People of 16th to 18th Century Europe

  • Period: May 21, 1527 to

    King Phillip the second

    King Philip the second died in 1598 after becoming the king of spain and a big supporter of Catholicism in the second half of the 15th century.
  • Period: Aug 25, 1530 to

    Ivan the fourth (Ivan the Terrible)

    Ivan captured the territories of east of Russia and crushed all the power of the Russian nobility. His nickname, Ivan the Terrible, came about because of his ruthless deeds.
  • Period: Sep 7, 1533 to

    Queen Elizabeth

    Queen Elizabeth Tudor became queen of Enland after "Bloody Mary", and continued the Tudor Dynasty in 1558. She ruled the Church of England in a way that kept people satisfied, but that focused more on Prodestantism. After winning a battle against the Spanish Armada, England and France had much of the power in Europe.
  • Period: Feb 8, 1541 to

    El Greco "the greek"

    El Greco studied the works of the Renaissance in Venice and wrote many things on painting. In El Greco's paintings the figures are often elongated or contorted in fashion used along with eerie colors. It fit the religious upheavals of the time.
  • Period: Dec 13, 1553 to

    Henry of Navarre (Henry IV)

    Henry of Navarre came into his position as king of France as Henry IV. He was a Huguenot political leader, but he realized he would never be taken seriously, so he converted to Catholocism. During the time, many religious battles were going on. He ended them by issuing the Edict of Nantes, which said that Catholicism was the official religion of France, and that Huguenots got the right to worship publically and also have political priveledges.
  • Period: Jun 19, 1566 to

    James the first

    King James the first believed he was given power by God, called the divine right. His parliment disagreed and eventually they overthrew much of the power of the royalty.
  • Period: to

    Thomas Hobbes

    In 1651, he wrote a book called the Leviathan, which he wrote to try to deal with the problem of disorder. He believed that humans were guided not by reason and moral ideas but by difficult struggle for self-preservation. He believed that people should form a single state ruled by an absolute ruler with unlimited power in order to supress rebellion and preserve order.
  • Period: to

    Artemisia Gentileschi

    Artemisia Gentileschi was a female painter who was elected into the Florentine Academy of Design at age 23.
  • Period: to

    Oliver Cromwell

    After England fell into a Civil War, Oliver Cromwell, a military genius, won for Parliament. He then set up "Rump Parliament" by kicking off anyone who didn't believe in his ideas. He also executed Charles I. Parliament then set up a commonwealth, a type of republic, after destroying the House of Lords and a monarchy. Eventually, Cromwell couldn't work with Parliament, and set up a military dictatorship until he died.
  • Period: to

    Charles II

    Charles II was son of Charles I, and was openminded about Catholicism. He became the king of England. After taking back laws against Catholics and Puritans, Parliament tried to force him to back down. Parliament was upset, and passed a Test Act that said only Angelicans could rule in office. On his death bed, he converted to Catholicism.
  • Period: to

    John Locke

    In 1690, Locke published his book, Two Treatises of Government, which argued against the absolute power of one leader. He believed that before society can be organized, people must live in a state of equality and freedom, and not in a state of war. He also believed that citizens all should have natural rights. He belived that government should protect these rights. Although he wasn't a supporter of democracy, he came up with some ideas that we use in our government today.
  • Period: to

    Louis XIV

    He came into the throne of France at age 23, and he said he would become the sole ruler of France, but at first he wasn't taken seriously. He moved high nobles from the Royal council to his court, where they had no say in politics. He wasted his money on standing armies, his palace, and his court. On his death bed, he told the next ruler in line that he felt remorse, and told him not to rule like him.
  • Period: to

    William of Orange

    A group of British nobles invited William to invade England in the late 17th Century. However, he was married to Mary, who was the daughter of the king at the time, James II. They ended up planning to invade, and James sent an army to meet them. However, he abanoned his daughter and her husband, and his army and retreated to London. William took over the throne as William III, and helped set up a Bill of Rights, which limited when Parliament could make laws and levy taxes.
  • Period: to

    Peter the Great

    Peter the great was an absolute ruler. He claimed the divine right to rule and he was determined to "westernize" Russia.
  • Period: to

    Frederick William

    Frederick William built a large army for Prussia after noticing that Prussia had no nautral defenses.