1. THE RISE OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHS (1650-1750)
FRENCH ABSOLUTISM
THE RISE OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHS ( )

2. OBJECTIVES In what sense were these forms “modern”?
Which countries most clearly illustrate the new patterns of political organization
How did these forms of government differ in Western and Eastern Europe?
What were the limitations of absolutism?

3. THEMES “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” The Divine Right of Kings
The Modern Nation State

5. CHARACTERISTICS Strong Central Government Universal laws
Permanent Army – professional soldiers paid by the State
Trained Bureaucrats
Collect taxes, enforce laws, administer justice

6. CHARACTERISTICS Secular State State above Religion
Churches do not determine state policy
National Security
National Power and Glory
National language, pride, common culture, and history distinct from others

7. FACTORS ABSOLUTE MONARCHS
Weak Medieval Kings
Power Feudal Nobel Lords
Religious Wars
France, England*, Spain (Western)
Prussia, Russia, Austria – (Eastern) Diverse
Gradual shift from loyalty to regional, local lords – monarch rise of the Modern

8. DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS God’s earthly representative
Obedience to God – Obedience to the King
King could do no wrong
Bishop Jacques Bossuet
Politics Drawn From the Very Words of the Holy Scripture
“The person of the king is sacred, and to attack him in any way is an attack on religion itself.”

9. HENRY IV
Poltitique – “The (politiques) believed man lived primarily in the state, not in the church.”
“The politiques were men who concluded that too much was being made of religion, that no doctrine was important enough to justify everlasting war, that perhaps afterall there might be room for two churches, and that what the country needed above all else was civil order.”

10. HENRY IV
Paved the way for French Absolutism by helping to restore internal peace
New Nobility – “Nobles of the Robe”
Disorders of religious wars germinated the idea of royal absolutism and the sovereign state
Henry IV – assassinated 1610 by a Catholic Fanatic

11. LOUIS XIII 1610-1643 Son of Henry IV 6 years old when his father dies
Mother Marie de Medici – Regent
Huguenot revolts
Promoted Cardinal Richelieu – Chief Advisor

12. CARDINAL RICHELIEU 1585-1642 Chief advisor – 1624-1642
Shrewd, Brilliant, Energetic, Loyal, Catholic
Shaped the destiny of France
France – supreme power in Europe
Strengthened the power of the king

13. PEACE OF ALAIS Threats to royal power?
Huguenots – “state within a state”
Peace of Alais (1629) – amended the Edict of Nantes
Military rights of Huguenots must be removed
Protestantism often served as a religious cloak
Siege of La Rochelle

15. INTENDANTS Royal Commissioners Middle class, lesser nobles
Administrative System
France divided into 32 districts
Duties: collect taxes, recruit men for army, administer laws, regulate economic activities
WHY?

16. RICHELIEU
“If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him.”- Cardinal Richelieu (Armand-Jean du Plessis)

17. LOUIS XIV
“SUN KING”

18. LOUIS XIV 1638-1715 Father – Louis XIII Mother – Anne of Austria
King age of 5
Longest reigning monarch in European History
Cardinal Jules Mazarin a regent
Childhood marked by noble uprisings

19. MAZARIN 1602-1661 Continued Richelieu’s centralizing policies
The Frondes – – series of widespread rebellions – French civil war
Term used for those who opposed the King
Nobility opposed – strong central government an new taxes imposed by Mazarin

20. LOUIS XIV 1660 married Maria Theresa – Spanish Princess
1661 Mazarin dies – age of 23 Louis takes the sole reign of France
Financial Minister Jean Baptiste Colbert
Encouraged art, music, theater, architecture, painting, sculptor, science

21. THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES
10 miles outside the city of Paris
Originally a royal hunting lodge
Official residence of Kings
Baroque Style
1837 Louis Philippe – converted Museum

22. IMPACT OF THE FRONDES Strong king preferable to anarchy
Frightened a young Louis XIV
Caused him to fear the nobles and look for ways to control them

23. JOHN BAPTISTE COLBERT 1616-1683 Chief financial minister Mercantilist
Expanded gov’t role in the economy
French East India company
Built roads, canals
Expanded Merchant fleet
Tax burden - peasants

24. EDICT OF NANTES 1685 Revoked 200,000 Huguenots fled
“one king, one faith, one law”

25. WARS OF LOUIS XIV The War of Devolution (1667-1668)
The Dutch War ( )
War of the League of Augsburg ( )
War of Spanish Succession ( )
4 major wars in 46 years

26. WARS OF LOUIS XIV “the line of the Rhine” Louis XIV Natural Border
Expansionist Policy

27. WAR OF SPANISH SUCCESSION
Closest relative – Heir
Louis XIV grandson – Philip the Duke of Anjou
Philip V – Spain
Problem?
France and Spain Unite?
TOO POWERFUL

28. WAR OF SPANISH SUCCESSION
Grand Alliance – England, Dutch, Austria, Prussia, HRE v. France
1713 – Treaty of Utrecht
Phillip V ( ) remains King of Spain
France and Spain never to unite
Austrian Hapsburgs acquire – Spanish Netherlands (Belgium), Milan, Naples, Sardinia
Elector of Brandenburg – King of Prussia

29. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
End of French expansionist policy
Completed the decline of Spain
Vastly expanded Great Britain
BALANCE OF POWER
Experience in international cooperation

34. SUCCESSES of ABSOLUTISM
Strong Central Government
“one faith, one law, one king”
Weakened forced that tended to divide nations
Growth towards the Modern Nation State

35. FAILURES of ABSOLUTISM
Nation’s welfare dependent upon the ability of one person
Countless costly wars
Disregarded the needs of the rights of the common people