AP Euro State Building ID Terms

Noblesse d'epee (sword nobles)

The noblemen of the oldest class of nobility in France; the old nobles

Noblesse de Robe (robe nobles)

A class of hereditary nobles who acquired their rank through holding a high state office in France; the new nobles

Louis XIII

French king who succeeded Henry IV when he was nine years old; hired Cardinal Richelieu to make up for his lack of talent as a monarch; Cardinal Richelieu created the intendant system under his rule

Intendants

Loyal officials (robe nobles) who oversaw districts of France under the intendant system

Louis XIV

Centralized power in the French state and increased the power and prestige of the monarchy; built the palace of Versailles; believed in the divine right of kings and the absolute authority of the monarchy; also known as the "Sun King"

Cardinal Mazarin

Successor and advisor to the boy-king Louis XIV who struggled to keep the financial situation right to fund the war with France, which led to the Fronde uprisings, but continued centralizing policies.

Fronde

A series of revolts by French nobles against the authority of Louis XIV, Cardinal Jules Mazarin, and Anne of Austria triggered by objections to high taxes and increasing royal power

Bishop Jacques Bossuet

One of the principal French theorists of divine right; Louis XIV's mentor

L'etat c'est moi: "I am the state"

King Louis XIV's boastful statement implying that he and the state were one

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

The French controller of general finances appointed by King Louis XIV who adopted strict mercantilist policies to improve the French economy; stressed government regulation of economic activities to benefit the state; founded new luxury industries, drew up regulations over the quality of goods produced, and built roads and canals in his attempts to repair the French economy

Marquis de Louvois

The French secretary of war who aided King Louis XIV in his pursuit of war (in order to win military glory and increase royal power); under him, France developed a professional army numbering 100,000 men in peacetime and 400,000 in time of war

War of the Spanish Succession

King Louis XIV's war fought over who would succeed the Spanish throne after King Charles II of Spain (who had no children) left his throne to one of Louis XIV's grandchildren (later Philip V), causing suspicion that Spain and France would eventually be united under the same dynastic family; this led to the creation of a coalition of England, Habsburg Austria, the German states, and the United Provinces to prevent Bourbon hegemony (Spain and France); the war was ended by the Peace of Utrecht in 1713; described as the 'first war of modern times'

Treaty of Utrecht

Treaty that ended the War of the Spanish Succession; confirmed King Philip V as the ruler of Spain, but ensured that the thrones of Spain and France would remain separate; member countries of the coalition opposing France and Spain were given additional territories; solidified England's emergence as a formidable naval force

Hohenzollerns

The ruling dynasty of Brandenburg-Prussia that brought its evolution into a powerful state

Frederick William, the Great Elector

The ruler from the House of Hohenzollern who laid the foundation for the Prussian state; came to power during the Thirty Years' War; built a competent and efficient standing army and established an elite officer corps; made an agreement with nobles where he would give them almost unlimited power over their peasants in exchange for exemption form taxation and high positions in the military

Junkers

The Prussian landed aristocracy; exercised substantial political power

Pragmatic Sanction

A sovereign's solemn decree on a matter of primary importance and has the force of fundamental law; an edict issued by Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI to ensure that the hereditary possessions of the Habsburgs could be inherited by a daughter

Charles X (Sweden)

Swedish king whose accession to the throne (following the rule of Christina, the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus) defused a potential peasant revolt against the Swedish nobility; reestablished domestic order in Sweden

Ivan IV the Terrible

(1533-1584) Russia's first tsar, expanded eastward, pushed autocracy up by pushing boyars down; his rule was followed by a Time of Anarchy called the Time of Troubles

Boyars

The Russian nobility; were often in conflict with the Russian rulers for power

Romanovs

(1613-1917) Russian ruling family that favored the nobles, reduced military obligations, expanded the Russian empire further east, and fought several unsuccessful wars

Duma

A legislative body in the ruling assembly of Russia and of some other republics of the former Soviet Union

