Parts of Ch. 18 and 19

1. Today:
• Touch on Chapters 18 and 19
• Absolutism and Alternatives
• Scientific Revolution
• The Development of Russia
• Next Time:
• The Enlightenment
• Chapter 17: The Islamic World
Who is this?

2. What is Absolutism?
• What is “divine right?”
• Was power absolute?
• What factors might impact this?
• Absolutism in Spain
• Philip IV and the Americas
• What is Spain bringing back from the colonies?
• How does that make things worse?
• What else contributed to Spain’s decline?
• In the end, Spain loses control of the Dutch Republic and of Portugal

3. Absolutism: Louis XIV of France
• Background
• Henry IV (Louis’ grandfather) had reformed France’s infrastructure and
economy, and granted freedoms to protestants
• When he died, Cardinal Richelieu became First Minister and ruled on behalf
of, then as advisor to, Henry’s son, Louis XIII
• They used Intendants to collect information and taxes across France, rather
than relying on the local nobles, this weakened the nobility
• Louis XIV inherited the throne at age 4
• His mother, Anne of Austria (she was actually daughter of the Spanish king),
and Cardinal Mazarin ruled on his behalf until he was 14
• The regency period saw many revolts, including one major uprising known as
the Fronde, and opposition by the “Robe Nobles”

4. Absolutism: Louis XIV of France
• When he takes the throne at age 14, he claims to rule France by
divine right, as God’s representative in France
• To be an absolute ruler, however, he had to quell the nobility
• He did this by moving his residence and permanent court to Versailles (15
miles outside of Paris)
• This massive palace complex with many adjacent chateaus would become a
symbol of Louis’ power as a ruler
• The palace itself could house 15000, while the complex and surrounding chateaus could
house many more
• The importance of a given noble would be highlighted by their proximity to the king
• Residence in the palace, size of chateau, when they had an audience with the king
• Times of highest significance were when the king was dressing in his nightclothes, and
when he used the bathroom
• This focus on hierarchy, pomp, and the throwing of lavish balls and events allowed Louis’
intendants and civil service to run the country and overseas holdings with little
interference by the nobility

5. Absolutism: Versailles
What does a
palace like this
represent?
What does it
project to the
nobles?
To the common
people?
Who is paying for
this?

6. Absolutism: Hall of Mirrors
What do you
notice about
this room?
What is it
meant to
project?
Do you know
anything
about glass
making back
then?

7. Absolutism: Economics and Other Kingdoms
• Mercantilism – Developed by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, controller general of
finance under Louis XIV
• Regulation of economic activities by and for the state
• All trade, holdings, etc. should benefit the state
• Trade should bring in gold and silver, and export more than it imports
• Austria
• Habsburgs in Austria/Central Europe began consolidating power, similar to Louis XIV,
after the end of the Thirty-Years War
• Eventually begin expanding into Ottoman territory, taking Hungary and part of
Croatia
• Russia
• Peter the Great would also reign as an absolute monarch while expanding and
modernizing Russia

8. Alternatives: Constitutional Monarchy
• England
• After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 (end of the Tudors), her cousin James I
took the throne (Stuarts)
• James I, and Charles I (his son) both wanted to be absolute monarchs
• Refused to call parliament to session, eventually leading to a civil war (1642-1649)
between parliamentary forces and forces raised by Charles I.
• Oliver Cromwell (a Puritan member of parliament) defeated and captured the king
• Charles I was tried, convicted, and beheaded
• Cromwell lead the country until his death in 1658 (no king, called the Protectorate)
• In 1660 Charles I’s son was crowned King Charles II, Parliament was restored, as was the
Anglican Church
• James II (Charles II’s brother) inherited the throne in 1685, but was overthrown by his
daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange (they were protestant, James was
Catholic)
• William and Mary agreed to a constitutional monarchy, with all law-making power in
Parliament, and a separate judiciary
• Relied heavily on the ideas of John Locke (life, liberty, and property), though it was only a
partial democracy

9. Alternatives: Republic
• The Netherlands
• After gaining independence from Spain in 1648 the Dutch rejected an
outright monarchy
• Each region had its own leadership which handled domestic affairs, while the
central government only handled foreign policy and war (which still had to be
approved by each regional government).
• In practice, the House of Orange retained large amounts of power, leading multiple
regions at any given time, though they were checked by other regions and never
became a monarchy
• The wealthiest region, Holland, used its financial power to dominate the other six
regions
• All that being said, The Netherlands experience growth and prosperity during
this time and its people were better off than most elsewhere in Europe
• This prosperity was reinvested in ship-building and trade, which supplanted
Portuguese trade dominance in the Indian Ocean, and rivaled British,
Portuguese, and Spanish trade across the Atlantic

11. Background: 17th Century Crisis
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmKHYpC_jVs&list=PL8dPuuaLjX
tMsMTfmRomkVQG8AqrAmJFX&index=12

13. Scientific Revolution
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w70BkCqgyyI&list=PL8dPuuaLjXt
MsMTfmRomkVQG8AqrAmJFX&index=13
Copernicus and his model of the solar system.

