Transcript Absolute Monarchs in Europe

ABSOLUTE MONARCHS
IN EUROPE
Part 1
QUICK INTRODUCTION…
 What is an ABSOLUTE MONARCH?
 A king or queen who has total, unlimited power, and
seeks to control all aspects of society
 What gives the king their power?
 Divine Right – belief that God gave the king his “right” to be king
(God’s Representative)
 Why did monarchs grow increasingly strong during this
period?
Feudalism
Rise of
Middle
Class
Renaissance
Decline of
the Church
Need for Central
Power
Growth of
Cities
Evolution of
Absolutism
Growth of
Nationalism
ABSOLUTISM DOMINATES EUROPE
 Why did monarchs gain power?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Decline of feudalism
Rise of cities
Merchants supported monarchs
Crises
 Religious and territorial conflicts
 Monarchs tried to regulate this by gaining more power
ECONOMIC SYSTEM:
MERCANTILISM
• Wealth measure by the amount of gold and silver in the
treasury
• Favorable balance of trade
• Export more than you import
• Tariffs (taxes) on foreign goods to protect domestic industries
I. SPAIN’S RISE TO POWER
 In the 1500s Spain gained land, this meant that Spain gained
“power and influence.”
 Spain had an ABSOLUTE RULER, Charles V (grandson of
Ferdinand and Isabella).
 What he controlled:
 Spain
 Spain’s colonies in the New World
 Parts of Italy, Netherlands, and Austria
 Much of Germany
 Charles V was also Holy Roman Emperor.
 In 1556, Charles V split his land, and retired to a monastery
PHILLIP II OF SPAIN (1556-1598)
 His father was Charles V (from the other slide)
 Spain became very rich from their colonies in the New World, this
made Phillip very wealthy and powerful .
 Ruled by divine right
 Philip was a defender of Catholicism, (he hated the Muslims and
Protestants) so he sent his large naval fleet to England to punish all
non-Catholics.
GOLDEN AGE OF ART IN SPAIN
 1550-1650 “Siglo de Oro” (golden century)
 El Greco produces religious pictures and portraits of Spanish
nobles.
 Velazquez paints Spanish royalty
 Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote
 Lope de Vega famous writer
DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA
 Who: English vs. Spanish
 When: 1588
 Where : English Channel
 Details:
 130 Spanish Ships attacked the English navy
 English Navy outmaneuvered Spanish, and
used long range guns on them
 Results:
 Spain was weakened
 English Navy became the strongest navy on the
Planet.
PROBLEMS WITHIN THE
SPANISH EMPIRE
 The massive wealth that Spain acquired, led to long -term financial
problems.
 Inflation – value of money is worth less, because so many people have lots
of it.
 Tax Problems for the Lower Class, led to the near elimination of Middle
Class.
 King had to borrow money from other countries, and 3 times he had to
declare bankruptcy.
II. BIRTH OF THE NETHERLANDS
THE DUTCH REVOLT
 Phillip had to raise an
army to keep his subjects
under control.
 Many Dutch were
Calvinist (Spain was
Catholic).
 The Dutch had a
prosperous Middle Class
 Phillip raised taxes in the
Netherlands and tried to
end Protestantism.
DUTCH REVOLT (CONT’D)
 1566 angry protestant mobs swept through Catholic Churches.
 1568 Phillip had 1500 protestants killed.
 1579 they claimed their independence and became the United
Provinces of the Netherlands.
INDEPENDENT DUTCH PROSPER
 United Provinces of the Netherlands practiced religious
toleration.
 They were a Republic (each province had an elected governor)
 Stable gov’t led to economic growth (large fleet allowed for
lots of trading!)
DUTCH ART
 During 1600s, the Netherlands became what Florence had
been in the 1400s (remember the Renaissance?)
 The best banks and artists
 Rembrandt van Rijn was the best.
 Portraits of wealthy merchants
 Group portraits
 Sharp contrast of light and dark, showed individuality of each person
ABSOLUTISM IN FRANCE
THE REIGN OF LOUIS XIV
The King is Not
a Private
Person. He
belongs to the
Public. The Will
of the People is
included in his
Will.
--Jean Bossuet
III. SETTING THE STAGE FOR LOUIS XIV
A. HENRY IV
 There were BIG problems in France with religious
connotations.
 The Catholics and the Huguenots (French Protestants) were
constantly fighting.
 There was a time of peace when Henry of Navarre (a Huguenot
prince) came to power
 He converted to Catholicism in order to help the country
 Signed the Edict of Nantes – provided religious toleration for the
Huguenots in France.
 He was assassinated by a fanatic.
