This is why I’m hot…
Unit 4
State Building in the
17th Century
Witchcraft Craze!
 Swept Europe in 16th and
Images of “witches” – ah, if only Freud had
been around to analyze this! And what
about the origins of the broomstick?
17th centuries
 Prevalent in England,
Scotland, Switzerland,
German States, France,
Netherlands, New
England
 Occurred in both Catholic
and Protestant regions
 Likely a result of religious
turmoil that defined the
era
Witchcraft Craze – A History
Satanic
wheat!
DIE!
Be gone,
Satanic
Horse!
 During Middle Ages,
witches were initially
associated with Satan
 During Black Death, Pope
Innocent VIII issues bull
 Mass extermination
 Jacob Sprenger and
Heinrich Kramer and
Malleus Maleficarum
Witchcraft Craze –
LOOK! It’s the
mark of
SATAN!
th
16
Century
 Widespread
I think it’s
just a
hickey…




panic ensues…
Nearly 100,000
people were
convicted!
Nobody could
escape
punishment
Confessions
were extracted by
torture
Most targeted:
single, older
women – why?
Witchcraft Craze - Explanations
 Why did it spike in 16th-
Um…You’re all
Satan’s
emissaries… I’m
here to whip the
devil out of you.
17th centuries?
I love
my job.
 Religious conflict
 Commercial Revolution
erodes communal values
and encourages
individualist spirit
 Many more women were
convicted
 Died down in 17th
century – why?
Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) – Origins
 The last of the “religious wars?”
 Bourbons vs. Hapsburgs?
 Nations’ Ambitions?
 Spanish Hapsburgs
 Austrian Hapsburgs
 Sweden and Denmark
 Religious conflict or Political Conflict?




Calvinism had spread into German states
Peace of Augsburg (1555) only settled issue of Lutheranism
Protestants tried to seize control of previously Catholic states
Protestant and Catholic alliances formed to protect their
respective states
 Protestant Union
 Catholic League
 Austrian Hapsburgs attempt to consolidate power over German
princes, and the princes sought allies from all over Europe…
30 Years’ War: Phases
Bohemian Phase, 1618-1625
 Nobles in Bohemia accept
Images of the
defenestration
of Prague.
Mary’s Miracle
or Mare’s
Manure?
Fecal matter!
Here I come!
rule of Hapsburg
Archduke/King of Bohemia
Ferdinand
 Eventually, they grow
dissatisfied with his
repressive politics and UberCatholicism
 Defenestration in Prague
 Miracle of the Virgin Mary…?
Or a fecal cushion?
30 Years’ War: Phases
Bohemian Phase, 1618-1625
 Bohemian rebels seize power
 Ferdinand deposed
 Elector Frederick V, head of the
Protestant Union chosen as
leader
 Ferdinand’s belligerence
Ferdinand, King of Bohemia and
eventually Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II. His firm Catholicism was
the proximate cause of the war.
 Catholic Bavarians and the Catholic
League
 Battle of White Mountain
 Frederick’s flight
 Catholic victory!
30 Years’ War: Phases
Danish Phase, 1625-1629
 King Christian IV of Denmark aids
protestants
 Catholic Albrecht von
Wallenstein of Bohemia lays
smack-down…
 Danes return home with major
losses
 Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II
imposes Edict of Restitution
3/1629
King Christian; Albrecht von
Wallenstein
30 Years’ War: Phases
Swedish Phase, 1630-1635
 Gustavus Adolphus,
Gustavus Adolphus, like Christian IV
before him, came to aid the German
Lutherans, and to obtain economic
influence in the German states around
the Baltic Sea.
King of Sweden
intervenes…
 New military strategy of
the “Lion of the North”
 Battle of Lutzen, 1632
 Battle of
Nordlingen,1634
 Revocation of Edict of
Restitution
30 Years’ War: Phases
Franco-Swedish Phase, 1635-1648
 Political concerns trump
Surrounded by
Hapsburgs?! NO!
religion
 Cardinal Richelieu’s
concerns over Hapsburgs
surrounding France
 French send in troops while the
Swedes regroup in Germany all on the Protestant side!
 Success of French commander
Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar
 French success at Battle of
Rocroi (row-kroy) in 1643
Cardinal Richelieu
The Thirty
Years’ War
territories
and battles: a
summary
I’m the
lion of
the north
30 Years’ War: Aftermath
 Peace of Westphalia
(1648)
 Peace of Pyrenees (1659)
 German states devastated
 Pestilence, famine, and
violence ravaged German
lands
 Holy Roman Empire
rendered powerless as
German states are further
fractured
 More separation of church
and state
 Emergence of FRANCE
Military Revolution?
Dude. We’re being
replaced by REAL
armies.
Bummer. Guess I
need to find a real
job.
Mercenary soldiers
 New military tactics
emerged following 30
Years’ War.
 Influence of Gustavus
Adolphus’ tactics
 Mercenary soldiers
gave way to welltrained, disciplined
national armies
 Link between standing
armies and
absolutism?
Rebellion?
 Ongoing warfare and skyrocketing
taxes
 Nobles’ struggle to resist
centralization
 Many small but unsuccessful
rebellions defined this turbulent era
 Also helped motivate monarchs to
fine-tune their military force
A Review
 Reasons for witchcraft craze in
early 17th century?
 30 Years’ War:
 A religious conflict – or was it more?
 Big Dogs Stink For Sure!
 Main players
 Devastation of German States
France Emerges from the Ashes
 Impact of the Peace
France wins valuable territory in Rhineland
of Westphalia
 Dutch, English, and
French emerge
 500 miles radius
around Paris creates
the zone which was
to dominate Europe
and much of the
world.
 France was first to
rise – why?
A Difficult Path to Greatness…
 Provincial Autonomy and Decentralization
 “A bundle of territories held together by allegiance to a king”




National Estates General (parliament) ?
Local parliaments (supreme courts) ?
300 local regional legal systems…
No uniform taxes, coinage or weights and measures
 Religious Differences
 Edict of Nantes
 Efforts to unify France under one religion resisted at home
and abroad
 Lack of Competent Rulers
 1559 -1650: Only ONE competent adult monarch
 Sons of Henry II and Catherine de’Medici (Francis II, Charles
IX and Henry III) were young, generally weak, and ineffective
 Henry IV Bourbon (1589-1610) was the only adult king from
the start and ruled effectively.
 Louis XIII (1610-1643) and Louis XIV (1643-1715) both took
the throne as young boys…
Young kings
Francis, Charles,
and Henry
Absolutism in France: Royal Ministers’ Role
 Boy kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV faced
uneasy succession to throne
 Role of royal ministers
 Cardinal Richelieu (1624-1642)





Richelieu and young
Louis XIII
Attacks power of nobles
Peace of Alais reduces power of Huguenots
System of spies
Intendants
Aided Swedes vs. Hapsburgs in 30 Years
War
 Raised taille and gabelle to fund French
involvement in 30 Years’ War – debt rising!
 Died in 1642, with Louis XIII 5 months later,
leaving 4 year old Louis XIV on the throne
Absolutism in France: Royal Ministers’ Role
 Cardinal Mazarin (1642-1661)
Come here, my
Italian stallion!



