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Louis XIV’s France –Model of an Absolute Monarchy

Louis XIV’s France –Model of an Absolute Monarchy. CH. 15: State Building and the Search for order in the Seventeenth Century. French Monarchs of 17 th Century.

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Louis XIV’s France –Model of an Absolute Monarchy

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  1. Louis XIV’s France –Model of an Absolute Monarchy CH. 15: State Building and the Search for order in the Seventeenth Century

  2. French Monarchs of 17th Century • Louis the XIII and Louis XIV were only boys when they came to the throne- royal ministers played an important role in governing France and maintaining authority Louis XIV – became king at age 6 in 1643 (d. 1715) Louis XIII – became king at age 8 in 1610 (d. 1643)

  3. Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu • Cardinal Richelieu (Prime Minister to Louis XIII) strengthened the monarchy’s authority • reduced the power of Huguenots- became subjects- eliminated private armies and fortified cities • reduced the power of rebellious nobles- any threat was stamped out • intendants- royal officiers- sent to do represent the monarch in provinces- gov’t workers became final authority over provincial governors

  4. Louis XIV and Cardinal Mazarin • Cardinal Mazarin (Prime Minister to Louis XIV) • Anne of Austria (Louis’s mother) turned authority over to Mazarin (foreigner, originally from Italy) • Nobles reacted to his control and further centralization of France • Fronde – • Civil Wars led by nobility against the king • Stability lays in the crown • Mazarin dies in 1661 and Louis XIV declares himself sole ruler of France

  5. Louis XIV – 1643-1715 • 1661 at age 23 Louis declares himself sole ruler of the “State” • L’état, c’est moi “The state is myself” = sovereign ruler • Grand Monarque / Sun King / builder of Versailles • Read “Voice” pg. 448 and discuss

  6. Court Life of Louis XIV • Nobility cherish “closeness to the king” • Honor • Military appointments • Monetary Pensions • Read excerpt from Saint-Simon describing Louis XIV Louis XIV dancing the role of Apollo

  7. The Salon of GermainBoffand

  8. The Royal Court at Versailles

  9. Hall of Mirrors • Royal Gardens

  10. Hunting with Louis XIV The Hunt

  11. Forty Years of Warfare • Dutch War, 1672-1679 • Louis XIV (+ Charles II, England) vs. William III of Orange • Like England – Louis wants to break Dutch monopoly on trade • Peace of Nimwegen, 1679 – Louis gains some land for France BUT William III now set on destroying him • Rise of Mercantilism - Jean Baptiste Colbert • Five Great Farms (tariff union) = reduce internal tariffs • Commercial Code: • improved communications; • specified type and quality of goods backed by gov’t. assurances; • gave subsidies, tax exemptions; • founded monopolies & colonies; • built up navy; • established the French East India Company

  12. Forty Years of Warfare • War of the League of Augsburg, 1689-1697 • Louis XIV vs. Austria (Dutch) • Louis has the largest army and wins Alsace BUT • France is in financial ruin • Little Ice Age = famine and disease = 1 million people perish

  13. Forty Years of Warfare • War of Spanish Succession, 1701-1714 • Spain in state of decline • Weak and feeble-minded king – Charles II • Treasury was empty • Military weak • Government inefficient- • Years of civil wars • Charles II has no heir – he could choose Louis XIV’s grandson Philip or stay within the Habsburg family and choose HREmperor Leopold I • He chooses Philip and the rest of Europe rises up against the idea of Bourbons ruling in both France AND Spain!!

  14. Forty Years of Warfare • Results of War of Spanish Succession • Ended with Treaty of Utrecht, 1714 • Austria gains Northern AND Southern Italy; Spanish Netherlands NOW AUSTRIAN Netherlands • Kingdom of Prussia formed • Philip is king of Spain BUT the same Bourbon MAY NOT RULE in BOTH France and Spain • France is bankrupt • Famine strikes again! • FRANCE enters state of DECLINE while ENGLAND begins to RISE

  15. A Unified French State = Collective Identity as French • Measures to secure unity under the king • Capitation – tax levied on ALL citizens • Indirect taxation increases • Intendants • Efficient tax collection; dissemination of royal decrees; gatherers of local information • Lessened power of parlements – • may NOT criticize the king BUT are SECURE in their positions as ENFORCERS of the LAW • Army seen as protector of the State and people • Religious Unity under Catholicism • Edict of Fontainebleau REVOKES the Edict of Nantes = Huguenots again driven from France • BUT rocky relationship with the Pope due to Four Gallican Articles

  16. Louis XV • Introduces professional police force to protect the people instead of army • Poor relief • “hospitals” for poor, orphaned and elderly • Isolation of undesirables or beginning of modern welfare system? • Religion • Parlement of Paris accuses pope of violating Four Gallican Articles and interfering in matters of the French state • Parlement regains some of its lost power • Duke of Orleans (Louis XV’s regent) allows parlements right to criticize royal policies

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