Chapter 13

European State Consolidation in the

Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Overview
The seven provinces that became the United Provinces of the Netherlands emerged as a nation after
revolting against Spain in 1572. The United Provinces supported religious toleration and republican
government. The constitutional crisis in England that followed Elizabeth’s reign and continued until the
end of the seventeenth century had a lasting impact on Western political life. This struggle cost Charles
I his head, and in the end, Parliament emerged the victor. Oliver Cromwell reinstated executive
authority, though under a different title and only with military backing. With the death of Oliver
Cromwell in 1658, Charles I’s son Charles II ascended the bloodstained throne with Parliamentary
sanction and initiated the Stuart Restoration. When his brother James II confirmed the family’s
Catholic sympathies, Parliament quickly and peacefully dispatched James and called upon his son-in-
law and daughter, William of Orange and Mary, to be the sovereigns of England. Meanwhile, the
French monarchy had achieved its goal, becoming the sole national institution. Royal ministers such as
Richelieu and Mazarin wielded enormous power and left in their wake a well-ordered governmental
structure ready-made for the absolutist training of Louis XIV, who then surrounded himself with
capable advisers, military reformers, and financial experts. The resulting political centralization was
exemplified by the Sun King’s palatial complex at Versailles, and France’s commanding position in the
European international order. French military expansion in this era was, however, largely blocked by a
combination of European states led by the Dutch United Provinces and England. At the time of Louis’
death in 1715, France remained a great power in an emerging European international order, but one
whose future, largely because of the Sun King’s excesses, would eventually be changed dramatically by
an unprecedented political revolution. Central and eastern Europe were economically much less
advanced than western Europe. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Austrian Hamburgs
recognized the basic weakness of the position of the Holy Roman Emperor and started to consolidate
their power outside Germany. The emergence of Russia in the late seventeenth century as an active
European power was a wholly new factor in European politics. Peter the Great had laid the foundations
of a modern Russia, but not the foundations of a stable state. From the fifteenth century onward, the
Ottoman Empire had tried to push further westward into Europe. The Ottomans made their deepest
military invasion into Europe in 1683, when they unsuccessfully besieged Vienna. This was the
beginning of a deeper decline for the Ottoman Empire, which collapsed completely at the conclusion of
World War I.
After reading this chapter you should understand:
• The origins and decline of the Netherlands' Golden Age.
• Factors behind the different political paths of France and England.
• The origins and consequences of the English Civil War.
• The development of Parliamentary supremacy in England, particularly after the Glorious
Revolution.
• The rise of absolute monarchy in France, particularly under Louis XIV.
• The wars of Louis XIV and the development of a European diplomatic system.
• The sixteenth to eighteenth century developments and influence of the three monarchies of
central and eastern Europe.
• Russia Enters the European Political Arena under Peter the Great.
• The factors behind the demise of the Ottoman Empire.
THE NETHERLANDS: GOLDEN AGE TO DECLINE
• After revolting with Spain in 1572:
◦ Seven provinces became the United Provinces of the Netherlands
◦ The Dutch engaged in naval wars with England
◦ Also were invaded by the French in 1672
• William III of Orange was the leader at the time.
◦ Although the Netherlands was formally a republic, the Dutch distrusted the House of
Orange.
◦ However, allowed the House of Orange to assume dominant control
• Calvinism was the official church of the Netherlands.
◦ However, there remained a significant number of Roman Catholics, and Protestants.
Urban Prosperity
• At the time the Netherlands was economically prosperous due to:
◦ High urban consolidation
◦ A terrific balance of trade
◦ A vast and prosperous overseas commercial empire
▪ Dutch East India Company
▪ Major presence in East Asia
◦ Strides in banking
▪ Amsterdam Stock Exchange
◦ Naval superiority
◦ Advanced agriculture
▪ Reclaimed land from the sea
• Allowed farmers to produce more profitable crops
Economic Decline
• William III of Britain died in 1702
◦ The Provinces prevented the appointment of another stadtholder (Hereditary chief
executive, like those of the house of Orange)
▪ Political leadership and unity vanished
◦ With the loss of their naval supremacy, the dutch were no longer used as the middle-man
with other countries, who were now trading amongst themselves.
◦ The only remaining link between the Netherlands and their former glory was the
Amsterdam Stock Exchange
TWO MODELS OF EROPEAN POLITICAL DEVELOPEMENT
• The United Netherlands, like Venice and the Swiss cantons, was a republic governed without a
monarch.
• Elsewhere in Europe, monarchy of two fundamentally different patterns predominated in
response response to the military challenges of international conflict.
◦ Parliamentary Monarchy
◦ Political Absolutism

