Absolutism Flashcards
Bodin’s Nine Marks of Absolutism (if these were met, nation is absolutist)
Power to give laws as “sole legislator”: all laws must be signed by the king, king has power to veto legislation
Power of war and peace without resort to any other legislative body, king can declare war or peace
Final appeal: king is highest temporal authority in the land, absolute right to determine all issues brought to him on appeal
Power to appoint and dismiss officers of state: power to appoint any official of land
Power of taxation: king must sign taxes into law
Power to pardon: has all power over justice, can pardon someone’s sentence
Power of life and death: executions occur in the name of the king
Power to issue coinage: monarch’s face is usually on coinage
Right to receive fealty and allegiance: still in a feudal society, king is head of feudal society
IF ALL MARKS ARE MET = ABSOLUTIST STATE, KING IS AN ABSOLUTIST MONARCH
If one of these is not met= NOT AN SBOLUSIST STATE
Absolutism and Types of Laws, Bodin
Not tyranny, not totalitarianism: the king is still bound by laws of “God, nature, and nations” and by laws of “custom”
Laws of God: Christian laws emphasized in first five books of Old Testament
Laws of Nature: all reasonable creatures fundamentally understand (killing someone is wrong)
Laws of Nation: when nations have made an agreement, this agreement needs to be followed
Customary Laws: if the laws have been used by the nation by a long time unless they impede his right to exercise sovereignty
NATURAL RIGHTS: All subjects guaranteed life, liberty, property, freedom from oppression, limitations on taxations
Rule of King James I
James rarely called parliament: parliament only responsible for taxation and legislation, king could very well take care of this
James had a very poor relationship with parliament (meddled with the election, and parliament called him out on it)
Ruled through “favorites”: became fond of certain men in his court, Duke of Buckingham George Villiers (James had a sexual relationship with him and gave him very high powers in court, gave him monopolies which meant the economy was limited since individuals had the exclusive rights to buy and sell in economy)
^^Buckingham was also Lord high Admiral of England: involved in ruinous military activities, was not skilled in military
James issued royal proclamations as law: so he wouldn’t have to call parliament
Petition of Right, Edward Coke, 1628:
written about forced loan Charles I was exacting for the sake of England’s entrance into the Thirty Years War, people who refused to pay the loan was ordered to imprisonment and didn’t have any due process right (Coke said that they needed Habeas Corpus rights)
Ship Money:
historical collection of money from people who lived in coastal towns ONLY DURING TIMES OF WAR, so that the king had enough money to send military troops into those towns to protect people from enemies coming in from the English channel (CHARLES COLLECTED THIS MONEY FROM ALL REGIONS, EVEN LANDLOCKED ONES, AND CHARLES PULLED ENGLAND OUT OF THE THIRTY YEARS WAR BUT CONTINUED TO COLLECT SHIP MONEY)
Hobbes, The Leviathan
Men contract individual rights to an absolutist monarchical state IN ORDER TO AVOID ANARCHY
Else life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short
A sovereign parliament would only be erratic and cause life to be bad
Declaration of Breda:
Charles II agrees to terms of mixed constitutional monarchy ^^
Charles II was a very effective king: very few indications of absolutism
Declaration of Indulgence:
Catholics would no longer be persecuted in England, PARLIAMENT DIDN’T WANT THIS
Glorious Revolution:
Mary invited into England to investigate her birthright under the claim that James II’s child was not legitimate
Her husband William of Orange invaded England in order to investigate the claim of legitimacy
Seige of La Rochelle, United Catholicism
Ended Huguenot power: Seige of La Rochelle, 1627-1629: duke of Buckingham sent English military into France to support Huguenots attempting to repel Richelieu
However, Buckingham completely lost the Seige of La Rochelle, which ends any Huguenot power
OUTCOME: FRANCE IS NOW A UNITED CATHOLIC COUNTRY
The Fronde Civil war
Concerns about absolutist policies from Mazarin boiling into Civil war
“Fronde”: named after slingshots used by children to hurl rocks at rich people in their carriages (SYMBOLISM OF POOR RISING UP AGAINST RICH)
Still, really the members of the nobles and gentry who wanted limits to absolutism and relief from taxes
Parliament of Paris: obligation o
Fronde Civil War, Nobles of the robe, nobles of the sword, nobles of the blood d
“Nobles of the Robe”, civil servants who purchased their positions
Nobles Duo: civil servants who have hereditary rights to be judges, magistrates, tax collectors etcl
Nobles of the Sword: members of the titled aristocracy (barons/viscounts etc.)
Nobles of the Blood: individuals who are members of the royal family; hold title as dukes
^^ALL ATTEMPTING TO LIMIT ABSOLUTISM IN THIS CIVIL WAR
Succeeded in gaining power: did this because the king, mother, and Mazarin were forced to leave Paris because the nobles were threatening king (who was 12 years old) so badly
Best exemplifies machievllian power
LOUIS 14TH BEST EXEMPLIFIES MACHIEVELLIAN EXCEPT FOR HENRY THE 8TH
