Transcript Chapter 7, Section 1 The Age of Absolutism

Chapter 7, Section 1
Europe in Crisis: The Wars of Religion
* By 1560, Calvinism & Catholicism had become militant religions, and their struggles
were the main cause of the 16th century religious wars.
* The French Wars of Religion (1562-1598) devastated France as French Calvinists
called Huguenots (led by Henry of Navarre) fought against the Catholic Valois
monarchy & the ultra-Catholic Guise family.
* In 1589, Henry of Navarre converted to Catholicism & succeeded to the throne as
Henry IV.
* In 1598, Henry issued the Edict of Nantes to protect the Huguenot minority in
France.
* King Philip II, ruler of Spain from 1556 to 1598, was the greatest supporter of militant
Catholicism. He reigned during a period of cultural & political greatness in Spain.
* Philip II strengthened his control over his lands (Spain, the Netherlands, & parts of
Italy and the Americas) by insisting on strict adherence to Catholicism & support for
the monarchy.
* Philip II became a champion of Catholicism, battling the Turks in the Mediterranean &
the Calvinists in the Netherlands. Philip’s forces defeated the Turks, but were resisted
by the Dutch prince William the Silent.
* At the end of Philip’s reign, Spain seemed to be a great power, but it was not. Spain was
bankrupt, the economy was a mess, the armed forces were out-of-date, and the
government was inefficient.
* In 1558, Elizabeth Tudor ascended to the throne of England.
* Elizabeth tried to resolve religious conflicts by repealing laws favoring Catholics &
having the Church of England practice a moderate Protestantism.
* Elizabeth was a moderate in foreign affairs as well, using England to help maintain the
balance of power in Europe, especially between the 2 major powers of France & Spain.
* Elizabeth’s support of Dutch Protestants & sanctioned attacks against Spanish ships
sailing from the Americas led to Spain’s attempted invasion of England in 1588 by the
Spanish Armada.
* The Spanish Armada was battered & destroyed by the smaller, faster, more heavily
armed English fleet. The Spanish military never fully recovered from the defeat, and
Britain was on its way to becoming a major power.
Chapter 7, Section 2
Social Crises, War, & Revolution
* From 1560 to 1650, Europe experienced economic and social crises.
* A major economic problem throughout Europe was inflation, and by 1600 an economic
slowdown had hit Europe.
* By 1620, the population of Europe began to decline due to warfare, plague, and famine.
* During the early 1600s, the zeal behind the Inquisition focused on witchcraft in many
parts of Europe.
* By 1650, the witchcraft hysteria lessened as attitudes of governments & individuals
changed regarding superstition.
* Religious disputes continued in Germany after the Peace of
Augsburg in 1555 because the peace settlement didn’t recognize
Calvinism.
* Religion, politics, & terr. all played a role in the Thirty Years’
War. The war began in the Holy Roman Empire in 1618 as a
fight between the Hapsburg Holy Roman emperors & Protestant
nobles in Bohemia.
* Every major European nation got involved in the war except
England. The most important struggle pitted France against
Spain & the Holy Roman Empire.
* Fighting took place on German soil, & Germany was plundered
& destroyed for 30 years.
* The Peace of Westphalia ended the war in 1648. France emerged as the dominant
nation in Europe.
* The Peace of Westphalia gave all German states the
right to determine their own religion, & the states of
the Holy Roman Empire became independent.
* The Thirty Years’ War was the most destructive ever
in Europe due to improved weapons & larger armies.
* The Tudor dynasty in England ended with Elizabeth’s death in 1603.
* The Stuart king of Scotland, James I, ascended to the throne believing
in the divine right of kings, but Parliament wanted an equal role in ruling.
* Religion was also an issue because Puritans wanted the Church of
England to be more Protestant.
* Conflict between king and Parliament came to a head under Charles I.
* In 1628, Charles I agreed to the Petition of Right which
was passed by Parliament, but he later changed his mind.
* Civil War broke out in 1642 between the Cavaliers
(king’s supporters) and the Roundheads (supporters
of Parliament).
* Parliament won, mainly because of the New Model
Army of its leader & military genius, Oliver Cromwell.
* Cromwell purged Parliament of anyone who had not
supported him. The remainder of Parliament executed
Charles I in 1649. Parliament abolished the monarchy
& declared England a commonwealth.
* Cromwell ruled as military dictator until his death in 1658.
* In 1660, Parliament restored the monarchy & Charles II took the
throne.
