...The Idea of an Absolute Monarchy began to spread throughout Europe in the 17th century. Although absolution eventually occurred throughout Europe, its origins is accredited to France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was works such as ‘Leviathan’ by Thomas Hobbes, that advocated an authoritarian monarchy, that helped the establishment of this movement. In his theory, “ The war of all against all ( bellum omniun contra omnes) could only be averted by strong centralized government. It was this desire for centralized power that motivated Louis XIV, making him one of the most influential absolute monarch in history. He embodied the true notion of what being an absolute leader meant, by bestowing sovereign power onto himself, self proclaiming himself as the ‘Sun King”. Sovereignty being vested in one individual is emphasized through his alleged statement L’Etat, c’est moi, which means ‘The State is me’ . Louis XIV is considered to be the epitome of absolute monarchy by perfecting the practice of complete royal absolution. King Louis XIV will always be remembered by his control over nobility, competent ministers, culture affect and his self glorified taste in art. It was through this that he managed to make France one of the most powerful countries in history. After Louis personally took over the government, his first mission was to establish himself as the ultimate power. Inorder to achieve this level of centralized government, he had to weaken the power of the nobility. Inorder...
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...The English monarchy differed from other European monarchies during the absolute period. The age of absolutism is a period of time in history when most of Europe was ruled by absolute monarchs. An absolute monarch is a king or a queen with unlimited power. Some advantages of absolutism are quick decision making, good rulers, and an important force of unity. According to an article, “In Absolute Monarchy; the property is protected, industries are encouraged and art is developed. The monarch is like the parent of his subjects. An enlightened monarch can do much good for the people.” Disadvantages of absolutism include; less freedom, little say in government and a potential of tyrants to become leaders. “Since the Monarch stays in office till life, he can implement his policies for a longer time. The Government is stable in a Monarchy and changes do not take place very often. The Age of Absolutism took place around the 1600’s to the 1750’s. This is the period after exploration, providing European nation with overseas empires. Kings began to strengthen their power and become absolute monarchs. At this time there was a lot of external conflict in religion, wars and revolutions. People were desperate for a change and felt that someone powerful would make their communities improve quickly....
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...Journal #1 In my opinion, I think that Louis XIV would be a better ruler to live under compared to his grandson and Marie Antoinette. The Sun King was successful at his ability establish a stable and powerful hold over his country through absolute monarchy. Meanwhile, Louis XIV failed to do so and lost his head as a result. In addition, Louis XIV knew how to retain and maintain power, especially over the nobles. The very act of establishing Versailles as a seat of government control forced the nobles to come to him and seek his support. He was adept at playing the nobles off against each other, and was practically the archetype of absolute power. Although he certainly made mistakes such as his foreign wars, he kept a tight rein on...
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...The nature of European monarchies changed between 1500 and 1789. Prior to the Reformation, various levels of government had worked together to make laws and to govern the land. The Reformation destroyed that because it divided people at every level of society. A way around this problem came from the idea that monarchs got their power to rule directly from God. This power was absolute and indivisible. This theory came to be called the divine right of kings. Religious upheaval, continuous warfare, and increasing wealth gave divine right monarchs the opportunities they needed to take power into their own hands. As a result, most European rulers achieved more political power and less legal restraint on that power. England proved to be the great...
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...the period from the Restoration in England and the personal rule of Louis XIV up to the beginning of the French Revolution. Our textbook defines absolutism as “a political arrangement in which one ruler possesses unrivaled power (Western Civilization pg 184). Rulers received their power directly from God – theory of divine right – claiming they were above the law. As a result, absolute monarchs were viewed differently among the individual’s social class; the Noble’s view differed from the every day commoner’s view. Due to the divine right kingship beliefs monarchs receive an endless amount of power. Subjects believed God would only invest the ruler he appointed with powers that resembled his own, therefore any resistant to their monarch was forbidden. In Richard II, subjects look upon the Monarch of England as a godly figure. Throughout the play, King Richard and the Duchess make several references to “sacred blood;” a clear reference to Richard II being appointed by God (divinely appointed). An important nobleman, John of Gaunt, describes Richard II, “God’s is the quarrel; for God’s substitute/ His deputy anointed in his sight”(Shakespeare 13). Richard II is understood to be God’s presence on earth, once again supporting the theory of divine right. Subjects viewed god having two bodies, one present on earth and the other in heaven. The illusion of his holiness opened up many new avenues by which the king could influence his subjects. . Shakespeare displays this aspect of the...