Peter the Great

Russian ruler who noticeable accelerating the westernizing process in Russia; reorganized the army and created the first Russian navy; reorganized the central government (created a Senate and divided Russia into eight provinces); hoped to create a police state; adopted Western mercantilist policies to stimulate economic growth; sought to establish state control over the Russian Orthodox Church (created the Holy Synod to make decisions for the church); expanded the Russian state; gave more rights to women

St. Petersburg ("Window to the West,")

A new city constructed by Peter the Great that became the capital of Russia; Peter the Great's "Window to the West" and a symbol that Russia was looking westward to Europe; its construction cost the lives of thousands of peasants

Battle of Poltava

(1709) Battle in which Peter the Great defeated King Charles XII of Sweden's army; lasted for twelve years and was ended with the Peace of Nystad, which formally recognized Peter the Great's acquisition of Estonia, Livonia and Karelia; established Russia as a great European power and relegated Sweden to being a second-rate power

James I (England)

English king who espoused the divine right of kings, alienating Parliament; Parliament reacted by taking away the "power of the purse" (refused his requests for additional money); supported the episcopal system of church organization used by the Church of England (because it benefited the monarchy); Mary Queen of Scots son and Elizabeth I's cousin

Charles I (England)

English king who went back on the Petition of Right because of its limitation on royal power and subsequently refused to summon Parliament to meet; established the ship money tax in order to make money without the cooperation of Parliament; married Henrietta Maria, the Catholic sister of King Louis XIII of France; was not religiously tolerant; attempted to push the Anglican Book of Common Prayer on the Scottish Presbyterian Church, causing the Scots to revolt against the king; this Scottish rebellion forced the king to call Parliament and resulted in the monarchs losing a lot of their power to Parliament

ship money

A levy on seacoast towns to pay for coastal defense (collected annually by the king's officials throughout England); aroused opposition from middle-class merchants and landed gentry who objected to the king's attempts to tax without Parliament's consent

Petition of Right

Prohibited taxation without Parliament's consent, arbitrary imprisonment, the quartering of soldiers in private houses, and the declaration of martial law in peacetime; the king was supposed to accept this before being granted any tax revenues

Triennial Act

Specified that Parliament must meet at least once every three years, with or without the king's consent

Writ of Habeas Corpus

Requires that individuals who have been arrested or detained be physically brought before the court to determine whether they are being held on legal grounds

Long Parliament

This Parliament met for 13 years from 1640-1653 and chose not to implement the taxes that Charles II wanted to use to defend England against the Scots; took a series of steps to severely limit royal authority

New Model Army

Formed in 1645 by Parliament and led by Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War; composed primarily of more extreme Puritans (Independents); helped end the first phase of the Civil War with the capture of Charles I

Pride's Purge

(1648) When troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents; occurred during the Second English Civil War

Rump Parliament

The Cromwell-controlled Parliament that abolished the monarchy of the House of Lords and proclaimed England a republic for commonwealth after Charles I was killed

Act of Settlement

(1701) An act passed by Parliament that that limited the succession of English and Irish crowns to only Protestant rulers

Interregnum

"between the kings"; between when Charles I executed and Charles II took over throne after Cromwell's death and subsequent failed succession

Test Act of 1673

English law that excluded Catholics from public office and led to the creation of the first political parties (Whigs and Tories)

Whigs

Political faction that opposed absolute monarchy and Catholic emancipation, supporting constitutional monarchism with a parliamentary system. They played a central role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and were the standing enemies of the Roman Catholic Stuart kings and pretenders.

Tories

Represented the more conservative royalist supporters of Charles II, who endorsed a strong monarchy as a counterbalance to the power of Parliament

James II

Applied his concept of a centralized state to the colonies by creating an enormous colony called the Dominion of New England; unpopular because of his support of the Catholic religion (made Catholicism the official religion of England); he was the last Stuart king to rule both England and Scotland; overthrown by his son-in-law William of Orange

English Bill of Rights

Drawn up by Parliament and presented to King William II and Queen Mary, it listed certain rights of the British people. It also limited the king's powers in taxing and prohibited the maintenance of a standing army in peacetime.

Robert Walpole

The first official prime minister whose foreign policy was to ignore continental conflict; he forgave the debt of the South Sea Company which made the people confident in the government