Transcript Giesler – The Age of Absolutism Unit Plan

The Age of Absolutism
The Age of Absolutism
Small Group Activity
Topic: European Geography
 Working cooperatively, students will complete two maps
 Map 1 – Europe
 Map2 – Europe during the Age of Absolutism
The Age of Absolutism
Map 1
The Age of Absolutism
Map 2
The Age of Absolutism
CAUSES OF
ABSOLUTE MONARCHY
The Age of Absolutism
Spain and the Hapsburg Empire
 1500s, Spain emerged as the first modern power
TTYN:
Why was Spain the first European nation to emerge?
Hint – Think about your American History
 The Age of Discovery
The Age of Absolutism
Why Spain? A Look Back at the Crusades…
Christians Fight the Moors
 The Crusades in Jerusalem was not the only place where
Christians fought against Muslims.
 In Spain and Portugal, armed Christian warriors fought to drive
the Muslim Moors out of their lands.
 The Moors population consisted of people from North Africa and
Arab descent who settled in the lands of Spain for more than 800
years.
The Age of Absolutism
Muslim Control of Spain Weakens
 By 1002 the once powerful Muslim government of Spain
weakened due to battles for power between political and religious
leaders.
 Caught up in fighting among themselves, Muslim leaders were
too busy to guard against the Christian kingdoms of northern
Spain..too busy fighting among themselves.
The Age of Absolutism
The Spanish Reconquista
(reconquest) was an effort to
retake Spain from the Muslim
Moors.
 At the time, Spain was
divided into several small
kingdoms:
Castile
Aragon
Granada
Portugal
The Age of Absolutism
Reconquest Complete
 Christian armies won victory after victory. By the 1250s, the
Moors were nearly pushed completely out of Spain and Europe.
 In Spain the celebration of 1492 is not for Columbus, but a
celebration of the fall of Granada – the last hold that Muslims had
on Spain.
The Age of Absolutism
Isabella and Ferdinand
 In 1469 Ferdinand, the prince of Aragon, married Isabella, a
Castilian princess.
 Ten years later in 1479, they became the king and queen of
their countries.
 Together they ruled all of Spain as King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella.
 They brought an end to the Reconquista when the last of the
Muslims were forced from Granada.
The Age of Absolutism
Isabella and Ferdinand
The Age of Absolutism
Isabella and Ferdinand
The Age of Absolutism
A Christian State
 Ferdinand and Isabella only wanted Catholic Christians in their
kingdom.
TTYN: How might the Monarch within Spain go about creating a
Christian State and one with only Catholics?
 To ensure that Christianity alone was practiced, they created
the Spanish Inquisition – an organization of priests that looked for
and punished anyone in Spain suspected of practicing non-
Christian religions.
The Age of Absolutism
The Spanish Inquisition
 Ferdinand and Isabella chose Catholicism to unite Spain and in
1478 asked permission of the pope to begin the Spanish Inquisition
to purify the people of Spain.
 They began by driving out Jews, Protestants and other nonbelievers.
Inquisition - a judicial or official inquiry or examination usually before a jury;
also : the finding of the jury