Teacher Overview Objectives: Absolutism

The Age of Absolutism: 1550-1800

How does an absolute monarch gain, maintain and consolidate their power? Objective: Describe the strategies autocrats and monarchs use to gain, maintain and consolidate their power.

What is an absolute monarchy? absolute mon-/mono- -archy

complete or total one form of government

Absolute monarchy = system of government where one person has absolute control Absolute monarch or an autocrat = person who rules an absolute monarchy (monarch, king, prince, etc.)

Absolutism = belief in the system of one ruler having absolute control

What questions do you have about how an absolute monarchy works?

What are the advantages of an absolute monarchy? What are the disadvantages of an absolute monarchy?

How does an absolute monarch MAINTAIN and CONSOLIDATE power? Directions: Using the image below, respond to the questions about how monarchs maintain and consolidate their power.

Source: NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam, June, 2012.

Based on this image above, list five strategies monarchs use to MAINTAIN and CONSOLIDATE their power.

In the image, it reads, “[the ruler] circumvents, ignores, or uses assemblies to approve or rubber-stamp the ruler’s initiatives.” Why would an absolute monarch circumvent [ignore] getting approval on their initiatives and laws?

In the image, it reads, “ [the ruler] limits or controls the power of the nobles.” The nobles are the landowning upper class people. Why would an absolute monarch focus his energy on controlling this class of people?

In the image, it reads, “[the ruler] controls religious authorities”. The nobles are the landowning upper class people. How does controlling the religious authorities allow the absolute monarch to maintain or consolidate power?

How does an absolute monarch GAIN power?

DIVINE RIGHT is the belief that an absolute monarch’s authority to rule came directly from God. Since the king received his authority to rule directly from God, this meant:

● The king has the 'right' to rule completely and totally without approval from the people ● The king is God’s representative on earth ● Only God can judge the king

The frontispiece of the book Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes; engraving by Abraham Bosse (1650)

What do you notice in this image? What does this image reveal about how people may have viewed absolute monarchs?

A DEO REX, A REGE LEX — “The king is from God, and law is from the king.” --James I

Based on these words from King James I, why might people be more likely to follow the King’s laws?

Charles I, being crowned by a hand from a cloud, possibly by God (1600s)

How does this image of Charles I demonstrate the idea of divine right?

Jacques Benigne Bossuet (1679), Politics Derived from Holy Writ Directions: Read the excerpts of Bossuet’s writing below, then respond to the questions.

*Note: royal power, prince, king, king’s authority are all synonyms for absolute monarch

Excerpt Question

1 2 3 4

Rulers then act as the ministers of God and as his lieutenants on earth. It is through them that God exercises his empire [...]

On lines 1-2, what does the phrase, “Rulers then act as the ministers of God and as his lieutenants on earth” mean?

5 6 7 8 9

Kings should tremble then as they use the power God has granted them; and let them think how horrible is the sacrilege if they use for evil a power which comes from God.

According to lines 5-9, who can punish a king for misusing their power?

10 The royal power is absolute [...] According to lines 11-12, who checks or regulates the power of the absolute monarch? According to lines 13-14, what does the phrase, “It is necessary that his power be such that no one can hope to escape him” mean?

11 12

The prince need render account of his acts to no one [...]

13 14

It is necessary that his power be such that no one can hope to escape him [...]

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

The power of God makes itself felt in a moment from one extremity of the earth to another. Royal power works at the same time throughout all the realm. It holds all the realm in position, as God holds the earth. Should God withdraw his hand, the earth would fall to pieces; should the king's authority cease in the realm, all would be in confusion. [...]

According to lines 6-14, to whom does Bossuet compare the absolute monarch? According to Bossuet, what would happen if there was no absolute leader?

Source: J.H. Robinson, ed., Readings in European History 2 vols. (Boston: Ginn, 1906), 2:273-277. http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111boss.html

Louis XIV (France, 1643-1715) aka Louis the Great aka “the Sun King”

The Palace of Versailles was a royal château [castle] in Versailles and

was the center of political power in France from 1682 until 1789.

The reign of France’s Louis XIV (1638-1718), known as the Sun King, lasted for 72 years, longer than that of any other known European sovereign [king] . In that time, he transformed the monarchy, ushered in a golden age of art and literature, presided over a dazzling royal court at Versailles, annexed [took control of] key territories and established his country as the dominant European power. During the final decades of Louis XIV’s rule, France was weakened by several lengthy wars that drained its resources and the mass exodus [mass migration] of its Protestant population following the king’s revocation [reverse] of the Edict of Nantes [a law that granted religious freedom to non-Catholics].

Source: http://www.history.com/topics/louis-xiv

Document 1

…That it might be amusing for the nobles to obey the king, Louis built a splendid new royal residence at Versailles, near Paris, where he established the most brilliant court ever known in Europe. The most influential nobles were encouraged, and even commanded, to leave their castles in the country, where life at best was dull, and to come and live with the king at Versailles. Here the king provided amusements for them, and here he could keep his eye on them. The nobles could not well be discourteous or disobedient to the king while they lived in his house and ate at his table. Almost without knowing it, Louis’s noble guests fell into the habit of trying to please him. The king’s manners were imitated, his words repeated. All smiled when the king smiled, all were sad when the king was sad, “all were devout when the king was devout, and all were sorry not to be ill when the king was ill.” If a noble at court displeased the king, he was sent back to the country to live in his own house, in which case everyone felt—and he did too—that he was in deep disgrace.…

Source: Carl L. Becker, Modern History, Silver, Burdett and Company from NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam, June, 2012.

