1. The Age of Absolutism Mr. Epps World History Chapters 14 and 17
Pages
Mr. Epps
World History
Chapters 14 and 17
SSWH9, SSWH14

2. Absolutism, the political doctrine and practice of unlimited, centralized authority and absolute sovereignty, as vested especially in a monarch or dictator. The essence of an absolutist system is that the ruling power is not subject to regularized challenge or check by any other agency, be it judicial, legislative, religious, economic or electoral. King Louis XIV ( ) of France furnished the most familiar assertion of absolutism when he said, “L’état, c’est moi” (“I am the state”).

3. Tudor England
Queen Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558 while replacing Catholic practices with Protestant practices
Spain (Catholic)
wanted to invade
England, Spanish
Armada was
defeated in 1588
Pages 421, 455, 461 (
Elizabeth I, perhaps England's most famous monarch, grew up in complex and sometimes difficult circumstances. The daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, she was only two years old when she lost her mother. Anne Boleyn was beheaded on the orders of her husband, based on questionable charges of adultery and conspiracy.
In 1558, Elizabeth took the reins of her country after the death of her sister. She inherited a number of problems stirred up by Mary. The country was at war with France, which proved to be a tremendous drain on the royal coffers. There was also great tension between different religious factions after Mary worked to restore England to Roman Catholicism by any means necessary. In fact, she earned the nickname Bloody Mary for ordering the execution of 300 Protestants as heretics.
Elizabeth acted swiftly to address these two pressing issues. During her first session of Parliament in 1559, she called for the passage of the Act of Supremacy, which re-established the Church of England, and the Act of Uniformity, which created a common prayer book. Elizabeth took a moderate approach to the divisive religious conflict in her country. "There is one Jesus Christ," she once said. "The rest is a dispute over trifles." However, Catholics did suffer religious  persecution and some were executed under her reign, though historians differ on the extent. The Roman Catholic Church took a dim view of her actions, and in 1570, Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth.

4. Tudor England
England became the top authority in absolutism and Protestantism
Pages 421, 455, 461 (
Elizabeth I, perhaps England's most famous monarch, grew up in complex and sometimes difficult circumstances. The daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, she was only two years old when she lost her mother. Anne Boleyn was beheaded on the orders of her husband, based on questionable charges of adultery and conspiracy.
In 1558, Elizabeth took the reins of her country after the death of her sister. She inherited a number of problems stirred up by Mary. The country was at war with France, which proved to be a tremendous drain on the royal coffers. There was also great tension between different religious factions after Mary worked to restore England to Roman Catholicism by any means necessary. In fact, she earned the nickname Bloody Mary for ordering the execution of 300 Protestants as heretics.
Elizabeth acted swiftly to address these two pressing issues. During her first session of Parliament in 1559, she called for the passage of the Act of Supremacy, which re-established the Church of England, and the Act of Uniformity, which created a common prayer book. Elizabeth took a moderate approach to the divisive religious conflict in her country. "There is one Jesus Christ," she once said. "The rest is a dispute over trifles." However, Catholics did suffer religious  persecution and some were executed under her reign, though historians differ on the extent. The Roman Catholic Church took a dim view of her actions, and in 1570, Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth.

5. Conflict between Spain and England

6. France & Absolutism
Louis XIV: “the Sun King” ( ) an absolute monarch (more power given to ruler by God)
He believed in the “divine right of kings.”
Was against the French Huguenots, 200,000 Protestants exiled from France
Fought four wars across the world, had a standing army of 400,000 men, went bankrupt
Pages
King Louis XIV ( ) of France furnished the most familiar assertion of absolutism when he said, “L’état, c’est moi” (“I am the state”). (

7. Russia & Peter the Great
Greatest of the Romanov rulers ( ); Absolutist ruler who introduced western customs, practices, and manners from Europe;
modernized the country; formed first Russian navy, army, & the “window to the West” (trade)
Pages (
After decades of famine and political turbulence, in 1613 Michael Romanov was named Tsar of Russia. The Romanov dynasty would reign until a revolution in 1917 ended imperial rule.
When Peter I (Peter the Great) ascended to the throne at the end of the 17th century, Russia was a backward land that stood outside the political affairs of Europe. Superstition, distrust of foreigners, and conservatism characterized most of the society. The economy was based on primitive agriculture and the military organization was sorely out of date. The reign of Peter I (1682–1725) was a turning point in Russian history. He was determined that Russia become and remain a great European power and carried forward the Westernizing policies in a radical and uncompromising manner.
Peter I, who would come to be known as Peter the Great, set the foundation for a new culture conceived in imitation of Western Europe. Art forms that had been forbidden by the medieval Russian Orthodox Church—such as portraiture, instrumental music, and dramatic productions—entered the mainstream of the nation’s cultural life. By the mid-18th century Russians were producing ballets, operas, chamber music, baroque architecture, and novels. Under Peter I’s rule, artists were sent abroad to study, and painters from Western Europe were brought to work in Russia. When Peter died in 1725 Russia was more respected and feared in Europe than ever before.