Absolute & Constitutional Monarchies Vocabulary

Heretics

one who does not confirm to established doctrine

Armada

a fleet of warships

Inflation

a rapid increase in prices

Divine Right of Kings

the belief that the king gets his power from God and not from his subjects

Puritans

English Protestants who believed that the Church of England needed further reform and sought to simplify and regulate worship

Cavaliers

supporters of King Charles I in the English Civil War

Roundheads

supporters of Parliament in the English Civil War

Natural Rights

rights with which all humans are born, including the rights to life, liberty, and property

Absolutism

a political system in which a ruler holds total power

Czar

Russian for Ceasar, the title used by Russian emperors

Boyar

a Russian noble

Janissary

a soldier in the elite guard of the Ottoman Turks

Gunpowder Empire

an empire formed by outside conquerors who unified the regions that they conquered through their mastery of firearms

Sultan

“holder of power,” the military and political head of state under the Seljuk Turks and the Ottomans

Harem

“sacred place,” the private domain of an Ottoman sultan, where he and his wives resided

Grand Vizier

the Ottoman sultan’s chief minister who carried the main burdens of the state and who led the council meetings

Pasha

an appointed official of the Ottoman Empire who collected taxes, maintained law and order, and was directly responsible to the sultan’s court

Shah

king (used in Persia and Iran)

Orthodoxy

traditional beliefs, especially in religion

Anarchy

political disorder, lawlessness

Laissez-faire

the concept that the state should not impose government regulations but should leave the economy alone

Suttee

the Hindu custom of cremating a widow on her husband’s funeral pyre

Zamindar

a local official in Mogul India who received a plot of farmland for temporary use in return for collecting taxes for the central government

Enlightened Absolutism

a system in which rulers tried to govern by Enlightenment principles while maintaining their full royal powers

Successor

one that follows, especially one who takes over a throne, title, estate, or office