• Form of monarchical power when a ruler has a complete authority over the government and lives of the people
• Two types of A.: 1. Ruler
2. Ruler + Chief Minister
• A. took place in: Spain, France, Prussia, Russia,
Austria

• Europe was in a period after Reformation. Still divided religiously.
– Catholic territory: Spain, France, Italy, Southern
Germany.
– Protestant territory: England, Netherlands,
Northern Germany
• Spain, France, and England had colonies in
Asia, the Americas, and Africa.

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• Grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella:
Inherited Spain and Austrian
Hapsburg empire in 1519.
• Struggled to suppress Protestant movement in German states as well as the Ottoman empire led by
Suleiman.
• Tired of the constant warfare of this diverse empire, Charles V gave up his title and entered a monastery.
• Division of his empire:
•Hapsburg land → brother
Ferdinand
•Spain, Netherlands, southern
Italy → son Philip

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• Thanks to silver from Americas, his empire became the wealthiest in Europe.
• Absolute monarch: complete authority over government and lives of people.
• Ruled by divine right: believed his authority to rule came directly from God.
• Sought to protect and strengthen the Catholic Church. Counterreformation; turned Inquisition against Protestants. Enforced
Catholic unity in his lands.

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• Defeated Ottoman Muslims in the Mediterranean region.
• Battled Protestant rebels in Netherlands who resisted
Philip’s efforts to crush Protestantism there. Also opposed high taxes and autocratic rule.
• Netherlands eventually won independence from
Spain after many years of war and became known as the Dutch Netherlands in 1648.

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• Queen Elizabeth I was chief
Protestant enemy who supported the Dutch rebellions.
• She also knighted Sir Francis
Drake, a pirate who looted
Spanish treasure ships.
• In response, Philip II Prepared a huge Armada (fleet of 130 ships) against England.
• Due to storm on English
Channel, armada was destroyed.
England won and suprassed
Spanish power thereafter. Victory for Elizabeth I

• Philip II was a patron of the arts and founded academies for science and math.
• Painters:
– El Greco: religious pictures and royal portraits
– Diego Velázquez: best known court painter.
• Writers:
– Miguel de Cervantes: wrote Don Quixote , the first modern novel in
Europe. Mocks medieval chivalry.

• Economic decline because:
1.There were less able successors after Philip II
2.Wars overseas drained Spain financially.
3.Expulsion of Muslim and Jew= deprived the economy of many skilled artisans and merchants
4.France (and England) replaced Spain as most powerful European nation.

• From 1560s-1590s, religious war between Huguenots
(French Protestants) and the Catholic majority tore
France apart.
• Worst incident: Bartholomew ´ s day Massacre. 3,000 were killed. Symbolized complete breakdown of order in France.

• Henry IV: In 1589, a Huguenot prince inherited the throne.
• Issued Edict of Nantes in 1598: protected Protestants and promote religious tolerance.
• He ruled alone but royal officials helped him. Strong central government to restore order.
• Royal officials: 1. Administered justice
2. Improved roads,built bridges
3. Revived agriculture
***Laid foundations for royal absolutism.

• Henry IV assassinated → 9 years old son Louis
XIII inherited throne.
• Young Louis XIII appoited Cardinal Armand
Richelieu as his chief minister and ruled with his help.
• Richelieu further strengthened central government

Richelieu sought to destroy the power of Huguenots and nobles so he:
• Smashed the • Defeated the private
Huguenots cities and nobles armies and outlawed their armies destroyed their castles
• BUT he allowed them to practice their own religion
• BUT he tied nobles to king by giving them high posts at court or in royal army

• Richelieu handpicked his successor Cardinal Jules
Marazin,
• Reign of Louis XIV:
1. Ruled with Marazin ´ s help
2. Disorder again swept France
• After Marazin died Louis took the government under his control
• Claimed “I Am The State” or the “Sun King.” Believed in divine right to rule. Took sun as symbol of absolute power.

• Never called a meeting of the Estates General, a council that was established to check royal power.
• Appointed intendants to collect taxes, recruit soldiers, and carry out his policies throughout
France.
• Under Louis XIV, French army became the strongest in Europe.
• His finance minister, Jean Baptiste Colbert followed mercantilist policies, helping make France the wealthiest state in Europe.

• Built palace of Versailles, the most magnificent building in Europe.
• Versailles became symbol of the Sun King’s wealth and power. Housed 10,000 people.
• No expense was too great.
Lavish lifestyle.
• Court of Louis supported splendid century in the arts.
French academies established.

• Reigned for 72 yrs, longer than any other monarch.
• French culture, manners, and customs replaced those of Renaissance Italy as the standard for
European taste.
• Revoked Edict of Nantes forcing over 100,000
Huguenots to flee France. Caused serious blow to
French econ.
• Also drained economy with warfare. Refused Philip
V of Spain’s attempt to unite the two crowns.
• By the time Louis XV inherited throne, France was in a state of chaos.

• Power was maintained far differently in England than in France and Spain.
• Tudor dynasty reigned from
1485-1603.
• Henry VII believed in divine right, but valued
Parliament and maintained good relationships.
• Elizabeth I was popular and successful thanks to good
Parliamentary relations.

• House of Lords:
– Upper house
– Hereditary rule or appointed by sovereign
– Lord Spiritual and
Lord Temporal lead this house.
• House of Commons
– Lower house
– Democratically elected body.
– Prime Minister leads this house.

