The Age of Absolutism

Absolute Monarchs in Europe1500-1800

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Monarchy• A monarchy, (from the Greek "monos arkhein" -- "one ruler") is a form of government that has a monarch as Head of State.

• The position of monarch often involves inheritance in some form.

Henry VIII of England

Three Models of European Development

Parliamentary Monarchy or Constitutional Monarchy in Englanda)Stuartsb)“Parliament” (House of Lords and Commons)

Absolutism a)Tudors and Bourbonsb)“Old Regimes” Estates Generalc)Cardinal Richelieu and Mazarin trained kings to be hard working and gain trust from their people.

Enlightened Despots:a)Frederick II, Maria Theresa and Joseph II, and Catherine IIb)Rejected Divine Rightc)Used absolute power to make much needed reforms for country

Reasons Europe Developed Into Absolute Monarchies

• Feudalism had collapsed.• National monarchies replaced.• Intense competition for land and trade lead to

many wars.• Religious differences sparked civil wars.• Absolute monarchy emerged to protect the

nation and preserve order.• “Gunpowder Revolution” began.

Reasons Absolute Monarchies Developed

• Centralizing authority was made easier because of the decline of feudalism, the rise of cities, and the expansion of national kingdoms.

• Monarchs were supported by a new middle class because they promised good conditions for business.

• For all of their ambitions, they used the colonies’ wealth.

• Monarchs’ authority rose even more as the church’s authority decreased during the late Middle Ages and the Reformation.

Reasons Absolute Monarchies Developed

• Religious and territorial conflicts between states led to massive amounts of warfare.

• This warfare caused governments to build armies and charge extremely high taxes.

• In Europe, absolute monarchs could not completely break the power of the nobles, so they included the nobles into their new bureaucratic institutions.

• As the nobles revolted, absolute rulers increased their own power to try to restore order.

Connections between the Renaissance and Absolute Monarchs

• Rise of cities!–Means that trade and formation of

towns produced wealth for the King. (Power for the King)

Connections between the Protestant Reformation and Absolute Monarchs

• The Church lost power.• Religious wars caused chaos.• People wanted safe, stable gov’t

Connections between the Age of Exploration and Absolute Monarchs

• Added wealth and power

• Mercantilism

Decline of feudalism

Rise of cities

Growth of national kingdoms

Growth of middle class

Wealth of colonies

Breakdown of Church authority

Economic and religious crises

Revolts

Regulated worship, social gatherings, and economy

Increased size of court

Created new government bureaucracies

Reduced power of nobles and representative bodies

Absolute Monarch

Rise of Absolutism

Characteristics of the New Absolute Monarchies

Characteristics of the New Absolute Monarchies

1. They offered the institution of monarchy as a guarantee of law and order.

2. They proclaimed that hereditary monarchy was the legitimate form of public power all should accept this without resistance.

3. They enlisted the support of the middle class in the towns tired of the local power of feudal nobles.

4. They would have to get their monarchies sufficiently organized & their finances into reliable order.

Characteristics of the New Absolute Monarchies

Characteristics of the New Absolute Monarchies

5. They would break down the mass of feudal, inherited, customary, or “common” law in which the rights of the feudal classes were entrenched.

6. The kings would MAKE law, enact it by his own authority, regardless of previous custom or historic liberties What pleases the prince has the force of law!

What is an absolute monarch?• Rule by ONE PERSON—a monarch,

usually a king or a queen—whose actions are restricted neither by written law nor by custom.

• Absolute monarchy persisted in France until 1789 and in Russia until 1917.

• Today only Swaziland and the Vatican are absolute monarchies

Absolutism• The idea is based on that monarchs

have divine rights and do not have to answer to any form of government and /or the people.

• So they didn’t take advice from Parliament, the Estates General, or from the Nobles.

• They regulated the taxation and national spending, government, and the religion.

• Would limit personal freedoms of certain groups ex. Jews or Protestants.

• They would also limit the power of the existing government bodies like the English Parliament, and the French Estates General.

Absolute

• unrestrained or unlimited by a constitution, counterbalancing group, etc., in the exercise of governmental power, esp. when arbitrary or despotic

Sovereign

• being above all others in character, importance, excellence, power, etc.

Absolutist Theory– There must be one - and only one - sovereign in

every state (although it can be a body consisting of more than one person).

– The sovereign holds all legitimate power and should never be actively resisted.

– If the sovereign commands a contravention of God's law, disobey, but accept the punishment (= "passive obedience").

