1)Lords and Peasants in Eastern Europe

a)The Medieval Background

i)Serfdom- peasants lost rights and freedoms, bound first to the land they worked and then by obligation to the lord they served

ii)High Middle Ages- 1050-1300- time of economic expansion, growth of trade, towns, population

(1)To colonize “East Elbia” rulers and nobles offered newcomers economic and legal incentives, many settlers obtained land and rights, general improvement of peasant conditions and little serfdom by 1300

iii)After 1300 Black Death resulted in depopulation and economic decline, lords sought to solve economic problems by exploiting peasantry- failed in west, east of Elbe landlords won

iv)Eastern landlords used political and police power to turn tables on peasantry

(1)Lords made kings and princes issue laws that restricted peasant movement, could no longer leave to take advantage of better opportunities elsewhere

(2)Lords took more of peasant’s land and imposed heaver labor obligations. Instead of independent farmers paying reasonable negotiated rent, peasants became forced laborers on lord’s estate

v)Erosion of peasants economic position bound up with manipulation of legal system- local lord was also local prosecutor, judge, jailer- no independent royal officials

b)The Consolidation of Serfdom

i)Btwn 1500-1650 social, legal, economic status continued to decline. Poland- nobles gained complete control could kill surfs, Prussia 1653 lords had hereditary subjugation (peasants bound to lords from one generation to the next as well as to the land)

ii)By middle of 17th century permanent hereditary serfdom had become law

iii)16th century European economic and population expansion increased prices for agricultural commodities, Polish and German lords economic incentives to increase production2

(1)Lords seized more peasant land for own estate, demanded more unpaid serf labor on those estates, poor east helped feel wealthier west

iv)Reasons for re-emergence of serfdom

(1)Agricultural depression and population decline in 14th and 15th centuries led to labor shortage, eastern landlords then tied precious peasants to land

(2)Eastern landlords enjoyed greater political power than western counterparts

(a)During late Middle Ages wars led to noble landlords increase in power at expense of ruling monarchs

(b)Kings forced to grant political favors to win support of nobility

(c)Kings wanted economic exploitation for himself

(d)No successful uprisings, landlords systematically undermined privileges of towns and power of urban classes, landlords sold to foreign capitalists and circumvented “middlemen” towns

(e)Population of town and power of middle class declined, supremacy of nobles promoted- West viewed east as barbaric, less civilized, cultural and moral inferiority

2)The Rise of Austria and Prussia

a)War and the threat of war aided rulers in their attempts to build absolute monarchies, endless power struggle, Eastern armies fought each other and armies of Asian invaders, monarchs reduced political power of landlord nobility

b)Rulers collected permanent taxes without consent, maintained permanent standing armies, conducted relations with other states as they pleased

c)Austria and the Ottoman Turks

i)Habsburgs weakened after 30 Years War, remained rulers but power was held by over 300 separate political jurisdictions

ii)Bohemian Estates- representative body of the different estates in Bohemia, in 1618 had risen in defense of Protestant rights in 30 YW. Crushed at Battle of White Mountain in 1620 by Ferdinand II, reduced power of Bohemian Estates, land taken from Prot. landlords + given to few powerful Catholic nobles

iii)With help of new nobility Habsburgs established strong direct rule over the reconquered Bohemia

(1)robot- three days per week of unpaid labor, Protestantism stamped out, resulted in religious unity—reorganization giant step toward absolutism

iv)Ferdinand III centralized gov’t in the German-speaking provinces, permanent standing army to put down internal opposition

v)Ottomans came from Central Asia as conqueroring warriors, settled in Turkey; peak in 16th century under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent ruled most powerful Empire in the world.

(1)As Muslims, determined foes of the Catholic Habsburgs, almost captured Vienna in 1529

(2)No private property, all agricultural land was property of the sultan

(3)Bureaucracy staffed by sultan’s slave corps, conquered Christians trained to fight and administer, sultan’s army=janissary corps

(4)After 1570 system began to deteriorate, temporary Muslim landholders became hard-to-control permanent oppressors

(5)17th century last attack on Habsburgs, 1683 huge Turkish army laid siege to Vienna. Rescued by Habsburg forces, continued to attack with Russian and Venetian allies, Habsburgs conquered most of Hungary and Transylvania

vi)Habsburg state composed of three territories- Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, tied together by common rule but each had own laws and political life, noble-dominated Estates continued to exist in each territory

vii)1713 Charles VI proclaimed the Pragmatic Sanction- stated Habsburg possessions never to be divided and were to be passed intact to a single heir

viii)Hungarian nobility thwarted full development of Habsburg absolutism

(1)Hungarian nobles rose in revolt against Vienna’s attempts to impose absolute rule

