Seventeenth-Century Crisis and Rebuilding

What were the common crises and achievements of seventeenth-century

states?
Economic and Demographic (nhn khu)
stagnation and retrenchment (tr tr v mt vic lm) because religious,
government, war, climate
Agricultural, manufacturing drop because tax, climate, low technology >>
famine >> population rate drop
Religious and dynastic conflict >> war >> change Euro >> larger Army >>
higher tax and new bureaucracy (quan liu) but more power >> increased
ability to compel obedience from their subjects >> stability was solved by
1680
While seventeenth-century states did not acquire total sovereignty, they made
important strides toward that goal.
popular revolts >>> Uprisings that were extremely common in the
seventeenth century across Europe, due to the increasing pressures of taxation
and warfare.
Review:
Rural society was dependent on crops, especially grain, so when a period of
colder weather came, crop yields fell, bringing famine, malnutrition, and
disease.
Economic crisis hit the urban poor and peasants hardest and often led to
moral economy tactics: when bread prices were too high, the peasants
seized the grain or bread to resell or redistribute at just prices.
Absolutist monarchs had full personal control, while constitutional
monarchs followed laws representative institutions passed.
In the seventeenth century, both absolutist and constitutional monarchs
confrontedand partially overcame limitations on their sovereignty,

produced by poor infrastructure, weak bureaucracies, cultural differences,

and local power structures.
Popular revolts arose as peasants protested food shortages and tax increases,
but the rise of central authority by the end of the period allowed governments
to repress them severely.
Absolutism in France and Spain
To what extent did French and Spanish monarchs succeed in creating
absolute monarchies?
Foundation >> Henry IV >> Sully >> Richelieu >> Louis XIV

The Culture of Absolutism

What cultural forms flourished under absolutist governments?
Constitutionalism
What is constitutionalism, and how did this form of government emerge
in England and the Dutch Republic?

Between 1589 and 1715 >> 2 basic patterns of government >> absolute
monarchy and constitutional state.

moral economy >> A historians term for an economic perspective in which

the needs of a community take precedence over competition and profit.
Louis XIV, the model of absolutist power, succeeded because he co-opted and
convinced nobles
Sovereignty(quyn ti cao) >>The supreme authority in a political
community; a modern state is said to be sovereign when it controls the
instruments of justice (the courts) and the use of force (military and police
powers) within geographical boundaries recognized by other states.

Intendants >> Royal commissioners. Appointed by and answering directly to

the monarch, they were key elements in Richelieus plan to centralize the
French state.
Fronde >> A series of violent uprisings during the minority of Louis XIV
triggered by oppressive taxation and growing royal authority; the last attempt
of the French nobility to resist the king by arms.