21st October 2014 (Tuesday)

Hi everybody! I am Cristina. I'm sorry, I couldn't write the journal yesterday, so I am doing it now, and I apologize for that.

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Today in social sciences class Paqui has talked a little bit about the Renaissance Art projects: people who haven't finished it yet must give it to Paqui next day. Later, we have corrected what we had to summarize about the second part of the point 3 of the unit: Politics in the 17th century:

We can distinguish three main events in politics of the 17th century:

-The Thirty Years' War: the protestants and the French wanted to defy Halisburg's dynasty hegemony. It was a religious conflict, but also a fight for hegemony in Europe. the Protestant kingdoms of the north of Europe and France fought against the Catholic kingdoms of the south of Europe. The Hispanic Monarchy army conquered the city of Breda (1634), but they were defeated (1643). This meant the end of the Hispanic hegemony in Europe.

This war finished with the signature of the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648:

· All the kingdomss accepted the Peace of Augsburg principles: religious

freedom (which supposed the end of religious wars)

                        · The Hispanic Monarchy lost its hegemony in Europe

                        · Consolidation of State-nations and Absolute Monarchy.

· Huge demographic losses in the Holy Roman Empire (some states lost half of their population).           

At the end of the Thirty Years’ War consequences, we’ve talked about races, and I have remembered something that Paqui said to us last week when we were reading about the Indies: “Have you ever seen “black blood?” I think it’s an interesting reflection. What do you think?

-Absolute Monarchy: Kings consolidated their authority, especially over the priviledged groups. The kings were helped by an important bureaucracy to rule. The Parliaments limited kings’ power.

The main example of absolute monarchy is Luis XIV, the Sun King, who moved the court to Versailles and imposed his authority over his subjects.

-English Revolutions: there were two different revolutions in England:

            · 1648. A civil war started because Charles I Steward tried to rule as an absolute monarch, without the control of the Parliament. One year later Charles I was decapitated and the Republic was proclaimed. Monarchy was reestablished in 1660 when Oliver Cromwell, the Protector Lord, died. The deputies limited the king’s powers with the Habeas Corpus.

            · 1689. After the definite expel of the Steward dinasty from the throne, William of Orange, the new King, swore the Bill of the Rights, which limited the king’s power and put some of his decisions under the control of the Parliament. England was the first country to have a limited monarchy, with a separation of the powers of the King (executive) and of the Parliament (legislative).

Charles I Steward 

William I of Orange

                                                                    














We have also learned some new concepts, like “to be of age” (ser mayor de edad), “conspiracy” (conspiración) and “hamlet” (aldea).