Age of Absolutism

1. Age of Absolutism Part Two: Absolutism in Practice

2. Louis XIII (1610-43) • Was 8 ½ when he came to the throne in 1610 after the assassination of his father • His mother acted as a regent until he came of age at 13 but she was reluctant to let go. • Louis eventually took full reign at the age of 15 after the assassination of his mother’s advisor and her eventual exile

3. Louis XIII Continued… • Louis filled his court with loyal friends and got rid of anyone still loyal to his mother • Among those in his court were Cardinal Richelieu who probably had the most influence on the young king as Louis XIII becomes one of the first examples of an absolute monarch • Richelieu was a Roman Catholic bishop but he knew where the real power existed and promoted the monarchy

4. Policies • Richelieu made sure that the young king kept his society in line (behind him). • Religious freedom also became an issue as he retracted some of his father’s leniencies suppressing the rights of the Huguenots. • (Huguenots were members of the Protestant Church of France)

5. Policies Continued… • Richelieu established a spy network that reported back to the him and Louis to help prevent conspiracies. Any conspiracies to overthrow the king were met with severe punishment • It was Richelieu who put in motion the ideals for French absolutism as he centralized control under the crown • Part of this centralization gave Louis XIII total control over all aspects of French society

6. Policies Continued… • Royal officials called intendants were sent out to provinces or districts of France to promote the monarch and make sure that royal orders were being carried out. Prior to this local governors were in charge

7. Taxes doubled in Louis’ time and France was becoming Europe’s next superpower Richelieu dies in 1642 and Louis XIII a year later in 1643.

8. Louis XIV Louis XIV of France ranks as one of the most remarkable monarchs in history. He reigned for 72 years, 54 of them he personally controlled French government. The 17th century is labeled as the age of Louis XIV. Since then his rule has been hailed as the supreme example of a type of government - absolutism. He epitomized the ideal of kingship. During his reign France stabilized and became one of the strongest powers in Europe.

9. The Early Years • He was only five when he became king on the death of his father, Louis XIII. • The regency, confided to his mother, Anne of Austria, was marked by a period of rebellion known as the Fronde (1648-1653), led first by the nobility and later by the urban commoners. • The boy felt both humiliated by arrogant nobles and threatened by the people of Paris and would never forget it.

10. The King Governs Alone In 1660, following the death of Jules Mazarin Louis XIV at the age of 23 announced that he himself would govern. No one believed him. Yet he insisted on convening a council on a daily basis, from which he excluded grand nobles, surrounding himself instead with ministers who owed him their all.

11. The First 20 Years • The first twenty years of the king's personal reign were the most brilliant. • With his minister Colbert, he carried out the administrative and financial reorganization of the kingdom, as well as the development of trade and manufacturing known today as mercantilism

12. A Strong Military • Louis XIV was also responsible for the creation of a standing army that could be maintained in peacetime. • The army was watched over by Louis himself and was both permanent and professional in terms of the differing facets within it including a commissariat to feed the troops, an ambulance corps, and a regimented system of recruitment, training and discipline. • This was a revolutionary idea and because of it France dictated policy in western Europe for years

13. Consolidating Power • Along with the military Louis played a significant role in the centralization of the government • Louis presided over all levels of government from the financial aspects to the legal issues. He met with his advisors once a week. • He was not an absentee king.

14. One King, One Law, One Faith • In 1682 Louis stripped the papacy of its power in France as a test to see where the loyalty of the church lay • The church accepted Louis’ decision • Later Louis annulled the articles as a reward for the church’s loyalty (with caveat) no longer would the church have a say in the laws both politically and socially of France

15. One Law, One Faith • After 1665, Louis XIV was persuaded by his Roman Catholic advisers to embark on a policy of persecuting the Protestants. By a series of edicts that narrowly interpreted the Edict of Nantes, he reduced it to a scrap of paper. Finally, in 1685, he declared that the majority of Protestants had been converted to Catholicism and that the edict of 1598, having thus become superfluous, was revoked.

16. One King, One Law, One Faith • Thousands fled abroad to escape the system , and several provinces were virtually depopulated. • The revocation of the Edict of Nantes weakened the French economy by driving out a highly skilled and industrious segment of the nation, and its ruthless application increased the detestation in which England and the Protestant German states held the French king.

17. One King, One Law, One Faith • Its object to make France a Catholic state was fulfilled on paper only, for many secretly remained faithful to Protestantism, while the prestige of the Roman Catholic Church suffered as a result of Louis' intolerance.

18. Louis and the Arts • Louis encouraged an extraordinary blossoming of culture: theatre (Molière and Racine), music (Lully), architecture, painting, sculpture, and all the sciences (founding of the royal academies). • These accomplishments would be depicted on the ceiling of the Hall of Mirrors.

19. The Sun King • Louis XIV chose the sun as his emblem. The sun was associated with Apollo, god of peace and arts, and was also the heavenly body which gave life to all things, regulating everything as it rose and set. • Like Apollo, the warrior-king Louis XIV brought peace, was a patron of the arts, and dispensed his bounty. • Throughout Versailles, decoration combines images and attributes of Apollo with the king's portraits and emblems (the royal crown, the sceptre and hand of justice). • The Apollo Salon is the main room of the Grand Apartment because it was originally the monarch's state chamber. • The path of the sun is also traced in the layout of the gardens

20. The Palace of Versailles • What started as a hunting lodge under Louis XIII was transformed to one of the most extravagant Chateaus the world has ever seen • By moving the royal court and the seat of the French government, Louis XIV hoped to gain greater control of the government from the nobility to distance himself from the population of Paris. • All the power of France emanated from this centre: there were government offices here, as well as the homes of thousands of courtiers, their retinues, and all the attendant functionaries of court

21. The Palace of Versailles • Second only to God, and the head of an immensely powerful state, Louis XIV was an institution rather than a private individual. • His instability, comings and goings, were minutely regulated and rigidly encased in ceremony, attendance at which was an honour much sought after by courtiers. • Versailles was the headquarters of every arm of the state.

23. Front Yard

24. Back Yard

26. The Palace of Versailles • http://www.chateauversailles.fr/en/

27. The Legacy of Louis XIV • Louis XIV’s 73 year reign as king of France was unmatched in history • France became a centralized nation and an established imperial force overseas • For all the good Louis XIV did for France he was not in tune to the needs of the masses • The taxes that paid for his illustrious rule would echo into the 18th century and be the downfall of the French monarchy come the revolution