Chapter 17:1-3 
The AGE OF ABSOLUTISM

17.1
Charles V, 2 crowns; grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella; heir also to the Hapsburgs, Austrian rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and Netherlands
Gave to Philip II, his son, Spain, Netherlands, southern Italy and New World
Gave to bro Ferdinand Holy Rom Emp
 

Philip II
Absolute monarch, ruling by divine right
Battle of Lepanto, 1571, Spain defeated Ottoman fleet in Mediterranean.
“Revolt” in the Netherlands. Protestants there resisted his attempt to crush their faith
Prepared Armada for England
1550-1650 Golden Century; Cervantes. El Greco
1600s decline

17.2 France - Louis XIV
The Sun King
Versailles
Opulence of Louis Xiv
Rebuilding France
1560-1590s Huguenots (French Protestants), religious wars with Catholic majority
St Bartholomew’s Day massacre, 1572
3000 Huguenots massacred, thousands more in days following…
Symbolized the breakdown of order in F
Henry IV, Huguenot inherits throne
Henry IV
Henry Navarre becomes Catholic
He issues the Edict of Nantes in 1598; gives Huguenots religious toleration
He laid the foundation for royal absolutism
Assasinated in 1610, 9 yr old son Louis XIII
Nobles reassert power
Louis XIII appoins Cardinal Richelieu who wants to destroy nobles’ power, Huguenots
 

Louis XIV
I am the state. Fronde-driven from palace
Divine right
Estates General never called by XIV
Unlike Parliament EG did not check royal power
Under XIV French army became best in Europe
Chief minister Jean Baptiste Colbert made France wealthiest state in Europe


Louis XIV, 2.
Versailles housed 10,000 people
XIV ruled 72 years French Academies
His costliest blunder: persecution of Huguenots
Revoked the Edict of Nantes 100,000 H fled
With all his power, Dutch and English tried to keep him in check: maintain BALANCE OF POWER
 

Louis XIV, 3.
Louis’ grandson, Philip V, inherited the throne of Spain.
Louis wanted France and Spain as one
England and others could not allow…
The War of Spanish Succession dragged on until 1713, when exhausted France signed the Treaty of Utrecht.
Philip stayed on throne of Sp, but no union with France.
 

17.3 Triumph of Parliament in England
James 1 “Kings are called gods because they sit on God’s throne on Earth.”
While Philip II and Louis XIV were developing royal absolutism, England developed in a different direction.
Main idea: how Parliament asserted itself against royal power.

 

TUDORS: 1500s, Henry VIII and Elizabeth
16th Century (1500s) England ruled by the Tudor family. Divine right. But getting Parliament to go along. Parliament went along with Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy, and with taking the monastery lands from the Catholic Church.
Elizabeth I (Good Queen Bess) also got Parliament to go her way.

STUARTS
1600s James 1, his son Charles 1 1625
Eliz died in 1603 without an heir.
The throne passed to her relatives in Scotland, the Stuarts.
They were not as popular as the Tudors and ran into struggles with Parliament.
James 1 wanted $ for wars. P. said no. He dissolved Parliament, and collected his own taxes.
House of Commons resisted James 1 claims to absolute power.
1611, KJB

Also, Puritans wanted to purify Church of England. James wanted them to conform.
Charles 1-also acted as absolute monarch; imprisoned foes and squeezed taxes
Parliament insisted he sign the Petition of Right; he would have to get P’s permission for taxing, and he could not imprison anyone without just cause.
He signed the petition but then dissolved Parliament and ignored it for 11 years



His archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, tried to force all clergy to follow strict Anglican rules
Charles and Laud tried to impose the Anglican Book of Prayer on Scotland.
Scottish Calvinists revolted.
Charles 1 needed $ to put down the rebellion, so he summoned Parliament. in 1640.
The Parliament became known as the Long Parliament because they lasted until 1653.


They revolted against the King, the greatest political revolution in English history.
They declared that Parliament could not be dissolved without their consent.
Charles 1 lashed back, leading troops into the House of Commons to arrest its leaders.
They escaped and raised their own army.

CIVIL WAR
The Civil War that followed lasted from 1642 - 1649
.It was Cavaliers v Roundheads
Cavaliers: plumed hats, fashionably long hair, wealthy nobles, supported Charles 1
Roundheads: Puritans, country dwellers, got their name from hair was cut close around their heads.
Oliver Cromwell was their leader. “New Model Army” defeated the Cavaliers

Charles loses his thinking cap
Parliament set up a court to put the king (Charles I) on trial.
It found him a traitor and public enemy
“I am a martyr of the people.”
Shock waves through Europe
For the first time, a ruling monarch had been tried and executed by his own people
Message:No ruler could ignore rule of law
 

The Kingless Decade
House of Commons abolished House of Lords, the official Church of England and the monarchy
England now a republic under Cromwell
He took the title Lord Protector
Puritan morality
ON YOUR OWN:
The Stuarts Restored!
The Glorious Revolution!