Class notes on Absolutism in France and England.

Absolutism:

autocracy, or rule by a single person. This person was not to be questioned or disobeyed; this became known as "absolutism," since the monarch ruled w/ "absolute" power, that is, unshared power.

Began in England

France and England Absolutism:

The English had been under the combined rule of both the king and the assembly for so long that they weren't ready to give all the power of government to a single person. The merchants and land-owning nobles supported Parliament, where members could be elected and changed in necessary, rather than an absolute monarch with no restraints.

*James I & Charles I tried ruling without consenting Parliament

*Parliament so in control, neither successfully decreased it's role in the government

*1642, differences between Charles I & Parliament sparked England's civil war

*Royal stubbornness to share control of the country, Parliament's refusal to give up their power in government.

*This was the major turning point for absolutism in England

*Monarchies, beginning with Charles II, realized how much power Parliament had & knew that they had to work with, not against, each other.

King of Greece & family (LOC)

Portrait of Louis XIV

Louis XIV of France, the "sun king" was the absolu...

*Because Parliament was so strongly ingrained into the English process of government, & was so centralized (only one parliament-type assembly in all of England) that Parliament survived while absolute government died miserably.

*Parliament continued to gain power over the King through the end of the 1600's, & would eventually become the leading governmental body of England

*France, around mid. 17th century, revolution against the current monarch, Cardinal Mazarin, by various & scattered parliaments & nobility

*Parliaments wanted right to claim royal edicts unconstitutional

*Nobility hoped to gain power by sanctioning the monarch or removing him from office,

*threw France into disarray.

*Nobles led bands of fighters around country, pillaging & terrorizing lower classes at will in an attempt...