France: Age of Absolutism Notes

1. Late 16th-early 18th century
• 1598: Henry IV King of France
• Issues the Edict of Nantes
• Granted religious toleration to the French Huguenots
• Established Henry IV as a politique
• Nobility was exempt from paying taxes
• Caused tax problems
• Henry IV appoints the Duke of Sully
• Makes the tax system more efficient
• Nobility decided to give money in exchange for prestigious positions in the government; rather than pay taxes
• Called the Nobility of the Robe
• 1610: Henry IV is assassinated
• From the family of the House of Bourbon
• One of the great families of France
• His son, Louis XIII becomes king
• He is only nine years old
• Cardinal Richelieu becomes Chief Minister, most important regent
• 1624-1642: Richelieu is in charge of France
• Goal: strengthen royal power in France
• A politique
• Put politics ahead of religion
• His heart is with the King of France and not with the Pope
• Wanted to knock down the up-and-coming nobles
• Divides France into 32 segments
• Noble in charge was replaced by superintendent
• Usually middle class people
• They would be more loyal because they have a position of power
• Thought it was important to limit Habsburg power
• Supports the Protestants in the 30 Years War
• They are against the Habsburgs
• He doesn't want them to become more powerful
• Example of politique
• 1642: Richelieu dies and Louis XIII also dies
• Louis XIII had a son, Louis XIV
• He is only 5
• The Sun King
• One of the most famous, dominant figures in French history
• Chief Minister: Cardinal Mazarin
• Rebellion began to break out
• Frondes
• Caused Louis XIV to leave Paris
• Grows up with a resentment toward these people
• Louis XIV will move the palace to Versailles
• Bishop Bossuet
• Theorized the divine right of kings
• The principle architect of the idea of absolutism
• Louis XIV says, "I am the state."
• Absolute monarchy
• Divine right
• Did not share power with a Parliament like in England
• Increased the power and authority of Richelieu's intendants
• Power of the nobility goes down
• Nobility must owe their allegiance to the King
• Nobility is stuck below Louis XIV
• Versailles describes the personality of Louis XIV
• Jean Baptiste Colbert
• Appointed by Louis XIV to be the Minister of Finance
• Instituted the practice of mercantilism
• More exports than imports
• Government control over the economy
• France now had a major colony in the New World, Quebec
• Encourages the Fur Trade in Canada
• 1685: France has a population of 19 million
• 1 million are Huguenots
• Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes
• Closes all Protestant Churches and forces them all to convert
• French working class was very heavy Huguenot
• 200,000 French working class leave
• Diminishes France's working capacity
• Wars of Louis XIV
• Goals
• Wanted France to expand its borders and move down into Switzerland
• Wanted to make France a global power
• Wanted more power in the Americas
• He was going to inherit the Spanish holdings
• Louis XIV's system continues smoothly on to the next heir
• Louis XIV's army threatened universal monarchy
• Louis XIV wanted to be sovereign over the continent of Europe
• During the Thirty Years War there was no one on the continent who could match him
• Alliances are created between the weaker countries of Europe in order to balance the power the Louis XIV wields
• He tried to extend into the Dutch Republic, but each time the French were pushed back
• All of the other countries have a fear that Louis XIV is going to create a universal monarchy and form the grand alliance
• Attempt to stop Louis XIV from gaining the power that came from the Spanish throne
• Turned into a war between the French and the Grand Alliance
• War of Spanish Succession (1701-1713)
• Cost tons of money to wage
• The revolutionists claim this was a major factor in the gutting of the economy where you have rich and poor, but nothing in the middle
• 1713 :Treaty of Utrecht
• Create a new balance of power in Europe that will last for many years
• France
• Louis' grandson, Phillip V, was allowed to remain king of Spain as long as Spain and France were not united
• France is allowed to keep Alsace, on the border of Germany
• English
• Get naval bases in Gibraltar that connect Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean
• Gets to check the balance of the French- picks up Newfoundland and Nova Scotia
• Gulf of Saint Lawrence is the major trade route into the New World
• Austrians
• Picks up the Spanish Netherlands
• They become Belgium
• Picks up old French holdings in Italy: Naples, Sardinia, and Milan
• Duke of Savoy
• Given Sicily
• Becomes King of Sicily
• Grows tired of Sicily in 1720
• Trades Sicily for Sardinia with Austria
• Brandenburg
• Becomes King of Prussia
2. 1560-1715
• Church enters crisis of authority
• Ongoing conflicts and disease
• Rise of people who are questioning the authority and validity of the church hierarchy
• Machiavelli rejected the idea that popes were more important than kings
• Saw the need to reform the Church because the state itself was a secular thing
• Religion and faith were not political ideas; they could bring cohesion to the state
• Rise in middle class
• Capitalism didn't exist yet; oligarchic families
• Corruption
• The peasantry was also moving into a new position
• Began to revolt openly against the aristocracy in England, Italy, France, and Germany
• Against political, economic, social, and religious authority
• Martin Luther
• 1483-1546
• Augustinian monk within the Catholic Church
• Led the attack on the sale of indulgences
• 1517, posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Cathedral
• Resented the wealth and authority of the Church
