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France: |
Louis XIV
The French Wars of Religion (1562-1598) was part of a long tradition dating back to the roots of French history, in which the aristocracy and the monarchy battled each other for supremecy. Calvinism has made an early following in France (well Calvin was French, his supporters were called Huguenots). Catherine de Médici would play an important role in France as she was the dominant force behind her sons, Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III who together reigned between the years 1559 and 1589, the last king Henry III would be the last Valois King. Behind the scenes of the French monarchy there emerged a power struggle between the three prominent families. These three families hoped to create a weak monarchy. The Guises, which was the most powerful family turned to a militant form of Catholicism. Yet the other two families, the Montmoency and the Bourbon Families converted to Calvinism. The Wars of Religion began when the Duke of Guises, saw Huguenots worshipping and had them killed. After 10 years the Huguenots had an upper hand. Henry of Navarre, a young Bourbon prince, married King Charles IX's sister. Catherine sought to create a balance of power between the families and to protect her sons. When the Huguenot aristocracy gathered in Paris to celebrate a wedding, Catherine told her son, Charles IX, to do what will be known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in which almost 3,000 people in Paris and almost 25K Huguenots were killed throughout France. Henry of Navarre promised to return to Catholicism. In 1589, Henry of Navarre became King Henry IV, thus establishing the Bourbon dynasty in France that would rule until the French Revolution of 1789. In 1593, he converted permanently to Catholicism and said that "Paris is worth a Mass." He was like Elizabeth of England a Politique, a person who puts the interest of the state before the goals of religious unity. In 1598, he issued the Edict of Nantes granting Huguenots rights. Henry worked hard for centralization of France. In 1610, after Henry's Assassination, his son, Louis XIII would succeed him, and his minister would be the Cardinal Richelieu who took away many parts of the Edict of Nantes. Louis XIV, succeeded his father at the age of 5. His minister would be Cardinal Mazarin. During this time the Fronde was occurring in France. During the Fronde in Paris, Louis had to flee. Louis wanted payback against the aristocracy. He used the notion of divine rights to rule. Egotistical was Louis XIV: L'etat c'est moi, meaning ("I am the State"). Louis built the palace of Versailles 12 miles outside of Paris. Living in Versailles, along with members of the Aristocracy, Louis had a better hold of power over the nobility. His minister Jean Baptiste Colbert instituted Mercantilism. In 1685 he completely revoked the Edict of Nantes. During the reign of Louis XIV, France was involved in a series of wars for territorial expansion. These wars included the Wars of Spanish Succession, in which Louis wanted to put his grandson as King of Spain, this move provoked anger from the English. The English and the French would fight a series of Wars that began in the late 1600's and ended in the mid 1700's with the Seven Years' War. These wars resulted with the French peasantry pressed to pay taxes to support Louis' desire for glory.
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England: |
Elizabeth I
Contrary to France which had witnessed the rise of Royal Absolutism, and the diminishing of the Estates-General (the French Parliament), the English had a completely different path. In England after a long conflict between the Monarchy and Parliament happened, Parliament had won. The victory did not abolish the monarchy, even though in 1650's it was kicked out for a decade, Parliament had become the dominating force in English Politics. This is their story: During the War of the Roses, the York and Lancaster Houses fought over who would dominate the monarchy. At the end of the war, a Lancaster, Henry Tudor won. Following the death of his father in 1509, Henry VIII became King. He restored royal authority. He created a small yet effective bureaucracy. In 1534 he made a political decision when he broke with Rome and created the Church of England. After his death his children, Edward VI, and Mary Tudor would enjoy the prestige of the restored monarchy. Yet the greatest of all the Tudors was Elizabeth, who reigned between 1558 and 1603. She was a politique, and played mind games with the rulers of Europe in giving them hope that she would marry them, this enabled her to get the support of many. Yet we do not know if she really was the "Virgin Queen." Yet she was concerned over religion to a degree. In Scotland, Mary, Queen of Scots, was the Catholic ruler of that country. Mary was the cousin of Elizabeth and because it seemed that Elizabeth would have no children, Mary was also the apparent heir to the throne. Yet as I said before, she was Catholic. For many years, after an uprising by Scottish nobles, Mary had to flee, and went to England. Where she was Elizabeth's prisoner. Many in the Catholic European community saw Mary as an opportunity to revoke the English Reformation and once again instill Catholicism in England. After Mary plotted with Phillip II of Spain, Elizabeth decided to settle her problem with the Scots and distance herself from Mary. In