I shall win you some
gold at the gaming
tables!
Allowed by Anne of Austria – regent of
Louis XIV, to continue in Richelieu’s
footsteps
Mazarin’s foreign background…
Fronde (1648)
 Series of noble rebellions broke out against
Mazarin
 Fronde (“child’s slingshot”) is put down
 Mazarin dies, leaving power solely to
23 year old King Louis XIV
 France poised to accept absolutism
Anne of Austria and
Mazarin … they were
lovers you see…
Theory of Absolutism
Divine!
 King had ultimate authority by divine


Absolute!


Bishop Bossuet and
Jean Bodin: Divine
Right and Absolutism!
right
Bishop Jacques Bossuet: “God
establishes kings as his ministers, and
reigns through them over the people”
Jean Bodin: "The sovereign Prince is
only accountable to God"
Influence of era of religious wars…
French ministers had paved the way
for Louis XIV – the poster child for
absolutism
Louis XIV – An Introduction
 “He was extremely fond of
himself and his position of
kingship, with an insatiable
appetite for admiration and
flattery. He loved
magnificent display and
elaborate etiquette, though
to some extent he simply
adopted them as
instruments of policy rather
than as a personal whim.”
“Le Roi Danse”
Before taking the throne, Louis
built his divine reputation
through his ballet dancing, with
the help of eccentric Baroque
composer Jean-Baptiste Lully.
It was the Ballet de la Nuit that
earned Louis the nickname the
“Sun King”
Louis XIV – Government and Administration
 Louis’ view of the state:
Emblem
of Louis
XIV;
Louis in
his
younger
days
L’etat c’est moi
 Believed in ABSOLUTISM
and perpetuated myth that
he was the “sun king” –
source of light for all his
subjects and center of
their universe
Louis XIV – Government and Administration
 Army




Ended independence of colonels
Louis “made war an activity of state”
Centralized, systematized, & increased size
first war ministry

Recently ennobled or middle class men with no
political influence
Use of bribery
Used Councils of State and intendants
Each intendant...embodied all aspects of the
royal government, supervising...taxes and
recruiting soldiers, keeping an eye on the
nobility...stamping out bandits, smugglers, and
wolves, policing the marketplaces, relieving
famine, watching the local law courts...a firm and
uniform administration...was superimposed
upon...the old France.
 Advisers



Louis XIV – Economic Policies


Finances were a BIG deal – had to get $ to build
palace at Versailles, maintain the court, and pursue
war
Mercantilist Colbert served as financial minister











Colbert in his golden years
with fabulous wig; New
France (in blue)
Bourgeois origin
“Five Great Farms”
Commercial Code
Subsidies and tax exemptions to key industries
Encouraged colonies
French navy and French East India Company
Merchant marine
Encouraged export of manufactured products
Prohibited the export of food
Advanced commercial capitalism
Colbert brought $ in…Louis spent it!
Louis XIV – Economic Policies
 Tax problems





Taille passed through many officials
Tax farmers
Noble exemptions
Bourgeois bought special tax exemptions
Poor taxed heavily
 Nevertheless, government deficits
grew
 Methods to raise money
Top: A patent of nobility;
Bottom: devalued
French livre – it looked
the same but had 20%
less gold and silver!




Currency was devalued in secret
Patents of nobility
Sale of government offices and military
commissions
But then what…?
Louis XIV – Religious Policies
 Louis acted to centralize
religion as all other aspects of
society



supported Gallican church
Rewards for conversion
Use of dragoons and the
dragonnades
 Edict of Fontainebleau
(1685)


Images associated with the dragonnades
depicting obnoxious soldiers behaving badly
while priests attempt to attain conversions


revoked Edict of Nantes (1598)
destruction of Huguenot churches
and schools
Exodus of over 200k Huguenots!
Impact?
Louis XIV – Life at Court
 Versailles built outside







Palace of Versailles: Grounds and Hall of Mirrors
Paris
Reflected power of French
monarchy
Elaborate system of rules
and regulations
Everyone had to use flattery
to get pension
Reduced “people of quality”
to his lap dogs
Gambling, entertainment,
prostitution
appartement
Lifelong imprisonment?
Wars of Louis XIV: Overview




Louis XIV leading the battle charge
on horseback


Largest standing army in
Europe
Conscription
When Louis took control in
1661 (Mazarin’s death),
France still faced Hapsburgs
on three sides
Spain’s weakness and the
pursuit of France’s “natural
boundaries”
Costly, fruitless missions
Concern over balance of
power caused other
European nations to form
alliances vs. France
Early Wars of Louis XIV

War of Devolution of 1667





Invasion of Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comte (FRANsh-conTAY)
Blocked by Triple Alliance of Dutch, English and Swedes
Only earned a few towns in Spanish Netherlands
“Dutch War” of 1672



Louis invades United Provinces
Brandenburg, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire allied against him
Louis only gains Franche-Comte
Louis next attacked east vs. Holy Roman Empire




Strasbourg and Alsace - Lorraine
Germany’s lack of unity opens the door…
Louis distracts HRE Leopold I, by inciting and financing a Hungarian
rebellion, and encouraging a Turkish attack on the Empire, leading to a
siege of Vienna in 1683.
Leopold, with Polish assistance, was able to drive the Turks away and
bring the Hungarians back into line.
Early Wars of Louis XIV



Leopold I united
Catholic nations
against France
Protestants unify
under William III of
Orange against Louis
In 1686, Louis faced
all of his opponents in
the War of the
League of Augsburg
(1688-1697)

“Glorious
Revolution” in
England sparks war

French success on
land, failure at sea

Treaty of Ryswick
(1697)
War of Spanish Succession (1702-1713):
Overall Trends
 “Watershed war,”
setting new standards
for the next century


Less destructive war?
Religion of little
importance
 English involvement?
 First “world war”?
Charles II: Bringing Sexy Back
War of Spanish Succession: Cause




Charles II dies without
male heir
Balance of power
principles vs. Charles’
will?
Next in line: Louis XIV’s
grandson, Philip.
English William III of
Orange was unwilling to
accept the will, and
created the Grand
Alliance
War of Spanish Succession: Cause
“All in the family”: Charles was the product of LOTS of inbreeding.
War of Spanish Succession: Aspirations





France?
Spain?
Austria?
Holland?
England?
Louis flanked by his enemies:
Emperor Leopold I and William III
of Holland and England
War of Spanish Succession: Fighting
My salon hair shall
lead me to victory!
John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough
 War fought in Europe
and North America
(Queen Anne’s War)
for 11 years
 John Churchill,
Duke of
Marlborough, and
Battle of Blenheim
(1704)
 Peace of Utrecht
(1713) and Peace of
Rastatt (1714)
War of Spanish Succession: Treaty of Utrecht, 1713



