Absolutism in France

1
Absolutism in France
Letat cest moi
2
5 Steps to Achieve Absolute Rule

1. Subjugate the Nobility
2. Build an all-pervasive bureaucracy
3. Collect more in Tax money
4. Establish a standing, large army
5. Establish Religious uniformity

3
Foundations of French AbsolutismHenry IV,
Sully, Richelieu

• Henry IV (r.1589-1610)
• Inherits A France that is a mess
• Civil War in France since 1561
• Poor Harvests? Starving Peasants
• Commercial Inactivity
• Steps to establishing royal Power
• Issued the Edict of Nantes
• Mop up Rebellious Factions of Nobles (They are
  Loyal to the Holy League)
• Hires Duke of Sully as Finance Minister

4
Sully as Minister

• Sells Government offices to the Highest bidder
• Pros Cons
• Raises Revenue inflation of office
• Main source of Revenue office becomes
  property of owner
• Introduces the Paulette tax
• Paulette a tax paid to the king if the
  officeholder does the job well, they pay the
  paulette and the office stays in the family.

5
Richelieu

• Louis XIII (r. 1610-1643)
• Very Capable First Minister Cardinal Richelieu
• Puts nobles in non-threatening positions
• Diplomats, Army Officers, Local
  administrators Confronted the armed Huguenots
• No Longer a State within a State No arms
  just religious toleration
• How do these two things lend itself to the Rise
  of Absolute Rule?

6
Richelieu (Administrative and Financial)

• Increased the sale of office By 1633 this
  practiced accounted for 1/3 of all royal revenue
• France was divided into 32 generalities
  (districts)
• Each district had an Indendant (Appointed by
  KingNot bought and sold)

7
Indendants

• Chief royal agents in local areas
• Main Jobs
• -Transmit certain orders from Paris to
  generalities
• -Transmit information from local communities to
  paris
• -Recruit Men for Army
• -Supervise Tax Collection
• -Preside over administration of local law
• -Monitor Local Nobility
• -Regulated economic activity (Commerce, trade,
  guild

8
Overriding Purposes of Indendants

1. ENFORCE ROYAL ORDERS AT LOCAL LEVEL
2. REDUCE THE POWER/INFLUENCE OF REGIONAL NOBILITY

9
Major Peasant revolts

• 1630 , 1668 Dijon
• 1635, 1675 Bordeaux
• 1645 Montpellier
• 1667-1668, 1692 Lyons
• 1685, 1695, 1704, 1711 Aimens
• ALL HAVE TO DO WITH TAXES
• What does this prove about the job the Indendants
  were doing?

10
Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715)

• Richelieu died in 1642
• Louis XIII died in 1643
• Left Five year old Louis XIV on the throne.
• Successor to Richelieu Cardinal Mazarin

11
Mazarin faced with crisis

• Nobles upset with movement toward Absolute rule,
  seize the moment to revolt against the king.
• Becomes Civil War known as the Fronde

12
The Fronde begins with theNobles of the Robe

• A group of nobles who bought jobs in the
  government (known for the robes they wore)
• 3 demands on Mazarin government
• 1) abolition of the indendants
• 2) stop selling offices
• 3) Institute a Habeas Corpus law

13
Mazarin Responds

• He has several members of the group arrested
• Other aristocratic factions join
• Peasants/ Urban artisans join
• Violence sweeps through France for 12 years

14
Significance of the Fronde

• Last revolt against Absolutism in France until
  1789.
• Becomes apparent the government will have to
  compromise with local bureaucrats social elites
• French economy badly disrupted
• Louis XIV effected traumatically

15
The Sun King

• Louis XIV had two main goals
• He wanted to secure his Absolute power over
  France
• He aimed to make France the greatest power in all
  of Europe

16
Move to Versailles

• Eternal distrust of the Nobility
• Paris seen as dangerous place for the monarchy
• Moved the French court to Versailles (Small town
  12 miles from Paris)
• Versailles was used as a tool for state power,
  subjugation of the nobility

17
Versailles used to subjugate the nobility

• Nobility invited to live at Versailles for many
  months of the year (cut off from their power
  bases)
• Under constant surveillance
• Louis used spying/terror tactics (secret police,
  informers)
• Given frivolous tasks to accomplish at Versailles
  
• Nobles were excluded from councils with access to
  king and important decision making

18
Financial Management Colbert

• Things that cost
• Expanding professional bureaucracy
• Court at Versailles
• Military Reform
• Wars

Consult local or Provincial Estates for approval
of taxes for particular regions----Hard to
collect taxes
19
Colbert as great Mercantilist

• Encouraged French Industry
• Enacted High Tariffs
• Created a strong Merchant Marine
• Overall, achieve a favorable balance of trade and
  make France self sufficient

20
French expansion

• Colbert had 4,000 French peasants shipped off to
  Canada
• Joliet and Marquette sailed down the Miss. River
• La Salle claimed vast amounts of land named
  Louisiana

21
How successful was Colbert?

• Textile Industry expanded
• Commercial Class prospered
• However.
• Agricultural economy hurt badly
• Peasants taxed too heavily Poor Harvest
  Fluctuating price of grain deflation of
  currency Peasants leaving (Major Tax base gone)

22
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

• To try to achieve Religious uniformity
• One King, One Law, One Faith
• Detrimental effects
• Talented Huguenots leave (scholar, business,
  artists, skilled workers)
• Spreads Anti-Louis sentiment among European
  Protestants

23
Louis XIV at War

• 18 of his last 27 years as king at WAR
• 4 Goals for War
• 1) Establish natural defensible borders
• 2) Break the Habsburg Ring
• 3) Take over the Spanish Netherlands
• 4) Defeat Holland and take its trade/wealth

24
War of Devolution 1667-1668

• Kicked off when King of Spain dies
• Louis claims through his wife, that he is
  entitled to inherit the Spanish Netherlands
  according to the law of devolution
• France loses to an alliance of Holland, England,
  and Sweden

25
The Dutch War 1672-1678

• Louis war of revenge for his earlier loss to the
  Dutch
• France bribed England and Sweden to abandon the
  Dutch and then invade the Netherlands
• The French conquer much of the Netherlands
• The Dutch open the dikes and flood French troops
  off their land

26
War of the League of Augsburg 1688-1697

• An attempt to conquer German territory along the
  Rhine
• HRE challenges Louis claim to theses
  territories----France invades Germany
• The German states join together to defeat France

27
War of Spanish Succession 1701-1713

• Louis grandson had legitimate claim to the
  Spanish throne when the Habsburg king died.
• Holy Roman Emperors son has a legitimate claim
  to the throne as well
• FRANCE vs. GRAND ALLIANCE
• Grand Alliance HRE, Portugal, England, Austria,
  Prussia
• Louis LOSES for the fourth time!!!

28
Treaty of Utrecht (1713)

• Grandson of Louis XIV sits on the Spanish throne
• France and Spain may never be united as one
  kingdom

29
Legacy of Louis XIV

• French Treasury is empty
• France gains very little territory
• Habsburg ring is broken
• Peasants of France starving and miserable due to
  high taxes from War after War ? Revolts continue
  for 70 more years culminating in the 1789
  revolution