Notes 

Unit 3.2-3.4

 

In this section, we examine empirical administration. During the Classical period, rulers prioritized shifting authority from feudal lords to a centralized monarchy. 

 

England: In England, the population was divided between the Gentry and the Parliament. The Gentry was the wealthy, land-owning social class who was respected under the nobility but more than the working class. The Parliament, on the other hand, was the national institution developed to create laws and handle the nation’s economics.

• Justices of Peace were selected, who were officials selected by the Gentry to enforce laws and maintain peace. Under the English Tudors, they became a powerful group that would go on and undermine the monarchy’s influence. 

• The English Bill of Rights was a precedent around the globe as a document that guaranteed individual rights and mandated the Parliament’s consent for taxation and raising an army. This limited the absolute power of the monarchy.  

 

France: On the other hand, France had an absolute monarchy. French Kings claimed their “divine right of kings”, which was when rulers declared that political rulers were given the right to rule by God, establishing religious authority as well. 

• While executing autocratic rule, Kings like Louis XIII used a system of intendants. These were royal officials or bureaucratic elites who were sent to deliver orders throughout the provinces. Often, they were referred to as tax farmers because they would be overlooking revenue collection. 

• Later, rulers like King Louis XIV or the “Sun King” would force nobles to live near his Palace of Versailles to ensure he had an eye on their daily activities and prevent them from rebelling. 

 

In the East rulers took on an alternative approach. They primarily focused on asserting control over the nobility and developing bureaucracies to organize the government. 

• Russia: Ivan IV (also referred to as Ivan the Terrible) focused on controlling the boyars, who were the Russian noble landowning class. He seized their land and forced them to migrate to Moscow. 

• To further control the boyars, he developed the oprichnina. Oprichnina was a force formed of lower-level merchants and bureaucrats who were immensely loyal to Ivan. They were used to control the boyars. 

• Later, Peter the Great would reorganize the government into distinct sectors, further accomplishing a bureaucracy. He would also instill a tax on heads which would further oppress peasants. 

• He would also move the capital of the Russian Empire away from Moscow to St. Petersburg to keep an eye on the boyars. He also constructed grand architectural pieces throughout the city to validate his admiration for European architecture.

 

In Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate rose to power and split Japan into nearly 250 territories (who were termed hans). In hopes to control the aristocrat daimyo, the shogun required these individuals to have residences in their home territory and the empire of Edo. This was a monitoring protocol.