CHAPTER 15 ABSOLUTISM

THE WITCHCRAFT CRAZE Trials occurred in England, Scotland,

Switzerland, Germany, France and New England

Affected both Catholics and Protestants Was seen as part of village culture for

centuries Churches connected it with heresy and

tried to wipe it out Secular authorities burned people at the

stake

Jacob Sprenger & Heinrich Kramer

The Catholic Church sent the two friars to Germany to investigate and get rid of witches

Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of the Witches) – was the standard on practices of witchcraft and how to discover and try witches

INCREASE OF EXECUTIONS

Over 100,000 prosecuted for witchcraft

The more trials, the more fear there was of witches

Though large cities had trials, most trials were found in smaller towns and rural areas

THOSE ACCUSED

Almost all victims were poor and propertyless

Usually milkmaids, peasant women, and servant girls

80% of those accused were single, widowed or 50 years old

THOSE ACCUSED

The accused usually confessed as confessions were extracted by torture

often they confessed to things like swearing allegiance to the devil, having night gathering of feasting dancing and having sexual orgies with the devil

Many trials occurred where Protestantism had just been established

WHY WOMEN

Old women no longer received charity

they tried to survive by selling herbs, potion and secret remedies for healing

The belief that women were inferior to men mentally and morally

Believed there weakness would lead them to temptation

17TH Century Crises: War & Rebellions Thirty Years War

Religion, secularism, and dynastic-nationalist considerations were all part of the outbreak

Though fought in Germany, but all of Europe was involved

Spain wanted to regain control of the Netherlands to have full control of trade

The Austrian Habsburgs wanted to join Austria and Bohemia by ending Protestantism and establishing a strong central authority

wanted more authority over Germany’s hundreds of individual states

Lutherans and Catholics still fought over the spread of their faith in the German states even though the Peace of Augsburg was signed

Protestant Union of German states

Formed by Calvinist Frederick IV

The Protestant Union was supported by the Dutch, English and French

CATHOLIC LEAGUE

Created by Duke Maximilian

The Catholic League was supported by the Holy Roman Emperor and Spain

Phase One of War – The Bohemian Phase

Bohemia accepted Archduke Ferdinand as their king but became unhappy as he started turning Bohemia Catholic

Protestant nobles rebelled

throwing two Habsburg governors out a window, and seizing control of Bohemia

Ferdinand was replaced by Fredrick V, head of the Protestant Union

Ferdinand refused to accept his dismissal and the Catholic League defeated the Bohemian nobles

Ferdinand became king of Bohemia again and established Catholicism

Phase Two – The Danish Phase

King Christian IV of Denmark intervened for Protestantismwas defeated by the imperial forces and northern Germany became occupiedFerdinand issued the Edict of RestitutionProhibited Calvinist worship and restored all land taken by Protestant nobles to the Catholic church

Phase Three – The Swedish Phase

Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, rid the north of Germany of imperial forces

The Swedes wining another battle but lost the Swedish king

Swedish forces were driven out of southern Germany

Southern Germany would remain Catholic

Phase Four – The Franco-Swedish Phase

Religious issues lost significance as the French directly entered the war

1643 – Battle of Rocroi the French brought an end to Spanish greatness

defeated Bavarian forces

Treaty of Westphalia

All German states were free to determine their own religionFrance gained parts of western Germany – AlsaceBrandenburg and Bavaria gained territoryThe Austrian Habsburgs lost any authority as rulers

Treaty of Westphalia

All 300 German states were recognized as independent states – ending the Holy Roman EmpireReligion and politics were now separate Political motives became the guiding force behind public affairs Religion was relegated to personal matters

A Military Revolution

Military power was essential to a ruler’s reputation and powerAn increased of firearms and cannonsGreater flexibility and mobility of tacticsBetter disciplined and trained armies This caused standing armies to become necessary, and became larger and more expensiveGovernments increased taxes to fight battles so much that rebellions occurred in almost every country

The Theory of Absolutism

Absolute monarchy or absolutism – ultimate authority in the state rested in the hands of a king who claimed to rule by divine right

Sovereign power authorizes the king to make laws, tax, administer justice, administrate and determine foreign policy

The Theory of Absolutism

Bishop Jacques Bossuet – Politics Drawn from the Very Words of the Holy Scripture – government was ordained by god so humans could live in an organized society

God established kings & reigned over people through them

Since kings receive their power from god, their authority was absolute

Responsible to no one but god

Absolutism in Western Europe – France and Absolute Monarchy

Louis XIV’s reign royal and ministerial governments struggled to keep power over the state

Louis XIII and XIV were boys when they became king leaving the government dependent on royal ministers

Cardinal Richelieu

Cardinal Richelieu was Louis XIII’s chief minister

Eliminated the political and military right of Huguenots making them more reliable subjects

Developed a network of spies among nobles to uncover plots and conspiracies to eliminate threats to royal authority

Sent intendants – royal officials, to provinces to execute government orders

Cardinal Mazarin

Richelieu’s successor

He successfully ended the first Fronde – French revolt in Paris through a compromise

