The scientific revolution that was launched in the 17th century is often portrayed in textbooks as a struggle between backward Christians and advanced reformed scientists. However, no scholar today believes this. The church and scientists usually peacefully co-existed. In fact, the very nature of Christianity promotes the idea of a carefully ordered universe, without random chaos. Jesuits were known for a long time as the leading force in seismology, and many priests were active in scientific endeavors. Johannes Keppler stated that there was no one he liked to talk about science with more than the Jesuits. So no, the scientific revolution was not in fact a war between the Church and science but a peaceful coexistence of the two.

The Enlightenment was a school of thought, started in the 18th century, that was founded on the belief that your reason could explain all things. However, because Thomas Aquinas used reason to prove the existence of God, and the Enlightenment thinkers just didn’t think that reason could prove such a thing, some scholars have said they had less reason than they believed they did. Enlightenment thinkers were very skeptical of traditional institutions including the one of monogamous marriage. They firmly believed that science was a model for knowledge because it could give them clear definitive answers, unlike theology. Some were outright atheists some were deists and others, such as Voltaire, believed that religion was valuable because it kept the poor people in line, and from looting the rich.

Antoine Lavoisier was born in 1743 to a family of wealth and nobility. He attended the University of Paris where he had a great interest in science. He became known for his research in chemistry performing some of the first quantitative chemical experiments. He contributed greatly to the phenomenon of combustion and is commonly cited as a key contributor to the chemical revolution. At age twenty-six Lavoisier was elected to the Academy of Sciences, and around the same time bought a share in Ferme générale, a tax farming company that advanced the estimation of tax revenue to the government in return for the right to collect taxes. All his life Lavoisier spent time and money on helping the poor. He submitted a report on improving urban street lighting to the French Academy of Sciences and worked on purifying water from the Seine. He spent considerable sums on improving crop production in Sologne which had poor farming conditions. However, he concluded that although agricultural improvement was a possibility, the farmers were left with so little money after taxes it was impossible to expect them to change their traditional system. In the midst of the French Revolution, Lavoisier and all former tax farmers were arrested. He drafted their defense that refuted financial accusations, but the court believed that by condemning them and seizing their possessions they would recover huge sums of money. In 1794 Lavoisier and twenty-seven of his co-defendants were guillotined. According to popular belief, Lavoisier’s plea to continue his experiments was cut short by the judge stating, “The Republic needs neither scholars nor chemists; the course of justice cannot be delayed.”

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, transformed his lands from the decimated ruin at the end of the Thirty Years War to one of the most powerful states in the Holy Roman Empire. As you may remember the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) was comprised of many smaller states and districts ruled over by local princes, with the Holy Roman Emperor overseeing them all, though to be emperor was mostly a title. Frederick William inherited his lands in 1640, with a very depleted population and lands ravaged by the Thirty Years War. His greatest ambition was to build a Prussian standing army in order to maintain power and to defend Prussia from Sweden. To raise money for this expensive endeavor he made a deal with the local lower nobility that controlled taxes, that if they would raise taxes he would let them reduce the population essentially to serfdom. Another one of his policies was that he extended religious toleration to his people and invited the expelled French Huguenots to settle in Prussia and in turn boost the economy with their valuable skills. He successfully rebuilt his lands and through diplomacy and his powerful military became a prominent and powerful ruler in Europe.

Peter the Great ruled Russia from 1682 – 1725. Things you might not know about him is that he forced some women he did not like into convents (including his wife) and died of gangrene in his bladder. But what he is known for is modernizing Russia, in particular the Russian army. In 1700 the Russians suffered a humiliating defeat when eight-thousand Swedes conquered forty-thousand Russians, which spurred on his zeal for reform. He created a standing army and gave high salaries for foreign military officers to come to Russia and lead and train his army. He conscripted peasants from the countryside to come work in factories that created machinery for his army, which started the slow process of Russian industrialization. In addition to a modernized military, he ordered that everyone adopt a western style of dress with taxes being put on beards and long hair for men. By the end of his life, many people wondered why he had not yet been killed as he had alienated many people in his sweeping modernization reforms. Though he is still debated by historians today, there is no denying that he changed Russia and brought it reluctantly into the modern age.