SETTING THE STAGE FOR LOUIS XIV
B. Louis XIII
 WEAK king
 Richelieu was his main “advisor”
 He pretty much ran the kingdom, not Louis
 He hated the Huguenots
 Strengthened his own power by weakening the nobles influence (made them
take down their fortified castles)
 French army expands during Louis XIII’s reign.
 New Thinking & Writing in France
 Skepticism – NOTHING CAN BE CERTAIN
 Descartes – took these ideas and applied them to science
C. LOUIS XIV
THE MOST POWERFUL RULER OF FRANCE
 “L’etat, c’est moi” = “I am the state” –
meaning that he was France (“Sun
King”)
 Began his rule when he was 5 years old
 Because he was so young when he took
over, he had an advisor – Mazarin.
 Mazarin’s “rule” caused the nobles to
revolt. Louis hated this and made up
his mind that he would become so
powerful that the nobles would NEVER
rise against him.
 Louis excluded them from councils and
taxed them
THE ACTIONS OF LOUIS XIV
 Expanded the economy
 Jean Baptist Colbert – Minister of Finance used
mercantilism to build France’s bank accounts
 Focused on making money in the New World (fur trade)
 Revoked the Edict of Nantes
 Persecuted the Huguenots, so they left, and took jobs and
money with them.
 Pampered himself at Versailles Palace
 Lived in TOTAL luxury, had 500 servants, cooks, etc. who
looked after his every desire.
 Patron of the Arts
 Ballet and the Opera
 Expanded the Bureaucracy
 Appointed Intendents (officials) to collect taxes, recruit
soldiers, and carry out his rule in the provinces.
LOUIS XIV EXTENDS FRANCE’S BORDERS
 Under Louis’ leadership, France became the
most powerful nation in Europe.
 Largest Population
 French Army: Best trained, best weapons, most
soldiers
 With this large army, Louis began to expand the
French borders.
 Early in his campaigns he had success
 Eventually his luck ran out
 Hurt the people, b/c the high cost war was paid with
taxes
D. ONE LAST WAR FOR THE FRENCH
 The French people wanted peace.
 What they got was another war
 The War of Spanish Succession
 France and Spain were on the verge of unification
 Other countries of Europe were scared that this would be too much power
for the Bourbon Kings.
 Result: Spain and France were beaten, and the thrones were not permitted
to be unified.
FRENCH EXPANSION
LOUIS’ PALACE:
THE PALACE AT VERSAILLES
 The Palace at Versailles was 14
miles outside of Paris.
 5,000 acres of forests, gardens,
and lawns
 1,400 Fountains, so many that they
could not even run them all at the
same time.
 The cost to build the palace was
approximately $2.5 billion.
 It took 36,000 people to build the
Palace at Versailles.
People who wanted to speak to the
king could not knock on his door.
Instead, using the left pinkie finger,
they had to gently scratch on the
door, until they were granted
permission to enter. As a result,
many courtiers grew that fingernail
longer than the others
Why do you think that Louis built this palace?
PALACE AT
VERSAILLES
PALACE AT VERSAILLES
CENTRAL
EUROPEAN
MONARCHS CLASH
Part 3
THE THIRTY YEARS WAR
 When: 1618 – 1648
 Where: Bohemia (Czech Republic); HRE
 Who: Protestants ( with Lutheran help) and Catholics
 Details: Conflict over religion, territory, and for power among
European ruling families
 Results:
 Hurt Germany most (lost 4 million people). Germany decentralized.
 Treaty: Peace of Westphalia – Sovereign nation-state & Government
allegiance
 This was the last religious war in Europe
 Europe became a group of independent countries, rather than a Catholic
Empire
THE SEVEN YEARS
WAR
When: 1756 - 1763
Where: Europe, India, North America
Who: England vs. France (and their allies)
Results: England gained the most
 They took all of France’s holding in the New World
 England gained trading domination in India
FORMATION OF EUROPEAN
COUNTRIES
 Central European Countries developed slowly. Western
European countries developed quickly.
Western Europe
 Serfs gained independence
and moved to cities to form
the middle class
 Strong Empires
 Strong Leaders
Central Europe
 Serfs were restricted
from leaving their
farming lifestyles, stuck
in the lower class
 Weak Empires
 Weak Leaders
 Limited urbanization
 Agrarian economy
WHO’S THERE?
Hapsburg
Austria
Hohenzollern
Prussia
Pitiful Poland
Romanov
Russia
HAPSBURG AUSTRIA
 Maintain title of Holy Roman Emperor and Roman
Catholicism
 Post 30YW goal: to establish an absolute empire
 German lands, eastern kingdoms (ex. Bohemia), northern Italy,
Spanish Netherlands
 Pragmatic Sanction
AUSTRIA – MARIA THERESA
RULED 1740 - 1780
Absolute monarch of Austria
Fought Frederick II of Prussia for
control of Hungary and Silesia
Reorganized the government
Enlightened Despot
Eased tax burden on her people
Gave more rights to her subjects
Gave birth to 16 children while in
power
HAPSBURG AUSTRIA…PROBLEMS?