Ended the second Fronde by getting the nobles to fight each other

The Reign of Louis XIV

Louis XIV created the court of Versailles making it the standard for monarchies and aristocracies in Europe

Louis restructured the government as part of his own court & household

Royal Court

Served three purposes The personal household

of the king The location of the

central government Where powerful

subjects came for favors and offices and fought each other for power

Louis and His Rule

Worked with hereditary office holders that balanced his wishes with their own

He used his intendants as his eyes and ears as they were usually ineffective in their job

Informal system of patronage which usually meant bribing important people to ensure the kings policies were executed

Louis and the Huguenots

Louis did not the like the HuguenotsTried converted Huguenots by quartering misbehaving soldiers in their homesIssued the Edict of Fontainebleu – destroyed Huguenot churches and schoolsRevoked the Edict of Nantes – caused many Huguenots with needed skills to leave the country

Maintaining the court

Building Versailles, maintaining the court and wars were costly

Jean Colbert – minister of finances enforced mercantilism – government regulation of economic activity for the benefit of the state

Increased quantity and quality of manufactured goodsCreated new luxury industriesImproved communications and transportationRaised tariffs on foreign goods

Daily Life at the Court of Versailles

The residence of the king, a reception hall for state affairs, an office for his government and the home of royal officials and courtiers

By making it the home of high nobility, he kept them busy with daily court activities keeping them from real power

Nobles were active because it was considered an honor and it was a prerequisite for obtaining an office or title

The Wars of Louis XIV

French resources allowed Louis to create the largest and most powerful army in Europe

Wanted to expand France to its natural borders

he gained Strasbourg and part of Alsace

The War of Spanish Succession

When Charles II of Spain died Louis XIV’s grandson became King Philip V of Spain

Peaces of Utrect and Rastatt confirmed Philip as the Spanish ruler, but would remain separate from France

England received Gibraltar, and Canada and emerged as a formidable naval power

Absolutism in The German States The Rise of Brandenburg-Prussia The Hohenzollern dynasty controlled Brandenburg-

Prussia which consisted of three areas of Germany, linked only by their ruler

Frederick William the Great came to power and built a standing strong army

Established the General War Commissariat to levy taxes to pay and train the army

Its officials were Junkers – members of the landed aristocracy

The nobles support Frederick William – had an agreement In return for being able to run the government freely,

Frederick gave the nobles unlimited power over the peasant He exempted them from taxes, made them high officials in

the military and Commissariat, and allowed them to makes peasants into serfs

Frederick followed mercantilism to establish high tariffs, subsidies and monopolies to increase industry

20,000 Huguenots from France came to work further improving the economy

His son Frederick III spent most of the treasury’s money on building palaces and universities

The Emergence of Austria

The Austrian Habsburgs increased their hereditary possessions by adding Bohemia

Leopold I expanded Austria east while fighting the Turks

The Treaty of Karlowitz gave Austria control of Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia and Slovenia

The War of Spanish Succession gave Austria the Spanish Netherlands, as well as parts of Italy

Austria remained a collection of territories held together by one family

From Muscovy to Russia Ivan IV was the first tsar and

expanded Russian territories Ivan extended his power by

crushing the Russian nobility – boyars

After Ivan died the aristocrats came to power once again during the Time of Troubles

It ended when the Zemsky Sobor – national assembly made Michael Romanov the new tsar

The Reign of Peter the Great

Determined to westernize Russia He never summoned the Duma or Zemsky

Sobor and created a senate to run the country while he was away on military campaigns

The military consumed 4/5 of state revenue He gained control of the Russian Orthodox

church and created a body called the Holy Synod to make decisions for the church

To become more European, Russians had to shave their beards and cut their coats at the knees

Women benefited greatly from Peter’s cultural reforms; could marry of their own free will

Peter wanted an ice-free port so he warred with Sweden with the support of Poland and Denmark

Peace of Nystadt – Peter acquired his port along with Estonia, Livonia and Karelia

The Ottoman Empire After the conquest of Constantinople Sultan

Suleiman I seized Hungary and attempted to conquer Vienna but failed

The Ottoman Empire became an official power in Europe as illustrated by the following:

Other countries were trying to seek alliances and trade concessions with them

They had an effective governmental system led by strong sultans that would murder their brothers to avoid challenges to their power

The Limits of Absolutism

The most successful monarchs gained control of central policy making decisions

Formulation of foreign policy, making war and peach, the church, taxation and intervened in economic affairs

The most successful rulers used the old system to their advantage and made consideration to the aristocracy to gain their support as they still possessed immense power

Limited Monarchy and Republics

The Weakness of the Polish Monarchy The monarchy was elected by the Polish diet –

Sejm Elected the king from a group of foreigners The king had to share power with the Sejm Meetings could be stopped by a person causing

chaos Different religions were tolerated as long as they

were practiced privately William’s death left the United Provinces without

a direct heir and republican forces quickly gained power

Life in 17th Century Amsterdam

Refugees from the Spanish Netherlands, intellectuals, Jews, merchants and workers helped it prosper