Art during this time had also changed. With the end of the Renaissance in 1527, artists moving forward wondered what they could do, since it seemed impossible to do better than the masters of the Renaissance. From this, a style we call Mannerism developed, playing on an individual’s personal strengths in painting. Characteristics include abnormally proportioned or elongated figures, clashing colors, and sometimes bizarre themes. Realistic portrayal of their subjects and landscapes was not a necessity in this style. Mannerism lasted about eighty years to the end of the 16th century. Baroque painting developed at the beginning of the 17th century and continued through the early 18th century. Baroque painting is identified by its intense emotion and drama, rich, deep color, and contrasting light and shadow. Among the most famous Baroque painters are Reubens, Vermeer, Velazquez, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt.

In the 17th century, there was an economic idea called mercantilism, that usually went along with absolutism. In a mercantilist society, the economy is run and regulated by the government. There may be special privileges and monopolies given to those the monarch favors, and exports are encouraged while imports are discouraged and may have bans or tariffs. 17th century France is an example of a mercantilist society that also had guild rules for certain crafts, which discouraged competition in business and made it hard for people to get into the trade.

The monarch in 17th century France was the infamous Louis XIV. His high taxes, absolutist tendencies, and beautiful place with a resplendent court have made him renowned. But one of the things he used the taxes for the most were his many wars. His army was becoming larger as warfare became more professionalized and he sent his seemingly invincible army on many campaigns. He waged multiple wars in the Low Countries (what is today the Netherlands) to gain defenses and territories, with his ultimate goal to reach the Rhine river. Some of these wars were held up by vague claims to foreign thrones and others for purely expansion purposes. France became a leading power in Europe with its wars focusing on aggressiveness with its large standing army. This was about to change however in the War of Spanish Succession.

The War of Spanish Succession centered around who would succeed childless Charles II of the Spanish empire, which not only included Spain but also the Netherlands, Italian territories, and territories in the new world.. France had their candidate, Phillip of Anjou, and the Holy Roman Empire had their candidate. Louis XIV attempted to negotiate some partition treaties, but both Charles II and the Holy Roman Emperor were against this. When Charles died his will stated that Phillip of Anjou was heir to the throne, though the HRE refuted this by saying that Charles was not in his right mind when he wrote it. Phillip was sent to Spain and was crowned emperor, supported by the Spanish people, but immediately Phillip gave special trading privileges to France that had once belonged to other countries. This had been Europe’s fear, that France would be the sole trader in the Spanish empire, so England, the Dutch Republic, and Austria / The Holy Roman Empire formed an alliance against France. The war would last from 1701 to 1714 with France being totally devastated from 1709. The most important battle of the war was the battle of Blenheim, which was a French defeat. Eventually, Louis could not raise more taxes because his people were starving, aggravated by a bad harvest and a harsh winter. Unable to wring any more taxes out of his subjects he tried inflation and melted down his silverware to be sold for war costs. The allies even invaded France itself but somehow France held on and managed to dispel the invaders. In 1715 the war ended with the Peace of Utrecht. Phillip V remained King of Spain, but Spanish territories were divided up amongst the other participants in the war. As for Louis XIV, he lost most of the territory he had gained in his previous campaigns and had a broke and thoroughly exhausted France when he died in 1715.

King Louis XIII of France was a weak and sickly king, who left most of the ruling to be done by his chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu. Richelieu’s main aims were to centralize power, and to weaken the Hapsburg family that ruled in Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, Italy, The Netherlands and more. While he was a Catholic Cardinal, he put France first and was willing to favor Protestants over Catholics if it meant getting France what it wanted. He took power away from the previously feudal lords and ordered fortified castles razed excepting those on the border. He generally favored religious toleration, though when the Huguenot city of La Rochelle began to operate as a separate entity, he besieged the city and conquered it, though was much more lenient with the rebels than was usual for the time.

