Absolutism, Constitutionalism, and the AP European History LEQ Guide

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

Chief financial advisor to Louis XIV who instituted mercantilist policies, promoted domestic manufacturing, and financed canals and roadways across France.

Robe Nobles (noblesse de robe)

Newer French aristocratic class who acquired titles through administrative service or purchasing royal offices, favored by Louis XIV to staff his centralized bureaucracy.

Nobles of the Sword (noblesse d'épée)

Traditional military aristocracy of France claiming lineage from medieval feudal knights, whose political independence was subordinated under the court rituals of Versailles.

Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

French court preacher and political theorist who articulated the justification for absolute monarchy, claiming kings govern by divine authority as God's representatives on Earth.

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685)

Royal decree issued by Louis XIV abolishing religious toleration for Huguenots in order to enforce the principle of "un roi, une loi, une foi" (one king, one law, one faith).

Frederick William, the Great Elector

Hohenzollern ruler who unified fragmented territories such as Brandenburg and East Prussia by building a formidable standing army and striking compromises with the landed aristocracy.

Junkers

Prussian noble landowning elite who secured complete authority over serfs and exemptions from taxes in exchange for military service as army officers.

Table of Ranks

1722 reform introduced by Peter the Great that based social standing and noble privileges on performance and loyalty in state civil or military service rather than aristocratic lineage.

Treaty of Nystad (1721)

Peace treaty ending the Great Northern War between Russia and Sweden, granting Russia Baltic coastal lands and providing a critical maritime connection to Western Europe.

Liberum Veto

Parliamentary voting principle in the Polish Sejm that permitted any single aristocratic deputy to dissolve the diet and nullify all legislation, contributing to political paralysis.

Oliver Cromwell

Puritan military commander who led the parliamentary New Model Army in the English Civil War, executed Charles I, and established a military dictatorship as Lord Protector during the Interregnum.

Test Act (1673)

English parliamentary statute barring Catholics and non-Anglican dissenters from public employment, holding military commissions, and voting by requiring an explicit oath against transubstantiation.

English Bill of Rights (1689)

Landmark constitutional statute signed by William and Mary that limited monarchical power by establishing regular parliaments, mandating parliamentary consent for taxation, and protecting legislative free speech.

Dutch Republic Political System

Decentralized republican oligarchy governed by affluent urban merchants (regents) and rural gentry in the Estates-General who restrained the stadtholder's dynastic ambitions.