Chapter 21- The Absolute Monarchies in Europe – Flashcards

A Hapsburg king/elected Holy Roman Emperor who inherited Spain, Spain's american colonies, parts of Italy, and lands in Austria and the Netherlands. Greatest sum of territory since Charlemagne. Devout Catholic-unwillingly agreed to peace of Augsburg, later Divided Empire: Ferdinand-Austria/Holy Roman Empire (his son)Philip II-Spain, Spanish Netherlands, Spanish americas

"smile and his dagger were very close." Seized Portugal when king died without an heir, now had an empire that circled the globe. Immense wealth- between 1/5 to 1/4 shipload of treasure went to royal stash. Defender of Christianity- responded instantly/forcefully when Pope called up arms against ottoman empire . Phillip's huge wealth acquisition brought with it patrons of the arts and the Golden Age of Spain. Lost his Dutch possessions after long war-establishment of United Provinces of the Netherlands. Also spanish armada navel loss. (religeous tolleration)

Philip's massive granite palace

Spanish painter (born in Greece) remembered for his religious works characterized by elongated human forms and dramatic use of color (1541-1614)

reflected the pride of the Spanish monarchy. Velázquez, who painted 50 years after El Greco, was the court painter to Philip IV of Spain. He is best known for his portraits of the royal family and scenes of court life. Like El Greco, he was noted for using rich colors.

The publication of Don Quixote de la Mancha in 1605 is often called the birth of the modern European novel. In this book, Miguel de Cervantes (suhr•VAN•teez) wrote about a poor Spanish nobleman who went a little crazy after reading too many books about heroic knights. Critics believe that Cervantes was mocking chivalry, the knightly code of the Middle Ages.

was the greatest Dutch artist of the period. Rembrandt painted portraits of wealthy middle-class merchants. He also produced group portraits. In The Night Watch (shown below), he portrayed a group of city guards. Rembrandt used sharp contrasts of light and shadow to draw attention to his focus.

Like many other Dutch artists, he chose domestic, indoor settings for his portraits. He often painted women doing such familiar activities as pouring milk from a jug or reading a letter. The work of both Rembrandt and Vermeer reveals how important merchants, civic leaders, and the middle class in general were in 17th-century Netherlands.

These rulers wanted to be absolute monarchs, kings or queens who held all of the power within their states' boundaries. Their goal was to control every aspect of society. Absolute monarchs believed in DIVINE RIGHT, the idea that God created the monarchy and that the monarch acted as God's representative on earth. An absolute monarch answered only to God, not to his or her subjects

Causes -Religious and territorial conflicts created fear and uncertainty. -The growth of armies to deal with conflicts caused rulers to raise taxes to pay troops. -Heavy taxes led to additional unrest and peasant revolts. In response to these issues, monarchs moved to establish stability and order but increasing own power. Effects -Rulers regulated religious worship and social gatherings to control the spread of ideas. -Rulers increased the size of their courts to appear more powerful. -Rulers created bureaucracies to control their countries' economies.

Wife of Henry II, sons ruled after father's death but she was the real power. Growing conflict between Catholics and Huguenots during her "reign.

Massacre in Paris sparked a six-week, nationwide slaughter of Huguenots. The massacre occurred when many Huguenot nobles were in Paris. They were attending the marriage of Catherine's daughter to a Huguenot prince, Henry of Navarre. Most of these nobles died, but Henry survived.

Inherited throne when Catherine and her last son died, he became Henry IV, the first king of the Bourbon dynasty in France. As king, he showed himself to be decisive, fearless in battle, and a clever politician. For the sake of his war-weary country, Henry chose to give up Protestantism and become a Catholic. "Paris is well worth a mass." Declared Edict of Nantes. Henry devoted his reign to rebuilding France and its prosperity. He restored the French monarchy to a strong position. After a generation of war, most French people welcomed peace. Some people, however, hated Henry for his religious compromises. In 1610, a fanatic leaped into the royal carriage and stabbed Henry to death.

