Ancien Régime and Enlightenment: Unit 5

• Unit 5 explores the Ancien Régime and the Enlightenment, focusing on the limitations of science.
• The Ancien Régime was a socio-political system in Europe from the 15th century until the French Revolution in 1789.
• The Enlightenment was a French intellectual movement in the 18th century that led to the French Revolution.

Unit 5 Exam Goals

• Complete a timeline of historical events related to the Ancien Régime in Spain and around the world, including dates.
• Analyze historical texts dealing with the Ancien Régime and/or the Enlightenment, following the steps learned in Unit 1 (who, when, where, primary/secondary source).
• Explain contents from historical texts, such as the author's ideas or events that happened to someone, using knowledge from class. Correct usage of terms like "Enlightenment" and "Ancien Régime" is important.
• Describe the political, economic, social, and cultural situation of the Ancien Régime, especially in relation to art. Questions may be multiple-choice, concept-matching, or short-answer.
• Explain Spain's relationship with the period: how historical events affected Spain, and how the Spanish state influenced European and world culture.

Further Classification on Spain and global events.

• Neoclassical and Rococo art took place in Spain during this time.
• Columbus' discovery of America for the Hispanic Monarchy changed world history.

Unit Sections

• The economy and society of the Ancien Régime, including economic growth and how the economic system worked.
• The political systems of the Ancien Régime including feudal, authoritarian, absolute, and parliamentarian monarchies.
• The Enlightenment which covers its definition, reasons for emergence, consequences in Europe and Spain
• The Rococo & Neoclassical art.

Economic Growth in the Ancien Regime

• Population growth is directly linked to economic growth.
• In the year 1, the European population was 34 million, making up 15% of the world's population.
• By 1000, it grew to 40 million, still 15% of the world population.
• In 1500, the population was 78 million (18%).
• 1700 had 130 million Europeans (20% global share).
• 1800 saw Europe at 190 million (20% global share).
• In 1913, Europe reached 500 million (28% global share).
• By 2000, Europe had 742 million people, which accounted for 13% of the world's population.
• Expansion of farming technology and infrastructures across the European plain from the Mediterranean to the rest of Europe.
• The Industrial Revolution, which started around 1780 in Northwest Europe.
• European exploration and exploitation of America.

Economic Systems in Ancien Regime

• Capitalism is an economic system where private businesses grow and make profits under state protection of private property.
• The Ancien Régime's version of capitalism was mercantilism.
• Triangular Trade existed in the region, involving Europe, Africa and the Americas
• America was not discovered BECAUSE of capitalism.
• The Vikings did it by the 10th century
• The Romans could have discovered it by the 1st Century.
• The Chinese Admiral Zhing He almost discovered it by the 14th century.
• Roman Republic exhibits capitalism as a curiosity of European history.
• Leading families run big businesses and run for politics resulting in little profit spent in politics
• Society order: Patricians, Plebeians, Foreigners, Slaves (10-30%)
• MAXIMIANVS Roman Empire exhibits capitalism as a curiosity of European history.
• Roman Empire: one family stays in power, ensuring order & favouring their allies.
• Since the 4th century, the church allies with the state and orders morality, and where Plebians became mainstream.
• Society order: Emporer, Patricians/Nobles, Common people
• Capitalism exists as a curiosity of European history during the feudel Europe:
• In Feudal Europe (8th – 13th centuries), kings lose power and that nobles and the Church keep local power and rule over the working people.
• Nobility becomes hereditary and the social division in three estates becomes the law.
• The 3rd Estate pays taxes and the 1st and 2nd Estates have legal privileges.
• Society order: King (weak/absent), Nobles (1st estate), Church (2nd estate), Common people (3rd state)
• Capitlism exist as a curiosity of European history during the Ancien Régime.
• During the Ancien Régime (15th – 18th cc.), the Three Estate system prevailed.
• Economic growth enriches the bourgeoisie (common people that work with money, such as bankers or merchants, and kings) rather than the nobility and church.
• Bourgeoisie and modern states will ally, imitating the modern company divisions of shareholders & CEOs.

Political Systems of the Ancien Régime

• During the Ancien Régime, modern states developed in Europe with increasing government control over territories and people, often under monarchs.
• Four typical political systems in western Europe during the Ancien Régime included Feudal, Authoritarian, and parlimentarian monarchies.

Feudal Monarchies

• Common in Europe until the 15th century.
• Some remained during the A.R., such as the Holy Roman Empire or the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth).
• One could hardly call their governments "states": the king is primus inter pares (the strongest nobleman) but depends on nobles to raise taxes or armies, pass laws or carry out diplomacy with other governments.
• Lords often declare wars inside the kingdom.

