Age of AbsolutismSpain

Charles VCharles V inherited the crown of Spain in 1519.He also inherited the crown of the Hapsburgs of Austria. Along with this came the title of Holy Roman Emperor.All of this meant that he ruled an empire that stretched from the Netherlands through the Germanic kingdoms then down through central and eastern Europe. His Spanish lands were separated from his other lands by France.This was the first of his troubles.

More ProblemsCharles V was a devout Catholic and made continual war on the Protestants of northern Europe.The German Princes fought him to a standstill and Charles finally had to let them go.The Ottomans invaded Austria and got to the gates of Vienna. To stop them Charles had to spend almost all of his treasury on this war. All of these problems led Charles V to abdicate his throne and enter a monastery, turning everything over to his son Philip II

Hapsburg Empire of Charles V

The Ottoman Empire

The pressure the Ottomans exerted on Europe was enormous. To some extent it helped cause the Reformation, most of the money spent in Europe in this era was spent on the military. All the Kings of Europe had to keep one eye on the Ottomans while they negotiated with each other because the French never knew when they might need the help of the British whom they hated.This more than anything helped create the European Balance of Power.

Philip IIPhilip II was like his father in that he worked hard and was very religious. He was unlike his father in that he was absolutely intolerant of those around him.Philip differed from the other kings of Europe in that he actually took part in ruling on a day to day basis. He did not turn over command to his aides and then hunt and drink all day like most kings.Philip had wanted to be a priest and as king and emperor, he was very committed to the Catholic cause. This alone caused most of his problems.His navy defeated the Ottomans at the battle of Lepanto in 1571. this ended the Ottoman sea going expansion, but still didn’t stop them on land.The Revolt in the Netherlands was the biggest of his later problems.The Netherlands, which included what is now Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, was the richest province in his kingdom and the most Protestant.Philip tried to crush the Protestant opposition, but he had to tax his Catholic subjects to pay for it so they rebelled also.The northern part of the Netherlands that was Protestant broke away and became independent.The southern part was Catholic and remained in his empire.

Battle of Lepanto

The Netherlands Revolt

Philip believed in Divine Right, the idea that God willed that kings should rule.This philosophy led him to practice Absolutism in his reign. As an absolute monarch he had complete control over the government and the people.Most European rulers at this time believed in this philosophy.Most of these kings also had problems with their aristocracy and the Church. While the king had absolute control over the lower classes, he had continual trouble with the aristocracy. The aristocracy wanted to get back their feudal rights and wanted the king out of their business. The Church still believed that the king should be obedient to the Pope.So the concept of absolute rule didn’t always mean ABSOLUTE rule.

The Spanish Armada

The Spanish holdings in the New World sent a continual stream of gold back to Spain. Everyone in Europe knew this including the Queen of England Elizabeth. She wanted to weaken the Spanish empire for a number of reasons including religion and she supported the breakaway Dutch republics. She also wanted access to that wealth. To get the gold she commissioned pirates called Sea Dogs, to attack the Spanish gold galleons. Her favorite pirate and most successful sea dog was Sir Francis Drake. Drake looted and robbed the Spanish in the New World and Elizabeth made him a knight in reward.This infuriated Philip.

The Spanish Armada

Philip collected a huge navy called the Spanish Armada to destroy the British Navy and to invade England.The Spanish were very confident of victory. Two things stopped the Spanish Armada. The first were the Sea Dogs. They fought the armada in the English Channel and though they were horribly outnumbered they were better sailors. Their ships were faster and they could use them more effectively.The other reason was freak storm that blew up in the channel and sank a majority of the armada. This was the first unsuccessful attempt to invade England.

Spanish Golden AgeEl Greco

Cervantes – Don Quixote

Decline

Spanish power and prosperity slowly declined. Philip’s sons were not very good kings and wasted the gold from the Americas on wars and luxuries.The most important reason it declined was its determination to hold onto feudalism. By remaining feudal in social matters, the Spanish never changed with the times. They never created a middle class that could create new goods for markets or bring in new ideas. Spain just refused to change. The gold passed through their hands into the hands of the French and British that had gotten rid of feudalism and were now creating a new economic system. The Spanish simply stayed the same.

