The Sun King - Louis XIV

What was France like in the 17th Century?

• Henry IV passes the Edict of Nantes which gave Huguenots right to practice their religion in fortified towns

• Louis XIV inherited a agriculturally fertile France that emerged from the 30 Years War to dominate Europe and overseas

• Bourbon (French ruling royal family) longevity provided some stability but government was still divided/feudal

• Famines and peasant poverty prompted Louis XIV to bar discussion on the poor (or inefficient) tax system

• Cardinal Richelieu (advisor to Louis XIV) laid the foundation for French absolutism by crushing nobles and Huguenots (justified attacking Huguenots because of the walls around their towns)

When did Cardinal Mazarin lead and what did he do?

He led during Louis XIV's minority from 1643 to 1661 and continued centralization.

What happened in response to Cardinal Mazarin continuing centralization?

The Parléments (courts) and nobles initiated the Fronde revolt (1648-1653) which failed after a short period of anarchic rule by nobles.

What severely traumatized young Louis XIV during the Fronde?

He was chased out of the Louvre (royal palace in Paris) by nobles.

What was the end result of the Fronde?

France sought security and Louis XIV distrusted feudal nobles.

Did Louis XIV take direct control of France after Mazarin's death in 1661?

Yes, Louis XIV took direct control after Mazarin's death and developed a theatrical and unchecked "Sun King" divine absolutism → used drama to gain power

What was one way Louis XIV's absolute power was demonstrated?

It was demonstrated through his "claiming" of the Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte when he imprisoned all the people involved in building it without trial (architect, gardener) to build him Versailles.

Did the Parléments and Estates General have any say in Louis XIV's decisions?

No, they were ignored as Bishop Bousset's clergy emphasized the Roi Soliel's (Sun King's) near superhuman power.

What did Louis XIV's "personal rule" conceal?

It concealed a centralized network of royal ministers and intendents who coordinated royal policies

How was Louis XIV's administration run?

Through King Councils at the Louvre, Versailles, etc.

How did Louis XIV work to reduce original nobles' power?

He granted new bourgeois officials titles and tax exemptions, replacing many (now excluded) hereditary nobles.

While reducing noble power in many ways, what was one thing Louis XIV did not do?

He did not threaten nobles' local social standing.

What was Versailles?

• seat of government (outside of Paris)
• critics argued it isolated royals (in a city of the rich)
• 10,000 courtiers resided (and watched) here
• Louis XIV's complicated routines (lever, dîner and coucher) here were used to control nobles
• nobles lost fortunes trying to maintain the lifestyle here (new clothes, wigs, shoes, etc.)
• used as a "shop window" by Colbert
• set the standard for royal opulence

How did Louis XIV use marriage and seduction for political gain?

He married into the Spanish infanta in his first marriage until he married his second wife, Madame de Maintenon. Madame de Maintenon was deeply pious and influenced Louis XIV and his royal policies.

By the end of Louis XIV's rule, who did France replace as the continental powerhouse?

Spain

What were some reasons for the decline of Spain?

• internal rebellion (1610 Catalonia and Portugal revolts)
• inflation because of American silver (consequently devaluing the coin)
• wars (against England, France, Dutch) that they could not afford
• refusing to use new agricultural and manufacturing methods because they came from England and Holland
• trade in the colonies declined by 60% because of competition with local industries, English and Dutch traders
• epidemic disease decimated population of slaves working in Spanish American mines and mines were running dry
• 1588: lost an entire fleet of Spanish Armada to English and Protestant Wind
• 1688: Crown reluctantly recognized Portugal's independence
• Peace of Westphalia acknowledging the independence of Netherlands
• military defeats during 30 Years War and 17th century
• 1643: French defeated Spanish Army in Rocoi (now Belgium)
• treaty in 1659 gave France extensive territories
• aristocrats tried to maintain lavish lifestyle → increased rent of estates → high rent and taxes drove peasants away → agricultural productivity declined
• wages and production stopped, inflation forced textile manufacturers out of business by increasing cost of production to point where couldn't compete with colonial and international markets

Most importantly, what did Louis XIV launch?