Spain
 King Philip V Bourbon
 Spain and France separate.
 Bourbons influence on
monarchy and New World?
France
 Monarchy lost ground to
aristocratic and parliamentary
opposition
 Expansionist dreams checked,
but retained Alsace, Strasbourg,
and the Franche-Comte
England
 Gained Gibraltar and Minorca
and Newfoundland, Nova
Scotia, and Hudson Bay
Territory
 Received the valuable asiento




Austria
 Gained Italian Hapsburg
holdings (Milan, Naples,
Sicily)
 Took Spanish Netherlands,
now called Austrian
Netherlands (Belgium)
The Duke of Savoy got
Sardinia, and was recognized
as a king
Elector of Brandenburg got
Guelderland
 was recognized as a king
 Brandenburg became
known as Prussia
Holland got the “Dutch Barrier,”
a string of forts in former
Spanish Netherlands (Belgium)
War of Spanish Succession- Peace Settlement
 The Treaty
of Utrecht,
confirmed
the system
of
international
relations.
 The seeds
of the
nations of
Italy and
Germany
planted!
 France and
Great
Britain: two
strongest
powers
War of Spanish Succession- Peace Settlement
Overseas Territories
The Decline of Spain
 At start of the 17th century,
Philip III of Spain and his favorite
advisor, the Duke of Lerma. Philip
had little interest in the affairs of
state, and devoted much of his time
to purchasing and marveling at
relics. Lerma was primarily
interested in bolstering his family’s
wealth and position at court.
Spain controlled a vast
empire and appeared to be
a formidable European
power
 However, the unsuccessful
wars of Philip II and the
excessive court spending of
Philip III emptied the
Spanish treasury
The Decline of Spain
 Rule of Philip IV and his chief
Philip IV of Spain and his chief
minister, Gaspar de Guzman, count
of Olivares. Philip’s continued
involvement in the 30 Years’ War
was costly, and incited internal
rebellion. At the Battle of Rocroi in
1643, the Spanish army was
decimated
minister, Gaspar de Guzman
 Involvement in Thirty Years’
War…
 Dutch independence by the
Peace of Westphalia (1648)
 The Peace of Pyrenees (1659)
lost Artois as well as their
defenses of the Spanish
Netherlands, later lost to the
Austrian Hapsburgs in the War
of Spanish Succession
Big-Picture Trends in Eastern Europe
 Three old, increasingly ineffective, loose
and sprawling political organizations are in
decline
 the Holy Roman Empire
 the Republic of Poland
 the empire of the Ottoman Turks
 Newer and stronger powers are rising to
replace them
 Prussia
 Austria
 Russia
Big-Picture Trends in Eastern Europe
 More rural
 less productive human labor – slow to learn
of/embrace agricultural improvements
 weaker middle classes (due to emphasis on
agriculture over manufacturing)
 Peasants were governed by their landlords and
were losing freedom – great landlords
consolidated lands to be more effective players in
large-scale commerce w/western Europe
 The Commercial Revolution strengthened great
lords who produced for export and secured their
labor through “hereditary subjection,” including
forced labor and serfdom
Three Aging Empires:
 Each of the three (HRE, Polish, Ottoman) was
different in origins and traditions but with
basic resemblances:
 central authority was weak, with a nominal head
and powerful local lords.
 All were outmoded - none had an efficient
administration.
 All were made up of diverse ethnic/language
groups - none had been formed into a compact
organization.
 The whole area was malleable, at the mercy of
strong neighbors.
Three Aging Empires - HRE
 The Holy Roman Empire after 1648:
Even WE
couldn’t bring
enough
culture to the
HRE!
Gottfried Leibnitz – inventor
of binary system and
calculus (independently of
Newton) and J.S. Bach
 The area had been ruined by the religious
divisions produced by the Protestant
Reformation, with splinter groups
demanding special safeguards.
 Large areas had suffered in the Thirty
Years’ War, with vast losses in capital and
savings, and a small, static burgher class.
 Lacking large-scale organization they
could not carry on overseas colonization
or trade, and internally their commerce
was stifled by varying laws, tariffs, tolls
and coinage.
 Culture was at a low ebb, in spite of
Leibniz and J. S. Bach.
Three Aging Empires - HRE
 Germany was
composed of 300
sovereign states plus
200 sovereign “free
knights”--a bizarre neofeudalism.
 Each state was
anxious to preserve its
“German liberties,”
and France and others
were happy to oblige
and weaken the
potential threat of a
unified nation (Louis’
bribery of princes).
 Electors required each
new emperor to agree
to “capitulations,”
promises to safeguard
those liberties.
Three Aging Empires - HRE
 In theory, Imperial Diet could raise an army and taxes,
but was so evenly split between Protestants and Catholics
that no decision was possible
 Diet was characterized by wordiness and futility – all talk
no action.
 Each minor state aspired to absolutism, with a court and
an army--a vast array of “mini-Sun Kings.”
 Ambitious states used the politics of marriage to increase
power and territory.
 Hohenzollerns accumulated key territories
 Bavarians used the church to gain key cities
 Saxons eventually gained the thrones of England (Hanover
Dynasty) and Poland (Wettin Dynasty).
Three Aging Empires - Poland
 Poland - a
Republic because
its king was elected
 Like in HRE,
nobles proud of
their liberties.
 Large,
heterogeneous
population-Lithuania, the
Duchy of Prussia,
and Ukraine.
 Townspeople
largely Germans
and Jews.
Poland was decentralized and lacked national middle class and language (except Church Latin)
 Jews had lived
apart for religious
reasons
 Jews eventually
forced into
ghettos
Three Aging Empires - Poland
 Aristocrats, 8% of the people, held sufficient power to prevent





