World History Chapter 21

ABSOLUTE MONARCHS IN EUROPE, 1500-1800

SPAIN’S EMPIRE AND EUROPEAN ABSOLUTISM (section 1)

            During a time of religious and economic instability, Philip II ruled Spain with a strong hand.

Spain’s powerful empire:  Charles V retired to a monastery, leaving Austria and the Holy Roman Empire to his brother Ferdinand. Philip II, son of Charles V, inherited Spain, Spanish Netherlands, and the American colonies.

            Empire of Philip II

1.      He was shy, serious and deeply religious

2.      In 1588, Spain seized the empire of the Portuguese

Defender of the Catholicism

1.      When Philip took power, Europe was experiencing religious wars, caused by the reformation.

Golden Age of Spanish art

1.      Spain’s great wealth allowed monarchs and nobles to become patrons of artists.

2.      The works of El Greco and Diego Valazquez show the faith and the pride of Spain during the 16^th and 17^th centuries.

3.      Don Quixote the publication of this Don Quixote de la Mancha in 1605 is often called the birth of the modern European novel. In this book, Miguel de Cervantes wrote about a poor Spanish nobleman.

Inflation was a big problem in Spain due to the growing population and the drop in the value of silver.

The burden of the taxes was put on the shoulder of the lower class, which prevented the lower class from opening businesses. Due to this the Spanish never developed a middle class of business owners.

Although Spain had riches and colonies, the lack of producing products by new methods caused the people of Spain to purchase goods from their enemies. Not having money to finance their armies, the king borrowed money from Germany and Italy and when the silver loads came into the country the money would go to pay the debt. Caused the Spanish monarch to claim bankruptcy three times.

The area known as the Spanish Netherlands was different than Spain. Catholicism was the religion of Spain while the people of the Netherlands followed the Calvinists. A rebellion against the Spanish destroyed churches and other Spanish buildings. To put down the rebellion, 1500 Dutch were killed in a single day.  A leader for the Dutch was William the Orange. His motives were political and he wanted to remove the Spanish from the government. To defeat the Spanish, the Dutch broke the dikes that kept the sea out of the country, flooding the Spanish troops. Southern provinces of Netherlands remained in control of Spanish, current day Belgium.

The Dutch Prosper

The provinces under William the Orange tolerated religious practices. Used as middlemen in the trade of the supplies, the merchants of the country grew rich. Many people gained riches by trading grains and lumber to the people of Western Europe. The Dutch became the bankers of Europe. The Dutch had the largest number of ships about 4,800. Using the wealth of the merchants, support for the arts improved. Art in the Netherlands flourished; two great artists were Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan Vermeer. Rembrandt focused on the portraits of the wealthy, while Vermeer worked with the effects of lighting on his subjects.

FRANCE’S ULTIMATE MONARCH (section 2)

The King of France, Henry II died and then left his kingdom to his four sons, three proved to be unwise leaders. The Queen of France, Catherine de Medicis, led from behind the sons’ rule.  Catholics and Huguenots had religion conflicts.

Religious wars create a crisis in France

The fighting lasted for 46 years, and the most famous conflict was the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. At a wedding most of the French Huguenot nobles were killed. When Catherine and her son died, King Henry IV inherited the throne; he was the first of the Bourbon Dynasty. Being a Huguenot or French protestant, he converted to Catholicism. Using his power as ruler, he stated the Huguenot could worship in his or her own churches and could live in peace. A religious fanatic assassinated him. His declaration of religious tolerance was the Edict of Nantes.

His son was a weak leader, but did appoint Cardinal Richelieu as ruler of France. He did three things, he forbade the Huguenots’ cities from having walls, he ordered the destruction of the noble castles and gave more power to the government agents of the middle class, and thirdly wanted to end the rule of the Hapsburg families (controlled Spain, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. He involved the French in the Thirty Years War.

During the thirty years war, the idea of skepticism that nothing can ever be known for certain. Montague developed the essay, a way of discussing the ideas of these thoughts. “All that is certain is that nothing is certain” Descartes help develop the idea used in the scientific method. 

Cardinal Mazarin Louis XIV was the strongest ruler of the French and he started his reign at the age of five. The cardinal had one great accomplishment; he ended the 30 years war.  Mazarin created a problem for the nobles by increasing the taxes and strengthening the central government. The nobles rebelled against him but the rebellions failed. These rebellions failed for three reasons.

·        The leaders of the rebellions distrusted each other as much as they distrusted the government.

·        The government used terrible punishments.

·        Peasants and townspeople did not want the disorder and fighting to continue

Taking control of the government, Louis XIV weakened the nobles excluding them from the councils and he increased the power of the intendants (tax collectors and public judges). The king kept in touch with the local officials.

