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World History II Age of Absolutism
World History II
Age of Absolutism
Towards the end of the Middle Ages, feudalism broke down.
One result of this was the rise of king's power. Strong central governments led by kings appeared in parts of Europe.
These kings believed in the Divine Right of Kings, meaning they believed that they represented God on earth and everyone should obey them (known as absolute monarchs)
The period that they ruled is known as the Age of Absolutism (17th and 18th centuries).
Age of Absolutism
Kings were also able to rise quickly because of the Reformation
Many nations had erupted into civil wars over religion (Protestants v. Catholics) and many innocent people were dying
The Thirty Years War is a great example of thisA strong king provided leadership, safety, and
peaceIn order to achieve this stability, absolutists
controlled the military, tax collection, and the judicial system
Age of Absolutism
Thirty Years War1618 – 1648Began in Prague as a Protestant Rebellion
against the Holy Roman EmpireFrance, Denmark, and Sweden were looking for
ways to weaken the empire and its ruling family, the Hapburgs
France remained strong throughout the war, and most of Germany was ruined (fighting took place there)
France created a strong nation, Holy Roman Empire and the Hapsburg were weakened
Age of Absolutism
Europe after the Treaty of Westphalia (ended the 30 yr war)
France in the Age of Absolutism
After the Thirty Years War, France became the great model of absolutism in Europe
Louis XIV had become king in 1643Ruled for 72 years (longest reign in French history)Called the “Sun King”Believed in the Divine Right of Kings, thinking God
had chosen him to rule FranceProclaimed “L’etat c’est moi” (“I am the state”)Made France a military, economic and cultural
powerhouseMade Cardinal Richelieu his chief advisor
Louis XIV
Above: Louis as a child
Right: Louis as king of France
Louis and his family portrayed as Roman gods
Believed in a strong monarchy
Led military raids against Protestants like the Huguenots
Cardinal Richelieu
achieved the greatest monarchical power of the modern age as demonstrated by 1) the palace at Versailles2) luxury of the French court3) the brilliance of French culture during his
reign.
Louis XIV
Renovation of the Louvre (now one
of the world’s greatest art museums
Palace of Versailles
only 5’5”he worked long hours at being kingdetested chaos--maybe influenced by the riots
in Paris he saw as a youth
Louis XIV
He also detested Paris and built a luxurious palace at Versailles (a converted hunting lodge constructed between 1669 & 1688 a short distance from Paris)
It included: 1) 17,000 beautifully landscaped parks with clipped
hedges, arbors, and shaded walks enclosed by a 40 mile wall.
2) 1400 fountains, 2000 statues3) rooms decorated with marble columns, painted
ceilings, costly draperies, mirrored walls, hand-crafted furniture
4) theater, chapel & “marble court”.
Louis XIV
He also hated religious chaos so he revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685 (which gave Huguenots religious freedom)
He thought only a few Huguenot Protestants were left
Louis later made attempts at converting them by a) stripping them of their schools and places of worship
and b) offering money to convert to CatholicismThis subjected Huguenots to torture and
imprisonmentCaused many to escape to other lands (bad for
French economy because Huguenots were nobles)
Louis XIV
Louis’ absolute power stemmed from four reasons:1) Church: he controlled religion
Louis gave the church good tax arrangements as long as it preached about the king’s divinely given rights.
2) Nobility: he no longer even consulted with the aristocracy for advicehe kept them happy with rituals,
processions, banquets, duties at court, etc.
Louis XIV
3) commoners: many commoners were made loyal to Louis by being given titles of nobility he used the middle class for operation of government Any attempts at rebellion by the peasants were quickly crushed by
the royal army and police (300,000 by the end of his reign).4) revenues: tax collection was not in the control of the nobles
but the king’s own men called intendants who controlled the 322 districts France was divided into during Louis’ reign An important aspect of the Intendants was their social origins.