 Powerful nobles
 Diversity
 Increase in Calvinism
 Maria Theresa left with weak treasury and army
HOHENZOLLERN PRUSSIA
• “inside” HRE and Poland, but outside of Holy
Roman Emperor’s control
• MILITARY, MILITARY, MILITARY
 taxes, taxes, taxes
• Junker: German nobles
 kept serfs
 served as tax collectors
 pledged oath of loyalty to king
• Goal: to compete with Austria for “Germany”
HOHENZOLLERN PRUSSIA
Frederick William
(r. 1640-1688)
• Military
Frederick I
(r. 1688-1713)
• King of Prussia
• Military
Frederick William I
(r. 1713-1740)
• Military
POLAND
 Absence of a strong central authority
 Elected monarch usually foreign
 Powerful, yet divided nobility
 Bullied by Russia, Sweden, Turks, and Prussia
 Goal: to stay alive…for now
ABSOLUTE
RULERS OF
RUSSIA
Part 2
RUSSIA ON THE RISE
1200s – 1700s: Russia isolated from western
European developments (Crusades, Renaissance,
Reformation)
Developed based on Eastern Orthodox Church and
the Byzantine Empire
Powerful monarchy – crushed opponents
Nobility, church, towns never rose against power
RUSSIA’S ABSOLUTE RULER:
IVAN IV
 Ivan IV a.k.a “Ivan the Terrible”
 Came to the throne when he was only 3
years old.
 At the age of 16 he crowned himself czar
(Caesar) and took control
 Took many steps against the boyars
(nobles) to reduce their threat to the
throne.
TWO STAGES OF
IVAN’S LIFE
 “Good Stage” – 1547-1560
 Married Anastasia
 Expanded Russia’s lands
 Cleaned-up the Russian legal
system
WIFE (ANASTASIA) DIED / He thought she was poisoned.

“Bad Stage” – 1560-1584
Ivan
put together a “secret police” who
went around hunting those suspected of
being traitors (killed 1000s)
Killed
his own son (oldest)
RUSSIA’S STRUGGLES
 After Ivan killed his oldest son there was only his weak, youngest
son to rule.
 He was too weak to lead ef fectively.
 He died without an heir.
 Then there was a question of who would now become czar…enter
Czar Peter the Great
 This began the rule of the Romanov Dynasty in Russia (lasts 300
years)
CZAR PETER I
Known as Peter the Great
6’8” tall
Took over in 1696
Strengthened the power of the czar (that is added to his ABSOLUTE
POWER)
 Reduced power of the nobility and gained control of the Russian
Orthodox Church.
 When Peter took over Russia was very backwards, in that they still
based their society on Vassals, serfs, etc., Peter was determined to
change this.




PETER’S REFORMS
Period of Westernization and Modernization
 In 1697, Peter took a grand tour of Western Europe.
 Peter wanted to learn about their customs and
manufacturing techniques.
 In order to “westernize” Russia, Peter had to strengthen
his ABSOLUTE POWER. Here’s what he did:
 Borrowed ideas from France. Central bureaucracy with local
governments.
 Controlled the Russian Church; Created Holy Synod (council of
bishops)
 Reduced the power of the Upper Class, and created a Middle Class
 Enlarged the Russian Army (raised taxes to pay them )
PETER’S WESTERNIZATION OF
RUSSIA
 The Westernization Process
 Introduced Potatoes as a part of their diet
 Started a newspaper
 Allowed women to attend social gatherings
 Had the Nobles start wearing Western Fashions
 Education Focus: Navigation, Arts, and Sciences
 St. Petersburg: “Window on the West”, Russia’s warm water port
(named after Peter’s Patron Saint)
Results of Peter’s Actions: Russia became modernized,
and better off as a result of his efforts.
PETER’S STRONG FOREIGN
POLICY
 Goal= To make Russia a European power.
 Created the largest army in Europe.
 Expanded Russian territory south, east, and northwest and
gained ports on the Baltic Sea.
 Peter failed to acquire a warm -water port.
 He fought the Ottoman Turks to gain a warm -water port on the
Black Sea.
THE EXPANSION OF RUSSIA
PETER’S ECONOMIC POLICIES
Hired western experts to teach and help build
factories, roads, ports, ships.
Government had total control over the economy
No taxes for nobles. Tax burden on the poorest
classes.
Agriculture and craft production under strict
government control. Gave incentives to increase
production.
