In the aftermath of the Reformation. two states experienced a century of great alteration. and whether growing or diminution. this alteration was drastic. After Elizabeth I died at the bend of the century. James I took the throne of England and took tyranny with him. He and the following five replacements would supervise the growing of England from an fickle. absolutist monarchy to a working. stable Constitutional monarchy. France was non fortunate plenty to see such growing. In contrast. it experienced great diminution because the state did non germinate and continued with tyranny even a century after England had proven that type of regulating was non effectual.
There are several facets of each state that are interesting to compare. The foremost of these facets being the political. economic. spiritual and societal state of affairss. Despite legion similarities in some of these classs. the utmost differences. in the terminal. caused them to take different classs in their development toward modern authorities.
The political relations of England during the seventeenth century follow two absolute sovereign. a dictator. two more sovereigns. and so the first constitutional sovereign of all time.
When James I became the first Stuart male monarch of England in the morning of the seventeenth century. he was wholly unfamiliar with the English Parliament. He believed in the Divine Right of Kings. or the belief that male monarchs had a Godhead right to their authorization and were responsible merely to him. He did non experience responsible to Parliament or his people. or that he had to portion his power with anyone. In this manner he introduced tyranny to England.
His boy Charles I became England’s 2nd absolute sovereign in 1625. He was likewise foolish in footings of dealingss with Parliament ; nevertheless. because of his many foolish wars he needed the money that Parliament guaranteed him. There was already tenseness because the monarchy was Anglican. while most of Parliament was Puritan. After several wrangles in which Parliament was dissolved and so recalled twice. Parliament sends Charles a papers to subscribe acknowledging Parliament’s domination over the sovereign. Because Charles I believed himself an absolute sovereign who shared power with no 1. he was outraged and therefore began the Civil War of England.
This civil war was multi-faceted because the guardians of the male monarch. or Anglicans. were known as Cavaliers and the guardians of Parliament. or Puritans. were known as Roundheads. Oliver Cromwell led the Roundheads to triumph in 1646. beheaded the former sovereign and formed his ain authorities in England. This authorities. called the Commonwealth. was a absolutism in which the armed forces controlled everything. and Cromwell controlled the armed forces. The Commonwealth forbade intoxicant. theatre. and disgusting linguistic communication because of the Puritan footing.
Shortly after Cromwell died in 1658. the Stuart monarchy was restored because of exhaustion from Puritan regulations. Charles II was made male monarch. followed by James II. As James intensified his Catholic policies and became progressively insane though. William of Orange was asked by Parliament to step in as male monarch. No blood was shed in this bend of power because James’ ground forces did non even try a battle. They were merely no competition. When William of Orange became the King of England. he became the first Constitutional Monarch. His power was limited to follow the regulations of the Constitution and the Parliament had successfully proven its high quality over the monarchy.
For the continuance of this century. non merely did the political relations improve. but so did the economic sciences. England continued to be chiefly agricultural with really slow motions toward urbanisation and although much money was squandered with James I. Charles I. and the Civil War. Cromwell made certain that did non go on. He was a Puritan. and hence he believed that your success. or wealth. was a step of whether you were one of the chosen. He. Parliament. and several swayers of the century used a policy called mercantile system in which. authorities money is poured into exports and settlements are exploited greatly to do money entirely for the female parent state. It normally includes small or no imports every bit good. Largely through mercantile system. England’s economic system grew exponentially under his regulation. The big province of the exchequer was maintained thenceforth.
Among these different and yet intertwined facets of English life during the seventeenth century was faith. Each sovereign had their ain spiritual policies during this feverish century of English history. James I and Charles I promoted a really Roman-Catholic version of Anglicanism. Then. the Civil War took topographic point partially because of spiritual contention. When the Puritans came out on top their patterns were highly barbarous toward Anglicans and Catholics. Cromwell peculiarly persecuted the Irish Catholics in a policy called Plantation. where Irish Catholics were thrown off their farms and replaced by English Puritans. Calvinism was imposed on all of England and did non work out because it turned out to be excessively rigorous and deadening. This Calvinist period is the most noteworthy spiritual period of the century. but the English ended up necessitating their theatre. their drink and other enjoyments antecedently non permitted. Anglicanism remained the religion of pick. which is portion of the ground that Catholic James II had to renounce the throne and was replaced by William and Mary who were of the right religion.
The last of the singular alterations in England is the alteration in society. A new in-between category was emerging full of the new movers and Shakerss of English society. The bing categories besides underwent a alteration as they became much more movable and interchangeable. It became possible to do your luck. instead than inherit it. The English monarchy and Commonwealth rewarded virtue ; therefore. it was by and large possible to accomplish any category. money or wages if the work put in warranted it. Religious society besides became much more incorporate. Not merely was society once divided by wealth. but besides by faith. This century wrought an betterment on that every bit good.
English history saw a really helter-skelter century that finally smoothed out into the foundation for their authorities from that point on. France. on the other manus. witnessed the victory of tyranny. and accordingly the ruin of its illustriousness.
The tyranny in France is unimpeachably embodied by Louis XIV. the male monarch of France for 72 old ages and the opinion male monarch for 54 old ages. He was 5 when he became king. but Cardinal Mazarin was the trustee until he was 18. At this clip Louis decided to govern the land entirely by godly right. doing him an absolute sovereign. This was a surprising pick sing that Gallic male monarchs traditionally had had advisers. An first-class illustration was his ain male parent Louis XIII. for whom Cardinal Richelieu made most determinations. Louis knew everything about his land and committed himself wholly to it.