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...prior to the war the Habsburg ruled Spain. The map shows us that in 1714, at the end of the war, the Bourbon family now controlled it because King Charles II willed his kingdom to Louis XIV’s grandson, Philip V of Spain. However, the Bourbon family ruling over Spain did not mean they controlled Flanders and Italy because they had to forfeit these two in the war and . The nation I believed gained the most from this war was England because as it states on page...
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...In the early 18th century Europe, the continent was split up between the conventional thinking monarchy called “Constitutional Monarchy” and the more powerful and self-considering “Absolutism Monarchy”. The Absolutism Monarchy was run by Kings and Queens that have absolute power over their people and no restrictions on political power over their sovereign country or state. In the textbook, “Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789, the author quotes Jacques Bossuet by saying “Royal Authority is sacred…religion and conscience demand that we obey the prince. Royal authority is absolute…the prince need render account to no one for what orders…even if kings fail in their duty, their charge and their ministry must respected…Princes are Gods.” Bossuet was...
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...Great Impact of a King on music and theatre Sinan Erk Mutafoğlu 11149 HUM 204 Prof. Filiz Ali December 2nd, 2011 In the 17th century, France witnessed political, social and artistic facts which were triggered by the relationships between Louis the Fourteenth, Jean-Baptiste Lully and Moliere. This relationship between these important figures of 17th century can also be delineated as the connection between the political power, music and theatre. Before emphasizing the interaction among them, it might be illuminating to specify their backgrounds in order to gain an insight about their relations. Following, I am going to specify on their relationships and their influences on French music and theatre. Louis the 14th, who is named as France’s Sun King, had the longest reign in European history beginning from 1643 until he dies in 1715. He had only five years old when he became the king of France, therefore the reign was almost dominated by the Cardinal until he died in 1661 ( Louis XIV, David J. Sturdy, pg 23 ). Following the cardinal’s death, Louis brought the absolute monarchy at the risk of taking both his mother’s and the council’s reactions (Louis XIV, David J.Sturdy, pg 34). Afterward, these reactions were also gravitated to the relation between Louis, Lully and Moliere. He established Versailles palace...
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...What is the theory of divine right monarchy, as outlined by Bossuet, and how does this political theory potentially come into conflict with the religious theory of the Catholic Church as represented by the Pope? Kings received power through god. Kings power is absolute through state. Bossuet asserted that “God establishes kings as his ministers, and reigns through them over the people.” He also stated that “the prince must be obeyed on principle, as a matter of religion and of conscience.” Those who argued otherwise were agents of evil opposed to the will of God.Louis XIV agreed strongly with these aspects of Bousseut's views, which conformed with his own ideal of himself as an absolute ruler: the so-called "Sun King." He did not, however, always follow Bousseut's preaching regarding Christian conduct and morality. Bossuet, who as a bishop also owed obedience to the pope, found himself caught by his own doctrine in a paradox in 1682, when Louis insisted on his clergy making an anti-papal declaration. Bossuet was tasked to draft the document, and attempted to make it as moderate as he could. The pope, however, declared it null and void, and Bousseut died before he could publish his defense of his views in Defensio Cleri Gallicani. In Baker’s reading, The Old Regime and the French Revolution, he goes into detail about Jacques-Benigne Bossuet’s role to King Louis XIV and his views, four characteristics, on the divine right monarchy in France. Bossuet was well known for his...
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...decreased the ambition of many kings got the best of them, and absolutism was born. In order to achieve absolutism, the king increased their control over the nation’s finances, religion and nobility, heightened the army and created a strong navy, expanded the size of government bureaucracy and worked to increase their territory size. Absolutism was the ultimate goal for many European rulers, this common goal of complete and unlimited control soon traveled its way to France, where this practice thrived. There absolutism became a political aid, brought about religious turmoil and depleted...
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...The French Revolution, which began in 1789 and ended in 1799, affected France not only politically, but also economically. During the 18th century, France was a vast and flourishing country that had troubles such as the systemic problem of collecting taxes or the treatment of the high to low system. France had a system with kings and nobles, also known as the Ancien Regime. In 1789, France was deeply in debt due to their funding of the American Revolution. Louis XVI spent half of his national budget to service the federal debt. Louis XVI tried to reform this system but failed miserably and France basically declared bankrupt. Everyone tried to reform the problems that were occurring but all they did was cause more problems to France. The harsh...