Economic growth under Louis XIV increased due to the policies of Jean Baptiste Colbert. He wanted France to become self sufficient, meaning he wanted the people to buy and sell the supplies made in France. Thus keeping the money in France. Placed a high tariff on foreign goods to protect French companies. Using government money and tax benefits encouraged the companies to go to Canada in order to have raw materials for France.  After Colbert died, Louis XIV repealed the Edict of Nantes. This caused the Huguenots to leave France. Along with them, they took their art and their skilled labor. Causing a slowdown in the economic recovery of France.

Louis XIV spent a great deal of money on his comforts and surroundings. He hired 500 cooks for his personal kitchen. The nobles had to pamper him meeting him in the morning to get him dressed and standing outside his room hoping to get a nod. The nobles became totally dependent on the King.

The king spent a great deal of money on the furnishings of the Versailles palace. Using the wealth of France, he pushed for the artists to create works for the palace. Opera and Ballet increased in the royal palace.

Louis XIV wanted to increase the boundaries of the French holdings. Invading the Netherlands, he was repelled by the Dutch using the flooding of the area just like the Dutch used against the Spanish.

 Smaller countries joined together to fight the French. William of Orange became king of England and joined with Sweden, Spain and other small countries joined to equal the strength of the French. France had been weakened by poor harvests and the new high taxes used to finance the wars.

The king of Spain died and he did not have an heir, he promised the throne to Louis XIV grandson. This scared the rest of Europe, having two bourbon led governments in Europe. The two strongest countries could spell trouble. The War of the Spanish Succession was the name of the war fought over this. Great Britain gained control of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Spain and France would not have a combined throne and soon Louis XIV died. France had a great army and spent a great deal of money on the arts in the country.  The military and the amount spent on the palace led to the increased number of taxes.

CENTRAL EUROPEAN MONARCHS CLASH (section 3)

Discontent among the German princes regarding religious matters leads to bigger problems throughout Europe. The head of the roman empire Ferdinand II (a member of the Hapsburg family) closed protestant churches in Bohemia, which started a revolt against the catholic leader. Soon the German princes enter the conflict.

This war was fought due to several problems: a conflict over religion, over territory, and for power between Europe’s ruling families. The Thirty Years War is said to contain two phases of the war, the Hapsburg victories and Hapsburg defeats.

Victories, the armies from Spain and Austria defeated the Protestant in Bohemia as well as the troops hired by the German princes. The Catholic Emperor, Ferdinand II paid his troops by allowing them to plunder, rob, and destroy German villages.

Defeats, the leader of the Sweden armies helped push the Hapsburgs out of northern Germany. The French not wanting to see the Hapsburg to gain power aided the Protestants in their fight against the Holy Roman Empire.

Ending the Thirty Years War, German had suffered a great deal, losing 20% of its population and having farming and trading destroyed. It took the Germans a long time to get over the problems caused by this fighting; the mistrust would prevent Germany from becoming united until the 1800’s. The Peace Treaty of Westphalia ended the fighting and proposed five very important conditions of the treaty.

·        Weakened the Hapsburg states of Spain and Austria

·        Strengthened France by giving it part of German lands

·        German Princes become independent of the Holy Roman Empire

·        Ended religious wars in Europe

·        Introduced new method of peace negotiations

After the Treaty of Westphalia, Europe was seen as a series of independent states not controlled by the church, but by the thoughts and ideals of the separate states. This concept is the most important result of the Thirty Years War.

Europe can be divided into three parts, Western Europe, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe. These sections differ greatly from each other in their economies and philosophies.

In Western Europe, the serfs left the farms and moved to towns to become craftsmen and artisans.  Thus increasing the flow of money and the rise of capitalism, which was then taxed by the Monarchs to raise armies.

In Central Europe, the nobles kept control of the serfs and regulated their movement to the towns and cities. The nobles forced the serfs to work 6 days a week on the farms and the result was a surplus of the harvest, which was then sold to finance the armies of Central Europe.

The nobles of Central Europe restricted the strength of the kings; they restricted the income to the king, no law courts, and no standing armies. The Holy Roman Empire left weakened from the Thirty Years War along with the other German Princes not allowing a strong king created a vacuum of power in the center of Europe.

The Hapsburgs gained control of Austria and bohemia. Three steps allowed this to occur.

·        Wiped out the protestants in Bohemia and created a new Czech nobility

·        Centralized the government and created a standing army

·        Took Hungary from the Ottoman Empire

King Charles VI kept the new empire together by wearing the crowns of the Bohemians, Austrians, and Hungarians.  He spent his reign trying to establish that his daughter, Maria Theresa, would remain leader of the vast empire. She thought she was going to have peaceful rule, however, her kingdom would be at war with the Prussians.

Frederick I created a huge standing army and it developed a military that followed a strong code developing a very strong military society. He gave the land owning nobility officer positions in the military. He was very strict and was very upset with his son, due to the son following the ways of the arts, music, and ballet. 

Frederick’s son became Frederick The Great. Maria Theresa as ruler of Austria wanted a region near Prussia that had a great deal of raw materials. The results of this conflict led to a series of alliances that pitted countries as allies. Austria, France, Russia were allies against Britain and Prussia.

