Unit 3 - Absolutism and Constitutionalism

Hierarchy of European Society

• Called the “Great chain of Being”

  • monarch - semi-divine

  • clergy - intermediaries between God/saints and subjects

  • nobles - privilege from battle/family history

    • mercantile families - lower nobles, recently received titles for royal service

  • peasants/artisans - expected to show deference

patriarchy in European Society

• seen as God-given

• Father was ‘king’ → allowed to use physical violence, imprisonment to impose will but expected to be loving

rural European life

• most Europeans were peasants in rural areas

• independent farmers (own land) were leaders

• small landowners/tenant farmers sold goods for money for rent/taxes/food

• dependent laborers and servants - worked for money

• In central Europe, serfs worked for nobles while in the Ottoman empire all land was owned by the sultan

Economic crises of the 17th Century

• bad agricultural tech + low crop yield + little ice age = lots of famines

  • this + increased disease + lower fertility = decreasing population

  • impacted economy bc major export was woolen textiles

  • food prices and unemployment went up, wages stayed the same

• rebellions (usually by women because mothers got leniency) sprung up and became armed riots across Europe

  • rebels had the power to facilitate releases from prison/deals bc killing rebels created martyrs and occupying cities was costly → gov. hands were tied

Moral economy

needs of community over competition or profit

effect of the 30 years’ war

to pay for the war/damages, taxes raised (more pressure on the population)

Main goals of European states

• expanding frontiers (especially in the new world)

• consolidating control (adopted wartime measures as the norm, subdued privileged groups, came closer to sovereignty)

• raising taxes

Introduction of standing armies

• state building was facilitated by standing armies

  • officers had to be loyal + obey the state (for the first time), soldiers were trained, and armies expanded quickly

  • English did this but with the navy

Development of Baroque art

• Jesuits/papacy commissioned intensely emotional art to encourage faith + admiration of the newly reformed church

  • drew drama, motion, and striving from the church

• Visual Baroque art became especially popular in Catholic countries (though popular in Protestant areas 2)

appeal of Baroque art

tension + bombast reflected violence + controversy of the time

Peter Paul Rubens

• Most famous Baroque painter

• studied in Flanders (home) and Italy → inspired by High Renaissance artists like Michelangelo

• style: colorful, rich, animated figures, large size, contrast

Johann Sebastian Bach

• most famous Baroque composer

• involved in Lutheran churches → wrote secular AND religious works

• dynamic, emotional, tension-filled music