(2)May Hungarian nobles Protestant, hated attempts by Hapsburgs to re-Catholicize, had ally in Turks, and nobility and some of peasantry became attached to a national ideal

(3)Hungarian nobles determined to maintain as much independence and local control as possible

(4)When Habsburgs tied down by War of Spanish Succession, Hungarians rose in patriotic rebellion under Prince Francis Rakoczy in 1703

(a)Defeated, but Habsburgs had to accept definitive compromise

(b) Charles VI restored traditional privileges of Hungarian aristocracy, in return Hungarian acceptance of hereditary Habsburg rule

(c)Thus Hungary, unlike Austria or Bohemia, never came to being fully integrated into a centralized, absolute Habsburg state

d)Prussia in the Seventeenth Century

i)After 1400 eastern German princes lost political power and influence, landed nobility became ruling class

ii)Hohenzollern family, as imperial electors of Brandenburg and dukes of Prussia, had little real princely power

iii)Elector had right to help choose HRE, but had no military strength whatsoever

iv)Brandenburg cut off from the sea, lacked defensible frontiers, land was poor, separated from elector’s cousin Duke of Prussia

v)Prussia originally conquered by the Germanic order of Teutonic Knights in the thirteenth century, by 1600 German peasants had much in common with Polish

vi)In 1618 junior branch of Hohenzollern family died out, Prussia reverted to the elector of Brandenburg

vii)Brandenburg territories devastated by 30 Years War, foreign armies weakened political power of the Estates

viii)Elector Frederick William- “the Great Elector” came to power in 1640, sought to unify his three provinces and add to them by diplomacy and war

ix)In Brandenburg, Prussia, holdings along the Rhine in W. Germany, Estates held purse, taxes could not be levied without their consent. Dominated by nobility and the landowning class known as the Junkers

x)To pay for permanent standing army established in 1660, Frederick William forced the Estates to accept permanent taxation without consent

xi)Power of the Estates declined rapidly, Great Elect. Had financial independence and superior force. States revenue tripled, size of army 10 X larger

xii)As in the formation of every absolutist state, war was a decisive factor

(1)Struggle btwn Sweden and Poland for Baltic after 1648

(2)Wars of Louis XIV in W. Europe created permanent crisis

(3)Invasion of Prussia by Tartars softened up Estates and increased urgency of the Great Elector’s demands for money and soldiers

xiii)Second, nobility + Estates was unwilling to join the representatives of the towns in a consistent front and was focused on its own rights and privileges

(1)Accepted a compromise whereby the bulk of taxes fell on towns, royal authority stopped at landlords’ gates, elector used force to break liberties of towns

e)Consolidation of Prussian Absolutism

i)1688 Death of G.E. had created single state, successor Elector Frederick III was weak of mind and body, imitated Luis XIV I building expensive palace

ii)Frederick William I- “Soldier’s King”- most talented reformer produced by Hohenzollern family. Truly established Prussian absolutism + unique character

(1)Bizarre, pathological love for tall soldiers- agents bought and kidnapped ppl

(2)Profound militaristic temperament, lived disciplined life of a soldier

(3)Love of army based on conception of the struggle for power and dog-eat-dog view of international politics, belief that welfare of king and state depended on the army above all else

(4)Military power provided for a great expansion of royal absolutism

(5)Created strong centralized bureaucracy, parliamentary Estates and local self-government vanished

(6)Kings grab for power bought conflict with noble landowners, nobility not destroyed but rather enlisted into the army. Junkers became officer caste, commanded peasantry in army as well as on the estates

(7)Built-first rate army, best in Europe, astonished foreign observers

(8)Also built honest and conscientious bureaucracy, administered country and developed the country economically

(9)Civil society became rigid and highly disciplined, unquestioning obedience was the highest virtue, harsh peasant bondage and Junker tyranny laid foundation for the most militaristic country of modern times

3)The Development of Russia

a)Eastern Slavs converted by missionaries from Byzantine Empire to Orthodox Christianity. Eastern Orthodoxy rejects pope, but else wise is similar to Rom. Cat.

