Transcript Chapter 21 Absolute Monarchs in Europe 1500-1800

Introduction to Absolutism
Spain’s Powerful Empire

Philip II comes to power in
Spain
 Inherits Spain, the Spanish
Netherlands, and the American
colonies
 Seized the Portuguese Kingdom
in 1580
○ Included lands in Africa and India
 Became very wealthy

Philip was also a defender of
Catholicism
 Battled the Ottoman Empire
(Muslims)
 1588 launched the Spanish
Armada against Protestantism
Problems Weaken the Spanish Empire

Severe inflation due to:
 Population growth – as
more people demanded
food, the merchants
raised the prices
 Value of silver dropped
because there was so
much in circulation


Spanish nobles did not
pay taxes and lower
class never developed
into middle class
Spanish goods were
expensive so Spanish
people bought from
France and England
Absolutism in Europe

Many European rulers
wanted to be absolute
monarchs, kings or
queens who held all of
the power within their
states’ boundaries
 Goal was to control every
aspect of society

Absolute monarchs
believed in divine right,
the idea that God
created the monarchy
and that the monarch
acted as God’s
representative on Earth
Europe’s Monarchs Gain Power

Centralized authority
became possible
because…
 Decline of feudalism,
rise of cities, and
growth of national
kingdoms helped to
centralize power
 The middle class
supported the
monarchs
 Church authority
broke down
French Religious Wars

1562-1598 Huguenots (French Protestants)
and Catholics fought 8 religious wars
 1572 Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
 Henry of Navarre, or Henry IV, took the French
throne in 1589
 Huguenot –
many Catholics
opposed Henry
 Converted to
Catholicism
The Edict of Nantes

Henry IV composed a declaration of religious
tolerance, The Edict of Nantes
 Huguenots could live in peace in France and set up
their own houses of worship

Henry was devoted to rebuilding France and
restoring the strength of the French monarchy.
Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu

Henry’s son, Louis
XIII, was a weak
ruler
 Appointed a strong
minister

Cardinal Richelieu,
in effect, became
the ruler of France
 Moved against the
Huguenots
 Wanted to weaken
the power of the
nobles
○ Increased power of
the middle class
European Monarchs Clash

Effects of the Peace of Augsburg
(said each German ruler would choose the religion of his state)
 Catholics and Lutherans were suspicious of each other
 Lutherans united in the Protestant union
 Catholic princes formed the Catholic League
Louis XIV Comes to Power

Louis XIV was the
most powerful ruler in
French history
 Began his reign at age 4
 Cardinal Mazarin was
Richelieu’s successor
○ Increased taxes
○ Strengthened central
government
Louis XIV Comes to Power

At age 22 Louis XIV took
control of the government
 Weakened power of the
nobles
 Increased the power of
government agents called
intendants, who collect
taxes and administered
justice
 Made sure local officials
communicated with him
regularly
Louis XIV Comes to Power

Louis devoted himself to
helping France attain
economic, political and cultural
stability
 Jean Baptiste Colbert believed
in mercantilism and tried to make
France self-sufficient
 Gave governments funds and tax
benefits to French companies
○ Placed high tariffs on goods from
other countries
○ Encouraged people to migrate to
French colony in Canada
The Sun King’s Grand Style


Louis spent a fortune on luxury
Built the Palace at Versailles
 11 miles southwest of Paris
 Increased royal authority by having nobles live at the
palace
The Palace at
Versailles
Louis XIV Fights Disastrous Wars



Under Louis, France was the most powerful country in
Europe
Invaded Spanish Netherlands in order to expand
France’s boundaries
Planned to connect Spain and France by making his
grandson King of Spain
 1701 – several
European countries
allied to prevent the
union of Spain and
France
 Started the War of the
Spanish Succession
which prevented Spain
and France from uniting
The Thirty Years’ War

The Thirty Years’ War
 Conflict over religion,
territory and power
among European
ruling families

Effects of the Thirty
Years’ War
 Damage to Germany
○ 4 million people
died/fled
○ Economy crumbled
○ Trade and agriculture
suffered
The Thirty Years’ War

Peace of Westphalia
(1648) ended the war
 Weakened the ruling




Hapsburg family in
Spain and Austria
France gained German
territory
German princes
became independent of
the Holy Roman
Emperor
Ended religious wars in
Europe
New method of peace
negotiations

Most important result
of the Thirty Years’
War
 Europe became a group
of independent states
 Beginning of modern
state system
Central Europe Differs from
Western Europe

Major central European powers:
 Poland, Holy Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire

Towns developed much earlier in Western
Europe
 Central Europe still had
rich landowners and
poor serfs
Nobles prevented
strong kings from
rising up in central
Europe
 Old, weak, defeated
empires in central
Europe

Austrian Hapsburgs

Hapsburg family
became absolute
monarchs in Austria
○ Centralized
government and
created a standing
army
○ Captured Hungary from
the Ottomans

Important Hapsburg
ruler was Maria
Theresa
Prussia
Prussia was a new state to the north of Austria
 Prussian ruling family was the Hohenzollerns

 Frederick William
(aka the Great Elector)
established a strong
army and an absolute
monarchy
 Prussia became a
rigidly controlled,
military society

Frederick William’s
son, Frederick the
Great became king
and adopted his
father’s military
policies
War of Austrian Succession

Frederick the Great wanted control of the
Austrian land of Silesia which bordered Prussia
 Believed Maria Theresa would not be forceful enough
to defend her land
 Sent an army to Silesia,
beginning the War of
Austrian Succession



Great Britain allied with
Austria
France allied with
Prussia
Maria Theresa held off
the Prussian attack but
lost Silesia at the
Treaty of Aix-laChapelle in 1748
The Seven Years’ War




