world history AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Roundheads

"Roundhead" was the name given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. They fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers, who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings.

Enlightenment

A European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It was heavily influenced by 17th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton, and its prominent exponents include Montesquieu, Beccaria, Voltaire, and Rousseau.

Constitutional monarchy

A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written, unwritten or blended constitution, like Parliament. This basically means that the monarch does not have absolute control over a nation, and that they still have rules that they must abide to

Guillotine

A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading, used during the Reign of Terror in France. The device consists of a tall, upright frame in which a weighted and angled blade is raised to the top and suspended. It was used to prevent further crimes, entertainment for the public, equality (since all criminals were executed by this method), and it was humane (considered quick and not painful). However, some complaints about the guillotine is that it happens too fast for enjoyment, the head retained consciousness for too long, and that for some the execution was too gruesome.

Puritans

A member of a group of English Protestants of the late 16th and 17th centuries who regarded the Reformation of the Church of England under Elizabeth as incomplete and sought to simplify and regulate forms of worship.

Reign of Terror

A period of the French Revolution, from about March, 1793, to July, 1794, during which many persons were ruthlessly executed by the ruling faction. Thousands of people were mainly killed for acts of treasons, but some others were killed for more ridiculous reasons, like serving sour wine or cutting down a "tree of liberty". Nonetheless, this was a time filled with merciless killing, mainly by a device called the guillotine, initiated by the Jacobins.

Prime Minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government.

Absolute monarchy

Absolute monarchy is a form of monarchy in which one ruler has supreme authority that is not restricted by any written laws, legislature, or customs. (absolutism - the acceptance of or belief in absolute principles in political, philosophical, ethical, or theological matters)

English Restoration

After Oliver Cromwell's death, the people were sick and tired of his military rule and a new Parliament was selected, in which they then voted to ask the older brother of Charles I to rule England. Charles II entered London in 1660 and his reign began. Because he restored the monarchy, this period of time was called the English Restoration.

Cavaliers

Cavalier first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier male Royalist supporters of King Charles I during the English Civil War

King Charles I

Charles I was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He often dissolved Parliament because they wouldn't give him funds. When he wanted to call Parliament again, they told him that he needed to sign the Petition of Right which basically limited his power to do things without Parliament's consent. He signed it, but completely ignored it's rules and did whatever he wanted anyway. He refused to make reformations to the Anglican Church, which sparked tension between him and the Puritans. This eventually caused the English Civil War between the Puritans/Parliament and those loyal to King Charles I.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

Created by the National Assembly on August 26, 1789; Inspired by the English Bill of Rights of 1689 and by the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution, this charter of basic liberties began with "the natural and imprescriptible rights of man" to "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." It proclaimed that all men were free and equal before the law, that appointment to public office should be based on talent, and that no group should be exempt from taxation. Freedom of speech and of the press were affirmed. However, this raised question whether women were allowed these rights as well.

Estates System

France under the Ancien Régime (before the French Revolution) divided society into three estates: the First Estate (clergy); the Second Estate (nobility); and the Third Estate (commoners). The First Estate was the clergy, who were people, including priests, who ran both the Catholic church and some aspects of the country. In addition to keeping registers of births, deaths and marriages, the clergy also had the power to levy a 10% tax known as the tithe. The Second Estate consisted of the nobility of France, including members of the royal family, except for the King. Members of the Second Estate did not have to pay any taxes. They were also awarded special priviliges, such as the wearing a sword and hunting. Like the clergy, they also collected taxes from the Third Estate. The Third Estate was made up of everyone else, from peasant farmers to the bourgeoisie - the wealthy business class. While the Second Estate was only 1% of the total population of France, the Third Estate was 96%, and had none of the rights and privileges of the other two estates.

Great Fear

Great Fear in the French Revolution was a period of panic and riot by peasants and others amid rumors of an "aristocratic conspiracy" by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate. This basically meant that peasants were afraid that the National Assembly would be stopped by foreign countries and peasants reacted to this news by breaking into the houses of the lords to destroy the records of their obligations.

