Age of Absolutism

1. Age of Absolutism World History II

2. Age of Absolutism • Towards the end of the Middle Ages, feudalism broke down. • One result of this was the rise of king's power. Strong central governments led by kings appeared in parts of Europe. • These kings believed in the Divine Right of Kings, meaning they believed that they represented God on earth and everyone should obey them (known as absolute monarchs) • The period that they ruled is known as the Age of Absolutism (17th and 18th centuries).

3. Age of Absolutism • Kings were also able to rise quickly because of the Reformation • Many nations had erupted into civil wars over religion (Protestants v. Catholics) and many innocent people were dying • The Thirty Years War is a great example of this • A strong king provided leadership, safety, and peace • In order to achieve this stability, absolutists controlled the military, tax collection, and the judicial system

4. Age of Absolutism • Thirty Years War • 1618 – 1648 • Began in Prague as a Protestant Rebellion against the Holy Roman Empire • France, Denmark, and Sweden were looking for ways to weaken the empire and its ruling family, the Hapburgs • France remained strong throughout the war, and most of Germany was ruined (fighting took place there) • France created a strong nation, Holy Roman Empire and the Hapsburg were weakened

6. Europe after the Treaty of Westphalia (ended the 30 yr war)

7. France in the Age of Absolutism

8. Louis XIV • After the Thirty Years War, France became the great model of absolutism in Europe • Louis XIV had become king in 1643 • Ruled for 72 years (longest reign in French history) • Called the “Sun King” • Believed in the Divine Right of Kings, thinking God had chosen him to rule France • Proclaimed “L’etatc’estmoi” (“I am the state”) • Made France a military, economic and cultural powerhouse • Made Cardinal Richelieu his chief advisor

9. Above: Louis as a child Right: Louis as king of France

10. Louis and his family portrayed as Roman gods

11. Cardinal Richelieu • Believed in a strong monarchy • Led military raids against Protestants like the Huguenots

12. Louis XIV • achieved the greatest monarchical power of the modern age as demonstrated by • 1) the palace at Versailles • 2) luxury of the French court • 3) the brilliance of French culture during his reign. Renovation of the Louvre (now one of the world’s greatest art museums

13. Palace of Versailles

16. Louis XIV • only 5’5” • he worked long hours at being king • detested chaos--maybe influenced by the riots in Paris he saw as a youth

17. Louis XIV • He also detested Paris and built a luxurious palace at Versailles (a converted hunting lodge constructed between 1669 & 1688 a short distance from Paris) • It included: • 1) 17,000 beautifully landscaped parks with clipped hedges, arbors, and shaded walks enclosed by a 40 mile wall. • 2) 1400 fountains, 2000 statues • 3) rooms decorated with marble columns, painted ceilings, costly draperies, mirrored walls, hand-crafted furniture • 4) theater, chapel & “marble court”.

18. Louis XIV • He also hated religious chaos so he revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685 (which gave Huguenots religious freedom) • He thought only a few Huguenot Protestants were left • Louis later made attempts at converting them by • a) stripping them of their schools and places of worship and b) offering money to convert to Catholicism • This subjected Huguenots to torture and imprisonment • Caused many to escape to other lands (bad for French economy because Huguenots were nobles)

19. Louis XIV • Louis’ absolute power stemmed from four reasons: • 1) Church: he controlled religion • Louis gave the church good tax arrangements as long as it preached about the king’s divinely given rights. • 2) Nobility: he no longer even consulted with the aristocracy for advice • he kept them happy with rituals, processions, banquets, duties at court, etc.

20. Louis XIV • 3) commoners: many commoners were made loyal to Louis by being given titles of nobility • he used the middle class for operation of government • Any attempts at rebellion by the peasants were quickly crushed by the royal army and police (300,000 by the end of his reign). • 4) revenues: tax collection was not in the control of the nobles but the king’s own men called intendants who controlled the 322 districts France was divided into during Louis’ reign • An important aspect of the Intendants was their social origins. The king chose to use individuals whose upper-class status was recent. Why? Because such men were not embedded in the traditional, centuries-old power arrangements, as were the ancient nobility. In other words, these “new aristocrats” had no independent political power or influence: they owed their authority and status to the king himself

21. Louis XIV • 5) Louis’ propaganda genius: the palace at Versailles, the luxury of his court, the promotion of himself as Sun king impressed everyone.

