Absolutism1650 - 1720

Where?France - Bourbon - Louis XIV

Prussia - Hohenzollern

Russia - Romanov - Peter the Great

Austria - Habsburg (least absolutist)

Sweden - King Charles XI, Charles XII and King Gustavus III (that’s all on Sweden)

Why?

War and taxes

religious wars

English Civil War

Theorists supported it:

Jean Bodin (1530-1596)

“nothing upon earth is greater or higher; next unto God, than the mastery of kings and sovereign princes”

Thomas HobbesLeviathan 1651

state of nature

“war of every man against every man”

“poor, nasty, brutish and short”

obedience only comes when they are afraid of not doing so

social contract - surrender rights in exchange for protection

Jacques Bossuet1627 - 1704

kings ruled by “divine right” by virtue of the will of God

How did his idea differ from Hobbes?

power comes from God not a social contract

Absolutism v. Despotism

ruling without constraints does not mean arbitrary rule

Characteristics of Absolutismcontrol of the nobility

establishing a centralized and efficient bureaucracy

raising and maintaining large standing armies

successful at raising funds

image building through art and architecture

religious unity

Characteristics unique to Central and Eastern Europe

win over nobility at expense of peasants = serfdom

no strong middle class to challenge

autocracy in Russia

Limitations

resistance will eventually come from:

representative assemblies

middle class

enlightened thinkers

Setting stage for Louis XIVHenry IV (r 1589 - 1610) and duke of

Sully

Louis XIII (r1610 - 1643) and Cardinal Richelieu

promotes raison d’etat

attack on nobility

generalites and intendants

goes after Huguenots

stops revolts

Louis XIV (as boy only) and Cardinal Mazarin 1602-1661) Italian - “foreign plotter”

Fronde in ParisCause: financial crisis = need to increase taxes

Parlement of Paris refuses to approve increase

remonstrances - formal objections to the registration of new royal ordinances, edicts or declarations, which could be overriden by the king

Mazarin orders arrest of defiant members

barricades went up - Parisian mob rioted

Louis XIV is able to stop the frondeurs - not united, people want stability over chaos

Effects of Fronde

Louis XIV decides on absolutism

economy needs to be rebuilt

nobility needs to be controlled

Reign of Louis XIV1643 - 1715

Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619 - 1683)

finance minister to Louis XIV

increases the taille

mercantilismcan’t keep up with Versailles & wars

Image is everything

L’etate, c’est moit - I am the state

Versailles

Nicholas Fouquet “Never outshine the master”

Jean-Baptiste Moliere - plays

Religion

“One king, one law, one faith”

Revocation of Edict of Nantes 1685

Persecution of Jansenists

Louis XIV - foreign policy

expansion of French borders = wars for prestige and to contain Habsburg power: Spanish & Austrian

France’s “natural” frontiers - east to Rhine River and south to Pyrenees Mts.

balance of power

biggest opponent - William of Orange,

Louis’ WarsWar #1

War of Devolution 1667 - 1668

France v. Triple Alliance: England, Sweden and Dutch Republic

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

War #2

The Dutch War of 1672

Louis v. Prince William of Orange and his coalition: Austria and SPanish Habsburg, Brandburg (future Prussia)

Treaty of Nimwegen 1678 - Louis able to keep Franche-Comte

War #3

War of the League of Augsburg 1688

a/k/a Nine Years’ War

in the colonies = King William’s War

Treaty of Ryswick 1697 - Louis gets Alsace

War # 4 - last oneWar of the Spanish Succession 1702-1713

Background to war

Louis v. William of Orange’s coalition: Grand Alliance

Results:

Treaty of Utrecht 1713

Treaty of Rastatt (Rastadt) 1714

Louis XIV’s death = 1715

tried to burn memoirs = recovered by his officials

contained confession that perhaps he had “loved glory too much”

foreshadows the coming of....?

Next up. . . .

Peter the Great - Russia - Romanov Dynasty - Autocrat - even more powerful than an Absolutist Monarch