European Enlightenment revolves around the idea of freedom, of liberating people from false beliefs, false religion and from arbitrary authority (Hooker pp). Today the idea of liberation is common to international politics, yet the concept is rooted in Luther's idea of freedom (Hooker pp).
By 1616, Cadinal Richelieu had risen through the ranks to become France's Secretary of State of foreign affairs and by 1924, had gone on to head the royal council as prime minister of France (Cardinal pp). He had an analytical mind and relied on reason and a strong will to govern others and use political power effectively (Cardinal pp). His political views were well-defined early in his career, believing that everyone had a purpose to play in the system of society, each making their unique contributions: "the clergy through prayer, the nobility with arms under the control of the king, and the common people through obedience...believed in the divine right of the king...to promote peace and order in society" (Cardinal pp).
Richelieu believed that the church should be assigned a more practical role and that the state should be above everything, that religion was a mere instrument to promote the policies of the state (Cardinal pp). When he rose to power, King Louis VIII had not solidified his authority in France, the monarchy's rule being threatened by political corruption, an independent nobility, and the power of the Protestant group, the Huguenots (Cardinal pp). In 1627, Richelieu set out to help secure the crown's authority through force and political repression, and by 1631, had crushed Huguenot resistance, punished the rebel nobles, and replaced his enemies in government, as well as expanded the king's authority in the provinces by using royal agents called intendants (Cardinal pp). He insisted that the king apply the law with severity, or else the state would not survive, and emphasized rigorous punishment for even small crimes, declaring that this would forestall greater ones (Cardinal pp). It is through this reasoning that he provided his sovereign a rationale for the harsh rule used to strengthen and maintain the state authority (Cardinal pp).
During his service as prime minister, Cardinal Richelieu helped France to become the leading European power, and also supported the French navy and the establishment of French colonies in Africa and the Caribbean (Cardinal pp). He was a great patron of the arts, supported promising writers, founded the French Academy, and rebuilt the Sorbonne in Paris (Cardinal pp). Richelieu is regarded by many historians as the founder of French unity, and the individual who released France from its medieval nature (Cardinal pp).
Coligny, 1519-1572, was a French Protestant leader who had come to the French court at an early age (Coligny pp). In 1544, during the Italian Wars, he was promoted colonel general of infantry and in 1552 became admiral of France (Coligny pp). In 1559, he...
When we look back at the rapid spread of the disease and the dramatic impact it had throughout Europe, we must remember that neither of these circumstances would have been possible without the existence of a well-established regional and intercontinental trade network. The disease quite literally used these routes to its own advantage, spreading quickly from one urban center to the next, killing tens of millions of people in
European History Quarterly, at least if its last three issues are an accurate guide, is a well-edited and well-written journal that focuses on a wide range of political and historical issues in Europe and the United Kingdom from the beginnings of the Renaissance through the present. (That is to say, the articles focus on the range of events within the historical sphere that is generally referred to as the
The French in particular, as they are to this day considered to be one of the greatest losers of the war (and the most important battle field of the war) were in desperate need of men to reconstruct the country. Therefore, the immigration policies changed and allowed for an increase in the labor force flow. More precisely, "due to a perceived demographic insufficiency and labor market needs, the French government
History Naval Warfare What was naval power in the age of sail and how did different sea going states exercise it from the period 1650-1850? "There is a deep landlubber bias in historical and social research," writes Charles King. "History and social life, we seem to think, happen on the ground. What happens on the water…is just the scene-setter for the real action when the actors get where they are going. But
Native Americans had no central government before the first whites arrived. Each family was bound to have several cultures over a large geographic area. The system and beliefs that each tribe had were followed with honor rather than of fear or punishment. Each tribe had their own means to survive. Some were in agriculture/hunting and gathering while others relied in aquaculture/fishing. Native Americans lived in harmony with the nature. A
The history from the Renaissance to the Machine Age was defined by major technical and stylistic advances that allowed for much larger, taller, more elegant buildings, and higher degrees of functionality and architectural expression. In cultural and scientific matters, the Modern Era was characterized by an increasingly rationalistic trajectory of thought which was based on an ethos of the humanistic exploration of reality and truth. While in a cultural sense
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