Henry declared that the Huguenots could live in peace in France and set up their own houses of worship in some cities

After Henry IV's death, his son Louis XIII reigned. Louis was a weak king, but in 1624, he appointed a strong minister who made up for all of Louis's weaknesses. Cardinal Richelieu became, in effect, the ruler of France. Richelieu took two steps to increase the power of the Bourbon monarchy: 1. moved against Huguenots. believed that Protestantism often served as an excuse for political conspiracies against the Catholic king. forbade Protestant cities to have walls. He did not want them to be able to defy the king and then withdraw behind strong defenses. 2. sought to weaken the nobles' power. Richelieu ordered nobles to take down their fortified castles. He increased the power of government agents who came from the middle class. The king relied on these agents, so there was less need to use noble officials. 3.)Richelieu also wanted to make France the strongest state in Europe. The great- est obstacle to this, he believed, was the Hapsburg rulers, whose lands surrounded France. The Hapsburgs ruled Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, and parts of the Holy Roman Empire. To limit Hapsburg power, Richelieu involved France in the Thirty Years' War.

As France regained political power, a new French intellectual movement developed. French thinkers had witnessed the religious wars with horror. What they saw turned them toward skepticism. Skepticism-the idea that nothing can ever be known for cer- tain. These thinkers expressed an attitude of doubt toward churches that claimed to have the only correct set of doctrines. To doubt old ideas, skeptics thought, was the first step toward finding truth.

Followed skepticism. Developed the essay,a brief work that expresses a person's thoughts and opinions. In one essay, Montaigne pointed out that whenever a new belief arose, it replaced an old belief that people once accepted as truth. believed that humans could never have abso- lute knowledge of what is true.

wrote "Meditations on First Philosophy", Descartes examined the skeptical argument that one could never be certain of anything. Helped to develop the scientific method/analytical geometry. Became important figure of the enlightenment.

The true ruler of France during Louis's early reign. Nobles hated Mazarin because he increased taxes and strengthened the central government- the noble revolt that followed was a major cause for Louis's distrust of nobles and lust for supiriority. -Mazarin died, Louis became absolute ruler at age 22.

To weaken the power of noble Louis excluded them from councils and instead appointed intendants, who collected taxes and administered justice. To keep power under central control, he made sure these local officials communicated regularly with him.

Louis's minister of finance,believed in the theory of mercantilism. To prevent wealth from leaving the country, Colbert tried to make France self-sufficient. He wanted it to be able to manufacture every- thing it needed instead of relying on imports. -gave government funds and tax benefits to French companies. -placed a high tariff on goods from other countries. -recognized the importance of colonies After Colbert's death Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes which allowed Huguenots religious freedom, robbed France of many skilled workers.

One of his favorite writers who wrote some of the funniest plays in French literature. Molière's comedies include Tartuffe, which mocks religious hypocrisy.

signed by the French, specifically King Louis XIV, and the Dutch.-ended his campaign of land expansion in the Dutch Netherlands. Through this treaty, Louis obtained more land. This treaty is significant because it ended the 6 year long Dutch war, and expanded France, gained several towns and a region called Franche-Comté.

Became the king of England. He joined the League of Augsburg, which consisted of the Austrian Hapsburg emperor, the kings of Sweden and Spain, and the leaders of several smaller European states. Together, these countries equaled France's strength.

In 1700, the childless king of Spain, Charles II, died after promising his throne to Louis XIV's 16-year-old grandson, Philip of Anjou. The two greatest powers in Europe, enemies for so long, were now both ruled by the French Bourbons. Other countries felt threatened by this increase in the Bourbon dynasty's power. In 1701, England, Austria, the Dutch Republic, Portugal, and several German and Italian states joined together to pre- vent the union of the French and Spanish thrones. The long struggle that followed is known as the War of the Spanish Succession. The costly war dragged on until 1714. The Treaty of Utrecht was signed in that year, ending the war. (french debt devistation)

Under its terms, Louis's grandson was allowed to remain king of Spain so long as the thrones of France and Spain were not united. The big winner in the war was Great Britain. From Spain, Britain took Gibraltar, a fortress that controlled the entrance to the Mediterranean. Spain also granted a British company an asiento, permission to send enslaved Africans to Spain's American colonies. This increased Britain's involvement in trading enslaved Africans. In addition, France gave Britain the North American territories of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and abandoned claims to the Hudson Bay region.

