POLITICAL SYSTEMS IN EUROPE

Transcription

1 POLITICAL SYSTEMS IN EUROPE In the Modern Erathe political ideas of the Middle Ages began to change. There no longer existed the ideal of a Christian Empire, becouse the Reformation diminished the power of the Catholic Church, and also because monarchs were no longer prepared to tolerate an emperor's authority over them. On the other hand the defeat of feudalism was clear because of the socio-economic changes that had reduced the traditional powers of the nobility. These developments also changed the concept of monarchy. Feudal kings became more authoritarian, and during the following centuries even more changes were destined to happen. ABSOLUTISM: LOUIS XIV OF FRANCE and PHILIP V OF SPAIN In France, Louis XIV was establishing himself as the most absolute monarch that Europe had seen. The basis of Louis' success as a monarch was: Occupying himself personally with the running of the country. He had many ministers, but he insisted on making all the decisions, both legislative and executive. He controlled everybody and everything. He stopped the meetings of the Estates General (like the Cortes). Hi gaves his nobles money, titles and lavish pensions, but only so that they would be grateful to him, obey him and depend on him. He moved his court to Versailles (1682) and took all his ministers with him. The total administration numbered people! He centralised the bureaucracy, the laws and the taxes, localised the court and made it the centre of French life. He formed a personality cult around his image. He reduced regional administrative powers. He created a professional royal army loyal to him. He expelled all religious dissidents (Calvinists) so that the church was unified and subordinate to him. The major representation of absolutism in Spain was Louis XIV's grandson PHILIP V, who ascended to the Spanish throne as the first of the Bourbon line in Spain (after the War of Succession in 1714). This absolutism also tended towards the French centralisation system of government, unifying and centralising the administration and legislation (laws) of all the kingdoms with the New Model Decrees. With these decrees the fueros and all the institutions of Aragon, Valencia, the Baleares and Catalonia disappeared to be replaced by Castilians ones. This started when the war finished because these territories had fought against Philip in the War of Succession but the subsequent laws were even more centralist. The only fueros that continued were the Basque ones, because the Basques had fought in favor of Philip V, but they still suffered some centralist decrees.

2 ACTIVITIES 1. You are going to read a variety of quotations. Some are by Louis XIV but two are not. Find the two that were not said By Louis and be prepared to justify your choices: - I have no intention of sharing my authority. - I am the State. - Delegation of power is extremely important. - One King, One Law and One Faith. - One must work hard to reign. - I would like to stimulate more regional autonomy. - The interest of the State must come first. - Up to this moment, I have been pleased to entrust the government to the late Cardinal. It is now time that I govern. You will assist me. Execute no orders except by my command, and render account to me personally. 2. Read the short text below, look at the portrait, then answer the following questions: L' état c'est moi This is the famous portrait by Hyacinthe RIGAUD of the French king Louis XIV (King of France from 1661). Rigaud painted it in 1701 and it was intended as a gift for Philip V of Spain. But Louis liked it so much he decided to keep it! It is now in the Louvre gallery, in Paris. a) In the picture he is pronouncing his famous saying. Write down two translation, one in English and the other in your language. b) What did Louis mean? Explain in one sentence. Begin: Louis meant that he... c) Louis referred to himself as Le Roi Soleil (The Sun King). Why do you think he wanted to associate himself with the sun? d) Look at the portrait and think of three adjectives that describe how the king looks.

3 e) Three symbols are used carefully in the painting. Find them, according to the following descriptions, and try to name them. Use a dictionary, if necessary, to find the English terms. - It is the symbol of royal power, and it sits independently of Louis because it is general, not specific. - It was born at the investiture of French kings, and represented continuity, or royal lineage. - It was the royal symbol of control, of dominance, of the king as master. f) What do you think was the objective behind the painting of this picture? 3. The diagram is wrong, because the underlined words are in the wrong place. Re-arrange all the underlined words so that they are in their correct places. Absolutism is... Increasing the power of royal authority until the Monarchy=the State No limits on power System bureaucracy Permanent, professional and maintain army Total control of taxation efficient, which is centralised Concentrate and loyal power by... - Reducing the honours of other governmental bodies (courts, Estates General, Assemblies) - Reducing the power of the nobility by guaranteeing their Church interests - Extending royal power to the cities through the villas - giving powers to nobles - Controlling the authority of the financial.

4 PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEMS: ENGLAND In England, as in the United Provinces, the prosperous middle-class developing from the expansion of maritime trade wanted more freedom, and wanted greater participation in political life. These countries were also protestant and the ideas of Protestantism encouraged hard work. This was because Protestantism (based on the preachers Luther and Calvin) emphasised individual effort and suffering, if necessary. English Chancellor Thomas More, executed by Henry VIII for disagreeing with his reformist and centralist policies, said famously: We cannot go to heaven in feather beds, These countries developed after 1688 into Parliamentary Governments where the power was shared between the monarchy and the Parliament. But it required a long process of complex events before this system appeared. In the Middle Ages the English monarchy reigned with a Parliament as in almost all of Europe, but in 1215 the English king was obliged to sign the Magna Carta, a famous document which defined the relationship between the parliament and the king, and which limited royal power. These parliaments continued throughout the Middle Ages and into the Modern Era, for example in the 16th century with Elisabeth I of England, but when James VI of Scotland becamen James I of England, he brought adsolutist ideas to England ideas that his son Charles I, king in 1625, tried to convert into reality. He wanted to limit parliamentary power, and so like other European monarchs he stopped convoking parliament. The English parliament was dominated by the Protestant Puritan bourgeoisie who were opposed to the Catholicism of Charles I. The Parliamentarians, led by Cromwell, tried to recover their power and to limit the king's. In 1640, Charles I was obliged to convoke parliament because he needed money for the Scottish war. But the parliament was more interested in recovering its power. Charles I didn't agree and the confrontation became a Civil War between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists. Many nobles were in favour of the king because the Parliament had already tried to limit heir power. The Civil War lasted between , resulting in a victory for the Parliamentarians. England became a republic, with Oliver Cromwell in power. Charles I was executed in 1649, after being accused of high treason. England became a republic between 1648 and 1660, but on the death of Oliver Cromwell England returned to the previous royal model ( The Restoration ). The monarchy was restored but the problems didn't end there. In 1679, the English Parliament wrote the Habeas Corpus Act, a very important law which gave an arrested person (a detainee) the right of trial, literally to be judged before the law to decide wheter he was guilty or innocent. This law was important because it limited the (previous) arbitrary law of royal authority. In 1685 the new king, James II, tried again to reduce parliamentary power, but because he was a Catholic, when he had a young son, parliament feared a new Catholic dynasty. In 1688 parliament rose up against him, and in the glorious revolution the king fled to France, and his son-in-law, the Dutch Prince Willian of Orange was invited to be the new English king. But he had to accept new parliamentary monarchy, written in the Bill of Rights of 1689, which limited his powers.