• Germany hated the land held by the Church
• John Calvin
• Moral righteousness
• Calvinism
• Ethic of self control
• The idea that the majority of human beings are damned
• And that this is God's will
• Geneva, Switzerland, France, and England
• Inquisition enlarged its activity
• Heretical books were burned
• Index of forbidden books
• Confirmed by the Council of Trent in 1546
• Not taken down until 1966
• The Church was shattered
• Rise in folk religion and witchcraft
• Protestantism begins to fragment
• Calvinism
• Anabaptist
• Anglicans
• Lutherans
• Power of monarchs increases
• The Church becomes less of an all-encompassing cultural organization and more of a political organization
• Pope is more like a King
• 1560-1715
• 30 years of international peace
• Thirty Years War
• Began in Bohemia
• Ferdinand was a Catholic and the Bohemian Catholics thought he would make Bohemia Catholic again
• 1618: revolt against the imperial governors
• Ferdinand was deposed and crown offered to Frederick V
• Protestant Union led by Frederick
• Catholic League led by Ferdinand
• Bohemia lay in ruins
• Ferdinand used Jesuits to re-Catholicize the poeple
• 1555: Peace of Augsburg
• Princes got to choose which religion their principality followed
• Increased hostilities because religions try to ally with each other
• Rise of ideological alliances
• Based on similarities in ideology
• General ideas of religion or politics
• 1625: King of Denmark joins Protestants
• He was more interested in gaining land than helping
• 1629: Denmark withdrew from the 30 years war
• Ferdinand issued the Edict of Restitution
• Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden
• Lutzen
• Wins the battle, but he is killed
• Sweden leaves the battle
• Cardinal Richelieu
• Decided to accept any allies regardless of religion
• 1635: declares war on Spain
• 1643: Spanish habsburgs defeated by France
• Treaty of Westphalia
• Signed in 1648
• Fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire
• France gets the right to Alsace
• Thirty Years War
• Destroyed much of Europe
• Holy Roman Empire lost 1/4 of its inhabitants
• Many civil wars
• Protestantism was illegal in France
• But its numbers grew
• Huguenots issued war against
• Guise
• Powerful Catholic family in France
• Henry and Margaret married to bring Catholics together
• Henry of Nevar became King Henry IV after converted to Catholicism
• Issued Edict of Nantes
• Some religious toleration to Protestants in France
• Successors tried to weaken this
• Edict is revoked Louis XIV
• Dutch revolted against king of Spain
• Phillip recognized that the Dutch were powerful
• 1575: Protestants united under William of Orange
• Fought against the tyranny of Philip
• Scots rebel against Mary Queen of Scots
• She was Catholic
• 1588: destruction of Spanish Armada
• England: rise of the Stuarts
• Go into Civil War between 1640-1660
• Behead Charles and Cromwell takes over
3. All conflicts were because of religious differences
• Often tied into political struggles
• French become dominant power
• Power of Spain declines
• Role of the absolute monarch perfected
• Louis XIV
• Lived above the laws
4. Period is defined by mercantilism
• Fixed amount of raw materials on the earth
5. 1521-1660
• Spanish imported 18,000 tons of silver from the New World
• Caused their economy to crash
• New World exploration for gold increased gold in Europe by 20%
• Gold and silver saw an enormous expansion in the markets
• Bourgeoisie class emerged
• "Men of the town"
• Upper middle class
• Business people of Europe
• Men who made their money in banking and investment and business
• Dutch and English would provide the commercial spirit
• Set into motion the Industrial Revolution
6. Exploration in the New World
• To find a northwest passage
• Through Canada to China
• Saint Lawrence River
• Mississippi River
• English establish colonies
• English Catholics came to Maryland
• St. Thomas Island
• First college was founded in the New World
• Harvard in 1636
• Named after John Harvard
• Founded by the Puritan teachers there
7. Scientific Revolution
• Produced many of the great scientific thinkers
• Scientists
• Copernicus
• Heliocentrism
• Bruno
• Scientist
• Burned at the stake
• Kepler
• Telescope
• Tycho Brahe
• Galileo
• Robert Hooke
• Robert Boyle
• Edmond Hayley
• Isaac Newton
• Philosophers
• Rene Descartes
• John Locke
• Francis Bacon
• Thomas Hobbes
• Monarchist/absolutist
• Leviathan
• Leibniz
• Spinoza
8. Witchcraft
• A lot of suspicion about witches
• Tradition of witchcraft can be traced to the origins of European culture
• Two types
• One with healing and fortunetelling
• Demonology
• Bringing up evil spirits
• Many kinds of witches
• The Church believed that witches entered into a bond with Satan
• Witches held secret meetings with Satan
• Tried to persecute witches for heresy
• Persecutions became fear and anxiety
• Spread rumors about the witches that they were plotting to overthrow the Church
• A book called the Malleus Maleficarum
• Means the Witch Hammer
• Heinrich Kramer
• James Springer
• Women were linked with witchcraft
• Accusations against women were far greater than those of men
• 100,000 people were tried for witchcraft
• 10,000 were executed
• Burned at the stake
• Believed that women were perceived to be "the weaker vessel"
• More given to temptation
• 1700: Burning Times died down
• The Reformation triggered an intellectual backlash
• Backlash against religious fanaticism
• Atmosphere which implied that it was reason that could figure out the world
• John Dee carries out a series of experiments with talking to spirits
• Led to the Enlightenment Period
• Bring faith into accordance with reason