AP Euro -- Absolutist Era

The Witchcraft Craze

The Witchcraft Craze

The era of increased anxiety around witchcraft, especially in Protestant regions, that led to the increased targeting of widows and older independent women. Fizzled out by 30 Year’s War

Causes of the Thirty Years War

Calvinism surpasses Lutheran religion allowed by Peace of Augsburg in HRE; leads to conflict with Catholicism and ensnared with Hapsburg alliances

The Bohemian Phase

Mostly religious, Calvinist Bohemia v. HRE leads to HRE as Catholic and victor v. Bohemia

Defenestration of Prague

1618, When a group of Bohemian revolutionaries threw Hapsburg government officials out of a government building’s window to protest Catholic rule.

The Danish Phase

Lutheran Denmark intervenes for Protestants, leads to Lutheran defeat and increased HRE power, scaring German princes

The Swedish Phase

Lutheran Sweden intervenes, close victory of HRE who wants peace but Sweden continues fighting.

The Franco-Swedish Phase

French Catholic Richelieu sees opportunity vs Hapsburgs and sides with Sweden, leads to French victory v. Spain and HRE

Battle of Rocroi

1643, Ensures France as the greatest EU power while Spain is in decline

Treaty of Westphalia

1648, Signalled an end to religious warfare with the tolerance of Calvinism in HRE and the decline of HRE power in German states. Also formally recognized Dutch independence from Spain.

Social Effects of 30 Years War

Most disastrous war yet with the main powers battling, along with economic turmoil

Absolutism

A system of government in which the ruler claims sole and uncontestable power.  Absolute monarchs were not limited by constitutional restraints.

Divine-Right Authority

The idea that rulers receive their authority from God and are answerable only to God  Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, a French bishop and court preacher to Louis IXV, provided the theological justification for the divine right of kings by declaring that “the state of the monarchy is the supremest thing on earth, for kings are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God himself are called gods.  In the scriptures kings are called Gods, and their power is compared to the divine powers.”

Cardinal Richelieu

Began to centralize French monarchy power with increased central taxes prior to Louis XIV

Intendants

French royal officials who supervised provincial governments in the name of the king.  Intendants played a key role in establishing French absolutism.

Cardinal Mazarin

Put down the Frondes prior to Louis XIV’s reign, but was not well-liked and showed the need for a king to come to power

Fronde

A series of rebellions against royal authority in France between 1649 and 1652.  The Fronde played a key role in Louis XIV’s decision to leave Paris and build the Versailles Palace.

Louis XIV

The “sun king”, most well-known absolutist, centralized France under the monarchy and curtailed aristocratic power with Versailles

The War of Spanish Succession

One of Louis XIV’s costly wars that detrimented the French economy, led to little gain and a lot of land compromise

Treaty of Utrecht

1713, gave up a lot of Canadian land to English, leading to English superiority as a naval power.

Frederick William the Elector

One of the first absolutists in Prussia who worked to centralize the Prussian state and raise it to a great military power.

Leopold I

Austrian king who worked to maintain absolutism, but aristocratic power declined it.

Junkers

Prussia’s landowning nobility.  The Junkers supported the monarchy and served in the army in exchange for absolute power over their serfs.

Robot

System of forced labor used in Eastern Europe.  Peasants usually owed three or four days a week of forced labor.  The system was abolished in 1848.

Peter the Great

Russian Absolutist who sought to westernize Russia in Petersburg, strengthen its military, and centralize the monarchy.

The Great Northern War

Saw the decline of Sweden and the rise of Russia in the western Baltic sea.

Dutch Golden Age

Marked by economic prosperity in Amsterdam from banking and stock companies, led to Dutch domesticity and Dutch artistic movements.

King James I

First of the Stuarts, alienated Puritans under his divine-right ideals

King Charles I

Stirs conflict under Catholic marriage and rejection of Parliament authority

Long Parliament

followed after Charles I’s rejection of Parliament meetings, led to English Civil War against the king’s arbitrary powers.

Cromwell

Radical military dictator of the Puritans who declared England a republic

Charles II

Catholic king who issues the Declaration of Indulgence who was opposed greatly by Protestant parliament with the Test Act of 1673

James II

Catholic king whose Catholic heir becomes fearful to Protestant Parliament

Glorious Revolution

The upheaval of England by William and Mary into a more Parliament-focused constitutional monarchy.

The English Bill of Rights

1689, led to more civil rights for the English and the Parliament as the head of government.

Mannerism

a sixteenth-century artistic movement in Europe that deliberately broke down the High Renaissance principles of balance, harmony, and moderation. Reflected Reformation anxieties.

Baroque

an artistic movement of the seventeenth century in Europe that used dramatic effects to arouse the emotions and reflected the search for power that was a large part of the seventeenth-century ethos.

Ecstacy of Saint Teresa

Baroque piece that captures the dramatic, religious nature of Baroque and the emphasis of glory

Elizabethan Literature

Gold age of English literature brought by Elizabethan culture with Shakespeare.