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Period: Jan 1, 1500 to
Absolutism
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Aug 1, 1519
Charles V
-Lived from 1519-1556.
-King of Spain and grandson of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
Was also Holy Roman Emperor.
-Lead many wars against France, Protestants and Ottoman Empire.
-He later became a monk. -
Aug 1, 1533
Michel de Montaigne
1533-1592
He was a French magistrate who resigned his office in the midst of wars of religion to write about the need for tolerance and open mindedness. -
Aug 1, 1533
Tsar Ivan IV
(r.1533-1547)
Stopped at nothing to make Muscovy the center of the Russian empire. He would torture the priests, murder nobles, and even murdered his own son. He was also known as "the Terrible." He led Russian expansion eastward into Serbia and uncessfully into the west of present day Estonia and Latvia to provide Russia direct access to the Baltic Sea. Two main groups blocked Ivan's plan of expansion: Sweden and Poland-Lithuania -
Aug 1, 1543
Beginning of Scientific Revolution
Polish clergyman Nicolause Copernicus began the revolution in Astronomy along with Galileo Galilei (declaring that earth and other planets revolved around sun not the other way around). Along with this age of science was the creation of the scientific method, Newton and his three laws of Physics, and breakthroughs in Medicine. -
Aug 1, 1550
Witchcraft
Starting in 1550 trials of witches peaked in Europe between 1560-1640, around the same time of the Science Revolution. Those who were accused were usually female. Witches would mostly be blamed for miscarriages to madness. -
Aug 1, 1555
The Peace of Augsburg
Made Lutheranism a legal religion in the predominantly Catholic Roman Empire, but did not extend recognition of Calvinists. -
Aug 1, 1558
Elizabeth I
(r.1558-1603)
Elizabeth I succeeded her half sister Mary Tudor as queen of England. King Phillip had been married to Mary Tudor and seconed Mary's efforst to return England to Catholicism. When Mary died King Phillip proposed to Elizabeth but she refuse. She wanted to bring Protestantism back to England along with the Anglican church (Church of England). -
Aug 1, 1560
King Charles IX and Catherine de Médicis
Chalres IX (r.1560-1574) became king at age ten with his mother Catherine de Médicis (r.1547-1559) (she was a regent). Cathering tried to play the Bourbon (Protestant) and Guise (Catholic), but in 1562 civil war broke out in which many priests and pastors were murdered and massacres of whole congregations occured. -
Aug 1, 1562
The French Wars of Religion
(1562-1598)
Begining of religious wars between the Hugenots (Calvinists) and and Catholic armies. This occured due to the result of Calvinists sending missionaries throughout towns near Paris. -
Aug 1, 1563
Thirty Nine Articles of Religion (England)
Puritans were strict Calvinists who opposed all vestiges of Catholic ritual in the Church of England. However, Elizabeth rejected their demands for drastic changes in the church ritual and governance. n 1563, Queen Elizabeth issued the Church of England's Thrity Nine Articles of Religion, which incorporated elements of Catholic ritual along with Calvinist doctrines. But, Puritans angrily denounced the Church -
Aug 1, 1568
William of Orange
As a result of the Spanish Fury, Prince William of Orange led the Netherlands; seven Protestant northern provinces who allied with the ten Catholic southern provinces, and they were able to drive out the Spaniards. Even after William of Orange was assassinated in 1584, the Spanish troops never regained control in the north. Not till 1648 did the Spanish recognize the independence of the Dutch Republic. -
Aug 1, 1568
Moriscos
When Moriscos (Muslim converts to Christianity who remained secretely remained faithful to Islam) revolted in the south of Spain, killing ninety priests and fifteen hundred Christians . Phillip retaliated by forcing fifty thousand to leave their villages and resettle in other regions. In 1609, King Phillip II successor, Phillip III, ordered their expulsion from Spanish territory and by 1614 300,000 Moriscos were forced to relocate to North Africa. -
Aug 1, 1570
Theater in the Age of Shakespeare
First professional acting companies performed before paying audiences in London, Seville, and Madrid. Playwriting became even more popular as time went on. Theaters were very popular despite Puritan opposition in England and Catholic objections in Spain. More arts began to evolve, such as Mannerism and the Baroque in Art and Opera. -