One theme = CONTROL!!!1. Control the government

-Centralize & create bureaucracies-Reduce power of representative bodies

2. Control the nobility -Increase size of court; regulate social gatherings-Reduce nobles’ power in the government

3. Control economics-Great works-Economic policies centralized

4. Control power-Divine right & regulate religion

England stability under the Tudors

France consolidation of power under the Bourbons

Spain unification by marriage under the Habsburgs

Holy Roman Empire different model: the cost of decentralization under the Habsburgs

Examples

•A DICTATORSHIP is a government headed by a dictator. Similar to an absolute monarch •It is often equivalent to a police state, but the term "dictatorship" refers to the way the leader gains and holds power, not the watch kept on the citizens.•Some dictators have been popular enough not to have to employ many very oppressive measures. Examples: Julius Caesar & Adolph Hitler

Dictatorship

Characteristics of Absolute Monarchs

• They made all the laws

• They were NOT subject to the laws.

It’s GREAT to

be the King!

“I am the state”

The Rise of Absolute Monarchies(1400’s-1700’s)

Divine Right• The belief that certain Kings

were chosen by God• The Kings were only

accountable to God and no one else

• This idea was reinforced by Bishop Jacques Bossuet.

Divine Right of Kings

• Medieval belief that God gives power to the king; therefore, his actions are sanctioned by God

Absolutism and Divine Right

• Divine right theory was a branch of absolutism• Most divine right theorists thought that monarchy was the

best form of government and that monarchs should never be resisted by the people.

• Divine right theorists insisted that the ruler's authority was from God alone (not from the community). They quoted Scripture in their support:

• Proverbs 8.15-16: By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.

Divine Right Theory

• Proverbs 8.15-16– “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me

princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.”

• Romans 13.1-2– “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For

there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive damnation.”

They Ruled by “Divine Right”• They believed

that they derived their right to rule directly from GOD.

• Accountable only to GOD.

• Not the people!

Divine Right and Hierarchy

Sixteenth century western Europe expressed unfaltering loyalty to a patriarchal Christian God and to a view of the world as his creation.

Hierarchy regarded as part of God’s divinely appointed plan and guarantor of stability.

Reflected in belief in a Great Chain of Being. God had arranged the universe in a certain order, and so

the structure of society should reflect this in its own composition

Great Chain of Being

• God• Archangels• Angels• Kings• Nobles• Merchants & landowners• Peasants• Slaves• Big predatory animals• Plants• Rocks• Dirt

Great Chain of Being: Rhetorica Christiana

(1579)

James 1: Patriarchy and Divine Right

• … Kings are not onely GODS Lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon GODS throne, but even by GOD himselfe they are called Gods. …Kings are also compared to Fathers of families: for a King is trewly Parens patriæ, the politique father of his people. (James 1 speech to Parliament: 1610)

• 1597–1598:The Trew Law of Free Monarchies• Basilikon Doron

Homily on Obedience (1559)

• In all things is to bee lauded and praised the goodly order of GOD, without the which no house, no Citie, no Commonwealth can continue and endure, or last. For where there is no right order, there reigneth all abuse, carnall liberty, enormitie, sinne, and Babylonicall confusion.

Earlier political thinkers like Bodin paved the way. . . • Jean Bodin (1530-1596)

• Promoted royal power as solution to end the French civil wars of religion

• Six Books of the Commonwealth, 1576– sovereignty lies with the monarch

Absolutism and Divine Right Theory• More authoritarian views of government developed during

16th century when France was torn apart by the Religious Wars between Catholics and Protestants.

• Some French writers began to argue that only a strong central government could prevent anarchy, and that resistance to the monarch was never legitimate.

• The most important French absolutist theorist was Jean Bodin (1530-1596), who in 1576 published Six Books of the Commonwealth.

• Bodin argued that the sovereign could not be limited by human laws - since whatever institution had the right to judge if the law were being infringed would itself be the real sovereign.

Absolutism and Divine Right Justified• 1st theorist

– Bishop Jacques Bossuet Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture

• Government was divinely ordained– Matthew 22:21 “Render unto Caesar that which is

Caesar’s”– 1 Peter 2:13-17 [Obey the secular ruler]– Romans 13:1-2 "Let every soul be subject unto the

higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.“

Absolutist Theorists:Bishop Bossuet (1627 – 1704)

• “God is holiness itself, goodness itself, and power itself. In these things lies the majesty of God. In the image of these things lies the majesty of the prince.”