Authoritarian Monarchies

• Kings gain more power from the nobles and the church, often by accepting loans from the bourgeoisie.
• Kings legitimize their power on religious grounds.
• They develop a fixed capital (Madrid, Paris, London...) where the Court directs policy. Plots for positions at the Court replace inner wars.
• “Either you are at the Court or you are nobody". Kings decide upon taxation and diplomacy and fund their own armies of mercenaries.
• Authoritarian monarchies were common in Europe from the late 15th to the mid-17th century.
• This coincides with the period in which the Hispanic Monarchy, ruled by the House of Austria, was the hegemonic power in Europe (from the rise to power of Carlos V in 1516 to 1648).
• The Hispanic Monarchy was formed as an authoritarian monarchy with the rise to power of the "Catholic Monarchs" in 1479.
• They legitimized their power primarily in the defense of Catholicism:
  • Establishment of the Spanish Inquisition (1478)
  • Conquest of Muslim Granada and conversion/forced exile of the Jews (1492)
  • Forced conversion of Muslims (1502)
• The Hispanic Monarchy influenced European politics, defending Catholic values ratified at the Council of Trento in several religious wars. This lasted until their defeat at the Thirty Years War, ending with the Peace of Westphalia (1648).

Absolute Monarchies

• Common in Europe from the mid-17th century up to the French Revolution (1789).
• Monarchs greatly expand control of public affairs, eliminating much of the political power from the nobility and the church, and control the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of power.
• In absolute monarchies that power is centralised by unifying local customs and homogenising institutions. Felipe V imposed the Nueva Planta Decrees (1707-1716), erasing the laws and institutions from the Crown of Aragón and "absorbing" these lands into Castilian jurisdiction.
• Navarra & the Basque Country managed to maintain their Fueros.The Decretos.
• Together with other reforms by Felipe V, the laws of the kingdom made him 1st absolute monarch of Spain.
• Feredinand VI (1746-1759), Carlos III (1759-1788) and Carlos IV (1788-1808) ruled after Felipe.

Parliment Monarchies

• After the Seven Year's War (1756-1763) Great Britain ensured a balance of power in Europe. They also took the lead as a leading colonial power.
• From the mid-17th century Great Britain's parlimentary system expanded control, however the Power remained Parliment. UK had a parlimentary monarchy while Switerland or United Provinces were parlimentary republics

The Enlightenment

• An intellectual movement spread from France in the 18th century, characterized by three key items:
  • Confidence in Reason (human intelligence) as the key tool for achieving progress and happiness, eliminating ignorance and superstitions.
  • Faith in human progress: thanks to gradual discoveries and reforms, human capacities behave in an increasingly rational way.
  • Critical thinking, focused on the traditions and institutions of the Ancien Régime. Irrational traditions had to be replaced by reasonable customs.
• The revenge of the outcasts. Mainstream French intellectuals were inspired by:
  • Intellectual controversial figures such as Spinoza (a Jew), Montaigne or Descartes.
  • Academic outcasts, manual workers (the Spanish "Novatores").
  • Social outcasts: non-privileged authors and women.
  • People living outside the Ancien Régime's political order, most notably Native Americans, Chinese and other Asiatic peoples and Pirates
• In the realm of politics, the Enlightenment thinkers defended new models of political and social organisation based on the ideas of individual freedom and equality among humans.

Consequences of Enlightenment

• Montesquieu (1755):

• Defended the separation of powers, dividing the state into branches

• His political treatise, The Spirit of the Laws, was influential.

• Voltaire (d. 1778):

• Believed in natural religion and a Supreme being but rejected churches and superstition

• Supported a strong monarchy limited by a Parliament.

• His key text was the satirical novella Candide.

• Rousseau (d. 1778):

• Argued for democratic ideas like popular sovereignty: the sovereign should be the people, not the king.

• Proposed progressive views on education, although they didn't include women

• His most important works were The Social Contract and Emile.

• From 1751 to 1772, Denis Diderot and Jean D'Alembert published The Encyclopedie, a compilation of all the knowledge of their time which contributed to the Enlightenment.

Economics of Enlightenment.

• Enlightenment thinkers pursued individual freedom and reduced traditional barriers to individual economic activities
• Enlightenment established the “economy" as a realm separate from morality through equal freedom and equality

Enlightenment thinking gave rise to two economic theories:

• Physiocracy
• Developed by French economists, including François Quesnay.
• Argued that land (agriculture and mining) was the primary source of wealth
• Economic Liberalism
• Formulated by the British philosopher Adam Smith.
• Maintained that individual labour is the true source of wealth because self-interest motivates people to maximize their own gain, and that free product supply is ruled by consumer demand.

Results of such thinking.

• In the 18th century, a few European absolutist monarchs accepted some Enlightenment principles; they approved of economic and cultural progress but rejected its political ideas known as Enlightened despots
• They focused on economic and cultural modernisation, promoting agriculture, industry and trade, while funding major public works and new schools and academies

The Enlightenment in Spain: Economic impact

• Economic Societies of Friends of the Country (Sociedades Económicas de Amigos del País) emerged and spread technical innovations and New ideas
• New American crops emerged and there was the use of fertillizers
• There was promoted domestic trabe
• With the growth of industry the guilds lost power

Social Impacts of the Enlightenment in Spain

• The priviladged were critized and Jesuits were replaced and all professions were decreed as honorable.