the age of absolutism

what is absolutism?

a political theory/system in which all of the power in the state is in one authority
- typically one ruler
- absolute king: does not need to submit to anyone, the ability to do what they want
- divine right of kings - “i get to say so because god said i could and who are you to question god”

the case of absolutism

the ultimate authority to run a state was in the hands of a king who ruled by divine right

characteristics of absolutism

the roots of absolutism

louis xiii and cardinal richelieu
- louis the thirteenth, fairly weak ruler
- also, young when he came into the throne - so he gets a regent, a powerful person to guide him - cardinal richelieu
- cardinal: works to increase power in the church, he decreased the noble’s power, created an elaborate bureaucracy, and also got france involved in the protestant side.
- richelieu was all for making france as powerful as possible
louis xiv and cardinal mazarin
- louis is only five when he becomes king, gets someone to help him: cardinal mazarin
- mazarin tried to be like richelieu, but he wasn’t as strong
- this time the nobles started to fight back
- the fronde

two important louises(?)! louis xiv and louis xvi

divine rule louis xiv

1643-1715
#1 absolutist!
sovereignty
- builds it around personal conceptions
- " l’'état c’est moi ”
- used propaganda to make himself seem aMaZiNg
- manipulated himself to be perfect
perception as reality
- le roi soleil
- “the sun king”
- he portrays himself as the sun king
- apollo
- baroque
- church originally used baroque to convey all of those emotions, louis used them for himself to evoke the same emotions
- palace of versailles - baroque architecture

supreme authority:

the nobles and bureaucracy

the role of versailles
- he had everyone in the court live in the palace, so he could spy on them, his servants acted as spies for him
- success of nobles was based on the king as well as the court
noble power curtailed
- nobility had to serve him
- didn’t move against them or abolish them - he didn’t need to he can control them
- creates new nobles and distributed power
- purpose of this was to reduce the power of the older, more influential nobles (nobles of the sword)
- also the bourgeoisie were incredibly wealthy but they couldn’t move up without a title so they bought a position
  - louis gets
  - money
  - people
  - can dilute the power of the nobles of the sword
  - new nobles called the nobles of the robe
creation of new positions of power

religion and the economy

religion: edict of fontainebleau
- revoking the edict of nantes
- because the protestants didn’t believe in absolute power and he doesn’t want anyone to challenge his power
- also helps reduce some noble’s power because 40-50% were huguenots
finances
- mercantilism and jean baptiste colbert

commercial revolution

60% of all of the money in france was used just for versailles

foreign affairs and justice

military command
- foreign affairs
- domestic use of troops
- louis created a standing army, so no more asking guards and soldiers from lords like the feudal system and being a soldier is the full time job. it’s an expensive endeavor that you can’t properly do without being in charge of the economy.
very invested in getting territory towards the north of the france

the tsardom of muscovy