• Why have historical landmarks been spared by war?

King Louis “Sun King”

Ruled for longer than any other Monarch in European History 1643-1715

Louis XIV Reign Absolute MonarchSun KingThe 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. EducatedPractical1. Modest when speaking about his education2. Fluent Italian and Spanish3. Spoke and wrote French4. French History5. European geography

King Louis XIV

Time period has been characterized

•1650-1700 •Grand Century•Age of Magnificence •Age of Louis XIV

Sun King

Becoming the Absolutist

• Intimidate those who opposed the government

• Do anything to further France at home or aboard

Manzarin /King Louis XIV

King Louis education– Learned to speak

• Italian• Spanish

– Fluently• Spoke and wrote French eloquently• Knew French History• Knew European geography

– Learned by direct experience and on the job training• Studied state papers• Attended council

– Learned foreign information

Religion

• Catholic• Attended mass daily

– Didn’t pay attention to mass– Said Rosary

• Divine Right– Taught that God created him to rule on Earth– He was Gods connection on Earth

Fronde• Learned that nobility could not be trusted• Witnessed the chaos up close and personnel

– Mob broke into his bedroom and scared him silly• Convinced France needed strong central

government• collaborated with the nobility instead of

subduing them by force– Allowed him to control the nobility without them

realizing it– Convinced nobles on more then one occasion to

support measures that benefited both nobility and the monarchy

• Louis loved being the monarch• Loved the grandeur (appearance, or style, or

social importance).• He convinced the nobility to love the grandeur • He crave the attention from the court

Using Versailles

• Louis XIII – Hunting Lodge – Get a ways from his wife he did not like– 10 miles outside of Paris

• Louise XIV turned it into most expensive palace ever built– Russia – Prussia tried to create a replica of Versailles

Court Life• Versailles • 10 miles outside Paris• Required all of Nobility to live at Versailles for 1 year• Louis XIII created it as Hunting Lodge• Retreat from the Queen• Peter the Great of Russia, modeled Peterhof Palace after

Versailles• Frederick the Great, modeled Postdam outside Berlin

– Used to intimidate other Monarchs and Countries

Government Innovations

1. Complete domestication of the Nobility a. King Louis XIV

a. Exercised complete control over powerful social class that historically opposed “centralizing goal" of the French monarch

b. Actually achieved cooperation of Nobility c. Nobility agreed to participate in projects

a. reinforced the monarchy b. Aristocratic prestige

d. Relationship between Monarchy constituted collaboration then absolute control (pg 538)

• Louis created Versailles– to be a get a way – a place for entertainment

• for nobles and foreign dignitaries.– Wanted all who laid eyes on Versailles to be

awed• Foreign visitors to imagine Frances vast wealth• Visitors to be intimidated by his grandeur, his

majesty, and opulence (rich and luxury)– He succeeded – Tens of thousands worked everyday to turn

Versailles in the grandest chateau (castle like)

• 10=20% of Frances entire budget went to the building of Versailles.– 2,000 acres– 12 miles of road and enclosing roads– 26 acres of rooftops – 700 rooms– 67 staircases– 6,000 paintings– 2,100 more sculptures– Finest Furniture– Host several thousand guests– Few thousand full staff– Louis used Versailles to intimidate visitors and to

magnify his image and that of France

Versailles

Versailles

Versailles

Inside Versailles

Peter the Great of Russia, modeled Peterhof Palace after Versailles

Peter the Great of Russia, modeled Peterhof Palace after Versailles

Frederick the Great, modeled Postdam outside Berlin

Frederick the Great, modeled Postdam outside Berlin

Versailles and Nobility

• Louis used Versailles to keep nobility in check• How?