Age of Absolutism - France

France in 1600From the 1560’s to the 1590’s, France was the largest single country in Europe and it should have been the most powerful.It wasn’t primarily because of religious conflict, a problem the French have retained to this day.French Protestants were called Huguenots and they continually killed or were killed by French Catholics.The worst instance of religious warfare in France was the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572) in which 3000 Protestants were slaughtered. Over the ensuing days and months thousands more were killed on both sides. It appears as though France is going under.

Henry IVFrance is saved by Henry IV.Henry is a Protestant Huguenot, but he realizes the majority of people are Catholic and this would make his rule difficult.Henry is Pragmatic (remember this?). So, Henry say’s “Paris is worth a mass” and converts to Catholicism. Henry is smart enough to realize that the appearance of being catholic (or protestant) is enough for most people, so he converts simply for the convenience.He immediately issues the Edict of Nantes in 1598 which guarantees religious tolerance and allows the Protestants to fortify their own towns to protect themselves. This last part should tell you something. Henry can call for religious toleration, but he can’t enforce it, the people are going to have to do it themselves. Henry also built up the royal bureaucracy and lessened the power of the nobles which laid a groundwork for absolutism later.

Problems with Absolute Rule

With all of the kings we will study that are absolute rulers you must remember that there are groups that stand in the way.The first are of course the nobles. The nobles want nothing to lessen their power, they have always opposed their king even while supporting him and they want to return to feudalism.The second group or force is the Church. Just because the Donation of Constantine has been proven to be a forgery does not stop the church from trying to rule the kings. The king must always keep an eye on this bunch.Another, new group, are the wealthy commoners. They are the group that provide money and trade for the upper classes and they want the government to build roads and support business. If government does this, then the nobles power will be weakened because the source of their power, land, will be diminished. So they are also opposed by the nobles.This sets up class conflict in Europe, something that persists to this day.

Cardinal Richelieu

One of the great snakes of history. Cardinal Richelieu ruled France from the shadows for 18 years.Henry IV was killed by a religiously motivated assassin (imagine that!?)And his son is nine years old. In these instances the nobles get together and appoint a REGENT, or someone that rules in the name of the child until the kid is old enough to chop off heads on his own. The nobles are back in charge.In 1624, the kid, Louis XIII, is 23 and pretty useless, so he appoints Cardinal Richelieu, a Catholic prince, to be his number one minister. Richelieu is up to the task. He is absolutely ruthless. Being a good Catholic he should have favored the Catholic nobles, but Richelieu’s real faith was power.Take a look at that face, scary.

Richelieu Gets BusyRichelieu immediately set out to destroy the power of the nobles and the Huguenots.He attacked the fortified towns of the Protestants and tore the walls down and then attacked the armies of the nobles and declared them illegal. When the nobles didn’t cooperate, he had them killed. He does not waste time.Richelieu then turned around and guaranteed the right of worship for the Huguenots without walls and gave the nobles high positions in government. Neither side knew what to do. Richelieu had them cornered. He was followed by Cardinal Mazarin, his hand picked successor who pretty much followed Richelieu’s blueprint with one very different skill.Richelieu was a financial idiot. Mazarin was a wizard with money and made France insanely wealthy with mercantilism.

La FrondeWhen Louis XIV inherited the throne, he was a very young man. Everybody in France that had been held in check for years by Richelieu and Mazarin saw a chance to seize power at the expense of a boy king.A rebellion, called the Fronde erupted in 1645. The nobles wanted to rule and the Protestants saw their chance and the Church sat on the sidelines waiting to see who won.The rebellion was almost successful. Louis was driven from his palace by insurgents and almost captured. It was a memory he would keep his whole life.If you want to understand Louis XIV and how he ruled, remember that at a boy he was always afraid of being killed. He was just like Peter the Great of Russia in this way. They ruled as the greatest of monarchs because of childhood fear.

The Sun King

Louis Takes Command

Louis was the great grandson of Philip II of Spain and like him, believed fervently in Divine Right of Kings.He called himself the “Sun King” because the sun was the center of the universe and he was the center of France. He regularly said “l’etat, c’est moi” which means “I AM the state”.He held more power in his own hands than any other ruler and all the kings of Europe wanted to be like him.The French had a representative assembly called the Estates General. Supposedly they were to be consulted, but Louis simply refused to summon them to Paris. The Estates could not legally gather unless the kIng asked them to, so Louis didn’t. France is the exact opposite of what is going on in France in this way. The English Parliament served as a check on the power of the king. France had no such obstacles to Louis power.

