Page 395 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

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State Building and the Search for Order in the Seventeenth Century
Nicolas-Ren􏰀e Joallain the Elder’s portrait of Louis XIV captures the king’s sense of royal grandeur.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
AND FOCUS QUESTIONS
Social Crises, War, and Rebellions
Q What economic, social, and political crises did Europe experience in the first half of the seventeenth century?
The Practice of Absolutism: Western Europe
Q What was absolutism in theory, and how did its actual practice in France reflect or differ from the theory?
Absolutism in Central and Eastern Europe
Q What developments enabled Brandenburg-Prussia, Austria, and Russia to emerge as major powers in the seventeenth century?
Limited Monarchy: The Dutch Republic and England
Q What were the main issues in the struggle between
king and Parliament in seventeenth-century England, and how were they resolved?
The Flourishing of European Culture
Q How did the artistic and literary achievements of this era reflect the political and economic developments of the period?
CRITICAL THINKING
Q What theories of government were proposed by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, and how did their respective theories reflect concerns and problems of the seventeenth century?
CONNECTIONS TO TODAY
Q How does the exercise of state power in the seventeenth century compare with the exercise of state power in the twenty-first century? What, if anything, has changed?
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BY THE END of the sixteenth century, Europe was beginning to experience a decline in religious passions and a growing secularization that affected both the political and intellectual worlds (for the intellectual effect, see Chapter 16). Some historians like to speak of the seventeenth century as a
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Chateaux de Versailles et de Trianon (G􏰀erard Blot), Versailles//aRMN-Grand Palais/ Art Resource, NY