Lutherans joined together in the Protestant Union, Catholic princes formed the Catholic League, both threatened by Calvinism. Only a spark to set off a war (defenestration of Prague)-future Holy Roman emperor, Ferdinand II, was head of the Hapsburg family/ruler of Czech kingdom of Bohemia.When he closed some Protestant churches, the Protestants revolted. Ferdinand sent an army into Bohemia to crush the revolt. Several German Protestant princes took this chance to challenge their Catholic emperor.Thus began the Thirty Years' War, a conflict over religion and territory and for power among European ruling families. The war can be divided into two main phases: the phase of Hapsburg triumphs and the phase of Hapsburg defeats.

During the first 12 years, Hapsburg armies from Austria and Spain crushed the troops hired by the Protestant princes. They succeeded in putting down the Czech upris- ing. They also defeated the German Protestants who had supported the Czechs. Ferdinand II paid his army of 125,000 men by allowing them to plunder, or rob, German villages. This huge army destroyed everything in its path.

The Protestant Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and his disci- plined army of 23,000 shifted the tide of war in 1630. They drove the Hapsburg armies out of northern Germany. However, Gustavus Adolphus was killed in battle in 1632. Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin of France dominated the remaining years of the war. Although Catholic, these two cardinals feared the Hapsburgs more than the Protestants. They did not want other European rulers to have as much power as the French king. Therefore, in 1635, Richelieu sent French troops to join the German and Swedish Protestants in their struggle against the Hapsburg armies.

(war destroyed Germany-ruined it) The Peace of Westphalia (1648) ended the war. The treaty had these important consequences: • weakened the Hapsburg states of Spain and Austria; • strengthened France by awarding it German territory; • made German princes independent of the Holy Roman emperor; • ended religious wars in Europe; • introduced a new method of peace negotiation whereby all participants meet to settle the problems of a war and decide the terms of peace. This method is still used today.

Hapsburg ruler. Charles's empire was a difficult one to rule. Within its borders lived a diverse assortment of people—Czechs, Hungarians, Italians, Croatians, and Germans. Only the fact that one Hapsburg ruler wore the Austrian, Hungarian, and Bohemian crowns kept the empire together. With endless arm-twisting, he persuaded other leaders of Europe to sign an agreement that declared they would recognize Charles's eldest daughter as the heir to all his Hapsburg territories to insure her peaceful reign.

Queen of Austria and the head of the Hapsburgs, rival of Prussia-Frederick the great

Frederick wanted the Austrian land of Silesia, which bordered Prussia. Silesia produced iron ore, tex- tiles, and food products. Frederick underestimated Maria Theresa's strength. He assumed that because she was a woman, she would not be forceful enough to defend her lands. In 1740, he sent his army to occupy Silesia, beginning the War of the Austrian Succession. Theresa held her infant in her arms as she asked the Hungarian nobles for aid. Even though the nobles resented their Hapsburg rulers, they pledged to give Maria Theresa an army. Great Britain also joined Austria to fight its longtime enemy France, which was Prussia's ally. Although Maria Theresa did stop Prussia's aggression, she lost Silesia in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. With the acquisition of Silesia, Prussia became a major European power.

(Territorial war between primarily between Austria/Prussia and England/France) Maria Theresa decided that the French kings were no longer Austria's chief enemies. She made an alliance with them. The result was a diplomatic revolution. When Frederick heard of her actions, he signed a treaty with Britain—Austria's former ally. Now, Austria, France, Russia, and others were allied against Britain and Prussia. Not only had Austria and Prussia switched allies, but for the first time, Russia was playing a role in European affairs. In 1756, Frederick attacked Saxony, an Austrian ally. Soon every great European power was involved in the war. Fought in Europe, India, and North America, the war lasted until 1763. It was called the Seven Years' War. The war did not change the territorial situation in Europe. It was a different story on other continents. Both France and Britain had colonies in North America and the West Indies. Both were competing economically in India. The British emerged as the real victors in the Seven Years' War.

