The France of Louis XIV, 1643 to 1715: The Triumph of Absolutism

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• The France of Louis XIV, 1643 to 1715 The
  Triumph of Absolutism 
• Section 4.21

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Rise of Western Absolutism
Sun Kings Reign Begins
Henry IV
Treaty of Utrecht
Stuart Reign Begins
1589 1598 1604 1629 1643 1649 1715
Peace of Alais
Fronde
Edict of Nantes
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Absolutism

• Defined Monarchy posses exclusive sovereign
  power over the State
• Sovereignty- a monopoly over the instruments of
  power
• Executive, Judicial, legislative
• Letat, cest moi (the state is myself)- Louis
  XIV
• Characteristics
• Rule by Divine Right of Kings
• the king is the earthly representative of God
• Bureaucracies
• utilized to enforce monarchs will
• Made up of Nobles of the Robe
• Nobility effectively brought under control
• Eastern Europe nobility became more powerful
• Large Standing Army
• Uniformed, disciplined, professional under
  monarchs control
• Royal power was absolute but not arbitrary
• Not Totalitarianism
• Lacked ability to enforce total regulation of
  art, culture, etc.
• Similar to totalitarianism in emphasis on being
  submissive to the State, use of armies and war to
  distract population
• More a legal principle than a fact in Europe

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Theory of Absolutism

• Jean Bodin (1530-1596)
• Wrote Les Six livres de la République during
  French civil wars of 1500s
• Believed only absolutism could bring stability to
  country
• Said that monarch can not be subject to outside
  force (nobility)
• But said monarch is subject to reason
• Bishop Jacques Bossuet (1627-1704)
• Created principle of divine right of kings
• King placed on throne by god
• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
• Leviathan
• Pessimistic view of man in a state of nature
• Nasty, brutish, and short
• Everyone seeks power, gain
• Advocated an Enlightened Despotism
• Rejected divine right
• Purely secular reasons for absolutism

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French Civilization in the Seventeenth Century

• France
• 19 million people (1700)
• 3X England, 2X Spain
• 90 engage in agrarian economic life
• Good, fertile soil for agriculture
• Uneven distribution of wealth
• millions lived in poverty, large number were also
  wealthy
• more merchants in France than GB or Neth (but
  smaller proportion)

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The Development of Absolutism in France

• Estates General
• 1st Estate- Clergy
• 2nd Estate- Nobility
• 3rd Estate- Everyone Else
• not met since 1615
• Parlements (NOTE the spelling)
• 12 judicial bodies
• largely hereditary members, (noblesse de robe )
• unlike the English Parliament
• not legislative bodies,
• Courts of law with each being the supreme court
  for a certain area
• Had duty to record royal edicts laws
• wouldnt enforce royal edicts they deemed
  unconstitutional
• Parlement de Paris

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Henry IV

• Henry of Navarre (Bourbon)
• Laid foundation fro French absolutism
• Duke of Sully
• Henrys chief economic adviser
• Promised a chicken in every pot
• Paris is well worth a mass
• Edict of Nantes
• Lowered taxes
• Paulette
• Annual fee paid to retain hereditary rights
• Revived trade
• Granted trade monopolies
• Rebuild roads, canals

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Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642)

• Governments of Marie de Medici and her son Louis
  XIII (1610-1643) administered by Cardinal
  Richelieu
• Cardinal but really a politique who fortified
  absolutism and French cultural hegemony during
  the 1600-1700s
• Continued Henry IVs policies of centralization
• Presided over royal council
• Intendants
• Used nobles of robe to collect taxes, etc.
• Advances mercantilism
• Encouraged nobility to develop interests in
  commerce without loss of title or status
• Encouraged merchants with grants of titles of
  nobility
• Developed commercial companies

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Peace of Alais

• Prohibits private warfare and orders the
  destruction of fortified castles not used by the
  king
• Peace of Alais (1629)
• amends the Edict of Nantes after Protestant
  uprising is put down
• Huguenots can not share political power, can not
  keep private armies
• Huguenots can practice Protestantism
• Path toward absolutism solidified

Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle.
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French Civilization in the Seventeenth Century

• Salons
• develop by upper class women
• gathering of stimulating people of quality under
  the roof of an inspiring hostess or host
• partly to amuse one another and partly to refine
  their taste and increase their knowledge through
  conversation and readings
• Debate without restraint of an academy
• Contributed to the spread of French ideas

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Salon Life
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Salon Life
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The Fronde (1648-1653)

• A Rev led by the parlements and nobility
• Demanded the right to declare certain edicts
  unconstitutional
• Nobility called for Estates General
• Hoped to dominate the bourgeoisie and clergy

Cardinal Mazarin
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The Fronde (1648-1653)

• if nobles won France would have been like Poland,
  Russia
• Frondeurs offered no systemic plan for reform
  just a power grab
• After close call with the nobility the
  bourgeoisie stayed closer to the King and
  accepted absolutism

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Louis XIV takes the reins of power (1661)

• Marzarin died in 1661 (14th is 18 years old)
• ability to see and stick to policy, extremely
  methodical, worked hard
• loved himself, flattery
• Lavish and opulent displays
• every inch and at every minute a King.

