Absolutism

Evolution of theory of absolutism - medieval England had 3 groups fighting for power: church, monarchs, nobles; each could tax, raise armies, command loyalty

Absolutism - a ruler whose power is not limited in any way; does not have to consult nobles, representatives, or the people; believed they ruled with divine right (power granted and protected by God; couldn’t be challenged)

Divine Right of Kings - provided justification for absolutism by stating that the monarch’s authority came directly from God

Magna Carta - 1215; signed by Henry II’s son John (very oppressive, excessively taxes, abuses his power)

  • puts clear limits on royal power
    • monarch must obey the law, is NOT above law
  • Can’t tax without consent of Great Council
    • eventually called Parliament
  • Trial by jury is a right, no arbitrary arrests or imprisonment
    • evolves into “due process”…where do we see this today?
  • Intended originally for nobles , soon expands to all Englishmen

Battle of Hastings - 1066; king dies with no heir, between William and Harold, William wins and becomes William the Conqueror, king of England

  • demanded loyalty from vassals/lords
  • carries out first census (benefit was to collect taxes)

Parliament - represents the people; two houses/bodies: one for lords/clergy, one for common people; basis for legislature; gets more powerful over the years (controls the money)

England’s parliament was referred to as the model parliament since it included middle-class representation and served as an example for England’s future legislative

Tudor Monarchy

  • Ruled from 1485-1603
  • Cooperated with Parliament
    • Magna Carta (1215)
    • Checks on the king’s power
  • King Henry VII was the first Tudor
  • King Henry VIII (VII’s son)
    • Most powerful Tudor
    • Broke from the Catholic Church
    • Resulted in the English Reformation
    • Turmoil after his death
  • Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I tried controlling Parliament, but they still needed approval from it

Henry VII - Catholic

Henry VIII - Catholic → Protestant; broke away from the church since they refused to grant an annulment on the grounds that his wife couldn’t give him a male heir; cooperated with Parliament since they legalized his break from the church by approving the Act of Supremacy

  • wanted to divorce Catherine, no male heir
  • wants Anne Boleyn
    • Anne crowned, Elizabeth born 3 months later
  • Pope said no
  • Henry makes himself head of Church of England to do so anyway

Act of Supremacy - established monarchs as the head of church

Elizabeth I

  • 1558-1603
  • Supported Mary in her path to Queen
    • Was raised Protestant
    • Imprisoned during Mary’s reign and forced to conform to Catholicism
  • After Mary died, she became queen at 24
    • Inherited a bankrupt country, torn by religious strife and weakened by war with France
  • She was popular and never married
    • She distrusted European monarchs
  • Reigned during the highest cultural period
    • Shakespeare/Marlowe and many explorers
  • pushed for a fully Protestant England

Mary I

  • 1553-1558
  • Was the granddaughter of King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella of Spain
    • Was raised Catholic
    • Known as Bloody Mary
    • Had Protestants burned at the stake
    • Married Philip II of Spain
    • Died childless

Edward VI

  • 1547-1553
  • Came to power when he was nine, only reigned for seven years
    • Was raised Protestant
    • No notable achievements

Spanish Armada - defeated by the English Navy in 1588; sent by Spain because England supported the Dutch Rebellion (Spain had claims in the Netherlands) and saw Elizabeth as an illegitimate ruler (she was Protestant, Spain was Catholic); defeat marked the start of decline as a world power; 1/3 destroyed in hit & run warfare, 1/3 destroyed by weather, 1/3 went back to Spain

Stuart monarchy

  • After Tudors

Absolute monarch

James I

  • 1603-1625
  • King of Scotland
  • Rules like an absolute monarch
    • believed in divine right, Parliament didn’t agree with that
  • Persecuted Puritans
    • wanted to purify Church of England of all Catholic remnants
    • James eventually forced them into exile for going against his authority… they begin leaving for the New World
  • Promised to rule by English custom
    • Tried to assert Divine Right
  • Parliament wanted to discuss the usage of funds before voting
    • He dissolved Parliament
  • Clashed with the Puritans
    • Issued the King James Bible to appease them
    • Also maintained a friendship with Catholic Spain which caused tension

