Political Theories & Concepts
This English philosopher argued in Leviathan (1651) that humans in a state of nature live lives that are "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short," requiring an absolute sovereign to maintain order.
Who was Thomas Hobbes?
This 1689 document signed by William and Mary reasserted parliamentary control over taxation and legislation, establishing a constitutional monarchy in England.
What is the English Bill of Rights?
Louis XIV moved his royal court 12 miles outside Paris to this grand palace complex designed to centralize state authority and subdue the high nobility.
What is Versailles?
This chief financial and banking institution, established in 1609, made Amsterdam the primary credit and commercial hub of 17th-century Europe.
What was the Amsterdam Public Bank (Bank of Amsterdam)?
Tsar Peter the Great won a "window on the Baltic" and constructed his new Western-style capital city following his victory over Sweden in this conflict (1700–1721).
What was the Great Northern War?
This French bishop and tutor to Louis XIV provided the classic theological defense for absolute monarchy, claiming kings rule by "divine right" and are accountable only to God.
Who was Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet?
Signed by Charles I in 1628 in exchange for tax grants, this document prohibited non-parliamentary taxation, forced loans, and arbitrary imprisonment without cause.
What is the Petition of Right?
Serving as Controller-General of Finance under Louis XIV, this proponent of mercantilism built canals, subsidized state manufactures, and raised protective tariffs.
Who was Jean-Baptiste Colbert?
Founded in 1602, this private joint-stock enterprise held a state-granted monopoly over East Asian trade and drove Dutch global trade dominance.
What was the Dutch East India Company (VOC)?
This landed noble class of Prussia supported Hohenzollern centralizing policies in exchange for total authority over their serfs and tax exemptions.
Who were the Junkers?
In Two Treatises of Government, this philosopher defended the Glorious Revolution by arguing that government is a social contract designed to protect natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
Who was John Locke?
Led by Oliver Cromwell, this disciplined military force paid its soldiers regularly, avoided plundering local populations, and secured victory for Parliament in the English Civil War.
What was the New Model Army? (Round-Heads)
DOUBLE JEOPARDY
What was the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (or Edict of Fontainebleau)
This title was held by members of the noble House of Orange, who served as military commanders and occasionally sought to centralize executive power in the United Provinces.
What is a Stadholder?
Created by Peter the Great in 1722, this system organized state administrative and military service into 14 grades, allowing non-nobles to acquire nobility through service.
What was the Table of Ranks?
This international diplomatic principle, established in response to Louis XIV’s expansionist wars, held that European powers should form coalitions to prevent any single nation from dominating the continent.
What is the Balance of Power?
This radical group within the New Model Army authored the Agreement of the People, demanding expanded voting franchises for all freeborn men regardless of major property ownership.
Who were the Levellers?
Louis XIV relied heavily on these royal civil servants—typically drawn from the middle class or lesser nobility—to collect taxes and execute royal policy across French provinces.
Who were the Intendants?
Unlike artwork in absolute Catholic monarchies, Dutch Golden Age paintings typically depicted these types of non-religious subjects suited for middle-class homes.
What are genre scenes (or domestic interiors, still lifes, landscapes, portraits)?
Known as the "Sergeant-King," this Prussian monarch dramatically expanded the army to 80,000 men and established Europe's first formal system of military reserves.
Who was Frederick William I?
In his Six Books of the Republic (1576), this French legal theorist reacted to the French Wars of Religion by arguing that sovereign majesty consists chiefly in giving laws to subjects without their consent.
Who was Jean Bodin?
Passed by Parliament in 1673 during the Exclusion Crisis, this law excluded non-Anglicans, particularly Catholics, from holding military and civil office.
What was the Test Act?
This mid-17th-century uprising by French "nobles of the sword" and law courts against Mazarin’s war taxes forced a young Louis XIV to temporarily flee Paris, shaping his lifelong distrust of noble power.
What was The Fronde?
Passed between 1651 and 1673, these English economic protectionist measures required all imports to England to arrive on English ships, directly sparking three Anglo-Dutch trade wars.
What were the Navigation Acts?
Ended by the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699, this military conflict pushed Ottoman forces out of Hungary and Transylvania after a relief army broke the 1683 Siege of Vienna.
What was the War of the Holy League (or Ottoman-Habsburg War)?