The king chose to use individuals whose upper-class status was recent. Why? Because such men were not embedded in the traditional, centuries-old power arrangements, as were the ancient nobility. In other words, these “new aristocrats” had no independent political power or influence: they owed their authority and status to the king himself
Louis XIV
5) Louis’ propaganda genius: the palace at Versailles, the luxury of his court, the promotion of himself as Sun king impressed everyone.
Louis XIV
With no checks on Louis’ power he was free to follow a policy of international conquest that would bankrupt the state
French army became the most efficient in EuropeThe power and prestige of France made it
reasonably safe from attack by its weaker neighborsHis aim, in foreign affairs, was to get more land and
increase his prestigePride and vanity blinded Louis to the welfare of his
subjects and to the misery his wars inflicted on soldiers and civilians
Louis XIV
There were four wars of Louis’ reign: 1) War of Devolution (1667-1668)2) Dutch War (1672-1678)3) War of the League of Augsburg (1689-1697)4) War of Spanish Succession (1702-1713)
Louis XIV
the last and most exhausting of Louis’ wars
began when Charles II, king of Spain, was on his deathbed in 1700 with no successor to the throneLouis XIV wanted his
grandson, Philip, to be king
Leopold I of the HRE wanted his son, Charles
War of Spanish Succession
Charles II of Spain
Philip V was proclaimed king of Spain.Also king of the Spanish
NetherlandsThis made England and
Holland nervous.
War of Spanish Succession
The result was the War of Spanish Succession (France vs. England & Netherlands in alliance with H.R.E. & Austrians)
The war was mostly a land war fought on the battlefields of northern Europe
It ended with the Treaty of Utrecht (Holland)
War of Spanish Succession
Recognized Louis’ grandson as king of SpainSaid France and Spain can never be
combined (have the same ruler)Gave French land in North America to Great
Britain
Treaty of Utrect
No country really got stronger than before, except England. In fact, it “created a balance of power in Europe with Britain emerging as a major force in European affairs, the counterweight against the French colossus.”
Treaty of Utrect
Europe after the Treaty of Utrect
Only two years later Louis would be dead leaving France impoverished and surrounded by enemies.
Bad harvests, the plague in the 1690s and Louis’ wars and taxes (taxed the peasants to death!) led to widespread poverty, misery and starvation in much of France
His and his successors’ failure to relieve the suffering of the lower classes would lead to the French Revolution of 1789.
Louis XIV’s Legacy
On his deathbed, the seventy-six-year-old monarch seemed remorseful when he told his successor:“Soon you will be King of a great kingdom. I urge you
not to forget your duty to God; remember that you owe everything to Him. Try to remain at peace with your neighbors. I loved war too much. Do not follow me in that or in overspending. Take advice in everything; try to find the best course and follow it. Lighten your people’s burden as soon as possible, and do what I have had the misfortune not to do myself.”
