The France of Louis
XIV, 1643 to 1715:
The Triumph of
Absolutism
Section 4.21
Rise of Western Absolutism
Henry
IV
1589
Stuart
Reign
Begins
1598
1604
1629
Sun
King’s
Reign
Begins
1643
1649
Peace of
Alais
Edict of
Nantes
Fronde
Treaty of
Utrecht
1715
Absolutism
•
•
Defined: Monarchy posses exclusive sovereign power over the State
–
Sovereignty- a monopoly over the instruments of power
•
Executive, Judicial, legislative
–
L’etat, c’est 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 monarch’s 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
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
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)
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
– wouldn’t enforce royal edicts they deemed
unconstitutional
– Parlement de Paris
Henry IV
• Henry of Navarre (Bourbon)
• Laid foundation fro French
absolutism
• Duke of Sully
– Henry’s 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
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 16001700s
Continued Henry IV’s 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”
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.
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
Salon Life
Salon Life
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
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
•
•
•
•
•
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.”
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
Absolutism
•
•
L’etat, c’est 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
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
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 king’s
nightshirt
– Induced great nobles to live
a Versailles
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 didn’t want to give
up control to nobles (so
he didn’t 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
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)
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
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
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
Religion: The Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes, 1685
Accomplishments of Louis XIV
•
•
Reforms are partial but legitimate
Strain of war causes discontent
with populace