Absolutism & Constitutionalism1589-1715Chapter 16

Chapter Overview• The 16thC thru the 18thC witnessed two contrary developments

in western Eur: • Constitutional governments - Eng & Holland• Absolutist governments - France & Spain

• The growing power of the wealth commercial classes in Eng, Fr & Holland helped the kings challenge the traditional prerogatives of the nobility. • In Spain the nobles retained their pol & econ roles as economic

decline and political discontent set in. • The estab of constitutional governments was the beginning of

what would prove to be a worldwide revolution toward popular sovereignty.

Key Concepts• The 17th C was a period of econ stagnation, pop decline & constant

warfare. As armies grew in size gov required more revenues and better administration to collect and spend them. Both constitutional & absolutist governments created new sources of revenues and modern state bureaucracies.

• The Bourbon kings Louis XIII and XIV created an absolute monarchy in Fr by taking power away from the nobility. In Spain, absolutism had less success because of economic difficulties.

• Absolute monarchies fostered culture and the arts as part of the royal aggrandizement of power. Baroque music, art architecture, theatre, and literature all received substantial royal patronage.

• In constitutional gov or monarchies, the monarchs accept that their power and authority are limited by constitutions or legal documents. • Eng achieved constitutional gov after a tumultuous revolution, the

execution of a king and the estab of a short-lived republic, followed by the restoration of the monarchy, which eventually became constitutional

Crisis & Rebuilding• 17th C Eur pop & econ stagnated• Climatic change• Religious warfare

• Econ life• Largely rural• Focus around small peasant village

• Wealthy landowners peasants employed landless poor• Many were land starved @ subsistence level• Diet – based on bread (meat saved for special events)

• Little Ice Age shortened growing season• Famines – weakened pop more vulnerable to plague

• Industry• Stagnated

• Prices rose• Unemployment increased

• Riots • For food & just prices

Government monopolies• Governments placed more demands on the people• Raised taxes

• Expanding armies• Centralizing pol power

• Monopolies• Justice• Elimination of non-gov courts; whether aristocratic or ecclesiastical

• Use of force• Elimination of private armies

• Centralization of gov power difficulties• Inadequate/slow transportation networks• Limited information • Small bureaucracies• Cultural /linguistic barriers

• Limiting the strength of the Challengers• Monarchs wanted to rein in the traditional powers, prerogatives & prestige of

Nobles• Churches, guilds and towns

Revolts• 1640 – Philip IV of Spain• Many revolts were over bread prices others over egalitarian

republic• Netherlands• Portugal• Sicily• Catalonia

• Louis XIV of France• Royal official were often beaten to death

Warfare & the growth of Army Size

• Parliaments could use the Royal need for military funding to negotiate• Direct taxes collected & managed by bureaucrats

• Bureaucracies were • Middle class – France• Nobility – Spain & E Eur

• Armies• Recruited, larger, nationalistic more professional

• France – nearly tripled• Commanded by nobles who bought & outfitted the men

• Navy • While others focused on expanding armies, Eng focused on building Navy

Absolutism• Absolute monarch • Claimed sole legislative & executive rights• Did not share pol power

• with aristocratic assemblies/courts• or institution in society• Justified by religious or secular theory• Divine right (Bishop Bossuet @ Versailles court) – asserted that God selected

the king & the king was answerable to God only• Leviathan (Thomas Hobbes after the execution of Charles I) – only a strong

centralized power could prevent the violence and disorder that the selfish nature of man would otherwise create.• Protect man from himself

• Both argue only absolute power would allow the king to ensure law & order

AP Tip • Students sometimes see absolutism as synonymous with

dictatorship, which was an all-too-common phenomenon in the 20th C. But the words have quite different meanings in the 17th C & 18th C when however absolute, no monarch could be called a dictator. They were legitimate hereditary monarchs who sought to rule without any institutional constraints, but they did not have the power or control that 20th C dictators had. Absolute monarchs were estab pol traditions that their progeny would inherit; modern dictatorships rarely outlived their founders.

Absolutism - France• Henry IV – king of Navarre• Won the religious war 1589

• Leader of Protestant forces - converted to Catholicism for reasons of state• Edict of Nantes – provided religious toleration for the Huguenots

• Beloved king• Sought to restore prosperity & order• Built roads & canals• Kept the peace• Lowered taxes by creating a new tax on royal officials (the paulette) • Reorganized the collection of indirect taxes

• Assassinated 1610• Gov run by his widow Marie de’ Medici• Advisor – Cardinal Richelieu – 1st minister

• Created many of the institutions of Fr absolutism• Noblesse de la robe (nobles of the robe) • Purchases titles for service to the crown

• Went after Protestant towns – reinstated Catholic liturgy• Cardinal Mazarin (Richelieu’s successor)

• Raised taxes to pay for war led to 5 yr revolt – The Fronde• Disorder widespread – ended only when Louis XIV learned that cooperation with

the nobility was necessary

AP Tip

One characteristic of many of the absolute monarchs was their longevity. Louis XIV inherited the throne at the age of 5, was crowned at the age of 23 and ruled until he died at the age of 77. Frederick William of Prussia ruled for 40 yrs; Peter the Great of Russia for 36 yrs. Their long rules gave them many yrs to create the political institutions they needed to achieve their goals.

