The Rise of Absolute Monarchy in France

Henry IV and Sully

• Henry IV sought to limit privileges of French nobility; He especially wanted to limit powers of the provincial governors and regional parlements

• He and his finance minister, the Duke of Sully, introduced changes designed to give monarchy more control over the economy of France.

– Est. govt. monopolies on gunpowder, mines, salt;

– Began a canal system to link the Atlantic w/the Med.

– Introduced corvee, a labor tax to improve the transportation system (roads, bridges, canals)

Louis XIII and Richelieu

• 1610: Following the assassination of Henry IV, his 9-yr. old son Louis XIII became king

• He used intendants to supervise privileged groups in the provinces and prevent abuses by those nobles empowered to collect taxes, sell licenses, etc.

Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642)

• Became chief advisor to Louis XIII

• Devoutly Catholic but strongly anti-Habsburg

– Supported Protestants to contain the Habsburgs

• Ruthlessly worked to increase power of monarchy and eliminate nobles who resisted

• Began military campaign to end the tolerance and liberties granted to Huguenots in the Edict of Nantes

Peace of Alais (1629)

The right of Protestants to maintain their own cities, political organizations, and courts was revoked.

Cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661)

• Succeeds Richelieu in 1642

• Continues Richelieu’s policies in domestic & foreign affairs = Centralization

The Fronde (1649-1652)

• A series of rebellions by nobles & townspeople against the trend toward absolute monarchy

• King and Mazarin forced into temp. exile, but returns when rule by nobles goes to anarchy

• People learn rule by 1 better than rule by nobles

• Louis XIV sees he will need more subtle methods to create a strong, centralized monarchy

• 1661 – following the death of Mazarin, Louis XIV assumed personal control of government and appointed no single chief minister

• He est. absolute monarchy that checked discontent nobles and restored a closed Catholic state

“One King, One Law, One Faith!”

• His success was in making the monarchy the supreme institution in France while permitting French nobles to retain their social status & political influence locally

• Nobles supported his central authority in exchange for his support of their local authority

Strategies used by Louis to strengthen his power:

• Used propaganda designed to increase grandeur of king

• Ensured that nobles benefited from growth of royal power

• Never limited local authority of nobles and conferred with local parlements before making rulings that would affect them

• Defended absolute authority on grounds of divine right

Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704) defended the “divine right of kings,” arguing that kings were appointed by God and answerable only to him, not their subjects

“L’etat c’est moi!”

Versailles

• 1682: Louis permanently moves court to a palace outside Paris

• He was the main source of all patronage and favors in France

• Life at Versailles revolved around his daily routines

--Designed to keep nobles entertained & content and thereby minimize the chances of a revolt against the growing power of the king

Actual governing was done by councils made up of men who had no independent power bases in the provinces of France à They depended solely on the king for their their positions

Suppression of the Jansenists

~ Louis believed that religious uniformity was necessary for political stability

~ Jesuits had become influential in France as teachers of the nobility and advisers to kings

~ 1630s: Jansenist Catholics arise in opposition to Jesuits

à Jansenists especially opposed Jesuit teachings about free will and argued that salvation was possible only through God’s grace

1660: Louis XIV agrees to allow a papal bull condemning Jansenism to be enforced in France

à Jansenists were forced underground, and Louis lost a chance to bring religious unity to France, for Jansenism might have appealed to France’s Huguenots

Louis’s Early Wars

• By 1660s, France exceeded all other countries of Europe in its administrative bureaucracy, army, and national unity à Louis XIV would attempt to use these resources to dominate Europe

• 3 Significant Ministers

a) Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683)

b) Marquis of Louvois (1641-1691)

c) Sebastien Vauban (1633-1707)

• Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683)

- Controlled finances of France

à Created economic base necessary to wage war

- Sought to centralize and strengthen the French economy (tariffs, new industries, reduction of # of tax-exempt nobles)

- Increased taille (direct tax on peasantry)

- Supported mercantilism, the close government control of the economy w/ aim of maximizing exports and the internal reserves of gold/silver bullion necessary for waging war

- France became a major commercial power, with bases in Africa, Asia, and the New World

• Marquis of Louvois (1641-1691)

- War minister (1677-1691) and a superior military tactician

- Created professional army through …

· Good, regular salaries

· Improved discipline

· Promotion by merit

· 4-year enlistments

· Sebastien Vauban (1633-1707)

- Military engineer

- Perfected arts of fortifying & besieging towns

- Developed trench warfare, concept of defensive frontiers

The Wars of Louis XIV

War of Devolution (1667-68)

• Fought w/ Spain over Louis’s claim to Spanish Belgian provinces through his wife Marie Therese

à Louis claimed that Marie had legitimate claim to part of her father Philip IV’s land following his death

• France was opposed by Triple Alliance (England, Sweden, Holland)

• 1668: Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

à Louis gained control of some towns bordering Spanish Netherlands

Invasion of the Netherlands (1672-1679)

• 1670: Treaty of Dover: France allies w/ England against the Dutch

• 1672: Louis invades Netherlands (United Provinces of Holland)

à Opposed by William of Orange, who created alliances w/ Spain, Holy Roman Emperor, and others to repulse France

• 1678/79: Peace of Nijmwegen à War ends w/ no clear victor

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

• Louis methodically persecuted French Huguenots in effort to unite France religiously

• October 1685: Louis revokes Edict of Nantes

à Protestant churches closed and clergy exiled

à A “major blunder,” for it made Louis appear to be another Philip II intent on re-Catholicizing all of Europe

à Many Huguenots emigrated from France and resisted him from abroad, while others remained and formed a guerilla movement against him

Louis’s Later Wars

• League of Augsburg and the Nine Years’ War

- Louis’s continued efforts at expansion prompted new alliances to form against him

- 1686: League of Augsburg established to resist France (England, Spain, Sweden, Holland, Bavaria, Saxony, the Palatinate,

and Austria)

- 1689-97: League and France fight Nine Years’ War

- 1697: Peace of Ryswick

à Louis’s expansion efforts thwarted

• War of the Spanish Succession

- 1700: Following death of King Charles II of Spain, both Louis and Austrian emperor Leopold had claims to the Spanish

throne

- Most of Europe feared a union of France and Spain (which would upset the balance of power), and countries had begun negotiations to divide inheritance

- Charles II left entire inheritance to Philip of Anjou, Louis’s grandson

à Philip became Philip V of Spain

- 1701: Grand Alliance (England, Holland, & Holy Roman Empire) established to counter France by keeping Flanders

independent and giving Holy Roman Emperor fair share of inheritance

- Louis recognized claim of James Edward (son of James II) to English throne

- War went poorly for France, which was unprepared financially and militarily

- Treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastadt (1714)

· Philip V confirmed as King of Spain

· England given Gibraltar (becomes Mediterranean power)

· Louis recognizes House of Hanover in England

Louis XIV’s Legacy

NEGATIVES

- Wars brought much death & destruction

- Monarchy more feared than admired

- Finances insecure and dependent on debt

- Centralization of government undermined France’s development of representative self-government