According to Carl Becker, what was one way that Louis XIV attempted to control the nobility?

Document 2

… More and more Louis tried to impose uniformity in religious affairs. In the 1680s he intensified persecution of Protestants; his actions made the edict [of Nantes] nothing but a scrap of paper. Finally in 1685 he declared that the majority of French Protestants had been converted to Catholicism and that therefore there was no need for the edict. It was revoked. Now Louis launched a reign of terror. He refused to allow French Protestants to leave the country. He promised that those who remained could worship privately, free of persecution, but never kept the promise. Their churches were torn down, their gatherings forbidden, their children made to attend mass. The Waldensians in Savoy were massacred, and six hundred Protestants “caught making assemblies” were executed. Perhaps two hundred and fifty thousand fled abroad to escape persecution.…

Source: Milton Meltzer, Ten Kings and the Worlds They Ruled, Orchard Books from NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam, June, 2012.

According to Milton Meltzer, what was one action Louis XIV took in an attempt to control the Protestants in France?

Peter the Great (Russia, 1682-1721)

St. Petersburg was capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years

The reign of Peter, who became sole czar in 1696, was characterized by a series of sweeping military, political, economic, and cultural reforms based on Western European models. Russian victories in major conflicts with Persia and the Ottoman Empire greatly expanded Peter’s empire, and the defeat of Sweden in the Great Northern War won Russia direct access to the Baltic Sea. Here, Peter founded the new Russian capital of St. Petersburg, and Russia became a major European power–politically, culturally, and geographically.

Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/peter-the-great-dies

Document 3

… On August 8, 1700, Peter made his historic decision to declare war on Sweden, in order to open a road* from Russia to the West by the conquest of the Baltic littoral [coastal region]. He had secured the collaboration of Poland and Denmark, but his alliance with these two rivals of Sweden was to prove ineffectual. With nothing to rely on but his own forces, Peter was defeated at Narva by the valiant Swedish King, Charles XII. Refusing to be discouraged by this defeat, Peter raised and equipped new armies; he put immense effort into creating a good artillery; he worked with his own hands on the construction of the frigates [ships] that were to give him mastery of the Baltic. Then his disciplined and well-trained regiments seized the mouth of the Neva [River] and entrenched themselves along the coveted [desired] littoral. On June 27, 1709, in a battle at Poltava, he put his great adversary, Charles XII, to flight.…

Source: Constantine de Grunwald, “A Window on the West,” in Christopher Hibbert, ed., The Pen and the Sword, Newsweek Books (adapted) from

NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam, June, 2012.

*road: a place less enclosed than a harbor where ships may ride at anchor According to Constantine de Grunwald, what was Peter the Great hoping to accomplish with his war on Sweden? According to Constantine de Grunwald, what was one action taken by Peter the Great to overcome his defeat at Narva?

Document 4

… In 1722 the establishment of the Table of Ranks brought to its logical conclusion a process that had been evolving for three centuries. It imposed obligatory lifelong state service on all ranks of the nobility. It established fourteen equivalent grades in the military, naval, and civil service and required that even princes of the most exalted families should begin at the lowest grade and work their way up the ladder. The Table of Ranks offered the privileges of nobility to anyone who performed state service and made service to the state the principal basis for privilege.…

Source: Peter Brock Putnam, Peter, The Revolutionary Tsar, Harper & Row, Publishers from NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam, June,

2012. According to Peter Brock Putnam, in what way did the introduction of the Table of Ranks attempt to reduce the influence of the old aristocracy?

Document 5

… How great an effect did Peter have upon Russia? When he came to the throne, Russia was an insignificant state. He made it into a great power feared by all. At his accession [assumption of the throne] Russia had no armed forces except for the inefficient and untrustworthy Streltsy [hereditary military units]. When he died, there was a professional army of 210,000 men. He created a navy out of nothing, leaving behind him a fleet of forty-eight ships-of-the-line and many smaller vessels.… Peter signally [noticeably] failed to create the large, thriving middle class that Russia needed. In spite of the most strenuous efforts, Russia’s commerce and industry remained dependent upon the Tsar, so that when he died, there were not enough wealthy, far-sighted traders and industrialists to develop what he had begun. This lack of private initiative and enterprise was to remain one of Russia’s greatest social weaknesses until the Communist Revolution of 1917.…

Source: Michael Gibson, Peter the Great, Wayland Publishers from NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam, June, 2012.

According to Michael Gibson, what were two effects Peter the Great’s rule had on Russia?

