Professor Brophy
History 102

Lecture: Absolute Monarchy

Absolute Monarchy in Europe
    State Building in Seventeenth Century
    -the state defined
    -the necessary monopolies of rulers: coercion, taxation, administration, lawmaking
    -obstacles in establishing monopolies

 The Three Estates: A Society of Rank and Orders
-the Three Estates: those who pray, fight, and work— ‘timeless and God-given’
-hierarchy within rank: a complex society
-political representation of estates: Diets, Estates, Parlements
-defense of ancient customs and right to tax
-Estates’ customary rights and the consolidation of state power

French Absolutism’s Development, 1589-1652
-Henry IV (1589-1610), Cardinal Richelieu (1624-1642), Louis XIII (1610-1643)
-reduction of regional particularism
-consolidation of central gov. and army
-doubling of taxes between 1630 and 1650
-Cardinal Mazarin (1640-1660)
-the Fronde (1648-53)

Louis XIV  (1660-1715)
 Strengthening Absolutism
    -control of  nobles, law courts, estates, office holders
    -the use of royal commissioners (intendants)
    -control of trade and economy (Mercantilism)
    -the limitations of absolutism

IV  Louis, the Nobility and Versailles
-spatially defining social hierarchy at Versailles; the political function of court life
-absolutism’s use of bourgeoisie: merchants, officers, commissioners
-patron of Fr. Classicism:  Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Descartes, Pascal, etc.
-the French state embodied in monarch

V. State Oppression and War
-peasant revolts and suppression
-religious intolerance: the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685)
-foreign wars of expansion: Holland, the Rhineland, Franche Comte
-decades of war: 1667-68, 1672-78, 1685-97, 1701-1714

VI.  Continental Emulation
-the broad trend of absolutist state building in Russia, Prussia, Austria—why?
-governing compromises: noble submission to royal power for economic concessions
-the era of ‘enlightened absolutism,’ 1740-90:  law codes, compulsory schooling, abolition of torture, economic reforms; social disciplining
-state advantages behind ‘enlightened’ reform

VII.  Conclusions
 -noteworthy features: permanent standing armies, centralized bureaucracies, economic and legal uniformity, subordination of First and Second Estate to state structure, maxim of raison d'etat.
   -constraints of absolutism: little political development for Third Estate.
   -legacy of absolutism: the military and political power of the state.