• When Elizabeth died without a direct heir, the throne passed to the Stuarts, the ruling family of Scotland.
• James I, the first Stuart monarch contested Parliament and sought absolute rule.
• Leaders in the House of Commons (body of Parliament) resisted his claim to divine right.
• In 1625, Charles I inherited the throne. Also behaved like an absolute monarch. Imprisoned foes without trial and created bitter enemies.
• For 11 years, he ruled the nation without Parliament. When he finally summoned Parliament to get help suppressing a
Scottish rebellion, it launched its own revolt.

• When Parliament finally reconvened they staged the greatest political revolution in English history.
• Charles lashed back against the reforms they proposed.
• When he attempted to arrest the most radical leaders, they escaped and formed an army.
• A civil war ensued, lasting from 1642-1649. In the end, revolutionary forces triumphed.
• Oliver Cromwell led the triumphant New Model
Army for Parliament, and by 1647, the king was in the hands of parliamentary forces.

• After the war, Parliament set up court to put King
Charles on trial.
• He was condemned as tyrant, traitor, and public enemy, and beheaded.
• 1 st time in history that a monarch had been tried and executed by his own people.
• Sent clear message that in
England, no ruler could claim absolute power and ignore the rule of law.

• After execution of Charles I,
House of Commons abolished monarchy, House of Lords, and
Church of England.
• Declared England a republic called the Commonwealth, which was led by Oliver Cromwell.
Enforced strict military rule.
• Under the Commonwealth,
Puritans replaced the Church of
England. Strict piety.
• After Cromwell died, Puritans lost their grip on England.

• Many English were tired of military rule and strict
Puritan ways
• After a decade of kingless rule, Parliament invited
Charles II to return to England from exile.
• Unlike his father, Charles II was a popular ruler who avoided his father’s mistakes in dealing with
Parliament.
• Restored Church of England and promoted religious tolerance.

• Charles II’s brother James II inherited the throne.
• Unlike Charles II, he angered
Parliament and attempted to restore Catholic Church.
• Parliament invited his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband
William of Orange to become rulers of England.
• When they arrived, James fled to
France. Non-violent overthrow known as the Glorious
Revolution.

• Before they could be crowned, William and Mary had to accept several acts passed by Parliament that became known as the English Bill of Rights.
• It ensured superiority of Parliament over the monarchy.
• Required monarch to summon Parliament regularly and forbade monarch from interfering with debate or suspending laws.
• Also restored trial by jury and affirmed principle of habeas corpus in which no one could be held in prison without first being charged with a specific crime.
• Created a limited monarchy form of government. Set England apart from the rest of Europe.

• Struggle between Protestant North and Catholic
South in Germany triggered the Thirty Years’ War.
• The war led to severe depopulation. As many as 1/3 of the people in the German states died during the wars.
• Finally exhausted combatants accepted treaties like the Peace of Westphalia.
• Left Germany divided into more than 360 separate states.

• Though weakened by war Hapsburgs wanted to create a strong united state.
• Focused attention on expanding their own lands. Added Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland to Austria.
• Difficult to unite these diverse lands.
• When Hapsburg emperor Charles VI died, many did not recognize his daughter, Maria
Theresa’s right to rule.

• Maria Theresa appealed to
Hungarian assembly for help .
They agreed.
• Despite resistance, she was able to preserve her empire and win support of most of her people.
• She strengthened Hapsburg power by reorganizing the bureaucracy and improving tax collection.
• Forced nobles to pay taxes, easing the tax burden on peasants.
• Formed strong Catholic state .

• Meanwhile, Prussia emerged as a new Protestant power.
• Under Prussian ruler
Frederick William I, a great army was assembled . He became known as Frederick the Great.
• Prussia emerged along with
Austria, France, England, and Russia, as one of the great powers of Europe.

• Russia was in a period called “Time of troubles”
• Untouched by Renaissance and European reformations and completely isolated
• Conservative Russians held onto Russian Orthodox
Church and traditions
• Not until 1682 did a czar emerge who was strong enough to regain order and maintain absolute power of earlier czars.
• Peter Mikhailov (Peter the Great) was that czar who pushed Russia to become a great modern power.

Peter The Great and The Romanovs
• The most dominant figure in the
Russian history
• He learned from European cultures and was inspired by them to completely reform
Russia.
• Traveled around Europe examining the way modern government, technology, and culture were managed in Western
Europe. Wanted to catch Russia up to them.

Peter The Great
• Embarked on a policy of westernization, or adoption of western ideas, technology, and culture.
• Had difficulty convincing Russians to change their way of life.
• To impose his will, he became the most autocratic of Europe’s monarchs. Tortured and killed those who challenged him.
• Also strengthened military, expanded Russian borders,
• Brought Russian Orthodox Church under his control, and expanded serfdom (like feudalism/slavery).
• Used serfs to serve the state. They were used to work on government projects like building roads, canals, etc.
• Enforced mercantilist policies and expanded trade.

St. Petersburg
• Built new capital city at St.
Petersburg. Called it a
“window on the West.”
• Just as Versailles was a monument to French absolutism, St. Petersburg became symbolic of Russian absolutism as well as a symbol of modern Russia.

Catherine The Great
• A German princess, who got to the throne by marrying Russian heir
• Continued at what Peter started – extended Russian territory, brought even more reforms
• Intelligent and educated woman, a student of French thinkers, who led
Enlightment
• Many similiarities in her reign to that of Peter the Great. Strong ruler, but often ruthless.

• Images from:
Corbis.com
Web Gallary of Art www.wga.hu
• Ellis, E.G., & Esler. (2005). A. World History:
Connections to Today . Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.