Buzási Enikő szerk.: In Europe' Princely Courts, Ádám Mányoki, Actors and venues of a portraitist's career (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2003/1)

János Kalmár: POWER AND THE PRINCELY COURT IN EARLY 18th-CENTURY EUROPE

Adam Frans Van der Meulen: Procession of King Louis XIV and his wife Maria Theresa into Arras in 1667 Versailles, Musée national du Château It is customary to refer to this new period as the age of British hegemony,

20 superseding the century of French dominance under Louis XIV, which ended in 1715.

21 However, this is not an entirely apt characterisation, at least on land. From this point on, England's superiority at sea was indisputable among European countries, even when compared to the Dutch; but on land, England was not the only country to have a decisive role. England did not have the population or military to take on such a singular role in proportion to its state of development. Instead it protected and expanded its sphere of economic influence, striving to ensure its success in Europe's inland seas.

22 British interests wished to maintain the balance of power, since this promoted the development of its colonial and trade activities.

23 Voltaire later wrote, expressing his admiration for them, "these people are concerned not only for their own freedom, but for the freedom of others."

24 It was at this time that the abbé Saint-Pierre wrote down his idea of a Utopia in which peace was created and maintained for eternity.

25 Efforts to bring about a balance of power in Europe did indeed demonstrate that such an intention existed.

26 In fact the second article of the Peace of Utrecht signed by Great Britain and Spain gave expression to this desire to ensure lasting peace by creating a balance of power.

27 This "eternal peace," of course, remained an illusion, and the measures in the Utrecht treaty to create a balance of power did not prove lasting either. This was also because another war, which had broken out also at the beginning of the century (1700), was still raging in the north between Sweden, Denmark, Poland, and Russia.

28 Russia was to be the long term winner of the Great Nordic War thanks to the victory of the Russian czar, Peter the Great (1689-1725), at Poltava (Ukraine) in 1709. The conflict was concluded with the peace at Nystad, on the eastern shores of the Gulf of Bothnia in 1721. According to the treaty Russia received Livonia, Estonia, Ingermanland, and West Karelia. Possession of these lands ensured Russia's control of the borderlands of Sweden and Poland. With this, Russia now had a leading role not only in Eastern Europe but also in the Baltics, and thus had assured itself a place among the great powers of Europe.

29 (As a symbolic expression of his claim to this role, Peter the Great, immediately following the Peace of Nystad, formally adopted the title emperor and changed the country's name to the Russian Empire. He also signalled his desire to belong to Europe culturally in 1703