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Absolutism - England - Tudors

TUDOR ENGLAND

• 1485 - 1630
• Began with the victory of Henry VII at Bosworth Field (August 22, 1485) and will end with the death of Elizabeth I
• A note about the information on the Tudors.  Much of it came from books by Alison Weir.  She is a well researched English author and is very readable.

*** In old England hanging day was Friday.  The hangman's pay per job was 13 pence.  This combination adds another eerie aspect to superstition about Friday the 13th.

*** Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June.  However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.  Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

*** Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.  The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children, last of all the babies.  By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.  Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Henry VII   b. 1457 - d.1509

• House of Lancaster
• Father died 2 months before he was born - raised mostly by and uncle
• Had consumption (tuberculosis)
• After Bosworth Field married Elizabeth of York ( January 18, 1486) and ended the civil war - The War of the Roses - *** It was called this because one house was represented by a white rose and the other house was represented by a red rose on their coat of arms.
• Henry was cunning and avaricious - wrung large sums of money from the rich
• divided and undermined the power of the nobles - made them disband their private armies
• Wanted peace and economic prosperity
• Was not a military man and had no interest in wars on the continent
• Daughter Margaret married James IV of Scotland - 1503 - opened the way for the union of the two kingdoms
• Oldest son - Arthur also had consumption - married Catherine of Aragon in 1501 - she was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
• She was 16 and he was 15 - a few month later he died in an epidemic (April 2, 1502)
• A few months late Henry's queen died in childbirth
• ***Before the wedding the Spanish nobles demanded an inspection of Arthur - he was stripped and inspected minutely (they were afraid he could not sire a child) - very skinny - but passed inspection
• Henry obtained a dispensation from the pope that permitted him to marry his younger son Henry to Arthur's widow (he said the marriage had never been consummated) - he kept negotiations open - *** In reality he did not want to return Catherine's dowry and never intended to marry her to his son.
• When he died he left a vast fortune which his son spent faster than it had been made.

*** In the 1500's most floors were dirt.  Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.  Hence the saying "dirt poor."  The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing.  As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside.  A piece of wood was placed in the entrance way.  Hence the saying a "thresh hold."

*** In those days they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.  Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot.  They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat.  They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day.  Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.  Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

*** Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.  When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.  It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon."  They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

*** Those with money had plates made of pewter.  Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach into the food, causing lead poisoning death.  This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

*** Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey.  The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.  Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.  They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.  Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

*** England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people.  So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave.  When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive.  So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.  Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

Henry VIII   b. about 1491     d. January 28, 1547 (56 years old)

• *** People in portraits painted during the time of King Henry VIII all wear long sleeves.  It was considered indecent than not only for women to bare their arms in public but for men to do so, too.
• Came to power April, 1509 - 9 weeks and 4 days from his 18th birthday
• Was ambitious - wanted to take a hand in continental wars - wooed by France and Germany - invaded France
• Began developing the navy
• Supreme egotist
• ***  IN 1420, Henry V of England hired the writer to create a valentine to send to Catherine of Valois.  It must have worked.  The two were married the same year.  About a century later Henry VIII, Catherine's great-grandson, declared Valentine's Day a national holiday.
• A very handsome young man and very athletic - liked hunting and tournaments
• Was tall for his time period - 6'1"
• *** When he was 22 he had a fever which historians belief was smallpox 
• *** At 29 he got malaria and suffered bouts of it the rest of his life.  
• He became paranoid about disease and would move the court at the least sign of illness  
• Early part of his reign he was not interested in ruling - left most of it to others - notably Thomas Wolsey who would hold power until he failed to get an annulment for Henry
• Later the government would be run by Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer
• He did defeat the Scottish in the Battle of Foldden Field (James IV of Scotland was killed)
• Also wrote a paper denouncing Martin Luther's ideas - the Pope rewarded him for this by naming him "Defender of the Faith."
• *** The later pictures of Henry show him fat.  When he died he weight almost 400 pounds.  It was a result of a series of events. 
• *** He was hit in the head while jousting.  His helmet was up and even though the crowd roared to put it down he just thought they were cheering him.  He suffered migraines off and the rest of his life from this accident.
• *** He got varicose ulcers on his legs caused from wearing tight garters 
• *** He was kicked in the leg by a horse during a tournament.  This wound never healed.  Additionally, in 1536 while jousting his horse fell on him.  He was out for 2 hours.  Today researchers believe that possible his frontal lobes in his brain were damaged and this caused his more brutal behavior later in life.  His legs were also damaged making the ulcers worse.The doctors kept bandaged on as they ran and smelled.  People could smell him 3 rooms away.
• *** Later in life Henry suffered from gout.  This and the ulcers caused him great pain.
• *** Because he could no longer exercise he became a binge eater and snacked for comfort.  It is estimated he ate about 5000 calories a day.  Mostly meat, white bread,sweets, red wine with sugar in it, and ale.  He wouldn't eat vegetables but he did like strawberries.  These habits probably caused him to be a diabetic and have high blood pressure.  He died a paranoid reculse.  It was reported by some that his body exploded in the casket.
• *** Henry had wanted to marry Catherine of Aragon but his father would not permit it.  His father felt he already had the dowry and he could do better for his son.

Catherine of Aragon b. about 1485   d. January 8,1536 ( 51 years old)

• 6 years older than Henry - married 6 weeks after Henry became king - mother of Mary (b. February 18, 1516 - d. 1558)
• *** Catherine had other children but they all died.  There were 7 pregnancies in all.  One source I read postulated that this was caused because Henry had a venereal disease.  The reasoning was that Catherine miscarried around the 4th or 5th month each time and this is a sign of venereal disease.  Her first child lived because she had just been infected.  Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, had the same problem.  She bore one healthy child and then miscarried the second.  This assumption is not an out of line as 75% of Europeans were infected with a venereal disease at this time in history.  Others have refuted this saying Henry showed no signs of having syphillis.
• Henry eventually tired of Catherine - under the pretense that he believed the marriage unlawful he determined to get a divorce so he could marry Anne Boleyn
• Divorced in 1533 - Catherine was forbidden to write to Henry or see her daughter
• Mary was declared illegitimate - she refused to accept her change in status - only after Anne Boleyn died would she sign a paper accepting her parents marriage was unlawful - later Henry restored her to the succession
• Catherine died alone, basically in poverty - *** She was embalmed by a kitchen scullion.  There was no autopsy.  It is possible she may have been poisoned.

Anne Boleyn  b.1507     d. May 19, 1536  (29 years old)

• *** Had 11 fingers - wore gloves all the time to hide it - Also 11 toes.
• Henry fell in love with her 1525-1526 - she was 17 - he was 34
• Henry asked the pope for a divorce - Pope stalled because Catherine's parents (Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain) were putting pressure on him
• Henry and Anne moved in together and Henry and Catherine would still visit "every few days" for the sake of appearances
• When Anne became pregnant Henry became desperate
• Henry had Parliament declare him head of the Church of England with the Act of Supremacy - gives himself a divorce - dissolves the monasteries and gives the lands and revenues to the nobility consequently gaining their support
• *** This is the beginning of the Church of England which become the Episcopal Church in the U.S.
• Secretly married January 25, 1533 - Anne 24 - Henry 42
• Anne is mother to Elizabeth - b. September 7, 1533
• Anne was arrogant and had a forthright manner of speaking to Henry - he grew tired of it
• Anne becomes pregnant again but loses the baby - a boy
• Henry then asks his courtiers to figure out a way to get rid of her - divorce was out of the question
• Anne was accused of treason - claimed she had sexual relations with other men - because she could bear the heir to the throne this was considered treason - the men had confessed under torture - she was probably guilty
• Anne was beheaded - May 19, 1536 (29 years old)

*** Sailors in the early English navy used square wooden plates.  This is where the term "square meal" comes from

*** In early falconry if an older man could no longer hold the bird he used a wooden frame to carry the hawk.  It was called a "cadge" pronounced "codge."  Some say that's the first use of "old codger."

Jane Seymour   b. 1509?    d. October 24, 1537

• Not too smart - uneducated - could only read and write her own name
• Receding chin - pale
• Married May 30, 1536 (11 days after Anne died) - Jane 27 - Henry 46
• Mother of Edward VI (b. October 12, 1537 - d. 1553) d. at 15
• *** Rumored that she had a Cesarean section after being in labor several days (remember no pain killers in those days) - died 12 days later possibly from child bed fever (puerperal fever)
• Henry always claimed she was the love of his life - he  is buried next to her in Windsor Castle

Anne of Cleves  b.1515   d. July 16,1557 (42 years old)

• Henry decided he would wed a bride from the continent so he could make a political alliance - He sent out an artist to make miniatures of the available brides - this artist really liked and respected Anne - in his picture he showed her inner beauty - this did not match up with her looks
• *** As one person described her: Anne had dull little eyes - large, flabby nose - untidy mouth - wide pendulous cheeks - neck stiff and ungainly - skin pitted with small pox and course, greasy and pasty
• Henry chose Anne from the miniatures and they were married by proxy before she ever left home - January 6, 1540
• When she got to England Henry took one look at her and left - eventually they became friends
• He called her the Flanders Mare
• They were divorce but remained friends - July 1540
• *** She testified that the marriage was never consummated to allow the divorce
• Anne was close to Elizabeth, Mary and Edward  - she gave them love and attention that they had been lacking and helped bring the girls back to court and their father's attention

*** Early England's roads were dirt over clay.  Wheels gouged ruts.  Pottery makers needed cheap clay for their pots.  They dug the clay out where ruts were deep.  Drivers called these spots "potholes."

