Grade 7 : Age of Absolutism

The Decline of the Holy Roman Empire
Charlemagne – the fist Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD
After Charlemagne died, no other Holy Roman Emperor was strong enough to rule over the states in the empire.
On the other hand, the German princes of the states became more powerful individually.
By the mid-17th century, every state in the empire, in fact, became independent of the emperor.
There was no more unity in Europe.

The Rise of National Government
During most of the Middle Ages, there were no strong national governments in Europe.
E.g. French was divided into at least 10.000 separate fiefs which were ruled by feudal lords.
There were kings, but they had no actual power.
In theory, they ruled over the feudal lords, but in practice, the lords often did what they wanted.
By the end of the Middle Ages, a number of nation-states had gradually grown.
A nation-state was built when a group of people, who spoke a single language, shared the same religion and had the same cultural origin, united to form a country under a central government.
In a nation-state, the nobles were no longer powerful. Instead, the king was strong, and he ruled by setting up a central government.
15th and 16th centuries – trade expanded and cities grew rapidly.
A new class of merchants, the borgeoisie, developed in the cities.
They needed law and order for trade.
They needed a safer and more efficient transport system.
Feudal lords were unable to provide what the people needed.
Lords fought among themselves, and this made them weak.
The feudal system was inadequate for the changing European societies.
The bourgeoisie and the people support the kings because strongs kings could provide a more efficient government to protect the people.
Kings collected taxes from the merchants and in exchange, they protected their property.
With money, the kings hired professional soldiers and civil servant to serve them.
It made the nobles and knights less important.
End of doc.