• “The Prince is not a private person. . . All the state is in him. . . As all perfection and strength are united in God, all the power of individuals is united in the person of the Prince. What grandeur that a simple man should embody so much.”

Jean Domat---Another Defender of Divine Right

• “The sovereign power of government should be proportionate to its mandate, and in the station he occupies in the body of human society that makes up the state, he who is the head should hold the place of God. For since God is the only natural sovereign of men, their judge, their lawgiver, their king, no man can have lawful authority over others unless he holds it from the hand of God .... The power of sovereigns being thus derived from the authority of God, it acts as the arm and force of the justice that should be the soul of government; and that justice alone has the natural claim to rule the minds and hearts of men, for it is over these two faculties of men that justice should reign.” –Jean Domat, Jurist

“What is done for the state is done for God, who is the basis and foundation of it......Where the interests of the state are concerned, God absolves actions which, if privately committed, would be a crime.”— Cardinal Richelieu

• What does this primary source quote mean?

• What impact would this have on a country?

Divine Right and Patriarchialism• Patriarchialism defended divine right theory.• It rested on the widely-held belief that husbands

had authority over their wives and fathers over their children.

• This power was held both to be natural (since every society in the world accepted it) and divine (since God endorsed it in the Bible).

• Some theorists argued that sovereigns as naturally held power over their states as fathers did over their families.

• A monarch was no more accountable to his subjects than a father was to his children.

Robert Filmer (1588-1653): Patriarcha (1631 pub. 1680)

Royalism, Absolutism and Thomas Hobbes: (1588-1679)

• Royalists supported the King and principle of hierarchy against what they believed to be the threat of anarchy.

• Hobbes, a Royalist and defender of the King published two influential works of political thought De cive (1642, 1647) and Leviathan (1651)

What does Hobbes believe is the natural state of humanity?

What, for Hobbes, is the solution for a peaceful society?

The Philosopher Behind the AgeThe Philosopher Behind the Age• Thomas Hobbes• 1660 – Wrote the Leviathan

(Giant)• Discussed the perfect

government• People first lived in

anarchy• Needed a “social contract”• Required an absolute

monarch to maintain order• People retained the right

only to maintain their lives.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)“The obligation of subjects to the sovereign is understood

to last as long, and no longer, than the power lasteth by which he can protect them.”

• Sovereign free to rule- must act in interest of subjects• Monarchy best form of govt.

– All powerful, centralize state• If ruler fails to ensure stability, society will dissolve into a state of nature/chaos until new ‘contract’ is made• Denies the people’s right to rebel in such instances• Most famous work is Leviathan (1651)

– response to English Civil War

Thomas Hobbes• Wrote during the English Civil

War• Life is "solitary, poor, nasty,

brutish, and short” . • Man forms peaceful societies by

entering into a social contract.• According to Hobbes, society is

a group of individuals that give up just enough of their natural rights for the gov’t to be able to ensure internal peace and a common defense.

• This sovereign, whether monarch, aristocracy or democracy (though Hobbes prefers monarchy), should be a Leviathan, an absolute authority.

• Leviathan is a sea monsterr

Royalism, Absolutism and Hobbes• The most basic axiom of Hobbes' system of political thought was

that everyone naturally aims at self-preservation. • He argued that in "a state of nature" (i.e. where there was no

government), life would be completely insecure. • Without any protection against aggression, life would be miserable

and dangerous.

• "No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"(Hobbes, Leviathan, 1.18).

• Under such conditions, people would be willing to surrender their own powers to an absolute government that would protect them from everyone else.

• Hobbes argued that the sovereign's power was absolute - (s)he made the law, and no other law could limit sovereign power.

• The only right Hobbes left to subjects was the right to defend themselves against the sovereign's direct attack.

Imagine that you are a mid-17th-century ruler aiming at absolutist rule:

What steps do you need to take?• DO THIS ON YOUR LEFT

SIDE OF YOUR NOTES.• THEN SHARE WITH

YOUR PARTNER.• BE SURE TO EXPLAIN

WHY.

