The West in the World, 4th Edition (Sherman)

Chapter 13: The Struggle for Survival and Sovereignty

Chapter Summaries

In European society, hierarchy and rank continued to determine social relations and pressures. Throughout the seventeenth century, aristocrats attempted to maintain their authority and privileges in relation to monarchs interested in centralizing government and magnifying their political power. This same struggle led to different solutions throughout Europe. In France, royal absolutism grew under Louis XIV. In Eastern Europe, although governments were less centralized, absolutism also grew, and peasants lost even more freedom. In England and the Netherlands, however, two different types of constitutionalism emerged, in which law, not the king, served as the ultimate political authority. For those at the bottom of the social hierarchy, the century offered greater hardships, as obligations to centralizing states and nobles increased under the stresses of natural disaster and war.