Puritans - a Calvinist sect that wanted to purify the Catholic Church

Charles I

  • 1625-1649
  • James I’s son
  • More inept than his father (also acts like an absolute monarch)
    • Fought against Spain
  • Called on Parliament to help fund the war
    • They refused unless he signed the Petition of Right
    • Forbade the king to:
      • Levy taxes w/o consent
      • Proclaim martial law in peacetime
      • Imprison people w/o specific charges
      • Quarter troops w/o owner’s permission
    • He accepted but later ignored it and dissolved Parliament
    • Ruled without Parliament from 1629-1640

Petition of Right - didn’t allow the king to levy taxes without consent, proclaim martial law in peacetime, imprison people without specific charges, quarter troops without owner’s permission; was designed to protect people

Cavaliers - Charles’ army; composed of nobles/landowners

Roundheads - led by Oliver Cromwell; Parliament/Puritan army

  • Royalist army surrendered after 7 years
  • Parliament in complete control of English government
  • Parliament declared England a republic (known as the Commonwealth) under Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

  • 1653-1658
  • After Parliament failed to pay troops Cromwell expelled it and declared a military dictatorship
    • Levellers, who wanted the poor to have more say in government gained a voice
    • As did the Puritans, who wanted to root out godlessness
    • Sunday set aside for religious worship
    • All theaters and taverns closed
    • Education was encouraged
    • Marriage based on love and fidelity
  • Increased England’s power but was not popular because of the Puritan morals
  • successful in terms of power/conquest (defeated the Irish and Scots)

Charles II

  • 1660-1685
  • Was immediately popular because he reversed the Puritan morals
    • Cromwell was so hated that it heightened Charles II’s appeal
  • Believed in absolutism but avoided clashing with Parliament
  • Reestablished the Church of England
    • However, he encouraged tolerance of all Protestant groups
  • Created the Royal Society of London
    • Shift towards innovation

James II

  • 1685-1688
  • Suspended laws on a whim and openly practiced Catholicism
    • Parliament was concerned but tolerated him because he had no male heir
  • Then his wife gave birth to a son
    • Fearful that Catholicism would be reestablished in England, Parliament pulled a switcheroo
  • Parliament secretly offered the crown to William the King of Holland
    • He was married to James’ Protestant daughter Mary

English Civil War

constitutional monarchy

Glorious Revolution

English Bill of Rights

Charles V (including why he wore more than one crown)

  • heir to Spain and Holy Roman Empire
  • devout Catholic

Phillip II

Dutch Revolts

In the Spanish Netherlands, Philip II maintained an army because the Dutch had little in common with their Spanish rules

  • Netherlands had many Calvinists and a prosperous middle class
    • Spain’s economy was sluggish at the time
  • Philip II raised taxes and Dutch rioted in response
    • Targeted Catholic churches
    • Spanish army punished rebels
    • 1,500 executed in one day

Lasted over a decade, before Protestant provinces claimed their independence (Twelve Years’ Truce)

  • Northern provinces (Protestant)
    • Became the United Provinces of the Netherlands
  • Southern provinces (Catholic)
    • Remained under Spanish control

War of Spanish Succession

Philip II->Philip III-> Philip IV->Charles II

War of Spanish Succession was the most significant war in Spain

  • Lasted from 1701-1713
  • King Charles II died without an heir
  • Multiple claims to the throne by relatives in France, Austria and the Holy Roman Empire
    • Louis XIV claimed the throne for the Bourbon dynasty
    • His grandson, Philip of Anjou was made king
  • Fear of united France/Spanish crown
  • Causes
    • Attempts to resolve succession failed
    • England, Prussia, Dutch and Austria join in the Grand Alliance
    • Effort to preserve European balance of power

  Course & Effect

  • In 1713, war ended with Treaty of Utrecht
  • Philip V remained first Bourbon king of Spain
    • France/Spain never unite
  • Treaty represents balance of power by limiting expansion

Spain’s Golden Age

Between 1550-1650, Spain experienced a golden age in the arts

  • Philip II became the patron of arts
  • The works of two great painters show both the faith and pride in Spain
    • El Greco
    • Haunting religious pictures
    • Dramatic views of Toledo
    • Velazquez
    • Portraits of Nobles
    • Court painter for Philip IV

Don Quixote

In 1605, Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote is published

  • Often called the birth of the modern European novel
  • About a poor Spanish nobleman that read too many books, went crazy and thought he was a knight
    • He attacks a windmill thinking it’s a giant
  • Suspected that this is Cervantes way of expressing dissatisfaction with materialistic world

Treaty of Utrecht

  • ended the War of Spanish Succession