22. Louis XIV • With no checks on Louis’ power he was free to follow a policy of international conquest that would bankrupt the state • French army became the most efficient in Europe • The power and prestige of France made it reasonably safe from attack by its weaker neighbors • His aim, in foreign affairs, was to get more land and increase his prestige • Pride and vanity blinded Louis to the welfare of his subjects and to the misery his wars inflicted on soldiers and civilians

23. Louis XIV • There were four wars of Louis’ reign: • 1) War of Devolution (1667-1668) • 2) Dutch War (1672-1678) • 3) War of the League of Augsburg (1689-1697) • 4) War of Spanish Succession (1702-1713)

24. War of Spanish Succession • the last and most exhausting of Louis’ wars • began when Charles II, king of Spain, was on his deathbed in 1700 with no successor to the throne • Louis XIV wanted his grandson, Philip, to be king • Leopold I of the HRE wanted his son, Charles Charles II of Spain

25. War of Spanish Succession • Philip V was proclaimed king of Spain. • Also king of the Spanish Netherlands • This made England and Holland nervous.

26. War of Spanish Succession • The result was the War of Spanish Succession (France vs. England & Netherlands in alliance with H.R.E. & Austrians) • The war was mostly a land war fought on the battlefields of northern Europe • It ended with the Treaty of Utrecht (Holland)

27. Treaty of Utrect • Recognized Louis’ grandson as king of Spain • Said France and Spain can never be combined (have the same ruler) • Gave French land in North America to Great Britain

28. Treaty of Utrect • No country really got stronger than before, except England. In fact, it “created a balance of power in Europe with Britain emerging as a major force in European affairs, the counterweight against the French colossus.”

29. Europe after the Treaty of Utrect

30. Louis XIV’s Legacy • Only two years later Louis would be dead leaving France impoverished and surrounded by enemies. • Bad harvests, the plague in the 1690s and Louis’ wars and taxes (taxed the peasants to death!) led to widespread poverty, misery and starvation in much of France • His and his successors’ failure to relieve the suffering of the lower classes would lead to the French Revolution of 1789.

31. Louis XIV’s Legacy • On his deathbed, the seventy-six-year-old monarch seemed remorseful when he told his successor: • “Soon you will be King of a great kingdom. I urge you not to forget your duty to God; remember that you owe everything to Him. Try to remain at peace with your neighbors. I loved war too much. Do not follow me in that or in overspending. Take advice in everything; try to find the best course and follow it. Lighten your people’s burden as soon as possible, and do what I have had the misfortune not to do myself.” • ...the advice to his successor was probably not remembered; his great-grandson was only five years old

32. Russia in the Age of Absolutism

33. Russia • Russia is geographically and culturally isolated from the rest of Europe • Geographically: • Landlocked except for the north (frozen Arctic Ocean) • Borders Ottoman Empire (largely Muslim) • Stronger kingdoms of Sweden and Poland blocked it from the Baltic Sea • No rivers flowed west (hurt trade)

35. Russia • Cultural isolated from Western Europe: • Religion: Eastern Orthodox • influenced by Byzantine Empire • Western Europe practiced the other forms of Christianity (Protestant or Catholic) • Alphabet: Cyrillic • Brought to the Slavs by Byzantine missionaries • Developed Russian using this language • Made it hard to communicate with the rest of Europe because they used the Latin Alphabet • Previously ruled by the Mongols • tribe from Asia • More Asian influence than European

36. Russia • Grand Duke Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) was officially crowned the first tsar or czar ("Caesar“ or king) of Russia in 1547 • After Ivan died in 1584, Russia went through a period of unrest because there was no king • Finally the Romanovs were named the royal family of Russia (and would remain in power until the 1917 Russian Revolution) • The Romanovs set out to build the power of the czar • In 1689, Peter I (later known as Peter the Great) became the sole ruler of Russia

37. Russia • Pre-Peter the Great life in Russia • Non-modern country • Women were secluded and wore veils • murder, kidnapping and torture were a regular part of life • No middle class • If you killed a serf on a farm, you simply had to replace him • Intellectual activity was nearly non-existent • there was no literature to speak of, and no newspapers • Russians did not understand arithmetic or science, and had a calendar that dated from “Year 1, the beginning of the world”

38. Peter the Great • Born in 1672, Peter was only 10 at his coronation, and only 17 when he married his first wife Eudoxia • After 10 yrs of marriage, he forced her to become a nun • 6’8” tall (tallest monarch of Europe) • Had 11 children, 2 wives • Put his eldest son, Alexei, to death after learning of his plot to overthrow him