Louis XIV• Absolute model of Absolutism• Ruled w/o chief advisor – personal hand in all aspect of admin.• Relied on councilors of state and intendants (royal officials)

• Mostly from upper middle class• Did not have power

• Estate General• Never called into session• Kept old nobility for having a say

• Spies & informers • Revoked the Edict of Nantes 1685

• Huguenots left France• Popular decision among the majority

AP Tip

Many of the Huguenots who left France after 1685 went to the Netherlands or to Eng, where they energetically opposed French absolutism and in the next century authored or published many of the Enlightenment texts that advocated constitutionalism and individual rights for France. In this way, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes ultimately undermined the French monarchy.

Louis XIV• Economic policy• Mercantilism

• Regulates econ activities for the benefit of the state• Based on the idea that the measure of a nations wealth was the amount of gold

and silver bullion it had.• Reserves were increased:• Exports encouraged• Imports discouraged – protectionist tariffs imposed • Expansion of local industry thru subsidies & monopolies

• Jean-Baptiste Colbert• Financial genius appointed by Louis to manage the admin of the econ• Encouraged new textile industries• Importation of foreign craftsmen to work for them• Subsidized shipbuilding industry• Created merchant marine – to take Fr goods abroade• East India Company – to expand international empire• Settlement of Quebec & Louisiana• Improved tax collection but could not eliminate the inequities of the Fr system

• Nobles and many bourgeois exempt from direct tax on property• Burden fell on the least wealthy• Tax farming – privatized tax collection – reduced kings revenues

Louis’s Wars

• France was at war for more than ½ of Louis’s reign• The aim was to expand the natural borders to protect it from invasion.

• Louvois – secretary of war increased the size of the army & its ability to conscript and dragoon soldiers• Soldiers were given uniforms & standard weapons, professionally trained &

promotions• Acquired • some important towns in the north• Franche-Comte in the east• Strasbourg in Alsace• The province Lorraine – after extensive wars with Holland, the Holy Roman Empire

and Spain

• The costs of war• Pressure from constant war on public finances

• Ministers after Colbert raised taxes, sold titles & offices• Burden on commoner grew, plus poor harvests which led to increases in

wheat price. Approx. • 2 million people died of starvation 1693 & 1694

Peace of Utrecht• War of Spanish Succession• Louis claimed the Spanish throne for his grandson when Spain’s

king died childless• Violated previous treaties • Eng, the Netherlands, Austria and Prussia organized an alliance

against what they felt was a threat to the balance of power.• 1713 the Peace of Utrecht

• Bourbons won the throne of Spain; with the understanding that Spain and France would never be united

• France lost territory in the New World to Eng• Eng acquired Gibraltar, Minorca & control of the African slave trade

from Spain• Austria gained Spanish Netherlands (Belgium)

• The treaty reflected the commitment to the idea of balance of power, signaled the decline of Spain and the rise of Eng

Absolute Spain• Spain became an absolute state – 16th C• Permanent bureaucracy• Standing army• Religious uniformity• National taxes• Rich – gold/silver from New World colonies• Annexed Portugal in 1580

• 17th C• Began to lose dominant role - Phillip III

• Expulsion of Muslims – 1609 • Lost 300,000 people – skilled workers and merchants

• Decline in revenues from the colonies• Colonies developed own industries• Colonies trade with Eng & Dutch• Gold/silver mines dried up• Royal expenditures grow

• Bankruptcy• Every 10-20 yrs, devalued currency, loss of credit standing

• Decline in status• High rents, intellectual/psychological malaise, failure to invest in domestic industry

Spain’s fall

• King of Spain not up to task• Overwhelmed with pessimism & passivity – fatalism• Count Olivares – administrator to Phillip IV

• Committed to the imperial tradition of military glory & militant Catholicism

• Treaty of Pyrenees – 1659• Unfruitful wars with France• Gave up valuable territories to France

• Domestic problems• Revolts 1640 from Catalonia (Barcelona) & Portugal (which regained

independence)• Elite looked with suspicion on foreign ideas (might have benefited Spain)• Mercantilist legislation – promoting domestic industry• Scientific revolution

AP Tip

Spain’s decline at the end of it’s golden age is an example of the often destructive nature of sudden enormous wealth, in which short-term benefits and lack of foresight undermine the viability of the state. A number of oil-producing states in the 20th C have experienced a similar phenomenon.