Catherine Howard  b.1521?  d. February 13, 1542 (about 21 years old)

• Cousin of Anne Boleyn
• Flirtatious and emotional - rarely understood the consequences of her actions
• Henry was besotted with her - showered her with gifts and public attention
• Married July, 1540 - Catherine 19 - Henry 49
• Wanton before marriage
• Henry was distraught when evidence of her unfaithfulness was presented to him
• Found out and accused by a lady-in-waiting of being with a noble and her musician - both were tortured to give evidence
• Convicted of treason
• Beheaded - probably guilty

Catherine Parr  b. 1512   d. September 5, 1548 (36 years old)

• When Catherine caught Henry's eye she was in love with someone else - once the king wanted her she was forced to put him aside
• Married in 1534 - Catherine 31 - Henry 52
• She was basically a nurse and took care of Henry until he died January 28, 1547 (56 years old) of syphilis and cirrhosis of the liver - she was also very good to his children
• After Henry's death she married Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley (1547) - Jane's brother - this was the man she had been forced to give up when Henry wanted her
• Died in childbirth - had a daughter called Mary (b. August 30, 1548) - Catherine developed puerperal fever - went into delirium
• Thomas was beheaded March 20, 1549 - lost a bid for power to become protector of Edward VI

*** A note on the following information (through Elizabeth) much of it came from the book The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Weir.  She is a wonderful writer,  well researched and very readable.  If you want to know about the Tudor's she is a wonderful resource.  I have read several of her books and they are all very interesting!

Edward VI  b.1537   d. July 6, 1553

• Came to the throne (1547) 10 years old
• Very devout Protestant
• England ruled by regents
• Got consumption 1553
• Died July 6, 1553 - 15 years old - may have been poisoned
• Rumor a female quack did feed him arsenic to prolong his life in agony
• His skeletal body swollen like a balloon - extremities being eaten away by gangrene
• *** Do not know for certain what happened to his corpse - may have buried him privately and substituted another young man like him who had been murdered and showed no signs of arsenic

Lady Jane Grey  b. October, 1537   d. February 12, 1554

• Description: very short and thin - prettily shaped and graceful - small features - well-made nose - mouth flexible - lips red - eyebrows are arched and darker than her hair - hair nearly red - eyes are sparkling - color good but freckled
• Very intelligent - fluent in Latin, French, Italian and Greek - learning Hebrew
• Intolerant of non-Protestants
• Not interested in young men - preferred to pursue her intellectual interests
• Hated the Dudley family
• At first refused to marry Guilford
• *** Her parents beat her until she agreed
• Married at 16 - May 25, 1553 - to Guilford Dudley
• Guilford Dudley- 5th and youngest son of the Duke of Northumberland - (The Duke had been Lord Protector for Edward VI.  He forced this marriage to keep his power)
• Guilford was his mother's favorite - she spoiled him - he was vain, foolish, and self-indulgent - he was fair-haired, tall, elegant physique, autocratic good looks, courteous manner - could be petulant and disagreeable
• They were probably indifferent to each other
• With the death of Edward some of the nobles were afraid of Mary becoming queen and returning England to Catholicism - they chose Lady Jane Grey because she was a staunch Protestant and in line for the throne
• She was terrified to be name queen - convinced by her parents to accept the honor - she unwillingly consented - she broke down in tears when told
• She was proclaimed July 10, 1553
• Ruled 9 days
• Mary was coming to London and had the support of the people
• No one helped her and Mary was proclaimed queen
• She and her husband were sent to the tower
• Plots kept forming around her
• She was beheaded with her husband - he went first - she was 17 years old

Mary I     b. 1516   d. 1558

• First female ruler England ever had
• Married Philip IIof Spain - July 25, 1554 - he was blond and 10 years younger than Mary - she was very fond of him - he was a languid bigot - he ruled Spain from 1556 to1598 - he was not very kind to Mary - he married to suit his father's (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) policy - they were united in their wish to return England to Catholicism
• When Philip came to England he was received with coldness and distrust - he was a good administrator - many of Mary's decisions blamed on him -  Mary would not give him any direct power
• He returned to Spain - only came back once more to urge the queen to join him in a war against France - she did - results disastrous - lost Calais (January 1558) to the French
• Her main goal during her reign was to return England to Catholicism
• Burned about 300 Protestants (one book say 200, another 400, a third 300 [about 240 men and 60 women]) - because of this she was called "Bloody Mary" but not until the 1600's
• Of those burned: "most were popular preachers, artisans, farm laborers or poor, ignorant folk that were apprehended by over-zealous parish priest: the majority came from the south and east.  Some were blind or disabled; one woman was pregnant.  Her baby was born as she was burning, and cast back into the flames by the executioner.  Frequently, the executions were bungled or mismanaged by incompetent executioners, or the fagots were damp, causing the victim unnecessarily prolonged suffering one man burned for 45 minutes before he died."  (From Children of Henry VIII, p.296)
• Many Protestants fled the country - Mary did not try to stop them
• *** In the beginning of the movie Elizabeth they show people burning.
• Public out cries against the burnings - often violent demonstrations at executions
• In the beginning heretics who recanted at the stake could have a reprieve - later (1556) not given the choice and any one showing sympathy to their execution was to be arrested - 80 people burned in 1556
• Eventually Mary was broken in health - at age 40 she looked 10 years older, thinner than ever - eyesight getting bad - usually slept at most 4 hours a night
• Neglected by her husband
• Hated by her countrymen
• She probably had ovarian cancer
• Died November 17,1558  at 7:00 am - age 42 - reigned 5 years

*** Women during this time period wore their wedding rings on their thumbs.

*** Houses had thatched roofs, thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath.  It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.  When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip off the roof.  Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

*** There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.  This posed a real problem in the bedroom when bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.  Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.  That's how canopy beds came into existence.  They were also used for privacy since the servants usually slept in the room.  The canopy additionally kept the bed area warmer since the only heat was a fire place and they were not always in every room.

Elizabeth I     b. September 7, 1533   d. 1603    ruled 1558 - 1603  (44 years)

• She was never beautiful - she was striking looking
• Had her father's red hair and hooked nose - her mother's long, thin, pale face, pointed chin and witty dark eyes
• Her eyebrows and lashes were so fair as to appear non-existent
• Had beautiful white hands with long tapering fingers - inordinately vain about them
• Owned more than 3,000 dresses and wore new shoes each week - *** She wore a flea collar - slept in velvet lined with fur - she bathed once a month which was 12 times more frequently than her subjects - she also required her courtiers to bath because she didn't like their smell
• *** Elizabeth had a fear of growing older - during the last 20 years of her life she refused to look in a mirror - she also refused to let painters show her old
• Anne Boleyn was executed when Elizabeth was 3
• Her tutor Roger Ascham at her home in Hatfield
• She was well educated - spoke French, Italian, Latin, Greek, English, Welsh, and Spanish - read all the classics - knew math
• 1554 -Sir Thomas Wyattsled a rebellion to stop Mary from marrying Philip - wanted to put Jane Grey on the throne - he was caught trying to assassinate the queen - Elizabeth was accused of helping Wyatts - after 2 months in the Tower she was put under house arrest - this is one of the cases of the delicate balance Elizabeth had to maintain in order to stay alive
• This rebellion forced Mary to execute Jane Grey because the uprising had used her
• 1558 - Elizabeth came to power - 25 years old
• Royal treasury had been bled dry by Mary and her advisers - gave money to Philip for his war with France
• England's armies had been defeated in the fields and their morale was low
• There were problems in: religious settlement - with royal marriage - the succession - the Church
• Society was shaken by bad harvests (mini ice age was going on) - epidemics - prices were high - labor was short - currency still corrupted
• Average life expectancy about 40
• Favorite entertainments of the day - bear baiting and cock fighting
• France had a strong foothold in Scotland (Mary Queen of Scots had been married to the French king)
• Spain posed a threat to the security of the realm
• Elizabeth proved most calm and calculating (even though she had a horrendous temper) in her political acumen - master of political science
• First order of business was to eliminate religious unrest
• She lacked the fanaticism of her siblings
• One of her most important acts was the Act of Uniformity - issued by Parliament in 1559 - changed England's religion from Catholicism to Protestantism - this was necessary to prove, with out doubt, that she was legitimate
• Refused to directly antagonize Parliament
• Acquired undying devotion from her advisement council - they were constantly perplexed by her habit of waiting till the last minute to make decisions
• *** 1562 - got small pox - almost died - went bald - 29 years old
• She used the varying factions (instead of being used by them, as were her siblings) - playing one off another until the exhausted combatants came to her for resolution of their grievances
• Few English monarchs enjoyed such political power while still maintaining the devotion of the whole of English society
• Employed capable and distinguished men
• She was constantly being urged to marry - one of her suitors was the Duke of Anjou - he was French and 19 years old - bisexual - promiscuous - wore more make-up and jewelry than the heavily made-up and bejeweled queen - also known to attend parties wearing dresses that were just as fabulous as any Elizabeth owned
• She was compelled to take a strong Protestant stance because of Mary Queen of Scots and the persecution of continental Protestants by Spain and France - in spite of this she never persecuted the Catholics

