Mr.

McCaskill

The Spanish Empire Weakens

The gold and silver coming from the
Americas made Spain temporarily
wealthy.
However, Spanish treasure helped to
cause long-term economic problems.
One of these problems was severe
inflation.

Making Spains Enemies Rich

This made Spanish goods more expensive
than those made in other parts of Europe.
As a result, Spain brought much of what they
needed from France, England, and the
Netherlands.
Spains great wealth flowed into the pockets of
Spains enemies.

Absolutism in Europe
In response to Spain declining, European
kings/queens would claim the authority to
rule without limits on their power.
These rulers wanted to be absolute
monarchs.
Absolute Monarchs- kings or queens who
held all of the power within their states
boundaries.
Their goal was to control every aspect of
society.

Divine Right
Absolute monarchs believed in divine right.
Divine Right- the idea that God created the
kingdom and that the king acted as Gods
representative on Earth.
An absolute monarch answered to only God, not
to his or her subjects.

Growing Power of Europes Monarchs

The decline of feudalism, the rise of cities, and the
growth of national kingdoms all helped to
centralize authority.
Monarchs used the wealth of colonies to pay for
their ambition.

Crises Lead to Absolutism

The 17th century was a period of great change in
Europe.
Religious and territorial conflicts between states
led to almost continuous warfare.
This caused governments to place heavy taxes on
an already suffering population.