Aug 1, 1571
Lepanto
King Phillip achieved the single greatest military victory of his reign when he joined with Venice and the papacy to defeat the Turks in a great sea battle off the Greek coast of Lepanto. His goal was to create Catholic unity and form an international alliance against Ottoman Turks. -
Aug 24, 1572
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
Because Catherine feared the rise of Guise influences she arranged the marriage of the king's Catholic sister, Marguerite de Valois to Henry of Navarre (a Huguenot and Bourbon). As a result of the wedding and of Catherine convincing her son to order the deaths of the Huguenit leaders, it let to bloodbath between Catholics and Protestatns on St. Bartholomew's Day. -
Aug 1, 1573
Ottoman Turks and Cyprus
In the east, the Ottoman Turks continued ther attacks seizing Venetian held Cyprus. In the Balkans, the Ottoamsn allowed their Christian subjects to to practice their faiths. They also tolerated many Jewish communites (whom were expelled from spain) -
Nov 1, 1576
Spanish Fury
When Calvinists in the Netherlands attacked Catholic churches in 1566, Phillip sent an army to punish these rebels. In November 1576 Phillip's armies sacked Antwer (Europe's wealthiest commerical city then). The Spanish soldiers slaughtered seven thousand people in a period of 11 days known as the Spanish Fury. -
King Philip II
1585-1604
-Ruled Spain, the Netheralnds, Southern Italy, and Americas.
-Son of Charles V
-Was an absolute monarch.
-Centralized power in Spain.
-Lead many wars with Netherlands and Ottomans.
-Created a Golden Century. -
Spanish Armada
Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots) spent 20 years under house arrest in England plotting against Elizabeth. In 1587, when a letter from Mary ofering her succession rights to Philip was discovered, Elizabeth ordered Mary's beheading. As a result, in May 1588, King Philip II sen his armada of 130 ships toward the English Chanel. However a great storm forced the Spanish to return home, and as a result the Enligsh defeated the Spanish. -
Thomas Hobbes
(1588-1678)
He was a royalist who srote his masterpiece calle "Leviathan" (1651) which he argued for unlimted auhtority in a ruler. He believed in absolute authority, which could be vested in either the king or the Parliament. He refered to science not religion. He believed that the only the assurance of social order could make people secure enough to act according to law. -
Henry IV (Henry of Navarre)
(r.1589-1610)
As a result of the assasination of Henry III, Henry IV or Henry of Navarre (a distant cousin and brother in law of both Charles IX and Henry III) became king. As a result of being king, he embraced Catholicism in 1593 so that the controversy between Protestatns and Catholics would end and also drive out the Spanish. -
Edict of Nantes
Henry of Navarre created the Edic of Nantes in which he granted the Huguenonts a large measure of religious toleration. Protestant were free to worship in specified towns, were allowed to have their own troops, fortresses and courts. The Edict of Nantes ended the French Wars of Religion, however Henry established monarchical authoriy. -
The Palace of Versailles
King Louis was well known for his public works projects, such as hospitals, new towns, urban improvement, but his most ambitious project was the construction of a new palace of Versailles (twelve miles away from the capital). The Geometrical arrangements and clear lines showed that art and design could tame nature and that order and control defined the exercise of power. -
Politics and Arts
Louis XIV appreciated the political uses of every form of art from mock battles, extravaganzas, theatrical performances, and even the king’s dinner. Louis loved the arts so to enhance his prestige (would call himself the Sun King after the Greek God Apollo). He even emulated the style and methods of ancient Roman emperors, for example, in 1662 when Louis son was born, he dressed in Roman attire. On the other hand, the king’s officials treated the arts as a branch of government (such as artists). -
Louis XIII
(r. 1610-1643)
