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noblesse d'eppe (sword nobles)
The older French nobility whose status came from medieval military service and landholding. They prized lineage and honor and often resisted royal efforts to centralize power that cut into their local influence.
noblesse de rope (robe nobles)
A newer nobility created by service in royal administration and courts, often by purchasing offices. They became crucial to centralized government and sometimes clashed with the sword nobility over status and influence.
Louis XIII
King of France from 1610 to 1643, ruling with Cardinal Richelieu as his chief minister. Together they weakened noble independence, strengthened the army, and steered France into the Thirty Years’ War to check Habsburg power.
intendants
Royal administrators sent into the provinces to enforce the king’s laws, supervise taxation, and oversee justice. They bypassed local nobles and parlements, becoming a backbone of French centralization.
Louis XIV
The “Sun King,” who reigned 1643–1715 and is the classic model of absolutism. He built Versailles to domesticate the nobility, expanded the state and the army, and revoked Protestant toleration in 1685, pushing many Huguenots to flee.
Cardinal Mazarin
Richelieu’s successor and chief minister during Louis XIV’s minority. He held France together through the Fronde and concluded the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), which strengthened France against Spain.
Fronde
A series of rebellions and civil wars (1648–1653) by law courts and nobles against rising royal power. The turmoil convinced the young Louis XIV to keep tight control over elites and avoid relying on Paris.
Bishop Jacquet Bossuet
Court preacher who argued for divine right monarchy in “Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Scripture.” He argued that kings rule by God’s will, though they are morally bound to govern justly and within God’s law.
L'état c'est moi
“I am the state.” Line attributed to Louis XIV (probably apocryphal) that sums up absolutist ideology.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Louis XIV’s finance minister who pushed mercantilism: state-backed industry, high tariffs, and naval growth. He streamlined administration and improved revenues, though France still struggled with war costs and uneven taxation.
Marquis of Louvois
Louis XIV’s war minister who professionalized the army with standardized training, supply depots, and barracks. He helped make France Europe’s leading military power and supported harsh measures against Huguenots.
War of the Spanish Succession
A major European war over who would inherit the vast Spanish Empire. The Grand Alliance fought to prevent a French–Spanish union, leading to a balance-of-power settlement.
Treaties of Utrecht
1713 settlements ending most of Spanish Succession war; Philip V kept Spain, but France and Spain could not unite; major territorial gains for Britain and Austria.
Cardinal Fluery
Chief minister to Louis XV from 1726 to 1743 who prioritized peace and fiscal stability. Under him, France enjoyed relative calm and a repaired treasury before later wars reignited.
Hohenzollerns
The dynasty that ruled Brandenburg-Prussia and later Unified Germany (as emperors). They built their power on a disciplined army, efficient bureaucracy, and close ties with the Prussian nobility.
Frederick William, the Great Elector
Ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia (1640–1688) who created a standing army and centralized administration. He bargained with Junkers for taxes and control, invited skilled immigrants like Huguenots, and laid Prussia’s military foundations.
Junkers
Prussian landed nobles who dominated the officer corps and provincial governance. In return for loyalty to the monarch, they kept tight control over serfs on their estates.
Maria Theresa
Habsburg ruler from 1740 to 1780 who defended her inheritance in the War of the Austrian Succession. She modernized administration, taxation, and education, strengthening the state without abandoning tradition.
Pragmatic Sanction
Emperor Charles VI’s decree to allow his daughter Maria Theresa to inherit the Habsburg lands intact. Many powers promised to respect it, then challenged it when he died, triggering war.
Muscovy
The medieval principality centered on Moscow that expanded by outmaneuvering rivals and the Mongol Golden Horde. It became the core of the Russian state before the imperial title “Russia” took hold.
Ivan IV (“The Terrible”)
First crowned tsar of Russia, 1547–1584; expanded territory and ruled harshly with the Oprichnina.
boyars
Russia’s high nobles and great landowners who long competed with the tsar for influence. Their power was curbed by centralizing rulers like Ivan IV and later Peter the Great.