Louis Still Doin ItLouis strengthened the monarchy a number of ways, but the initial one was hard work.Louis liked being king, he liked making the decision of the king, so he worked tirelessly. He expanded the bureaucracy and appointed Intendants, royal officials who collected taxes, recruited soldiers and carried out his policies in the provinces. These jobs did not go to the nobility, they went to the middle class. Louis was playing the nobles off against the middle classes and keeping both off balance.He created the largest and strongest army in France. They were paid by the state, not by the nobles, so their allegiance was to Louis, not their local lords.Louis was a master of manipulation. He required the nobles to live in Paris near his palace at Versailles. He was able to keep an eye on them. This is much like the way the Tokugawa Shoguns controlled the daimyo in Japan. He was a master of image also. He made going to the bathroom a royal drama or theatre. There was a ritual called the Levee, or rising. When he awoke, he had a noble that was appointed to do nothing but hold his wash basin while he brushed his teeth. The wives of the nobles had to attend his queen also.The real reason for this was to make them all subservient to the crown. It worked beautifully.

ColbertOne of the primary reasons Louis was able to get away with this was that people were getting rich. People will put up with anything if there is enough money involved.Jean Baptiste Colbert, his finance minister was the reason for the cash.Colbert religiously followed mercantilist policies, but he was able to see that building up the domestic economy was more important. He was one of the original financial geniuses to understand the Commercial Revolution.To this end, Colbert had new lands cleared for farming, encouraged mining and basic industries , built up luxury goods and installed high tariffs to protect French manufacturers. This produced mind boggling wealth. It should have been enough. But Colbert could not ever produce enough money to finance Louis XIV’s wars.

Louis’ WarsLouis loved ruling, but he is still a king, which means he also really liked war.Most of Louis’ wars were to expand the borders of France, something that every king in every culture wants to do.In the beginning, he was successful. Later not so much.His grandson, Philip V, inherited the throne of Spain. Louis then very publically said that Spain and France should be considered as one country. This scared every other country in Europe because it would mess up the balance of power. This meant that as long as all of these European countries stayed as they were, no one of them could completely dominate. If Spain and France united, this would mess up the balance, so they all went to war in the War of Spanish Succession.All the other countries that despised each other allied to stop France and Louis. The War of Spanish Succession lasted from 1700 to 1713 until it ended with the Treaty of Utrecht. In this treaty, Philip remained on the throne of Spain, but Louis agreed not to talk about union again.

Louis XIV and Religion

Louis also let his religious prejudices get in the way of his common sense and started persecuting the Huguenots again. In 1685, he revoked the Edict of Nantes and started persecuting the Protestants again. More than 100,00 Protestants fled the country. This was probably his most costly mistake because these people also made up a big chunk of his merchant class and were the most talented. Louis ruled for 72 years. By the end, all the prosperity of Colbert’s period had been used up by wars. There were a series of bad harvest, the taxes to support the court at Versailles became oppressive and worst of all, Louis XV came along.Louis XV was the son of the Sun King and was one of the most useless individuals to ever hold the throne of any country.

Après les DelugeRoughly, this means “after us, the deluge”.Louis XV was spoiled, weak, treacherous and stupid. A bad combination to have in your king.He spent his whole reign wallowing in degenerate pleasures while ignoring the problems of his realm. He played the nobles off against each other, granted ridiculous wishes of sycophants and ruined the French economy . He ruled with all the wisdom of a frat boy on a binge. The Sun King wallowed in pleasure, but also worked like a dog to maintain his kingdom. His son proved the idea that the children of wealth are usually a problem.After us the Deluge. You bet. The French Revolution is just around the corner.

Après les Deluge

Age of Absolutism - England

Tudor EnglandThe Tudor Dynasty ruled England from 1485 to 1603. The Tudors believed in divine right monarchy, they also realized that they had to get along with Parliament. This fact alone sets England apart from the rest of Europe in this era. When Henry broke with the Catholic Church to form the Church of England, he had Parliament write a law called the Act of Supremacy to make it valid. Henry always consulted Parliament on decisions and always went through Parliament to get tax money.

