The Parliament, having assembled this morning, resolved to demand the release of Broussel, who had been arrested by the court. The queen regent refused, declaring that the royal authority must be maintained at all costs. Immediately, the people of Paris took up arms, chains were stretched across the streets, and barricades were erected near the Palais-Royal. The citizens, led by members of the nobility who oppose the regency, refuse to submit to the demands of Cardinal Mazarin. They demand the restoration of their ancient privileges and an end to the extraordinary taxes levied to fund foreign wars. If the court does not yield, we face a total breakdown of order in the kingdom.
— Adapted from the memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, a French churchman and noble active in the Fronde rebellions, describing events in Paris, 1648
The political instability described in the passage was most directly a reaction to which of the following developments in Europe between 1450 and 1750?
- AThe shift toward free-market capitalism and the dismantling of mercantilist economic policies by the monarchy.
- BThe implementation of the devshirme system to replace hereditary noble advisors with enslaved bureaucrats.
- The consolidation of absolute royal power and state centralization at the expense of traditional elites.Cevap
- DThe return to feudal decentralized governance to protect borders from external threats.