Chapter 16 - The Royal State in the Seventeenth Century

Theory of the Monarchy

Theory of the Monarchy:

• In theory all nobles were equal, but in practice they were divided by office and wealth

King:  “1st Noble”

• Source of Kings authority was representing the nobility

1. Nobility never disobeyed a direct order, may at times subvert orders

Royal Family:  “Princes of the Blood”

• Direct relatives of the king were the next highest nobles in practice

Great Nobles:  had titles (Duke, Earl, Count, Etc.) and wealth

• Held cast lands and amassed great wealth
• Typically lived at or visit court for extended periods of time
• Usually had direct access to the king

1. Importance of wealth

Middle Nobility:  Had enough money to visit court but could not stay

• Lived in the countryside
• Connected the upper nobility and the people

Lower Nobility:  Had enough money so that they did not labor directly

• Could not afford to visit court, relied on Great Nobles
• Served to connect upper nobility to the people

• Nobles increased their wealth (thus power) through Royal Offices and Pensions

1. Meant that they needed contact with the King
2. Must go to court

16th Century Government

• Very weak relative to contemporary standards

1. No ability to enforce policy

• No police or significant bureaucracy

• Key to government power was the ability of the govt. (King) to influence the nobles through a sense of personal persuasion
• Moral Authority to lead

1. The greater a king’s Moral Authority the more difficult to resist

• In the purest form kings will make themselves out to be a sacred element of govt.

Keys to Moral Authority:

1.  Effective “Public Display”

• Purpose: to show that the king’s will was that of the people and must be followed
• Image was everything
• Used quasi-religious rituals and ceremonies to demonstrate Moral Authority
• Goal was to establish a sense of “deference” to illustrate a king’s right to lead
• Kings used Royal Offices and Pensions as an enticement
• Result:  King became seen as a divine figure

Ex.  Louis XIV made himself into a sacred object to increase his Moral Authority

2.  “Mystery of the State”:  Ruling became a “cult” of knowledge not shared among the nobility or people

• “State Secrets” were closely guarded
• Develop the idea that only the king could make key decisions, thus no one should question him
• Knowledge was power

3.  “Reason of the State”:  Kings were to act in best interests of the state for reasons known only to themselves (connects w/ “Mystery of the State”)

• Others may not / could not understand the higher purpose

4.  Law:  An expression of the Kings will

• Justice was the kings will, thus Kings not subject to Justice
• All justice was performed in the King’s name

Overall Result:  Concept of the State was tied directly to that of the King

• Created a tension between Kings and the State (Nobles)

Eastern Europe: Tensions solved by a winner: 1.  Poland:  Nobles won, central govt. failed 2.  Russia:  Peter the Great won, despotism

Western Europe: Tensions remained unsolved: 1.  France:  King gained advantage over nobles:  Absolutism 2. England:  Nobles gained advantage over king:  Constitutionalism

French Absolutism:

Response to growing social, political and economic crisis / change:

Absolutism:  Ultimate authority rests w/ monarchy through Divine Right

• Note Arbitrary govt. was hated, govt. not subject to any control / law

How to extend state power:

1.  Extension of the Legal System:  Sacred right of kings

• Kings implemented officials to enforce justice

1. usurp power of hereditary monarchy (Nobles of the Robe)

2.  War

• Armies increasingly became the province of the government
• Forced states to reform taxation

3.  Taxation

• Money meant power, had to establish the RIGHT to taxation
• Fr.  Paulette, tax on office holding
• Sp. Millions, tax on consumption (meat, wine, oil)
• Eng.  Customs duties

Impact:

Conflict between the states right to taxation and the nobles view of taxation as arbitrary government (theft) - Fronde was an example

King's Court:

• Where decisions were made
• Dominated by the king and their "favorites"

1. Fr.  Cardinal Richelieu
2. Sp.  Count-Duke Olivares
3. Eng.  Duke of Buckingham

• Court favorites had to balance favor of the king with hatred from their peers

1. Often times the subjects of conspiracy and assassination
2. "fall guy" of the regime

France:

Louis XIII:  became king as a boy

• Cardinal Richelieu ruled for him, two goals:
• Strengthen Monarchy     
• Strengthen France

 

