Louis XIV

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Louis XIV

• Power, Impression Management
• and Leadership Traits

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ABSOLUTE MONARCHY

• Absolutism Belief in government having total or
  unlimited power
• Country ruled by one person
• Monarchial form of government
• Absolute power over subjects lives
• No legal restriction on monarchs power
• Belief in Divine Right belief that a monarch
  gets his or her power from God

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Brief Biography

• Sun King
• Reigned 1643-1715
• Longest reign in European History
• Son of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria
• Succeeded to throne at age 4
• Nobles rebelled 1648-1653 Louis in much personal
  danger
• Married Maria Teresa, Infanta of Spain, but ha
• Declared of age in 1651, actively ruled from 1661
• d numerous official mistresses
• Moved court outside Paris, to Versailles, in 1682
• During his reign, much art, architecture,
  literature, music

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Politics and War
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Politics and War (continued)
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Louis XIV and Power

• Cardinal Mazarin ran government until Louis XIV
  was of age
• An autocratic ruler all decisions made or
  approved by Louis
• Type of power
• Legitimate (hereditary rule)
• Reward
• Coercive
• Information

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Officials

• Previous monarchs used family members and other
  nobles to govern
• Louis officials chosen from non-royal, non-noble
  backgrounds they had no power of their own and
  owed everything to Louis
• Louis did not hesitate to forcefully remove
  officials who displeased him
• Louis kept control of information firmly in his
  own hands

Reward
Coercive
Information
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The Move to Versailles

• Designed to control nobility and prevent future
  rebellions and civil war
• Keep the nobles them in one place where Louis
  could watch them
• Occupy them with etiquette, ceremonies and
  rituals
• Bankrupt nobles through fashion and gambling (to
  make them financially dependent on Louis)

Information
Reward
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• Louis X I V wants to centralize all power in
  himself.

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Impression Management

• Personal appearance
• Used the sun as his personal emblem
• Elaborate costumes
• High heels, tall wigs
• Portrayal in art artists and writers paid to
  praise Louis
• Surroundings and symbols
• Versailles itself
• Lavish public display and entertainments
• Behavior
• Constantly on view as a king
• Above conventional morality (official mistresses,
  legitimating children)

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Leadership Traits
In the 17th century, France was an absolute
monarchy...so, did traits matter?

• Drive
• Need for achievement
• Ambition
• Energy
• Tenacity
• Initiative

• Leadership motivation
• Honesty and integrity
• Self-confidence
• Cognitive ability

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Drive

• Need for achievement
• Concern for ma gloire (reputation and greatness)
• No satisfaction can equal that of seeing every
  day some progress in high and glorious
  undertakings, and the happiness of the people
  when it has been brought about by ones own plans
  and goals
• Ambition
• Numerous wars to extend French influence in
  Europe and North America
• Establishment of colonies and trade relations in
  North America, Caribbean, China, India, Africa

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Drive (continued)

• Energy
• I made it a law for myself to work twice a day
  for two or three hours each time with different
  persons
• Tenacity
• Attempt to annex Spanish throne over 30 years
• Initiative
• Legitimatization of royal bastards

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Leadership Motivation

• Louis XIV inherited the throne, but was motivated
  to rule
• He married Maria Teresa for political gain,
  deapite his deep love for Marie Mancini
• After death of Cardinal Mazarin (1661), announced
  that he would no longer delegate power to a
  First Minister

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Honesty and Integrity

• Personal life can be characterized as dissolute
• However, his mission was to glorify France, and
  Louis did not deviate from this mission

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Self-Confidence
I will explain it his policies all without
disguise even in the cases where my good
intentions have not succeeded as I believe that
only small minds, who are usually wrong, want
always to be right and that in those who have
sufficient merit to be most often successful,
there is, I think, some magnanimity in admitting
ones faults -- Louis XIV
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Cognitive Ability
His natural talents were below mediocrity, but he
had a mind capable of improvement, of receiving
polish, of assimilating what was best in the
minds of others without slavish imitation, and he
profited greatly throughout his life from having
associated with the ablest and wittiest persons,
of both sexes, and of various stations. -- Duc de
Saint Simon