either absolutism or parliamentary government.
Royal elections were centers of foreign intrigue, bribery
People were too divided to accept any Polish king under most
conditions.
Diet was ineffective - every member held veto power--the right
to “explode” or dissolve the diet (liberum veto)
The king lacked an army, law courts, officials and income.
Nobles were highly cultured and cosmopolitan.
 They paid no taxes
 Top aristocrats had their own army and foreign policy
 “Poland was, in short, a power vacuum...and as centers of
higher pressure developed, notably around Berlin and Moscow,
the push against the Polish frontiers became steadily stronger.”
 Talk began of partitioning Poland.
Three Aging Empires - Ottoman
 The Ottoman Empire was the
largest and most solid of the
territories.
 It had a strong army with janissaries.
 It had developed the best artillery, but it was
already becoming obsolete by 1650.
 The Ottomans controlled many
subject peoples, but there was no
assimilation.
A janissary with a merchant
 Law was religious, but was only applied to
Muslims
 non-Muslims were left to settle their own
problems by religious groupings
 Only in Albania were the subject peoples
converted
 generally Christian princes were left in control
of Christian subjects, with religious toleration
the norm
Three Aging Empires - Ottoman
 Turkish rule: oppressive, arbitrary and
brutal
 Border provinces only loosely attached,
serving as battlegrounds--as southern
Russia and Hungary, which had been
defended by the family of the notorious
Elizabeth Bathory until the Hapsburgs
absorbed the region.
 In 1663, Turkey began to modernize
under the rule of exceptional viziers, or
political leaders. (viz-EARS)
 The Turks again became a threat to
Austria (encouraged by Louis XIV!), but
were, in the end, defeated in 1699 by
an international force.
Austria Emerges: Recovery of Hapsburg Power, 1648-1740
GO
EAST!
 The Thirty Years’ War dashed Hapsburg
hope of twin supports in Spain and the Holy
Roman Empire--though the Austrians did
maintain an interest in the Germanies until
1870.
 Main divisions:
 Austria, the “hereditary provinces” of the
Hapsburgs
 the Kingdom of Bohemia, made up of Bohemia,
Moravia, and Silesia
 the Kingdom of Hungary, made up of Hungary,
Transylvania, and Croatia.
Leopold I: Holy
Roman Emperor
 HRE Leopold I (1658-1705) encouraged the
Austrian Hapsburgs to move their empire
eastward
 Hapsburgs eliminated Protestantism in their
territories during the Thirty Years’ War, and
briefly conquered Hungary soon after from
the Turks
Austria Emerges: Recovery of Hapsburg Power, 1648-1740
 Turkish siege of Vienna
Trieste (tree-EST), was developed as the Hapsburg window on
the Mediterranean
in 1683 (with the Turks
egged on by Louis XIV)
 An international force of
Austrian, German and
Polish troops was
financed by Pope Pius
XI and sent to battle the
Turks.
 Turks were defeated and
driven back, largely
through efforts of Prince
Eugene of Savoy, who
reorganized the Austrian
army along the lines of
Louis XIV’s army and
added Hungary to the
Hapsburg domains.
 Treaty of Karlowitz
(1699) gave the
Hapsburgs Hungary,
Croatia, Transylvania
and Slovenia
Development of the Austrian Monarchy
 The Empire was international, but with a strong
German influence.
 It was based on cosmopolitan aristocrats “who felt
closer to each other, despite difference of language,
than to the laboring masses who worked on their
estates.”
 Old Diets remained in place in Austria, Hungary, and
Bohemia - there was no overall imperial Diet.
 National diets retained their “liberties,” and no
questions were asked in Vienna as long as the diets
 produced taxes and soldiers as needed
 accepted the wars and foreign policy of the ruling
Hapsburg house
Consolidation of Bohemia and Hungary
by the Austrian Monarchy
 Bohemian independence had been
Francis II Rákóczi led the
Hungarians to rebel against
the Hapsburg
crushed in 1620, and the nation
became a Catholic state, presided
over by landowners who had been
officers in the Thirty Years’ War.
 After 1699 Protestant Hungary was
given the same treatment, with the
old Magyar aristocracy severely
weakened.
 A rebellion in 1703 (encouraged
by Louis XIV) was crushed.
 The Hungarians remained proud,
nationalistic, and distinct (and
pissed!)
Development of the Austrian Monarchy
 Each constituent country had its own law,
diet, and political life
 no feeling in the people held these regions
together.
 To give a semblance of unity, Hapsburg
emperor Charles VI in 1713 produced the
Pragmatic Sanction
HRE Charles VI
passes Pragmatic
Sanction to secure his
daughter’s succession
– and territories!
 every diet and all Hapsburg archdukes were to
agree that the Hapsburg territories were
indivisible with only one line of heirs.
 But Charles’ only heir was his daughter, Maria
Theresa!
 to secure her succession, Charles got all major
foreign powers to sign a guarantee as well.
 This didn’t hold out when Frederick II of Prussia
took upper Silesia from Maria Theresa in 1740 to
spark war.
Growth of Brandenburg Prussia
 Prussia was indeed an unpromising site from
which to rise to greatness
 Its population was small
 its farmland was poor
 it generally lacked the key natural resources
 Despite these setbacks, Machiavellian-style
leadership and a strong military allowed the
region to prosper
 It was composed of two basic territories:
 Brandenburg, a “march state” – wide plain used for
military support
 Prussia, an eastern territory carved out from the
“barbaric” Slavs by the Teutonic knights, who had
become “Baltic Barons”
Growth of Brandenburg Prussia
 The ruling family was the
Frederick William the Great Elector
(1620-88) was a military legend
Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg
who had inherited Prussia.
 They began expanding by the
Treaty of Westphalia (30YW) and
had unified their disparate and
divided land into a solid nucleus.
 Most importantly, they had built on
militaristic traditions to develop
a small, effective army, which they
used sparingly but well in the
“balance of power” politics of the
age.
 The base was built by Frederick
William, the Great Elector.
Freddie’s the Great Elector’s Game Plan
 Used his small, efficient military to
break local forces that controlled
taxation
 Levied taxes over diverse region to
support army
 Used General War Commissariat to
collect taxes.
 GWC then evolved to be bureaucracy
for administration of civil government
Note: Strong man-thigh
 officers were members of Prussian
aristocracy known as Junkers
 Junkers formed the basis of the Prussian
military leadership and all high posts in
government bureaucracy
Brandenburg Prussia: Controlling The Junkers
 Junkers were the dominant class in Prussia
 To get power over these local nobles in each region, Fred
made a deal
 Fred gets power in their region and military service from Junkers
 Junkers get exemption from taxes and their free control over
their peasants
 Junkers could even make their peasants serfs
 Fred had “junk in his trunk” so to speak
 Junkers’ code of duty, service, obedience, and sacrifice
molds Germany to this day.
 Middle class couldn’t grow because of the lack of
towns and wealth, and prohibition against selling
land to commoners
Freddie’s the Great Elector’s Game Plan
 Fred relied on
mercantilism and
monopolies for
manufacturers to
stimulate economy
 Tax funds used for
construction of
roads/canals
 Invited religious
refugees from other
countries to bring their
skills and wealth to
Prussia
The main identifiable features of this new Prussia
were:
• the disproportion between the size of the
army and the
resource base
• the use of this army as the main all-Prussian
institution and
basis of the state
• the state-based economy
 recruited skilled
immigrants forced out of
other nations, especially
Huguenots and Jews
 Still favored interests of
nobility over middle
class
Brandenburg Prussia - Growth
 Frederick William the Great Elector leaves the
state to his son, who becomes Frederick I (17011713), first King of Prussia
 Attains the title of King due to Prussia’s involvement
helping the ailing HRE in the War of Spanish
Succession
 Spends a lot of $ trying to imitate the court of Louis XIV
 Dies, leaving throne to his son, Frederick William I
 Frederick William I (1713-1740)
 With the death of Louis XIV and English attention in
America, Prussia was able to use “balance of power”
politics superbly under this able ruler
 Freddie Willie I produced the base that made his son
Frederick II “the Great.”
 Final assessment: Judged simply as a human
accomplishment, Prussia was a remarkable
creation, a state made on a shoestring, a triumph
of work and duty.
Emergence of Russia
 Between 1650 and 1750,
the old Tsardom of
Muscovy turned into
modern Russia, both
reaching eastward across
Siberia to the Bering Sea
and westward toward
contact with Europe.
 Russia had long been
Christian, but had not
participated in the
development of Western
Europe many reasons:
Map of Russia in 1648 - cut off from the
West by Sweden and the Ottoman Empire
 Russia was converted to
Greek Orthodox Christianity
 The Mongol conquest in 1240
brought an eastern orientation
lasting until Ivan III
 Russian geography made
communication with the West
difficult
Russia and Prussia: A Comparison
 A comparison of Russia and Prussia is
also instructive:
 Both lacked natural frontiers, consisting of a
wide plain (“march state”)
 the state arose as a means to support the
army
 had an autocratic government and landlord
class in service of the state
 imported skills from W.Europe for the army
and the state
 Neither developed a commercial class
(bourgeoisie) of any size.
Russia’s Diversity and Unique (backward?) Features
 Diverse population
 Great Russians of Muscovy
 assimilated Tartars of the Volga regions
 Cossacks of the area between the Volga and
Black Sea
 White Russians (Belorussians) were south and
west of Moscow
 Lesser Russians (Ukrainians) under Polish
rule.
 In 1650 Swedes controlled the Baltic Coast
and Turks the Black Sea
 Russians had little contact with Europeans
Russian
dress –
bizarre to
the
west…
 Most trade routes were north-south.
 The English had trading companies through
Archangel on the White Sea before 1600.
 Russian culture was essentially crude
 Religion played a major role but lacked
charitable or educational institutions (Orthodox
practices were considered bizarre by western
Euros)
Russia: Ivan IV: The Terrible (r. 1533-84)
 Was the first to call himself tsar
 Ivan had himself crowned Tsar