Elizabeth ruled much like her father Henry. She consulted Parliament and they became used to this process. Elizabeth died in 1603 without a direct heir. The throne passed to her relatives the Stuarts of Scotland.

James I

The Stuarts presented a problem for England. They were true absolute monarchs from Scotland. They didn’t have to deal with a Parliament and didn’t see why they had to. When James VI of Scotland became James I of England he traveled south to London to take his crown. During a disturbance, he ordered a man executed. Everyone was confused. In England, the Magna Carta limited the power of the king from doing such things. James had no intention of even acknowledging the Great Charter, Parliament, habeas corpus or anything else except his own power. Things did not get off to a good start. James continually fought with Parliament over money and his refusal to accept their meddling. Eventually, he simply dissolved Parliament and collected taxes on his own. Did I mention also that James had converted to Church of England from Catholicism? Well, this also caused problems because he got into a series of conflicts with dissenters, protestants that wanted to purify the Church of England of all Catholic rites. One of the things that came out this conflict was his authorization of the creation of the King James version of the Bible.

Charles ICharles I inherited the throne in 1625. If anything, Charles was more of an absolute monarch than James.Whereas James had tried to get along with Parliament, Charles simply loathed them and let them know it. This probably had as much to do with the war as anything.He imprisoned people without a trial, collected taxes arbitrarily, generally ignored all the traditions of British common law.In 1628 he needed to raise taxes so high that he had to summon Parliament. Parliament refused to authorize any new taxes until Charles signed the Petition of Right which said that the king had to get the consent of Parliament to raise taxes. Charles signed it but then dissolved Parliament again and ignored the Petition for 11 years. This made him unpopular. He and his Archbishop Laud tried to force strict Anglican dogma on the Church of England. The Protestants of Scotland rebelled. To put down this rebellion, Charles had to call Parliament into session. This Parliament met from 1640 to 1653 and was called the Long Parliament. They refused to give in to the king. They tried and executed his officials.In 1642, Charles sent troops to Parliament to arrest and execute them. They escaped through a back door and raised an army to fight the king. The English Civil War was on.

English Civil WarThe supporters of King Charles were called Cavaliers. They tended to be nobility and wore long flowing hair and plumed hats. They were Catholic or High Anglican aristocrats that wanted Charles to return England to feudalism and restore their old privileges.Opposing them were the Roundheads.Protestants that cut their hair short to set themselves apart. They tended to be supporters of Parliament, local gentry (commoners with wealth) and Puritan ministers. They wanted to limit the king’s power and wanted a stronger voice in government.In the battle over whether it was religion or politics that the war was really over, politics always wins. It was thought that the Cavaliers, with their superior fighting skills would win easily. What they found was that the Roundheads had conviction that helped overcome their lack of skills. But what really turned the war in their favor was the arrival of Oliver Cromwell.

Oliver Cromwell

People like Oliver Cromwell tend to prove the Great Man of History theory.Cromwell was a member of the Gentry and an organizational genius. He created the “New Model Army” a strong and disciplined army that defeated the more skillful Cavalier forces. By 1647, Cromwell’s forces had captured the king and put him on trialThe outcome of the trial was really never in doubt.It condemned him to death and executed him in January of 1649.His execution did a couple of things. First, it shocked all of Europe. Kings are killed all the time but they are killed by aristocrats that want the crown or assassins. This was the first execution of a king by his subjects and this freaked everyone out. Another outcome of this execution was the idea, that exists to today, that England is different from the rest of Europe. England was and is seen as an outsider to the rest of Europe. It also sent a message to later kings of England. You can only go so far.

The CommonwealthIf you are going to kill the king, you have to also get rid of everything and everyone that ever supported him or someday they will get their revenge.This is pretty much the advice that Parliament followed after they killed Charles I. They abolished the monarchy, the House of Lords and the Church of England. They declared that England was now a Republic called the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell was the leader.Cromwell is seen by some as a saint and others as a sinner and he probably falls in between. He was very vengeful and narrow-minded in terms of religion.Being a strict Puritan, he immediately got into a fight with the Catholics of Ireland. He sent the New Model Army into Ireland and got a law through Parliament that exiled all Catholics in England to the west side of Ireland. Any Catholic that didn’t go would be killed on sight. He also got into a fight with the Levelers. These people believed that the poor should have as much say in the government as the rich gentry. They also believed women should have rights. This was immediately crushed. Because of all of these problems, Cromwell took the title of Lord Protector and ruled with force. England is now a dictatorship.

