Absolutism Mark Greengrass [email protected] H205 - European World Warwick University.

13
Absolutism Mark Greengrass [email protected] H205 - European World Warwick University

Transcript of Absolutism Mark Greengrass [email protected] H205 - European World Warwick University.

Page 1: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

Absolutism

Mark [email protected]

H205 - European WorldWarwick University

Page 2: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

Republics of Genoa and Venice‘City-states’ – Geneva,

Dubrovnik, Hamburg

The ‘United Provinces’

The Austrian Habsburg Empire

The Polish ‘Commonwealth’ [Reszpospolita’]

The Grey Leagues [Grisons]

The Papal States

1. Europe’s Early-Modern Political Geography

Page 3: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

Giovanni Botero, ‘Della Ragion dello Stato’ (1589) – ‘On Reason of State’

The ‘Nerves of State’

French revenue extraction: 3.46 million livres (1523) 20.3 million livres (1608)

115 million livres (c. 1640)Castile: c. 1 million ducats (1522)

c. 10 million ducats (1598)

2. State Consolidation in Europe

Justus Lipsius, Politicorum sive Civilis Doctrinae Libri Sex - On Politics, or Six Books of Civil Doctrine (1589)

Page 4: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

4. Absolutism – the History of a Concept

Nicolas Henshall, The Myth of Absolutism (1992)

‘The edifice of ‘absolutism’ is cracking. The building still stands but few seem to have noticed that it is hanging in mid-air. No one has assembled the materials for demolition, but nor has the case been made for a preservation order’[Nicolas Henshall in History Today 42.6 (1992), p. 40]

‘Not only did Louis XIV or his emulators in Europe fail to deliver an absolutist agenda, but they never had such pretensions[Peter H. Wilson, in Absolutism in Central Europe (2000), p. 3]

Page 5: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

5a. The ‘Myth’ of Absolutism Examined

Jean Bodin (1530-1596), Les Six Livres de la Republique (Paris, 1576)

...and mixed reactions:-In the Holy Roman Empire-In Venice- Among Protestant ‘extreme critics’ (‘monarchomachs’ or ‘king-haters’) of absolute monarchy- Among ‘stakeholders

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)

...and mixed reactions:-In England- in France

Page 6: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

5a....Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Bishop of Evreux (1627-1704) – a ‘Spokesman’ for French Absolute Monarchy

‘Of all monarchies, the best is the successive or hereditary, above all when it passes from male to male, and from eldest to eldest’

Page 7: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

5b. ....The ‘Myth’ of Absolutism Examined

b) In relation to the Army:Guy Rowlands, Dynastic State and the Army under Louis XIV (2002)

a) In relation to the Parlement of Paris and the magistrates: Albert Hamscher, After the Fronde: Louis XIV and the Parlement of Paris (1643-1671) (1991)

c) In Relation to the Court and the Aristocracy:Norbert Elias, Court SocietyRoger Mettam, Power and Faction in Louis XIV’s France (1991)

d) In Relation to the Catholic Church

e) In Relation to the Protestant Minority

Page 8: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

6. Absolutism as the Projection of Power

Peter Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV (1992)

‘In the Seventeenth Century, European governments devoted more attention to the public image of the ruler than at any time since the Roman Empire’

a) ‘Traditional’ media:-- e.g. ‘Royal Touch’

b) ‘Traditional Media given New Emphases:-- The Royal ‘Palace’- Court ballet- Statues- Portraits

c) Mechanically-reproduced media:--Tapestries- Engravings- Medallions- Printed newspapers .... etc

Page 9: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

6 Versailles and the Apollo Theme – The Hall of Mirrors

Page 10: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

6 Charles Le Brun’s Central Panel in the Ceiling Decoration of the Hall of Mirrors – ‘The King Governs by Himself’

‘timon’ – or symbol of ‘state’ power

King’s face reflected on the breastplate of Minerva, the goddess of ‘wisdom’

Goddess of Glory, beckoning the king into immortality

Mars, the God of War, through obedience to whom (‘valour’) the king will attain glory

Various goddesses representing the fruits of the king’s rule (music, literature, painting, etc

France, holding in her hands an olive branch (‘peace’) in a bouquet representing ‘justice’

Page 11: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

6 Louis XIV – new and old media of political fashioning

Engraved as Apollo, the Sun God, following a court ballet of 1662

Louis XIV - engraved as on horseback

Louis XIV’s statue, erected in Paris in the Place des Victoires in 1682

Page 12: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Louis XIV (painted 1701-2) to present to Philip, duke of Anjou, Louis XIV’s grandson – a painting over 10 foot high and copied numerous times. The original is in the Louvre, but there is a copy in Versailles

6 Royal Portraiture

Page 13: Absolutism Mark Greengrass m.greengrass@sheffield.ac.uk H205 - European World Warwick University.

Versailles in Germany:-- Augustusburg (Brühl) – Archbishop-Elector of Cologne- Schwetzingen – Elector Palatine- Sanssouci (Potsdam) and Charlottenburg (Berlin)-- Herrenhausen (Hanover)-- Schloss Schließheim (Munich)-- Nordkirchen – Bishop of Münster-etc

Versailles in Russia:-Peterhof

Versailles in Austria:Schönbrunn (Venice)

6 – Emulations of Versailles in Europe