Mary Queen of Scots   b. 1542   d. 1587

• Beautiful and fascinating woman - she was 6' tall and spoke 6 languages
• *** In Scotland, a new game was invented,  it was entitled Gentlemen only Ladies Forbidden...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language
• ***She was the first prominent woman to play golf.  She referred to the lad who carried her clubs as a "cadet," using the French pronunciation.  The name stuck.  Others less precise simply called such a fellow a "caddy."
• Became Queen of Scotland at one week old when her father King James V was killed in battle
• Her mother Mary of Guise (Geese) took her back to France to be raised when she was 5
• Mary married the French dauphin, Francis II (d 1560) - she was 15 - he was 14
• On the death of Henry II (king of France) in 1558 she became the Queen of France
• While Mary lived in France John Knox and the Kirk led a reformation in Scotland (the beginning of the Presbyterian Church)
• In 1561 Mary (she's was 19) returned to Scotland to rule - Francis had died
• She was slim - very pale complexion - frizzy chestnut hair and brown eyes - slightly oriental features - over long nose - kind and loyal to her friends - her servants adored her - lacked practical experience in governing - had mood swings and rarely hid her feelings
• She was elegant and graceful - loved music, dancing, ballet and she was an excellent rider
• She battled Knox continually
• July 29, 1565 - she wed her cousin an English Catholic noble, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley - he was 19 - 3 years younger than Mary
• He was physically attractive - curly haired - shrewd - had considerable learning - mean - vulgar - undignified - bi-sexual - unfaithful - conceited about his own wisdom - felt he ruled by divine right - offended many in Scotland
• Together they had a son James VI (in England he will become James I)
• 1566 - Darnley was jealous of Mary's Italian secretary, Rizzio - with several companions he seized Rizzio in Mary's presence - dragged him into an antechamber and stabbed him to death
• Darnley was assassinated in 1566 - his house was blown up - he was found strangled in the yard - he was 21 years old
• The suspected assassin was the Earl of Bothwell who then married Mary
• The outraged Scottish nobility rose up in revolt (Protestant nobles) - they put her in prison - forced her to divorce Bothwell - (He died insane, chained to a pillar, as a prisoner of the Danish king - August 4, 1578)
• Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her son James - 1567
• Mary escaped and fled south to England in 1568
• She was a possible heir to the English throne - Elizabeth kept her locked in a castle because the Catholics wanted to put her on the throne
• Mary instituted several failed assassination/overthrow plots against Elizabeth
• Ridolfi Plot, aimed at assassinating Elizabeth - Jesuit priest - would do anything necessary to return England to the Catholic religion
• Babington Plot - wanted to murder Elizabeth
• Elizabeth did not want to execute her because she remembered how she felt when she was in the Tower  (she was afraid her sister Mary was going to execute her) - consequently, she never willing executed anyone
• Mary's enemies finally concocted a plot which proved to Elizabeth that Mary wanted her dead
• In 1587 Mary (44 years old) was beheaded for treason (p. 136 Eyewitness to History - description)
• *** it took 3 hits - the executioner picked up her head and her hair came off - she had a wig - her hair was short and white

Her execution convinced Philip II of Spain he had to invade England

Mary's son James VI (James I) was raised as a moderated Protestant by Elizabeth

Persecution of continental Protestants forced Elizabeth into war to protect the French Huguenots (Calvinists in France) when there was a 1572 massacre of 3000 Huguenots

She also helped Protestant factions on the continent and in Scotland

Helped Belgium gain independence from Spain

Spain

• Philip had tried to marry Elizabeth - actually proposed before Mary was dead
• He remained a constant threat to England until the defeat to the Spanish Armada in 1588 - England knew about the invasion - waited a year before it happened
• Armada composed of 132 galleons - 8000 sailors - over 20,000 soldiers on board - 34,000 more soldiers waited in the Netherlands
• Spanish lost a series of battles - British set much of the Armada a blazed - destroying the fleet's defensive crescent formation
• The English had smaller more maneuverable ships - faster and more heavily armed
• *** Legend has it that Sir Francis Drake was playing a game of bowls when the Armada was sighted on July 19 - he finished and then went off to fight
• *** Not a single British ship was sunk by enemy guns
• Some English captains - Sir Francis Drake (ship - The Golden Hind) - Sir John Hawkins - Martin Frobisher
• Spanish were driven into the North Sea - violent storm destroyed many of the top heavy, over loaded ships
• *** Some driven as far away as the Irish coast
• The defeat of the Armada removed the danger of the Spanish invasion
• England lost 100 men
• Spain lost 20,000 men
• Insured the legend of the Queen - That she had stood on the cliffs in white, carrying a sword ready to defend her kingdom
• As a result England developed into the most important naval power in Europe
• Her reign one of the more constructive periods in English history

Successes

• She brought religious peace - she was not obsessively religious and she tried to keep peace between the Catholics and the Protestants
• Capable government - William Cecil was her chief adviser for 40 years
• Literature bloomed through the works of - Christopher Marlow (1564 - 1593) - Ben Jonson (1573? - 1637) - William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
• *** William Shakespeare made the equivalent of about $400 a year.  It doesn't sound like much today but in his time a loaf of bread cost $.01.
• *** In Shakespeare's day tobacco cost its weight in silver shillings.  Dandies held smoke-ring blowing contests
• *** In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes.  When the ropes of the mattress were tightened, it made the bed firmer to sleep on.  Hence the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight".
• *** In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts.  So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down.  That is where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".
• ***  Many years ago in England pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups.  When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service,  "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.

Exploration

• Francis Drake - sacked Spanish colonies in the Caribbean - fought in the Armada
• Walter Raleigh - expanded English influence in the New World - established Roanoke Island (1587)

Fashion and Education

• Became popular because Elizabeth loved: knowledge, courtly behavior, and extravagant dress
• Textiles boomed
• She had lavish parties
• She wore extravagant clothes
• Costumed herself in the finest of accessories
• Wore wigs

Dental Problems

• Her lips were narrow and her teeth black (1598)
• Lost her front teeth (1602)
• She put fine cloth into her mouth to fill out her cheeks

Description of her at age 65 - Her face oblong, fair, but wrinkled: her eyes small yet black and pleasant; her nose a little hooked; lips narrow...she had in her ear two pearls, with very rich drops (This and the following information is from a book by Alison Weir, The Life of Elizabeth I - If you are interested in the Tudors Alison Weir is a very interesting, well researched and readable author.)

During the last years of her life Elizabeth became depressed for uncertain reasons - maybe because she had outlived her peers and trusted advisers

The love of her life Robert Dudley, who she was never able to marry, had died

Elizabeth died of a mild cold on the morning of April 28, 1603 - she was 69 years old - she was buried in Westminster Abbey in the same tomb as her sister Mary

There was much grief but she left a secure and prosperous kingdom

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester - b. June 24, 1533   d. September 1588

• One of 13 children - 7 survived - he was the 5th son - very close to his family
• Both his father and grandfather were eventually executed for treason - his brother Guilford Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey, executed
• At 17 he married Amy Robsart - their marriage is rumored to have been a romantic match - one source says Elizabeth attended the wedding
• He and Elizabeth shared the same tutor as young adults - no evidence that they shared lessons - it is certain that the two were childhood friends
• It is said that the two were extremely close and that Elizabeth highly regarded him
• It is speculated that the Queen wanted to marry him and was in love with him - they were a good match - both loved to hunt - both loved to dance, doing spirited and complicated galliards together for hours - both intensely interested in affairs of state
• He was certainly one of Elizabeth's favorites
• Supposedly full of life and outrageous fun
• Courtiers dubbed him "the Gypsy" for his dark eyes and hair
• Many who disliked him often complained that he was arrogant - he was certainly ambitious
• He loved to spend money on lavish gifts and he had many possessions - patron of the arts
• Was Commander of the English forces and also expressed interest in exploration, trade (including the slave trade), science and technology and classical literature
• Known to have had relationships with a few ladies at court
• His first wife, Amy, died in 1560 - she was 25 - on Sunday, September 8, 1560 she was found dead at the bottom of a stone staircase by servants returning from the Abingdon Fair - at the time considered probably a suicide
• *** Recent evidence, points to written evidence that she suffered from "disease of the breast."  If she had advanced breast cancer it might have weakened her spine causing her vertebrae to snap and make her fall.
• Gossip at the time felt Dudley had her killed so he could marry Elizabeth
• The questionable circumstances behind her death prevented Elizabeth and Robert from ever marrying
• 1573 - he married Lady Douglas Sheffield - some sources say he married her in secret - others say she was already married - she had his only surviving male heir but he did not inherit his name and title - thus Dudley died with no successor to his name
• 1578 - secretly married Lettice Knollys- he wanted an heir - lost him Elizabeth's favor when the Knolly's family demanded that the marriage be officially acknowledged - he stayed with her until his death on September 4, 1599 (55 years old) - died of malarial fever
• Up until then he was also loyal to and worked continuously for his Queen - stayed by her side for 30 years
• Died of intestinal and abdominal complications

Sir Francis Walsingham   b.1530?   d. 1590

• Protestant family - embraced his religion fervently
• Intelligent and scholarly - studied at Cambridge
• When Mary came to the throne he voluntarily exiled himself rather than give up his religion - he was 23
• Returned to England 5 years later when Elizabeth became queen
• 1570 - appointed Ambassador to France - worked passionately for the full toleration of the Huguenots
• 1573 - he became on of the queen's principal secretaries of state and remained one of her top advisers for the rest of his life
• He became involved in obtaining intelligence from abroad
• He showed a special genius for the secret service work - built up a very effective and elaborate political spy system
• Employed several agents in foreign courts - paid them himself
• Was able to uncover many plots and conspiracies that threatened England
• The most famous plot he discovered was the plan to assassinate Elizabeth (initiated by Anthony Babington) - this implicated Mary Queen of Scots in the conspiracy and led to her execution
• His intelligence system also acquired very important details about the impending attack of the Spanish Armada
• Very temperamental man
• Biting sarcasm
• Never hesitated to use torture if he thought it was needed - only used it as a last resort
• Known for his loyalty
• Elizabeth knighted him in 1577
• He was always financially hard up because of Elizabeth's parsimony about government services
• Later in his life he took responsibility for the debts of his son-in-law - because of this he died in debt in 1590

Absolutism - England - Stuarts

• STUARTS

A new dynasty ascends to the throne following the death of Elizabeth I - 1603 with the crowning of James I until 1714 with the death of Queen Anne

Origins in Scotland

The Stuarts will have serious problems - many of their own making - they will try to be absolute rules and will be thwarted by Parliament - ironically by losing power the English monarchy will be one of the few to maintain their rule

James I  June 19, 1566 - March 27, 1625   (ruled 1603 - 1625)