Puritan Life in the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth is a perfect example of why separation of church and state happens in the USThe Puritans used Parliament to engineer a social revolution. They passed laws to make failure to attend church, profaning the Lord, gambling, dancing and attending the theater or a tavern against the law.They encouraged literacy, but only in reading of the Bible, censorship was widespread.Being a Roman Catholic was against the law, but , surprisingly, Jews were allowed back into England.

The End of the Commonwealth, The Restoration and the Glorious Revolution

After 10 years in power, the Commonwealth fell apart when Cromwell died in 1658. Everyone by this time was pretty sick of strict religious laws.In 1660, The Parliament asked Charles II to be the king in what became known as the Restoration.Charles was very popular and he eased most of the rules of the Puritans. He died in 1685 and his brother James II became king. James II truly proves that overall, the Stuarts were not very bright.James II immediately got rid of the Petition of Right and announced that he would be an absolute monarch. James was a Catholic and started appointing Catholics to high positions.Parliament asked James protestant daughter, Mary to take over. She and her husband landed in England in 1688 and James II, without a fight, fled to France. This is known as the Glorious Revolution.BUT!, Parliament was careful to declare their monarchy a Limited Monarchy. There was no question now, Parliament was in charge.

Age of Absolutism – Austria and Prussia

The German Kingdoms

There were a number of factors that contributed to the carnage of the Thirty Years War. Religion, local customs, ancient grudges between local rulers. One of the biggest though was the sheer number of kingdoms in northern Germany. With this many rulers it was impossible to unite them all. One of the primary reason you do not see the rise of absolute rulers throughout this region is because of this.The Holy Roman Emperor, who was supposedly the ruler of this area, in reality had no power. He was put into office by Electors made up of the top 7 princes. The northern kingdoms were protestant and the southern kingdoms were catholic. The differences in religion, the lack of a central authority and rivalry among all these princes led to the Thirty Years War.

Thirty Years WarIt had roots in religion and politics. It started in Bohemia. It started with a famous event called the Defenestration of Prague.The ruling Catholic king wanted to suppress the Protestants. Two rebellious Protestants threw two Catholic officials out of a castle window. They only fell two stories and landed in a dung heap. This they were nasty, but otherwise ok. But by the time the stories got out to the public, what had started out very innocent was turned by rumor into a massacre. People wanted to believe the worst about both sides.This war was fought by mercenaries hired by both churches and fought brutally. By the time it was over, two thirds of the German population was slaughtered.All the countries of Europe lined up to take sides for either religious or political reasons or sometimes both. The French minister Richelieu, a Catholic, supported and paid for Protestant mercenaries because it suited his political purposes.The Thirty Years War had more to do with the US having separation of church and state than anything else.

The Peace of Westphalia

The Thirty Years War was ended by the Treaty of Westphalia.Since the war had involved almost everyone in Europe, it was a general peace treaty for all o Europe and they used the opportunity to settle a lot of old questions.France was the clear winner. It got land and concessions from the Hapsburgs. The Hapsburgs were the biggest losers because they lost all the German kingdoms. The Spanish lost the Netherlands and Switzerland when they became independent states. Germany was left with over 300 small kingdoms.

Hapsburg AustriaHapsburg Austria was seriously weakened by the Thirty Years War. The Austrian Empire was huge, there were a large number of ethnic groups that guaranteed conflict. The Hapsburgs sent German speaking officials into Austria but they still were not able to exert a lot of control. Until that is Maria Theresa arrived on the scene.Charles VI was the Hapsburg emperor and he had no son. His daughter was energetic and intelligent, so he asked the rulers of Europe to accept her as the queen of Austria. Most agreed to do so, but when Charles died, they went back on their word. They thought that they could just take over from the woman. They didn’t count on this woman.