...the advice to his successor was probably not remembered; his great-grandson was only five years old
Louis XIV’s Legacy
Russia in the Age of Absolutism
Russia is geographically and culturally isolated from the rest of Europe
Geographically:Landlocked except for the north (frozen Arctic
Ocean)Borders Ottoman Empire (largely Muslim)Stronger kingdoms of Sweden and Poland
blocked it from the Baltic SeaNo rivers flowed west (hurt trade)
Russia
Cultural isolated from Western Europe:Religion: Eastern Orthodox
influenced by Byzantine EmpireWestern Europe practiced the other forms of
Christianity (Protestant or Catholic)Alphabet: Cyrillic
Brought to the Slavs by Byzantine missionariesDeveloped Russian using this languageMade it hard to communicate with the rest of Europe
because they used the Latin AlphabetPreviously ruled by the Mongols
tribe from AsiaMore Asian influence than European
Russia
Grand Duke Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) was officially crowned the first tsar or czar ("Caesar“ or king) of Russia in 1547
After Ivan died in 1584, Russia went through a period of unrest because there was no king
Finally the Romanovs were named the royal family of Russia (and would remain in power until the 1917 Russian Revolution)
The Romanovs set out to build the power of the czar In 1689, Peter I (later known as Peter the Great)
became the sole ruler of Russia
Russia
Pre-Peter the Great life in RussiaNon-modern countryWomen were secluded and wore veilsmurder, kidnapping and torture were a regular part of
lifeNo middle class If you killed a serf on a farm, you simply had to replace
him Intellectual activity was nearly non-existent there was no literature to speak of, and no newspapersRussians did not understand arithmetic or science, and
had a calendar that dated from “Year 1, the beginning of the world”
Russia
Born in 1672, Peter was only 10 at his coronation, and only 17 when he married his first wife Eudoxia
After 10 yrs of marriage, he forced her to become a nun
6’8” tall (tallest monarch of Europe)
Had 11 children, 2 wivesPut his eldest son, Alexei, to
death after learning of his plot to overthrow him
Peter the Great
Eudoxia Lopukhina•First wife of Peter I•Married for 10 years then forced to live in a convent•Found a lover, Stepan Glebov, who was later executed by quartering for treason•Spoke out against her husband and supported her first son, Alexei in his endeavors to overthrow his father•Was further oppressed (all bishops who supported her were executed and she was moved to a different convent•Later, when her grandson, Peter II, became czar, she was brought back to Moscow with honor
the full punishment for the crime of treason was to be hanged, drawn and quartered in that the condemned prisoner would be:Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution.
This is one possible meaning of drawn.Hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead
(hanged). Disemboweled and emasculated and the genitalia and entrails
burned before the condemned's eyesThe body divided into four parts, then beheaded (quartered).
Typically, the resulting five parts (i.e., the four quarters of the body and the head) were gibbeted (put on public display) in different parts of the city, town, or, in famous cases, in the country, to deter would-be traitors who had not seen the execution.
What is Quartering?
Ruled until 1725Ruthless, but had a
great vision for his country
Peter the Great
Major goals:Creating a strong militarytaking the Black Sea from the OttomansWesternizing/Modernizing Russia
More educationBigger economyMore culture
Making a new capitol cityHe was successful at them all
Peter The Great
He saw modernization not only as a way to make Russia competitive with, and defensible from, the rest of Europe, but also as a way to consolidate his own absolute power won through military victories.
Since there were no models of modernization to be found in Russia, no plans or strategies, he traveled extensively in the west.
Peter wanted to see what other absolute rulers were doing, what their priorities were, how they used their absolute power, so that he could imitate them in the modernization of Russia.
He looked at the court life at Versailles and how the Prussians used their military.
He studied under shipbuilders in Holland, and met with leading scientists and artists
He then returned to Russia to adapt those ideas to the Russian experience
Peter the Great
One thing which he certainly saw everywhere in western Europe was the emphasis on war, defense, expansion, and the military (esp. in France)
Peter therefore put a good deal of attention into the rebuilding and modernizing of his army
He was at war constantly, all but two years of his reign. Nobles were required to serve for life in the army or in the
government, and foot soldiers were easily conscripted from the peasant serfs.
The Russian army, which numbered as many as 200,000 men, became a modern fighting force, with new discipline, new weapons, new uniforms etc.
Also became the police force
Peter the Great
Abandoned the capitol city of Moscow and built St. PetersburgOn the shores of the Baltic Sea“Window to the West”
Copied the palace of Versailles and other French government buildings
Required every noble to build and maintain a house in St. Petersburg and live in it for at least six months of the year (the other time they would be serving in the military)
Peter the Great
Taxed everything to pay for his new city and new military
“Taxes appeared on virtually everything. One was taxed on the number of people in their family, the amount of land they owned, the number of inns, or mills, or other businesses they owned. In addition, there were taxes on such ordinary items as leather, meat, and salt. There were taxes on the number of cellars in one’s house, this being something of an income tax, as only the wealthy had enough money to build a house big enough to have a basement. There were taxes on getting married, and even on being buried, as coffins were required for burial, and were taxed. Some taxes were even designed to punish old-fashioned behavior and reward modern, such as the tax on beards. Beards were traditional in Russia, but if a man wanted to wear one, he had to pay a tax.”
