Highlights of lecture.

1. History of Europe:
Renaissance to 1815

2. You will say that I am cruel; that
is true. But I know that all the
cruelties I commit today to hold
the country I shall one day be in
a position to repay a hundred
full, and this I shall do. But for
the present I close my heart to
pity, I rely on you ...
∼ Maria Theresa, “Empress” of Austria

3. 18th c. Europe
• The 1700s – century of accelerated change
• Continual warfare
• Unsettled territories, disrupted populations,
economic strains
• Industrialization
• Social and economic change on
unprecedented scale
• Leading to social stresses
• And growing discontent

4. 18th c. Europe
Wars & Alliances

5. 18th c.
Europe
• 18th c. Europe
• Predominantly rural and devoted to agriculture
• Except for the more commercially advanced
Dutch
• Still – a century of political, social, intellectual
ferment
• Science became central piece of public
discourse
• New political ideas stressing individual liberties
• Slowly expansion of education for more people
• Not guaranteed public education for all

6. 18th c.
Europe
• Struggle for Power, Dominance, Territory
• Focus of attention for European monarchs in 18th c.
• Not a time of long-term alliances
• Shifted as goals of rulers changed
• Delicate balance of power
• Each country trying to figure out who was going
to rule various areas of Europe
• Almost constant conflict

7. 18th c.
Europe
• 4 Major Players
• Austria – ruled by powerful Hapsburg family
• Also held throne of Holy Roman Empire
• Prussia – Hohenzollern family, eager to expand
territory
• France – absolute rule by Bourbons, aggressive
foreign policy
• Goal: world power, colonial holdings
• Great Britain – in 18th c., ruled by German kings
• House of Hanover, anti-French, building global
empire

8. 18th c. Europe
• More than 40 wars in 18th c. Europe
• Of the most important:
• War of the Spanish Succession
• War of the Polish Succession
• War of the Austrian Succession
• Seven Years’ War
• War of the Bavarian Succession
• French Revolutionary Wars

9. 18th c. Europe
• War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714)
• Charles II, last Hapsburg King of Spain, died
childless
• Closest heirs in French Bourbon & Austrian
Hapsburg families
• Willed Spain and its global empire to Philip, Duke
of Anjou
• Austrian emperor Leopold II wanted throne for
his son
• Soon, France and Austria in war to see who
would sit on Spanish throne
• Other countries quickly joined in

10. 18th c. Europe
• War of the Spanish Succession
• Great Britain, Netherlands, Prussia, Holy Roman
Empire
• Opposed France and Spain
• Losses, victories, significant financial costs
• 1,251,000 killed in action
• Britain sued for peace separately in 1713; Treaty of
Utrecht (1713)
• Duke of Anjou remained Spain’s King, renounced
claim to French throne

11. 18th c. Europe
• War of the Polish Succession (1733-1738)
• When Augustus II died, civil war over who would succeed him
• Russia & Austria: wanted Augustus’ son on the throne
• Poland, France, & Spain: Stanislaw I Leszczynski
• Married to daughter of Louis XV of France
• Resolved fairly quickly in favor of Augustus III – but then spilled over
into other regions of Europe
• Fighting in Italy & Central Europe

12. 18th c.
Europe
• War of the Polish Succession (1733-1738)
• Peace of Vienna 1738 – after 88,000 killed in
action
• France agreed to the Pragmatic Sanction:
• HRE Charles VI named daughter as heiress to
Hapsburg lands
• Results: a reshuffling of territories in key
European states
• Augustus III recognized as King of Poland
• Don Carlos of Spain became Charles III, king of
Naples and Sicily
• Stanislaw gained province of Lorraine

13. 18th c.
Europe
• War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748)
• Pragmatic Sanction – applied to Maria Theresa of
Austria
• Could not be “empress” but could inherit Hapsburg
lands, wealth
• Archduchy of Austria
• Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Croatia, Kingdom of
Bohemia
• Italian territories awarded to Austria by the Treaty of
Utrecht (Duchy of Milan, Kingdom of Naples and
Kingdom of Sicily)
• The Austrian Netherlands