The Seven Years War was fought in India, Europe, and North America. The result of the war did not change anything in Europe, however, the control of colonies in the new world and India changed hands.

RUSSIAN CZARS INCREASE POWER (section 4)

The first Czar of Russian Ivan the Terrible came to power in 1533 and was constantly fighting with the landowners known as boyars. He married into a strong noble family of landowners, Romanov.  Gave more land to Russia and created laws and ruled fairly. However, when his wife died he turned in to Ivan the Terrible. Using police force to the provide control of the kingdom, he had them hunt down and murder those he considered traitors. Most of these traitors were boyars, and their lands were taken and given to new class of nobles, these could keep the land as long as they remained loyal to Ivan.  Ivan’s heir was not competent to rule. Then Ivan’s grandnephew became the ruler of Russia, thus starting the Romanov Dynasty.

The Russians developed differently than the rest of Europe due to the Mongols cutting off Russia from the industrial revolution as well as the changing of the serfs and landowning groups. Eastern Orthodox church is the main religious voice in Russia. Peter the Great visited Western Europe disguised as a lowly worker, finding out what he could about the economy and industry in order to take it to the Russians.

He brought the Russian Orthodox Church under the government, and under his direction and the czars that followed him. Lands were given to lower class men and because of this the loyalty to the czar was established.  Peter the Great hired European officers to train his armies and developed a standing army of 200,000 men and being in the military became a career.  To pay for this, heavy taxes were levied on the people of Russia.

PARLIAMENT LIMITS THE ENGLISH MONARCHY (section 5)

Queen Elizabeth of England had no heirs and her cousin James Stuart king of Scotland becomes king James I of England. When James I became king, he faced a few problems,

·        He didn’t follow the guidelines set forth by parliament and argued a great deal regarding money for his reign

·        He upset the Puritans of the parliament by following the teachings of the Calvinists, and he ordered the translation of the bible. Thus the King James Version of the Holy Bible. James I died and was replaced by Charles I and he always needed money

o       When Charles I needed money and parliament wouldn’t give it to him he dissolved it

§         He needed money for waging war and had to reconvene the parliament

The parliament refused to meet unless Charles I signed a Petition of Rights which had four points

·        He would not imprison subjects without due cause

·        He would not levy taxes without parliament’s consent

·        He would not house soldiers in private homes

·        He would not impose martial law in peacetime

After signing the paper, Charles I did not follow his commitments.  He tried to force the Scots to convert to Anglican Church. This causes the Scots to rebel and fight against England.  Needing money Charles I reconvened the parliament. The parliament passed laws limiting the powers of the king, this upset Charles I and created the conditions for a civil war.

 The English Civil War was fought between 1642 and 1649. Those following Charles I were called Royalists or Cavaliers. Neither side could gain an advantage until the puritans found a leader Oliver Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell led the Puritans to victory over the Cavaliers. When the war was over, Charles I was put on trial and found guilty and was sentenced to death. Charles I was executed in public, one of the first monarchs to be executed in public.

Under Cromwell, England went through a few changes. Abolished the monarch and developed a commonwealth, a republican government. His second in command drafted a constitution the first of any modern European country. Cromwell had to stop a rebellion in Ireland that led to the deaths of 616,000 Irish due to fighting, diseases, and famine. His followers strove to reform society, making going to theater a sin. The Puritans also pushed to be religiously tolerate of all religions except Catholicism, even the Jews were allowed back in the country.

After Cromwell’s death, the English people were tired of military leadership and asked the son of Charles I to return to power. Charles II was the monarch that established the return to the rule of the monarch. This is known as the restoration.  His reforms included the following.

·        Restored the theater, sporting events, and dancing

·        Women appeared in plays for the first time

·        Established the right of Habeas Corpus

o       Every prisoner has the right to obtain a writ or document ordering that he prisoner be brought before a judge

Not having an heir caused there to be disagreements over who should be the next ruler of England, because his brother was Catholic there was some concern of him becoming the King. A group that opposed James II as king were known as Whigs and those supporting him were known as Tories.

James II comes in and begins to appoint Catholics to high government offices and dissolved the parliament. When his wife gave him a son the Protestants became fearful of the Catholic monarch. Members of parliament asked Mary, James’ daughter and wife of William of Orange, to return to rule England. When their armies marched on London, the court of James I fled to France. Without bloodshed, Mary and William become rulers of England. This is known as the Glorious Revolution.

The reign of England was known as a constitutional monarch that means power shared between parliament and the monarch?  A Bill of Rights was developed in 1689. 

o       No suspending of Parliament’s laws

o       No levying of taxes without a specific grant from parliament

o       No interfering with freedom of speech in parliament

o       No penalty for a citizen who petitions the king about grievances

To prevent stalemate of differences between the monarch and the parliament, a group of ministers called a cabinet was created. The leader of the majority party leads the cabinet and is named the prime minister.