HIS 102 WEEK 2: SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY
EUROPE
Reading Assignment for the week:
- Read the appropriate chapter in the
textbook (chapter 16 in the 7th or 6th ed. of Perry).
- Read the English
Bill of Rights (You may wish to participate in an Online Discussion of this reading.).
-
Listen to some further information about seventeenth-century Europe
as a Realaudio file
or as a wav file. You can also read the information as
a txt file.
Questions to
Consider while studying this week's material:
- What was absolutism?
- Why did Parliament succeed
in expanding its powers in England?
Key Terms to study
while reading the textbook:
- Parliament
- Louis XIV
- Peter the Great
- Glorious Revolution
Suggested Websites for further study:
- Louis XIV. This
is a very well-done website with a lot of interesting material presented about
Louis XIV; very nice graphics.
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a
relevant website for this unit of the course. Send the title of the site, the url and a
brief explanation why you find the information interesting and applicable to
the material being studied this week.
Submit the English Paragraph:
Read the Bill
of Rights (English) (along with the document background notes
and the questions to consider). Before you read the document,
please read the Sample Historical
Document Analysis,
if you have not already done so. The sample illustrates some of the questions
that a historian asks as he/she reads a historical document.
Answer the following
question in a paragraph: Was
the English Bill
of Rights a democratic document?
Your paragraph should be about
one-half page in length, double-spaced with one-inch margins, font size 10 or 12; it should
contain a concise topic sentence that directly responds to the assigned
question (no need to define terms or cite a dictionary) and use
direct, quoted material to support your points. Do not spend time repeating
what happened in the document; spend your time providing analysis to
answer the assigned question.
This assignment should be sent by e-mail according to the Electronic Submission
Information instructions.
Please remember to consult
Charlie's History Writing Center for
specific information on the writing requirements of this course.
You may also wish to post or respond in the
Blackboard online discussion forum
for this assignment. Please review the instructions for
Using the Blackboard
Discussion Forums, if necessary.
I selected this particular
textbook (and I have been known to switch every few years) after
careful consideration of the book's content and organization and the author's
goals and objectives; those areas closely match my objectives in
teaching this course. I want you to pay close attention to your reading in
the textbook, because that reading is a crucial part of your
learning in the course. Look for the weekly key terms and reflect
on the questions to consider as you read your textbook. In addition:
- Write down questions that come to mind
- Make marginal notes in your textbook when something strikes you
- Underline or highlight important concepts or definitions/events
The English Paragraph is worth a maximum of
25 points.
Notes:
During the seventeenth century, England
and France underwent divergent political (and economic) evolutions. While absolutism emerged
powerful in France, a constitutional system developed in England; simultaneously
mercantilism emerged in France while capitalism reigned in England. These contrasting trends set
the stage for over two centuries of rivalry, usually played out as war,
between the two countries
and between conservative and liberal political forces
throughout the Western world. Liberals
consistently championed the English constitutional system as a
model, while conservatives supported the example of the French monarchy (liberals also tended to
support a laissez-faire, capitalist economic system.).
Louis XIV, king of France from 1643 to
1715, was the premier example of the absolute European monarch. As king,
Louis concentrated as much power as possible in his hands at the expense
of the French nobility, which he deeply mistrusted (French nobles had revolted
against, and threatened the life of, the king in 1648 in a movement known
as le Fronde). Louis XIV came to be known as the sun king: just as everything
in the solar system revolved around the sun, so too did everything in France
and Europe revolve around him; just as the sun was the source of life,
so too was Louis the source of all power. Louis even had a picture of the
rising sun painted on his chair to symbolize the connection.
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