CRISIS AND ABSOLUTISM IN
EUROPE
Religious Wars of the 16th Century
And the Monarchs of Europe
Absolutism – a system in which the ruler has
total power, a ruler whose power was not
limited
Divine Right of Kings = idea that kings received
their power from God and were responsible
only to God
The French Wars of Religion
• War fought between French Catholics and French Protestants
influenced by John Calvin called Huguenots that lasted from
1562 to 1598
– Only 7% of the French population were Huguenots, but this
included 50% of the nobility who threatened the French
monarchy
– The house of Valois, the current family ruling France, was
strongly Catholic – one king, one law, one religion
• 1572 Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
– The French Queen Catherine de Medici convinces her son to
order the killing of Huguenots who are in Paris for the royal
wedding of Catherine’s daughter to Henry of Navarre who
is Protestant.
– 3,000 die in Paris and up to 10,000 – 70,000 total
• Catherine spares her new son-in-law
• The last Valois king dies and Henry of Navarre is made
king
– He converts to Catholicism to gain acceptance
• “Paris is worth a mass”
• 1598 Henry ends the war by issuing the Edict of Nantes
– Recognized Catholicism as the official religion of
France, but gave Huguenots the right of worship and
to fortify towns in which they have a majority
• Henry of Navarre is now Henry IV
– He eliminated French debt and even built up a
surplus
– In 1610 Henry was stabbed to death by a fanatic
Catholic and the throne passed to his young son Louis
Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu
• Since Louis XIII was a boy-king, his mother served as
regent for several years
• Once he was old enough to rule, Cardinal Richelieu
became his chief minister and advisor
• Richelieu was determined to strengthen the French
monarchy – wants to make it absolute
– Wanted to reduce the power of the Huguenots
• Took away some of the privileges granted to them
in the Edict of Nantes
– Saw nobles as a threat, so Richelieu started to
suppress them and used spies to uncover plots and
revolts
– Richelieu was also in charge of foreign policy
• Main enemy of France was the Hapsburg family
and he sided with Protestants against the
Hapsburgs in the Thirty Years’ War
• Cardinal Richelieu dies in 1642 and Louis is assassinated
the next year, leaving as the new king the five year old
Louis XIV
Louis XIV
• Becomes the most absolute monarch, led France during a
time of great power, glory, and prosperity
• As a young boy, Louis had to flee Paris due to noble
rebellions called the Fronde
– Louis never again trusted the nobility
• At age 18 Louis declared he would run the gov’t himself
– “L’etat, c’est moi” = “I am the state”
– Chose the sun as his symbol, implying that France
revolved around him and he was known as the Sun
King
• Louis made all the military, political, and economic
decisions
• Louis built the enormous palace of Versailles twelve
miles outside of Paris and moved the gov’t there
– Required his nobles to either live there or visit
regularly
– Nobles became more concerned with rituals and
ceremonies rather than fighting the monarchy
– Life at Versailles was expensive, nobles had less
money to raise armies
• Louis revoked (cancelled) the Edict of Nante and
outlawed Protestantism
• Idea of a universal monarchy – Louis wanted to
expand French territory and control western Europe
– Modernized and enlarged the army – had the
largest in Europe
Palace of Versailles
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Started with Louis XIII as a hunting lodge
Louis XIV expanded
2 billion to build (in todays dollars)
King Louis XIV had 200 servants
Gardens – 1976 acres, 200,000 tress, 50 fountains with 620
jets of water, 210,000 flowers planted each year.
551,112 square feet
Over 700 rooms
1250 fireplaces
2153 windows
67 staircases
6000 paintings
5000 pieces of furniture Can hold up to 20,000 people
Hall of MIrrors
Queens room
Throne room
Kings room
Exit ticket
• Who is in the
painting?
• What do you think is
going on in the
painting? Take note of
the background.
• What is the message
of the painting? For
example, why did the
author paint this?
Warm up
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What is absolutism?
What does an absolute monarch want to control?
Who gave monarch’s this right?
What 2 religions were fighting in the French Wars of
Religion?
What king converted to Catholicism and created the
Edict of Nantes?
Who was the boy-king and who was his advisor?
Who was the most absolute monarch of France?
What did he say? What was his symbol?
What did he build and why?