This caused both a physical and populous expansion of Amsterdam

It was the European crossroads for world good which allowed raw materials to be turned into finished goods

It was the financial center of Europe which allowed large amounts of capital to be readily available for investment

Just as everywhere else in Europe there was a huge disparity between the wealthy and poor

England and the Emergence of Constitutional Monarchy

Revolution and Civil WarThe Stuarts came to power after Queen Elizabeth’s deathJames I, her cousin from Scotland knew little about the English and saw himself as an absolute ruler, thereby alienating ParliamentJames also alienated Puritans by refusing to eliminate the Anglican church because of its support for monarchial authority

Charles I

became king and Parliament passed the Petition of Right

Prohibited taxes without Parliaments consent, arbitrary imprisonment, the quartering of soldiers in private houses and the declaration of martial law during peace time

Charles didn’t sing it & didn’t call Parliament for 11 years

Charles I Charles married Louis XIII’s Catholic sisterImposed the Anglican Book of Common Prayer upon Scotland causing them to rebelCharles called Parliament for tax money but they wouldn’t give it to him without limitations on the king’s authorityAbolition of taxes collected without Parliament’s approval and that Parliament must meet at least once every three years

Oliver Cromwell

Parliament created a New Model Army (mainly Puritan) led by Oliver Cromwell – trained in new continental military tactics

Charles was captured, then escaped, and captured again

Charles became the first king beheaded by his people and it was done legally – Rump Parliament,

Oliver Cromwell

Rump Parliament abolished the monarchy, House of Lords, the Anglican Church and declared themselves a republic – Commonwealth

Cromwell found it difficult to work with the Rump Parliament so he dispersed it by force

Set up the Instrument of Government

That didn’t work either so Cromwell dissolved it again

He died in 1658, rule by the military ended and the monarchy was reestablished in the form of Charles II

Restoration and a Glorious Revolution

Parliament kept much of its power, its consent to for tax was accepted by the and the Anglican church was restored

It passed laws forcing Catholics and Puritans to conform to the Anglican church

King Charles issued a Declaration of Indulgence to suspend the laws Parliament had passed

Parliament passed a Test Act stating that only Anglicans can hold military and civil office

Charles II died and his Catholic brother James II was king

James II appointed Catholics to these positions and

passed another Declaration of Indulgence to make it legal

James was growing old and only had two Protestant daughters as his heir, but he then had a Catholic son

Some English noblemen went to the Netherlands and asked his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange to invade England and become co-rulers

They did, James fled to France and without blood, England had undergone the Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution

In order for William and Mary to rule England they had to sign the English Bill of Rights

It stated that Parliament had the right to make laws, levy takes without opposition from the king

Armies could only be raised with its approval

Citizens had the right to petition, keep arms, have a jury trial and not be subject to excessive bail

By deposing one king and establishing another, Parliament had destroyed the divine-right theory of kingship and confirmed its right to participate in government

Responses to Revolution

Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan – the state has absolute authority over the people

People created a commonwealth to which they owe their peace and defense in the hand of a ruler

His subjects may not rebel

John Locke – Two Treatises of Government – argued against the absolute rule of one man

People created a government to ensure the protections of their rights to life, liberty and property

A mutual agreement obligated the government to protect their rights as long as the people acted reasonably toward government

If government broke their agreement rebellion was necessary

Locke believed that rights were only warranted to the landholding aristocracy

Culture in a Turbulent World

Mannerism was replaced by the Baroque – end of 16th century ItalyCombined Renaissance art with the intense religious feelings ofthe ReformationBaroque was embraced by the Catholic ReformationBaroque art reflected the search for power as churches and palaces displayed ornamented facades, grand staircases and splendor meant to impress people

Art

Mannerist painters deliberately distorted the proportions of figures to convey a sense of suffering, anxiety and confusion

El Greco – painted elongated and contorted figures against an background of grays creating intense emotions

Art

Peter Paul Rubens – artwork displayed bodies in violent motion, heavily fleshed nudes and a dramatic use of light and showed The restless forms and

constant movement blend together into a dynamic unity

Art

Gian Lorenzo – greatest Baroque figure

Completed St. Peter’s Basilica, the Throne of St. Peter

Art

Artemisia Gentileschi – female painter, portraits

Series of paintings depicting heroines of the bible

Thought: The World of Montaigne

Positive skepticism – new way to criticize tradition & authority

Essays – use self-knowledge to understand the world

Critical of religious fanatics who killed each other instead of trying to solve problems

Essay on Experience – moderation and toleration Were civilized Europeans superior to the savages

of the New World Moral issues can exist without reference to

religion

A Golden Age of Literature: England and Spain

Elizabethan Era – William Shakespeare Admission was cheap enough that

lower classes could attend as well as the elite

Miguel de Cervantes – Don Quixote – satire of medieval chivalry

THE ENDHello my name is Ayda and I spent my Friday night making this PowerPoint partly because I have no friends and because I have a low grade. I know it was long.

Do well in this class so you don’t end up like me.