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS AND SETTLEMENT IN STUART ENGLAND

James I (r. 1603-1625)
• 1603, James VI of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth I
◦ (Son of Mary, Queen of Scots)
◦ Inherited royal debt
• Believed in the divine right of kings
◦ Strove to summon Parliament as little as possible
▪ Bypassed Parliament for money by levying taxes
• Religious struggle festered and worsened under his rule
• Court was one of Scandal
◦ Favored the duke of Buckingham whom, due to his position of power was more wealthy
than James himself.
▪ Buckingham controlled royal Patronage and sold positions
▪ He was also James's homosexual lover.
• James's actions lost the support of the Protestants
◦ 1604, James ends a long war with Spain
▪ Although the war was expensive, and most did not support it, it was viewed as a sign of
James's Catholic sympathies
▪ Other policies (including leniency on practicing Catholics, and reluctance to aid German
Protestants in the Thirty Years' War) further added mistrust and religious concerns.
• James even married the French-Catholic, Henrietta Marie
◦ (Only after failed attempts at marrying his son, Charles, to a Spanish princess.
▪ James was forced (by Parliament) to re-enter war with Spain.
Charles I
• Parliament favored the war, but refused to fund it.
◦ Charles, like his father, resorted to extra-parliamentary-procedures
 ▪ These included:
• Levying new tariffs and duties
• A new forced-loan tax
▪ Charles also quartered soldiers in residential homes
• Parliament met in 1628 and refused to grant new funds to Charles unless he agreed to the
Petition of Rights
◦ This was meant to undo all of Charles's extra-parliamentary-procedures
◦ Charles agreed, but then dissolved parliament and did not assemble it for 11 years.
Years of Personal Rule
• From 1629 to 1630, Charles made peace with both France and Spain; as a means of financial
support
◦ Naturally this cause some controversy, as people already felt that he had Catholic
Sympathies
• His religious policies were in great contrast to that of his rather religiously-tolerant father
◦ He, as the people of England feared, did, in fact, have the intention of imposing religious
conformity within England and Scotland.
• This started a war with Scotland.
• In order to fund this war, he assembled parliament
◦ However, Parliament refused to grant him any money without addressing a long list of
political and religious grievances.
▪ Naturally he dissolved that Parliament within just one month, This became known as the
Short Parliament.
The Long parliament and Civil War
• After years of abuse, Parliament was now unanimously anti-Charles I
◦ They were in power for 20 years (Hence the name the Long Parliament)
▪ The House of Commons soon impeached (and executed) Strafford and Laud, two
advisers of the king
• They soon added several policies that prevented abuses of power like that of Charles I
◦ The prohibited the levying of taxes without their consent
◦ They also decided that Parliament must meet at least every three years
• However, Parliament could not agree on religion
◦ These religious divisions extended into their other policies, including those that dealt with
the king
◦ When it came time to raise an army to suppress Scottish rebellion in 1641, Parliament could
not decide weather or not to trust Charles with the army
 ◦ In 1642, Charles invaded Parliament hoping to arrest 5 of his opponents.
◦ Though they escaped, the shocked Parliament signed a bill that gave them power to rise an
army of their own.
◦ This began a Civil war that lasted from 1642 to 1646
▪ The kings supporters were called Cavaliers
▪ The Parliamentary opposition were known as Roundheads

Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan Republic

• Factors that led to Parliament's victory;
◦ 1643 alliance with Scotland
◦ Influence of Oliver Cromwell
• Cromwell soon became a iron-fisted military dictator
◦ From the frying pan into...another?
◦ Supported a tolerant, established majority church
• Despite his attempts to undermine Parliament's unity, Charles was constantly foiled by
Cromwell's army.
◦ On January 30th, 1649, Charles I was executed.
▪ Parliament then dissolved the monarchy, the House of Lords, and the Anglican Church
• At this time, England officially became a Puritan Republic (though, in reality, it was more of a
military dictatorship).
◦ Cromwell soon conqured Scotland and Ireland.
◦ In 1633 Parliament attempted to disband Cromwell's army
▪ Cromwell then dissolved Parliament
▪ He then ruled as “Lord Protector”
◦ Unfortunately, Cromwell's policies were as strict and hated as Charles's
◦ With his death, there was absolutely no reluctance to restore the Anglican church and the
monarchy.
Charles II and the Restoration of the Monarchy
• In 1660, Charles II returned to England as king, to a warm welcome.
• By this time, England had already returned to its status quo
• Once again, the king (now Charles II) had Catholic sympathies and favored religious tolerance
◦ Despite this, Parliament was able to pass a series of laws, know as the Clarendon Code, that
excluded Catholics, Presbyterians, and Independents from political and religious life.
• 1670, the Treaty of Dover allied England and France against the Dutch
 ◦ Within the treaty, Charles agreed to convert to Catholicism in return for a “ substantial
subsidy”
◦ As an act of good faith, Charles issued a Deceleration of Indulgence 1672, suspending laws
against all Roman-Catholics, and non-Puritan Protestants.
◦ Parliament refused to fund the war until Charles II rescinded the Deceleration
▪ Parliament the passed the Test Act, which required all crown officalls to swear an oath
against the doctrine of transubstantiation (a method of preeventing the appointment of a
Catholic King
• Was mostl aimed at Charles's brother, James, a Catholic and rightful heir to the
throne
• IN 1678, the Popish Plot, a political fiasco caused by the lies of a single man
resulted in the needless deth of innocent people.
◦ The beliefe was that Charles's wife was conspireing , along with Catholics and
Jesuits, to kill Charles in so that he could be replaced by his brother.
The “Glorious Revolution”
• Upon his succession of charles, James II immeaditly repealed the Test act
◦ Also began to appoint catholic officals
▪ Attempted to undermine the power and athority of Parliament
• Parliament hoped that James would be succeeded by his protestant daughter, Mary (Wife of
William III of Orange)
◦ However, James's wife soon birthed a son.
▪ There was now a male Catholic heir to the throne.
◦ This, in part, caused William of orange to invade England
◦ William's invasion was met with no resistance in England
▪ James II fled to France
▪ Mary and William took over as England's monarchs
• This was called the “Gloryious Revolution”
• William and Mary soon Recognized a Bill of Rights
◦ This:
▪ limited the powers of the monarchy
▪ guaranteed the civil liberties of the English privileged classes
▪ prevented Roman Catholics from occupying the throne.
◦ They also Passed the Totalerian act in 1689
▪ This permitted worship by all Protestants and certain Roman Catholics
The Ottoman Empire
• The Ottoman Empire was the largest and most stable political unity to arise in or near Europe
following the collapse of the Roman Empire.
◦ As we have seen, much of europe had aspirations of extending their own worldly influence
at the expense of the Ottoman Empire

Religious Toleration and Ottoman Government

• The Ottoman Empire was the dominant political power in the Muslim world after 1516, when it
administered the holy cities of Mecca and Medina as well a Jerusalem, and arranged the safty of
Muslim pilgrimages to mecca.
• The ottomans extended much more religious tolerance than normal at the time in Europe
• Sultans Governed their empire through units or Millets, of officially recognized communities,
various laws and