• Son of Mary, Queen of Scotland and Lord Darnley - cousin of Elizabeth
• King James VI in Scotland
• First to call himself king of Great Britain (he ruled England, Scotland and Ireland)
• Problems - in a difficult position of having to follow after a legend like Elizabeth - he also was handicapped by being Scottish - historically they were discriminated against by the English
• Biggest fault was his personal style - he had absolutist tendencies
• He authored The True Law of Free Monarchs - influenced by the work of Jean Bodin - James recalls the Biblical story where the Israelites begged God to create a King to rule over them - his conclusion: God created kings to rule -"Rex est Les, Lex est Res" ("King is Law, Law is King")
• James also supported a new translation of the Bible - King James Bible
• He also had difficult relations with the Parliament - something all of the early Stuarts will share
• English Parliament had real rights - unlike the French Estates-General - had power to tax and the power to make laws
• Tudors had enjoyed a good relationship with the Parliament - consulted when necessary - popular enough to get their own way - James was not used to consulting anyone
• James ran a lavish court - Parliament was stingy about providing the necessary funds
• *** His son Prince Henry had typhus. He ordered the latest medical treatment.  The royal doctor stuck the prince's bare legs into bird cages of pigeons where they could peck at the soles of his fee.  Didn't work.  He died at age 18.
• ***An explanation of where we got the term "the whole nine yards."  In sailing days, fighting ships of the line typically had three masts, each with three yardarms.  To execute a course change the captain would order the yards of all three masts put over.  He would commit "the whole nine yards."
• Religion will also be a problem for several of the Stuarts - beginning with James
• James was an Anglican - when he took the throne there was some concern about his religious views due to his family background (his mother was Catholic)
• To reassure the Anglican leaders he passed some anti-Catholic measures - banned the Jesuits from England - put restrictions on the Catholic mass
• In 1605 and inept group of Catholics plotted to assassinate him - led by Guy Fawkes - became known as the Gunpowder Plot - they planned to blow up Parliament - word got out and they were stopped - Guy Fawkes was caught, tortured, and executed - led to further Catholic oppression
• *** They have a Guy Fawkes holiday for this in England today (November 5).  Bonfires are lit, fireworks are set off and Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy.
• Suspicions about James' religious views remained - especially after his wife, Anne of Denmark, converted to Catholicism
• James was a conservative High Anglican - retained many of the practices more associated with Catholicism
• James is considered one of the most intellectual and learned rulers England ever had - he was a talented scholar
• Culture continued to flourish under his rule

Foreign Relations

• He had several major failures and few successes
• James became a pacifist
• He attempted to arrange a marriage alliance between Spain (the Infanta) and England (eldest son, Charles) - failed due to popular opposition in both countries
• The settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and later establishment of Plymouth colony in 1620 were major successes
• James dies in 1625 (59 years old) - general relief in the land

Charles I  November 19, 1600 - January 30, 1649    (ruled 1625 - 1649)

• When he takes the throne there is a public rejoicing at the handsome, young king - expectations was that he had to be better than his father - wrong
• Shortly after assuming the throne he wed Henriette Marie, a sister of Louis XIII, a Catholic - created suspicions about his religious sympathies
• *** Henretta Maria surrounded herself with pets, exotic and domestic, animal and human.  Jeffrey Hurson was her favorite dwarf.  In 1626 when he was 7 years old, the 18 inch, Jeffrey was concealed in a pie as a surprise present for the queen.  In the coming years Hudson would take part in the English civil war, kill a man in a duel, be captured by pirates, sold into slavery and imprisoned. (This information is from a L. A. Times article publlished Monday, August 26, 2002.)
• Religious Problems- within the Anglican Church there was a small but growing minority who felt that the Anglican Church retained too many Catholic tendencies - they wanted to "purify" it of all "popery" (hence Puritans)
• Although Charles was an Anglican he was a High Anglican - the Queen led the Catholic faction in court
• Parliamentary Problems - quarrels began almost immediately between the leaders of the Parliament and the headstrong king - initially over money - Charles maintained an elaborate court
• Like his father he believed in the divine right to rule
• Petition of Right (1628) - Parliament felt Charles was incompetent - disgust with the Duke of Buckingham - anger over the failure to help La Rochelle
• Parliament offered Charles a needed cash bonus if he would sign the Petition of Right - it would limit the King's rights - no taxation without representation - no quartering - no arbitrary arrest (had to be charged with a crime - habeas corpus) - no martial law
• Charles signed - at the Duke of Buckingham's urging he reneged - angry Parliament protested
• Charles dissolved Parliament
• Buckingham was assassinated
• All criticism directed now at Charles

*** In 1632 two gallons of beer a day was part of the rations allocated to each youngster in the Children's Hospital of Norwich, England.  The English claimed it was a food.  Serve it warm and it is just like soup.  But 2 gallons per child?

Eleven Years of Tyranny  (1629 - 1640)

• Charles attempted to run the nation without Parliament - difficult due to money problems - only Parliament could tax
• He revived ancient levies and created new fees - he just got by until...
• In 1637 Charles authorized his High Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, to attempt to force the Book of Common Prayer (Church of England prayer book) on Scotland
• They were Calvinist Presbyterians - led to Scottish rebellion - Bishop's War
• To deal with the threat Charles was forced to recall Parliament in November 1640
• Parliament refused to give him money unless it's complaints were settled - king disbanded it - known as the Short Parliament (April 1640)
• Long Parliament - November 1640 - it will meet off and on for the next 20 years
• Parliament came with demands against Charles - they would not vote money for the war against Scotland until the King agreed to: 1. King cannot dismiss Parliament without their consent 2. Parliament must meet at least once every 3 years  3. king would have no revenue sources other than Parliament's approved ones
• Also, Charles agreed to execute Archbishop Laud
• Charles had no choice but to agree to Parliament's demands
• After agreeing to the conditions Charles expected to receive money for a war against the Scots
• Parliament bypassed Charles and negotiated a settlement with the Scots - Charles felt deceived
• The situation between the King and Parliament went downhill from there
• By 1642 Charles felt that Parliament was in open revolt and he left London for Norwich - sent his two eldest sons abroad
• Called for loyal troops to come defend the crown

(Teachers if you have access to the films Newscast from the Past show October 23, 1642.  If it is not available you might look into getting a set.  It does fit with the middle school curriculum more than high school but parts of it can be used both places.)

English Civil War  (1642 - 1649)

• When Charles left London about half of Parliament went with him - 2/3 House of Lords - 1/3 House of Commons
• The key issue of the war was sovereignty - Who should rule, King or Parliament?
• Cavaliers  - *Charles - Royalists - High Anglicans - Catholics - North - countryside
• Roundheads (called this because of their haircuts) - *Oliver Cromwell - Parliamentarians - Low Anglicans - Puritans - South - London

Oliver Cromwell   (1599 - 1658)

• Nobleman from the south of England
• Puritan
• Favored an end to the monarchy and the establishment of a republic
• During the war Cromwell organized the finest army in the field
• (The movie Cromwell has a very good battle scene depicting how battles were fought at that time.  I think generally the movie was boring but I always used that scene in the classroom.)
• The New Model Army - combination of 3 existing armies in 1645 - uniformed and well-trained - disciplined Puritan soldiers - allied with the Scots
• 1644 - Battle of Marston Moor - Scots defeated the Cavaliers - 45,000 soldiers engaged in the largest battle of the English Civil War - 4000 dead
• 1645 - Battle of Naseby - after it was over Charles surrendered to the Scots who sold him to the Parliamentary army in 1647 - for 400 pounds
• by 1647 Charles was defeated and was imprisoned on the Isle of Wight
• The victorious Parliament began to quarrel among themselves - majority wanted to retain the monarchy but with limited power - a vocal minority wanted a republic
• Seeing his enemies divided Charles attempted to seize power again - Parliament quickly reunited against the common enemy - Charles was defeated...again

Regicide

• Charles was tried for treason - convicted
• Parliament believed their victory was the will of God
• Charles was a threat that needed to be removed
• Executed January 30, 1649

***England was the world's greatest coffee drinking country until 1657.  That's when the tea promoters first were successful there.

Oliver Cromwell

• Wanted to establish a tolerant, democratic government - popular support never materialized
• During the Commonwealth (1649 - 1660) England got it's first written constitution
• Cromwell dismissed the Rump Parliament (he had eliminated those who disagreed with him) in 1653 - ruled as a military dictator - Rump was the remainder of the Parliament left after the regicide
• The nation was divided into military districts ruled by generals loyal to Cromwell
• Strict, conservative, Puritan laws were passed - source of the government's unpopularity (no plays, no parties, every one was to go to church all day Sunday, etc.)
• Foreign Policy Successes - fought a successful war against Spain (1654) - fought the Commercial War against the Dutch and won again (1652 - 1653)
• He died of malaria in 1658 (age 59) - buried in Westminster
• His son Oliver had been killed in battle
• His son Richard Cromwell, was made the new Lord Protector - weak and unpopular
• Increasingly obvious that the Commonwealth lacked any public support

*** In 1670 Cromwell's bones were dug up and displayed.  His head was cut off.  It took 8 tries.  The head was put on a spike for 8 years.  The wind eventually blew it down.  A servant found it and hid it until his death.  In 1787 Hughes Brothers bought the head and put it on display.  Not too popular.  Sold it to the family a 100+ years later.  Eventually they gave it to Cambridge.  Cambridge buried the head.

Result

• Absolute monarchy had been rejected
• Still tension over how much power the king should actually wield
• Although the nation was destined for greatness, in the mid-seventeenth century it was hard to believe
• the nation still had wounds left from the Civil War and the Commonwealth

Charles II - Restoration

• In 1660 members of the old Long Parliament were recalled - sent representatives to visit Charles II in exile in Holland
• Parliament offered Charles the throne if he would promise to respect the rights of Parliament and to seek no vengeance
• Charles agreed - his return sparked wild celebrations throughout the nation
• The restoration was extremely popular
• After the stark years of Puritan rule Charles was carefree and lived life to the fullest
• Like his father before him he wanted to increase the powers of the crown - but since he had lived in his exile years in poverty he was determined to do nothing to risk his throne

Cavalier Parliament (1661 - 1679)

• Very royalist and Anglican
• dominated by the gentry
• Although hostile to any memory of the Commonwealth period they still had no desire to see the King increase his personal power
• Old question was still unresolved:  who should rule, King or Parliament?

***When we hear something we can't believe, why do we say, "Tell it to the Marines"?.  Someone told Charles II about flying fish.  He didn't believe them.  His colonel of marines said flying fish did exist.  So the King decreed: "Doubtful reports henceforth shall be told to the marines, and if they verify them, we can safely consider them true."