Definitions for Historical Categories

• Political:• Government• King or President• Parliament• Laws• Military• Wars• Political Rebellions

• Economic:• Budget• Taxes• Industry• Agriculture• Trade• Transportation• Unemployment• Colonies

Definitions for Historical Categories• Social:• Religious Minorities• Gender Roles• Social Classes: nobles,

clergy, middle class, trades people, peasants, and serfs

• Ethnic Minorities

• Cultural:• Religious Majority• Arts: Paintings,

Sculptures, Architecture, Gardens, Music, and Dance

• Press• Education• Healthcare• Fashion• Diet

Political Aspects• This refers to all changes pertaining to the government

structures, laws, the role of the monarch, foreign policies, wars, and rights

• The monarch does not listen to parliament.• Maintains a standing army.• Limits the power of the existing legislative branch.• Chief ministers directly responsible to the monarch.• Monarch is the supreme lawgiver, chief judge, commander

of military, and head of government.• Acquisition of foreign territory is a main goal.• Replaced local government officials with loyal nobles or

royal governors.

Absolutism and War• Absolutism change how wars were fought. • Prior to this, rulers raised temporary armies comprised of soldiers

raised from feudal lords. • When the war was over the soldiers would return to their regular

jobs. • Relying on the nobility for military support was risky: internal

strife could result if the nobility decided to withhold support and challenge the monarchy.

• Absolute monarchy avoided this problem by creating standing armies where a person’s sole job was to be a soldier in service to the monarch.

• Absolute rulers were the living embodiment of the state. Nowhere is this best illustrated than through the reign of Louis XIV.

Economic Aspects• This refers to all the changes dealing with monetary

issues, farming, industries, transportation, taxes, budget matters, loans and debt, workforce training, etc…

• Pursued a policy of mercantilism-expansion of trade and expenses due to wars encouraged this policy.

• Accumulate as much gold and silver bullion as possible.• Maintain a balance of trade where you export more than

you import.• Used subsidies, charted monopolies, taxes, tariffs, harbor

tolls and direct prohibitions to encourage exports and reduce imports.

• Monarchs standardized industrial production, regulated wages, set prices, and built roads, canals, and docks.

• Colonial empires were essential to a strong absolute monarch.

Accumulated Vast Sums of Wealth• How…?• By seizing new territories in the New World and the Far East• Expanding trade overseas and within Europe• Taxing the growing wealth of their people

Social Aspects• This refers to all the changes pertaining to social

classes like nobles, middle class, and serfs, gender roles, immigration and treatment of religious minority groups.

• French kings selected middle class men to run the government business, while Spain, having driven out most of the Jewish and Muslim middle class during the Inquisition, appointed nobles.

• The class structures of absolute monarchies were marked by clear distinctions, precisely defined by law.

• Hereditary feudal aristocrats lost status unless they acquired an official appointment from the monarch.

Social Changes

The commercial revolution not only transformed the medieval economy, it also reshaped medieval society.

The use of money undermined serfdom. Most peasants became tenant farmers or hired farm laborers.

In towns, a new middle class of merchants, traders, and artisans emerged.

The Church forbade Christians from becoming moneylenders. Since Jews were barred from other professions, many took on this role.

4

Social: Businessmen• They became savvy businessmen

and learned to deal with Italian moneylenders and bankers.

• The English, Belgians, Germans, and Dutch took their coal, timber, wood, iron, copper, and lead to the south and came back with luxury items such as wine and olive oil.

Social: Tradesmen

• With the advent of trade and commerce, feudal life declined.

• As the tradesmen became wealthier, they resented having to give their profits to their lords.

Social: The Merchant Class• The new merchant class

included artisans, masons, armorers, bakers, shoemakers, ropemakers, dyers, and other skilled workers.

Social: Urban Life• Few serfs were left in Europe by

the end of the Middle Ages, and the growing burgher class became very powerful.

• Hard work and enterprise led to economic prosperity and a new social order.

• Urban life brought with it a new freedom for individuals.

MEDIEVAL LIFECooperation and Mutual Obligations

KING

LORDS (VASSALS TO KING)

KNIGHTS (VASSALS TO LORDS)

Fief and Peasants

Military Aid

Food Protection Shelter

Food Protection Shelter

PEASANTS (SERFS)Pay Rent

Fief and Peasants

Food Protection Shelter

Farm the Land

Homage Military Service

Loyalty

FEUDALISM: POLITICAL SYSTEM

Decentralized, local government

Dependent upon the relationship between members of the nobility

Lord and his vassals administered justice and were the highest authority in their land

MANORIALISM: ECONOMIC SYSTEM

Agriculture the basis for wealth

Lands divided up into self-sufficient manors

Peasants (serfs) worked the land and paid rent In exchange for protection

Barter the usual form of exchange

END OF FEUDALISM

Feudalism Becomes Social System and No Longer Political

• The kings had lots of land; he gave land to lords in exchange for protection and $.