Document 6

. . . Peter’s military reform would have remained an isolated incident in Russian military history had it not left a distinct and deep impression on the social and intellectual composition of all Russian society, and even influenced future political developments. The military reform itself made necessary other innovations, first to maintain the reorganised and expensive military forces, and then to ensure their permanency. The new recruiting methods, by spreading military obligations to classes hitherto [up to this time] exempt, and thus affecting all social classes, gave the new army a more varied composition, and completely altered existing social relationships. From the time that noblemens’ serfs and servants joined the new army as ordinary recruits instead of only as menials or valets [servants], the position of the nobility, which had been preponderant [dominant] in the old army, was completely changed. . . .

Source: Vasili Klyuchevsky, translated by Liliana Archibald, Peter the Great, St. Martin’s Press from NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam,

January, 2008. According to Vasili Klyuchevsky, what was one way Peter the Great attempted to control the Russian people? According to Vasili Klyuchevsky, what was one effect Peter the Great’s reform had on the Russian nobles?

Document 7

. . . A year later, in January 1700, Peter transformed persuasion into decree [law]. With rolling drums in the streets and squares, it was proclaimed that all boyars [Russian nobles], government offi cials and men of property, both in Moscow and in the provinces, were to abandon their long robes and provide themselves with Hungarian or German-style caftans. The following year, a new decree commanded men to wear a waistcoat, breeches, gaiters, boots and a hat in the French or German style, and women to put on petticoats, skirts, bonnets and Western shoes. Later decrees prohibited the wearing of high Russian boots and long Russian knives. Models of the new approved costumes were hung at Moscow’s gates and in public places in the city for people to observe and copy. All who arrived at the gates in traditional dress except peasants were permitted to enter only after paying a fi ne. Subsequently, Peter instructed the guards at the city gates to force to their knees all visitors arriving in long, traditional coats and then to cut off the coats at the point where the lowered garment touched the ground. “Many hundreds of coats were cut accordingly,” says Perry, “and being done with good humor it occasioned mirth [humor] among the people and soon broke the custom of wearing long coats, especially in places near Moscow and those towns wherever the Tsar came.”. . .

Source: Robert K. Massie, Peter the Great: His Life and World, Alfred A. Knopf from NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam, January,

2008. Based on these documents, state two ways Peter the Great tried to control the actions of his people.

Document 8

Emergence of “Dual Russia” The Petrine [Peter’s] Reform is often seen as the main cause and the starting point of the irrevocable [unalterable] split of Russian society into two parts. Peter’s reforms transformed the upper levels of Russian society while the masses remained largely unaffected by them. Peter had forced the nobility to acquire technical knowledge of Western Europe and to adopt European styles of dress and manners. An increasingly Europeanized education of the upper classes brought with it a familiarity with the philosophies and theories of the Enlightenment. Soon many Russian nobles even preferred to speak the languages of Western Europe (particularly French and German) to Russian. By the nineteenth century their world was European in dress, manners, food, education, attitudes, and language, and was completely alien to the way of life of the Russian popular masses. . . .

Source: Alexander Chubarov, The Fragile Empire: A History of Imperial Russia, Continuum from NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam,

January, 2008. According to Alexander Chubarov, what was one long-term effect Peter the Great’s reform had on the upper classes of Russian society?

What are the similarities and differences between the reigns of Louis XIV and Peter the Great?

__________________________________________________

Louis XIV Peter the Great

Other Autocrats and Monarchs Directions: Read the profiles below. Identify similarities in the strategies they use to gain, maintain and consolidate power.

Akbar the Great (1542- 1605)

Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566)

Ferdinand and Isabella (1469- 1504)

Ruled: Mughal Empire, India Known For:

● Empire was larger and stronger than any in Europe at that time

● Modernized the army ● Ruled with religious tolerance because of

India’s diversity

Ruled: Ottoman Empire Known For:

● Conquered land throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe

● Established a golden age ● Known as “The Lawgiver” for improving

the legal system and government ● Expanded in the influence of Islam

Ruled: Spain Known For:

● Sponsored Christopher Columbus’ voyages to the Americas

● Forced the Muslims out of Spain in a war called the Reconquista

● Forced Muslims and Jews in Spain to either convert or be exiled or killed

Charles V (1519-1556)

Philip II (1556-1598)

Elizabeth I (1533-1603)

Ruled: King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Known For:

● Ruled a large and diverse area ● Fought in many wars against the French,

German Protestant princes, and Suleiman the Magnificent’s Ottoman Empire

Ruled: Spain and New Spain (Spanish land in the Americas) Known For:

● Created a great navy called the Spanish Armada

● Expanded the military ● Expanded Catholic power in Spain

Ruled: England Known For:

● Head of the Church of England (Protestant)

● Worked with Parliament to rule England ● Reigned during a golden age of English

literature (Shakespeare)

Directions: Using the profiles above, categorize the leaders into the appropriate columns that best fit their governance strategies.

Autocrats and Monarchs

who used RELIGION to gain, maintain and

consolidate their power

Autocrats and Monarchs who used

EXPANDING TERRITORIES to gain, maintain and

consolidate their power

Autocrats and Monarchs who used

MILITARY to gain, maintain and

consolidate their power

Autocrats and Monarchs who used

STRONG GOVERNMENTS &

LEGAL STRUCTURES to gain, maintain and

consolidate their power