14. 18th c. Europe • War of the Austrian Succession
• The Plan when Charles VI dies:
• Maria Theresa inherits lands and titles
• Husband set to be elected Holy Roman
Emperor
• But 1740 saw number of deaths among
European leaders
• Holy Roman Empire, Prussia, Russia
• Helped destabilize Europe re. question
of who should rule where
Pragmatic Sanction

15. 18th c. Europe
• War of the Austrian Succession
• Former allies/friends now go to war over
territory
• Prussia allied with France
• Many parties to Pragmatic Sanction
broke promise
• Eventually involved most powers of Europe
• France, Prussia & Electorate of Bavaria
• Austria, Great Britain, Dutch Republic
Maria Theresa as Queen Of Hungary

16. 18th c. Europe
• War of the Austrian Succession
• Main point of contention: challenge Hapsburg
power
• Control of Silesia, Bohemia
• Result: 359,000 killed in action
• Maria Theresa retained Austrian, Bohemian,
Hungarian thrones
• Francis of Lorraine, her husband, named Holy
Roman Emperor
• Austrian Netherlands seized by France,
returned to Austria
• Frederick II of Prussia retained control of
Silesia

17. 18th c. Europe
• Seven Years War (1756-1763)
• Peace didn’t last long
• Balance of power among European nations not strong enough to
maintain the peace
• War not dreaded enough to motivate compromise or harmony
• Military action seen as means to well-being, not economic
development
• No binding international law

18. 18th c. Europe
• Seven Years War (1756-1763)
• Essentially made up of two struggles
1. Struggle between Britain & its Bourbon allies, France
2. Conflict between Prussia & its opponents: Austria, France, Russia &
Sweden
• But also:
1. British/Hanover resistance to French attacks in Germany
2. Spain (aided by France) attacked Portugal, Britain’s ally

19. 18th c. Europe
• Seven Years War
• League of the Three Petticoats
• Madame Pompadour of France, Elisabeth of
Russia, Maria Theresa of Austria
• All insulted by Frederick II of Prussia
• All engaged in planning, execution of the war
• Short-lived – with death of Elizabeth, Catherine
the Great left war

20. 18th c.
Europe
• Seven Years War (1756-1763)
• Outbreak in Ohio River Valley of the
Americas in 1754
• Between France and England
• 1755 – British troops cross the Atlantic
• Attacked French ships as they approached
the colonies
• In Europe, nations took sides
• Battles began in 1756 and occurred around
the globe

21. 18th c. Europe
• Seven Years War – Outcome & Consequences
• War impoverished the participants
• Britain – ultimately led to American
Revolution
• France – bankrupt treasury, loss of
American territories, loss of Senegal colony
in Africa, & agreed to pull out of India
• Austria gained nothing
• Frederick II held onto Silesia

22. 18th c. Europe
The Industrial Revolution

23. 18th c.
Europe
• The Industrial Revolution
• Agricultural Changes
• New methods beginning in mid-17th c.
• Crop rotation, better fertilizer
application increased agricultural
production
• In England, successful farming led to
expansion
• Impediment to that expansion: Open
Field system

24. 18th c. Europe
• The Industrial Revolution
• Agricultural Changes
• 1700 – about half of England’s arable land was in form of open
fields or common lands
• Acts of Parliament – Enclosure Laws – favored large landowners
• 1760-1815: 3,600 separate Acts of Parliament enclosed more than
7 million acres of land
• More than one-fourth farmland in England

25. 18th c. Europe
• The Industrial Revolution
• Enclosure Laws
• Conjectural map of medieval English manor
• The part allocated to “common pasture” is
shown in the north-east section, shaded
green

26. 18th c.
Europe
• The Industrial Revolution
• Agricultural Changes
• Impact of Enclosure Laws: forced small
farmers off the land
• Both small landholders and tenant
farmers
• Poorest members of rural society lost
access to open fields
• These changes occurred more quickly in
England than in continental Europe