He, of Moscow, who ruled Russia from 1462 to 1505, accomplished several things. 1. he conquered much of the territory around Moscow. 2. he liberated Russia from the Mongols. 3. he began to centralize the Russian government. Ivan III was succeeded by his son, Vasily, who ruled for 28 years. Vasily continued his father's work of adding territory to the growing Russian state. He also increased the power of the central govern- ment. This trend continued under his son, Ivan IV, who would become an absolute ruler.

came to the throne in 1533 when he was only three years old. His young life was disrupted by struggles for power among Russia's landowning nobles, known as boyars. The boyars fought to control young Ivan. When he was 16, Ivan seized power and had himself crowned czar. This title meant "caesar," and Ivan was the first Russian ruler to use it offi- cially. He also married the beautiful Anastasia, related to an old boyar family, the Romanovs. The years from 1547 to 1560 are often called Ivan's "good period." He won great victories, added lands to Russia, gave Russia a code of laws, and ruled justly. Ivan's "bad period" began in 1560 after Anastasia died. Accusing the boyars of poisoning his wife, Ivan turned against them. He orga- nized his own police force, whose chief duty was to hunt down and murder peo- ple Ivan considered traitors. The members of this police force dressed in black and rode black horses. Eventually, Ivan committed an act that was both a personal tragedy and a national disaster. In 1581, during a violent quarrel, he killed his oldest son and heir. When Ivan died three years later, only his weak second son was left to rule.

Ivan's son proved to be physically and mentally inca- pable of ruling. After he died without an heir, Russia experienced a period of turmoil known as the Time of Troubles. Boyars struggled for power, and heirs of czars died under mysterious conditions. Several impostors tried to claim the throne. Finally, in 1613, representatives from many Russian cities met to choose the next czar. Their choice was Michael Romanov, grandnephew of Ivan the Terrible's wife, Anastasia. Thus began the Romanov dynasty, which ruled Russia for 300 years (1613-1917). Romanovs set the basis for a strong reing of Peter the Great.

He was one of Russia's greatest reformers. He also con- tinued the trend of increasing the czar's power. Ruled at the times of serfs and boyars. {The Mongol rule had cut Russia off from the Renaissance and the Age of Exploration. Geographic barriers also isolated Russia. Its only seaport, Archangel in northern Russia, was choked with ice much of the year. The few travelers who reached Moscow were usually Dutch or German, and they had to stay in a separate part of the city. Religious differences widened the gap between western Europe and Russia. The Russians had adopted the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity. Western Europeans were mostly Catholics or Protestants, and the Russians viewed them as heretics and avoided them} Strove to westernize Russia in both militaristic and commercial terms, Established port city St.Petersburg

a long visit to western Europe. One of Peter's goals was to learn about European customs and manufacturing techniques. Never before had a czar traveled among Western "heretics."

using western Europe as a model for change. •introduced potatoes, which became a staple of the Russian diet • started Russia's first newspaper and edited its first issue himself • raised women's status by having them attend social gatherings • ordered the nobles to give up their traditional clothes for Western fashions • advanced education by opening a school of navigation and introducing schools for the arts and sciences

-Peter brought the Russian Orthodox Church under state control. He abolished the office of patriarch, head of the Church. He set up a group called the Holy Synod to run the Church under his direction. -Like Ivan the Terrible, Peter reduced the power of the great landowners. He recruited men from lower-ranking families. He then promoted them to positions of authority and rewarded them with grants of land. -To modernize his army, Peter hired European officers, who drilled his soldiers in European tactics with European weapons. Being a soldier became a lifetime job. By the time of Peter's death, the Russian army numbered 200,000 men. To pay for this huge army, Peter imposed heavy taxes. Peter believed that education was a key to Russia's progress. In former times, subjects were forbidden under pain of death to study the sciences in foreign lands. Now subjects were not only permitted to leave the country, many were forced to do it.

To promote education and growth, Peter wanted a seaport that would make it easier to travel to the West. Therefore, Peter fought Sweden to gain a piece of the Baltic coast. After 21 long years of war, Russia finally won the "window on Europe" that Peter had so desperately wanted. army forced thousands of luckless serfs to leave home and work in St. Petersburg. An estimated 25,000 to 100,000 people died from the terrible working conditions and widespread diseases. ordered many Russian nobles to leave the comforts of Moscow and settle in his new capital. In time, St. Petersburg became a busy port.