14. The Rise of Russia
• Muscovy began as a city-state in the time of Kievan Rus’
• Mongols overtook Kievan Rus’ and many other East Slavic
principalities
• Mongol leaders rarely got involved in the actual control of the region,
relying on local leaders to collect and bring them tribute
• The Princes of Moscow were very good at doing this, and gained power
under Mongol rule, subjugating Moscow’s main competition, Novgorod
• Ivan III (Ivan the Great) stopped paying tribute to the Khan in 1476 and
held off Mongol forces in 1480, gaining independence
• He also married a Byzantine Princess (Sophia), solidifying the place of
Moscow in Eastern Christianity after the fall of Constantinople to the
Ottomans
• First ruler to occasionally call himself a “Tsar,” though his official title
was Grand Prince, or Grand Duke

15. Kievan Rus’ around 1000 AD
In relation to the rest of Europe
Center of power, and the Dynasty of Chernigov
The red shaded areas were all controlled by Slavic princes, except Novgorod (blue
circle, a republic). Novgorod and Pskov were major trade cities in the north.
Moscow (yellow circle) was a minor trade outpost until the late Mongol period.

16. Mongols sack Kiev and “Rule” Rus’ for around
200 years

17. The Rise of Russia
• Ivan III and his son, Vasily III, diminished the power of the
Russian nobles (Boyars)
• Boyars gained more power after Vasily III dies, leaving his three
year old son as heir
• When his son (Ivan IV, the Terrible) took the throne at age 16 he
began to take power back, declaring himself Tsar of all Rus’
• After the death of his wife, he began killing anyone who opposed him
• Like, not just killing them, but also their families…
• And their friends, and servants, and serfs that lived on their estates…
• He replaced these nobles with people loyal to him
• And further restricted the movements of serfs and city-dwellers
• Ivan the Terrible allied himself with Cossacks and took the last
few Mongol areas in European Russia

18. Through the end of Ivan
IV’s (the Terrible) reign
• Expanded from the darker brown
areas into the lighter tan
• Primarily contested with the
Swedish Empire (lime green) and
the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth (darker purple)
• Alliance with the Cossacks helped
in conquest of Northern Caucasus

19. The Rise of Russia
• When Ivan the Terrible died, he left the throne to his second son
(having *probably* killed his first son in a fit of rage)
• Fyodor I had no interest in politics or rule, and died in 1598,
without an heir
• 1598-1613 is called the Time of Troubles, during which there was
instability and fighting for succession, with much domestic and foreign
influence (including occupation by Polish-Lithuanian forces for a time)
• In 1613, the nobility of Russia led an army to overthrow Polish forces,
then elected Mikhail Romanov to be Tsar (he was 16, and related to the
previous dynasty by marriage)
• The next few monarchs would counterbalance Polish dominance
to the west and Swedish dominance to the northwest,
expanding Russia further into Siberia and Ukraine
• By 1682 Peter I the Great was crowned Tsar

20. The Rise of Russia
• Peter the Great
• Elected to inherit the throne because his elder brother died without an heir
• Since he was third in line, he was forced to co-rule with his half brother Ivan V (who
was mentally and physically disabled), and his half sister Sophia (who held the title of
Regent)
• After becoming sole ruler, he wanted to continue to expand Russia and
looked to Western Europe for inspiration
• He quickly took Azov, an Ottoman sea port on the Black Sea and began developing a
navy
• He traveled throughout Europe for a year and half, sometimes incognito, to learn
about ship-building and navigation, and to hire experts to return to Russia
• He reformed everything from styles of dress, to civil service, to architecture, aligning
Russia with European standards of the time
• Built Saint Petersburg as a European capital and Baltic port
• He goes to war with Sweden, eventually defeating them and expanding territory in
the Baltics, by the end of his reign, Russia stretched from the Pacific to the Black and
Baltic Seas

21. St. Petersburg
The city was built in a marshland and resulted in the
deaths of 30-100k people over the 18 years it was built.

23. Final Thoughts
• What do you know about the
Enlightenment?
• For next time:
• Be sure to finish Chapters 19 and 17.