C

H

A P T

E

R

15

State Building and

the Search for Order

in the Seventeenth

Century

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

QWhat 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

QHow 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?

Nicolas-Rene Joallain the Elder’s portrait of Louis XIV captures the king’s

sense of royal grandeur.

Chateaux de Versailles et de Trianon (G

erard Blot), Versailles//

ªRMN-Grand Palais/

Art Resource, NY

BY THE ENDof 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

357

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