Problems

• Charles' problems were basically the same as his father's - religion and money
• Like the two earlier Stuart monarchs Charles suspected Catholicism was the cause of much debate
• His queen, Catherine of Portugal, was Catholic - no children
• *** Charles had numerous illegitimate children - he acknowledged 14 of them
• He wanted to grant full religious toleration to all religious groups, including Catholics and Puritans - Parliament not only refused but passed a series of laws, the Clarendon Code (1665), excluding Catholics and Puritans from the political and religious life of the nation
• Charles's need for money led him to form an alliance with his cousin, Louis XIV, against the Dutch - Treaty of Dover (1670) - on the surface it was a French/English alliance against Holland - it also contained secret provisions calling on Charles to publicly convert to the Catholic faith - in exchange he would receive considerable monies and French troops if needed - it was discovered and never enacted
• In 1672 Charles issued the Declaration of Indulgence - promised full religious liberty to all Englishmen - Parliament rejected it
• Parliament responded by passing the Test Act (1672) - barred all non-Anglicans from holding any government or military positions of importance - one had to take an oath against "transubstantiation" (the bread and wine turned into body and blood of Christ)
• Parliament was increasingly concerned that Charles's heir would be his brother, James, the Duke of York - James made no secret of his Catholicism
• Popish Plot (1678) - a notorious liar, Titus Oates, claimed that there was a plot to kill Charles and replace him with the Catholic James - Oates said the Queen, Jesuits, and James were involved - several people were tried and executed - the "plot" was really a ploy to discredit it James so the succession would pass over him to one of his daughters
• Within Parliament the debate about the succession of James led to the formation of two rival groups - Wigs who wanted to exclude James - Tories who wanted to preserve the legitimate succession - * first political parties
• Tories came out victorious - but it signaled the problems to come for James
• Charles's death in 1685 led to the succession of his brother, James

James II (ruled 1685 - 1688)

• Already an unpopular figure due both to his religion and his personality
• He was aggressively Catholic - appointed them to high positions
• His arrogant and boorish manners alienated everyone
• Much of his impression of how a king should rule he learned during his exile at Versailles during the period of the Commonwealth
• He had two children with his first wife - two daughters, Mary and Anne - both of his daughters were protestants, and as James had no other children and no wife it meant that the throne would return to protestant control at his death
• James took a second wife, Mary of Modena, a French princess and Catholic - she got James to put Catholics into prominent positions at court - frightened Parliament more
• Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes then occurs - religious tension rose even further
• The young Queen got pregnant - the Parliament had tolerated James only because the succession was protestant - if the Queen gave birth to a son the heir would be Catholic - a son, James was born in 1688

Glorious Revolution (1688)

• The birth of a Catholic heir was the last straw
• Parliamentary leaders went to visit William and Mary (James' daughter) in Holland to see if they would agree to assume the throne
• On November 5, 1688 William landed with troops (14,000) - James' army melted away - unable to make terms James and his wife and son fled into exile (France)
• William and Mary were proclaimed joint sovereigns
• All accomplished without bloodshed

The old question of who should rule England was finally answered - Parliament would have ultimate power

William and Mary (1688 - 1704)

• To receive the throne the new sovereigns had to agree to a few conditions
• Toleration Act (1689) - basic freedom of worship to all protestants - Catholics were excluded
• Bill of Rights (1689) - the monarchy would respect all of the rights of Parliament and of the English people - free speech, trial by jury, taxation, etc.
• In 1701 the Act of Settlement stated that on the death of Queen Anne the throne would pass to the Hanovers
• James attempted to recover his throne but was crushed in 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland
• His son, James (the "Old Pretender") would attempt to seize power in 1715 - failed
• The "Old Pretender's" son Charles (Bonnie Prince Charlie) attempted his own coup in 1745 - again crushed
• The bloodless rise of William and Mary finally brought about a period of domestic peace in England - could begin to concentrate on the development of the empire
• William brought England into the War of Spanish Succession
• In 1694 the Bank of England was formed

After the death of William (plagued by gout and obesity) and Mary (***  died of smallpox at age 32) Anne ruled - last daughter of James II

• ***Queen Anne reigned over England 1702 - 1714.  In her lifetime she gave birth to 17 children.  One lived to age 11. The others died in infancy.   Most of the children were born dead or died shortly after birth.
• Following the death of Queen Anne in 1714 the Stuart dynasty gave way to the rise of the German Hanover family (George) - couldn't speak English

***It took 12 or more assembled people, creating a disturbance, to be called a riot.  That, under England's Riot Act of 1714.  The sheriff was supposed to show up and read aloud that piece of legislation.  It's what gave us the old "reading the riot act" line.

***England taxed soap from 1712 to 1862 with the declaration it was a frivolous luxury of the aristocracy

*** An 18th-century British admiral named Edward Vernon usually wore a Grogham foul-weather coat, so his men nicknamed him"Old Grog."  He sought to eradicate scurvy aboard ship by rationing rum and water.  And that mixture became known as grog.  The home of George Washington, Mount Vernon, was named in his honor, too

*** British sailors got the nickname "limeys" because they ate limes to prevent scurvy.

Absolutism - France

Absolutism in France

• 17th and 18th century model absolutist state
• Religious wars - violence particularly strong - middle of 16th century large community of French Calvinists called Huguenots - persecuted - resisted strongly
• 1562 - war between Catholics and Huguenots - lasted 10 years - attempted peace by marrying king's sister to the Huguenot leader
• King's mother (Catherine de'Medici) felt Huguenots too strong - persuaded Charles IX to massacre them (didn't want to) - on St Bartholomew's Day - August 24, 1572 - thousands slaughtered - Huguenots kept fighting for 20 years after

Early Bourbon Dynasty

Henry III (1574 - 1589)

• Loved clothes
• Slept in a mask and gloves to protect his complexion
• Painted his face
• Wore a rosary with beads carved like skulls
• With his friends (all fops) would go in sack cloth and barefooted to churches in Paris with whips and flog one another in penitence
• Yet was horrible cruel and thought nothing of murder
• Died stabbed by a monk (Clement) who was instantly slain by the king's guards

Henry IV (ruled 1589 - 1610)

• Ambitious, courageous, intelligent and well-liked
• So poor he had to wear robes left by his brother-in-law (Henry III)
• Was Protestant and had to change to Catholicism for the throne - said, "Paris is worth a mass."
• Had a hard job after 30 years of civil war
• To keep peace - outlawed firearms
• Encouraged agriculture and manufacturing
• Established fair methods of tax collection
• Kept country out of foreign wars
• Tried for religious toleration - Edict of Nantes (NANTS) - 1598 - gave years of peace - guaranteed religious freedom and political equality for the Huguenots - remarkably fair document
• Henry paid with his life - assassinated (stabbed in his carriage) - May 14, 1610

Louis XIII  (ruled 1610 - 1643)

• *** The name Louis means: "famous warrior."
• 9 years old when his father killed
• First years his mother ruled with the help of the nobles - weak, foolish woman
• Nobles gained back much power during this time
• As an adult he was slow, dull, cold hearted, and had bad health
• Weak king
• *** He started wearing wigs to cover his receding hairline.  Everybody copied.  Thus wearing a wig carried aristocratic prestige.
• 1617 sent his mother and her friends into exile to England - she died in extreme poverty
• Powerful nobles harder to handle
• His power remained unsteady - he hated problems of state

1624 - Chose Cardinal Richelieu (1585 - 1642) as first minister

• He ran the country for 18 years
• One of France's ablest statesmen
• Had anyone killed who tried to influence the king
• The king did nothing to save his friends
• Brilliant
• Ruthless
• Single-minded
• Goal to make the king supreme and France the strongest country in Europe
• First major obstacles the nobles and Huguenots
• Nobles - destroyed their castles and private armies
• Against the Edict of Nantes - allowed Huguenots a state within a state - started a war to destroy their power - let them keep religious and civil liberties
• When he died (December 4, 1642) - 58 years old - left the king practically absolute and the most powerful ruler in Europe
• Power of nobility fading
• Power of Huguenots destroyed
• *** Cardinal Richelieu decreed that the blades of all dinner knives have round ends.  What bothered him he said, were guest at his table who picked their teeth with the old pointy ones.
• *** Richelieu did his daily workout by jumping over furniture.

Jules Marazin   (1602 - 1661) - Italian priest

• Foreigner of low birth
• Succeeded Richelieu - trained by him - carried out his policies
• Clever and cunning
• Taught Louis XIV statecraft - kept him poor
• Embittered nobility - 2 rebellions broke out - last efforts to destroy royal absolutism - unsuccessful
• At his death Louis XIV became the most absolute ruler in Europe

Louis XIII died 5 months after Richelieu - May 14, 1643 - 42 years old

Louis XIV   (ruled 1643 - 1715)

• Parents hated each other - they had been married 23 years - his birth hailed as a miracle
• 5 years old when his father died - his mother Anne regent with Marazin

• Following the French triumph in the Thirty Years War (1648) France was the unquestioned dominant power on the continent

• *** "Taps" dates back to the Thirty Years War, 1615 - 1643.  The name "Taps" meant the military day's end signal.  At bedtime, the provost visited each military unit to tap the bung into every keg and mark it with chalk.  The chalked markings were checked to next day to make sure the keg hadn't been reopened after "taps."