27. 18th c. Europe
• The Industrial Revolution
• Population Growth
• Improved agricultural output boosted Europe’s
population
• From 120 to 190 million in course of 18th c.
• As rural opportunities dwindled, more people moved to
the cities looking for work

28. 18th c. Europe
• The Industrial Revolution
• Great Britain and the Textile Industry
• Cottage Industry
• Working out of the home, to produce goods
• Putting out System
• Took advantage of slack times in farming year
• Merchants bought raw wool or flax, sent
out parcels to succession of workers
• Each in turn would prepare, spin, weave,
dye to create cloth

29. 18th c.
Europe
• The Industrial Revolution
• Great Britain and the Textile Industry
• Proto-Industrialization – the putting out system
• Each worker paid for their stage of
production
• Merchant sold finished product to recoup
cost, make a profit
• Skill level required: minimal, but advantages
to system
• Worked own hours, own location, family
together

30. 18th c. Europe
• Industrial Revolution
• Inventions: Flying Shuttle
• Patented by John Kay in 1733
• Allowed weaver to produce much wider fabrics
• Loom could be operated by single weaver
• Cut labor force in half
• Increased production

31. 18th c. Europe
• Industrial Revolution
• Inventions: Flying Shuttle
• Social Impact
• Technology
• Production capacity outpaced spinning production
• Led to development of new spinning technology
• Employment – weavers put out of work, violent reactions
• Injury – flying shuttle led to new risks in weaving

32. 18th c. Europe
• Industrial Revolution
• Inventions: Spinning Jenny
• Invented by James Hargreaves about 1764
• Modified spinning wheel to a machine
• Draw thread from 8 spindles instead of
just one
• Reduced amount of work needed to
produce cloth
• One person – greatly increased output

33. 18th c. Europe
• Industrial Revolution
• Inventions: Water Frame
• Spinning jenny powered by
water-wheel
• Able to spin 128 threads at a
time, and stronger quality
• Richard Arkwright invented,
patented in 1767-68
• But had only 1 spindle

34. 18th c. Europe
• Industrial Revolution
• Spinning Mule
• Combined the Spinning Jenny with the Water Frame
• Multiple spindles, beginning with 128
• Ultimately 1,320 spindles in factory setting

35. 18th c.
Europe
• Industrial Revolution
• Factory System
• Method of manufacturing using machinery
• Division of Labor
• Workplace away from the home
• Wage labor, often for unskilled work

36. 18th c.
Europe
• The Industrial Revolution
• Social Changes
• Crowded, increasingly polluted cities
• Living within walking distance of the
factories
• Division of Labor
• Unfair working conditions
• Luddites: resistance to changing technology
• Destruction of machinery

37. 18th c. Europe
The Gin Craze

38. 18th c.
Europe
• 27th February, 1734
• From a trial of Judith Dufour at the Old Bailey:
“On Sunday [sic] Night we took the Child into the
Fields, and stripp’d it, and ty’d a Linen Handkerchief
hard about its Neck to keep it from crying, and
then laid it in a Ditch. And after that, we went
together, and sold the Coat and Stay for a Shilling,
and the Petticoat and Stockings for a Groat. We
parted the Money, and join’d for a Quartern [4 oz.]
of Gin”.

39. 18th c. Europe
• The Gin Craze
• Case of Judith Dufour –
victim was her child
• Horrendous crime in the
pursuit of gin
• Captured the image of
London consumed by the
craze
• Popularly known as “the
mother’s ruin”

40. 18th c. Europe
• The Gin Craze
• Between 1700 and 1760
• Especially indulged in by the
lower classes
• By 1730, estimated 7,000 legal gin
shops in London
• Untold number of illegal ones
• 10 million gallons distilled each year
• Leading to widespread violence,
addiction, social devastation
The Gin Shop

41. 18th c. Europe
• The Gin Craze
• Originally imported from Holland in late 17th c.
• Known as “jenever” – and a much weaker alcohol content
• Gin distilled in London much stronger
• Often adulterated with impurities
• Including turpentine and sulphuric acid
• “Throat-searing, eye-reddening, vomit-churning hell broth”