5 OTHER PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEMS: NETHERLANDS AND POLAND When it became independents, the political system chosen in the Netherlands was a parliamentary republic, composed of seven provinces, each with its own parliament. Another exception to absolutist monarchy was Poland. In this kingdom the system of elective monarchy continued. This political system created many internal problems among the nobles who elected the monarchs - and these problems were exploited by its neighbours Prussia, Austria and Russia to share out the territory at the end of the 18th century. The Protestant religion led to new political ideas The new bourgeois middle classes (in the north of Europe) wanted more political power The rise of Parliamentary Power Absolutism was associated with Catholicism and the concept of the Divine Right of Kings The execution of a king (in England) showed that royal power was conditional, not absolute. ACTIVITY 3. Below is a copy of an original extract from the English Bill of Rights, written by the Parliament in The 13 articles are intended as a declaration of the new model of a parliamentary system, wich included the ing, but within a constitutional framework. Read the text and answer the questions taht follow. 1. That the pretended power of suspending the laws or the execution of laws by regal authority without consent of Parliament is illegal; 2. That the pretended power of dispensing with laws or the execution of laws by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal; 3. That the commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all other commissions and courts of like nature, are illegal and pernicious; 4. That levying money for or to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative, without grant of Parliament, for longer time, or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal; 5. That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal;

6 6. That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law; 7. That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law; 8. That election of members of Parliament ought to be free; 9. That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament; 10. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted; 11. That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and jurors which pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be freeholders; 12. That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction are illegal and void; 13. And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening and preserving of the laws, Parliaments ought to be held frequently. Which articles (state the numbers only) are concerned with the following? a) Parliament must be consulted if the King wants to collect taxes or to raise money. b) That people can say what they want in Parliament. c) That ordinary people can ask the King for things, and demand things from him, if necessary. d) Parliament should meet often, to ensure that the laws are maintained. e) That the King cannot change the laws without the permission of Parliament. f) An army can only be recruited when there is war. No war, no army. ENLIGHTENED DESPOTISM In the 18th century, most of the countries that did not developed the parliamentary model developed instead the model of Enlightened Despotism (or Enlightened Absolutism). Whereas Louis XIV had justified his absolute authority on the divine right of kings (he was appointed by God), the new Enlightened Despots justified their authority by saying that they were the servants of the state. These kings continued to have unlimited powers -the difference being that they cared about the well-being of their subjects. Some of these despots were Joseph II of Austria, Frederick II of Prussia, Louis XV in France, Catherine the Great in Russia, and Charles III in Spain. The ideas of the Enlightened, which we will see in the next section, were scientific, philosophical and political and began in the 18th century in Europe. They influenced these monarchs to promote many changes.

7 ENLIGHTENED DESPOTISM Reforms for the people, but without their consultation INTERVENTION OF THE (MONARQUICAL) STATE Stimulated... - Health (Medical Research, University Hospitals) - Education (Lay universities) - Basic education for more people. - Science and research (Royal Societies) - Economic activity (Royal factories, Commerce, crop rotation and irrigating new lands) REORGANISATION / REFORM OF THE ADMINISTRATION Resulted in... - Censused (to obtain more taxes) -Territorial organisation (creation of provinces in Spain) -Creation of provincial governors (with greater powers than previous sheriffs. -Creation of Royal Advisory Committee (noble ministers, but university educated- enlightened ) ACTIVITIES 4. Think of three main contrast to distinguish absolute from despotic goverment 5. Correct or modify these sentences below. You cannot use the word 'not! a) Louis XIV said that he was appointed by the people. b) England is still a republic today. c) Protestantism encouraged people to be lazy. d) Despots had no interest in the welfare of their people. e) Philip V of Spain was the son of Luois XIV. f) Spain's wealth and power increased in the 18th century. g) The Netherlands had one centralised parliament. h) Enlightened despots had less power than absolute monarchs. i) The English Bill of Rights said that the king could change the laws whenever he wanted to. 6. The absolutist and the parliamentary systems had many differences between them. In this activity we are going to contrast them. Put each characteristic into the correct column Legislative power resides in parliament / The king has to accept the will of the people / The king is only responsible to God / The power of the king has no limit or control / Legislative power resides in the king / The king's power is limited by parliament / The power is divided between the king and parliament / The power of the king is controlled by parliament / The king alone has power / There are no limits to the king's decisions.