b)Loose but real political unification of eastern Slavic territories under single prince and dynasty

c)Feudal division into boyard nobility and commoner peasantry

d)After death of Prince Iaroslav the Wise, Kievan principality disintegrated into competing political units- 1504

e)The Mongol Yoke and the Rise of Moscow

i)Slavs remained united by Mongol conquest of the Kievan principality

ii)Mongols were nomadic tribes, Chinggis Khan 1 of greatest conquerors

(1)Subdues China, turned Westward, Mongol Army (Golden Horde) conquered ruled Slavs for over 200 years- Mongol Yoke

(2)Slavic princes forced to submit, pay tribute, give slaves, united Slavs

iii)Beginning with Alexander Nevesky in 1252, previously insignificant princes of Moscow became adept at serving Mongols. Put down uprisings, collected taxes, became princes, eventually able to destroy princely rivals and replace the khan as supreme ruler Muscovite princes

(1)Ivan I- built up large fortune + increased influence by loaning money to other princes to pay Mongol taxes

(a)Rival price of Tver organized revolt against Mongols 1327, Ivan led Russian-Mongol army and destroyed Tver- made Ivan tax collector

(2)Ivan III- process of gathering territories around Moscow completed (included wealthy, crucial Novgorod region), completely princely authority

(a)Prince of Moscow became unique, absolute ruler—tsar. Absolute power and autocracy developed b/c Ivan stopped acknowledging khan as supreme ruler, + after fall of Constantinople to Turks in 1453 tsars saw themselves as heirs of caesars and Orthodox Christianity

(i)Al other Europe heretics, “holy Russia”, “third Rome”

(b)Noble boyars began losing power and influence- Ivan conquered Novgorod, confiscated 80% of land for himself, gave remainder to newly emerging service nobility—held tsars land on condition they serve in the tsar’s army

f)Tsar and People to 1689

i)Ivan IV- rise of service nobility accelerated, took Anastasia of Romanov family for his wife, declared war on remnants of Mongol power

ii)Wars against khanates added territory to Russia, Ivan abolished distinction between hereditary boyar private property and land granted for service—all had to serve tsar in order to hold any land

iii)After unsuccessful war with Polish-Lithuanian state + death of wife, struck down ancient Muscovite boyars with a reign of terror

(1)Leading boyars, relatives, peasants, and servants executed en masse by special crops (forerunner to secret police), estates broken up and given to lower service nobility—were dependent on autocrat

iv)As nobles demanded more from peasants b/c of depopulation, many fled to east and south and formed Cossacks- outlaw army beyond reach of tsar

(1)Solution was to tie peasants to land and noble, in turn bound to tsar

v)Urban traders and artisans bound to town and jobs, tsar assumed owned Russia’s trade and industry

(1)Urban classes had no security in work or property, dependent on tsar

(2)IF business became property, often taken over by tsar and made a royal monopoly—checked growth of middle class (as opposed to in W. Europe where capitalist middle class gained strength and security thru their private property)

vi)Ivan’s system of autocracy and compulsory service struck foreign observers forcibly- German Herberstein wrote ppl consider themselves slaves of princes, French Jean Bodin struck

vii)Death of Ivan 1584 resulted in violent power struggle, confusion, son Theodore died without an heir in 1598

viii)Invading Swiss and Poles, Cossack bands led by Ivan Bolotnikov rallied peasants and killed nobles- called for true tsar

ix)Nobles crushed Rebellion 1613 Michael Romanov elected new hereditary tsar-re-established tsarist autocracy + military obligations on nobles relaxed, successor pious Alexis continued trend

x)Second mass upheaval, Russian Orthodox church split

(1)Religious reforms introduced 1652 by purist patriarch Nikon, wanted “corrupt” practices in line with Greek Orthodox model, church supported but religious common people resisted

(2)Great numbers left church, as “Old Believers” were persecuted

(3)No popular support, church depended on state for its authority

xi)Cossacks revolted against state, under Stkena Razin attracted great army, killed landlords and govt officials, wanted freedom from oppression

(1)Rebellions defeated by govt, scared upper classes tightened screws of serfdom further to maintain power of tsar, became principal obligation

g)The Reforms of Peter the Great

i)Interested primarily in military power, redress defeats of tsar’s armies

ii)Continued tsarist tradition of territorial expansion- gained Ukraine from Poland, Siberia, --- came to complete power in 1689

iii)Army made up cavalry of boyars and service nobility, foot soldiers second, not like permanent Western standing armies with rifles= very expensive

iv)Alliance with Austria and Poland against Ottoman empire, traveled to Western capitals, impressed by growing English and Dutch power

v)After return, entered into secret alliance with Denmark and elector of Saxony (king of Poland) to attack Sweden- very powerful in N. Europe, scattered lands and young king made it seem ripe for attack