Baron de Montesquieu

He believed Britain was the most well governed and politically balanced country at the time. He named the division of powers the separation of powers. In his book, he describes how the separation of powers keeps certain people from getting too much power. "Power," he wrote, "should be a check to power." This idea later would be called checks and balances.

King Charles II

He restored monarchy and during his reign, Parliament passed an important guarantee of freedom - habeas corpus. This 1679 law gave every prisoner the right to obtain a writ or document ordering that the prisoner be brought before a judge to specify the charges against the prisoner. The judge would decide whether the prisoner should be tried or set free. Because of the Habeas Corpus Act, a monarch could not put someone in jail simply for opposing the ruler. Also, prisoners could not be held indefinitely without trials.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

He wanted a government freely formed by the people and a system where the people give up some freedom for the common good. He was committed to individual freedom. He said that civilization corrupted people's natural goodness. He believed the best government was one that was freely formed by the people and guided by the "general will" of society - a direct democracy.

Jacobin Club

Jacobin: a member of a democratic club established in Paris in 1789. The Jacobins were the most radical and ruthless of the political groups formed in the wake of the French Revolution, and in association with Robespierre they instituted the Reign of Terror.

King Jams II

James II, Charles II's brother, was the only heir to the throne after Charles II, since Charles did not have any kids. King James II took the throne, but offended his subjects by displaying his Catholicism. Violating English law, he appointed several Catholics to high office. When Parliament protested, James dissolved it. In 1688, James's second wife gave birth to a son. English Protestants became terrified at the prospect of a line of Catholic kings.

King Louis XIV

King Louis XIV of France led an absolute monarchy during France's classical age. He revoked the Edict of Nantes and is known for his aggressive foreign policy. Louis believed that he was the only one responsible for governing France when he ruled from 1643 to 1715. A tutor to his son once said, "As God's representative on earth, the king was entitled unquestioning obedience." Louis reigned from the most magnificent buildings in Europe, the palace of Versailles. Full of the finest paintings, statues, chandeliers and mirrors, and surrounded by millions of flowers and plants, Versailles was the perfect symbol of Louis' wealth and power. During his 72 year reign the Estates General, the legislative body of France, never met once. Without opposition he revoked the Edict of Nantes and taxed his people in order to wage costly wars against the Dutch and the English. (FRANCE)

King Phillip II

King Phillip II of Spain centralized royal power, making all parts of the government responsible to him. He had complete authority over the government and the lives of the people during his reign from 1556 to 1598. He believed that his authority to rule came directly from God. As a result he saw himself as the guardian of the Catholic Church and made it his personal responsibility to defend the Catholic Reformation. He used his control of the Spanish army and navy to impose the Inquisition against Protestants and heretics. Without representation, the small middle class was heavily taxed by Phillip to fund his wars and build the Armada. (SPAIN)

King Louis XVI

Louis XVI, born Louis-Auguste, also known as Louis Capet, was King of France from 1774 until his deposition in 1792, although his formal title after 1791 was King of the French. He was guillotined for treason on 21 January 1793. He wanted to be a good king and help his subjects, but he faced enormous debt and rising resentment towards a despotic monarchy. When the pressure mounted, Louis XVI reverted to his earlier teaching of being austere and uncommunicative, posing no solution to the problem, and not responding to others who offered help. His failure to address France's problems set in motion the Revolution that would eventually descend upon him. In May of that year, to address the fiscal crisis, Louis XVI convened the Estates General, an advisory assembly of different estates or socio-economic classes. The meeting did not go well. By June, the Third Estate declared itself the National Assembly, aligned with the bourgeoisie, and set out to develop a constitution. Louis ignored advice from advisors and refused to abdicate his responsibilities, and then agreed to a disastrous attempt to escape to the eastern frontier in June 1791. He and his family were brought back to Paris, and he lost all credibility as a monarch.

Magna Carta

Magna Carta is a charter agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. King John had imposed heavy taxes on his barons in order to pay for his expensive foreign wars. If they refused to pay, he punished them severely or seized their property. The barons demanded that King John obey the law; when he refused, they captured London and John was forced to negotiate. The two sides met at Runnymede in June 1215. The result of the negotiations was written down by the king's clerks in the document we know as Magna Carta. Although most of the charter's clauses dealt with medieval rites and customs, Magna Carta has become a powerful symbol of liberty around the world.

