4.2: Absolutist and Constitutional Monarchies

The Corporatist Monarchies

France, Spain and Portugal had a system in place called corporatism where individuals had rights based on their occupation. By the mid 1700s, the monarchs in these countries had a tremendous amount of political power and legislatures were weak.

France

King Louis XIV (1654-1715) had a specific way of creating order: He would reign supreme as the “Sun King,” forcing all of his nobles to reside with him and his family in what had originally been a rather run-down hunting lodge known as Versailles. The project of Versailles took nearly his whole reign to complete, and quickly became the most opulent palace in Europe, a crowning achievement for a man who used its imagery to expand his majesty and power over not only the people of France but also the regions of the world that would later be occupied by French powers. Its intent was to showcase the wealth of the French monarchy, and therefore its power, to other nations of the world. Although he spent the majority of his time at Versailles, Louis modernized Paris, under the direction of his finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert. This was done to a similar end as Versailles; to show the rest of the world the wealth and splendor of France’s capital city. However, as France moved into the eighteenth century with subsequent reigns, conditions got worse, with many living in poverty under a corrupt government.

The French monarchy had a tremendous amount of power, because the legislature, known as the Estates-General, rarely met. It was made up of three corporate groups or estates: the Church, the nobility, and everyone else. For the most part, the Estates-General granted the monarchy more permanent taxes than did the English parliament. The First and Second Estates established the principle that they were exempt from taxes, because each estate voted as a block. The clergy claimed that they supported the monarch through prayer and the nobility through fighting. The French monarchy therefore relied on a taxing the Third Estate for revenue. The king’s father, Louis XIII (r. 1610-43), and his chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, concentrated power in the hands of the King by refusing to convene the Estates-General.

The Third Estate consisted mainly of landowners, professional men, financiers and merchants. These were wealthy commoners who sought noble status. In fact, the monarchy sold titles of nobility to this group to raise more revenue. These titles provided office holders to pass on their positions to their offspring. As a consequence, more and more people had tax exemptions, and the government brought in less revenue. Figure 4.2.1 was published in 1789 and shows three different figures representing the three different estates. The man representing the Third Estate is carrying the two men representing the other two estates. The caption below is in French and it says, "We must hope this game will be over soon."

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): The Third Estate carrying the Clergy and the Nobility on Its Back, Artist Unknown, Gallica Digital Library, in the Public Domain

Absolutist Monarchies in Iberia

During the reign of King Charles II (1664-1700), the Spanish government experienced major military defeats and bankruptcy. There was virtually no industry, because Spain could import whatever it wanted with the silver from the Americas. When Charles III died in 1700, Austria and France went to war over who would be the next monarch. France supported the victorious Bourbon dynasty while the Austrians supported the Habsburgs. Under the Bourbons, the monarchy embraced the doctrine of the divine right of kings. Similar the French monarchy, King Felipe V (1700-1746) ruled without convening the Cortes of Castile or the Cortes of Aragon. For the most part, Spanish intellectuals rejected the secular anti-Spanish ideas that marked the writings of the Enlightenment.

Portuguese King John V (1706–1750) was able to create an absolutist regime similar to France and Spain. The Portuguese monarchy became wealthy from the massive amount of gold production in Brazil. Therefore, John V had sufficient revenues to finance domestic spending and felt no need to convene the Portuguese Cortes. In fact, the Portuguese Cortes would not be summoned again until 1822. With this wealth, royal palaces and noble manors were built which displayed the opulence similar to the Spanish palaces built from its Latin American silver revenues.

The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution

The costs of warfare triggered conflicts between the English monarchy and the legislature, called Parliament. English King Charles I (1626-1649) invaded Scotland and turned to Parliament to finance this war. When Parliament denied funds to him, Charles dissolved Parliament and effectively robbed those in Parliament of any authority over the governing of England. For this reason, a civil war erupted between the English crown and Parliament. This war would end with the execution of Charles I. Although the monarchy was restored in 1660, Parliament held onto enough power to depose Catholic-leaning James II in 1689 and invite his daughter Mary (and her Protestant Dutch husband Prince William of Orange) to take the throne in a peaceful transfer of power that became known as the Glorious Revolution.

William and Mary’s arrival in England to start their reign in 1688 was deemed a “Glorious Revolution,” called so because of the lack of bloodshed surrounding the transfer of power from father to daughter. Parliament also gained a significant amount of power during this time, establishing itself as a separate and equal power to the throne, which remains today. This would become one of the “checks and balances” systems that would inspire the United States government formation, which in turn would inspire other democratic leadership styles. England also saw the creation of a bill of rights in 1689, which gave Parliament power over taxation and laws. This system of government which put constitutional limits on a king is called constitutional monarchy. Parliament had two houses. High ranking aristocrats controlled the House of Lords while an elite of merchants, lawyers, and professionals controlled the House of Commons. The House of Commons was the most powerful half of Parliament, and it controlled England’s policies and institutions into the twentieth century.

Review Questions

• What accounts for the growing power of the monarchies in France and Iberia?
• How did government in England differ from France and Iberia?