TOPIC 4

STATE-MAKING
(ABSOLUTISM &
CONSTITUTIONALISM
How are we going to
build a State?
 FEUDALISM

Medieval kings faced constant challenges to their rule.

They were sovereign over their nations.
They competed in a real-life game of chess.

1. Church
2. Nobility
3. Representative Bodies
4. Towns
5. Universities
 The Church

The Church was not just

a religious institution in
early modern Europe –
bishops held considerable
wealth and influence.
 The Nobility
Medieval kings were heavily
dependent on the hereditary
warrior aristocracy.
 The Feudal Contract
The King provides

LAND
to his vassal.
The Vassal swears

FEALTY
to his king.
Banners
Medieval soldiers fought
under the banners of their
lords – not the king.

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Feudalism
Lord/Vassal Contracts
TOPIC 4
 Absolutism

Monarchs consolidating all

state power under themselves
in order to advance the needs
of their own state
 THE RISE OF ABSOLUTIST
ESTATES
 I. Weakened influence of the Catholic Church
 Growing acceptance and tolerance of Protestant
practices
 Lack of interest in religious warfare after the Peace of
Westphalia
 II. Merchant classes were expanding rapidly
during period of global trade
 Desired the economic and political stability absolute
monarchs could provide
 Power was shifting away from landed nobility into the
hands of new merchant class
“I am the State”
 As Mazarin consolidated
power in a centralized
state → therefore
diminishing the power of
the nobles that was just
too much for them.
 The Fronde threw France
into chaos, and Mazarin
ultimately prevailed.
Colonel Mazarin
The vast majority of French people realized that they needed
to have a strong ruler to protect them from each other and
from living in chaos → welcomed Louis XIV
Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes
 Mercantilism –
The Economics of
Absolutism
A nation should produce as much
of its own goods as it can
TOPIC 4
 Constitutionalism

Government is limited by
the rule of law, or to put it
another way, the monarch
has to share power with the
representative body, and in
the case of England, that
would be the Parliament.
The first cause of the war….

1642-1651
 “Divine Right of King”

• Monarch was God’s

representative on
earth, and any
curtailment of his
power is an affront to
God’s own power

• Magna Carta 1215

• Charles I took the

Charles I reign after James 1
died : continued
absolutism.
 The second cause of the war was economic

• Charles grew further embittered against the

Parliament because of the economic troubles
England faced after having fought the 30 Years
War, and the need to raise an army to fend off
an Irish rebellion as well.
• He and his father spent lots of money without
oversight from Parliament who was always trying
to rein in the spending of these extravagant
monarchs.
• Solution Charles came up with in 1629 to avoid
those restrictions = to refuse to call the
parliament into session.
• But in order to squash the rebellion in Scotland
Charles was forced to call parliament into
session in 1640 and it became known as the
“long parliament”.
Triennial Act
• Forced the king to call
Parliament into session at
least once every three
years, thus creating more
limits on the power of the
King, and so the tension
was revived.
The third cause of the war was religion
 English Civil
War
Conflict between the
king, Parliament, and
other elites over their
respective roles in the
political structure
Rump Parliament
Consequences of the English Civil War

England became a true republic called the Protectorate

Ruled as a military dictatorship with Cromwell as the head

Lord Protector
 With the ascension of William and Mary to the throne,
the idea of the divine right of kings in England was
officially put to death and England had established a true
constitutional monarchy.
 English Bill of Rights
• Included provisions for Parliament, not the
monarch, to levy taxes

