AP Euro - Unit 3: Absolutism and Constitutionalism

constitutionalism

government power is limited by law → balance between power of government and rights and libterties of individuals

gentry

wealthy non-noble landowners in the countryside who dominated house of commons → moved from middle to upper class

House of Commons

England’s lower house in Parliament

Stuart Dynasty

Ruled England for most of the 17th century

James I (1603-1625)

first of the absolute rulers → divine right of kings and was absolute

Dissolved Parliament twice over issues of taxation and parliamentary demands for free speech

Charles I (1625-1649)

Son of James I → also absolute and wanted to control Church of England → tax issues with parliament

Petition of Right, 1628

Parliament attempted to encourage the king to grant basic legal rights in return for granting tax increases

“Short Parliament”

a Scottish military revolt in 1639-1640 occured when Charles attempted to impose the English Common Book of Prayer on the Scottish Presbyterian Church → Charles I declared war on his own Parliament

“Long Parliament”

desperate for money after the schottish invasion of northern England in 1640, Charles I finally agreed to certain demands by Parliament → could not be dissolved without its own consent, meet once every 3 years, common court laws over kings, etc.

English Civil War

Charles tried to arrest several Puritan members of Parliament (MPs) but a crowd of 4000 came to Parliament’s defense

Cavaliers

supported the king → clergy and members of anglican church, old gentry members, Irish Catholics

Roundheads

opposed the king → mostly Puritans and Presbyterians, allied with Scotland

Oliver Cromwell (1653-1658)

a fiercly Puritan Independent and military leader of the Roundheads, eventually led his New Model Army to victory in 1649, then became his own absolute leader in England

Independent

Cronwell was this as a Puritan leading his New Model Army

New Model Army

The army that Cromwell led to victory

Pride’s Purge

Parliment debated whether to restore Charles to the throne → Charles I beheaded

Quakers

• Believed in an inner light, a divine spark

• Rejected Church authority

• Allowed women to play a role in preaching

Interregnum

rule without a king → The Commonwealth: a republic that abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords

Protectorate

Oliver Cromwell declared himself Lord Protector (a Puritan dictatorship was created)

Restoration

Cromwell died and the Stuarts returned to the throne

Charles II (1660-1685)

A Cavalier Parliament restored unter Charles II → agreed to abide by Parliament’s rules

Clarendon Code

Instituted in 1661 by monarchists and Anglicans who sought to drive all Puritans out of both political and religious life

Test Act, 1673

excluded those unwilling to recieve the sacrament of the Churhc of England from voting, holding office, preaching, teaching, attendign universities, or assembing for meetings

Habeas Corpus Act, 1679

The Whig Parliament sought to limits Charles’ power

James II (1685-1688)

sought to return England to Catholicism

“Glorious Revolution”

Parliament was not willing to sacrifice constitutional gains of the English Civil War and return to absolute monarchy → didn’t like James II

William and Mary

were declared joint sovereigns by Parliament → signed Bill of Rights

Bill of Rights

made Enlgand a constitutional monarchy

constitutional monarchy

both parliament and the monarch share power

parlimentary sovereignty

Parliament is more surpreme than monarch

John Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government (1690)

stated that people create a government to protect their “natural rights” of life liberty and property

Toleration Act, 1689

granted the right to worship for Protestant non-conformists although they could nto hold office, did not extend religious liberties to Catholics, Jews, or Unitarians

Act of Settlement, 1701

If King William or Anne died without children, the crown would pass to the granddaughter of James I, the Hanoverian electress dowager, or to her Protestant heirs

Act of Union, 1707

United England and Scotland into Great Britain

Great Britain

The result of the Act of Union in 1707

Cabinet system

Leading ministers, who were members of the House of Commons and had the support of the majority of its members, made common policy and conducted the business of the country

