We've talked about everything in this unit except the rise of absolutist rulers in the period 1648-1850. So let me put it this way, if the kings of the Middle Ages were like Charmander, and the new monarchs of the 16th and 17th centuries were like Charmeleon, then the kings of this period are like the first edition shadowless holographic Charizard. Which is to say that since the beginning of this course, Monarchs continued to grow in power, and now we're gonna talk about the high watermark, namely Absolutism.
And hey, credit where credit is due, that Pokemon example came from O'Hara through the eras over on TikTok, it's brilliant. And hey, if you want follow along note guides for this video and all my videos, the link is in the description. So if you're ready to get them brain cows milked.
Let's get to it. Now let's start with a definition. Absolutism indicates the process by which political power was transferred away from the nobility in the church and toward the monarch. In that way, it was the monarch that held most of the power in these absolutist states.
Before I introduce you to several of these big cheese kings and queens, let's talk about the factors that led to this new form of government. governance. The first factor was the weakened influence of the Catholic Church due to a growing acceptance and tolerance of Protestant practice and a lack of interest in religious warfare after the Peace of Westphalia. The second factor has to do with economics. As we've talked about in other videos, merchant classes were expanding rapidly during this period of global trade, and they in some measure desired absolute monarchs for the economic and political stability they could provide.
One of the main means by which absolute monarchs consolidated their power under themselves was by weakening their nobility. Prior to this age, the noble class in many European states held held a lot of power and they did a lot of the work of administration in the kingdom. But now absolute monarchs are going to start siphoning that power away from the nobility by creating giant bureaucracies that handle most of the administration of the kingdom.
And the big difference here is that the bureaucrats were answerable directly to the king, whereas the nobility was less so. Okay, now let's meet some of these absolutist monarchs, and I reckon we ought to start in England with James I. If you watched my video on the English Civil War, you'll remember that James I was significantly influenced by the idea of the divine right of king. This was the idea that a king had been granted the right to rule the kingdom. political authority by God and was thus answerable only to God, not to the nobility, not to the people, God alone. And so James tried to act in accordance with his divine right by spending money that was unapproved by Parliament.
But that presented a problem in England that won't be a problem in any other attempt at absolutism. In England, they had the Magna Carta ratified in 1215, which officially limited the power of the monarch. And so Parliament was always pushing back against James'attempts at absolutism.
And so in the end, England fought a civil war to establish the limited power of the monarch. And so James I's attempts at absolutism were a failure. Now, over in Spain, absolutism reached its peak in Philip II's reign. second in the second half of the 16th century. Philip was able to unite the Iberian Peninsula by capturing Portugal and repulse those pesky Ottomans in the Mediterranean.
But unfortunately for Philip, the rebellion in the Spanish Netherlands, which we talked about in another video, and the failure of the Spanish Armada to successfully invade England led to a decline of Spain's power over the next century. But James and Philip were just the appetizers of this magnificent absolutist meal, and now we get to the main course. If there was one monarch that had all the absolutist flavors baked in, it was our boy Louis XIV of France. In fact, Louis had a little catchphrase that he was fond of using, namely l'état c'est moi, which when being translated means I am the state.
In other words, by Louis'reckoning, the military is not the state, the nobility is not the state, the people are not the state. I, with my towering butt cut and magnificent tights, am the state. All power belongs to me. Now, this I am the state business didn't arise out of thin air. As a child, Louis was significantly impacted by the rebellion of the nob- ability in the commoners that was known as the fronde that began in 1648. Alarmed by the increasingly autocratic measures taken by France's chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, the judicial nobility encouraged commoners to riot.
And long story short, the chaos forced young Louis and his mother to flee Paris for safety. And while the violence died down a few years later, Louis never forgot the humiliation of fleeing Paris at the hands of the nobility and the chaotic rabble of commoners. Now let's take a closer look at how Louis XIV, once he came of age, consolidated power under himself.
The first way he did it was by means of the intendant system. Louis sent a bureaucrat to Paris to help him. The aristocratic agents called intendants to the various districts of France who acted as avatars of Louis himself.