The War of Austrian Succession

This war was sparked by opposition to Maria Theresa.Frederick of Prussia seized Hapsburg territory, thinking that Maria would not fight back.She went to Hungary to appeal for help from the Hungarian princes.She met with them and gave an impassioned speech for their help and they came through.Eventually this war was settled. Frederick got to keep the land he seized but he had to recognize her rule.She proved to be the most modern ruler in Europe. She reorganized the bureaucracy and made the nobles pay taxes (something no other monarch was able to do)Her son and successor, Joseph II was like her in being very modern and is seen as one of the best of the “enlightened Monarchs”

PrussiaAustria was a Catholic kingdom. Prussia was overwhelmingly protestant.The Hohenzollern family ruled a number of the kingdoms. When the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War, they tried to unite some of these kingdoms into Prussia.They used a bureaucracy staffed by the big landowning nobles called Junkers.Frederick knew from day one how he wanted to rule the state and how the state would come to rule the kingdoms: the army would be his primary tool.Frederick set out to build the most modern, disciplined and effective army in Europe. Everyone in Prussia was either in the army, married to someone in the army or related to someone in the army. Military discipline was practiced in schools, offices and farms.

PrussiaFrederick, like all absolute monarchs had trouble with his nobles, but he was able to control them by making a deal with them. They would always staff and run the army as long as they supported the Prussian state. They stayed true to their promise and the staff of the Wehrmacht (German Army) was staffed exclusively by Junkers nobles until 1945.The best description was that of Voltaire “Prussia is not a state which possesses an army, but an army which possesses a state”.

Age of Absolutism - Russia

Peter the GreatPeter the Great differed from anything the Russians had ever seen.He was huge, standing 6’8”. He towered over the other monarchs.He had been terrorized as a child by the revolt of the army called the Streltsy. He had seen his uncles executed and this laid a groundwork for his lifelong paranoia about the army.When he became the Czar of Russia he was 10. he really didn’t take control until 1689. He wasn’t very well educated but he was very curious, particularly about technical issues.In 1697, he became the first Czar to ever leave Russia when he went to Western Europe. He went there specifically to learn about technological and scientific advances of the Scientific Revolution.

Westernization of Russia

When he returned, Peter set out to shake Russia out of the Middle Ages.He brought back with him western technical advisors. This did not make him popular with his subjects who tended to be suspicious and backwards anyway.The real resistance to his reforms were the old nobles, the Boyars. He forced them to serve the new Russian state rather than their old loyalties.He took control of all the institutions in Russia including the Orthodox Catholic church.By being a complete autocrat, or sole ruler, he pushed through reforms on all levels.To change the system he had to change the culture. He required women to come out and actually be seen in public. He required the boyars to shave off their traditional beards or else pay a special beard tax. With all of these reforms he helped push Russia into the modern in a few ways. But Russia was too big and too backward to go all the way.

Expansionism

The Russian foreign policy in 2013 is to push on the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indians, the Turks and the Baltic states for access to a warm water port. Russia is landlocked except for the Pacific Coast which is closed off by Japan and China. The Straits of the Dardanelles near Constantinople are another place they can go. All the other Russian seaports are frozen in 8 months out of the year. Russian foreign policy has always been aimed at getting access to warm water ports for trade.It is that way in 2013 and it was that way under Peter the Great in the 18th century.All the Russian expansion under Peter was aimed at this.

Russia has no ice free ports

Catherine the Great

Catherine the GreatCatherine was actually German. Peter the Great died without naming an heir, so it fell to Peter III, her husband. Peter III was crazy and was eventually assassinated. There are many historians that believe that she was behind the plot. If she wasn’t, she very much profited from it. She took the reins firmly in hand.Catherine was able to create a strong absolute monarchy in Russia because the system was still feudal which meant that obedience was a commonplace and because of the cooperation of the Russian Orthodox Church. She immediately reorganized the government. She instituted state sponsored education and embraced western ideas like Peter.She also was ruthless in allowing the boyars to be exempt from taxes and increased the serfdom of the peasants. While the rest of the world was getting rid of serfdom, Russia increased it. Catherine also wanted to control Poland, so in cooperation with Frederick the Great and Emperor Joseph II of Austria, she partitioned it and made it disappear.