(CAESAR) and attempted to
expand Russian territory west.
Blocked by Polish and Swedish
powers, he looked east instead –
“THIRD ROME” = Moscow
Ivan advanced absolutism by
crushing power of the Boyars, or
Russian nobility.
Established Zemsky Sobor,
comprised of landed Russians,
ecclesiastics, and reps of towns
and merchants to check the
power of the Boyars in Duma, or
legislature
Cruel, sadistic, and most likely,
mentally ill.
Killed his own (similarly sadistic)
son and heir, Ivan Ivanovich
I MUST be
terrible. I
killed my
son by
hitting him
in the head
with my
sceptre!
See my child! See him!
I whacked him in the
head with my sceptre!
I’m….dead.
Thanks, dad!
Russia:
Time of Troubles and the Emergence of the Romanovs
 Ivan’s reign was followed by the brief reign
of his younger and mentally retarded son
Feodor (1584-1598), who died without an
heir.
 Following Feodor and end of Rurik dynasty,
10-year “Time of Troubles” occurred.
 Nobles (Boyars) asserted their power
 Bad harvests, famine
 Time of Troubles came to an end when
Top: Feodor “the
Bellringer”; Bottom:
Mikhail Romanov
Zemsky Sobor elected 16-year old Mikhail
Romanov (1613-1645) as new Tsar.
 Eventually, the Romanov Dynasty, one of
the noble families, was able to suppress the
Duma and develop an autocracy.
 Romanov dynasty lasted until revolution of
1917!
The Romanov Dynasty:
Political and Economic Structure
 Political structure
 Tsar on top - divinely ordained
 2 legislative houses
 Duma made up of Boyars
 Zemsky Sobor (established by Ivan IV and
made of landed Russians)
 Economic Structure
 upper class dominated – landed aristocracy
ruled
 peasants were turned into hereditary serfs,
able to be bought and sold
 Merchants were heavily restricted
 Economic revolts often occurred in 17th century
The Romanov Dynasty – Religious Structure
 The Russian Orthodox Church
Defiant Boyarynya arrested by Tsarist
authorities in 1671. She holds two
fingers raised: a hint of the old (i.e.
"proper") way
became divided
 An established, upper class
church – used for political control
 Peasant sects like the Old
Believers were ignorant and
fanatical
 The peasants became “estranged
from the established religion.”
 For them “both church and
government seemed mere
engines of repression.”
 Religious revolts happened often
during 17th century.
Russia: Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725)
Damnski. I wish
he’s slow it
down. I’m old.
Many tried to keep up with Peter’s
great pace and huge strides…he was
always on the move!
 After a time of anarchy and a
return to government largely
controlled by the boyars,
Peter the Great takes throne
 Almost 7’ tall
 Crude as a sailor
 Initially shared throne with
brother Ivan V until Ivan’s death
in 1696
 Pete also had to overthrow his
sister Sophia who was serving
as regent until 1689
 Probably had bipolar disorder
 Infamous for his drinking parties,
belching contests, and
irreverent attitude toward
Russian traditions
Peter Looks West…(1697-1699)
 Peter visited Archangel and spent a



