Monarchial States

Question 1

How did Henry IV strengthen the government?

Answer 1

With the Duke of Sully as his finance minister, Henry IV established government monopolies over key commodities like salt. He also limited the power of the French nobility by limiting regional parliaments.

Question 2

How was Louis XIII able to rise to power?

Answer 2

Cardinal Richelieu facilitated his rise to power by repressing the Huguenots and taking away many of the privileges given to them through the Edict of Nantes. Richelieu brought France into the Thirty Years War on the side of the Protestants rather than the Catholics to counter the traditional French enemy, Spain.

Question 3

How was Louis XIV able to come to power?

Answer 3

After the death of Louis XIII, Louis XIV’s mother appointed Cardinal Mazarin to be his regent. During Mazarin’s control of France, he grappled with rebellions called the Fronde. Louis decided to rule without a chief minister after Mazarin’s death.

Question 4

How did Louis deal with the aristocracy?

Answer 4

He asserted a philosophy that the monarch enjoyed divine rights.

Question 5

Who was Bishop Bossuet and what was his doctrine?

Answer 5

He was Louis’s philosopher. He argued that because the king was chosen by God, only God could judge the king, not parliaments or nobles.

Question 6

What palace did Louis for him to reside in? Where was it?

Answer 6

Versailles. It was a few miles outside of Paris.

Question 7

How did Louis use Versailles to control the aristocracy?

Answer 7

Aristocrats were distracted by court gossip and ceremonial issues rather than trying to overthrow the King. The nobles at Versailles were pleased at their high social standing and tax exemptions.

Question 8

Who was Louis’s most important minister? What was his doctrine?

Answer 8

Jean-Baptiste Colbert. His doctrine was mercantilism.

Question 9

What was mercantilism?

Answer 9

The goal of mercantilism was to build up a nation’s supply of gold by exporting goods and minimizing imports.

Question 10

What were the results of Colbert’s economic policy?

Answer 10

France was divided into the Five Great Farms, which were large, custom-free regions. Colbert succeeded in expanding France’s vast overseas empire by eventually controlling trading posts in India, the west coast of Africa, the Caribbean, and occupying Quebec. He also organized the French East India Company to compete with the Dutch, but it only hat limited success because of excessive government control and lack of interest.

Question 11

How did Louis enhance his absolutism through religion?

Answer 11

He decided to eradicate Calvinism and in 1685 revoked the Edict of Nantes with the Edict of Fontainebleau, demolishing Huguenot churches and taking away their civil rights.

Question 12

What were the effects of the revocation of the Treaty of Nantes?

Answer 12

Around 200,000 Huguenots were exiled to England and the Netherlands. Their exit weakened the French economy and in turn aided England and the Netherlands.

Question 13

What was Louis XIV’s foreign policy?

Answer 13

He engaged in a series of wars for territorial expansion, conquering small parts of Germany and Flanders.

Question 14

What events started the War of Spanish Succession?

Answer 14

William of Orange of the Netherlands was appointed monarch of England, and he was committed to waging war against France. Additionally, the King of Spain died without an heir, and there were competing claims to the throne from different families, including a Bourbon.

Question 15

What happened during the War of Spanish Succession and when did it occur?

Answer 15

It was a war between the French and the English and Dutch allies that lasted from 1702 to 1713.

Question 16

What was the War of Spanish Succession ended by and what were the terms of the agreement?

Answer 16

It was ended by the Treaty of Utrecht, which left a Bourbon on the Spanish throne but forbade the same monarch from ruling France and Spain. It resulted in the containment of France but left the French peasantry hard pressed to pay taxes.

Question 17

What were the two houses of the English Parliament?

Answer 17

The House of Commons and the House of Lords

Question 18

What was the order of the Stuart monarchs?

Answer 18

James I, Charles I, Charles II, and James II.

Question 19

Who was King James I?

Answer 19

He succeeded Elizabeth after her death. James I asserted his divine notion of kingship and sought to be an absolutist ruler.

Question 20

Who was more powerful, the monarch or Parliament?

Answer 20

The monarch was generally more powerful, as he had the ability to summon and dismiss Parliament. However, Parliament needed to be consulted in order to raise taxes.

Question 21

What were religious issues in James I’s rule?

Answer 21

The previous Elizabethan agreement of toleration was not satisfying to radical Calvinists called Puritans.

Question 22

What were the beliefs of Puritans?

Answer 22

Puritans wanted to see the English Church purified of all vestiges of Catholicism.

Question 23

How did Charles I exacerbate religious tensions?

Answer 23

He pledged support for the Arminian wing of the Church, which favored free will over predestination, which further antagonized Puritans.

Question 24

How did Charles I’s relationship with Parliament decline?

Answer 24

Parliament only granted him customs abilities for one yea rather than the traditional life-long appointment. Charles also led a failed invasion of the Spanish port of Cadiz, which forced Charles to raise taxes. When Parliament members refused, they were imprisoned, making parliament put forward the Petition of Rights.

Question 25

What was the Petition of Rights?

Answer 25

It stated that the king could not demand a loan without the consent of Parliament, prohibited for unjust imprisonment without probable cause, housing soldiers, and use of martial law against citizens.

Question 26

Why did Charles dissolve Parliament?

Answer 26

A member of Parliament named John Eliot set forth a series of provoking resolutions.

Question 27

What was the Personal Rule of Charles?

Answer 27

It was a period where Charles governed England without a Parliament. It nearly did away with Parliament, but was inhibited by civil war.

Question 28

What forced Charles to call Parliament?