PARLIAMENT TRIUMPHS IN
ENGLAND
1215 King John forced to sign the Magna Carta.
Limits his power
 From 1485 to 1603 the Tudor dynasty worked with
Parliament.
1603 Queen Elizabeth dies leaving no heirs to the
throne.
Cousin James Stuart King of Scotland became King of
England
The result: almost a century of turmoil in England
pitting the Stuarts against the Parliament
MONARCHS DEFY PARLIAMENT
 First, you need to understand that a MONARCHY is a form
of ABSOLUTISM.
 The Monarchs (Kings and Queens) felt that they were above
the law (i.e. – Parliament)
 Parliament – English version of Congress
 The Tudor monarchs (Henry VIII & Elizabeth I) generally
worked well with Parliament.
 The Stuart monarchs, with their absolutist tendencies,
clashed with Parliament.
JAMES I VS. PARLIAMENT
 James I believed in divine right.
 “I will not be content that my power be disputed upon”
 James I clashed with Parliament over financial issues and
foreign policy.
 James I needed money for his wars and extravagant court
life.
 James I eventually dissolved the Parliament and imposed
his own taxes.
 James I also clashed with the Puritans. The Puritans were
seeking to “purify” the Church of England by eliminating
Catholic practices.
CHARLES I VS. PARLIAMENT
 Charles fired Parliament
 Then he needed them back to get him some money –
 He “re-hired” them.
 The only way that Parliament would give him money is if
he signed the Petition of Right.
 No
 No
 No
 No
false imprisonment
taxes w/o Parliament’s consent
housing of soldiers in homes
martial (absolute) law in peace time
 Charles signed it – then he IGNORED it.
 Parliament then withheld money – He fired them again…
 His policies sparked the English Civil War.
ENGLISH CIVIL WAR
(PURITAN REVOLUTION)
 Why? – Because the people and members
of Parliament were angered by Charles
dissolving the Parliament.
 When? – 1642 – 1649
Loyalists
•Supported Charles
•Called “Cavaliers”
Also called “Royalists”
VS
Puritans
•Supported Parliament
•Called Roundheads
•Leader was Oliver Cromwell
RESULTS OF THE ENGLISH CIVIL
WAR
 Oliver Cromwell’s
Roundheads
defeated the
Cavaliers and
imprisoned Charles
 They put him on
trial, sentenced him
to death – chopped
his head off.
CHANGES IN POWER
 Parliament abolished the monarchy,
the House of Lords, and the official
Church of England.
 England became a Commonwealth.
 Oliver Cromwell took over following
the civil war as Lord Protector of
England
 Formed a military state
 Very strict
 Exiled Catholics to Ireland.
 Passed Puritan laws – theaters closed, Sundays
set aside for worship, no lewd dancing, taverns,
or gambling.
 When Crowell died, Restoration
began under Charles II
ENGLAND – CHARLES II
THE RESTORATION 1660-1685
 Charles II - Popular ruler
 Monarchy restored – Hence:
Restoration
 Bowed to the wishes of Parliament
 Restored the Church of England
 Stabilized government
GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
 1685 Charles II died with NO heir
 His brother James II took over (but he was Catholic!)
 He soon offended Parliament and voted some Catholic friends into high
office (against the law)
 Parliament protested, so he fired them
 His wife then had a son and the people were scared that a long line of
Catholics would rule.
 Ran up massive debt.
GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
(CONT’D)
 HOWEVER, James had an older Protestant
daughter (Mary) who married William of Orange.
 Parliament invited William to overthrow James II.
He brought an army, James II was scared and fled
the country
 Thus, the Glorious Revolution began and ended
with no fighting
 William and Mary begin their reign and
developed a
CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY :
There is a monarch in place,
however they are limited in
their power
ENGLISH BILL OF RIGHTS  LIMITED
MONARCHY
 Stated that the King must work regularly with
Parliament. Monarchy could not make or suspend
laws.
 Guaranteed supremacy of Parliament over
monarchy.
 Stated that the King must give the House of
Commons financial support.
 Trial by jury reinstated. Abolished excessive fines
and cruel and unusual punishment.
 Affirmed habeas corpus, meaning that no person
could be held in jail without first being charged
with a crime. Due process of law.
STRENGTHS OF ABSOLUTISM






Creation of a Strong Central Government
Nationalism Increases
Wealth and Growth of Middle Class is supported
Military Spending increases = Stronger Armies
Quicker Decision Making
Usually has support of the Church
WEAKNESSES OF ABSOLUTISM






State of the Union depends on One Individual
Power of the Lower Classes typically dwindles
Countless number of Wars
Higher taxes and lavish spending
National Welfare vs. Individual Welfare
Democracy?
EUROPE IN 1740