Prime Minister

a member of the majority that was the leader of the government

Robert Walpole

viewed as the first Prime Minister in British history

Dutch Republic (Netherlands)

first half of the 17th century was a golden age → oligarchy of urban gentry and rural landholders to promote trade and to protect traditional rights

stadholder

each Dutch province elected this as a governor and military leader

Dutch Reformed Church

charactertized by religious toleration → Calvanism was the dominant religion → split between this and Arminian faction

Arminianism

Calvanism without the belief of predestination

Amsterdam

became the banking and commercial center of Europe in the 17th century → mercantalism

Dutch East India Company

cooperature ventures of private enterprise and the state → had a trade monopoly in spices in India

Dutch Style

human centered painting style with naturalism that considered individuals and everyday life appropriate objects of artistic representation was encouraged through the patronage of both princes and commercial elites → reflected Dutch Republic's wealth and religious toleration

Rembrandt van Rijn

painter, maybe the greatest of Baroque-era artists, had some Dutch Style art

VJan ermeer

his paintings specialized in domestic interior scenes of ordianry people

Frans Hals

he painted protraits of middle class people and military companies

absolutism

The concept of absolutism was derived from the traditional assumption of power (e.g. heirs to the throne) and the belief in “divine right of kings.”

sovereignty

the authority of a state to govern itself or another state → was embodied in the person of the ruler

Jean Bodin

He was among the first to provide a theoretical basis for absolutist states → he lived and wrote during the chaos of the French Civil Wars of the late 16th century → he believed that only absolutism could provide order and force people to obey the government.

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

He articulated a pessimistic view of human beings in a state of nature: he stated political sovereignty is derived from the people who transfer it to the monarchy by implicit contract, his ideas justified absolute monarchy

Bishop Bossuet

He was the principle advocate of “divine right of kings” in France during the reign of Louis XIV.

three estates

First Estate: clergy; 1% of population

Second Estate: nobility; 3-4% of population

Third Estate: bourgeoisie (middle class), artisans, urban workers, and peasants.

Henry IV

He laid the foundation for France becoming the strongest European power in the 17th century.

• He strengthened the social hierarchy by strengthening government institutions: parlements (councils of noble judges), the treasury, universities, and the Catholic Church.

• He was the first king to actively encourage French colonization in the New World; this stimulated the Atlantic trade.

Bourbon Dynasty

came to power in 1589 as part of a political compromise to end the French Civil Wars → He converted from Calvinism to Catholicism in order to gain recognition from Paris for his reign → He issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598

nobility of the sword

was not allowed to influence the royal council.

nobility of the robe

new nobles who purchased their titles from the monarchy, became highofficials in the government and remained loyal to the king

Duke of Sully

Finance minister → His reforms enhanced the power of the monarchy.

Louis XIII

As a youth, his regency was beset by corruption and mismanagement → Feudal nobles and princes increased their power. Certain nobles convinced him to assume power and exile

his mother.

Cardinal Richelieu

laid the foundation for absolutism in France.

Intendant system

Used to weaken the nobility

• Gov’t became more efficient and centrally controlled.

• He built upon Sully’s economic achievements in further developing mercantilism.

• He increased taxation to fund the military although his tax policies were not as successfully as Sully’s.

Peace of Alais

Huguenots lost their fortified cities and Protestant armies.

Louis XIV, Sun King

Quintessential absolute ruler in European history → He personified the idea that the sovereignty of the state resides in the ruler.

“L’etat, c’est moi"

“I am the state” → Louis XIV saying

Fronde

Some nobles revolted against Mazarin when Louis was between the ages of 5 and 11. A civil war among various noble factions enabled Mazarin to defeat the nobles.

Cardinal Mazarin

controlled France while Louis XIV was a child.

corvee

forced labor that required peasants to work for a month out of the year on roads and other public projects.

Versailles Palace

Under Louis XIV, the Palace at Versailles became the grandest and most impressive palace in all of Europe.

