Parliament was that it was
largely controlled by religious “dissenters” –
Puritans who disagreed with the Church of
England.
► Both James and Charles persecuted
Puritans.
The Book of Common Prayer :
Enforcing Religious Unity
► Archbishop
William Laud wrote a new prayer book
with religious guidelines by which all Englishmen
were required to abide.
► The Puritans hated it, believing that the Church of
England was becoming excessively “Catholic.”
Charles’ Response
► Dissolved
Parliament in 1629
► In 1640, however, Charles was again forces to call
Parliament to approve a new tax.
► Parliament now refused to disband.
 The “Long Parliament”
► The
situation deteriorated . . .
English Civil War (1642-1649)
► After
Parliament refused to disband, Charles
sent troops to arrest its leaders.
► They escaped and rallied an army to fight
the King.
► Supporters of King Charles were known as
Cavaliers.
► Supporters of Parliament were known as
Roundheads.
Cavaliers v. Roundheads
And When Did You Last See Your Father?
William F. Yeames’ 1878 painting portrays the Roundhead takeover of a
Royalist/Cavalier house during the English Civil War.
Oliver Cromwell and the New Model
Army
► Roundhead
leader
Oliver Cromwell’s
New Model Army
took on the
Cavaliers (led by
Charles I.
► The New Model
Army’s officers were
promoted base on
merit, NOT their
noble status.
► Under
Cromwell’s
English Civilskillful
War:
leadership, the
Results
New Model Army
(Roundheads) won
spectacular victories
over Charles’ Cavaliers
at battles like Naseby
and Marston Moor
► By 1647, King Charles
had been captured.
Execution of Charles I
►
►
►
After a “trial” before Parliament, King Charles I was
beheaded in Jan. 1649.
He was the first European monarch to be tried and
executed by his own people.
What message did the execution of Charles I send?
The Commonwealth:
Government by Parliament
► After
Charles’ execution, Parliament
abolished the monarchy and declared
England a republic.
► Since Puritans dominated Parliament, a
series of laws stemming from Calvinist
beliefs were enacted.
 Education for all
 Theater and the celebration of Christmas were
banned
 dancing was discouraged
Cromwell Dissolves Parliament
1653
Oliver Cromwell, “Lord Protector”
► By
1653, England’s “republic” had
degenerated into something close to a
Puritan dictatorship under Cromwell.
► All Protestants were officially tolerated,
but Catholicism was banned.
► Irish Catholics were harshly persecuted
and, sometimes, massacred.
► The English grew weary of Cromwell
and Puritan rule.
Stuart Restoration
► After
Cromwell’s death, King
Charles II was welcomed
back to England to restore
the Stuart dynasty.
► Charles II was religiously
tolerant and accepted the
Petition of Right.
► BUT he had a “terrible”
.
.
.
He
was
a
secret, which he confessed
closet Catholic!
to on his death bed . . .
How could things get worse after Charles II’s
death?
► Charles’
successor, James II, was openly
Catholic!
► Things got worse still when . . .
►.
. . James II had a son!
Glorious Revolution
► Parliament
invited James
II’s Protestant daughter
Mary and her husband
William of Orange to rule
England.
► James II fled in the
bloodless (relatively)
Glorious Revolution
Why was it so “glorious”?
English “Bill of Rights”
► William
and Mary and Parliament agreed on
a series of reform laws.
► These laws were intended to prevent
England from ever becoming absolutist by
protecting the rights of Parliament and the
people.
Act of Settlement (1701)
► Ensured
England
would remain
forever Protestant
by forbidding
Catholics from
inheriting the
throne
Absolutism in Austria and Prussia
► Thirty
Years’ War
► Maria Theresa
► The Hohenzollerns and Frederick the Great
► Began
as a religious
conflict between
Protestants and the
Catholic Hapsburg/Holy
Roman Empire.
► Brutal conflict led to
countless deaths
► Peace of Westphalia
splintered Hapsburg
Empire
Thirty Years’ War
 Netherlands and Switzerland
gained independence
 The German states were left
largely independent of
Hapsburg rule.
It began with a
defenestration!
Europe
in 1648
Maria Theresa and the Austrian
Empire
► Named
by her father, Charles
VI, to succeed her
► Prussia quickly invaded to
test her ability to lead.
► Rallied nobles to unify
Austrian Empire in War of the
Austrian Succession
► Enlightened Absolutist
 Greatly improved quality of life
for her people
 Generally observed rule of law
Rise of Prussia
► Northern
German Protestants
gradually formed their own nation
under the Hohenzollern Dynasty
► Frederick William took control of
nobles and began to establish
absolute rule.
► He also built Europe’s most
impressive army through extreme
discipline and Prussia became known
for its militarism.
Frederick the Great
► As
a child, preferred writing
poetry and playing the flute.
► His militaristic father turned him
into a military man, however,
and he became one of Europe’s
greatest military leaders.
► Known as an “enlightened
absolutist” because he showed
genuine concern for the welfare
of his people.
War of the Austrian Succession
► Frederick
the
Great’s Prussia
invaded Austria
after Maria
Theresa was
named Emperor.
► Austria fought
valiantly, but,
ultimately, lost
significant
territory (Silesia)
to Prussia.
Absolutism in Russia
► Peter
the Great
► Catherine the Great
Peter the
Great
► Westernization
 Studied the ways of Western
Europe on an undercover tour
 Built new western-style capital
city of St. Petersburg
 Mandated western attire and
culture among nobles
► Extreme
absolutist/autocrat (in
the Russian tradition)
 Executed thousands of his people
► Greatly
expanded Russian
territory, but . . .
 . . . failed to get a warm-water
port
St. Petersburg: Peter’s “Western”
Capital
Catherine the Great
► Took
throne after “accidental
death” of her husband, Peter
III (in which she was
probably complicit)
► Further expanded Russia’s
borders
 Won a warm-water port on the
Black Sea in war with Ottoman
Empire
► Eventually,
ruled as an
enlightened absolutist