Peter the Great
Economic Modernization Copying from the French, he built a merchant marine
for export shipping, and encouraged exports of furs and grain and lumber
Also developed mining, metallurgy, and textile companies, thus beginning something of a mini-industrial revolution
Labor came from the peasant-serfs, who were assigned by their landlord/owners, who in turn were ordered by the czar to build a specific business
Thus, from the beginning of modernization, the economy was controlled by the state, and not by private enterprise as in the West (communism)
Peter the Great
Russian culture Because of the lack of educational institutions in Russia,
he forced the nobles to send their sons abroad for their education, which meant that they returned not only with a modern education, but also lots of other modern ideas
Simplified the Russian alphabet, encouraged literature, and edited the first newspaper
Forced the nobility at court to “act civilized”, which meant such modern niceties as not spitting on the floor, scratching oneself in public, or gnawing bones at table
Allowed women to be in public; made everyone change their dress to a more fashionable European style
Peter the Great
Most absolutist of the absolute monarchsHad complete control of everything, even the
churchHe modernized all of Russia except for the poor
The only difference in Peter’s reign for the poor was the many new taxes forced upon them
They remained uneducated and illiterateMost knew nothing of St. Petersburg and its
splendorHis successors did not continue his harsh
policies, and Russia will slowly sink back in time
Peter The Great
Died in January 1725, at the age of 52Reigned 42 years total
Peter The Great
Peter ‘s second wife, Catherine I, reigned after his death until she died in 1727
First woman to rule imperial Russia
Later her grandson, Peter III became heir to the throne
Aftermath of Peter I
Peter III had married German princess Catherine
After he came to power, the royal guard deserted him, and helped Catherine gain the throne
She became Catherine II, or Catherine the Great
Ruled from 1762 - 1796
Catherine the Great
Continued Peter I’s legacy of expanding Russia (gained land near the Black Sea, in Poland, and east of the Urals in present day Siberia)
Well-educated (read authors such as Voltaire and Montesquieu)
Stressed importance of education in Russia (Created schools and colleges), urged writers to publish Russian books, put emphasis on the arts, etc.
Promoted local government; broke Russia into districts
Improved medical care (she took the first vaccine in Russia to show others they should do it)
Catherine the Great
England in the Age of Absolutism
Tudors came to rule England in the late 1400s
Henry VII was the first Tudor kingMade England stable and prosperousMarried his 3rd cousin, Elizabeth of York (1486)Had seven children together
The House of Tudor
Children of Henry VII & Elizabeth of York Arthur Tudor, Prince of England (1486 – 1502)
Married Catherine of Aragon in 1501 Margaret Tudor (1489 – 1541)
Married James IV, King of Scotland (1503) – daughter Mary will be queen
Married Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus Henry VIII, King of England (more to come…) Elizabeth Tudor (1492 – 1495) Mary Tudor (1496 – 1533)
Married Louis XII, King of France (1514) Married Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1515)
Edmund Tudor, Duke of Somerset (1499 – 1500) Katherine Tudor (1503)
Died shortly after birth Mother, Elizabeth, died as a result of her birth
House of Tudor
Edward V of England and his brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York were the only sons of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville.
They disappeared without a trace from the Tower of London in 1483.
Both princes were declared illegitimate by an Act of Parliament of 1483 known as Titulus Regius.
Their uncle, Richard III of England, placed them both in the Tower of London (then a royal residence as well as a prison) in 1483.
There are reports of their early presence in the courtyards etc., but there are no records of them having been seen after the summer of 1483. Their fate remains unknown, and it is presumed that they either died or were killed there.
