Absolute Monarchy
E. Napp
Objective: To identify and describe significant characteristics of an absolute monarchy
Do Now: Multiple-choice questions from previous lessons
1. Which development is most closely
4. Which institution served as the primary
associated with the beginning of the
unifying force in medieval western Europe?
Byzantine Empire?
(1) legislature
(1) emergence of the Russian Orthodox
(2) church
Church
(3) monarchy
(2) division of the Roman Empire
(4) military
(3) building of the Hagia Sophia
(4) fall of Constantinople
5. One way in which the actions of
Alexander the Great, Saladin, and Shaka
2. Which historic figure is correctly paired
Zulu are similar is that each implemented
with the empire he ruled?
(1) military strategies to defeat opponents
(1) Charlemagne — Spanish Empire
(2) constitutions to define political powers
(2) Peter the Great — Ottoman Empire
(3) policies to increase religious persecution
(3) Justinian — Byzantine Empire
(4) legal changes to protect human rights
(4) Sulieman the Magnificent — Russian
Empire
6. Which individual’s work had the greatest
impact on the spread of Martin Luther’s
3. Which action led most directly to
ideas?
divisions in Christianity in western Europe? (1) Galileo Galilei
(1) Pope Urban II calling for the Crusades
(2) Niccolò Machiavelli
(2) King John signing the Magna Carta
(3) William Shakespeare
(3) German cities establishing the Hanseatic (4) Johannes Gutenberg
League
(4) Martin Luther posting the Ninety-five
Theses
Throughout the 1500s and 1600s, absolutism,
Questions:
when kings or queens have complete control
Define absolutism.
over government and the lives of their subjects,
____________________________
was the most widespread political system in use
What nation emerged as the first
in Europe and parts of Asia. In the 1500s, Spain modern European power?
emerged as the first modern European power.
____________________________
Spain's king, Charles V, was involved in almost
Who was Charles V and what did he
constant warfare. His son, Philip II, expanded
do?
Spanish influence, strengthened the Catholic
____________________________
Church, and, believing he ruled by divine right,
Who was Philip II and what did he
made his own power absolute. Under him,
do?
Spain became the most powerful state in
____________________________
Europe…In the 1640s, under Louis XIV, who
Who was Louis XIV and how did he
assumed absolute power with the help of
change France?
Cardinal Richelieu, France became the most
____________________________
powerful state in Europe.
Compare absolutism and democracy.
Cornell
Notes Outline: The Rise of the Nation-State (Add
Key Words and Summaries)
~regentsprep.org
____________________________
What became predominant in
Europe? ________________________
The Key
Words:
The Notes:
Portrait of An Absolute Monarch: Louis XIV
I. Louis XIV
A. When Louis XIV became king, he wanted to rule France alone.
B. He did not want Catholic cardinals to influence his decisions.
II. However, Louis XIV faced many problems.
A. The nobles frequently paid little attention to the King.
B. Kings had a hard time collecting taxes.
C. Each noble had his own army.
D. Sometimes the nobles and their armies fought against the
King.
III. All these problems existed because France had no central
government.
A. Louis XIV centralized the French government.
B. Louis XIV appointed officials to collect taxes.
C. Louis XIV increased the size of the army and gave every
soldier a uniform to show he belonged to the French army.
D. Louis XIV built a palace at Versailles. He expected nobles to
spend most of the year at the royal court, under his watchful
eye.
IV. Louis XIV fought many wars.
The
Summaries:
Please read the passage below and answer the questions:
All new nations had to answer one question: what form of government shall we have?
The English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, wrote in the 1600s that a powerful monarch, or
king or queen, was the best way to unify a nation. Hobbes believed that kings were
justified in assuming absolute power because only they could maintain order in a society.
Absolutism is a political system where a monarch has absolute power over his or her
people. This power is unlimited. Historians call this period of absolute monarchs the Age
of Kings.
In the Age of Kings, many rulers had absolute or total power. People often believed that
this power came from god. The belief that a ruler’s power came from God was known as
the “divine right.” Divine Right theory was used by monarchs to increase their power.
According to this theory, the king was God’s deputy on Earth. The king’s commands
expressed God’s wishes.
Louis XIV of France provided a model for other absolute monarchs. Under his rule, the
king’s command was law. Critics who challenged the king were punished. To control the
nobles, Louis built a large palace at Versailles. Leading nobles were expected to spend
most of the year at the royal court, under the watchful eye of the king. Louis also
interfered in the economic and religious lives of his subjects. He demanded that
Protestants convert to Catholicism or leave France. Finally, Louis involved his subjects in
a series of wars to expand France’s frontiers and to bring glory to his rule.
1- Who was Thomas Hobbes and what did he believe?
________________________________________________________________________
2- Explain Divine Right theory.
________________________________________________________________________
3- Why was Louis XIV of France (1638-1715) a model for other absolute monarchs?
________________________________________________________________________
Louis XIV chose the sun as his emblem. The sun was associated with Apollo, god of peace
and arts, and was also the heavenly body which gave life to all things, regulating everything
as it rose and set. Like Apollo, the warrior-king Louis XIV brought peace [at least in the
early days!], was a patron of the arts, and was generous. The regularity of his work habits
and his ritual risings and retirings were another point of solar comparison. Thus, Louis
XIV came to be known as the “Sun King.” Like the sun, everyone revolved around his
wishes and command. And like the sun, he controlled life in France.
Who was the “Sun King”? Why was he given this title?
4- ________________________________________________________________________
The rulers of Russia adopted the system of royal absolutism. Russian rulers were called
Tsars or Czars. They had absolute power. Peter the Great (1682-1725) was an important
absolute ruler of Russia. As tsar, he turned Russia from a backward nation into a modern
power by introducing Western ideas, culture, and technology. He often used brutal
methods to force nobles to adopt Western customs. Peter moved the capital of Russia from
Moscow to St. Petersburg, a city he built on the Baltic coast so that Russia would have a
“window on the West.” By the end of his reign, Peter expanded Russian territory, gained
ports on the Baltic Sea, and created a mighty Russian army.
5- Who was Peter the Great and why is he an example of an absolute monarch?
________________________________________________________________________
6- Why did he want a “window on the west”? ___________________________________
1. Which type of government is shown in the cartoon?
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
a socialist republic
an absolute monarchy
a communist dictatorship
a democracy
Explain the quote: “I am the state.” ~Louis XIV
______________________________________________________________________________
2. “God hath power to create or destroy, make or unmake, at his pleasure; to give life
or send death; to judge…and to be judged (by) none…And the like power have
kings;…”
Which idea is described by this passage?
(1) theory of divine right
(2) enlightened despotism
(3) Social Darwinism
(4) constitutional monarchy
3. “. . .The person of the King is sacred, and to attack him in any way is an attack on
religion itself. Kings represent the divine majesty and have been appointed by Him
to carry out His purposes. Serving God and respecting kings are bound together.”
—Bishop Jacques Bossuet
This statement describes the philosophy that existed during the
(1) Middle Ages
(2) Age of Absolutism
(3) Renaissance
(4) Industrial Revolution
“ The state of monarchy (government with a king) is the (most important) thing upon
earth; for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God's throne, but
even by God himself are called gods…In the (Bible), kings are called gods, and so their
power (is like) the divine power. Kings are also compared to fathers of families: for a king
is truly…father of his people.” ~King James I