Romanovs
The ruling dynasty of Russia from 1613 to 1917, beginning with Michael Romanov after the Time of Troubles. They presided over Russia’s rise to a European great power and fell in the 1917 revolutions.
Duma
In early Russia, this was the tsar’s advisory council; in 1905 and after, it became an elected national parliament.
Peter the Great
Tsar and later emperor who ruled effectively from 1689 to 1725 and launched sweeping reforms. He built a navy, reorganized the army and state, introduced the Table of Ranks, and pushed Russia toward Western practices.
“Window to the West”
Peter’s strategic goal of securing access to the Baltic and European trade. It symbolized economic, cultural, and diplomatic opening to Western Europe.
St. Petersburg
Founded by Peter in 1703 on the Baltic as the new capital and showcase of his reforms. Its plan and architecture broadcast Russia’s Western-facing identity.
Battle of Poltava
1709 turning point of the Great Northern War; Peter’s Russia defeated Sweden’s Charles XII.
James I
First Stuart king of England (1603–1625), who believed strongly in royal prerogative. He managed peace with Spain and sponsored the King James Bible, but friction with Parliament and religious dissent grew.
Charles I
King from 1625 to 1649 whose conflicts with Parliament over taxation, religion, and authority led to civil war. Defeated and tried by the “Rump” Parliament, he was executed, a shocking break with tradition.
Ship Money
A naval levy traditionally raised in coastal areas that Charles I tried to collect nationwide without Parliament. The Hampden rebellion made it a rallying point against royal overreach.
Petition of Right
1628 statement of liberties limiting the king’s power to tax, jail without cause, quarter troops, or impose martial law.
Triennial Act
1641 Law requiring that Parliament be summoned at least every three years. It aimed to prevent another long stretch of royal government without Parliament.
Writ of Habeas Corpus
Court order requiring that a detained person be brought before a judge, protecting against unlawful imprisonment.
Long Parliament
The Parliament that sat through the crisis years 1640—1660, abolishing prerogative courts and challenging royal power. It oversaw the slide into civil war and, after purges, the trial of the king.
New Model Army
Parliament’s disciplined, merit-based army formed in 1645, led by Fairfax and Cromwell.
Pride’s Purge
This 1648 event was where Colonel Thomas Pride used troops to exclude MPs opposed to trying Charles I. The purge produced the “Rump” Parliament, which proceeded with the king’s trial.
“Rump” Parliament
The reduced House of Commons left after Pride’s Purge. It abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords and declared a republic, the Commonwealth.
Act of Settlement
This 1701 act settled the English crown on the Protestant House of Hanover if William III and Anne died without heirs. It ensured a Protestant succession and paved the way for George I in 1714.
Interregnum
The period without a king after Charles I’s execution. England was first a Commonwealth, then Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate, before the monarchy was restored under Charles II.
Test Act
1673 law that required officeholders to take Anglican communion and deny transubstantiation. It effectively barred Catholics and many Protestant dissenters from public office.
Whigs
Political faction that favored parliamentary power and, during the Exclusion Crisis, wanted to block a Catholic succession. Over time they leaned toward religious toleration for Protestants and commercial interests.
Tories
Faction more supportive of royal authority and the established Church of England. In the Exclusion Crisis they opposed barring James, Duke of York, from the throne.
James II
Catholic Stuart king (1685–1688) whose attempts to promote Catholics and suspend laws alarmed many. The birth of his Catholic son and his use of the army helped trigger the Glorious Revolution.
English Bill of Rights
The 1689 settlement William and Mary accepted that limited the crown and affirmed parliamentary supremacy. It protected civil liberties like free elections, free speech in Parliament, and bans on cruel punishments and excessive bail.
Robert Walpole
Leading Whig statesman often called Britain’s first prime minister (1721–1742). He stabilized finances after the South Sea Bubble, kept Britain at peace, and built a durable system of cabinet government.