Young Peter

year in Holland and England-working, talking, observing…and
drinking…a lot.
He was crude, practical, and “as little
troubled by appearances as by moral
scruples.”
He recruited 1000 foreign experts for
service in Russia - many followed
later.
His sole goal was to build a powerful
army and state--partly defensive,
partly expansionist
He believed Russia needed “windows
on the West,” warm water ports and a
new West-looking capital city – St.
Petersburg.
Peter Rebuilds His Military
 Brought technology back to
Russia to beef up military to
create an elite fighting
machine.
 Created an army of 210,000
men
 Russians and non-Russian
Europeans
 Men conscripted for 25 years!
 Built navy from scratch that
Peter’s Azov Fleet establishes
Russia as a Maritime
powerhouse and secures
access to the Black Sea
made victory in Great
Northern War possible.
 Fought to attain territory that
would provide a warm water
port for trade with the west.
Peter’s Wars
 Peter was able to recover Kiev and Smolensk from Polish rule
because of Poland’s anarchy.
 Russo-Turkish War (1686-1700)
 He fought the Turks and discovered the inferiority of his army
 However, success at Azov establishes access to Black Sea
 Treaty of Constantinople ends war and frees Peter for Sweden…
 Great Northern War vs. Sweden (1700-1721)
 invaded to get access to port, but initially was spanked by Charles XII at
Battle of Narva in 1700, thus beginning Great Northern War
 He then rebuilt his army with western advisers and weaponry; he
defeated Charles XII at Poltava by drawing him into Russia in winter in
1709.
 Russians were triumphant under Peace of Nystad in 1721, which gave
Livonia, Estonia and part of Finland to Russia.
 Russia had won its Baltic coast, its window on the West.
 Peter now built his new capital city of St. Petersburg, the
“Venice of the North,” and forced his nobles to live there.
 Moscow, center of opposition to his westernization program,
was left behind.
Peter’s Wars
Green region in the east shows what Peter the Great
won from Sweden in the Great Northern War.
St. Petersburg: The New Capital
 Like Louis, Peter rebuilt a new capital – his
would be the “window to the west.”
 Erected St. Petersburg, which lasted as capital
and symbol of the west until 1917
 Took years to build and lots of money
 Pete ended up making peasants shoulder most
of the burden of labor and costs
Pete Takes Control of Government
 Taming the Streltsy and Boyars
 Streltsy = militia in Moscow – guard.
 Boyars = old nobility
 Pete wanted them to obey western culture – no
spitting on floor, long beards, long coats or sleeves.
 Required schooling and good manners!
 Created Table of Ranks
 allowed non-nobles to earn position in nobility through
service to the state
 forced nobles to earn their status by serving the state in
army or as civil servants
 considerable opportunity for talented individuals of lower
class rank to rise
 The streltsy rebelled while Pete was away on military
campaign.
 He returned to crush them and then kill and torture them
mercilessly.
 Their corpses were placed on public display to deter other
rebellions.
Pete Enforces “Beard Burning”
OMG! That long beard
is a fashion faux pas!
It’s gotta go!
WT*-ski! I smack
you in the headski,
little man!
AKA “Queer
Western Eye for the
Straight, Old
Russian Guy”
Pete Takes Control of Government
 Bureaucracy based on Swedish system
 colleges set up to lead certain areas of
government e.g. tax collection, foreign
relations, war, economy, etc.
 The Duma and national assembly
disappeared
 replaced by a “senate” controlled by the
tsar.
 This 9 member senate to direct
government when he was at war
Pete takes Control of Church
 Before Pete’s interventions, there was stress
 patriarch Nikon and his westernizing changes
offended Old Believers
 Old Believers resisted any change - many committed
suicide.
 To avoid similar mishaps, Peter abolished the
office of Patriarch and created a Holy Synod
(council) headed by layman ruler called
Procurator General
 made sure church acted in accordance with Tsar
 this really pissed off Old Believers, but Pete didn’t
care!
 He also ended the rule of hereditary
succession
Pete takes Control of Economy
 Encouraged iron production in the Urals and




soon this industry was a success – for a time
Sent young Russians west to learn technology
and skills to bring back to Russia
Encouraged non-Russian artisans to live in
Russia
Raised money by multiplying taxes, mainly on
peasants, and by making serfdom even more
universal
He encouraged mercantilist policies, forming
commercial companies, of mixed foreign and
Russian composition--providing them with
government capital and a labor supply of serfs,
all under tight government control
An Assessment of Peter
The whole system of centralized absolutism, while in form resembling that
of the West...was in fact significantly different, for it lacked legal regularity,
was handicapped by the insuperable ignorance of many officials, and was
imposed on a turbulent and largely unwilling population. The empire of the
Romanovs has been called a state without a people.
 Many opposed the speed of change




some adhered to the old ways
others resented the foreigners and their superior attitudes
One center of opposition was the church
His son Alexis also opposed him--Pete ordered him executed!
 Change probably would have come as Russia was on the
move before.
 BUT by Peter’s impatient forcing of a new culture, he
fastened autocracy, serfdom, and bureaucracy more firmly upon
his country....he was able to reach only the upper classes...[They]
became impatient of the stolid immovability of the peasants around
them, sense themselves as strangers in their own country, or were
troubled by a guilty feeling that their position rested on the degradation
and enslavement of human beings.
Emergence of the Dutch Republic
 The Dutch created a
bourgeois society that
was wealthy,
flourishing, civilized and astonishingly
creative!
Vermeer’s Woman with a
Balance
 Hugo Grotius - creator of
international law
 Baruch de Spinoza - first
modern philosopher
 Anton von Leeuwenhoek
(microscope),
 Huygens - physics and
math
 Vermeer, Rembrandt,
and Leyster in the fine
arts.
The Greatness of the Dutch Republic
 The Dutch were characterized by a spirit of
toleration that welcomed the dispossessed of
that era-Jews and unpopular Protestants.
 The great Dutch fleet of 1600
 sailed to the Spice Islands and Japan under
the Dutch East India Company
 establishing colonies such as Manhattan
and the Cape of Good Hope
 forming the Dutch West Indies Company
which set up posts in Brazil, Curaçao,
Guinea.
 Bank of Amsterdam, backed by the Dutch
government, made Holland the financial
center of world
Dutch Ship circa 1600
 allowing deposit of “mixed money” issuing
notes for florins--soon the main
international currency
 innovative use of checks and guaranteed
deposits
 Charged a fee for maintaining accounts and
for exchange and enriched the city of
Amsterdam.
Dutch Government
 Each province had a
stadtholder, but most
provinces usually elected the
Prince of Orange in
emergencies.
 Normally the burghers ran the
government, keeping Holland
decentralized.
 William III of Orange (16501702)
 grave, reserved, Dutch Calvinist
 lived plainly and hated flattery
 married Mary, Protestant
daughter of James II (Stuart) of
England
Willie III of Orange – His
Younger Days…
Foreign Affairs
 The Dutch fought three indecisive wars with England during the reign
of Cromwell, but gave New York to England. (Anglo-Dutch Wars)
 Wars with France were much more serious, and the Dutch
successfully used balance of power politics to stop Louis XIV’s
aggression in 1667, 1672, and 1689. (Franco-Dutch Wars)
 However, these wars came at a cost and Dutch power declined
through end of 17th century
Raid on the Medway: greatest naval victory for the Dutch (over England).
“The Devil Shits Dutchmen!” Says Samuel Pepys, English Naval
Administrator.
England’s Civil Wars
 England after 1588 withdrew from continental matters and was
the one great European power absent from the Treaty of
Westphalia. Why?
 England was involved in a religious/civil war, fought between the
Puritans and the Anglicans, between the forces of Parliament and those
of the king.
 Wars in England were relatively mild, but at the same time fierce and
savage conflicts were occurring in Ireland.
 Nine Years’ War (1594-1603) vs. Irish Chieftains and Elizabethan
English governments of Ireland.
 English committed 18K soldiers (in contrast with the 12K they had
previously committed to the Dutch Wars)
 Nearly forced the English crown into bankruptcy
 Ultimate defeat of the Irish triggered the Plantation of Ulster, an
English colony settled by Protestant English lords moved onto former
Chieftain lands under King James I after the Flight of the Earls,
when Irish aristocrats fled to Spain to seek support in a rebellion vs.
the English.
 This was the bases for the Protestant stronghold on N. Ireland in
Ulster
“Ulster Plantation”
England - 17th Century Demographics
 England in the 17th Century had
about 4-5 million English-speaking
peoples.
 In addition, groups had emigrated
to the West Indies, North Ireland
and the 13 American colonies.
 Total American pop in 1700:
500,000
 English culture included
Shakespeare, Milton and Francis
Bacon.
 The English economy was
enterprising and affluent, inferior to
Holland in shipping, but with a
larger, more productive homeland.
 The British East India Company
was formed (1600) to compete with
the Dutch.
England – James I (1566-1625)