• Lords gave their land to knights in exchange for protection, $.

• Knights let serfs work the land and he would protect them.

• Serfs got food and shelter.• Thus, each person had rights

and responsibilities

Social: End of Traditional Feudalism

• The kings had lots of land; he gave land to lords in exchange for protection and $.

• Lords gave their land to knights in exchange for protection, $.

• Knights let serfs work the land and he would protect them.

• Serfs got food and shelter.• Thus, each person had rights

and responsibilities

Nationalism in Europe Section 4

Agricultural Society

• Much of population, serfs—workers considered part of land they worked

• Like share-croppers or tenant farmers but not allowed to leave the land

• Declined in Western Europe but continued in Russia

Societal Problem

• Serfs had to make regular payments of goods, labor to lords

• Some in government wanted to improve conditions, unable to make reforms

• Russian serfdom way of life, a major problem in Russian society

Serfs

• Controlled by lords, wealthy nobles who owned land

• Technically not slaves; living conditions, lack of freedom, resembled slavery

• Not allowed to leave property where born; did not own land they worked

Serfdom

Serfdom in Western Europe Serfdom was not needed in Western Europe

because: The west was affected by the Black Death and

the labor shortages helped labor Eastern lords had more political power than

the lords in the west Eastern kings had no power over the policies of

the landlords Peasants were also weaker in the east which

mean uprisings were usually unsuccessful

Nationalism in Europe Section 4

• Unlike Western Europe, serfdom still existed in Russia and was very widespread– Serfs could be bought and sold like slaves– Serfs could even be killed without

punishment for the killer!!– Without the free movement of people, the

nation could not become more urbanized and then industrialized

Serfdom in Eastern Europe The Black Death greatly hurt

eastern Europe and created labor shortages for the nobles

After 1300, lords in eastern Europe brought back serfdom to combat economic challenges

Kings and princes issued laws restricting peasants’ rights of moving freely

Lords confiscated peasant lands and imposed heavy labor obligations

In certain regions of Europe, even non-serf peasants were affected

They were required to work 3-4 days without pay per week for their local lord

Social: The Peasants At the lowest level of

society were the peasants, also called serfs or villeins.

The lord offered his peasants protection in exchange for living and working on his land.

Social: Hard Work & High Taxes Peasants worked hard to

cultivate the land and produce the goods that the lord and his manor needed.

They were heavily taxed and were required to relinquish much of what they harvested.

Bound by law and custom…

It is the custom in England, as with other countries, for the nobility to have great power over the common people, who are serfs. This means that they are bound by law and custom to plough the field of their masters, harvest the corn, gather it into barns, and thresh and winnow the grain; they must also mow and carry home the hay, cut and collect wood, and perform all manner of tasks of this kind.

-- Jean Froissart, 1395 

Social Aspects: State Nobles vs the Common People.

• State nobles owed their privileges to their political service rather than birth.• State nobles often came from merchant families; indeed, the state often sold titles

to wealthy commoners to provide income for the monarch.• State nobles served in public administration, in the army, the church, or as

attendants at court, where they accented the royal magnificence.• State nobles usually received tax exemptions, pensions, titles, and honors. Their

legal rights, dress, and way of life differed markedly from even wealthy non-nobles.• Commoners, including middle-class townspeople, paid most of the taxes required

by frequent wars and extravagant royal courts. • Peasant landholders usually owed fees and labor dues to local aristocrats.• The poorest peasants in the Western Europe were hired laborers or vagabonds; in

eastern Europe, they were serfs. • Slavery was rare in Western Europe, but provided a major labor force on overseas

plantations.

Social Aspects: Treatment of Women.

• While tightening legal class distinctions, absolute monarchies also further downgraded the status of women.

• The Reformation had offered some opportunities for self-expression among women, and before 1650 many women had assumed temporary positions of leadership.

• The situation changed after Westphalia.• Although a number of queens and regents were able to rule as

absolute monarchs, most aristocratic women could find recognition only as Catholic nuns, writers, artists, salon hostesses, court gossips, or royal mistresses, the latter gaining official status in this era.

• The status of commoner women did not fall as much or as quickly, but the advent of early capitalism and the decline of domestic economies was already excluding them from many industries and enterprises in the latter seventeenth century.

