What is this about?
How rulers of land based empires consolidated and legitimized their rule
- Centralization was a common trend that rulers during this time period followed in order to consolidate their rule
- In Europe, for example, monarchs consolidated their power by controlling taxes, the army, and even some aspects of religion
Centralizing Control in Europe
- Divine right of kings = idea that a king’s right to rule is granted by God
- As only God can judge a king’s rule, that gave them the right to make laws, levy taxes, and govern people as they see fit
- Justified monarchs being absolute monarchs
- Divine right of kings is best exemplified by King Henry VIII of England (the guy who made his own church because he wanted a divorce) and King Louis XIV of France
England’s Gentry Officials
- Justices of the peace were officials appointed by the English crown that were responsible for maintaining law and order in a designated local area
- Held immense power in the local areas they were assigned to
- Typically came from the landed gentry (class of wealthy landowners)
- Were seen as the backbone of English society as they provided stability and leadership at a local level
- Power of feudal lords weakened
English Bill of Rights
- English Bill of Rights, which ensured civil liberties, enacted in 1689
- Ex: Prevented tyranny of the monarchy and required the monarch to be in agreement with Parliament on matters like taxation and raising an army
Absolutism in France
- French government became much more absolute in the 1600s and 1700s
- Absolutism = form of government in which a monarch holds complete and total power over the state and its people
Louis XIV
- Also known as the “Sun King” he ruled from 1643 to 1715
- Declared “L’etat, c’est moi,” meaning “The state is me”
- Played a significant role in turning France into an absolutist monarchy and centralizing its government under the rule of one person
- He and his minister Cardinal Richelieu developed a system of intendants
- Intendants were royal officials who were sent out to provinces to execute the orders of the central government
- Also known as tax farmers as they oversaw the collection of taxes
- Moved the government to the Palace of Versailles
- Required nobles and government officials to live here so he could keep an eye on them and prevent them to act independently or plan a revolt against him
Reigning in Control of the Russian Empire
- Russian social hierarchary:
- Boyars (noble landowning class) at the top, then merchants, then at the bottom were the peasants
- Equivalent of Western Europe’s feudal lords
- Most peasants would acquire debt and be forced into serfdom
- Serfs = peasants who were given a plot of land and protection by a noble and were bound to the land and had limited personal freedoms
- In feudal Russia, the boyars were the “lords”
Efforts of Ivan the Terrible
- Also known as Ivan IV, he ruled from 1547 to 1584
- Like in Western Europe. Ivan wanted to consolidate and centralize his power, but this would be at the expense of the boyars
- Boyars of Novgorod were against Ivan’s expansionist policies
- Ivan punished them by defeating their forces at Novgorod and by confiscated their lands
- Also forced them to live in Moscow so he could keep an eye on them
- Similar to how Louis XIV made the nobles live in the Palace of Versailles
Oprichnina
- Was a political police force deeply loyal to Ivan the Terrible
- Were tasked with enforcing Ivan’s rule and keeping the boyars in check
- Consisted of lower level bureaucrats and merchants in order to ensure they would be loyal to Ivan and not the boyars
- Were tasked to imprison, execute, or exile anyone who was accused of defying or being against Ivan the Terrible
- Also allowed to confiscate land of boyars
- Marks a dark and violent period in Russian history where fear of the oprichnina was rampant
- This is why “Ivan the Terrible” was “terrible”
Peter the Great
Context after Ivan the Terrible
- Following Ivan the Terrible’s death, Russia was in a state of turmoil
- Romanov Dynasty takes control in 1613
- By this point there are three main groups in Russia with conflicting interests:
- Church which wanted to preserve conservative ideals and its power
- Boyars who wanted to regain their land and status
- Tsar and the royal family which wanted to further centralize and consolidate their power
Accomplishments of Peter the Great
- Peter the Great rules from 1682 to 1725
- Is largely credited with modernizing Russia and transforming it into a European power
- Reformed Russia socially to be more Western European like
- Adopted ideas that were more modern, scientific, and based on Enlightenment ideals
- For example he required nobles to dress in a Western European style
- Also established the first Russian navy
- Reformed economy of Russia
- Was more open to trade and commerce
- Established the first Russian trade company
- Established new industries, such as shipbuilding and mining
- Reformed military and government
- Split Russia into provinces and officials to govern these provinces, which got rid of the old system which festered corruption
- Also created a senate to advice government officials when Peter was away
Centralizing Control in the Ottoman Empire
Devshirme system
- Beginning in the late 1300s and expanding in the 1400s and 1500s, this system provided a very important slave force to the Ottoman Empire
- Required Christian population of the Balkans to send young boys to become slaves of the sultan
- The boys would become educated, learn Turkish, convert to Islam, indoctrinated to be fiercely loyal to the sultan, and then they either entered Ottoman civilian administration or the military
- The Janissaries were an elite force in the military that consisted of these groomed boys and were a highly respected and powerful military force in the empire
Centralizing Power in Japan
Context
- From 1100 to 1400 Japan was a feudal society
- Was ruled by a military leader called a shogun while the emperor had little to no power
- Daimyo were the feudal lords that controlled areas of land
- Initially the shogun held power over the daimyo however over time the daimyo became more and more powerful and were able to assert their own authority, leaving Japan without a strong central government and instead fragmented
