Louis XIV has most certainly been one of the most influential figures in history. He has been the

inspiration for a Beatles song, “Sun King”, and even a fittingly egoistical band named Louis XIV. There is

even a successful French musical directed by Emmanuel Moiré called “Le Roi Soleil,” (translating to “The

Sun King”) which is about his life. His name at baptism (he was Catholic) was “Louis-Dieudonné”,

meaning “Louis G-d-given.” He was born on September 5 th 1638, and died on September 1st 1715. He

ruled France from March 9th 1663 until he died at the aforementioned date in 1715, making his 72 years

the longest rule any European monarch has ever had to date. He was also of the Bourbon royal family,

ad reestablished the Bourbon dynasty on the French throne by becoming king after Cardinal Mazarin’s

death, who was Italian and the previous ruler of France.

Absolutism was Louis XIV’s method of government. He was an absolute monarch, meaning that

he believed in a theory known as “The Divine Right Theory of Monarchy.” The Divine Right Theory stated

that a monarch’s power is established by the will of G-d, and that he was G-d’s vehicle for rule on Earth.

By being an absolute ruler, he was the most powerful person in the country. Everyone was under him in

terms of power. He even gave himself the famous nickname “The Sun King,” as all power radiates from

him the same way that rays radiate from the sun. He had a few ways of establishing himself in such a

high position of power, all of them regarding weakening the power of the Nobility. There were two

powerful parties in France: The Monarchy and the Nobility, the Monarchy being the king and the

Nobility being a collection of influential and/or royal families. By lessening the power of the Nobility, the

balance of power between the Monarchy and the Nobility tipped in favor of the Monarchy, and

therefore Louis XIV became stronger.

There were several ways in which Louis XIV weakened the nobility. One was by simply doing

without them. He would present matters to the nobility as infrequently as possible to make them

increasingly irrelevant. Instead of relying in the nobility, he relied on his ministers, or nobles that came

1

from relatively new royal families that he knew would be loyal to him. Not only did this help with

increasing Louis XIV’s own power, but it also helped unify France. France was no longer a country with

different states and provinces in which the Nobility had power. By increasing his own power over these

states, France became more centralized under Louis XIV thus ending the feudalistic environment in

which France has been in for hundreds of years.

On the theme of ministers that were employed under Louis XIV – Jean-Baptiste Colbert was

easily one of the most important. Colbert was the economic minister for Louis XIV, and his big idea was

Mercantilism. Mercantilism is a trade regulating economic policy in which all trade is maximized for the

benefit of the state. This meant that Colbert’s ultimate goal was to make France self-sufficient in terms

of trade, so that no imports to France were necessary and France only exported goods. Colbert’s

endeavors were partially successful; the high tariffs he put on imports encouraged Frenchmen to create

more goods, and the low tariffs on exports encouraged foreign countries to buy French goods. To also

promote this mercantilist agenda, Colbert established a strong Merchant Marine.

To make up for Louis XIV’s warmongering policies, Colbert established high taxes on the

peasants, which clearly did not make them very happy (not that Louis or Colbert cared about that). The

taxes would be especially high, though, to make up for the taxes that the Nobility did not have to pay.

Louis XIV didn’t impose any taxes on the Nobility in order to keep them happy so that they wouldn’t

rebel much against his ever-increasing power. Colbert was also heavily supportive on making Canada

part of the French Empire. Making Canada a French colony or subsidiary state would improve trade

conditions by inviting new trading goods in addition to promoting mercantilist policy. However, Colbert’s

policies were not overall totally successful. While industrialization did indeed make major

improvements, the agricultural economy suffered due to the heavy taxation on the peasants who

cultivated the lands. That time period also brought poor harvests.

2

Louis XIV was notorious for instigating a series of wars which were all part of his attempt to take

over Europe. They failed, yet had many consequences for the landscape of Europe. One significant

consequence was breaking France out of the “Habsburg Entanglement.” France was surrounded by

countries which were all rules by the Habsburg family, and France was therefore alienated to some

extent by them. Louis XIV sought to change the rulers of the surrounding countries, or take them over

himself in order to break free of that.

Of the 54 years that Louis XIV had personal rule over France, for 33 of them he kept France at

war. Louis XIV’s war policies were also rather novel. Unlike the previous armies of France which were

small armies controlled by different noble families, Louis XIV outlawed these private armies and instead

formed one big army controlled by the state. Since Louis ruled the state, it meant that he personally

would control the army.

Some significant wars that reflected Louis XIV’s wildly expansionist policies include the Franco-

Dutch War, where Louis tried to gain control over the Dutch provinces. The League of Augsburg War,

which was against England and Amsterdam who had lent a lot of money to England. The War of Spanish

Succession, possibly the most important war in which Louis XIV tried to make his grandson the King of

Spain, which would allow him to afterwards unite the countries of France and Spain to one big

hegemony. The consequences of The War of Spanish Succession would end Louis XIV’s aspirations to

become a major superpower. The Dutch, English, Austrians and Prussians allowed Louis’ grandson to

become the King of Spain. But France and Spain would not be allowed to merge into one country, and

the aforementioned alliance of countries would primarily control Spain. The ending of France’s

expansionist policy left France on the brink of bankruptcy, and much of the government’s money would

be spend paying back debt. This debt would last for decades, and eventually become one of the major

reasons for the French Revolution.

3

Louis XIV’s reign of power wasn’t all war and economics, though. The arts flourished under his

rule. Aside from spending money on wars, Louis XIV was known to be very ostentatious and sponsored

many artists. French Classicism was a form of art that developed under Louis XIV’s rule. Features of

Classicism art included clarity, logic, and order. There was also the idea of being less abstract with

paintings and more refined in terms of color. Nicolas Poussin was the most prominent of painters who

used the Classicism style, and was eventually appointed to the position of First Painter to the King.

Classicism also included copying the styles found in Renaissance Paintings. But painting wasn’t

the only part in the Classicism movement under Louis XIV. Louis also promoted composers such as Jean-

Baptiste Lully, Francois Couperin, and Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

During Louis XIV’s rule, he obviously felt threatened by the Nobility that he resented so much.

The peasants, too, abhorred him since he taxed them so much. As his initial palace was located in Paris,

he was surrounded by the nobility and peasants and so was very susceptible to attack if anyone wished

it. Thus, Louis decided to move. He built Château de Versaille, or “The Palace of Versailles” in Versailles,

which is a suburb of Paris. There, he would not be far from the hub of French activity, but he would still

be safe. Château de Versaille was a lavish project, and is the inspiration for architects to this day. Every

other European country sought to imitate it with a building of its own. While the actual palace had

already existed for some number of years, from 1668 to 1682 it was heavily refurbished to become a

very grand building indeed.

The ostentatious characteristics of the buildings were so to impress the French people and

foreign countries; to show that France was an amazing country, and could accomplish anything if they

put their mind to it. Since the palace became the official center of the French government in 1682, it was

successful in distancing the monarchy from the Nobility. Furthermore, many foreign ministers would

always come to visit Versailles, thus making it a cornerstone in the becoming of French to be the

4

officially recognized international language as well as making it incredibly significant in the spreading of

French culture.

And so, the legacy of Louis XIV remains significant even today. From his spreading of French

culture, to art, to the architectural masterpiece that is Château de Versaille, to a horrible Punk Rock

band, to a terrific Beatles song. He nearly significantly changed the landscape of France, and for awhile

showed all the European countries what the consequences could be if one country became too powerful

(at least until the 1800s, where Napoleon would start taking over).

5