• Both Spain and the Holy Roman Empire were in sharp decline

• The War of the Fronde (1651) in the early years of his reign left a permanent mark on the king's life - he was blockaded in the Louvre by citizen guards - thought he escaped they broke in and demanded to see him - he was furious - because of this incident he despised Paris

• Ruled 72 years
• Trained to be king - poor education
• Not brilliant or a deep thinker - distaste for books
• Had an excellent memory, persistence and common sense
• Governed many hours a day - reading reports - presiding over meetings - issuing orders
• Determined there would be no challenge to his power
• Grew up thinking the nation was made for his glory
• He became the symbol of the absolute monarch
• He was the creation of the vision of Cardinal Richelieu - the "Sun King" - "L' etat c'est moi" (I am the state) - also known as the "the Grand Monarch" and "Louis the Great"
• *** It's a matter of historical record that he owned 413 beds
• *** Balding he elected to wear a powdered wig.  So his courtiers did likewise.  Englanders took up the French fashion.  Also did notables in the colonies.  Ranking men of the whole Western world wore wigs.
• Chose ministers and administrators from the middle class so they would be loyal only to him
• Wanted efficient men he could control
• Didn't trust nobles - place them on display at Versailles
• He oversaw the construction of his fabulous palace at Versailles - it took nearly 36,000 workers 47 years to complete - cost about $100,000,000 to build - 6 out of 10 francs from taxes spent on it
• It began as a simple hunting lodge and became the grandest royal residence in all of Europe - 1/2 mile long - every other royal residence will be measured against it
• Staff of 15,000 guards and servants were required or the 10,000 inhabitants
• The new Baroque artistic movement influenced the design - elaborate design - vibrant colors - Hall of Mirrors
• The unstated purpose of Versailles was to keep the nobility under Louis' watchful eye
• An elaborate and complex court etiquette was created - failure to abide by it led to social disgrace
• Enjoyed hunting, boating, ballet, sporting events, horse shows, good food and drink
• The society created at Versailles became the envy of Europe and was imitated all over the continent
• French became the preferred language in every court (except England)
• French became the language of diplomacy
• French art and architecture were dominant
• French literature was read all over Europe - Moliere, the great playwright, mocked the failings of humanity (such as snobbery and stinginess) in his comedies - Racine was the dramatist counterpart of Moliere
• *** Louis purposely made his clothing very expensive.  Since the nobles copied him it could cost them as much as a year's income for a suit of clothing.  When they ran out of money he gave them more, thus keeping them indebted to him and in his power.
• Married Marie-Terese of Spain - fair-haired and blue-eyed - had a somewhat fleshy nose and a rather loose mouth - most complacent disposition and sincerely loved Louis
• Had a son the Grand Dauphin - very dull (*** this usually was their nice way of saying retarded) - cared nothing but playing cards and hunting - very little could be taught to him (he died before Louis) - he married a German princess who was duller still - they had 3 sons - one son the Duke of Burgundy died of malignant measles
• Marie-Terese had 5 other children - all died young
• At her death Louis married Madame de Maintenon his long time mistress

Government

• Following the death of Mazarin in 1661 Louis did not appoint a First Minister - all final power was in his hands
• Louis was a capable and hard working monarch
• Louis did appoint several able advisers to assist him run the state
• Jean-Baptiste Colbert - Finance Minister - brilliant - built a rich treasury
• Chief proponent of the economic theory of mercantilism - called for rigid government control of the economy - the goal was to create a strong economy for the purpose of waging war - self-sufficient economy - theory based on the idea that there is a limited amount of gold in the world - acquisition of the most bullion was essential to national survival - to acquire gold, exports were encouraged - to prevent imports, new industries were created and high tariffs imposed
• *** The nobles were wearing wigs and importing bales and bales of horse hair for them from Germany.  Colbert went into a snit for fear the Germans would get all the French gold.  He tried to outlaw the wig, but couldn't pull it off.
• Colbert encouraged colonization - they should exist as: a source or raw materials and a market for finished goods - new colonies were established in Canada and the Caribbean
• The navy and the merchant marine were built up
• The tax farming system was further reformed

Michel le Tellier, the Marquis of Louvois

• War Minister
• Built the French army into the largest and strongest in Europe - standing army of 100,000 in peacetime and 400,000 in wartime - army well trained and professional - pay was increased and regular - promotions were more merit based

Sebastien Vauban

• Military engineer
• Perfected the art of fortifying and besieging towns
• developed the fixed bayonet

Louis' government relied on the Intendants to keep thing running efficiently - these were royal agents - like a governor - responsible only to Louie

Problems - While the reign of Louis XIV marked a high point for France it is also a time of great mistakes

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685)

• The Edict of Nantes (1598) had brought a measure of peace to the nation but tensions remained
• Louis and the Catholic Church continued to view the Huguenots as potential traitors
• Louis' government had increased persecution of the Huguenots - barred them from government service - forced to baptize their children in the Catholic Church - closed their schools
• In 1685 Louis, in grief over the loss of his wife, decided to revoke the Edict of Nantes - he was also afraid of civil war if they gained strength - he wanted to have a religiously unified France
• Under the revocation all protestant churches were closed
• Huguenot ministers were exiled
• Huguenots who refused to convert were forced to galleys as slaves
• Result - nearly 300,000 Huguenots fled the country - most to England and America - the Huguenots were among the most valuable parts of the French economy (silversmiths, jewelers, textile makers, etc.) - the French economy will take generations to recover
• Louis will be viewed as a religious fanatic all over protestant Europe and France as a dangerous bully

Wars

• Disastrous - didn't have good generals
• Louis' other big error was his nearly continual warfare
• France was at war for 42 of the 72 years he ruled
• He had built a massive army - he needed to use it
• Thirty Years War - it was going when he took the throne - strengthened France's position among European countries
• Invasion of the Netherlands - surprisingly his biggest problem was the Dutch - he realized that French control of the continent meant that the Dutch must be neutralized - in the 1670's Louis' attempts to defeat the Dutch all failed - the Dutch even opened the dikes and flooded the French army out - after 1672 the Dutch were led by young Prince William of Orange - he became the chief organizer of European opposition - married to Princess Mary of England - in 1688 he became King William III of England
• War of the League of Augsberg  (1689 - 1697) - when Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685 he frightened his protestant neighbors - in 1689 he allowed his troops to devastate the area of the Palatinate (Rape of the Palatinate) - in central Germany - south east of Worms
• William used the incident to rally opposition to the French... the League of Augsburg
• France  versus  Dutch, Spain, Sweden, Holy Roman Empire, England, Bavaria, Saxony, Palatinate
• The war was fought until both sides were exhausted - but both sides also viewed the peace as a temporary truce - Peace of Ryswick  (1697) confirmed French gain but would keep France from further territorial acquisitions - minor setback for Louis XIV
• War of the Spanish Succession (1701 - 1714) - the decisive and disastrous war of Louis' reign
• The roots of the war lay in competing claims to the throne of Spain
• Charles II (the Sufferer). the king of Spain was dying - he was a Hapsburg - he had no heir
• There were two legitimate claimants to the throne  1. Louis' grandson, Philip  2. HRH Leopold's grandson, Charles
• Whoever controlled the throne also gained control of all of Spain's European and worldwide territory
• All of the major European states had come to an informal agreement that the Spanish Empire would be divided up following Charles' death - the Spanish were not even consulted - Charles II refused to allow the division - he left a will - left everything to Louis's grandson, Philip - he wanted a powerful Catholic family on the Spanish throne - it Philip took the throne the Bourbons would rule both France and Spain
• Louis XIV had already agreed to proposed partition but no tried to renege - all of the old League of Augsburg were quickly pledged to stop the Bourbon takeover
• Charles II died in November 1700
• Philip Bourbon was proclaimed Philip V in Madrid
• WAR - very brutal - advances in weapons and combat tactics made it very bloody - Louis' enemies were out to destroy him and break French power once and for all - France lost all of the major battles - the French fleet was destroyed - League troops drove Philip V briefly out of Spain
• In 1709 with France in collapse a desperate Louis asked for peace terms - the League offered extremely harsh terms - included Louis personally removing Philip from the Spanish throne
• The unjust peace terms rallied both France and Spain to the support of their Bourbon monarch - fought to a better settlement
• Treaty of Utrecht (1714) - Philip V got to keep the Spanish crown - but the French and Spanish thrones could never be united - France lost all territory east of the Rhine River - France could have no say in Spanish colonial trade
• England was the big winner - got territory in Canada and control of Gibraltar - Royal Navy supreme for the next 240 years
• Austria (HRE) got control of the Spanish Netherlands - after 1714 the Austrian Netherlands - control of Milan, Naples, Sicily (dominant in Italy)

Louis died the following year - on his deathbed he warned his heir not to repeat his mistakes - nearly bankrupted France - "I fear that I have loved war too much."

Poverty and starvation began to appear

No priest or noble ever paid taxes

Louis XV - (king 1715 - 1774)

• Great grandson of Louis XIV
• Lazy - pleasure seeking
• *** One afternoon he came down with a slight fever.  His doctor sent him to bed with a cold damp towel for his forehead.  The next morning he woke up feeling better.  He was so grateful to his doctor he presented him with an estate which took in five villages and 207 farms.  Rentals garnered from all the property added the equivalent to $31,000 a year to the doctors annual income.  A sizable sum in those days
• Glutton
• Drunkard
• Cared little for affairs of government
• During his reign France continued to decline
• Involved in a series of wars - lost almost all colonies in America and India
• Nobility began to exercise power
• At his death (age 64) France in greater financial trouble - people very discontent

Louis XVI - (king 1774 - 1793)

• married to Marie Antoinette - Austrian
• Well meaning
• Not clever enough to solve problems
• Inherited too many problems to be effective
• France continued on a path of destruction - discontent as extravagances, court and inequalities of economic system caused serious financial troubles
• Absolutism ended with revolution in 1789

Absolutism - Russia

Eastern Europe

• Centuries behind western Europe in political and economic development
• In Western Europe the majority of people were free peasants - increasingly urban - rapid modern economic growth - political growth
• In eastern Europe serfdom remained the norm - the nobility was all powerful - central governments were still relatively powerless

RUSSIA

The sleeping giant of the east

Russia was very different from the rest of Europe - it endured centuries of domination by the Asian Mongols - the Mongol Yoke - it left strong Asian characteristics - seen in dress, architecture, facial structures and political attitudes

Used the Cyrillic alphabet

Russia was also distinct from the rest of Europe in several other important aspects

Eastern Orthodox

• Christianity came to Russia from Byzantine missionaries - so unlike the rest of Europe Russia was neither Catholic nor protestant
• *** One of the tsars sent out emissaries to look at the Catholic Church, Judaism, and Eastern Orthodox.  The ones that saw the Orthodox religion came back and raved about how beautiful the ceremonies were.  The tsar invited missionaries in to convert his people and declared all the people would become Russian Orthodox.
• After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the Russian Orthodox Church claimed to be the new center of Orthodoxy - Moscow was proclaimed the "Third Rome"
• By the 1500's the Russian Orthodox Church was as powerful in Russia as the Catholic Church had ever been in the rest of Europe - controlled about 25% of all land

Absolutism in Russia

Much of the following information comes from the book Fire and Water by Alex de Jonge - I just found this book on Amazon.com for $.01 if you are interested in owning a copy.  Another source is Peter the Great by M.S. Anderson.