1. Tried to weaken Huguenots independence (revokes Edit of Nantes)
2. Tried to weaken Nobility
3. Control local government officials
4. Sided with Protestants in 30 Years War
5. Very much a Hobbesian view

Louis XIV:  became king as a boy

• Cardinal Mazarin ruled for him, same goals as Richelieu

1. Fronde (Nobles revolt in Paris- Richelieu)
2. Crushed early revolt by the nobility

• 1661 Louis Ruled for himself (Surprised everyone)
• Used central policy making to control all of France
• Relied upon on intendants to enforce policy instead of nobles
• Controlled nobles by making them dependent on king for appointments to public office

1. Required them to come to court (Versailles)

Jean Baptiste Colbert:  Finance Minister under Louis XIV

• Mercantilism:  Wealth tied to accumulation of gold / silver through favorable balance of trade
• Import raw materials, export finished products to achieve a Favorable Balance of Trade
• Protect industry with Tariffs and subsidies
• Develop colonies for source of raw material and markets
• Build infrastructure for trade

Marquis de Louvois (Minister of War) used $ to build a massive standing army

• Reorganized and built the largest army in all of Europe
• Increased Louis's control over the nobles

Versailles:  Louis XIV hunting lodge turned into a palace and center of the royal court

• Great "display" of Royal power / authority
• Louis XIV as "Sun King"

1. Became a symbol of Louis XIV’s power and strength of the monarchy
2. Center of French government
3. Place of prominence for nobility (everyone wanted to be there, to get a good job from the king)

• Nobles became too busy with the hierarchy of Versailles to get involved in politics, leaving Louis total control
• Complex set of etiquette
• Expensive to live there
• Gambling problems of the Nobility

Problems / mistakes:

• Foreign wars bankrupted the French monarchy while achieving little
• Persecution of Huguenots (Revoked Edict of Nantes in 1685)

1. Commercially inclined Huguenots emigrated to the Netherlands

Impacts:

• France became the leading European Nation
• French language became an "international" language
• France became a commercial powerhouse of Europe

1. Fought many wars both successful and unsuccessful

• Further weakened Spain
• Left France in economically weak position from wars

Crisis of the Royal State

Growth of Royal Government resulted in a Backlash

• Church, Towns and Nobles
• Why?

1. Taxation
2. More Laws
3. Declining harvests throughout the 17th Century

Need to resist:

• General population decline signaled difficult times

1. Bad harvests
2. War (indirect effects: disruption of agriculture / trade & disease)
3. Govt. raised taxes, people didn’t have the money

• Peasants hit hardest, along with nobles dependent upon rents for income

Resistance:

• Grain riots:  largely peasant revolts, localized and ineffective, unless local authorities joined
• Bread riots:  urban riots led by women over the price of bread
• Riots:  a form of political expression

Resistance Theory:

• Luther and Calvin:  Authority to rule tied to god, lower magistrates had authority to revolt
• French Wars of Religion

1. Mornay:  A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants

• Nobles had the right to rebel

1. Mariana:  The King and the Education of the King

• Commoners had the same religious duty as nobility to revolt against an ungodly king

1. Milton:  The Tenure of Kings

• Society formed by a convent b/w king and people, one side broke the convent so could the other

Examples of Rebellion

• Spain:  Catalonia rebelled over taxation and extension of kingly power

1. Weakened Spanish monarchy, pulled the French into Spanish politics

• France:  Fronde.  Parisian revolt of traditional nobility, office holders and land owners

1. Mazarin and Anne of Austria (Louis XIV’s regent) taxed all of the above groups and    they rebelled
2. Began a tradition of revolt by the Parlement of Paris

• English Civil War

English Civil War:

Elizabeth I:  Henry VIII’s daughter, image was astoundingly popular among the people

• Left English treasury empty
• Paid bills by selling off Royal Lands (seized from the Catholic Church)

Chronology of Stuart Kings:

• James I
• Charles I
• Charles II
• James II

James I:  Elizabeth’s cousin from Scotland, began the Stuart Monarchy

• King of two countries (Scotland and England)
• Religious divide in England (Episcopal and Puritan)
• Ireland unsettled (conquered under Elizabeth), began colonization of protestants to subdue the Irish (has not worked well)
• Generally not popular in either Scotland or England

Charles I:

• Just as generally unpopular as James I

Two Problems:

• Elevated William Laud to archbishop of Canterbury

1. Religious reforms provoked Scottish rebellion

• Tried to collect taxes without consent of Parliament

1640:

• Charles called parliament to raise taxes to put down Scottish rebellion

1. Parliament refused
2. Charles disbanded them
3. “Short Parliament”

• Charles called a second parliament:  “Long Parliament”

1. To get money Charles agreed to not disband current Parliament and to call parliament on a triennial basis
2. Henrietta Maria convinced Charles to eliminate Parliamentary leadership         

• “Five Members incident”

1. Disagreements became more radical
2. Charles forced to leave London, goes to York

• Both sides began to raise troops

Civil War:

• Charles forces won at first
• Parliament made a deal with the Scottish – Covenant

1. Began to press Charles

• 1644 Scots and Parliament fight over religion and Charles once again gained the advantage
• New Model Army

1. Rise of Oliver Cromwell, increased discipline and promoted on merit
2. Crush Royalist forces by 1646

• Charles was captured and ransomed by the Scots, then kidnapped by the New Model Army

1. Parliament tried to negotiate a peace with Charles I, he refused to compromise
2. Charles tried to ally with the Scots
3. New Model Army crushed the Scots

• New Model Army tried Charles I for Treason and sentenced him to death

1. Parliament began to show signs of unreliability (refused to convict king)
2. “Prides Purge” led to the Rump Parliament (only N.M.A. supporters)

• Convict king, why?

• Parliament dominated by Cromwell – create the Commonwealth

1. Parliament not following Cromwell, 2nd purge – “Barebones Parliament”
2. Eventually eliminated the “Barebones Parliament”

• Cromwell declared himself “Lord Protector”

1. “Instrument of Govt” – Lord Protector and Council of State

• Cromwell’s death – Richard took over (son)

1. Failed to have the charisma to lead

• Army took over and restored the Stuart Monarchy to provide stability

Sequence of Events:

• Reform Monarchy
• Monarchy denied reform
• Radicalization
• Dictatorship
• Power vacuum
• Return to the beginning

Charles II became king

• Largely a powerless king
• Take away king’s power of secrecy

1. Weakened moral authority

James II (brother) succeed Charles II

• Elderly and childless, English will tolerate him
• Attempted to restore the power of the monarchy
• Catholic, hired Catholic ministers
• Had a son, attempted to create a Catholic dynasty

Glorious Revolution

• Parliament feed up with James II
• Negotiate a take over with William and Mary (James’s daughter) of Orange

1. Protestant

• Accept the Declaration of Rights (ensured Parliamentary meetings) and        Toleration Act (religious freedom) 1689
• Basis for a Constitutional Monarchy

• Locke provided the intellectual basis for the English Revolution

Prussia

Fredrick William built a large standing army to protect Prussia

• Military became the basis for Prussian unification under Fredrick William’s son, who became King Fredrick I
• Prussian Monarchy controlled the nobility through inclusion in the military

Result:  Prussia became a high centralized and militaristic state

Austria

Hapsburgs defeated in 30 Years War, but they drove the Turks back in 1687 and expanded eastward

• Austrian Empire included:  Czech, Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia and Slovenia

Result:  Austrian Empire included a multitude of nationalities making effective centralization difficult

Peter the Great

Peter became Tsar in late 17th century
Determined to westernize Russia in order to MAKE RUSSIA INTO A GREAT STATE AND MILITARY POWER         

• Borrowed technology in an attempt to increase power of military
• Reorganized the Army (standing army of over 300,000) created first navy
• Divided Russia into provinces to better enforce central policy

1. Used force to control bureaucrats, but still wanted them to use free will

• Tried to institute a form of Mercantilism, but it was ineffective

1. Relied on raising taxes to increase revenue

• Gained total control of the Russian Orthodox Church
• Tried to implement Western Cultural practices in Russia

1. Shaving, short coats, etiquette
2. Women moved into a more public role

• To increase trade Peter needed a warm water port

1. Fought Sweden and eventually built St. Petersburg

Reforms help and hurt the Russian people:

• Powerful military – very expensive
• Westernized culture – only wealthy class (coats, beards, dentistry)
• Used of force – leads to distrusted of Tsar