Ivan IV the Terrible
• First to claim the title czar (caesar) and got rid of foreign
rule
• Reforms during the “good period”:
– Created a general council and a new legal code
– Promoted military officers based on merit and
reduced the power of the boyars (Russian nobles)
• Then his wife Anastasia died and Ivan becomes unstable
and violent
– Sends away his closest advisors, takes away land
from 1200 boyars, and destroys whole towns because
he thought they were plotting against him
Peter the Great
• Main goal was to transform Russia into a modern state
– Wanted to make Russia more like Western Europe
– Process of Westernization
• Reforms
– Built Russia’s first navy and modernized the army
– Brought the church under state control and started
the first Russian newspaper
• Built St. Petersburg as his new capital, was modeled
after western cities
Prussia and Frederick the Great
• Prussia was one of the German states, but it was
fragmented
• Frederick the Great built a strong army for
protection and made Prussia one of the most
powerful German states, with Berlin as its capital
Thirty Years’ War
• Began as a religious dispute since the Peace of Augsburg
did not recognize Calvinism
– Also, since the 1450s all of the Holy Roman Emperors
came from the Hapsburg family and the newly crowned
Ferdinand decided to exert his authority
– Would be both a religious conflict and a conflict
between emperor and his nobles
– Lasted from 1618 to 1648
• Starts when new emperor Ferdinand tries to force
Catholicism on the Protestants in Prague
– In response they throw his two Catholic advisors out a
window. They survive because they land in a
dung/garbage heap – known as the Defenstration of
• The two sides
– Catholic = Holy Roman Empire and Spain (Hapsburgs)
– Protestant = Denmark, Sweden, Protestant German
princes, and France (Richelieu wants to weaken the
Hapsburgs)
– England does not join the war
• The Peace of Westphalia ended the war in 1648, with
France emerging as the dominant nation in Europe
– Reinstated the Peace of Augsburg, now includes
Calvinism
– The German princes become sovereign and
independent – Holy Roman Empire lost its power
• The Thirty Years’ War was the most destructive war yet
due to the musket and increased use of guns
– The battles took place on German soil, causing much
destruction
• Millions of Germans died, either in battle or
starved to death
Charles of Spain and the Holy Roman
Empire
• Became King Charles I of Spain as a teenager
– Territory included Spain, the Low Countries (Belgium
and the Netherlands), along with colonies in the
Americas
• Three years later he bribed the electors to elect him as the
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
– Borrowed the money from a German banking family
called the Fuggers
– He now controlled parts of Italy, Austria, and various
German states
• he supported many Spanish explorers, along with Cortez,
and brought much wealth to Spain
• He fought against the Ottoman Turks, the French,
and rebellious German princes, along with dealing
with Martin Luther
– Decided to give up his throne and retire to a
monastery
• Gave his brother the Holy Roman Empire lands
• Gave his son Philip, Spain and all Spanish held
territory
Philip II
• Became king of Spain after his father abdicated and
Spain reached its height of wealth and power during his
reign
• Philip was a devout Catholic and his goal was to make
all his territory and Europe Catholic
– He saw Spain as the nation God chose to save
Catholic Christianity from Protestant heretics
– He fought many battles and wars for this goal
• His greatest naval victory was when he defeated
the Muslim Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571
• Dutch Revolt
– Starts in the 1560s, the Dutch want religious freedom to
practice Calvinism and they are tired of paying high taxes
– Dutch Calvinists begin to destroy churches and refuse to
declare allegiance to Philip
– Philip sends an army to the Netherlands to put down the
revolt and set up a court to punish the leaders
• The court was known as the Council of Blood that
tortured and executed thousands
– Resistance gathered in the north around a Dutch prince
and the revolt went on for years until a truce was signed
in 1609
– the seven northern provinces formed the independent
state of the Netherlands while the southern provinces
remained with Spain and Catholic
• Philip had many problems with England, especially with
its queen, Elizabeth I
– He viewed her as a heretic queen since she was a
Protestant, she refused to marry him after her sister
died, she had aided the Dutch rebels, and she was
allowing English ship captains to raid Spanish ships
– These English “sea dogs” took much wealth away
from Spain
– Philip decided to invade England and return the
country to Catholicism
• In 1588 the Spanish Armada sailed towards England
– It totaled 130 ships and 20,000 soldiers and also
carried the Inquisition
– Elizabeth rallied her troops to fight the Spanish
– Due to English using fire ships and a storm that sank
many ships, the Spanish Armada was destroyed and
Philip failed in his goal to invade England