39. EudoxiaLopukhina • First wife of Peter I • Married for 10 years then forced to live in a convent • Found a lover, StepanGlebov, who was later executed by quartering for treason • Spoke out against her husband and supported her first son, Alexei in his endeavors to overthrow his father • Was further oppressed (all bishops who supported her were executed and she was moved to a different convent • Later, when her grandson, Peter II, became czar, she was brought back to Moscow with honor

40. What is Quartering? • the full punishment for the crime of treason was to be hanged, drawn and quartered in that the condemned prisoner would be: • Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution. This is one possible meaning of drawn. • Hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead (hanged). • Disemboweled and emasculated and the genitalia and entrails burned before the condemned's eyes • The body divided into four parts, then beheaded (quartered). • Typically, the resulting five parts (i.e., the four quarters of the body and the head) were gibbeted (put on public display) in different parts of the city, town, or, in famous cases, in the country, to deter would-be traitors who had not seen the execution.

41. Peter the Great • Ruled until 1725 • Ruthless, but had a great vision for his country

42. Peter The Great • Major goals: • Creating a strong military • taking the Black Sea from the Ottomans • Westernizing/Modernizing Russia • More education • Bigger economy • More culture • Making a new capitol city • He was successful at them all

43. Peter the Great • He saw modernization not only as a way to make Russia competitive with, and defensible from, the rest of Europe, but also as a way to consolidate his own absolute power won through military victories. • Since there were no models of modernization to be found in Russia, no plans or strategies, he traveled extensively in the west. • Peter wanted to see what other absolute rulers were doing, what their priorities were, how they used their absolute power, so that he could imitate them in the modernization of Russia. • He looked at the court life at Versailles and how the Prussians used their military. • He studied under shipbuilders in Holland, and met with leading scientists and artists • He then returned to Russia to adapt those ideas to the Russian experience

44. Peter the Great • One thing which he certainly saw everywhere in western Europe was the emphasis on war, defense, expansion, and the military (esp. in France) • Peter therefore put a good deal of attention into the rebuilding and modernizing of his army • He was at war constantly, all but two years of his reign. • Nobles were required to serve for life in the army or in the government, and foot soldiers were easily conscripted from the peasant serfs. • The Russian army, which numbered as many as 200,000 men, became a modern fighting force, with new discipline, new weapons, new uniforms etc. • Also became the police force

45. Peter the Great • Abandoned the capitol city of Moscow and built St. Petersburg • On the shores of the Baltic Sea • “Window to the West” • Copied the palace of Versailles and other French government buildings • Required every noble to build and maintain a house in St. Petersburg and live in it for at least six months of the year (the other time they would be serving in the military)

48. Peter the Great • Taxed everything to pay for his new city and new military • “Taxes appeared on virtually everything. One was taxed on the number of people in their family, the amount of land they owned, the number of inns, or mills, or other businesses they owned. In addition, there were taxes on such ordinary items as leather, meat, and salt. There were taxes on the number of cellars in one’s house, this being something of an income tax, as only the wealthy had enough money to build a house big enough to have a basement. There were taxes on getting married, and even on being buried, as coffins were required for burial, and were taxed. Some taxes were even designed to punish old-fashioned behavior and reward modern, such as the tax on beards. Beards were traditional in Russia, but if a man wanted to wear one, he had to pay a tax.”

49. Peter the Great • Economic Modernization • Copying from the French, he built a merchant marine for export shipping, and encouraged exports of furs and grain and lumber • Also developed mining, metallurgy, and textile companies, thus beginning something of a mini-industrial revolution • Labor came from the peasant-serfs, who were assigned by their landlord/owners, who in turn were ordered by the czar to build a specific business • Thus, from the beginning of modernization, the economy was controlled by the state, and not by private enterprise as in the West (communism)

50. Peter the Great • Russian culture • Because of the lack of educational institutions in Russia, he forced the nobles to send their sons abroad for their education, which meant that they returned not only with a modern education, but also lots of other modern ideas • Simplified the Russian alphabet, encouraged literature, and edited the first newspaper • Forced the nobility at court to “act civilized”, which meant such modern niceties as not spitting on the floor, scratching oneself in public, or gnawing bones at table • Allowed women to be in public; made everyone change their dress to a more fashionable European style