Old Muscovy

• Czar also spelled Tsar - comes from the word caesar

Moscow

• Splendid appearance "miserable place"
• Houses crude and poor
• Streets irregular
• City almost all wood - thought it was healthier - fires - seldom fought - houses easily replaced - had quick houses (pre-fab) - moved them out of the way
• 17th Century violent city - robbery and murder commonplace - every morning corpses in the street - days not safe either - would not help others when they saw them being attacked because they could be held responsible
• Passionate belief in tradition
• Fierce resistance to change
• Fasts - children had to follow from age 2 - failure to comply punishable by death - fasts severe and rigid
• Dress - beards essential to personal salvation - dress never changed - notion of fashion unknown - hadn't changed for generations
• Law - all men equal before the czar - czar held all power - laws determined by his will
• Denunciation - encouraged - informer received all the victim's possessions - both people arrested and imprisoned and both subjected to identical process or interrogation (torture) - *** knout (had multiple strands sometime embedded with pieces of metal)- simple flogging - flogging accompanied by strappado (hands were tied behind their back and then they were raised off the floor) or dislocation of the arms - dropped almost to the ground by the rope around their wrists - also combined flogging, strappado and roasting over a slow fire and occasionally tearing out ribs with hot pincers
• If confessed still tortured to make sure they told all
• Penalties - decapitation - breaking on the wheel (*** They were spread eagled on a wagon wheel, tied down and their bones were systematically broken) - flogging to death - false coiners had molten metal poured down their throats - wives who killed their husbands were buried alive up to their necks in a public place and left to die - husbands who killed their wives paid a fine
• Women - marriages arranged - not infrequently the bride and groom met at the altar - after marriage confined to a "terem" or women's quarter - kept under rigid discipline - wife beating common - ***  Cosmetics - painted their faces red and white - teeth black
• Drinking - excessive - "Some of them going home drunk, if not attended with a sober companion, fall asleep upon the snow, and there they are frozen to death.  If any of their acquaintances chance to pass by, though they see them likely to perish, yet they will not assist them to avoid the trouble of examination if they should die in their hands.  Tis a sad sight to see a dozen people brought upright in a sledge frozen to death, some have their arms eaten off by dogs, others their faces, and others have nothing left but bones.  Two or three hundred have been brought after this manner in the time of Lent." (Fire and Water)
• Hundreds of peasants loved miserably
• Merchants unfairly taxed
• Military strength out of proportion to size and needs
• Nobles called boyars

Ivan IV  (E-von) - The Terrible - (1530 - March 18, 1584)

• Took the throne at 3 years old
• Nobility took advantage to gain power
• ***  He had a terrible childhood.  He was forced to hid out in the palace and steal food to live.  Periodically the nobles would have hunts to try and find him and kill him.
• ***  It's a matter of record that Ivan entertained himself at age 12 by dropping dogs for the Kremlin's higher battlements.
• ***  Kremlin means fort.
• When Ivan came of age he used plots and violence to destroy his enemies and gain power - 1544
• Had 7 wives - loved the first Dmitri - driven partially mad by her death
• ***  One source claims he probably went mad in his later years due to syphilis.  It is known that he would go down the street and order people killed just because he did not like the way they looked.
• Was the first to use the title of Czar - 1547
• Began oprichnik (a-prick-ni-key) - 6,000 man political police - wore black and had black horses - attached a dogs head to their saddle to scare enemies - ravaged the country, terrorizing the boyars and peasants alike - tracked down traitors
• Contributions - defeated Mongols (they had taken over Russian in 1240) - they were never again a threat - began conquest of Siberia (got it in 1581) - doubled the size of Russia
• Small farmers became serfs - not released until 1861
• No good heir - killed his son, Ivan, in a fit of anger (1580) - other son Fedor an idiot
• At his death (he was poisoned) there was a civil war over the throne - made the nation weak - his successors weak - couldn't control the nobility
• Son Fedor, the idiot, came to the throne - 27 years old (ruled 1584 - 1598) - died Jan. 1598 - ended Rurik line - Boris Gudunov regent
• ***  Rurik was a viking that had settled in Russia around 862

Time of Troubles - lasted 25 years - great strife and upheaval throughout the land

1601 - 1603  Famine - cannibalism

Michael Romanov

• Elected (by Zemsky Sobor) new czar - February 12, 1613
• Weak ruler (that's why he was chosen) - 16 when he came to the throne
• Died July 12, 1645 - while attending a church service he suffered a stroke and died
• Ruled 32 years

State improve the next 75 years

Peter the Great   (Czar 1683 - January 28, 1725)

• Born May 30, 1672
• Father 43 when he was born - Aleksey Mikhailovich  1645 - 1675
• Father's 1st wife - married in 1647 - died 1669 in child birth - Maria Miloslavskaya - had 13 children - 5 sons - 2 lived, Ivan and Fedor - 8 daughters - all lived
• Father's 2nd wife - Peter's mother - Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina - married her in 1670 - stupid and extremely limited - never understood Peter
• Childhood - stifling luxury - limited education - illiterate and innumerate - 1st tutor a drunk - Peter liked history - learned the New Testament by heart
• Father died suddenly February 8, 1676 - he caught a cold at the annual event of the blessing of the water of the Moscow River - loved for his gentleness and humanity - conscientious and diligent ruler
• Name Fedor (14 years old) his successor  (Peter is 4 at the time)
• Fedor -  (ruled 1676 - 1682) - very poor health - educated and enlightened ruler - his 1st wife died in 1681 - their only son soon after - against medical advice he remarried 9 months later, February 24, 1682 - by April 27 he died without naming a successor (he was 30 years old) - did not name his brother Ivan since he was mentally weak and almost blind
• Support was for Peter
• Peter's mother unable to cope

Sophia Alekselnva - 1/2 sister - wanted power - used the streltsy (strel-see) - literally shooters or musketeers - by 1682 streltsy at point of mutiny - April turned against their officers - new rulers panicked

• 16 officers condemned to be flogged 2 hours a day until they returned unfair taxes to the soldiers (never tried to prove they were guilty) - they were the unpopular ones - beaten twice a day
• Lynched junior officers - also tossed them off high buildings
• Sophia worked hard to increase agitation
• Turned into a violent, howling mob
• Went to the palace (Kremlin)
• Brought out Ivan and Peter to show they were O.K.
• Commander in Chief (Dolguruky) began yelling at men telling them to go home
• They grabbed him and tossed him down on the waiting spears
• Patriarch (Matveev) next - tore him from Nataly's arms - dismembered - no limb remaining joined to his body
• Soldiers went on a rampage - raping - looting - lynching - lasted all summer
• Sophia the only one who could control them
• Finally agreed on May 26 that there would be 2 czars - Ivan and Peter - with Ivan (he was mentally and physically weak) the senior - Sophia the regent
• They ruled together 1682 - 1689
• Ivan lived 1666 - 1696 (The father of Anna Ivanovra who was empress 1730 - 1740)

Peter went into exile after 1682 with his mother (in Prebrazhenskoe)

• He had a great time in the country
• Played war games
• Loved fire (bombs, grenades, fireworks)
• No regard for rank - used the sons of grooms and gentry - they become the core of his army later
• Lack of vanity
• Magnificent pride
• No education

He learned Sophie wanted him killed - fled to a monastery - a friend persuaded him to mount a coup against Sophie

Takes control September 12, 1689 - 17 years old - he rode in triumph into Moscow

Physically he was huge 6' 7" ( I have also read he was 6' 8" or 6' 5")

Had great energy

Worked hard

Supported by streltsy

Ivan deposed

Sophia imprisoned in a monastery (Novedevichy) for the rest of her life

Takes little interest in government

***  If someone annoyed him he would have their nostril torn out with iron pincers

Married Erdokia Lopukhin - February 6, 1689

• Reasonably pretty
• She lacked spirit and imagination
• They had little in common
• 2 children, ill-fated Alexis - another boy (Alexander) who died in childhood
• ***  Peter executed his wife's lover and put the head in a jar of alcohol.  Then Peter made his wife keep the jar in her bedroom
• Sent her to a convent - she kept her son (Alexis) with her
• Peter eventually divorced her (1698)

Alexis - Peter's son

• Received a lot of physical abuse from his father - beaten about the head - dragged by his hair across the floor, etc.
• Left him timid, secretive and lacking in self-confidence
• Became a heavy drinker
• None of this sat well with Peter
• Alexis disinterested in government
• 1715 Peter threatened to disinherit him
• Alexis offered to renounce the throne
• Peter told him he would have to retire to a monastery to diminish a threat of rebellion
• Alexis fled to Vienna,Austria
• Prompted a hunt for him that covered Europe for 6 months
• Coaxed back to Russia with promises of amnesty
• He publicly renounced his claim to the succession
• He was imprisoned in the fortress of St. Peter and Paul - June 24, 1717
• Same day a court ordered him executed for treason
• Before it could happen he was tortured
• Archives say: "The rack was applied at eleven o'clock, and that same day at six o'clock in the afternoon the Tsarevich gave up his soul."  (One of the movies I have seen says they gave him 40 lashes with the knout.)
• Peter's biography says 25 lashes at first interrogation - 2 days later 15 lashes
• There are 9 different versions of his death

Drinking bouts

• Might last for days
• No one allowed to stop
• Would have drink poured down them until they collapsed
• Some never recovered and literally died of drink
• Relished spectacle of hopeless and if necessary enforced drunkenness in others
• (Note: Most men during this time period were much shorter than Peter so did not have his capacity for alcohol.)