Cultural Aspects: Majority Religion• This refers to all the changes pertaining to the

majority religion, education, architecture, clothing, healthcare, music, literature, and the arts.

• Organized religion remained important under absolutism but lost its independence of government. Instead of dominating politics, as they had done earlier, churches – Protestant and Catholic alike – now tended to become government agencies.

• Even in Catholic countries, such as France, the king exerted more political control over the church than did the pope. Although this had been true of earlier secular rulers, they had faced much more religious opposition.

• After Westphalia, monarchs could deliberately use their clergies as government servants, to enlist and hold popular support.

• Such controlled churches exerted tremendous influence in support of absolute monarchies, not only in the formal services but also in their social and educational functions.

The reality of absolutism• Most kings were limited by:

– Economics! (not enough gold to do what they wanted)• England’s Parliament controlled the wealth (as did private

companies)• Capitalism vs. mercantilism• Wars were expensive

– Legislative bodies• England, Germany• Versailles exception (why did Louis move his court there?)

– Power of neighbors– Their own intelligence!

• Philip III (Spain)• Decline in Ottoman Empire (palace intrigue, killings, etc…)

Absolute Monarchy’s Good Points

• Strong, Stable government is good for business and trade.–Louis XIV and mercantilism in

France–Peter the Great westernizing Russia

Strong Army to Protect and add territory

• Peter the Great added new territory• Louis XIV invaded the Netherlands

Quick decisions made and implemented

Advantages and Disadvantages of Absolute Monarchies:

Advantages:*At its best, it can be a relatively stable form of government.*People know that one person, the monarch, will continue to rule for the rest of his or her life. If the monarch is a capable leader and in good health, people are assured of the benefits of good government for many years.

Disadvantages:*On the other hand, when an absolute monarch dies, there can be much trouble over the question of who will be next on the throne. At the time of the ruler’s death, the appointed heir might be only a child. *Ambitious persons then have the opportunity to challenge the young ruler. Rival contenders for the throne might tear apart the kingdom in a civil war.*Another disadvantage to absolute monarchy is that an absolute monarch cannot be questioned. *The freedoms of individual citizens are often limited. Rights that Americans often take for granted, like freedom of speech and freedom of the press, are not guaranteed in an absolute monarchy. *There are few checks on the authority of the monarch.

What’s wrong with Absolutism?

• Monarch’s can be greedy and do things just for themselves.–Louis XIV = Versailles, clothes, art

etc.–Philip II = Escorial, art, religious

conflict

Costly Wars use up the country’s money

• Philip II • Louis XIV• Peter the Great

Nobody can stop their mistakes

• Philip II• Louis XIV

High Taxes always needed

• Philip II• Louis XIV• Peter the Great

Summary:• Absolute monarchies with centralized

governments began to rise to power in Europe.• The dominant forces in Europe were England,

France, Prussia, Austria, and Russia.• Religious divisions were evident Protestants

(England + Prussia), Catholics (France + Austria), and Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Russia).

• Competitions formed between certain nations. -England v. France- in the new world -Prussia v. Austria over the German States

• Alliances were formed between these powers constantly to preserve a balance of power in Europe. These alliances would also shift depending on the goals of the leaders involved.

Absolute Monarchies and Absolute Monarchies and Enlightened Despots in Enlightened Despots in

EuropeEurope1550-18001550-1800

France: Absolute Monarchs-Louis XIII & Louis XIVFrance: Absolute Monarchs-Louis XIII & Louis XIV

Spain: Absolute Monarchs-Philip IISpain: Absolute Monarchs-Philip II

England: Absolute Monarchs and Development of a Constitutional England: Absolute Monarchs and Development of a Constitutional Monarchy-Tudors & StuartsMonarchy-Tudors & Stuarts

Austria: Enlightened Despots---Maria Theresa & Joseph IIAustria: Enlightened Despots---Maria Theresa & Joseph II

Prussia: Enlightened Despot- Frederick the GreatPrussia: Enlightened Despot- Frederick the Great

Russia: Absolute Monarchs- Ivan the Terrible & Peter the GreatRussia: Absolute Monarchs- Ivan the Terrible & Peter the Great

Russia: Enlightened Despot-Catherine the GreatRussia: Enlightened Despot-Catherine the Great

Alternatives to Absolutism►Sweden

– Nobles use the absence of the king during warfare to reaffirm their power.

►United Provinces– Merchants and landowners in the Estates General

held the House of Orange in check.►Poland

– King was elected by nobles, who continued to hold the power.