One major obstruction to tyranny is the power of the Lords. To battle this Louis acted really intelligently and worked to do them see each other as the enemy instead than him. He lured them to his new. beautiful castle of Versailles. which was made the place of the authorities in 1682. It was there that his program was fulfilled. He tricked them into doing their life dependant on fulfilling him. Once this end had been satisfied. he was firmly the absolute sovereign.
On his deathbed Louis XIV admitted. “I have loved war excessively much” . In 1667 he invaded the Spanish Netherlands. which he thought of as his wife’s district. He was forced to retreat his forces after the English helped and the Dutch fought highly difficult. He re-entered the Netherlands in 1672 with England now assisting him. but this clip against the Netherlands. Spain. Spain. and the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1678. he signed the pact of Nijmegen winning.
In 1688 William of Orange became William III of England and this drastically changed things because England was no longer his ally. but his enemy. In 1688 England. the Netherlands. and the Holy Roman Emperor joined together to defy Louis and this clip he was non as fortunate. The Treaty of Rijswijk. signed in 1697. returned portion of his late acquired districts and forced him to acknowledge William III as male monarch of England. despite his belief that the Stuart male monarchs should be absolute sovereigns due to the Godhead right of kingship.
Yet another war loomed on the skyline for Louis in 1700 when Charles II of Spain left Louis’ grandson Philip V his districts. Louis had no pick but to accept even though it mean that another war was inevitable. In the War of Spanish Succession Louis was up against England and the Holy Roman emperor because he did non desire the districts to go theirs. The three pacts necessary to stop this war decided that France could maintain its ain district. but it lost its domination. The costs of this war about reversed any advancement that had taken topographic point during the old old ages of his regulation.
Politicss and economic system are peculiarly intertwined for France during the 2nd half of the seventeenth century and early eighteenth century because the economic system had to be really good to back up so many wars. Louis XIV hired Jean-Baptiste Colbert to better the country’s economic system even though Colbert was ne’er to be given a rubric for the intent of stressing the fact that Louis entirely held the power. Colbert was steadfastly believed that mercantile system was the manner to better France’s economic system. Once once more. mercantile system has two parts. One portion is droping authorities money into industries that will turn out to be good exports and the other portion is taking all net incomes from settlements and seting them into the female parent state. France imported about nil during this period and exported everything possible. It was still a fundamentally agriculturally based state so that was the bulk of the exports. The net incomes from their settlements were eternal because of the rich furs that were available in the New World.
This usage of mercantile system was effectual because it made France the money that it needed. Louis besides had the ability to raise revenue enhancements if more money was necessary. This money was non kept. nevertheless. because of the dearly-won wars that Louis continued to pay and his expensive wonts such as edifice castles like Versailles and his backing of the humanistic disciplines.
Religion and political relations were besides really related for Louis XIV’s reign. He was an fervent Catholic. In 1785 he even went every bit far as revoking the Edict of Nantes. which gave Huguenots. or Gallic Protestants. the right to idolize in specified towns around the state. He greatly persecuted any non-Catholics. This made Protestants really angry. including foreign Protestants. For case. William III of England was non happy with Louis’ determination to take away the Huguenots’ freedom of worship. which was portion of the ground for so many wars with England.
Society during the reign of Louis XIV was really traditional and did non alter really much. The societal categories remained really stiff and graded. The humanistic disciplines. nevertheless. flourished under his regulation because of his great backing and the Gallic Renaissance was at its pinnacle.
France went through a great diminution because of tyranny. Once Louis died. his bastard replacement that he had chosen was non accepted among the powerful Gallic Parlement. With no existent replacement to take his topographic point. Louis left the destiny of the destructive Revolution.
In footings of political relations. England and France were polar antonyms. England went from tyranny to Constitutional Monarchy. which laid the foundation for the contemporary authorities. France. on the other manus. continued in the absolutist vain and in bend after the merely great absolutist swayer died. they were left with no 1 every bit powerful. While England had evolved to the following degree politically. France had refused to travel frontward to its ain hurt. Both states waged unneeded wars. but the consequences of France’s wars were far more black.
Economically. the two states are the most similar. Both states use utmost mercantile system to profit their states and to fund their wars. England and France each used their settlements to gain the female parent state and put tremendous sums of money into exports. while accepting about no imports. These similar techniques were used. but while England kept the bulk of its money safely in the exchequer. France wasted its money on more bootless wars.
The spiritual policies of the swayers of each of the states were indistinguishable. Louis XIV was highly intolerant of non-Catholics and most swayers of England in the seventeenth century were intolerant of people of a different faith ; none were more so than Oliver Cromwell. nevertheless. They were indistinguishable in their intervention of other faiths. but while Louis persecuted non-Catholics. Cromwell persecuted Catholics. Oliver Cromwell was even more highly intolerant of Catholics than Louis was of non-Catholics. Therefore. they are conversely indistinguishable.
Socially. the two states are non as similar. Once once more. France stuck stiffly by the traditional graded categories. while England moved frontward and merged the categories sacredly and economically. While it was possible to better upon your category in England. that was absolutely impossible in France. England besides had an influential in-between category that was nonexistent in France. In each state. nevertheless. the provincials were treated dreadfully.
Absolutism did non work in England for several grounds. which worked to their ageless benefit. The development of the first Constitutional Monarchy was the first measure toward Democracy and modern twenty-four hours regulating. France accepted tyranny and even revered it in the signifier of Louis XIV. which led them to a much slower and harder transmutation to any type of modern authorities.