Grand Tour

• About 200 people (sources vary on this number)
• Peter wanted to travel incognito (At 6' 7" I doubt he was very successful at this.)
• Left Moscow March 9, 1696
• When he traveled in the west he realized that the other European states were far more advanced
• Went to Sweden (Riga)
• Holland - worked in the shipyard, docks - stayed 4 months
• England - king gave him a 20 gun yacht
• Vienna, Austria
• He hired hundreds of western craftsmen to come to Russia to train Russian workers
• Returned home because streltzy mutinied
• Leaders and men tortured and executed - except for the very young (16 - 20 year olds) - they were branded, flogged, noses slit, ears cut off and exiled

Began modernizing

• Cut off beards - did it at receptions and entertainments - men believed they were essential attribute to male godliness so not to have one seriously compromised ones chance for salvation - by 1699 beards were taxed
• Clothing - decreed they dress like the English - cut off the long sleeves
• Women - liberated from the terem (harem)
• Marriage - insisted it be based on mutual assent - couple should visit for at least 6 weeks before - made literacy a requirement for nobles to marry
• Encouraged the speaking of French and the learning of art and music
• Doctors trained
• Fire fighter plans
• Gardens planted
• Reformed army
• Founded schools and universities
• Centralized the government
• Forced the boyars to give a certain number of days each year in service to the state
• Set up 2 hospitals

Obsession with acquiring a warm water port

• To achieve this goal Peter built and trained a modern military based on the French model
• He equipped it with the finest weapons
• Copied enemy tactics
• First attempted to secure a Russian port on the Black Sea - he ultimately failed

Peter's Second Marriage

• Catherine - probably born illegitimately in 1684 or 1685
• Lithuanian peasant stock (Estonia)
• Mother died when she was 3
• Beautiful dark haired girl - fine figure
• Russian Field Marshal Boris Sheremetov kept her as his housekeeper for 6 months
• Alexander Menshikov (close friend of Peter's) saw her and took her
• 1703 Peter came to visit Alexander - next few months shared her with Alexander
• Eventually he took her for his own
• She went with Peter on military campaigns
• Showed remarkable courage
• 1707 they were married in a private ceremony - didn't make the marriage public for 5 years (1712)
• Had 5 children - only 2 lived Anna and Elizabeth
• Peter was absent many times for long periods fighting against Charles XII of Sweden

Great Northern War   (1700 - 1721)

• Next target was Sweden
• The leading power in the Baltic
• The new Swedish monarch, Charles XII, was only 18
• Denmark, Russia and Poland hoped to seize Swedish territory
• Charles turned out to be a born leader - he quickly defeated the Danes and Poles - only Russia hung on
• In 1708 - 1709 Charles invaded Russia
• He defeat4ed Peter's army over and over, but the Russians just kept retreating
• Russians burned everything as they retreated "scorched earth"
• Swedes could not live off the land - when winter arrived they starved
• Peter counter-attacked at the Battle of Poltava and defeated Charles's army
• In the 1721 treaty Sweden lost most of its empire
• Russia became the dominant Baltic power

Peter built a new capital, St. Petersburg, on land seized from the Swedes

Moved the focus away from Moscow

It became the "window to the west"

St. Petersburg - named after his patron saint

• Afraid of Moscow after the riots when he was a child
• Loved the sea
• Wanted a port
• Ordered people to go - 1712 - 1000 men of lesser nobility +500 merchants and shopkeepers
• Needed permission to leave
• Houses expensive
• ***  Peter's first house in Petersburg only 3 small rooms - bedroom, dining room and study - pine boards
• Food costly
• 3 - 4 hours of daylight in the winter
• Neva river would flood
• Wolves prowled and attacked in winter
• Workforce - up to 40,000 every year - soldiers - criminals - deserters exiled to labor for life - press gangs used to get skilled laborers - few saw mills or animals - most work done by human labor
• Declared St. Petersburg the capital - all senators ordered to leave Moscow and move

Did nothing for the serfs except make them more of a slave - peasant uprisings became epidemic

Used tortures and execution

Peter died January 28, 1725 at the age of 53

• He tried to save some drowning soldiers - in November
• He caught a cold
• By December he felt better - had a relapse - died in Catherine's arms

Catherine became ruler - she died 2 1/2 years later

Named Peter's grandson Peter Alexelvich successor

• Only 11 years old
• Died 1730 of small pox - not quite 15

Succession went to the line of Peter's 1/2 brother

November 1741 Peter and Catherine's daughter Elizabeth Petrovna staged a palace coup

• Arranged for her sisters Anna"s son to be name her heir
• Got him a bride from Prussia - named her in honor of her mother (Catherine)
• She ruled for 22 years
• ***  "Mixture of laziness and obstinacy, coquetry and cruelty, piety and licentiousness.  Her amorous excesses, her taste for orgies and her mania for clothes (she never wore the same dress twice) did not prevent her from fearing God and worshiping icons." ( quote fromCatherine the Great by Henri Troyat)
• ***  Every week she had a party and forced men to dress as women, and women to dress as men.  Neither sex like it.  Elizabeth thought she look wonderful in men's dress and thought other women ought to enjoy the privilege.

Catherine the Great  b. 1729   (Czarina 1762 - 1796)

• German princess
• Born Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst
• Father petty German prince - too poor to provide for his family - hired out as a military officer to the kings of Prussia - family lived comfortably
• Sophie had a French governess (Babette Cardel) - learned French from her
• Sophie curious and very spirited
• Age 7 sudden sickness - coughing, fevers, and fits - ill for weeks - a time when her life was in danger - one morning she woke up and it was gone
• Weeks of lying on her side caused a physical change - assumed the shape of a Z - right shoulder higher than the left - backbone a zigzag - a result as mysterious as the disease - no doctor could help - at last a veterinarian who practiced on the limbs of horses and cows prescribed a useless concoction of medicine - but also built a body frame to reshape her deformity - she wore it for 4 years until she regained her former posture
• Sophie did not have a close relationship with her mother - later years quarreled incessantly - but her mother expanded her knowledge of the world - took her to visit relatives who would be future kings and queens
• Sophie was chosen by Empress Elizabeth (Russia) - daughter of Peter the Great - she wanted a German princess - 1744 summoned Sophie to Russia - her mother thrilled - no one asked Sophie her opinion because it hardly mattered
• Very hard trip
• Very cold
• Huddled together for warmth
• Took nearly 4 weeks to get to St. Petersburg
• Then sent to Moscow to court
• Received with unusual warmth
• It was Peter's 16th birthday
• Everyone wanted to see his bride
• First meeting - Sophie only 15 - Peter tells her he loves one of the court ladies passionately but he'd marry her anyway - confused Sophie and caused anger and resentment - she resolved to please the empress and keep her own consul
• Before her marriage she spent her time learning Russian and the Eastern Orthodox religion
• Part of her conversion was she had to take a Russian name -Catherine
• Married August 1745 - she was 16 - he was 17
• He will become Peter III - nephew of Elizabeth - he is Peter the Great's grandson - he is mentally weak and he drank excessively - lacked charm - ugly
• Soon estranged
• His chief pleasure was playing with dolls and toy soldiers and tormenting his own dogs
• *** He never had a bath in his life
• Catherine is bright, eager for power
• Knows she is alone in the world
• Fought bitterly with her mother
• Shared nothing with Peter
• Her household all spies of Elizabeth
• Even her correspondence monitored
• Spent the next 15 years adding to her education - read everything she could get a hold of - classics, reformers
• Liked to ride - not usually done by women
• Made friends among Russia's army officers
• Passion for handsome guardsmen - had more than 20 lovers - became pregnant in 1754 - almost certainly not Peter's child - father probably Sergius Saltykov - nobody really believed the child was Peter's - nobody cared because Elizabeth had an heir
• Maybe revenge for Peter's conduct or in return for his neglect

As Empress Elizabeth's health worsened she tried to cure her ills with liquor and lovers - limited success

When Elizabeth died she was grotesquely fat - body on show for 6 weeks

• Catherine worked to endear herself to the public by weeping openly at the Empress' grave
• Peter began throwing parties immediately after her death - he refused to stand vigil over the body - he clowned his way through the funeral procession

Peter came to the throne on Christmas day 1761 - ruled 6 months

• His favorite was Elizabeth Vorontzov - she was lame, squint-eyed, marked by small pox, and stank - always ready to drink, sing, or shout abuse - she excited Peter with her stupidity and crudeness
• Peter alienated the military, nobles and the church with his demands

Catherine usurped the throne July 8, 1762

• Backed by nobles and the church
• ***  When Peter found out he ran in all directions, fainted, revived - drank large glasses of wine - he was drunk, staggering and weeping - eventually he renounced the throne

Removed Peter July 17, 1762

• Sent him to a monastery
• Lived his live lonely and weeping
• Catherine's supporters later had him killed -probably poisoned - 1762
• Official report was that he died of hemorrhoidal colic

Catherine had a dynamic personality who alternately captivated and terrified those around her

Gained a reputation as the most enlightened of European monarchs

• Undeserved
• Tried to change the law - it didn't work - never tried again

Had the sincere devotion of her people

Did nothing to help the Serfs

• Gave nobles greater power over them - after a peasant revolt
• Even took away the serfs right to complain - said nobles could beat them and send them to the salt mine in Siberia
• During her reign many peasant rebellions due to unbearable conditions - she had them crushed ruthlessly - killed the leaders

Gained land by foreign affairs

• Almost to the size it was under the Soviet Union
• Portions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795) - disappeared from the map until 1918 - Russia got the most - divided it with Prussia and Austria
• Won over Turks and got the Crimea from them - annexed Crimea 1783 - wanted a warm water port
• Developed Russia into a major military power

At Court

• French spoken
• Latest fashions worn
• ***  Catherine kept her wigmaker in an iron cage in her bedroom for more than 3 years.  She didn't want anybody to know she needed his handiwork.
• Newest ideas for economic and educational reform were aired - not put into practice
• Russian nobles mingled comfortably with their European counterparts

Military Service class developed into bureaucrats and administrators

In the country it remained the same dull regimen - their quality of life was no different

Catherine died of a stroke November 10, 1796  (67)

Succeeded by her son Paul I

• For 34 years he had waited for the throne that he had always considered rightfully his
• 5 years of Paul's madness brought about a palace revolt
• Palace guards plotted with the nobles who were his "friends"
• March 11, 1801 he was murdered in his sleep

Placed his son Alexander I on the Romanov throne

• Czar when Napoleon invaded