Elizabeth dies as last of the Tudor
line.
Throne goes to James VI of
Scotland/James I of England. (son
of Mary, queen of Scots)
James believed he was absolute
and divinely ordained, something
that alienated parliament.
James also alienated the Puritans,
who desperately wanted James to
shift from the Episcopal system of
church organization to the
Presbyterian model. Since many
of the House of Commons were
Puritans, this was a bad thing.
England – James I
 Parliament and the Stuart Kings
 James I Stuart ultimately has a major conflict with Parliament
 belief in royal absolutism
 his support of the Anglican hierarchy under Archbishop Laud who
sought religious conformity at a time when Parliament was heavily
Puritan
 his Scotch origins
 his pedantic ways (“wisest fool in Christendom”)
 his constant need for money, due to his wars with Spain, his
spending habits, and the general problems of living on a fixed income
in an inflationary time.
 Parliament was nationally unified, with no provincial units as on
the European continent.




House of Lords was dominated by great noble landowners
House of Commons had the gentry plus reps of merchants and towns
Parliament was generally unified in social interest and wealth
This opened door for eventual civil conflict
 When James died, throne passed to his son, Charles
England – Charles I (1625-1649)




Charles decided to rule without Parliament in 1629
violated the Petition of Right, newly passed in
Parliament, which prohibited the following:
 taxation without parliamentary consent
 quartering of troops
 declaration of martial law in peacetime
Charles violated it by levying a tax called Ship
Money on coastal towns, supposedly used for
“defense.”
Religion was also a problem
 he married a Catholic, Henrietta Maria of
France (uberbitch from movie)
 tried to force Scotland to adopt Anglican Book
of Common Prayer in Scottish Presbyterian
Church.
 Scots rebelled due to religious oppression and
Charles had to call Parliament in 1637 to get
money to quell rebellion.
England – Parliamentary Resistance
 April 1640 Parliament proved hostile and was dissolved in
under a month (Short Parliament)
 A second Parliament called in the fall of 1640 was equally
rebellious and began a revolution against the king under
John Hampden, John Pym, Oliver Cromwell--land-owning
gentry and Puritans who were supported by merchant
class.
 These rebels formed the Long Parliament, led by “root
and branch” men--the first radicals





Presented “Root and Branch Petition” (1640)
sought to impeach and execute royal advisers
abolish bishops and end the Anglican hierarchy
ultimately declared Presbyterianism the legal religion.
The result was open war between the Royalist “Cavaliers,” with
followers from north and west and “Roundheads,” of Parliament
mostly from the south and east.
England – Civil Conflict Erupts!

2 warring camps in Parliament




Oliver Cromwell starts New Model Army of
Puritans to fight king’s forces.






Royalist Cavaliers wanted to stop reforms there
Radical Roundheads under John Pym and
Oliver Cromwell wanted more reforms.
Charles tried to exploit differences by arresting
some radicals, and civil war erupted by 1642
used all the latest military tactics
Defeated Charles I’s forces to end first phase of
war in 1645
Expected Charles to give in to Constitutional
Monarchy
Religious conflict splintered the revolutionaries –
Puritans vs. Presbyterians
Charles sought to exploit the situation by getting
help from the Scots in putting down
revolutionaries.
Cromwell would have none of it and captured
Charles, purged Parliament of Presbyterians,
tried Charles and had him beheaded in 1649.
England - Oliver Cromwell

Cromwell now declared England a Commonwealth (Republic).



Cromwell could never win over the conservatives, and his own supporters
soon divided over radical issues







He crushed the Scots, who had rebelled in reaction to Charles’ execution, and
brutally took revenge on the Irish, settling English landlords with Catholic
peasants as tenants
Rump Parliament abolished House of Lords and monarchy and set England
up as a commonwealth with Cromwell as leader – much dissent arose.
Levellers, who appealed for universal male suffrage, equality of representation
in Parliament, and a written constitution
Quakers, who opposed violence and upset social conventions
Diggers, who repudiated the idea of private property
Fifth Monarchy Men, who believed in the nearness of the “second coming.”
Cromwell abolished Parliament (1653) and ruled as Lord Protector,
placing England under Puritan military rule characterized by “blue laws” of
Puritanical ideas.
Cromwell did challenge the Dutch naval supremacy and in a brief war with
Spain was able to seize Jamaica.
He died in 1658 and was briefly succeeded by his son.
England - Oliver Cromwell
 “the native religion and
clergy were driven
underground, a foreign
and detested church was
established, and a new
and foreign landed
aristocracy, originally
recruited in large
measure from military
adventurers, was settled
upon the country.…”
England – Restoration of the Stuarts
 Royalty was restored with Charles II in 1660
 England was left with the memory of nightmare of
standing armies and rule by religious fanatics.
 Democratic ideas were rejected as “leveling” (except in
America where some Puritan leaders took refuge)
 Political consciousness of the lower classes basically
ceased for the next two centuries.
England – Restoration of Charles II
 Charles was careful not to provoke
Parliament
 The “Merrie Monarch” was welcomed back
after the socially and morally oppressive
years of Cromwell.
 New Parliament – Cavalier Parliament met
to reestablish Anglican Church as official in
England, and to force others to conform.
 Parliament took steps to limit king
 creation of modern land tenure
 abolishing certain feudal payments to king--in
Under the Clarendon
Code (1661-65) passed
by Sir Edward Hyde,
Charles’ chief minister,
Puritans were
disenfranchised
exchange for which they agreed to support the
state (king) by taxing themselves--and share in
the governing of England.
 Local landowners also ran local affairs as
“justices of the peace”
 Dissenters, i.e. Puritans, were severely
restricted
England – Charles II and Catholicism



Charles’ beloved
sister Minette was
married to the
allegedly gay brother
of Louis XIV and
helped engineer the
Treaty of Dover