He was a monarch of the house of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and King of Navarre (was successor of his father, Henry IV of Navarre). Because Louis XIII was so young when he became king, his mother, Marie de'Medici, acted as regent along with Prime Minister Cardinal Richelieu who governed the city and he inforced the importance of politics vs. absolutism, he created the Intendant System (creating efficient government), and he enforced the Peace of Alias. -
Gustavus Aolphus
With the Protestant interests in serious jeopardy, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden marched into Germany in 1630 declaring his support for the Prestant cause. Eventually, Swedish Lutheran and French Catholic powers fought together against the Catholic Habsburgs. Gustavus defeataed the imperial army and accuied the Catholic parts of southern Germany till his death in 1632. -
Archduke Ferdinand
conflicts really arose during the 30 years' war when the Catholic Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand was crowned king of Bohemia in 1617. He not only held the imperial crown of the Holy Romam Empire but also a collection of seperately administrated royal crowns, of which Bohemia was one. He began to take away the religious freedom and as a result the Czechs (largest ethnic group of Bohemia) responded with the defenstration of Progue and began resistance -
Thirty Years' War
Caused by conflicts between Catholics and Protestants within the Holy Roman Empire and eventually envolved most Euroean states. By the end (1648) the power had shifted from Habsburg of Austria and Spain, to France, England, and the Dutch Republic. It also led to more centralized and powerful states. -
Battle of White Mountain
A year after Ferdinand's election the Bohemians deposed him and elected Calvinist Frederick V of the Palantine. A quick series of clashes ended in 16620 when the imperial armies defeated the outmanned Czecks at the battle of White Mountain near Prague. The Czechs would not gain their independence untill 1918. -
Colonization of the New World
Economic realignment also took place across the Atlantic ocean because Spain and Portugal had divided the spoils of South American riches. In England, Puritans had moved to the Massachusetts in the New World along with the Mayflower of the Pilgrims to New Plymouth. By 1640 French Canada was inhibited by 3,000 Europeans. In the 1620's and 1630's the French and English took interest in the Caribbean (West Indies). -
Charles I verus Parliament
When Chales I (r. 1625-1649) succeeded his father, James I, he faced an increasingly aggressive Parlament because the Church of England had long troubled the relationship with the English crown over the disputes of the right to levy taxes and the nature of authority. In 1628 Parliment forced Charles to agree to the Petition of Right which made him promise not levy taxes. However, Charles refused to call Praliament into session between 1629 and 1640. Eventually the crown won the case to levy tax -
Edict of Restitution
Ferdinand issued the Edict of Restitution (as a result of the defeat of the Lutheran king of Denmark Christian IV by Wallenstein who raised an army for Ferdinand II even though by bearth he was Protestant) which outlawed Calvinism in the empire and reclaimed Catholic church propertires confinscated by the Lutherans. -
John Lock
(1632-1704)
John Lock rejected the traditional royalists on tn the defenses of absolutism. He believed in a social contract to provide a foundation of constitutionalism. -
France joins the 30 Years' War
France joined the 30 years' war by declairing war on Spain and soon forged an alliance with the Calvinist Dutch to aid them in their ongoing struggle for official independence from Spain. Also, the French king Louis XIII hoped to profit from the troubles of Spain in the Netherlands and from the conflicts between the Austrian emperor and his Protestant subjects. -
Frederick William of Hohenzollern
Before, the ruler of Brandenburg was an elector (one of the seven German princes entitled to select the Holy Roman Emperor). After 1618, the state was called Brandenburg-Prussia and Frederick William of Hohenzollern was the Great Elector (r. 1640-1688) and he succeeded in welding his scattered lands into an absolutst state. -
French Decline during 30 years' war
French began to face exaustion after years of rising taxes and recurrent revolts. Richelieu died in 1642, then Louis XIII took the throne, then Louis XIV (5 years old) took the throne, whose mother was a foreign queen from Spain, causing a period of instability, rumor, and crisis. -
Civil War between The Crown and Parliament
1642-1646