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...Causes for French Revolution France was the most powerful and influential European country in the 17th and 18th century. However,the outbreak of French Revolution in 1789 shattered the long existing absolute monarchy, destroyed the classic Old Regime and put an end to the age of aristocratic privilege owned solely by the royal family and the nobility. Europe’s longest ruling monarchy was not dethroned overnight, but many different factors from multiple sources, piled-up grievances and contradictions that were long precipitated, contributed to the finality of a traditional system and led to the establish of a modern constitutional government, together with democracy and nationalism. Under the reign of Louis XIV and XV, France had been put under an enormous financial and economic burden by 18th century. Louis XIV’s aggressive international policies had led to lasting and destructive Seven Years War outside the European lands and French government had experienced some period that the spending greatly exceeded the revenue income,especially with expensive military expenditures . And to make it worse, the outcome of these long drawn-out battles against the Great Britain oversea on the North America territory only threw French into bigger financial crisis. Normally the exceeding funds were borrowed, but by the time Louis XV passed away, funding sources may have been cut off and France was left in mounting debts. France had been seeking ways to repay its debts and interest, and to continue...
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...Participants: French society Location: France The French Revolution was a major event in modern European history. The causes of the French Revolution were many: the monarchy's severe debt problems, high taxes, poor harvests, and the influence of new political ideas and the American Revolution, to mention only a few. Starting as a movement for government reforms, the French Revolution rapidly turned radical and violent, leading to the abolition of the monarchy and execution of King Louis XVI. Though the monarchy was eventually restored, the French Revolution changed France and the rest of Europe forever. It inspired a number of revolutionary movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that made the final end to institutions such as absolutism, feudalism, class privilege and legal inequality, and spread the principles of natural right, equality and freedom throughout the world. The three main causes of French revolution are as follows: 1. Political Cause 2. Social Cause 3. Economic Cause 4. Intellectual Cause. POLITICAL CAUSE That time France was the absolute monarchy with a weak monarch king Louis XVI - French king of the Bourbon dynasty who took the throne in 1774; inherited massive debt problems but was unable to fix them. France had long subscribed to the idea of divine right, which maintained that kings were selected by God and thus perpetually entitled to the throne. This doctrine resulted in a system of absolute rule and provided the commoners with absolutely...
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...changes of government. The foundations of modern-day democracy can be found in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with the popularity of enlightenment ideals and the rise of an intellectual community that gave way to a growing criticism of absolute governments. All across Europe and even the Americas, dissatisfaction with the government grew as increased taxes and isolation from the ruling classes led to poverty, and ultimately revolts and disturbances targeted towards the absolute monarchies. In Switzerland and the Austrian Netherlands, urban radicals rejected the authority of Emperor Joseph II in Vienna. The American Revolution began with the colonial elite dissatisfaction with the government in London, while Britain and France had a succession of absolutist leaders who refused to share governing rights. The abuse and misuse of power by absolute monarchs inexorably led to the rise of modern democracy, as evident in the gradual decrease of monarchal power in Britain, and the French and American revolutions. The rise of democracy in Britain was a gradual change in power spanning multiple centuries and royal families. The ideals of democracy can be traced back to the Magna Carta, a charter that notorious absolute monarch King John of England was forced to sign in 1215, which introduced rights such as habeas corpus and the right for nobles to be...
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...RISE OF THE NATION STATE State, Nation, and Nation-state The present-day layout of the world’s political map is a product of humanities endless politico-geographic accommodations and adjustments. A mosaic of more than 200 states and territories separated by boundaries makes the world looks like a jigsaw puzzle. Human territoriality refers to a country’s (or more local community’s) sense of property and attachment toward its territory, expressed by its determination to keep it inviolable and defended. A state is a politically organized territory, administered by a government, and recognized by the international community. A state must also contain a permanent population, an organized economy, and a functioning internal circulation system (infrastructure). Since certain countries have internal divisions, the solution is to capitalize “State” (e.g. State of Florida, State of Uttar Pradesh India)). When used for the formally independent political units, the term country and state are interchangeable. A nation, by contrast, is a tightly knit group of people possessing bonds of language, religion, ethnicity, and/or other shared cultural attributes. Theoretically, a nation-state is a recognized country possessing formal sovereignty and occupied by a people who see themselves as a single, united nation. In only a handful of countries do state territories largely coincide with the distribution of people who feel they are part of one nation. Iceland, Portugal, Denmark, and Poland are...
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