– Required ALL uppermost nobles to spend at least part of the year at Versailles

• Skeptical• Considered it an honor to be invited

– Once at Versailles Nobles fell in love with the luxury

– King feasts and balls• Put on plays on ballets

• Fortunate few were allowed in Kings presence

• Bed chambers• Watch him rise• Put on his robe

• Made nobility believe that they were fortunate to be in his palace

Ulterior Motive

• By requiring, or inviting nobles to to stay at Versailles– Potential advocates and opponents in one place

• He/Officers could keep tabs on nobles

– Agents who eavesdrop / intercepted correspondence to be sure there were not plots against King Louis

– Versailles was used as a tool to keep nobles in check

French Religion• Believed he had duty to defend his faith• Believed no room for more than one religion• Forced Jansenists (protestant like catholic's) into

hiding• Huguegnots

– Revoked the Edict of Nantes– Stripped Hugegnots of rights they enjoyed– Closed Calvinist church's burned and banned literature– Exiled anyone who refused to convert to Catholicism– Bad for economy = Hardworking Protestants moved

out of country = took large tax base

Why Revoke the Edict of Nantes

First• France never intended permanent religious

tolerance• One king, one law, one faith • Religious unity essential to the security of the

state

Second• Not a popular policy

– Aristocrats had petitioned King Louis to banish Protestantism

– One act of his reign that was popular with all his subjects

• Revocation – Impacted economy and Foreign affairs

• Skilled Huguenots left France and so did the tax base

Study the French Classicism

• The Rape of the Sabine women

Colbert and Mercantalism

• Used intendant’s • Placed great trust in

particular ministers – Helped them make

important decisions– Louise XIV most

influenced by Jean Baptiste Colbert

Under Solbert’s Leasdership

Economic policy Mercantilism • Mercantilist bureaucracy created increase in

the number of government officials to keep economy going– Benefits were huge– Overseas trade– Colonization in places like Canada and Mississippi

Valley– Creation of trade companies – Mercantilist profit went straight to the state.

Colbert

• Helped France expand its Navy• Created Industries • regulated the quality of goods produced• Encouraged formation of guilds

– group of craftsmen from same profession = develop master craftsmen

• Mercantilism would have been successful if it was not for King Louis deficit spending

King Louis XIV War

• Poured a lot of $$$ into his military– Paid off

• Created the largest, most intimidating, professional, standing army that Europe has ever seen

• Create this huge impressive army– Louis taxed his people heavily– Diverted funds from hunger relief– Social relief

Louis Army over the years

• Richelieu (King Louis XIII) = 25,000 men• Treaty of Pyrenees = Ended the war with Spain

– 1659 = 250,000 men

• 1667-68 = Captured Spanish Netherlands– Continued to fight in Spanish Netherlands = 1672- 1678– King Louis wars and expansion goals got tiring for other

countries• Louis engaged in battles with:

– English– Dutch - Treaty of Nijmegen (1678) Flemish towns/ France-Comte

– Spanish – Holy Roman Empire

• Despite alliances against him– Expanded eastward into Germany– Weak divisions of German empire

• Fed up with expansion (p. 543)– Coalition of countries put a stop to King Louis advances– Prevent France from becoming to strong– Check Frances expanding commercial power

• Dutch • Spanish• English• Swedes • Austrian emperor• German Princes

• Fighting ended with the Peace of Utrecht– Louis had to return all land he conquered over the last

20 years.• Except Strasburg

Peace of Utrecht

• Prevented in once country from gaining too much power

• Completed the decline of Spain• Expanded the British Empire• Gave European powers experience in

international cooperation• Marked end of French expansion

• Military used to expose his absolutism– Used military, taxes, conscription (enlist in

military) to control the people• French paid heavily

– Taxes– Fed soldiers– Gave their lives– Only to lose the land they wagered so much to

conquer• At war 33 of the 54 years he ruled

• Louis didn’t just rule France he was France

• By controlling every aspect of France, Louis determined how the world saw him

• He was the trend setter for Europe– Art– Music – Fashion – Culture

• Redefined the modern military• Bankrupted the country• France is defined by Louis XIV