AP EURO 13

United Provinces

The seven northern provinces of the Low Countries that won independence from Spain and formed a wealthy, decentralized republic during the seventeenth century.

States General

The federal assembly of delegates from the individual provinces of the Dutch Republic that handled foreign policy and war, though domestic authority remained largely local.

House of Orange

The prominent noble family that held strong military prestige in the Netherlands and frequently provided leadership during national crises.

Stadtholder

The official executive and military commander appointed by each province in the Netherlands, usually chosen from the primary noble line.

Calvinist Reformed Church

The official state-supported religion of the Dutch Republic, which maintained strong cultural influence despite the republic's broad policy of religious toleration.

Dutch East Indies Company

The powerful chartered trading enterprise founded in 1602 that dominated Asian spice routes and formed the economic engine of Dutch commercial expansion.

parliamentary monarchy

A form of government where a monarch shares power with a representative assembly, requiring legislative consent for laws and taxation.

political absolutism

A system of government where ultimate sovereign power rests entirely in the hands of a monarch, unbounded by legislative checks or constitutional limits.

James I

The first Stuart monarch of England who advocated for the divine right of kings, alienating Parliament and Puritans over taxation and religious policies.

impositions

Customs duties levied by royal authority on trade without the consent or authorization of Parliament.

Puritans

English Protestants influenced by Calvinism who sought to cleanse the Church of England of remaining Catholic doctrines, ceremonies, and structures.

Charles I

The Stuart monarch whose clashes with Parliament over forced loans, arbitrary imprisonment, and religious reforms led directly to the English Civil War and his execution.

Petition of Right

The 1628 legal document passed by Parliament attempting to limit royal power by requiring parliamentary consent for taxation and prohibiting quartering of troops and arbitrary imprisonment.

"extra-Parliamentary taxes"

Revenue-raising measures instituted directly by the crown—such as Ship Money—without obtaining legislative approval.

Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford

The chief adviser to King Charles I who centralized royal administration and vigorously raised revenue outside of Parliament until his impeachment and execution.

Book of Common Prayer

The standardized liturgy book mandated for the Church of England, the enforced introduction of which into Scotland triggered a rebellion against the crown.

Short Parliament

The brief legislative session called in April 1640 by King Charles I to raise military funds against Scotland, which he dissolved three weeks later after refusal to grant funds before grievance redress.

Long Parliament

The legislative assembly convened in late 1640 that abolished royal courts, executed key king's advisers, and sat intermittently through the Civil War and Restoration.

Cavaliers

The royalist supporters of King Charles I during the English Civil War, drawn heavily from noble families and conservative regions.

Roundheads

The parliamentary supporters during the English Civil War, named for their short haircuts and allied closely with Puritan interests.

Oliver Cromwell

The Puritan military leader of the New Model Army who became ruler of England, managing the Commonwealth and governing as a dictator during the Protectorate.

Lord Protector

The official head-of-state title assumed by the commander of the New Model Army during his rule over the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Charles II

The monarch restored to the English throne in 1660 after the collapse of the military dictatorship, presiding over a period of religious friction and cultural renewal.

Clarendon Code

A series of legislative acts passed by Parliament after 1661 designed to exclude Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Independents from official religious and political life.

Declaration of Indulgence (1672)

An executive decree issued by the English monarch suspending penal laws against Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters, quickly rejected by Parliament.

Treaty of Dover (1670)

A secret alliance between England and France where the English king promised to support French military expansion and convert to Catholicism in exchange for financial subsidies.

Test Act (1672)

English legislation requiring all civil and military officials to swear an oath against transubstantiation, effectively excluding Catholics from public office.

Popish Plot

A hysterical anti-Catholic hoax in 1678 claiming an imminent Jesuit plot to assassinate the king, leading to executions and legislative efforts to bar the heir from the throne.

James II

The openly Catholic Stuart king whose attempts to suspend anti-Catholic laws and appoint Catholic officials provoked his overthrow in 1688.

"traditional liberties"

The historically claimed rights and privileges of English subjects, local corporations, and Parliament against central royal encroachment.

William and Mary

The joint Protestant monarchs invited by Parliament to replace the deposed king during the regime change of 1688-1689.

Glorious Revolution

The bloodless overthrow of King James II in 1688 that permanently established parliamentary supremacy over the monarchy in England.

William of Orange

The Dutch leader who led a invasion fleet to England in 1688 to secure a coalition against France and became co-ruler of the kingdom.

English Bill of Rights

The foundational 1689 constitutional text guaranteeing regular parliamentary sessions, freedom of speech in debate, and limiting the monarch's power to raise armies or levy taxes without consent.

Act of Settlement (1701)

English legislation establishing that the crown would pass to the Protestant House of Hanover if the direct line died without heirs, excluding Catholics.

Sir Robert Walpole

The English politician widely considered the first de facto prime minister, who consolidated power through patron distribution and financial stabilization.

patronage

The practice of granting government offices, pensions, titles, and favors in exchange for political loyalty and parliamentary support.

Louis XIII

The French monarch whose reign saw the dramatic expansion of centralized royal authority led by his principal minister during the early seventeenth century.

Richelieu

The chief minister to Louis XIII who centralized French royal authority by curbing noble power, subduing the Huguenots, and entering the Thirty Years' War.

Louis XIV

The absolute French monarch known as the "Sun King," who built Versailles, curtailed noble independence, and pursued territorial expansion throughout Europe.

Mazarin

The Italian-born chief minister who managed French policy during the young king's minority and successfully put down the noble rebellions of the late 1640s and 1650s.

Fronde

A series of chaotic anti-monarchical uprisings between 1648 and 1653 organized by French nobles and parlements against cardinal ministers and royal centralism.

Bossuet

The French bishop and royal tutor who articulated the classic doctrine of the divine right of kings, arguing monarchs were accountable only to God.

"I am the state."

The famous phrase attributed to the French Sun King reflecting his total identification of royal authority with the sovereign power of the nation.

Versailles

The grand royal palace constructed outside Paris that served as the center of royal government and a tool to control the aristocracy through court etiquette.

Jansenists

Members of a Catholic reform movement within France that stressed total reliance on divine grace and human depravity, heavily persecuted by Louis XIV and the Papacy.

Colbert

The controller general of finances under Louis XIV who applied mercantilist policies to boost domestic industry, build up the navy, and maximize state revenues.

War of Devolution

The 1667-1668 conflict launched by Louis XIV to claim the Spanish Netherlands based on local legal claims regarding inheritance rights of his wife.

Revocation of Edict of Nantes

The 1085 royal decree (Edict of Fontainebleau) that abolished religious freedom for French Protestants, forcing hundreds of thousands of Huguenots to flee the country.

War of the Spanish Succession

The major European war (1701-1714) fought to prevent the union of the French and Spanish crowns under the Bourbon dynasty following the death of Charles II.

Treaty of Utrecht (1713)

The diplomatic settlement that ended the War of the Spanish Succession, confirming a Bourbon on the Spanish throne while maintaining the European balance of power.

Louis XV

The French king whose long reign after the Sun King was marked by financial instability, noble resurgence, and defeat in major imperial wars.

John Law

The Scottish gambler and financial advisor who established the central bank of France and managed the speculative colonial stock scheme that collapsed in 1720.

Mississippi Bubble

The massive financial crash in France in 1720 caused by over-speculation in the shares of a company holding a monopoly on French colonial trade.

parlements

Regional high courts in France dominated by nobility that registered royal edicts and frequently attempted to check absolute royal authority.