Edict of Fountainbleu

revoked the Edict of Nantes → Huguenots lost their right to practice Calvinism

Jansenists

Catholics who held some Calvinist ideas

mercantilism

State control over a country’s economy in order to achieve a favorable balance of trade with other countries

bullionism

defines wealth by the amount of precious metals owned

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

French mercantilism reached its height under Louis’ finance minister → goal: economic self-sufficiency for France

balance of power

No one country would be allowed to dominate the continent since a coalition of other countries would rally against a threatening power

Nine Years’ War

(War of the League of Augsburg) → Louis launched another invasion of the Spanish Netherlands in 1683. In response the League of Augsburg formed in 1686: HRE,Spain, Sweden, Bavaria, Saxony, and the Dutch Republic → William of Orange (now king of England) brought England in against France. The war ended with the status quo prior to the war.

War of the Spanish Succession

The will of Charles II (Spanish Habsburg king) gave all Spanish territories to the grandson of Louis XIV. The Grand Alliance emerged in opposition to France: England, Dutch Republic, HRE, Brandenburg, Portugal, Savoy

Treaty of Utrecht

It maintained the balance of power in Europe and it ended the expansionism of Louis XIV.

Treaty of the Pyrenees, 1659

marked end of Spain as a Great Power

Baroque

Baroque art reflected the age of absolutism.

Gian Bernini

personified Baroque architecture and sculpture.

Schonbrunn

Hapsburg emperor Leopold I built this in Austria in response to the Versailles Palace.

Winter Palace

one of the most glorious examples of Baroque architecture in Russia.

Peter Paul Rubens

Flemish painter → He worked much for the Habsburg court in Brussels → emphasized color and sensuality; animated figures and melodramatic contrasts; monumental size → mostly Chritian subjects

Diego Velazquez

Perhaps the greatest court painter of the era → He painted numerous portraits of the Spanish court of Philip IV and their surroundings.

J.S. Bach

Greatest of the Baroque composers

George Frideric Handel

he wrote in a variety of genre → His masterpiece is the oratorio The Messiah.

Holy Roman Empire

Religious divisions due to the Reformation and religious wars in the 16th and 17th centuries split Germany among Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist princes.

Ottoman Empire

It could not maintain possessions in eastern Europe and the Balkans in the face of Austrian and Russian expansion.

Suleiman the Magnificent

was perhaps the most powerful ruler in the world during the 16th century → He nearly conquered Austria in 1529, and captured Belgrade (Serbia), nearly 1/2 of eastern Europe including all Balkan territories, most of Hungary, and part of southern Russia.

Janissary Corps

Those Christian slaves who were not selected for the Ottoman bureaucracy served loyally instead in the Turkish army.

Polish Kingdom

Used liberum veto

liberum veto

voting in the Polish parliament had to be unanimous for changes to be made; thus, little could be done to systematically strengthen the kingdom

serfdom

after 1300, lords in eastern Europe revived serfdom to combat increasing economic challenges. → Areas most affected included Bohemia, Silesia, Hungary, eastern Germany, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. The drop in population in the 14th century (especially from the “Black Death”) created tremendous labor shortages and hard times for nobles.

robot

In certain regions, peasants were required to work 3-4 days without pay per week for their local lord.

Hapsburg Empire (Austrian Empire)

The ruler of Austria was traditionally selected as the Holy Roman Emperor. After the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13) and the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), the Spanish throne was now occupied by the Bourbons; Habsburg power was concentrated in Austria. The Austrian Habsburg Empire included: Naples, Sardinia, and Milan in Italy

Bohemia

The Czech (Bohemian) nobility was wiped out during the Bohemian phase of Thirty Years’ War. Ferdinand II (1619-1637) redistributed Czech lands to aristocratic soldiers from all over Europe. Conditions for serfs declined.

Austria proper

centralized by Ferdinand III (1637-1657). Ferdinand created a permanent standing army which was unprecedented for the Habsburg empire

Hungary

was the third and largest part of its dominion.

Leopold I

He severely restricted Protestant worship.