42. 18th c. Europe
• The Gin Craze
• So why was it so popular?
• Wars with France made brandy unpopular
• And government placed taxes on it to
increase domestic spirit production
• Break French stranglehold on the market
• Greater availability, cheaper prices
• A dram of gin for little over a penny

43. 18th c. Europe
• The Gin Craze
• Appeal of gin wasn’t its taste
• Undergoing the Little Ice Age, drinking gin kept people warm
• And cleaner than drinking water
• Purified of any disease or parasites found in water
• And no rules around gin
• No social norms about who could drink, where, how much

44. 18th c.
Europe
• The Gin Craze
• The effect was devastating
• Gin blamed for misery, rising crime,
prostitution, madness
• Higher death rate, falling birth rates
• Poisoning from illegal distilling
"Drunkenness of the common people was
universal, the whole town of London
swarmed with drunken people from
morning till night.”
Vice-Chamberlain Lord Hervey

45. 18th c. Europe
• The Gin Craze
• Gin Lane (by William Hogarth, 1751)
• Depicted those living in Gin Lane
• As destroyed by their addiction to gin
• Infanticide, suicide, decay
• But look closer … see the poverty
• In comparison to Beer Street, seen in a companion print
“Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for two pence, clean straw for nothing

46. 18th c.
Europe
• The Gin Craze
• Efforts to ban drinking among the lower
classes
• 1736 Gin Act taxed retail sales
• Required purchase of a license to sell gin
• Resulting in very few licensed
establishments and a lot of bootleggers
• Riots broke out in key cities, generally
with working class residents

47. 18th c. Europe
• The Gin Craze
• The Puss and Mew Machine
• Literally the 1st vending machine
• Designed to avoid liquor laws
• Not mechanized; seller was behind
the cat
• ”Puss, do you have any gin?”
• Taking money, dispensing gin
through the spout

48. 18th c.
Europe
• The Gin Craze
• Efforts to ban drinking among the lower
classes
• Failure of the 1736 Gin Act led to
subsequent attempts
• To curb drinking of gin
• Followed by 1751 Gin Act
• That year, 9,000 children died of
alcohol poisoning
“nothing but idleness, poverty, misery and
ruin are to be seen”

49. 18th c. Europe
• The Gin Craze
• Afflicted the Lower Classes especially hard
• Especially those living in the cities
• Which were increasingly crowded by shifting demographics
• Caused by the Industrial Revolution

50. 18th c. Europe
Beast of Gévaudan

51. 18th c. Europe
• By 1760s France, social order entrenched
Because we cannot live together in equality of condition, it is necessary
that some command and others obey … Sovereign lords command all
within their state, addressing their commands to the great; the great
[address their commands] to the middling, the middling to the small,
and the small to the people … Thus by means of these multiple divisions
and subdivisions, the several orders make up a general order, and the
several Estates a state well ruled.
Charles Loyseau (1564-1627), French
lawyer

52. 18th c. Europe
• More succinctly stated:
Since the people is a body with several heads, it is divided by orders,
Estates, or particular occupations. Some are dedicated particularly to the
service of God, others to protecting the state by their arms, others to
nourishing and maintaining it through peaceful occupations. These are
our three orders or Estates General of France: the clergy, the nobility,
and the Third Estate.
Charles Loyseau, “Treatise on Orders and Plain Dignities” (1610)

53. 18th c. Europe
• Definition of the Three Estates
• Oversimplified French social order
• Significant variations in wealth, status within each group
• Nobility: Ranged from monarchs to minor nobles
• Church: from parish priests to highest levels of the hierarchy
• Third Estate: numerous gradations, but generally 3 divisions
• The elite, the Middling Orders, the poor
• One thing in common: lack of political power

54. 18th c.
Europe
• The Middling Order
• Wide range of occupations, backgrounds
• Smaller merchants, tradespeople,
shopkeepers, prosperous farmers
• Shared characteristics:
• Hired staff to help in home and in
workplace
• Owned or rented a comfortable property;
ate well, lived well
• Educated, good manners, social
responsibilities