Queen Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette helped provoke the popular unrest that led to the French Revolution and to the overthrow of the monarchy in August 1792. She became a symbol of the excesses of the monarchy and is often credited with the famous quote "Let them eat cake," although there is no evidence she actually said it. As consort to Louis XVI, she was beheaded nine months after he was, on October 16, 1793, by order of the Revolutionary tribunal. She was the complete opposite of her husband Louis XVI: she was vivacious, outgoing and bold, a social butterfly who loved gambling, partying and extravagant fashions. Marie Antoinette began spending more and more time at the Petit Trianon, her private castle with her "girlfriends", and was even accused of having an affair with someone for an expensive necklace.

Maximilien Robespierre

Maximilien de Robespierre was born on May 6, 1758, in Arras, France. He was a radical Jacobin leader and one of the principal figures in the French Revolution. He successfully argued for the execution of the king and continued to encourage the crowds to rise up against the aristocracy. On July 27, 1793, Maximilien Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety, formed to oversee the government with virtual dictatorial control. Faced with pressures both from the outside and from within, the Revolutionary government instituted the Reign of Terror in September. In the next 11 months, 300,000 suspected enemies of the Revolution were arrested and more than 17,000 were executed, most by guillotine. In the orgy of bloodshed, Robespierre was able to eliminate many of his political opponents However, Robespierre and his allies were all captured, and in 1794 he and his allies were overthrown and guillotined.

Mob Mentality/Deindividuation

Mob mentality, describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, like the mobs during the French Revolution that held people's severed heads on sticks and cheered. Deindividuation is a concept in social psychology that is generally thought of as the loss of self-awareness in groups.

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was a great leader which led the Puritans to their victory during the English Civil War. He sentenced King Charles I to death after Parliament won the war, where he was the first king to be publicly executed. Cromwell now held the reigns of power. He abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords. He established a commonwealth, a republican government. He sent home the remaining members of Parliament, and though his associate John Lambert drafted a constitution, Cromwell eventually tore up the document and became a military dictator. He made laws that promoted Puritan morality and abolished activities they found sinful, such as the theater, sporting events, and dancing.

Tennis Court Oath

On June 20, 1789, the members of the French Estates-General for the Third Estate, who had begun to call themselves the National Assembly, took the Tennis Court Oath, vowing "not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established." On the morning, the deputies were shocked to discover that the chamber door was locked and guarded by soldiers. Immediately fearing the worst and anxious that a royal attack by King Louis XVI was imminent, the deputies congregated in a nearby indoor tennis court in the Saint-Louis district of the city of Versailles.

Storming of the Bastille

Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This dramatic action signaled the beginning of the French Revolution, a decade of political turmoil and terror. King Louis sent troops to Paris to attack, in fear of a growing revolution, but the Persians fought back and after 4 hours of fighting, the prison warden surrendered. The rebels cut off his head and demolished the Bastille brick by brick because they were angered that there were no munitions.

Peter the Great

Peter the Great was a Russian czar in the late 17th century, who is best known for his extensive reforms in an attempt to establish Russia as a great nation. He became the most autocratic of Europe's monarchs, believing that his right to rule as Tsar came from God. He centralized his power and brought all Russians under his control, including the Russian Orthodox Church. Peter forced the most powerful nobles, known as boyars, to serve in either the military or state government. Peasants and serfs were required to become soldiers or work on roads, canals, and other government projects. He improved the technology, education, and the military of Russia, but in the process tortured and executed thousands of people who challenged his power from 1682 to 1725. (RUSSIA)

Voltaire

Philosopher Voltaire believed in tolerance, reason, freedom of religious belief, and freedom of speech. He used his quill pen as if it were a deadly weapon in a thinker's war against humanity's worst enemies - intolerance, prejudice, and superstition. His most famous quote was "I do not agree with a word you say but will defend to the death your right to say it."

