Absolute MonarchyOctober 21-22, 2015

Objective: Students will analyze characteristics of an absolute monarchy through text, class discussion, and written response.

Review warm-up: Until recently why did the Catholic Church try to discredit and/or silence scientists?

Scientific Revolution- Headline

You have ten minutes to complete Experiment #3!

Go back to your seat and answer the following

question in your notes:

Rephrase the question to begin your answer. Be prepared to share your answer!

“Why do people form governments?”

Important Vocabulary

• Absolute Monarch: A king or queen with unlimited power over the country and its citizens.

• Divine Right: The idea that monarchs receive power directly from God and are accountable only to God for their actions. (This allowed monarchs to go unchallenged by their subjects.)

• Dynasty: A line of rulers from the same family.

• Nobility: not royalty but are given titles for being loyal.

Read “Absolute Monarchy” text.

Question 1: “How did absolute monarchs justify their rule?”

Question 2: “How did absolute rulers change life and policy in their countries? Decide whether these changes were positive or negative.

Read “Louis XIV”.

1. How did Louis XIV defend his rule?

2. How did Louis XIV change life and policy in France? Decide whether these changes were positive or negative.

Huguenots - Protestants

Louis XIV

Louis XIV Comes to Power

• Louis XIV believed that he and the state were one and the same

• “L’etat, c’est moi” = “I am the state”

• Liked to be called the Sun King because all power radiated from him

Louis XIV said, “L’etat, c’est moi”

Louis, the Boy King

• Became king when he was four years old

• The true ruler, was Cardinal Mazarin, who replaced Cardinal Richelieu

• The nobles hated Mazarin because he increased taxes and strengthened the central government

• Nobles rebelled and threatened Mazarin and Louis

• Rebellion failed when peasants and townspeople got tired of fighting and disorder

• They preferred the oppression of an absolute king to the chaos

Louis XIV at Seven

Louis Weakens the Nobles’ Authority

• When Mazarin died, Louis took control

• He further weakened the power of the nobles by excluding them from his councils

• He made sure that local officials communicated with him regularly

Economic Growth

• Louis wanted France to be economically, politically, and culturally strong

• His minister of finance, Jean Baptiste Colbert, believed in mercantilism

• Wanted France to keep its wealth by being self-sufficient, rather than relying on imports

• Helped expand manufacturing

• Placed high tariff (tax) on imported goods

• Recognized importance of colonies for raw materials and market for French goods

• Fur trade from Canada

• After Colbert’s death, Louis canceled the Edict of Nantes, which protected religious freedom for Huguenots

• Thousands of Huguenot (Protestants) artisans and business people left France

• France was left without many of its skilled workers

• Economic progress was slowed

Economic Growth Cont.

The Sun King’s Grand Style

• Louis spent a fortune surrounding himself with luxury

• Built the huge palace at Versailles near Paris

•Estimated cost $2-3 Billion in US dollars today

• Palace was 500 yards long

• Ornate decoration and furnishings

• Intended to clearly show Louis’s wealth and power

Virtual Tour of Versailles and More

http://en.chateauversailles.fr/multimedia-/multimedia-en/web-sites

Louis Controls the Nobility

• Louis required hundreds of nobles to live at Versailles

• Increased royal authority in two ways:

• Made the nobility dependent on Louis

• Took them away from their homes so the intendants had more power

• Kept them under Louis watchful eye

Patronage of the Arts

• Versailles was a center of arts

• Louis made opera and ballet more popular

• Most famous writer – Moliere

• Wrote comedies

• Louis supported the arts as a way to glorify the king and promote values that supported his absolute rule

Louis Fights Disastrous Wars

• Under Louis, France was the most powerful country in Europe

• He attempted to expand France’s boundaries by invading the Spanish Netherlands, but he only gained a small region

• Decided to fight other wars, but other countries joined together to keep France from becoming too strong

• A poor harvest, high taxes to finance the wars, and constant warfare brought suffering to the people of France

Louis’s Death and Legacy

• Died in 1715• Positive legacy:

• France was a great power

• Leader in European art and literature

• Military leader of Europe

• Had a strong empire of colonies

• Negative legacy:

• Left huge debt from wars and building Versailles

• Resentment by the poor over taxes and Louis’s abuse of power eventually led to revolution

Video on Louis XIV

Exit Ticket

Write and Answer Questions in Digital Notebook

1. What are some advantages and disadvantages to living under absolute rule?

2. Do you think Louis XIV was a good king? Explain your answer with details.

What does this look like today?• Kim jong un

• Supreme Leader of North Korea

• President Bashar al-Assad• President of Syria

• Robert Mugabe• President of Zimbabwe

• Fidel Castro• Former President of Cuba

Any other examples???

works cited

• http://www.ltisdschools.org/cms/lib/TX21000349/Centricity/Domain/287/Chapter21.pdf

• http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/harrison2/unitplan.pdf