Princes in the Tower
Princes in the Tower
Scavenger’s Daughteran A-frame shaped
metal rack to which the head was strapped to the top point of the A, the hands at the mid-point and the legs at the lower spread ends; swinging the head down and forcing the knees up in a sitting position so compressed the body as to force the blood from the nose and ears.
Tower of London – Torture
The Rack Attached wrists and feet to
rack, whole body laying on top
Would stretch one’s body until joints were dislocated and muscles separated
One gruesome aspect - loud popping noises made by snapping cartilage, ligaments or bones. Eventually, if the application of the rack is continued, the victim's limbs are completely separated from the body.
Tower of London – Torture
Most people executed at the Tower of London were beheaded on the Tower Green
These included nobles, and even two English QueensAnne Boleyn (2nd wife of
Henry VIII)Lady Jane Grey (great-
granddaughter of Henry VII; known as the “Nine Days Queen”)
Tower of London – Execution
Tried to marry his oldest son’s wife, Catherine of Aragon, after his son died
Died of tuberculosis in 1509Second son, Henry VIII, becomes King of
England
Henry VII
Changed the religion of the people of England (changed the Church of England from Catholic to Anglican, which is a form of Protestantism)
Why?
Henry VIII
Henry married Catherine of Aragon (his former brother’s wife) in 1509, but wanted to divorce her because she would not bear him a son
Went to the Pope to get divorced (you can’t get divorced in the Catholic church), and the Pope would not grant him one
So, to divorce his wife, he changed the whole church of England
Henry VIII
Henry went on to have 5 more wives after Catherine (6 total)Anne Boleyn (m. 1533 – 1536)Jane Seymour (m. 1536 – 1537)Anne of Cleves (m. Jan. – July 1540)Kathryn Howard (m. 1540 – 1542)Katherine Parr (m. 1543 – 1547)
“Henry VIII & his Wives” Internet Activity
Henry VIII
After Henry VIII died, his sickly son by Jane Seymour, Edward VI ruled, but only for six years Died of tuberculosis
Mary I (daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon) took the throne in 1533Wanted to make England Catholic againMarried Philip II of SpainHad over 300 clergy members who spoke
against the Catholic church burned at the stake, including Thomas Crammer, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Henry VIII
Because of the executions, she became known as Bloody Mary
Failed to destroy Protestantism
Mary I
When she died, her half sister Elizabeth took the throne
Mary I
Ruled from 1558 to 16035th and last monarch of
the Tudor dynastyAlso called the Virgin
Queen or Good Queen Bess
Daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII
Protestant (briefly imprisoned by her sister Mary for her beliefs)
Elizabeth I
Never marriedKnew she was infertileVery involved in affairs
of stateVery in touch with the
English people“Virginia” is named for
her
Elizabeth I
Reign called the “Elizabethan Era” or the Golden AgeEngland advanced in many areas during her
reign (Elizabethan Activity)
Elizabeth I
Mary Stuart, Queen of ScotlandInherited the throne of Scotland when she was
6 days oldWas pledged to marry at age 5 to a 3 year old
French prince to ensure Scottish-French relations
Lived in France for most of her childhoodClosest relative to Elizabeth I
Mary Queen of Scots
Mary was Catholic and this worried English Protestants (didn’t want another “Bloody Mary”)
Was put in prison by Elizabeth I when she fled to England to escape Scotland in 1568
Later, Mary plotted to kill Elizabeth I with Philip II’s ambassadors (remember, Philip of Spain was married to Mary I)
Elizabeth found out Mary’s plan and had her beheaded in 1587
Mary Queen of Scots
Mary’s tomb at Westminster Abbey
Because Elizabeth died in 1603, Mary Queen of Scots’ son, James, became king
Was from the Stuart family, not the Tudors, thus starting a new dynasty
Believed in the Divine Right of Kings (so he didn’t work well with Parliament)
Protestant King when Capt. Smith and Newport left
for the New World (James River and Jamestown is named for him)
Golden Age of England continues under him
James I