And as such, whatever policies Louis passed, his intendants would make sure that they were obeyed throughout France. This undermined the authority of local governors and authorities and made sure all parts of Louis'kingdom were made to obey his will. The second way Louis consolidated power under himself was the construction of his magnificent Palace of Versailles. He mandated that the nobles live at least part of the year within the walls of Versailles, and in that way Louis was able to keep his eye on their behavior.
Additionally, by establishing an elaborate set of court rituals, nobles began to fight amongst themselves over who would be closest to the king and thus earn his favor both for themselves and the regions they represented. And just for poops and giggles, the most coveted position, I kid you not, was reserved for the guy who got to hand Louis his shirt in the morning. My liege. And by creating this kind of competition among the nob- ability, Louis was able to secure their loyalty and cooperation, and thus consolidated more power under himself. The third way Louis consolidated power under himself was by imposing religious uniformity throughout France.
If you've been around since Unit 2, you'll remember that in France there were a growing number of Huguenots, which is to say Protestant Calvinists. Now that caused a lot of trouble in France, none of which I'll rehash here, but Henry IV put in place the Edict of Nantes, which established an almost unheard of degree of religious tolerance in France for the Protestant minority. But Louis XIV decided that to have a state whose people did not all conform to his own religious belief, which is to say Catholicism, wasn't a good look for a man who desired absolute power.
And therefore, in 1685, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes. And in removing protection for the Huguenots, hundreds of thousands of them migrated to more tolerant states, robbing France of a healthy portion of their merchant class. And the fourth way Louis consolidated power was through his endless wars of expansion.
In order to finance Louis'endless wars, his finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert shaped the French economy according to mercantilist policies. This had the effect of decreasing France's debt, it breathed new life into domestic industries, it expanded France's colonial holdings, and created a favorable balance of trade. Well done, Colbert! But Louis'endless wars and French conquests cost a metric buttload of money and most of Colbert's work on this front was undone to finance.
And finally, let's head over to Russia and see how absolutism is taking shape over there, under Peter the Great. Now, by the time Peter became Tsar in 1682, Russia was still organized according to medieval standards. Other European nations in the West had adopted new technology and new methods of education and finance, while Russia lagged behind with a sort of feudalistic society. And to Peter, that was about as acceptable as a Russian man with a beard.
That joke will make more sense in a minute. But trust me, it's hilarious. Anyway, Peter went on a trip to some of these Western nations to see how they did things and returned home convinced that Russia had to westernize or else be overtaken by the Western nations. And so Peter was determined to transform Russia's political, cultural, and religious institutions.
In terms of political- institutions, Peter required nobles to serve in the army or civil administration. He created a series of ranks that nobles could move through, which meant that experts ended up on top, and this was essential to a modern government. Additionally, this made the nobility answerable to Peter himself. And that's how you get absolute power. In terms of cultural institutions, Peter didn't see any men sporting beards over in Western Europe, so he required the nobility to shave their beards and wear Western-style clothing.
He actually created kind of like a fashion police who would walk around the streets cutting off beards and trimming men's coats to an acceptable Western length. And this wasn't just for funsies. According to the Russian Orthodox Church, an unshorn beard was a sign of piety, and thus Peter was challenging the authority of the church by requiring the shaving of beards.
But don't worry, if you wanted to keep your beard, then Peter established a beard tax that allowed anyone to keep their lustrous chin music flowing. In terms of religious institutions, Peter reorganized the Russian Orthodox Church by eliminating the role of patriarch, which was kind of like the pope of the Orthodox Church, and he replaced it with the Holy Synod, which Peter populated with officials and ministers who would do Peter's bidding. Now, in order to pull all this off, Peter tripled taxes, and that meant most of the peasantry despised Peter.
despised Peter's reforms. However, Peter's work to westernize Russia brought the nation into the mainstream of European development, and that process was continued through his heir, Catherine the Great, on whom more in another video. Alright, click here to keep reviewing Unit 3. And since we're at the end of the unit and you are most likely getting ready for an exam, you can click right here to grab my AP Euro review pack, which will help you get an A in your class and a 5 on your exam in May.
Hey, I'll catch you on the flip-flop. Heimler out.