• Philip spent a lot of money on warfare that bankrupted
Spain and caused it to gradually decline as a major
power
Elizabeth I
• Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn,
became Queen of England in 1558
– During her reign, England became the leader of
Protestant nations and she laid the foundations for a
world empire
• Elizabeth worked to resolve religious conflicts
• In foreign affairs, Elizabeth played a balancing act with
France and Spain, supporting one and then the other to
make sure neither became too powerful
– She used her marriageable status as a way to make
alliances, although Elizabeth never married – she
refused to share or limit her power
• Since Elizabeth I never married, her heir was her cousin,
Mary Stuart, the Queen of Scotland
– Unfortunately, it was discovered that Mary was
plotting with Philip II to overthrow Elizabeth and she
was beheaded for treason
• When Elizabeth died in 1603, Mary’s son James became
the new king of England
The Stuart Kings
• Mary’s son James was James I of England and also
James VI of Scotland
– Believed greatly in the divine right of kings, didn’t get
along with Parliament
– Had problems with English Calvinists called Puritans,
who demanded that the Church of England be
reformed
• They felt it was still too Catholic with elaborate
ceremonies and the hierarchy
• James refused most of the reforms, but he did
agree to the publication of an English version of
the Bible, called the King James Bible
• Charles I became king on the death of his father James I
– He too believed in divine rights of kings and had
problems with Parliament
– Many people felt that Charles was trying to return to
Catholicism (he married a Catholic princess)
• Thousands of Puritans went to America rather
than live under his religious policies
– Charles called Parliament to request money, but
Parliament refused unless the king signed a petition
that would place limits on his power
– Charles dismisses Parliament and decides to rule on
his own and tax the people and force bankers to give
him loans – Personal Rule of Charles
– Long Parliament – Charles is forced to recall
Parliament years later when he is badly in debt
The English Civil War
• Conflict between Parliament and the king to determine
the power of each in governing England
• Civil War breaks out in 1642 between supporters of the
king (called Royalists) and supporters of Parliament
(called Roundheads)
– Parliament wins, mainly due to the New Model Army
and its leader, Oliver Cromwell
– Cromwell’s army was made up of extreme Puritans
who believed they were doing battle for God
In 1646 the king surrenders and Cromwell purges
Parliament of everyone who had not supported him
and what is left is known as the Rump Parliament
• Cromwell then puts the Charles on trial for treason and in
1649 Charles I is publicly beheaded
– This horrified much of Europe
– Charles I was the first European monarch to be formally
tried and executed by a court of law
• Parliament abolished the monarchy and declared that
England was a commonwealth = a republican gov’t based
on the common good of all the people
– Cromwell soon dismisses Parliament and sets up a
military dictatorship, ruling ruthlessly until his death in
1658
The Restoration
• Many people were unhappy under Cromwell’s rule so
after his death, Parliament voted to restore the
monarchy in 1660
– They invited Charles II, son of the slain monarch
(Charles I), to take the throne
Some changes –
*Parliament got keep much of the power it had gained
*The Church of England is restored as the state
religion
*The Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 = guaranteed that
someone accused of a crime had the right to
appear in court
The Glorious Revolution
• James II, brother of Charles II, is next to sit on the
throne in 1685
– Problem arises in that James has become a devout
Catholic who names many Catholics to positions of
power
– People aren’t too worried because James has two
adult daughters who are Protestant who are next in
line for the throne
– Then James marries a Catholic princess who gives
birth to a son – prospect of a Catholic dynasty
• A group of nobles invites James’ daughter Mary and
her husband, the Dutch leader William of Orange, to
invade England
• It is a “Glorious Revolution”, with almost no violence
and James II flees to France
– Both William and Mary accept the throne, along with
a Bill of Rights, which gave Parliament the right to
make laws and levy taxes
• The Bill of Rights was central to England’s growth
as a constitutional monarchy
– Toleration Act of 1689 gave Puritans, not Catholics,
the right of free public worship, although few people
are persecuted for religion
– Act of Succession – only Protestants could be
monarchs and disinherited the Catholic branch of the
Stuart line
The Trial of Charles I of England!
• In groups you will create a TV report on the trial of
Charles I of England.
• It should last at least 5 minutes!
– Include interviews showing the perspective of
1. Parliament
2. Puritans
3. Royalists
4. Charles I
You will be presenting these today in class.
They can be written or recorded.