- However the daimyo kept fighting amongst themselves for land, and such conflicts between left Japan in disarray
- Samurai, which were loyal to a daimyo, were paid in gold, giving them a lot of economic power in Japan
The Unification of Japan
- A series of three powerful daimyo gradually unified Japan
- A big factor that allowed them to do so were gunpowder weapons
- Odo Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were daimyo who were worked to expand their rule to all of Japan
- Armed with muskets purchased from Portuguese traders, Nobunaga got 1/3 of Japan, while Hideyoshi was able to conquer nearly all of Japan by end of 1500s
- Paved way for the Tokugawa Shogunate
Tokugawa Shogunate
- Tokugawa Ieyasu declared shogun in 1603
- It was he who significantly reformed Japan’s feudal society by centralizing his rule
- To keep the daimyo under his rule, he established the sankin-kotai system
- The Tokugawa Shogunate ruled till the mid-1800s
Sankin-kotai system
- Policy where daimyo were required to have residencies in both the capital and their home territory
- If the daimyo was in the home territory, their family was required to live in the capital, essentially holding them hostage, and vice versa
- Purpose of this was to keep the daimyo loyal to the shogun and prevent them from getting too powerful
- Reduced daimyo to landlords rather than independent leaders
Consolidating Mughal Power in South Asia
- Akbar created a strong, centralized government and solidified Mughal rule throughout the lands he controlled
Zamindars
- Zamindars were government officials who were in charge of specific duties, such as taxation, construction, and the water supply
- At first they were paid in salaries but later on they were paid through land grants and were allowed to keep a small portion of the taxes they collected
- The system of zamindars worked under Akbar but for the rulers after him, the zamindars started to become more and more politically powerful
- With the money they raised they even started building personal armies
- Also played a part in the decline of the Mughal Empire as while the central government’s power weakened, their power increased
- Some even formed alliances with the Marathas and British
Legitimizing Power through Religion and Art
- European governments:
- Claimed their rule was legitimate because of the divine right of kings
- Also built magnificent structures, like the Palace of Versailles, to show their power and glory
- Governments in other parts of the world also did similar stuff
Peter and St. Petersburg
- Peter the Great moved the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg so he could keep an eye on the boyars
- Boyars were required to work for the government
- St. Petersburg was built in the way Peter wanted it to be built
- The famous Winter Palace was built in a European style, rather than a Byzantile style, showing Peter’s appreciation for Europe
- Streets were orderly unlike the irregular streets of Moscow
Askia the Great of Songhai
- Askia the Great came to power in 1493
- Under him, the Songhai Kingdom became the largest kingdom in West Africa
- Like Mansan Musa of Mali, he promoted Islam throughout his kingdom and went on a pilgrimage to Mecca
- Promoted Islam as a way to unify his people and legitimize his rule
- Also built an efficient bureaucracy
Shah Jahan
- Mughal shah who ruled from 1628 and 1658 and built the Taj Mahal
- Aside from the Taj Mahal, Mughal rulers combined Islamic arts (like calligraphy, ceramics, illumination of manuscripts), with local arts
- Result were grand architectural structures with decorative geometric designs
- Signified the power these Mughal rulers exerted
Ottoman Architectural and Artistic Achievements
- Although coffeehouses were banned in the Ottoman Empire due to Islamic law, they nevertheless continued to thrive in the empire
- Ottomans LOVED coffee and even though the Ottomans tried to crack down on it, it was so popular that efforts failed
- Coffee came from the Americas through the Columbian Exchange
- Istanbul also remained a center of arts and learning
- People discussed the works of Aristotle and other Greek thinkers
- Also built magnificent structures as a way to show the grandeur of the empire and the rulers
French Architecture
- The grand Palace of Versailles built by Louis XIV allowed him to consolidate and legitimatize his rule
- Forced nobles to live here to prevent them from rebelling, but he kept them entertained
- The palace itself also signified his power
- It could house an estimated 10,000 people!
Financing Empires
- Raising money was essential in order for an empire to continue expanding and consolidate its power
Taxation in Russia
- Peter the Great established new industries such as shipbuilding and mining
- Industrialization didn’t bring in much money however, so he started to require workers to work in the shipyards (an extension of serfdom)
- In 1718, Russia changed its tax system to no longer tax land but rather a tax on the number of individuals, further oppressing peasants
Ottoman and Mughal Taxation
- Ottomans levied taxes on peasants and made tax farmers collect them
- Tax farmers were officials of the central government made to collect taxes from distant lands
- However many became wealthy and corrupt by pocketing some of the taxes
- Similar thing in Mughal Empire but except they were called zamindars
- These taxes burdened agricultural villages while the tax farmers and zamindars got rich
- Contributed to the economic decline of both empires
Tax Collection in the Ming Dynasty
- Taxes were collected in the form of grains
- Government also stored a surplus of grains for use in case of famine or other emergencies, which would be given to people who need it
- Later the government also started collecting taxes in silvers
- By 1580 the Ming dynasty was bankrupted due to lavish spending, wars, and the cost of suppressing rebellions
Tributes
- China collected tributes from tributary states such as Korea, Vietnam, and Japan
- The Aztecs made the people they conquered pay tribute (although ordinary citizens also paid taxes)
- Local officials in charge of collecting taxes and tributes from people, then they gave it to an Aztec official
- Songhai Empire also had tributary states and said that if they paid tribute and obeyed Songhai policy, the local leaders could continue to rule their lands
Â