Answer 28

Charles tried to extend the Church of England to Scotland, but the Scots resisted and revolted. Charles called Parliament to collect money to put down the rebellion, but they refused and were dissolved, earning the name the Short Parliament.

Question 29

Why was Charles forced to call Parliament again?

Answer 29

Charles was handily beaten by the Scots and was forced to pay a large war indemnity. In order to raise money, Charles called Parliament, called the Long Parliament because it lasted for 20 years.

Question 30

How did tensions develop during the Long Parliament?

Answer 30

They impeached two of Charles’s ministers and abolished the king’s prerogative courts while a rebellion broke out in Ireland.

Question 31

What was the Grand Remonstrance?

Answer 31

Parliament submitted a list of grievances from the past decade and demanded new ministers and a reformed Church of England. This sparked the English Revolution.

Question 32

What occurred in the English Revolution?

Answer 32

The Parliament initially lost, but under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, the New Model Army defeated the King’s army, and soon after Charles was executed.

Question 33

What was the government of England like after the Revolution?

Answer 33

England was officially a republic called the Commonwealth, but really was a military dictatorship under Cromwell.

Question 34

Who were the Independents and who were the Presbyterians?

Answer 34

The Independents wanted a state church with a degree of religious freedom for others. Presbyterians wanted a state church without any dissent.

Question 35

Who were the Levellers and Diggers?

Answer 35

They were a radical religious and political group that demanded a complete overhaul of English society, asking for universal male suffrage.

Question 36

What conflicts did Cromwell face?

Answer 36

He had to deal with conflicts between Presbyterians and Independents in his government. He purged his government and army of Levellers and suppressed an pro-Stuart rebellion in Ireland. Cromwell also had problems controlling parliament, ultimately dividing England into 12 military districts

Question 37

Who took power after Cromwell? Did he resolve any of the problems that preceded the Civil War?

Answer 37

The people were so tired of Cromwell they sought to return to the Stuart kings and Charles II took the throne. Charles II never resolved the problems of his father.

Question 38

Who succeeded Charles II and what was his rule like?

Answer 38

James II succeeded Charles and immediately annoyed by allowing Catholics to hold governmental positions and repealing religious tests.

Question 39

Why did the English revolt against James II?

Answer 39

He had goals to rule with absolute divine power and make England a Catholic country. This unified Protestant factions in England.

Question 40

What was the Glorious Revolution?

Answer 40

It was the bloodless transition of power from James II to William of Orange. A Protestant faction invited William to take power, and William and Mary jointly took the throne.

Question 41

What were the five provisions that followed the Glorious Revolution?

Answer 41

The Bill of Rights, The Act of Toleration, The Mutiny Act, The Act of Settlement, and The Act of Union.

Question 42

What did the Bill of Rights provide?

Answer 42

Forbade the use of royal prerogative rights. Suspense and dispense of laws by the monarch was outlawed. Royal interference in elections not allowed. Monarchs were Protestant. Only Parliament could tax.

Question 43

What was entailed by the Act of Toleration?

Answer 43

Granted the right of public worship to Protestant nonconformists but did not extend it to Unitarians or Catholics. However, nonconformists, Jews, and Catholics could not hold office until the Text Act was amended in the 19th century.

Question 44

What was entailed by the Mutiny Act?

Answer 44

It allowed the civil government to govern the army. Desertion and mutiny are crimes. Parliament maintains the army. Parliament must be summoned once a year.

Question 45

What was entailed by the Act of Settlement?

Answer 45

A Catholic Stuart cannot become an English monarch.

Question 46

What was entailed by the Act of Union?

Answer 46

It unified England and Scotland.

Question 47

What conditions allowed the Netherlands to be so successful in economic trade?

Answer 47

The Netherlands was aided by and caused the decline of Spain as an economic power. It had a central role in trade due to its geographic location and large navy. It soon found itself controlling the spice trade and raw materials from the Baltic.

Question 48

Which city became the center of commerce in Northern Europe?

Answer 48

Amsterdam. It replaced Antwerp when it was sacked in the Dutch War for Independence and its harbor was closed as part of the Peace of Westphalia.

Question 49

What changes in the economy allowed the Netherlands to become an international power?

Answer 49

The Bank of Amsterdam issued its own currency and easily raised capital, making Amsterdam the main banking center. The Dutch East India Company was founded funded as a joint-stock company under government control. This allowed the Dutch to create better cargo ships. The Dutch were also very responsive to price changes and changed commodities quickly.

Question 50

What was the result of this Golden Ange in the Netherlands?

Answer 50

It produced a higher standard of living and equal distribution of wealth than the rest of Europe. It was very religiously tolerant, and Jews, Anabaptists, and Catholics settled easily within the Calvinist state.

Question 51

What was the political structure of the Netherlands?

Answer 51

The Netherlands was very decentralized with each of the seven districts having extensive autonomy. Each district was controlled by wealthy merchants. Executive power came from the House of Orange, and the male head was the stadtholder, who was the military leader of the Netherlands.

Question 52

Why was the seventeenth century a golden age of Dutch art?

Answer 52

Private collectors bought Dutch work, and art was treated as a commodity. Dutch style incorporated Baroque themes despite being majority Calvinist.

Question 53

Who were some famous Dutch artists?

Answer 53

Franz Hals. Jan Vermeer, who initially painted historical scenes but later painted scenes of everyday Dutch life. Rembrandt Van Rijn, whose paintings were influenced by High Baroque style and were emotionally complex, he painted The Night Watch.