A dynamic phase of "age of French supremacy"—tying Europe culture, diplomacy and language to France and Versailles.

Louis XIV's intellectual, cultural, and religious policies/programs and their results

• was religiously tolerant, but hated division and insisted on religious unity being essential to royal dignity → repressed Protestants, revoked the Edict of Nantes
• revoked Edict of Nantes → 200,000 Huguenots fled France, many of whom were skilled artisans
• never called the Estates General → nobility and people had no voice
• chose ministers from modest origin → restrict noble power
• Versailles → control and keep an eye on nobles
• royals contributing to art and science → never seen before, challenged the Church

Louis XIV's economic policies/programs and their result

• Commercial Code: support old industries, create new industries, new production regulation, guilds to boost quality, more foreign craftsmen in France → EXPORT MORE
• Five Great Farms: no tariffs on French goods, tariffs on foreign goods → buy FRENCH products, not foreign
• sent 4000 colonists to Quebec → make Canada part of French Empire
• Marquette and Joliet went down the Mississippi River → claimed land on both sides of river for France and renamed it "Louisiana"
• build up navy → establish colonies

Louis XIV's political and military policies/programs

• professional army for France
• created a HUGE (400,000) trained army and navy with ranks and officers
• rational system of training and promotion
• 1660s-70s: got commercial centers in Spanish Netherlands, Flanders, Franche-Comté
• 1681: got Strasbourg
• 1684: got Lorraine
• wars of 1680s and 90s strained resources

French Classicism

• artistic movement emphasizing order, reason, and clarity, influenced by ancient Greek and Roman art, evident in literature, architecture, and painting
• key painter: Nicholas Poussain
• very monarch centered

The War of Devolution

• First Dutch War, 1667-1668
• France VS. Triple Alliance
• Cause: Louis XIV used his wife to make a claim to Belgium. Laws of Devolution granted heirs of a 1st marriage to inherit property over children of a 2nd marriage
• Outcome: Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668), France gained 12 towns in Spanish Netherlands but gave up Burgundy

Invasion of the Dutch Rhineland

• Second Dutch War, 1672-1678
• France VS. Triple Alliance
• Cause: Revenge, Louis XIV wanted to annex more northern land (and oppose the Dutch)
• Outcome: Treaty of Nijmwegen (1678-79), Spain and France exchanged land, but Dutch Republic held tight and kept it all

➀ Invasion of Luxembourg, Alsace-Lorraine and the Spanish Netherlands (1681-1697) and the ➁ War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697)

• ➀ France VS. England (until 1688) then ➁ England, Dutch Republic, Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Sweden, Bavaria, Saxony, and Palitinate
• Cause ➀: France occupied Luxembourg and other lands as they signed a truce with the Holy Roman Empire
• Cause ➁: William formed a League to restore the Balance of Power
• Outcome: Treaty of Ryswick (1697), French control over Alsace and Strasbourg was acknowledged as permanent, Dutch created a buffer zone but other sides only restored their captured territories

The War of Spanish Succession

• in North America, known as Queen Anne's War (1702-1713)
• France and Spain VS. Grand Alliance (Holy Roman Empire, England, Stad Holder of Netherlands, Prussia)
• Cause: Louis XIV violated a previous agreement with the Holy Roman Empire to split Spain when childless Charles II died by placing his grandson, Philip, on Spanish throne (had a legitimate claim to throne because 1st wife, Philip's grandmother, was Spanish)
• Outcome: Treaty of Utrecht (1713), ended war, grandson Philip got to keep throne BUT France and Spain could never unite, France surrendered Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Hudson Bay to England; ended Louis XIV's grab and split of Spain maneuver, Spain rule by Bourbon but had no claim to French throne, Habsburgs got Spanish Netherlands and land in Germany, Great Britain was strong power, gained land, and ASIENTO (slave trade in Americas)