Key Terms Chapter 2 (Junkers)

Intendants

French royal officials who supervised provincial governments in the name of the king. Intendants played a key role in establishing French absolutism.

Junkers

Prussia's landowning nobility. The junkers supported the monarchy and served in they army in exchange for absolute power over their serfs.

Joint Stock Company

A business arrangement in which many investors raise money for a venture too large for any of hem to undertake alone. They share the profits in proportion to the amount they invest. English entrepreneurs used join-stock companies to finance the establishment of New World colonies.

Putting Out System

A preindustrial manufacturing system in which an entrepreneur would bring materials to rural people who worked for on them in their own homes. For example, watch manufacturers in Swiss towns employed villagers to make parts for their products. The system enabled entrepreneurs to avoid restrictive guild regulations.

Fronde

A series of rebellions against royal authority in France between 1649 and 1952. The Fronde played a key role in Louis XIV's decision to leave Paris and build the Versailles Palace.

Absolutism

A system of government in which the ruler claims the sole and uncontestable power. Absolute monarchs were not limited by constitutional restraint.

Mercantilism

Economic philosophy calling for close government regulation of the economy. Mercantilist theory emphasized building a strong, self-sufficient economy by maximizing exports and limiting imports. Mercantilists supported the acquisition of colonies as sources of raw material and markets for finished goods. This favorable balance of trade would enable a country to accumulate reserves of gold and silver.

Robot

System of forced labor used in eastern Europe. Peasants usually owed three or four days a week of forced labor. The system was abolished in 1848.

Divine Right of Kings

The idea that rulers receive their authority from God and are answerable only to God, Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, a French bishop and court preacher to Louis XIV, provided the theological justification for the divine right of kings by declaring that "the state of moncarchy is the supremest thing on earth, for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth and sit upon God's throne, bu even my God himself are called gods. In the scriptures kings are called Gods, and their power is compared to the divine powers."

Columbian Exchange

The interchange of plant, diseases, and human populations between the Old World and the New World