Absolute
Monarchs
Europe
1600-1800
Absolutism in Spain
Philip II
1556-1598
Inheritance



Philip II inherited the throne from his
father Charles V – former Holy
Roman emperor
Chares V retired to a monastery in
1556 and Philip II inherited Spain,
Spanish Netherlands, and American
colonies.
Philip II’s uncle died and then he
inherited Portugal and Portuguese
colonies as well
Philip II’s
Empire





Spain
Spanish
Netherlands
American
colonies
Portugal
Portuguese
colonies in
Africa, India,
and East
Indies.
Wealth



339,000 pounds of
gold!
16,000 tons of
silver
50,000 soldiers
El Escorial
Philip II’s Palace
Fierce Defender of the Catholic Faith
Defeat of the Muslim Empire
1571
250 Spanish and Venetian ships defeat
a large Muslim army from the Ottoman
Empire
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
by Queen Elizabeth in 1588
Spain and England Unite by Marriage





Philip II is married to Bloody Mary I
of England
Mary I dies and now Philip wants
Elizabeth!
Elizabeth refuses to marry him
Elizabeth authorizes raiding of
Spanish treasure ships by English
pirates
Philip can’t win her love so he tries to
defeat her militarily and loses!
Weakening of the Spanish
Empire

Economic problems
• Inflation caused by growing population
• Increased demand for food
• Merchants raise prices
• Nobles don’t pay taxes
• Peasants bear the tax burden
• So no middle class develops
Spain’s enemies get rich




Jews and Moors expelled from Spain
(not Catholic)
Spanish merchants make things the
old way
Spaniards buy from England and
France so money leaves Spain
Spain borrows money from Germany
and Italy to fight wars
Dutch Revolt