Charles II, perhaps sympathetic to Catholicism,
suspended restrictive laws vs. Catholics and
Puritans via Declaration of Indulgence 1672,
provoking worry…
Tendency in Europe was for Protestants to
return to Catholicism; however, the English
people and Parliament were anti-Catholic.
Charles II, however, admired Louis XIV and
made a secret treaty (Treaty of Dover) involving
English help against the Dutch in exchange for
cash, a promise of his eventual conversion, and
toleration for Catholics in England.
Angered, Parliament passed Test Act of 1673:
all office-holders had to take communion in the
Church of England (be Anglican), Catholics
could not serve in army or navy.
Restoration and Fear of Catholicism
 Parliament worried that James II,
Charles II’s very Catholic brother,
would take over. Tried to pass
Exclusion Bill to bar James from
office, but this failed.
 two factions formed
 Whigs who wanted James barred
 Tories who hated James but didn’t
believe succession should be
tampered with.
 Charles’ response to the factions:
James II: UberCatholic
DISMISS PARLIAMENT!
 Charles dies in 1685 and his
brother James II succeeds him.
 Charles DID keep his promise
and converted to Catholicism on
his deathbed!
England – Restoration
James II (1685-1689) and Beyond
 Antagonized all by ignoring the Test Act and appointing

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James II: “The
Psychedelic” and
stamps
commemorating the
Battle of the Boyne
Catholics to lucrative positions--a threat to monopoly of
power by Anglicans
James’ Declaration of Indulgence allows Catholics to
hold office!
Also believed in his power to make/unmake laws.
Parliament lays low since James is about to die anyway
and his two daughters were Protestant (he was 55).
However, James’ new Catholic wife (Mary of Modena)
then birthed a Catholic son – this changed everything.
Parliament offered the throne to Mary, Protestant daughter of
James and wife of William III of Orange--who was
thoroughly Protestant and opposed to Louis XIV.
Offered the crown, William “invaded” England; James fled
 James II attempted to reclaim the throne, unsuccessfully
attacking from Ireland in 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne
 Victory still celebrated by the Orangemen of North
Ireland
 James II fled to the court of Louis XIV; who continued to
support the Stuarts as legitimate rulers
England
The Old and Young Pretenders
 James II’s son, James was considered James
III of England/VIII of Scotland by his
supporters, but referred to as the “old
pretender” by those who did not support his
claim to throne.
 His son, “Bonnie” Prince Charlie, was the
“young pretender”
 Papacy, Louis XIV, and Spain supported Stuart
claims
 Both tried to reclaim the English/Scottish
thrones but failed– but failed, thus ending all
hope of a Stuart restoration for good.
Displaced Stuarts
England: Glorious Revolution
Reign of William and Mary
 Bill of Rights (1689)
 No law could be suspended by the
king
 no taxes or army without Parliament’s
consent
 no subject could be arrested or
detained without legal process
 Act of Settlement (1701) - No
Catholic could be King of England
 Toleration Act (1689) - Religious
freedom for Dissenters
 Act of Union (1707) - Created the
United Kingdom of Great Britain
(Includes England, Scotland,
Wales and Ireland, though Scots
kept their legal system and religion)
England: Glorious Revolution
Reign of William and Mary
 Ireland: England feared Irish “counterrevolution” to the burden of an alien
church and absentee landlords – given
a “penal code”
Trinity College, the only
university in Ireland at the time,
did not admit Catholics until
1793. The RCC finally changed
its policy that excommunicated
any Catholics who attended the
university without special
dispensation from the Pope until
1970!
 their clergy were banished
 they could not be attorneys, teachers, or
constables
 their political rights were ended
 they could not buy land or lease it longterm nor inherit it
 Ireland’s international trade, even by
Protestants, was stopped--except for
agricultural goods--to allow payment of
rents
 Bank of England
 to pay for his new war with France, William
borrowed from private lenders who were
granted the right to operate a bank--the
Bank of England
England – Was it a Glorious Revolution?
 As an advocate of absolutism, Thomas

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William and Mary and
family. The throne passed
next to Anne, Mary’s sister
in 1702.


Hobbes condemned the revolution in
Leviathan
It did, in part, vindicate the principles of
parliamentary government, the rule
of law, and the right of rebellion against
tyranny--as promoted by John Locke in
his Two Treatises on Government
But, it was a class movement that
promoted and maintained the landed
aristocracy
Large segments of the people were still
excluded from government
England was a true aristocracy, but
“the rule of the ‘gentlemen of England’
was within its limits a regime of political
liberty”
Divine Right in England forever is
obliterated
Flourishing of European Culture: Art
 Mannerism (Italian origin, 1520s)
 Reflected this period of war and turmoil
 Broke with balance and harmony of
Renaissance
 In the manner of Michelangelo’s later style
 Twisted figures, anxious, emotional faces
 El Greco studies in Venice and moves to
Spain
 Baroque (Italian origin, 1570s)
El Greco’s Laocoon (ley-OKoh-on ); Rubens’ Rape of the
daughters of Leucippus
 Style of Catholic Counterreformation
 Mix of Renaissance classicism and intense
religious emotion and drama
 Gaudy, colorful, use of shadow/light
 Bernini, Rubens, Artemisia Gentileschi
Flourishing of European Culture: Art
Dude. This is the
worst handwriting
Morons.
I’ve ever seen.
Dude…is
that your
mom?
 French Classicism (1650)
 Rejects Baroque showiness
 Emphasis on balance,
simplicity, order
 Portrayal of noble subjects
 Poussin (1594-1665)
 Dutch Realism
Cougartown!
MILF
Shut UP!
Poussin; Rembrandt
 Newly wealthy commercial
class commissioned portraits
and portrayals of everyday
secular life
 Judith Leyster (1609-1660)
 Rembrandt (1606-1669)
Flourishing of European Culture: Theater
 Both England and Spain achieved literary

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greatness between 1580-1640
Literary works written in vernacular
England: The Elizabethan Era
 William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Wrote,
directed, and acted
 Popularity of theatre
 Globe; exclusive Blackfriars
Spain’s Golden Century
 From Seville and Madrid to the New World,
theaters were established
 Lope de Vega; Cervantes’ Don Quixote
French Drama (1630-1680)
 Theater used by Louis XIV to gain notoriety
 Jean-Baptiste Racine’s Phedre focused on
conflicts between love and honor; inclination
and duty
 Jean-Baptiste Moliere’s Tartuffe mocked
religious hypocrisy (banned)
Discussion Questions
 Why were so many women targeted during the

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witchcraft craze?
How did the Thirty Years’ War affect the different
participants?
Was French absolutism truly absolute? Why or why
not?
What purposes did Versailles serve?
How did Western ideas influence the reign of Peter
the Great in Russia?
What gains did Parliament make at the expense of
the monarchy during the course of the seventeenth
century?
How did English political thinkers react to the the
English revolutions?
How did the art and plays that emerged after the
Renaissance reflect the societies of their day?
Web Links
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The Museum of Witchcraft
Chateau Versailles
The Thirty Years War Homepage
The State Hermitage Museum – St.
Petersburg, Russia
The Glorious Revolution of 1688
Thomas Hobbes
Renaissance and Baroque Architecture
Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet
National Drama: Spain to 1700