A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

Characterizing Absolute Rule 251

Turkish galleys feared in the Mediterranean. Some joined the “janissary”
infantry, a military corps that assumed police duties in periods of peace.
Yet the Ottoman Empire tolerated religious diversity. As long as non­
Muslims did not resist Turkish authority they were free to practice their reli­
gion and to become officials within the empire. In Albania (where alone
conversions seemed to have been forced), Bosnia, and Herzegovina, many
people, including some nobles, converted to the Muslim faith. Young Chris­
tians captured by Turkish fleets could convert to Islam to escape a life
chained to benches as galley slaves. In contrast, Muslims captured by Chris­
tian powers remained galley slaves, even if they converted.

Monumentalism in Architecture and Art

Absolute monarchs utilized the extravagant emotional appeal of monu­
mental architecture. They designed their capitals to reflect the impera­
tives of monarchical authority. Madrid, Berlin, Saint Petersburg, and
Versailles were planned, shaped, and invested with symbols of absolute
rule. These cities were laid out according to geometric principles. In con­
trast to the narrow, winding streets of cities that had evolved organically
from medieval times, straight, wide boulevards were created in one fell
swoop. These symmetrical boulevards symbolized the organized and far­
reaching power of absolutism and the growth of the modern state. Royal
armies paraded down boule­
vards to squares or royal
palaces, around which were
grouped government buildings
and noble residences. Barracks
housing standing armies also
became a prominent feature of
the new urban landscape.
Monarchs paid artists and
architects to combine baroque
elements with a more restrained,
balanced classicism, influenced
by the early sixteenth-century
Roman style of the High Renais­
sance. This became known as the
Louis XIV style. Thus, the facade
completing the Louvre palace in
Paris, the work of Gianlorenzo
Bernini (1598-1680), drew on
the architectural style of Roman
temples, thereby linking Louis
to the glories of Julius Caesar.
Hyacinthe Rigaud’s full-length Hyacinthe Rigaud’s Louis XIV (1701).