The Rise of New Monarchies

• During the feudal period in Europe, kings did not have absolute power, but shared power with nobles and the church. The nobility was the most powerful entity.
• New monarchs


  Monarchs who took measures to take power away from other entities like the church and the nobles, and consolidated that power under themselves.
• New monarchs were not as powerful as absolutist monarchs, who could do whatever they wanted.
• Top-down religious reforms by new monarchs

  1. Monarch opposes Protestant doctrine

  2. Monarch divorces and remarries

  3. Monarch makes their state church the official church

  4. Subjects must attend state church or pay a fine
• Treason act


  Made it a capital crime to refuse to recognize the Church of England as the official state church.
• Act of uniformity


  English subjects had to attend Anglican church services once a week or pay a fine.
• Bureaucracy


  A group of officials whose job is to make sure the people are following the law, including collecting taxes.
• Bureaucracy examples


  • Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain
  • Francis I in France
• Concordat of Bologna


  Agreement between Francis I and Pope Leo X, giving Francis the right to appoint church officials in France.
• Peace of Augsburg


  Gave individual rulers in the Holy Roman Empire the right to decide whether their subjects would be Catholic or Lutheran.
• Merchants and bankers, especially the Medici family in Florence and the Fugger family in Augsburg, gained increased political power due to the rise of the money economy.
• Secular state


  A state in which the church has little to no political influence.
• Peace of Augsburg


  A treaty signed in 1555 that ended the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire. It allowed individual rulers to decide whether their subjects would be Catholic or Lutheran.
• Holy Roman Empire


  A political entity in central Europe that existed from the 10th to the 19th century. It was made up of many smaller states, each with its own ruler.
• Cuius regio, eius religio

  A policy in the Holy Roman Empire that allowed individual rulers to decide the religion of their subjects. It means "whose rule, his religion."
• Catholic or Lutheran


  The two major branches of Christianity at the time of the Peace of Augsburg. The treaty allowed rulers to choose between these two options for their subjects.
• New monarchs


  Monarchs who came to power after the decline of feudalism and the rise of centralized governments. They had more power than previous monarchs, but still had limits to their power.
• Absolutist monarchs


  Monarchs who had complete and total power over their kingdoms. They could do whatever they wanted without any checks or balances. Examples include Louis XIV of France, Peter the Great of Russia, and Frederick the Great of Prussia.
• Feudalism


  A political system in which power is distributed among various lords and nobles. Under feudalism, the monarch is just one of many powerful figures.
• Absolutist monarchs


  Monarchs who had complete and total power over their kingdoms. They used propaganda, censorship, military force, and other tactics to maintain their power and control. Despite these efforts, they still faced challenges and limitations.