Ch 15 Absolutist & Constitutionalist Flashcards
Why is the 17th century (1600’s) sometimes referred to as the age of crisis?
After the economic and demographic growth of the sixteenth century, Europe faltered into stagnation and economic difficulty. • Climate change • Religious conflict • Governmental pressures and war • Hunger and population loss
What was the peasants diet like during the hardships of the 17th century?
Bread and root vegetable soup were mainstays of diet. Had to pay to grind grain and had to pay to use an oven
What were economic factors that effected peasants during the hardships of the 17th century?
crude technology and low crop yield
a period of colder and wetter climate dubbed the “little ice age”
high food prices
spread of diseases due to malnutrition
How were opportunities for peasants different in western and eastern Europe?
In western Europe there was a hierarchy with some peasants having enough land to be self sufficient, some having some land-enough to sell produce at market, and some being serfs on others land. In Eastern Europe they were all serfs.
What was the lead up to the 30 years war?
The Peace at Augsburg (between the German protestants) and the HRE/Charles V started to deteriorate over time (people moved around). The Protestant Union and the Catholic League formed to defend their religious freedoms.
What was phase 1 of the 30 years war?
Started in Bohemia (Czech republic). Catholic forces defeated Protestants at the Battle of the White Mountain.
What was phase 2 of the 30 years war?
More Catholic victories in Denmark
What was phase 3 of the 30 years war?
Swedish Phase. Swedish King goes to Germany to help HRE Protestants.
French chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, subsidized the Swedes, hoping to weaken Habsburg power in Europe.
Gustavus Adolphus (Swedish King) won two impor¬tant battles but was fatally wounded in combat.
What was phase 4 of the 30 years war?
French, phase of the war
Richelieu’s concern that the Habsburgs would rebound after the death of Gustavus Adolphus.
Richelieu declared war on Spain (HRE) and sent military as well as financial assistance.
What was the end of the 30 years war marked by (what treaty)?
Peace of Westphalia 1648
Turning point in European History
Impacts of the 30 years war / Peace at Westphalia?
Turning point in European History
Fewer religious conflicts
The Augsburg agreement of 1555 became permanent, adding Calvinism to Catholicism and Lutheranism as legally permissible
The treaties recognized the inde¬pendent authority of more than three hundred German princes
Emperor’s authority very limited
About 1/3 pop central europe dead
Which countries had absolutist governments in the 17th century?
France, Spain, central Europe, and Russia
Which countries had constitutionalist governments in the 17th century?
England and the Dutch Republic
What were differences between absolutist and constitutionalist governments in the 17th century?
Whereas absolutist monarchs gathered all power under their personal control, English and Dutch rulers were obliged to respect laws passed by representative institutions.
Historians refer to states where power was limited by law as “constitutional.” Constitutionalism should not be confused with democracy. ¬
What were similarities between absolutist and constitutionalist governments in the 17th century?
Despite their political differences, all these states shared com¬mon projects of protecting and expanding their fron¬tiers, raising new taxes, consolidating central control, and competing for the new colonies opening up in the New and Old Worlds.
What 4 areas give a government greater control?
- ) More Taxes
- ) Bigger Army
- ) Larger Bureaucracy
- ) Ability to compel obedience from subjects
What was a main difference between medieval armies and the new Royal armies on the 17th century?
In medieval times, feudal lords had raised armies only for particular wars or campaigns. In the 17th century Monarchs made permanent standing armies
In the early days of permanent standing armies, how did nobles suffer?
They led men in battle, so died
Fell into debt because they had to purchase their positions in the army and pay for the units they commanded
Where did the peasant bread riots occur?
Absolutist Spain (but technically it was Spanish occupied Sicily/Italy)
Where did the people start hacking tax collectors to death for their Absolutist tax policies? (Higher taxes, more control)
France
What was Henry IV’s (France) nickname
Henry the Great
What was the state of France when Henry IV (Henry the Great) came to power near the beginning of the 17th century?
- Civil war between protestants and Catholics
- Poor Harvests
- Bad economy
How did Henry the Great (promised “a chicken in every pot”) improve the situation on France?
Kept France at peace during most of his reign.
He lowered taxes and instead charged royal officials an annual fee to guarantee the right to pass their positions down to their heirs.
He improved infrastructure building new roads and canals
Henry IV allowed Protestants the right to worship in 150 traditionally Protestant towns throughout France. What was the law called?
The Edict of Nantes
Who was Cardinal Richelieu?
The Chief Minister of France for Louis XIII (13)
Essentially ran the country
Catholic Cardinal
What political structure did Richelieu create in France?
He extended the use of intendants, commissioners for each of France’s 32 districts who were appointed directly by the monarch (they were loyal to the king) - more centralized power
What did Richelieu think about Protestantism?
Wanted to repress them in France
What did Richelieu think about Protestantism in other countries?
He sometimes supported them because he wanted to decrease the Hapsburgs
What was the Fronde?
A series of violent uprisings during the early reign of Louis XIV triggered by growing royal control and increased taxation.
How did the Fronde influence Louis XIV?
Queen mother fled Paris with Louis XIV (4 years old)
Who was the chief minister for Louis XIV?
Cardinal Jules Mazarin
What were the Magistrates of the Parlement of Paris and how did they feel about the absolutist policies of Louis XIV reign?
The nation’s most important court. They were outraged by the Crown’s autocratic measures. They encouraged violent protest by the common people.
What does divine right monarch mean and who is the classic example?
God had established kings as his rulers on earth, and they were answerable ultimately to him alone. Louis XIV, the sun king.
What were Louis XIV’s feeling about nobles?
Relied on the cooperation of nobles, who maintained tremendous prestige and authority in their ancestral lands to extend his power throughout France
But tried to limit their power. Louis never called a meeting of the Estates General, so the nobles never had a chance to act as a group. He selected councilors from the recently ennobled or the upper middle class (not upper class or longstanding nobles) because he didn’t want anyone to become powerful.
Who revoked Henry the Greats’ Edict of Nantes which gave Protestants freedom of worship?
Louis VIX
- ordered the Catholic baptism of Huguenots (French Calvinists)
- the destruction of Huguenot churches
- the closing of schools
- the exile of Huguenot pastors who refused to renounce their faith
- the result was the departure of some of the king’s most loyal and industrially skilled subjects.
What / whose palace has an eighty-yard Hall of Mirrors, replete with floor-to-ceiling mirrors and ceiling murals illustrating the king’s triumphs
Versailles / Louis XIV
What is mercantilism?
A system of economic regulations aimed at increasing the power of the state based on the belief that a nation’s international power was based on its wealth, specifically its supply of gold and silver.
Who is the guy you should think of with mercantilism?
Colbert (Louis XIV’s financial controller)
How did Jean Baptist Colbert use mercantilism to help the French economy?
To accumulate wealth, a country always had to sell more goods abroad than it bought.
To decrease the purchase of goods outside France, Colbert insisted that French industry should produce everything needed by the French people.
To encourage the purchase of French goods, he abolished many domestic tariffs and raised tariffs on foreign products.
Why did France explore Canada?
Hoped to make Canada—rich in untapped minerals and some of the best agricultural land in the world—part of a vast French empire. (Part of Colbert’s Mercantilism strategy)
What was one reason Louis the VIV kept France in near constant wars?
He saw himself as a conqueror / Louis’s goal was to expand France to what he considered its natural borders.
What was a “positive” result for France from Louis XIV’s wars?
Expanded territories.
- important commercial centers in the Spanish Netherlands and Flanders
- province of Franche Comté
- city of Strasbourg
- province of Lorraine