(1)Charles XII surprised peter with his military genius, defeated Denmark in 1700 then proceeded to attack Russia

vi)Great Northern War 1700-1721- suffering defeat and crisis, Peter responded with measures to increase state power, strengthen army, victory

(1)Every nobleman required to serve in army or civil administration for life

(2)Created schools and universities to produce skilled technicians and experts

(3)Five years of compulsory education away from home for noblemen

(4)Military-civilian bureaucracy with 14 ranks, meritocracy

(5)Sought out talented foreigners and placed them in his service

(6)Commoners played larger role- established standing army of over 200,000 made up of peasants and officers from nobility

(7)Taxes raised threefold, serfs assigned to work in factories in mines- owned mostly by state, nearly all worked for military

vii)Russian victory- Peter’s superior resources and larger population crushed small army of Sweden’s Charles XII- Battle at Poltava, Ukraine 1709

(1)Russia annexed Estonia, Latvia, became great Black Sea and Eur. power

(2)B/c of desire to use Western technology to strengthen army, Westerns and W. ideas spread to Russia

(3)New class of educated Russians emerged, gap btwn enserfed peasantry and educated nobility widened

(4)Idea of state interest as opposed to tsar’s interest developed- explanations of decrees to gain support of populace

(5)Built on service obligations of old Muscovy

4)Absolutism and Baroque Architecture

a)Absolutism in E. Europe resulted in nobles serving rulers in new ways, inferiority of middle class and peasants, armies larger and professional, taxes rose, authoritarian traditions strengthened

b)Inspired in part by Louis XIV of France, rulers called upon artists to glorify power and magnificence

c)Palaces and Power

i)Baroque culture and art grew out of revitalized Cath. Church in 16th century

(1)Papacy and Jesuits wanted to appl to senses of churchgoers, power of Catholic Reformation

ii)By 1700 Baroque palaces meant to overawe ppl with monarch’s strength

iii)Modeled after Versailles- Viennese Versailles by Emperor Leopold, Charles XI 1693 Royal Palace in Sweden

iv)Princes in Germany in palace building craze, in central and eastern Europe favorite noble servants of royalty became rich and guilt palaces in capital cities

(1)Extension of monarchy b/c surpassed buildings of less favored nobles and showed all the high road to fame and fortune

(2)Prince Eugene of Savoy- led Austrian army, rewarded by royal employer

(a)J.B. Fisher von Erlach and Johann Lukas van Hilderbradt architects of palaces

v)Palaces baroque style, dramatic emotional experience

(1)Architect permitted painter and artist to cover buildings surfaces with paintings, sculptures, carvings- artistic achievement and political statement

d)Royal Cities

i)Not content with only palaces, remodeled or built new capitals to reflect royal magnificence and the centralization of political power

ii)Broad avenues, imposing govt buildings, rigorous mathematical layout, major thoroughfares lined with nobles elaborate baroque townhouses, wide avenues facilitated rapid movement of soldiers to quell disturbance

e)The Growth of St. Petersburg

i)1700 @ start of Great Northern War did not exist, 1702 captured by Peter the Great and made into new capital rather than ancient Moscow

ii)Peter Island, new ports and shipyards for the Baltic coast

iii)After victory at Poltava in 1709- decreed his ppl to build a city that would equal any in the world, had to be Western, Baroque, “window on Europe”

iv)Peter wanted comfortable modern city with broad avenues, houses in uniform line, parks, canals for drainage, bridges, street lighting

v)Buildings had to conform to architectural regulations set by govt

vi)Each social group- nobility, merchants, artisans- was to leave in a certain section

vii)Russian autocracy to build capital- peasants bore heaviest burdens, forced to 25-40 thousand to labor without pay- peasants hated it

viii)Nobles forced to built costly houses and palaces in city and live in them most of the year, merchants and artisans forced to pay for avenues, parks, canals, bridges—costly b/c city was built on a swamp

ix)By Peter’s death in 1725 at least 6,000 houses, govt buildings, under women rulers of 18th century expanded and blossomed

x)Youngest daughter Elizabeth named Bartolomeo Rastrelli chief architect, combined Russian and Italian styles w. very colorful style, Winter Palace

xi)By 1782 one of Europe’s largest cities with 300,000+ inhabitants