• Stipulated that when Parliament made a law, it

could not be annulled by the monarch

• Additionally, William and Mary were not

allowed to assume the throne until they signed
the Bill of Rights.
ANOTHER EXCEPTION TO ABSOLUTISM –
THE DUTCH
• Strategic location on the Atlantic → the trading city of
Antwerp → Dutch = most prosperous state in Europe
during this period.
• For almost a century the region had been controlled by the
Habsburg rulers in Spain and as the Dutch grew
increasingly prosperous, Philip II of Spain decided to get
his hands on that wealth.
• He enacted policies that would clamp down on the
Netherlands and direct more of their wealth to the Spanish
throne. Furthermore, the Netherlands had become a
hotbed of Protestantism especially the Calvinist flavor.
• Philip (Catholic) became frustrated at their lack of
obedience. And when Dutch protestant agitators began
destroying and desecrating catholic churches across the
Netherlands, Philip sent an army to squash Dutch rebellion
and ended up killing thousands of Dutch protestants on
charges of treason.
• Protestant leader, William of Orange rose to leadership and
led the Protestants in ridding the Netherlands of Spanish Wiliam of Orange
influence.
• Dutch republic was officially formed by the
Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which in addition
to ending the 30 Years war, also ended the 80-
year war between the Dutch and the Spanish. As
a result of this the Dutch republic emerged as the
wealthiest European commercial empire
• They led in trade in the Atlantic world for a time
and had a large footprint in the Indian Ocean
trade as well.
• Now the newly independent Dutch did not
install a king but rather established an oligarchy
which is essentially a government ruled by a
small group of people. In this case the oligarchy
was made up of the urban gentry and wealthy
landowners which represented each province of
the Netherlands.
 Balance the needs of trading population
Oligarchy versus the interior agricultural folks
TOPIC 4
 REDEFINITION OF THE
GOALS OF WARFARE
 Before 1648 = wars of
religion
 Last phase of 30 Years War
= French sided protestant to
protect national interests.
 Wars become focused on the
balance of power between
1648-1815, not just in
Europe but globally.
 Seven Years War = massive
shift in the balance of power
Partition of Poland
The Battle of Vienna (1683)
 Battle of Vienna (1683)

 Ottoman Empire’s ambitions to push

further into Central Europe
 Tried to invade Austria to secure trading
routes along the Danube River
 Austrian Habsburgs, Poland (before
partition) and Holy Roman Empire united
to stop the invasion
 Restored the balance of power
 End of Ottoman expansion into Europe
 LOUIS XIV WARS

Dutch War
War of Spanish
Succession (1702-1713)
 The nations who
expanded their military in
the ways mentioned
earlier found themselves
on the winning side of
the balance of power
Comparison Age of
Absolutism and
Constitutionalism
CENTRALIZED AUTHORITY -
ABSOLUTISM
• Foundation laid by new monarchs
• Centralizing tax collection
• Controlling the religious life of the people
• Development of absolutism in France →
starting with Louis XIII and Cardinal
Richelieu. Peaked during reign of Louis XIV
(1638-1715)
 ABSOLUTISM

•Military directly responsible to the

King
•Independent sources of revenue
•Creation of a service nobility

•Absolutism became the model =

Prussia, Austria, Russia
The Absolutists

Louis XIV Peter the Great The Fredericks

of France of Russia of Prussia
17TH & 18 TH C.

THEIR GOAL?
SOVEREIGNTY
Supreme and Independent

Power
CENTRALIZED AUTHORITY -
CONSTITUTIONALISM

• Adopted in England and Netherlands

• England moving same direction with
continental Europe with Henry VIII and
Elizabeth I → exercising control over religion
etc.
• Elizabeth died; Stuarts of Scotland became
joint monarchs of England and Scotland
CENTRALIZED AUTHORITY -
CONSTITUTIONALISM
• Rejected by religious dissenters:- Puritans,
Separatist & Calvinist;
• the gentry → landowners, gentlemen
• Interests of religious dissenters and the gentry
combined → English civil war → King Charles
I beheaded (1649)
• Period of interregnum (1649-1660) →
Restoration of monarchy
• Post 1648, people rebelled when monarch
converted to Catholicism → Glorious
Revolution of 1688
 GLORIOUS REVOLUTION

• Significance: put to rest the conflict between

the Crown and Parliament
• Monarchy continued but its power reduced!
• Glorious Revolution: Parliament will be the
governing body and in-charge of law-making
SOVEREIGNTY
The Authority to Reign
 ABSOLUTISM AND
CONSTITUTIONALISM
 Both establish a central authority that was able to make
decisions and cannot be questioned.
 Absolute states on the Continent : sovereignty resides with the
monarch
 British system : a constitutional monarchy with the monarch
technically being sovereign, but true sovereignty lying with
Parliament
 Both cases: centralized assignment of sovereignty → someone
who is able to make political policy, and we see that European
states were being created.
 Poland never able to adapt itself to this new centralised state
→ partitioned by Austria, Prussia and Russia.
 ABSOLUTISM AND
CONSTITUTIONALISM

 Absolutism : royal control

 Constitutionalism : parliamentary control
 Mercantilism emerged: state control of
trade
 Warfare changed
 Large standing armies
 Focus on balance of power