1579 seven northern provinces of
Protestant Netherlands declared
independence from Spain
William of Orange opened the dikes
flooding the land and driving out
Spanish ships and soldiers.
Dutch became prosperous traders of
TULIPS
Dutch Revolt
French
Monarchs
Henry IV of Navarre
1559-1610
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Inherited throne in 1559 by marrying
Catherine de Medici’s daughter after
her 4 sons were ineffective
First king of the Bourbon Dynasty
Athletic, robust, fearless in battle and a
clever politician
Huguenot – French PROTESTANT
1562-1598 religious wars
Passed the Edict of Nantes –
declaration of religious tolerance in
France
Converted to Catholicism to prove his
own tolerance
murdered in 1610 by a religious fanatic
Louis XIII
1610-1643
• Son of Henry IV –
inherited after his
father’s murder
• Young boy
• Weak ruler
• so his advisor and
effective ruler was
Cardinal Richelieu
Cardinal Richelieu
advisor to Louis XIII
Richelieu was known for
three things:
1. Limited rights of
Huguenots to build walls
around cities
2. Weakened the power of
the nobles
3. Made France powerful
by limiting power of
Hapsburgs in Austria
thus involving France in
the Thirty Years War
over religion
Louis XIV
1643 - 1715
• Nickname: Sun King
• Loved ballet and to
portray himself as
Apollo the Sun God
• Inherited the throne at
age 5 when his father
Louis XIII died.
(unknown cause)
Louis XIV’s Accomplishments
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Weakened power of nobles by
removing them from his council
Increased power of intendants to
collect taxes
Finance minister Jean Baptiste
Colbert devoted himself to
economic growth, stability and
self-sufficiency, BELIEVED IN
MERCANTILISM
Began to manufacture
everything in France
Encouraged migration to
Canada for fur trade
Relied on colonies in New World
Increased tariffs on goods from
other countries
Patron of the arts – art to glorify
the King
Louis XIV’s Mistakes/Challenges
Cancelled Edict of Nantes (negative effect – many
Huguenots fled)
2. Spent a fortune to surround himself in luxury
3. Self-centered expected everyone to wait on him
4. Palace at Versailles cost $2 billion dollars in 1994
money, 1400 fountains, 15,000 acres of gardens,
2,000 gardens
5. Fought disastrous wars that cost country a lot of
money
6. 100,000 soldiers in peace 400,000 in wartime
7. population 20 million people 4x that of England
8. attempted to expand France’s boundaries
9. European wide alliance formed to oppose him
10. series of poor harvests
1.
Louis XIV’s Legacy
•
•
•
•
France became most powerful nation in
Europe
Left his country with staggering debt
French resentment over royal abuse of
power.
Louis died in bed in 1715
Louis XIV’s
Palace at Versailles
Central European Monarchs
Collapse
Central European Monarchs
Austria and Prussia
Maria Theresa
•Daughter of
Charles VI
Queen of
Austria
•1740-1780
•Last name:
Hapsburg
Accomplishments
• Decreases the power of the nobility
• Limits the forced labor of peasants
• Fights Prussia
– War of the Austrian Succession
• Frederick II (Frederick the Great) wants Silesia- an area that
produces iron ore, textiles and food products.
• He doubts Maria’s power
• Maria Theresa gathers an army and British support to fight
Prussia and France.
– Result: Maria Theresa loses Silesia in the Treaty of Aixla-Chapelle.
Seven Years War
• Maria Theresa makes an alliance with France
• Frederick the Great signs an alliance with Great
Britain
• Austria, France, and Russia vs. Prussia and Great
Britain.
• 1756 Frederick attacks Saxony (an Austrian ally)
• Seven Years war begins (1756-1763)
– Territorial situation in Europe did not change.
– Also known as the French and Indian War
• British colonists vs. French colonists and the Native Americas
– British emerge as the victors and French lost its
colonies in North America.
Frederick I
•
•
•
•
•
Country: Prussia
Last name: Hohenzollerns
Life span: 1657-1713
Elector of Brandenburg: 1688-1701
King of Prussia: 1701-1713
Gaining Power
• Builds a strong army- best in Europe
• Becomes an absolute monarch
– To protect his lands
• Introduced taxation
• Weakened the representative assemblies of
their territories
Frederick William I
King of Prussia
1713-1740
• Junkers- Prussia’s landowning nobility
– Originally oppose Fredericks growing power
– Later are given the exclusive rights to be
officers in the military
• Prussia becomes a strictly controlled, highly
militarized society.
Frederick II (Frederick the Great)
• King of Prussia
• Frederick the
Great
• 1740-1786
Frederick the Great continued
• Childhood: Not military enough?
– Frederick loves poetry, music, and philosophy
• Runs away with a friend
– Gets caught
– Forced to watch his friend get beheaded
• Leaves Frederick with bitter memories
• Once king he follows his fathers military
policies.
• Softened some of his fathers laws
• Encouraged religious toleration and legal
reform
• Believed that a ruler should be like a father
to his people
Wars
• Won Silesia from Austria
• Did not gain or loose territory
during the Seven Years War
• Personally lead his military
forces
• Considered at tactical genius in
warfare
– Tactics: the maneuvering of
units during warfare
– Strategy: the overall battle plan
or means for achieving the goal
The Territory of Silesia
Early Prussia
Expansion under
Frederick the Great
Russian Monarchs
Ivan the Terrible
• 1533-1547 Gains throne
at age 3!
• Struggles for power
among boyars (nobles)
trying to control young
Ivan IV
• At age 16 he seized
power and crowned
himself czar
• Married Anastasia of the
Romanov family
Ivan IV – “Good Period”
•
•
•
•
1547-1560
Added lands to Russia
developed a Russian code of law
ruled justly.
Ivan at the deathbed of his first wife, Anastasia Romanov.
Ivan married 7 times, sometimes divorcing a wife a week
after the marriage.
Ivan’s “Bad period”
• Begins in 1560 after Anastasia died.
– Poisoned by the Boyars?
• Ivan’s response
– Secret police force – oprichnika
• Hunt down and murder people who consider Ivan a traitor
– He executes many Boyars, their families, and
peasants who work on their land.
– Takes the land and makes a new class of nobles who
are loyal to him through fear.
1581 Ivan kills his oldest son during a quarrel.
Ivan’s second son is mentally and physically incapable of ruling and
dies a few years later with out an heir.
“Time of Troubles”
•
•
•
•
boyars struggled for power
czars died of mysterious conditions
several imposters tried to claim the throne
Michael Romanov – grandnephew of
Anastasia was finally chosen.
• His family ruled for 300 years 1613-1917
• Family restored order to Russia over time
Russia before Peter
• Russia still a land of boyars and serfs
– Serfs were property
– Not “westernized” yet
– Cut off from Renaissance & Exploration by
Mongol rule
– geographic barriers
– ice at only seaport
– Eastern orthodox branch of Christianity viewed Catholics and Protestants as heretics
and avoided them
Peter The Great
(age 24) 1696 - 1725
• 6.5 ft tall
• passion for ships and
sea/fascinated by modern
tools
• believed Russia needed
a warmer seaport
• under a secret identity
toured Western Europe
with 55 boyars and 200
servants “Grand
Embassy”
• worked as an ordinary
carpenter
Peter’s Westernization of Russia
•
brought Russian orthodox church under state control and
abolished head office of the patriarch – Holy Synod now runs the
church under Peter’s direction
Reduced power of landowners by recruiting able men from lower
ranking families and giving them land grants – Now they owe their
life to Peter and are loyal
Modernized army (trained by European soldiers)
introduced potatoes
first newspaper introduced
raised status of women – lets them attend social events
forced nobles to wear Western clothes and shave beards
built capital city of St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea ( had to fight
Sweden for it)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
–
–
–
swampy land
25,000 – 100,000 people died
forced Russian nobles to live there and leave Moscow
Catherine the Great
1762-1796
• seized the throne of her weak
husband Peter III (Peter was
mentally unstable, played with
toy soldiers and tortured his
dogs – marriage was a
disaster)
• she had him arrested and
confined and then died
mysteriously!
• German princess
• Easily adopted Russian ways
and the respect of her people
• Believed it went against
Christian values to enslave
people
Catherine Rules Absolutely
• A peasant rebellion persuaded her not to free them right
away…She crushed them!
• Successful foreign policy
• Expanded boundaries even further
• Gained warm water port on Black sea now too by
defeating the Ottoman Turks
• Acquired territory from Poland (Prussia and Austria took
the rest and Poland did not exist again until 1919)
BUT ALSO:
• reorganized the provincial government, codified laws,
and began state-sponsored education for boys and girls
The English Monarchy
1509-1820
Henry VIII
1509-1547
Act of Supremacy
 6 Wives
“Divorced, beheaded, died,
divorced, beheaded,
survived”
1. Catherine of Aragon
2. Anne Boelyn
3. Jane Seymour
4. Anne of Cleves
5. Catherine Howard
6. Catherine Parr