Since the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English in 1588, and the death of King Phillip II in 1598, Spain had been on the decline due to multiple factors. The first was plaques. The populations of Aragon and Castile from 1590 to 1700 dropped from ten-million people to six-million people. Another factor was that Spain did not have a free economy. The Spanish government handed monopolies to people they favored, and inhibited trade. The amount of precious metals from the new world slowed as the mines emptied, which ended the semi-artificial prosperity that Spain had in the 16th century. Perhaps the worst thing was that under Phillip III, the entire Morisco (former Muslims) population of Valencia, was displaced and forced to go to Islamic countries such as Morocco. Many were robbed and killed along the way, and when they got to the Islamic countries they were killed, because they had said they were Christians. Over the following decades Moriscos from all over Spain were forced to leave, which created an obvious economic downturn by getting rid of four-hundred-thousand hard working people. The enormous spending by Kings Phillip III and Phillip IV on wars and luxury eventually forced Spain to withdraw from foreign involvement because they simply did not have the money or resources to do so.

In the 17th century the idea of constitutionalism was beginning to take root. Constitutionalism is the idea that something, whether it be tradition, parliament, a document or anything else limits the power of the government. One of the key thinkers in constitutionalism was Juan De Mariana, a Spanish Jesuit, whose main work was “De Rege” (On Kingship). In this work he states that the power lies in the people and that people can and should overthrow monarchs who abuse their power. He also said that it was in the power of the people to veto laws, determine taxation, and determine the succession if the king has no heir. He was firmly against absolutism, calling absolutist kings tyrants who want to injure and ruin everybody. The Spanish government was not pleased with this work, but it was when Mariana published a work against inflation that the king hauled off the seventy-seven year old to jail. He was released a few months later, but the Spanish government so hated this anti inflation work, that they bought every copy to prevent circulation and destroyed so many, that there are only a few in existence today.

In 1649 King Charles I was executed following the English Civil war between the royalists and parliamentarians. One of the men most pushing for Charles death, leader of the new model army, which had greatly aided the parliamentarians in their defeat of the royalists. In 1653 he became official ruler of England under the title of Lord Protector. He was staunch about Puritanism, and many new laws came into being to make sure that the people of England followed these rules. Most sports were banned, and boys playing football on a Sunday could be whipped as punishment. In fact any form of unnecessary work on a Sunday was illegal, and taking a walk, except to church, could lead to a hefty fine. Women were expected to dress modestly, and too colorful dresses were banned. Illegal makeup could suddenly be scrubbed off the faces of unsuspecting women caught wearing it by Puritan leaders. Any form of Christmas celebration was banned, and soldiers roamed London forcibly taking food meant for Christmas celebrations, and Christmas decorations were illegal. Cromwell particularly hated the Irish Catholics, who he thought were all traitors waiting to help any invading army. Irish were slaughtered in towns which refused to surrender to him, and all Irish children were ordered to work as slaves on sugar plantations in the West Indies, even though he knew many would die, but then at least they would not grow up in to adults and have more children. Though he imposed religious tyranny upon everyone else, he enjoyed music and hunting, and even allowed full scale entertainment at his daughters wedding. He died in 1658 after ruling more and more militaristically as his rule went on.

After a brief rule by Cromwell’s son Richard, who left office in 1659, parliament invited Charles I son, Charles II, to come back and become king of England, dispelling the office of Lord Protector. After ruling until his death in 1685, with no legitimate children, his detested brother, James II became king. James II was a Catholic and peoples fears that he would make England Catholic were not appeased when he began appointing Catholics to offices. James II favored religious toleration, but this was ignored and instead people were horrified that Catholics were being appointed to the highest offices available. James also enlarged the standing army to protect himself furthering peoples suspicions that he was plotting to bring in an army to make England Catholic. At this time his wife had a son, which meant that when James died instead of his protestant daughter becoming Queen, his Catholic son would. At this parliament asked James protestant daughter, princess Mary, and her husband William of Orange to come and become monarch. In 1688 William and Mary landed in England with their army and virtually any allegiance to James II dissolved. James fled to France, who offered him a palace and a pension. William and Mary marched to London and in 1689 became Co-Monarchs of England. Before they were crowned however they signed the bill of rights, a document that limited the power of the monarch and gave power to parliament. This is a very important document in English history, especially when at this time many monarchy’s were absolutist, meaning the monarch had absolute power.