New World Colonies• Four viceroyalties• System set up in the 16th C

• Each ruled by an imperial governor with an advisory board – audiencia

• Emulating France – Bourbon king Charles III introduced the intendant system in the late 18th C

• Portugal’s Brazil became the world’s largest producer of sugar in the 18th C, with a highly mixed society of natives, Europeans and Africans.

Culture of Absolutism

• Art• A way to enhance power

• Baroque artists were commissioned to glorify the monarchs & family• Flourished 1st as part of he Counter-Reformation

• Dramatic• Colorful• Emotional• Monumental in size

• Rubens • Most famous of Baroque artist• Melodramatic portraits• Sensuous nudes• Worked for both the Bourbons of France & Hapsburgs of Austria

• Music/dance• Jean-Baptist Lully – ballets & operas• Francois Couperin – harpsichord & organ• Charpentier – religious music• (Johann Sebastian Bach – Germany) can’t forget him!

Culture of Absolutism• Architecture• Louis XIV - Versailles

• Grandiose• Gold & marble studded complex • Home to royal family & admin of government• 6,400 rooms decorated with luxuries• Extensive formal gardens – classical statues underlining the rightfulness of the king’s

rule• Designed to inspire awe

• Literature• Richelieu estab the French Academy 1635

• (to this day) determines the correct usage of Fr Language.• Created the 1st standard dictionary of Fr• Racine

• Tragic drama based on moral conflict from ancient Greece & Rome• Phedre

• Theatre• Racine • Moliere

AP Tip

Under Louis’s patronage, the arts flourished & added to the international prestige of France, which became so high that French became the international language of culture & diplomacy & over time, even the language of scholarship. To be cosmopolitan & sophisticated anywhere, meant to speak French & to know the culture of Versailles.

This remained true until the 20th C when Eng began to replace Fr as the international language. Fr cultural dominance would have important political consequences in countries like Russa where the aristocracy often knew Fr better that their national language. France’s cultural position in the 17th C is analogous to Amer. culture’s worldwide impact now.

Constitutionalism • Eng and Holland forged a different path in the 17th C,

establishing constitutional governments • the power of the monarchs was limited and the rights of

individuals affirmed by law. • The constitutions of Eng and Holland were not single written

documents but accrued traditions and legal precedents acknowledged as binding by monarch and people alike.

• In a constitutional state, in one form or another, • it is the people or the electorate who are sovereign, not the

monarch. • In the 17th & 18 C the agreement was severely limited, so the number

of voters remained small, nevertheless the legislatures they voted for had ultimate political authority.

England• Revolution, civil war & peaceful resolution.• Well estab parliamentary tradition• Tudors maintained the tradition

• James I • Elizabeth I died w/o an heir-her crown passed to James I, cousin Tudors of

Scotland• Intrigued by France’s practice of divine right

• The Trew Law of Free Monarchy• Parliament took offense – notion of royal prerogatives

• Charles I – son of James I • Tried absolute monarchy• Did not call parliament into session for 11 yrs

• Financing expenditure by levies not legislated by Parli• 1640 he called Parli into session – English revolution began

http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensoftheUnitedKingdom/TheStuarts/CharlesI.aspx

The electorate• Tudor reign• Members of Parliament became wealthier, social mobile

• Protestant confiscation monastic lands• Commerce with colonies• Enclosure of common lands – landowners cultivate land commercially

• The gentry – new class • Wealthy merchants & manufacturers who bought estates • Willing to pay taxes, but insisted on some say on how the money was spent

• Growing hostilities• Religious issues• Henry VIII – Act of Supremacy made the king head of the Anglican Church

• Puritans, who wanted to purify the Church of Eng of its Catholic remnants increasingly filled positions in Parli

• Calvinist values became the values of capitalist Eng – hard work, thrift & modesty of pleasure

• Charles I – sympathized with Catholic• Married a Fr Catholic & supported Archbishop Laud • sought nationwide uniformity of practice• The Book of Common Prayer - a new Anglican prayer book• Scotland – Presbyterians rebelled

• The need for fund to put down the rebellion – forced Charles to call Parli

Parliament• Long Parliament• Rejected Charles’s requests • Triennial Act

• Required Parli to be called into session every 3 yrs• Impeached Archbishop Laud• Rebellion in Ireland (Catholic)- refused to give Charles funds for an army