Henry VIII





Broke economic, spiritual and political ties with
the Catholic Church
Built Royal Navy
Consulted with Parliament often when in need of
&, Parliament passed new taxes
Avid gambler, dice player, and athlete (tennis,
jousting, hunting)musician, author and poet
Died of obesity, ulcerations, possibly Type II
diabetes
Edward VI
1547-1553





Regency Council
Young and weak
Abolished clerical
celibacy and mass to
firmly establish
Protestantism
Economic and social
unrest
Died at age 15
Mary I (Bloody Mary)
1553-1558







Catholic
Married to Philip II
Burned Protestants
Mother is Catherine of
Aragon
Trade suffered
Drawn in to many
Spanish wars
Lost Calais to French
Elizabeth
1558-1603








Virgin Queen
Established Anglican
Church
Refused Philip II
Did not outlaw piracy of
Spanish ships
Defeated Spanish Armada
Executed Mary Queen of
Scots (cousin)
Controlled but consulted
with Parliament
No Heir





James I
(James VI of Scotland)
1603-1625
Son of Mary Queen of
Scots – unites Scotland &
England under one crown
Believed in Divine
right/would not share
power with Parliament
Conflict between King
and Parliament tears
country apart
Low taxes, peace
Gunpowder plot
Charles I
1625 - 1649
Son of James I
 Petition of Right – limited
King’s power to tax,
martial law, and ¼ing of
troops
 Wants to unify religion in
Scot and Eng
 Scots invade England,
Irish rebel
 Keeps dissolving
Parliament but calls it
back for more $

English Civil War
Charles I vs. Oliver
Cromwell
 Cavaliers vs.
Roundheads
 Charles I is executed


"he, the said
Charles Stuart, as a
tyrant, traitor,
murderer and
public enemy to
the good of this
nation, shall be put
to death by
severing of his
head from his
body."
Oliver Cromwell
1649-1661
Crushed revolts in Scotland and Ireland
 Puritan laws
 Ended up under military rule to enforce
these laws
 Contradicted everything fought for in the
Civil War

Charles II
1661-1685












12 Children from 7 mistresses
Restoration of the Crown
Merry Monarch
Constitutional Monarchy
Next in line=brother James II
1st political parties – Whigs (don’t
want Catholic King) Tories
(defended hereditary monarchy)
Tories win but Whigs get Habeas
corpus – can’t be held in prison
without trial or just cause
Married queen of Portugal
Sold Carolinas to nobles
Sold Dunkirk to his cousin Louis
XIV of France.
Great fire of London
Great Plague of London
James II
1685-1689
Ignores Parliament
and appoints
Catholics to high
positions
 Abdicates Throne

William and Mary
1689-1702
James II 2nd wife has
a son- Mary is his Prot
daughter
 Glorious Revolution
 English Bill of Rights
 Act of Settlement –
excludes any Catholic
from inheriting the
throne

Anne
1702-1714
Act of Union – Scotland
& England united as
Great Britain
 Cabinet formed

George I
1714-1727

Position of Prime
Minister founded
George II
1727-1760

Establishment of
Constitutional
Monarchy officially
George III
1760-1820
Gained land in North
America after French
and Indian War
against France
 War debt = taxes =
rebellion of colonies =
American Revolution