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Development of the state

• A sovereign state possesses a monopoly of justice
  and use of force not private persons or private
  armies (feudal)
• He claimed a monopoly over law and army
• Private persons neither pass legal judgments or
  control private armies

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Absolutism

• Letat, cest moi (the state is myself)
• Divine Right of Kings-the king is the earthly
  representative of God\
• Theory developed by Bishop Bossuet
• the king is accountable to God and therefore will
  do what is right and conform to the higher
  authority of God
• Royal power was absolute but not arbitrary and
  must be reasonable and just like the will of God
  but free from dictation from parlements, estates
• More a legal principle than a fact in Europe
• Kings had to deal with advisers, bureaucrats,
  local customs, lawyers, ecclesiastics, nobles,
  grandees, hereditary officeholders, and
  miscellaneous dignitaries
• Slow passage of information required some element
  of local control

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Government and Administration

• Inherited bureaucracy (Richielieu)
• Intendants
• From Nobles of the Robe (not Sword)
• Administered 1 of 32 generalities
• Reported directly to king
• Never worked in home region
• Collected taxes, recruited soldiers, administered
  justice
• Army centralized
• All armed men only fought for him
• Put the artillery into the army
• Systematized the ranks and grades
• Defined the chain of command (Louis XIV at the
  top)
• Discipline and order become the rule of the day
• Housed troops in barracks
• Army could be used to suppress rebellion at home
• Size created new bureaucratic demands
• increased army from 100, 000 to 400, 000

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The Splendor of Versailles

• located about 10 miles from Paris
• monument to worldly splendor (Hall of Mirrors,
  gardens, chandeliers)
• Developed complex system of behaviors
• Lever, diner, coucher (rising, eating, going to
  bed)
• Six different entries of person at the lever
  (rising)
• Noblemen a specified moment held the right sleeve
  of the kings nightshirt
• Induced great nobles to live a Versailles

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Economic and Financial Policies Colbert

• Ability of raise adequate mulla is chronicle
  problem
• Taxation
• Tradition of not taxing the nobles so only the
  unprivileged classes (peasants) paid taxes
• Louis didnt want to give up control to nobles
  (so he didnt tax them)
• Wealthy middle class also bought their way out of
  taxes (bought a title)
• Tax Farmer
• Collected taxes, paid government and kept the
  extra!

Louis Le Nain (French, 1603-1648) Peasant
Interior with an Old Flute Player c. 1642
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Economic and Financial Policies Colbert

• Where does Louis get money?
• Raise taxes (not effective)
• Devalued currency (inflation)
• Sold titles (limited number of candidates)
• Sold government offices (corruption)
• Sold military commissions (dangerous)
• Annul town charters and sell liberties back to
  the cities (dangerous)

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Reforms by Colbert

• Mercantilist policies
• Expanded export of French goods and increased
  wealth from which government income could
  increase
• Especially in textiles
• Reduced internal tariffs
• Great Five Farms promoted free trade
• Commercial code (uniform laws of trade over local
  customs)
• Built Roads and canals
• Raised tariffs
• Imported NO foreign finished goods

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Reforms by Colbert

• Required uniform standards of manufacture
  (Quality Control)
• More foreigners would trust buying French goods
• Subsidized development of certain manufactures
• Silk, glassware, tapestries, woolens
• Founded colonies
• French East India Company
• Supplying large army drove much manufacturing
• Result is government works to restrict nobility
  at the same time it is protecting privileges of
  nobility

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Religion The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
1685

• Control over French Church
• Believed that religious unity necessary for
  strength of his rule
• Repressed Janenism (type of Calvinism in Catholic
  Church)
• Pressure to re-Catholicize Huguenots increased
• Dragooning (mounted infantrymen) were quartered
  in Huguenot homes
• In 1685 he revoked the Edict of Nantes
• Persecution of Huguenots drives them out of
  France
• Went to Holland, Germany and America
• Loss of Huguenots is social blow to France

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
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Religion The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
1685
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Accomplishments of Louis XIV

• Reforms are partial but legitimate
• Strain of war causes discontent with populace