The civil war between king and Parliament lasted four years and divided the country. The king's army of royalists (known as Cavaliers enjoyed the most support in northern and western England and the Parliamentary forces (called Roundheads) had their strongold in the southeast including London. -
Louis XIV
1643: Louis XIV becomes King of France. He personified the absolute ruler and brought absolutism to France. In other words he shared the power with no one. In 1655 he declared to the Paris high court that he was the state. -
First Spanish defeat by French
The Spanish suffered their first defeat at the French hands. As a result, the Spanish lost Portugal (they eventually suppressd the Catalan revolt. -
Tsar Alexei
r. 1645-1676
Tsar Alexei of Russia wanted a bigger army, exclusive control over state policy, and a greater say in religious matters. As a result, the army grew emencly, the Assembly of the Land (where noble consulted) never met again after 1653, and Tsar Alexei took over the Orthodox Church and in 1666 the church council made the tsar as God's direct representative on earth. -
The Fronde
1648: The Fond posed a threat to the crown before Louis XIV could make absolutism the central of state authority. With the threat of a civil war, Mazarin and Anne of Austria (mother of Louis XIV) finally agreed to compromise with the parliament (involved with the Fond) and gave the opportunity for the nobles to reassert their power on the weakened monarchy and regain their control of local areas (which they lost after the Religious Wars). -
Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphallia (named after the German province where negotations took place). For the first time a diplomatic congress convened to address international disputes, and those signing the treaties guaranteed the resulting settlements. France and Aweden gained most from the Peace of Wesphalia and the Habsburgs lost the most. -
Poland-Lithuania, Cossacks and Deluge, and the Russo-Polish War
Unlike Russia, Poland-Lithuania did not follow the absolutist model. In 1648, Ukrainian Cossak warriors (Cossac was the name given to runaway serfs and poor nobles who formed outlaw bands from Russia in southern Russia and Ukraine) revolted against the king of Poland-Lithuania and this termoil was called the Deluge. In 1654 the Cossacs offered Ukraine to Russian rule, which provoked the Ruso-Polish was that ended in 1667 when the tsar annexed eastern Ukrain and Kiev. -
The Dutch Republic
When the Dutch Republic gained independance from Spain in 1648, it established a decentralized constitutional state. Rich merchants (regents) would control the internal affairs of provinces through the Estates General (stadholder) who was the executive officer who was in charge of defense and representing the state at all ceremonial occasions. The Estates General usually consisted of one of the princes of the house of Orange.The Dutch Republic's soon became most prosperous and educated in Euro. -
Death of Chalres I
In the middle of political struggle with Parliament, in late 1648, Independents in the army (lead by Oliver Cromwell) purged the Presbyterians from Parliament, creating a Rump Parliament. This Rump Pariament than created hight court to try Chalres and they found him guilty of trying to establish and unlimited tyranical power, leading to January 30, 1649 when Chalres I was beheaded -
Serfdom and the Code of 1649
Whe Tsar Alexei tried to expand state authority by making new administrative structures and taxes, rioting occured in Moscow and other cities. As a result, Tsar Alexei convened the Assembly of the Land (noble deligates) to create a strict social hierarchy in Russia. This code of 1649 assigned all people a certain class according to their state of living, in wich the slaves and free peasatns were merged into a serf class. Some peasants resisted renserfment, such as Stenka Razin in 1667. -
Leopold I
Leopold I (r. 1658-1705) was the Holy Roman Empire and was able to consolidate his power over many territories of different ethnicities, languages and relgions. He is mainly known for his confrontation of the Ottoman Turks. In 1682, the Battle of Hungary began. Austria controlled the northwest section of Hungary and the Turks controled the center, but wanting tribute from prices who ruled Transylvania, the Turks sieged the Austrian capital. However, with the help of the Polish A -
Charles II