• Charles headed north to raise an army of nobles & mercenaries• Parli had its own army – The New Model Army• Led by Oliver Cromwell

• Purged Parli of moderates• Civil War – Cavaliers (monarchists) & Roundheads (Parli)

• To decide which was sovereign – King or Parli• Captured the king 1647

• Put on trial for treason – beheaded, Jan 30 1649• This radical act ended the monarchy in Eng

• Commonwealth estab – actually Cromwell & army ruled

Cromwell• Constitution of 1653• Executive power rested in a lord protector with triennial parliaments having sole

power of the purse• Cromwell tore up this constitution and set a military dictatorship

• Religious toleration (except for Catholics)• Calvinist practices instituted• Closing of theatres• Banning of sports

• Drogheda rebellion of Catholics – Ireland• Sent armies to crush rebellion

• Ferociously brutal• 600,000 killed/exiled

• Catholicism banned in Ireland• Land confiscated from Catholics – given to Eng & Scottish settlers

• Mercantilism• Navigation Act

• All Eng goods be transported on Eng ships• War against Holland – Eng econ rival• Welcomed Jews – recognized importance of skills and contribution

• Died 1658• Son not a potential heir• Return to civilian rule

Charles II• Restored Monarchy• End of military gov• Son of Charles I restored• Anglican Church restored• Traditional local gov restored

• Test Act• Enforced religious conformity

• Denying rights to Catholics - other non Anglicans• to vote or hold office• Teach or attend university• assemble for meetings • In practice – reluctant to enforce laws

• Cabal• Appointed 5 members of Parli to advise and act as liaisons

• Forerunner of contemporary cabinet system• Ministers are responsible to Parliament

Glorious Revolution• Money problems

• Parli did not vote to provide funds• Secret treaty with France

• Louis would give him substantial funds if • Laws against Catholics were removed • Charles himself would convert

• Disclosure of treaty• Anti-Catholic fervor swept Eng

• James II takes throne 1685• Anti-Catholic fervor intensified

• James – Catholic• Disregarded Test Act• Appeared to be reviving Stuart absolutist claims• Declaration of Indulgences – religious freedom to all

• Birth of his son (with Catholic wife)• Parli acted by offering the crown to Mary, his daughter with 1st wife• Protestant and married to William of Orange

• 1688 James fled • William and Mary crowned 1689

• They acknowledged that sovereignty was shared – kings ruled with the consent of the governed• Bill of Rights 1689

• Parli legislative authority• Independence of judiciary• Rights of individuals

• No standing army in times of peace – to prevent military gov or royal abuses

AP Tip

Some historians have used the English Revolution to create a model of revolutions;

beginning with a reform stage in which most people see the need for political change,

civil war (and often foreign wars as well), radicalization of the revolution with major divisions among the

revolutionaries over values and class interests, leading to violence and repression, followed by one-man rule and ultimately by restoration.

This pattern fits the French & Russian revolutions as well. It is useful to break down the narrative of revolution in such a way, although it does lead one to the conclusion that revolutions are inevitably failures.

John Locke• The intellectual underpinnings • Glorious Rev & Bill of Rights

• People create governments to protect their natural rights• Lives, liberties & property

• People have the right to change the gov when it fails to protect• Right to rebellion is protected against tyranny• Connection to political rights through property ownership• Limited suffrage to property owners

Holland – Dutch Republic• Dutch Republic - unique among Eur states in the 17th C• Flourish of progressive ideas

• Capitalistic energy• Scientific & artistic achievement

• Republican gov• 7 provinces• Each with own provincial assembly or estate• States General – assemblies unified of foreign policy issues

• Appointed a chief executive for each province – stadtholder• William of Orange was a Dutch stadtholder - became king of Eng

• Holland – dominate of the 7 provinces• Extraordinary wealth

• Religious tolerance• All religions welcomed & free to practice their faith

• Capitalistic success • Calvinist work ethic • City councils – efforts to create positive business climates• Full granaries – avoided famine & maintained stable food prices

• City Council of Amsterdam attracted foreign capital by guaranteeing deposits

Dutch Trade • Merchant Marine • Largest in Eur – 16,000 ships

• Carried huge herring catches• Lowest prices charged for shipping• These ships allowed them to purchase entire wheat crops in Poland• Sell the corps in Amsterdam and transport on their own ships

• Dutch East India Company 1602 & Dutch West India Company 1621

• Expanded sphere of business beyond Eur• Estab important trading ports & settlements• South Africa – Capetown• Ceylon• Malacca

• Hard times• Increasing competition from France & England• War of Spanish Succession drained Dutch resources