4/21/2016
APEH Review Western European Governments
in the 17th Century
The English Civil War & Restoration
The Glorious Revolution
The Dutch Republic
Cardinals Richelieu & Mazarin in France
England in the 17th Century
The Commercial Revolution
• English middle‐class increased – proportionally the largest in Europe except for the Dutch
• Financed joint‐stock companies which played a role in colonizing North America
English Society
• Gentry = wealthy landowners who dominated House of Commons
• Willing to pay taxes: burden was more equitable and demanded a role in determining expenses
Religion
• Calvinists were the largest percentage and Puritans wanted change in the Anglican Church. 17th Century English Government
BIG PICTURE – HOW AND WHY DOES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
THE MONARCHY AND PARLIAMENT CHANGE?
Monarchy – Stuarts claimed Divine Right
Parliament
• House of Commons = gentry, lawyers, merchants who wanted traditional privileges – demanded a stronger voice
Anglican Church
• Episcopalians wanted hierarchical arrangement of the king, Archbishop of Canterbury and bishops determining doctrine
• Puritans wanted a Presbyterian form – more democratic
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The Stuarts – Divine Right of Kings
James I (r 1603‐1625) – claimed Divine Right and said even God calls the kings ‘god’
• Fought with Puritans in Parliament who wanted to purify the Church of England
Charles I (r 1625 – 1649)
• Divine right of kings, broke, opposed Puritans – like his father
• Petition of Right – 1628
 Nobody should pay a tax without consent of Parliament
 Nobody should be imprisoned without due process
 Charles decides he won’t call Parliament into session. 17th Century England = Religious Mess
• Single most divisive issue
• The Archbishop of Canterbury, encouraged by Charles, attempts to transform Church of England and impose English Prayer Book on Scots.
• Scots form an army and occupy northern England.
The Long Parliament, 1640‐48
• English need money to fight the Scots so Charles calls Parliament into session
• Parliament executes the Archbishop of Canterbury and limits royal power
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English Civil War
The Cavaliers
• Aristocrats, church officials who were loyal to the king and wanted a strong monarchy
The Roundheads
• Puritans, townspeople, middle‐class – favored a Parliamentary monarchy
• Led by Oliver Cromwell to defeat the Cavaliers
• Cromwell organized his New Model Army and executes Charles I
Leadership under Cromwell
Commonwealth & Protectorate
• Monarchy and House of Lords abolished
• Cromwell leads with the House of Commons
• Takes the title of Lord Protector and rules with the help of the army
Cromwell’s Tenure
Foreign Policy
• Crushed uprising in Ireland and replaced Catholic property owners with Protestant landlords – half of the Irish population dies from famine and plague
• Navigation Act of 1651 – barred Dutch ships from carrying goods between other countries and England so England could control its colonies
• Waged wars against the Dutch to weaken them.
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Cromwell’s Domestic Policies
• Puritans impose strict moral code
• Rules until his death in 1658.
• Prince Charles Stuart returns from exile
Crown is Restored!
• Charles II comes back to the same issues regarding the king and Parliament.
• Charles has no children so there’s a problem with succession – his brother James, a Catholic, is next in line.
• Division in Parliament over his successor:
• Whigs = no Catholics
• Tories = loyal to monarchy
James II Takes the Throne!
• James is pro‐Catholic and that worries Protestants. • His first wife was Protestant and their oldest daughter Mary was Protestant. She is married to William of Orange, a Dutch leader.
• His second wife is Catholic and gives birth to a son = Catholic successor
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William of Orange and Mary – an Invitation to the Throne
• Parliament invites William and Mary to overthrow James II, who goes to France.
• Parliament requires them to accept the Bill of Rights (1689)
• Parliament = free debate
• Taxation and laws = Parliamentary consent
• Monarch can’t be Catholic
• Parliament holds frequent sessions and dissolved only with their consent
• No arrest or detainment without legal consent
BIG PICTURE – GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
• Divine Right is rejected.
• Glorious Revolution placed limits on the monarch’s power.
• England becomes a constitutional monarchy controlled by aristocrats. The Enlightenment: the Beginning
Hobbes
• Leviathan
• Humans self‐
centered
• Strong government necessary for law and order
• Rulers should have absolute power.
Locke
• Second Treatise of Government
• People are reasonable and have goodwill.
• Natural rights – life, liberty, property
• Argued for limited government
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The Dutch Republic
Political Independence
• Not governed by an absolute ruler
Tolerant • Calvinism was dominant but others had religious freedom.
Economically Prosperous
• Leading commercial power during 1600s – especially Amsterdam
• Shipbuilding, replaced Italians as bankers, spice trade in the Indies
• Did start to decline after wars with England and France –
replaced by them as dominant powers
Dutch Artists
• Protestant country with no absolute ruler made Dutch art different – no Catholic Church or royals to commission art.
• Merchants bought paintings of themselves, families, possessions, land.
• Paintings focused on people and group portraits, landscapes.
• Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer – Golden Age for the Dutch
The Start of Absolutism in France
• Henry IV – a politique ‐ Edict of Nantes
• Made tax system more efficient
• Nobility was his biggest threat – “nobility of the sword” based on inheritance and military service.
• Henry conferred nobility by selling it –
“nobility of the robe”
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Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu
• Henry IV assassinated leaving his 9 year old son Louis XIII as the second Bourbon monarch.
• Louis appoints Cardinal Richelieu to be his chief minister – he acts as the real ruler until 1642.
• Richelieu increased royal power by weakening nobility
• Intendant system – replaced nobles with royal officials
• International affairs – wanted to limit Habsburg power
• Supported the Protestants during the Thirty Years’ War
The Fronde
• Richelieu and Louis XIII die – five year old Louis XIV assumes the throne with chief minister Cardinal Mazarin
• Nobles rebel, sensing weakness. Rebellions known as the Fronde
and were designed to limit power of monarchy, not overthrow it.
• Louis XIV flees to Paris, vowing to control the nobility. 7