Maria Theresa and Austria no longer feared France
and allied with them
Frederick and Prussia allied with Great Britain
Russia allied with Austria and France
Frederick attacked Saxony, an Austrian ally
 Major European war resulted
 Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)

Effects of the Seven
Year’s War
• Prussian/Great
Britain victory
• France lost
colonies in North
America
• Great Britain
gained sole
economic
domination of India
Russian Czars Increase Power

Ivan III strengthened
Russia:
 Conquered territory
 Began centralized
Russian government
The First Czar

Ivan IV, called Ivan the
Terrible took the Russian
throne in 1533
 Boyars, Russia’s
landowning nobles fought to
control Ivan
 Ivan IV crowned himself
czar, a title meaning
“caesar”

In 1560 Ivan’s wife died
 He blamed the boyars and
accused them of poisoning
her

Ivan used secret police to
execute many boyars
 Thousands were killed
Rise of the Romanovs

After Ivan there was a
period of turmoil in
Russia called the Time
of Troubles
 The Romanov family was
chosen to save Russia
(ruled from 1613-1917)

Romanovs restored
order to Russia
 Peter the Great was one
of Russia’s greatest
reformers
Russia and Western Europe

Russian society was still based on
relationships between rich landowners and
serfs

Boyars know little of
western Europe
 Renaissance did not
spread to Russia
 Geographic barriers
isolated Russia
 Religion separated
Russia and western
Europe
○ Russia was Eastern
Orthodox Christian and
view Catholic and
Protestants as heretics
Peter Visits the West

In 1697 Peter embarked on the “Grand Embassy”, a
long visit to Western Europe
 Wanted to learn about European customs and industrial
techniques
 Wanted Russia to compete
with Europe on both military
and commercial terms


Westernization – using
western Europe as a model
for change in Russia
Peter increased his power as
absolute ruler in order to
force change upon his state
 Brought the Russian Orthodox
church under state control
 Reduced the power of the
landowners
Westernizing Russia

Peter hired European officers to modernize his army
 Imposed heavy taxes to pay for the army





Introduced potatoes, which became a staple of the
Russian diet
Started Russia’s
first newspaper
Increased
women’s rights
Ordered nobles to
give up traditional
clothes for western
fashions
Stressed
education
Westernizing Russia

Peter wanted a
seaport that would
make it easier to
travel to the West
 Captured land from
Sweden
 Created capital city
of St. Petersburg
What happened to the Romanovs?
Mystery of the Romanovs
 Anastasia

Using what you know about Russia and the Romanov family,
write a historical narrative on what YOU think happened to
the Romanov family and Anastasia.
BE CREATIVE!
Typed essay. One page in length.
Parliament Limits the English Monarchy
Queen Elizabeth I
died and James
Stuart (King of
Scotland) became
King of England in
1603
 James struggled for
power with Parliament

 James believed he had
absolute authority
 Parliament had financial
power and refused to
give James money
Parliament Limits the English Monarchy


James’ son, Charles I also
struggled with Parliament over
money
Parliament made Charles sign
the Petition of Rights
 He would not imprison subjects
without due cause.
 He would not levy taxes without
Parliament’s consent.
 He would not house soldiers in
private homes.
 He would not impose martial law
in peacetime.

This petition set forth the idea
that the law was higher than
the king and contradicted
absolute monarchy
English Civil War

Charles tried to force both England and
Scotland to follow the same religion
 The Scots rebelled and threatened to invade
England
 Charles had to go
through parliament
to fund the war

Parliament
passed two laws
limiting royal
power
 Charles tried to
arrest the leaders
of Parliament but
gained many
enemies
English Civil War

From 1642-1649 supporters and
opponents of King Charles fought the
English Civil War
 People who remained loyal to Charles
were called Royalists or Cavaliers
 Supporters of Parliament were called
Roundheads or Puritans

Oliver Cromwell became general of
the Puritan army
 Cromwell’s New Model army defeated the
Cavaliers
 Publically executed Charles I
○ First time in history where a monarch was
executed in public
 Also attacked Ireland
○ Fighting, plague, and famine killed over
600,000 Irish

Cromwell ruled England and enacted
many strict Puritan rules until his death
Restoration

After Cromwell’s death, the
oldest son of Charles claimed
the throne, Charles II
 Because he restored the English
monarchy, the period of his rule is
called the Restoration
 Charles II also restored all things
banned by the Puritans: theater,
sports, and dancing

Under Charles II Parliament
passed habeas corpus which
gave every prisoner the right to
obtain a document that put the
prisoner before a judge
 The Habeas Corpus Act prevented
a monarch from putting someone in
jail simply for opposing the ruler
The Glorious Revolution

Charles II died and James II became king
 James flaunted his Catholicism
 English Protestants feared a line of Catholic kings

Parliament invited James’ eldest daughter, Mary, who
was Protestant, and her husband William of Orange to
overthrow James
 William invaded and James fled to France
 This bloodless overthrow of King James II is called The
Glorious Revolution
Political Changes

William and Mary were
crowned King and Queen of
England
 They recognized Parliament as
their partner in governing


England became a
constitutional monarchy,
where laws limited the ruler’s
power
Parliament drafted a Bill of
Rights in 1689 that listed things
a ruler could not do:
 No suspending of Parliament’s
laws
 No levying taxes without a specific
grant from Parliament
 No interfering with freedom of
speech in Parliament
 No penalty for a citizen who
petitions the king about grievances
Political Changes

After 1688 no British
monarch could rule
without consent of
Parliament
 The cabinet, a group of
government ministers,
acted in the rulers name
but represented
Parliament
 The cabinet became the
center of power and policy
making
 Head of the cabinet is the
Prime Minister