* In 1685, James II, a devout Catholic, became king.
* In 1688, a group of English noblemen invited Mary (James’ daughter)
and her husband, William of Orange, to invade England.
* England’s Glorious Revolution took place when William and Mary raised an army &
marched to England, and James fled without a fight.
* William & Mary accepted the throne in 1689 along with a Bill of Rights, which helped
create a government based on the rule of law and a freely elected Parliament.
* The Bill of Rights also laid the groundwork for a limited, or constitutional, monarchy.
Chapter 7, Section 3
Response to Crisis: Absolutism
* In 1610, Henry IV was assassinated & Louis XIII inherited the throne. Louis XIII
appointed Cardinal Richelieu as his chief minister in 1624.
* Cardinal Richelieu strengthened the power of the French monarchy
by taking away the political & military rights of Huguenots and
executing conspirators.
* Louis XIV succeeded to the throne in 1643 & ruled
France until 1715. Cardinal Mazarin served as Louis’
chief minister for the first 18 years of his reign.
* After Mazarin’s death, Louis XIV took complete control
as an absolute ruler.
* Louis XIV maintained complete authority as monarch by distracting
nobles & princes with court life at Versailles in order to keep them
out of politics.
* The royal court at Versailles was used by Louis XIV as his personal
household, as the center for state offices, & as a place to have powerful subjects visit to
seek favors.
* Louis XIV appointed Jean Baptiste Colbert as finance
minister, who enacted mercantilist policies to bolster
France’s economy & promote trade.
* Louis XIV involved France in numerous costly wars in his
attempts to expand French borders & dominate Europe.
* In 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, forcing
thousands of Huguenots to flee France.
* After the Thirty Years’ War, Austria & Prussia emerged in the 17th & 18th centuries as
great powers. During the 1700s, the two began battling for control of the German states.
* The Hohenzollern rulers of Prussia united their lands by taking over the states between
them and imposing royal power on all their subjects.
* Frederick William the Great Elector established the Commissariat in Prussia to
oversee both the military and the civilian government.
* The Austrian Hapsburgs created a new empire in eastern & southeastern Europe.
* The Hapsburgs were not truly absolute rulers, but they did expand their control over
a large territory that includes the present-day nations of Austria, Hungary, & the Czech
Republic.
* In the 16th century, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) became the first Russian ruler to take
the title of czar.
* The Time of Troubles ended in 1613 when the Russian national assembly chose
Michael Romanov to become czar.
* During the 1600s, Russia was still a medieval state, untouched by the Renaissance and
largely isolated from Western Europe.
* From 1682 to 1725, Peter the Great ruled Russia. Peter the Great wanted to
westernize, or Europeanize, Russia.
* Peter the Great traveled throughout Western Europe studying western technology, art
manners, economy, & government. Peter returned & tried to reform Russia in the
image of Western Europe.
* Peter the Great helped continue & spread the practice of serfdom in Russia because he
wanted the support of the Russian nobles.
* Peter the Great went to war with Sweden & the Ottoman Turks to expand Russia’s terr.
Chapter 7, Section 4
The World of European Culture
* The artistic Renaissance ended when the movement called Mannerism emerged in
Italy in the 1520s & 1530s.
* The paintings of El Greco
reflected the high point
of Mannerism.
* The baroque movement replaced Mannerism.
* Italian architect & sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini
is perhaps the greatest figure of the baroque period.
He completed Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
* In both England & Spain, writing for the theater reached new heights between 1580 &
1640, and other kinds of literature flourished as well.
* England had a cultural flourishing during the Elizabethan Era, and William
Shakespeare is the most notable writer of that era.
* Drama flourished in Spain as well during the 16th century. Lope de Vega set the
standards for Spanish playwriting, and Miguel de Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote
was another great achievement of Spain’s golden age of literature.
* The 17th century was concerned with order & power, and these concerns were reflected
in the political philosophies of two different Englishmen.
* Thomas Hobbes was alarmed by England’s
revolutionary upheavals. In Leviathan, he
claimed that any ungoverned society made human
life solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
* Hobbes’ arguments were used to justify absolute
power to preserve social order.
* John Locke wrote Two Treatises of Government
in which he argued against absolute rule. Locke
argued that before society was organized humans
had natural rights – life, liberty, & property,
and governments were established to protect
these rights.
* Locke’s arguments were used in the 18th century
to support demands for constitutional
government, the rule of law, & the protection
of rights.