1. Enlightened Absolutists/Enlightened Despots
Case study: Catherine II (the Great)
of Russia (r )

2. Catherine the Great:
German Princess Sophie
1745 Married to Peter Romanov
1762 Peter becomes tsar Peter III, but
deposed. Catherine installed as empress.
Peter III killed soon after

3. Religion:
Not generally claiming divine right to rule,
but rather that using reason for benefit
of subjects
Tolerance

4. Catherine the Great:
Extending tolerance to Old Believers
1772 Takes control of part of Poland.
Treats Jews fairly
1794 Imposes double taxation on Jews

5. Justice:
Cesare Bonesana, Marquis of Beccaria
( )
Rights of the accused: innocent until
proven guilty
Opposing torture and capital punishment

6. Catherine the Great:
1767 Catherine summons Legislative
Commission
Regulating legal practices
Restricting torture. Disapproving of capital
punishment

7. Education:
Education as source of civil servants
Establishing ministries of education and/or
schools

8. Catherine the Great:
French as language of Russian aristocracy
Corresponding with Voltaire, hosting
Diderot
Philosophes as press agents for Russia
Domestic promotion of education/publication

9. Serfdom:
Attempts to eliminate serfdom or improve
conditions of peasantry
Benefits regarding taxation or military
service

10. Catherine the Great:
Initial dislike of serfdom
1773 Outbreak of Pugachev’s Rebellion
Emelian Pugachev
1774 Defeat of Pugachev’s Rebellion

11. Catherine the Great:
Repression of peasants
Reliance on nobility
1785 Charter of the Nobility
Effective enslavement of Russian peasantry

12. The Limits of Enlightened Absolutism:
Idealistic visions vs. realities of power
Reforms generally favouring rulers
Some benefits for subjects, but limited
Church-state alliances being re-established

13. Eighteenth-Century Society
Diversity
Four major groups: nobility, clergy,
middling sort, peasants

14. Nobility:
2-3% of population
Power derived from land
Living off peasants
Advisors and military commanders
Rich or poor, but with rights and privileges

15. Clergy:
Reduced influence
Tensions between higher and lower clergy
Questions of election, piety

16. Middling Sort/Bourgeoisie:
Merchants/manufacturers
Largely urban, expanding class
Tensions with nobility resenting bourgeois

17. Peasants:
75-90% of population
Financial and other burdens
Free and serfs
Tensions with upper classes

18. Start of Industrial Revolution:
From 17th c. Improving agricultural
productivity in England: fertilisers, crop
rotation, enclosure
Some improvements in Europe

19. Start of Industrial Revolution:
More food, leading to…
Population growth, leading to…
More demand for food, leading to…
Better farming, leading to…

20. Start of Industrial Revolution:
Growth of workforce leading to growth of
cottage industries (domestic system/
putting-out system)
Circumventing guilds in England, expanding
workforce

21. Start of Industrial Revolution:
New technologies, with limited impact
James Watt ( ): steam engine (1769)
James Hargreaves (c ): spinning
jenny (c. 1764)
Birth of factory system

22. Britain as economic power:
Booming trade, with support of Bank of
England
Investment in transportation
Careful involvement of government
Impediments on expansion of economies
of other European states

23. Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1764)
Cesare Beccaria ( )
Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1764)