(r.1660-1685) Chalres II promised to extend tolerance to other religous, such as Catholicism. He also moved quickly to reestablish royal authority: more than a thousand Puritans ministers lost their positions and after 1664 attending a service with a book that was not the book of Anglican prayer was illegal. In 1670 Chalres II made a secret agreement with Louis XIV on his conversion to Catholicism to exchange for money for a war against the Dutch . This later led to the Decleration of Indulgence -
Court Culture as an Element of Absolutism
when Cardinal Mazarin died in 1661 Louis XIV decided to rule without a first minister. His main attempt was to control France’s leading nobles, some of whom had opposed him militarily during the Fronde. -
Rise of the Slave Trade
After the Spanish and Portuguese had shown that African slaves could be transported to labor in South and Central Amerca, the English and French set up anew slave labor systems in the Caribbean islands. Eventually, in 1661 Barbados instituted a slave code that took away all of the Africans rights under English laws and slavery only applied to the blacks. Later in 1685, Louis XIV made a "black code" that regulated the legal status of slaves in French colonies and prevented non Catholics ownership -
Wars if Devolution
1667-1668
As absolutist governments always tried to increase their territorial holdings, Louis began to gain nrew enemies. In the War of Devolution, Lousi claimed that lands in the Spanish Netherlands should develolve to him since the Spaish king had failed to pay the dowry of Louis's Spanish bride. As a result, Louis defeatedd the Spanish, but in the end had to make peace witht he Spain when Enlgland, Sweded, and the Dutch Republic joined the war. the Treaty of Aix-laChapelle was made in 1668. -
Dutch War
1672-1678
Louis XIV declared war against the Dutch Republic because they stood in the way of his territorial expansion in the Spanish Netherlands. Declasring war on the Spanish again in 1673, the Dutch allied themselves with the Spanish (the Holy Roman Empire also joined this allied force). However, the French still held their ground and the Treaty of Nijmegen of 1678-79 was created, which ceded several towns and the Franche-Compé region to Louis, linking Alsace to the rest of France. -
Decleration of Indulgence and Test Act
King Chalres II made the Declaration of Indulgence (1673) which suspended all laws against Catholics and Protestant dissenter. However, Parliament refused to contiune funding the Dutch war unless Chalres took away the Decleration of Indulgence. As a result, Parliament created the Test Act in 1673 requiring government officials to have allegiance to the Church of England and in effect denying the Catholic Doctrine. -
Battle for Hungary
In 1682, the Battle of Hungary began under the rule of Leopold I. Austria controlled the northwest section of Hungary and the Turks controled the center, but wanting tribute from prices who ruled Transylvania, the Turks sieged the Austrian capital. However, with the help of the Polish, Austria was able to turn the siege on the Turks. This then led to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, in which the Ottoman Turks surrendered most of Hungary to the Austrians, marking the decline of the Ottoman power. -
James II
(r.1685-1688)
James II was the successor of Charles II (his brother). He was determined to force Catholicism on his subjects. However, Parliament disaporved of James II pro-Catholic beliefs and installed his Protestant duaghter Mary and her Dutch husband William prince of Orange as joint monarchs of England. This marked the triumph of consitutionaliims over absolutism in England. -
War of the League of Augsburg
1688-1697
As Louis pushed eastward, seizing the city of Strasbourg in 1681, in 1684 he invaded thed province of Lorraine, and in 1688 he attacked some of the small German cities of the Holy Roman Empire. Later, the War of the League of Augsburg took place, whic consisted of England, Spain, Sweden, the Dutch Republic, the Austrian emperor, and many German princes, who all fought against Louis XIV. In 1697 the Peace of Rijswijk was had Louis return many conquored lands except Strasbourg. -
Revolution of 1688
When James II became king of England he pursued pro-Catholic ways. As a result, Parliament deposed James and installed his Protestant daughter Mary, and her Dutch Husband Henry prince of Orange as monarchs of England. This Glorious Revolution marked the triumph of constitutionalism over absolutism in England.