the Treaty of Berwick, she entered in a defensive alliance with Scotland, recognized Mary's son James, who would be raised as a Protestant as the King, and privately made James her successor. In 1587 Elizabeth decided to chop off Mary's head. In 1588 she defeated Phillip II's Spanish Armada. After this there was a cultural flourishing. This was when Shakespeare and others took part in what is known as the English Renaissance. When Elizabeth died in 1603, King James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, inherited the throne. He would rule as King James I of England, Scotland, and Wales (Under Act of Union of 1707), he wanted the whole Divine Rights of King to take place, and wanted to rule like the French Absolutist Monarchy. He was in a collision course against Parliament. The Puritans were not happy with the Religious course that England was heading towards. In 1603 most Puritans still belonged to the Church of England (Ladies and Gentlemen, now this is where AP US History start!), they were a religious minority. They wanted to "purify" the Church of all traces of Catholicism. James liked the Church of England as it was. After Puritans did a petition to James asking him to reform the Church, James denied the petition. Famous Quote "NO BISHOP, NO KING", meaning that by weakening the Church, he would also would have been weakening the monarchy. These puritans got pissed and went over to the New World, where they would eventually found the colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. This was James program: unite England and Scotland, create a standing army, and set up a new system of royal finances. He kept England out of the 30 Years' War. His son Charles I (r.1625-1641) succeeded him. Charles and Parliament's relationship got off to a bad start. When parliament gave him less money for his needs. Then Charles wanted increase taxes to pay for some military struggles. Parliament sent him a Petition of Rights in 1628, which Charles was forced to sign. Petition of Rights: King can not demand loans without Parliamentary consent; prevented individuals from being imprisoned without probable cause, and government was barred from housing soldiers in private homes without the owner's permission, and finally outlawed martial law. After an incident in 1629, Charles dissolved Parliament. For the next eleven years, in what is known as the Personal Rule of Charles, was the law of the land; Charles did not call Parliament. By 1637, Charles was the man! He had balanced a budget, his government policies and restructuring looked effective. Yet within 4 years the country would be in a civil war. For three weeks, Charles called back Parliament (known as the Short Parliament), and was dissolved after it didn't give Charles what he wanted. Charles then was forced, because he needed money, to call another Parliament. This became known as the Long Parliament, since it met for an unprecedented 20 years. The Long Parliament impeached 2 of Charles' chief ministers. In 1642, after Charles left London for failing in capturing 5 leaders of the House of Commons, the English Revolution began. At first parliament was loosing. Oliver Cromwell became the face of the opposition. Cromwell, a Puritan, defeated the King of England in 1648 and he took the decision of executing the King, a move that horrified the nation. Between 1649 and 1660, officially England was a Republic. It really was a military dictatorship with Cromwell at the top. When Cromwell died, an exhausted England that was fed up with Cromwell's shenanigans, wanted to bring back the Stuart Dynasty. In 1660 the eldest son of the hanged Charles I, became Charles II. This marked a new era of Royal centralization. Charles II's younger brother, James II succeeded him. Now James was a Catholic. He demanded the Repeal of the Test Act, an act that barred Catholics from serving as Royal officials or in the military. James wanted to make England a royal absolutist state. The final stage took place in 1688. After James fathered a son in June 1688, there would now be a male heir of England who would be raised a Catholic. This frightened the Protestants. The Protestants invited William, the Statholder of the Netherlands, and the husband of Mary, the protestant daughter of King James II, to invade England. When William and Mary's troops landed James left the country. This was known as the "Glorious Revolution" since there was little fighting. These were important acts:
The Bill of Rights (1689): The power to suspend Parliament was illegal, armies could not be raised without Parliamentary consent. Elections to Parliament were free from royal interference. Monarchs had to be protestants, and declared that monarchy could not pass into the hands of Catholics.
Act of Toleration (1689): Granted the right of public worship to Protestant non-conformists but was not extended to Unitarians or to Catholics.
Mutiny Act (1689): authorized use of martial law to govern army. Yet was on a year to year basis.
Act of Settlement (1701): Prevent Catholic Stuart line from occupying the English Throne. In 1714 when Queen Anne, the second Protestant daughter of James II, died childless, and then the throne passed to George I, the Elector of Hanover, a Protestant Prince.
The Glorious Revolution was important in that it affirmed that Parliament was now the dominant player in English Politics, creating a Constitutional Monarchy in England, that to this day still remains.