55. 18th c.
Europe
• The Poor
• Large, diverse group – generally unskilled laborers
• Worked as jobs were available
• When couldn’t work or none available, forced to beg
or seek aid
• Lived in cramped, squalid housing
• Ate simple food, had little or no education, few
resources
• Especially difficult survival in urban areas, but
poverty wrenching in countryside as well

56. 18th c. Europe
• Social Divisions in 18th c. Europe
• Shared same general divisions as France
• Though not organized into Three Estates
• And with varying degrees of political representation
• By mid-18th c., stresses in French society
• Wars, taxation, economic set-backs, lack of political options
• Created building resentment, agitation

57. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Gévaudan – rural region in southern France
• Reputation: remote, isolated backwater; untamed forces of nature

58. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• 1764 death of Jeanne Boulet
• 1st officially attacked & killed victim
• 14 year-old girl killed while watching
her sheep
• Over next three years, up to 113
people killed by the Beast
• Most victims were young – where
age recorded, 63/79 were
younger than 20

59. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Wolf attacks were nothing new
• Parish records: thousands of deaths in Europe
• From wolf attacks in 1600s and 1700s
• But the Beast was something different
• Survivors described an animal that was:
• The size of a calf, with large, dog-like head
• Small straight ears, wide chest
• Large mouth, very large teeth, snout-like nose
Contemporary account of the Beast

60. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Spreading the Story … and sensationalizing it
• Might have gone unnoticed if not for the press
• Political content mostly censored by Louis XV
• Newspapers looked to fill pages with other
news
• Entertainment to bolster subscriptions
• Fait divers – new type of reporting in 18th c.
France

61. 18th c.
Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Role of newspapers
• Fait divers – developed by François Morénas
• Editor of the Courrier d’Avignon
• Stories of everyday incidents in small villages
• Compare to modern “true crime” stories
• Transformed story of the Beast from backwater
to national story

62. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Gave France something to rally around
• For a country in disarray
• Defeat in Seven Years War, loss of
colonial empire in Canada
• Serious economic problems
• Perfect foe for a nation with something to
prove
• In the process of telling the story, focused
on individual stories
• Sensationalized their experiences,
made them famous

63. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Noted survivors – 1765
• Jacques Portefaix
• Along with 7 friends, fought off the Beast
• All rewarded by King Louis XV; Jacques
received education
• Changing his life significantly
• Marie-Jeanne Valet – the “Maiden of
Gévaudan”
• Used crude spear to scare animal off

64. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Newspapers reported witness’
supernatural accounts
• Could walk on its hind feet
• Hide could repel bullets
• Had fire in its eyes
• Amazing leaping ability

65. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Involvement of the King
• Louis XV had good reason to get involved
• Reputation in tatters
• Lost the Seven Years’ War
• Heavy taxes placed on provinces
• Known for his drinking, mistresses, high living
at Versailles
• Could use to show his concern for his people

66. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Involvement of the King
• Sent in a group of hunters
• Perpetuated an exaggerated idea of
this Beast
• Proved an embarrassment to Louis XV
• Seemingly incompetent hunters
• When an especially large wolf killed,
he ended the hunt

67. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Official paper Gazette de France
• The most experienced hunters have concluded that it was a true
wolf that boasted nothing extraordinary, neither in its size nor in its
composition.
• After this proclamation, the Gazette did not report on the Beast again
• Despite two years of continued attacks

68. 18th c.
Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• Involvement of the Church
• Local Bishop exploited the story, warning the
Beast was a monster “drawn from the arsenal of
God’s anger to execute the death sentences that his
justice has pronounced.”
• More than a superstitious priest
• He belonged to heretical group close to
Reformation views
• Used opportunity to set up public prayers in
the style of the group

69. 18th c. Europe
• The Beast of Gévaudan
• When the attacks ended in 1767
• Intellectuals and others in power called
the origin of the stories as peasant
superstitions
• “Peasant fantasy”
• Goes to attitude of upper classes toward
the poor and working classes
• Presages the revolution