Mary Wollstonecraft

She advocated for women's education (that women need education to become virtuous and useful), and encouraged women to enter the fields of male dominated crafts, like medicine and politics.

The Committee for Public Safety

The Committee for Public Safety was a political body of the French Revolution that gained virtual dictatorial control over France during the Reign of Terror. The Committee for Public Safety was set up on April 6, 1793, during one of the crises of the Revolution (Reign of Terror), when France was beset by foreign and civil war. The new committee was to provide for the defense of the nation against its enemies, foreign and domestic, and to oversee the already existing organs of executive government.

August Decrees

The Decree of August 4, 1789: "The National Assembly hereby completely abolishes the feudal system. It decrees that, among the existing rights and dues, both feudal and sensual, all those originating in or representing real or personal serfdom shall be abolished without indemnification." The National Assembly decided to abolish all legal privileges of the nobles and clergy.

English Civil War

The English Civil War started in 1642 when Charles I raised his royal standard in Nottingham. The split between Charles and Parliament was such that neither side was willing to back down over the principles that they held and war was inevitable as a way in which all problems could be solved. The country split into those who supported the king (Royalists/Cavaliers) and those who supported Parliament (Puritans/Roundheads) - the classic ingredients for a civil war. Oliver Cromwell eventually led the Royalist downfall and his leadership skills won the war for the Puritans.

Estates-General

The Estates-General (or States-General) of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm. Louis the XVI called the Estates General meeting in 1789 to address issues of taxation. The meeting brought together representatives from France's three Estates, which were comprised of Catholic clergy, nobility and the general population. This actually ended on an unfair note for the Third Estate, which resulted in the later creation of the National Assembly.

Cesar Beccaria

The Italian philosopher thought that laws were in place to preserve social order, and that criminals don't deserve torture, and should have speedy trials. He also said that the degree of punishment should be based on the seriousness of the crime. Also said that capital punishment should be abolished. Governments should seek the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

English Parliament

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced what, in later centuries, became referred to as a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief (a person who held land) and ecclesiastics before making laws. Parliament had rights over the king, so that kings would not be able to make whichever laws they wanted, and to make sure whatever rules he did make were for the good of the citizens and not just him.

Divine Right of Kings

The doctrine that kings derive their authority from God, not from their subjects, from which it follows that rebellion is the worst of political crimes. It was claimed in Britain by the earlier Stuarts and is also associated with the absolutism of Louis XIV of France. In simpler terms, kings would tell their subjects that God appointed them as rulers for a reason, so that they could spread the rule of God for Him. Those who disobeyed the king were also "disobeying God".

National Assembly

The elected legislature in France, consisted of the Third Estate, during the first part of the French Revolution, 1789-1791. They formed because of the unfairness of the meeting of Estates-General, where their vote was ruled out 1 to 2 because each estate was only allowed one vote, and the First and Second Estate both voted for taxation.

John Locke

The philosopher John Locke believed that people could learn from experience and improve themselves. As reasonable beings, they had the natural ability to govern their own affairs and to look after the welfare of society. Locke criticized absolute monarchy and favored the ideas of self-government. He believed all people were born free and equal, with three natural rights - life, liberty, property. The purpose of government, said Locke, is to protect these rights, and if it doesn't, citizens have a right to overthrow it. His beliefs were the foundation of modern democracy.

State of Nature

The state of nature is a concept used in moral and political philosophy, religion, social contract theories and international law to denote the hypothetical conditions of what the lives of people might have been like before societies came into existence.

Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes believed that all humans were born naturally selfish and wicked. He argued that people should hand over their rights to a strong leader. In exchange, they gained law and order. Hobbes called this agreement by which people created a government the social contract. Because people act in their own self interest, Hobbes said, the ruler needed total power to keep citizens under control. The best government was one that had the awesome power of leviathan (sea monster). In Hobbe's view, such a government was an absolute monarchy, which could impose order and demand obedience.

Glorious Revolution

When Mary, James's older daughter, and William of Orange (prince of Netherlands), her husband, came to overthrow James II for the sake of Protestantism, but he fled, and their goals were achieved without a drop of blood shed.