Absolutism in France

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Absolutism in France

• The Age of Louis XIV and the foundations of the
  French Revolution

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• Typically, the English and French monarchies of
  the 17th and 18th centuries are seen in
  juxtaposition.
• While the power of the English monarch declined
  in favor of the relatively peaceful rise of
  Parliament (OK there was that little Civil War)
  the French monarchy grew in power at the expense
  of a legislature that could give a strong
  foundation to the nation in times of crises.
• NOTE Great Britain still has a monarch today
  while France does not!!!!!

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Henri IV

• Henri IV r. 1589-1610
• Former Protestant and politique
• Paris is worth a Mass
• Edict of Nantes
• After years of Guise-Bourbon-Valois warfare
  Henri IV sought to end the possibilities for
  internal strife by weakening noble and local
  power.

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• Regional governors
• Noble families
• Parlements especially the Parlement de Paris
• Henri IV also began the economic transformation
  of the nation as modern capitalism and trade
  developed.

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Duc de Sully

• Henri IVs finance minister the Duke of Sully
  began the move toward a strong centralized
  mercantilist economy
• Government monopolies salt, mines, etc.
• Infrastructure
• Corvee involuntary drafting of workers for road
  building
• Can a nation based upon feudal obligations
  develop a capitalist/merchant class whose power
  lay in money rather than land or birth???

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Louis XIII

• In 1610, Henri IV was assassinated and the throne
  went to his nine year old son from his wife Marie
  de Medicis.
• Like her aunt, Marie de Medicis tried to rule as
  regent balancing various forces in the nation
  in order to keep her sons hold on power safe.
• 1611 Treaty of Fontainebleau peace treaty
  with Spain also
• Later marriage of Louis XIII with the Spanish
  Infanta
• Later marriage of Elizabeth of Bourbon to the
  Spanish Infante

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Cardinal Richelieu

• Marie de Medicis looked to Cardinal Richelieu for
  advice especially advice as how to keep the
  French nobles from assuming power during her
  sons minority.
• His personal desire was to make France the
  strongest nation in Europe.
• POLITIQUE a Catholic he nonetheless helped the
  Protestants in the Thirty years War in order to
  combat the Habsburgs.

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Richelieu and the consolidation of royal power

• 1. stepped up attacks of governors and parlements
• 2. one law one king one faith
• 3. disobedient nobles imprisoned and some even
  executed
• 4. nobles began to fear the king and act
  subserviently
• 5. sought to move against Huguenots in part due
  to religion but also because they acted as
  independents within a nation
• 6. Peace of Alais 1629 weakened the Edict of
  Nantes denied Huguenots the right to maintained
  garrisoned cities separate courts, etc.
• 7. used the arts and print media to promote ideas
  of nationalism - - raison detat government
  propaganda

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• Louis XIII married Anne of Austria daughter of
  Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria
• Louis XIIIs sister Henrietta Maria married
  Charles II of England
• Louis XIII died 1643

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Louis XIV The Sun King - Letat cest moi!

• Louis XIV was only five years old when his father
  died.
• The French nobles leapt at the chance to regain
  the power they had lost under Richelieus rule.
• Anne of Austria put the power of the government
  into the hands of Cardinal Mazarin who
  continued Richelieus programs

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The Fronde

• 1649-1652 the nobles and the parlements
  especially the Parlement of Paris rose in
  opposition to the growth of absolutism.
• Mazarin was forced to flee France and Louis XIV
  and Anne of Austria had to flee Paris.
• The near anarchy eventually led the people to
  want a strong monarchy Louis XIV and Mazarin
  returned to Paris and the nobles were weakened.
• Louis vowed never to be a king of straw

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The Divine Right of Kings

• Louis accepted the 17th century concept of the
  divine right of kings despite the beheading of
  his uncle Charles I of England.
• Louis XIV was educated by Bishop Jacques-Benigne
  Bossuet
• Bossuet believed in GALLICIAN LIBERTIES and the
  divine right of kings as Old Testament based.

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Versailles

• Fearful of the Fronde and distrustful of the
  people and Parlement of Paris Louis XIV built a
  palace outside Paris at Versailles.
• Versailles and the court protocol that developed
  around it was used to emasculate the French
  nobles.
• The Sun King used money, fear and egos to
  manipulate the nobles into surrendering power to
  the crown this all came at an expense
• Money from the treasury went to noble
• Nobles became weak and spent more time promoting
  themselves to the king than in developing their
  own natural abilities

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Rule from Versailles

• The Kings Councils
• Council of State four or five handpicked
  advisors who met several times a week to discuss
  matters of state
• Council of Dispatches addresses the intendents
  and matters from the provinces
• Council of Finances taxation and trade

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• Louis married the Spanish Infanta Marie Therese
  his first cousin the daughter of Philip IV of
  Spain.
• This marriage led to the War of the Spanish
  Succession.

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Jansenism

• Louis continued Richelieus demand that France
  have one religion as a sign of unity.
• Cornelius Jansen Bishop of Ypres developed a
  view of salvation that denied the Jesuit
  teachings of free will.
• While France had traditionally been anti-Jesuit
  Louis XIV accepted the papal ban on the
  Jansenists.
• Many Huguenots had been returning to the Catholic
  Church because of Jansenism but Louiss actions
  only polarized the religious controversy and made
  many Huguenots leave France.

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Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

• Peace of Nijmegen 1678-1679 halted Louis XIVs
  aggression in Europe
• Louis then turned inward in an assault on the
  Huguenots hounded, banned, excluded from
  professions, selective taxation etc all
  attempts to get the Huguenots to convert. Troops
  quartered in Huguenot towns.
• 1685 Edict of Nantes revoked school and
  churches closed nonconverting laity sent to the
  galleys as slaves Protestant children baptized
  by priests.
• BLUNDER? Thousands of Huguenots left France for
  Germany, Holland and England. In Germany, the
  Huguenots helped to develop early Prussian
  industry, in Holland and England the Huguenots
  joined the armies that fought against Louis XIV.

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French Administrative Bureaucracy

• The Marquis of Louvois (1641-1691)
• Louis war minister
• Superior tactician
• Discipline
• Limited military commissions
• Meritocracy
• Four year enlistment
• Single men
• Good pay

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• Sebastien Vauban (1633-1707) military engineer
• Expert at fortification and besieging
• Trench warfare
• Military tactics used through WWI

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• Jean-Baptiste Colbert
• Centralized French economy
• Developed mercantilism
• Regulated imports and exports through tariffs
• New national industries
• Bureaucracy simplified
• Increased TAILLE

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War, War, what is it good for?

• War of Devolution 1667-1668
• Treaty of the Pyrenees 1659 Marie Therese
  renounced her claim to the Spanish throne in
  exchange for a large dowry to be paid to Louis
  XIV
• Dowry not paid
• Philip IV of Spain Marie Thereses father died
  in 1665 and left the throne to his sickly son
  Charles II Carlos the Unfortunate

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Philip IV Charles II
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• Because the dowry had not been paid, Louis
  claimed that his wife Marie-Therese was due some
  land specifically Flanders and other areas of
  the Spanish Netherlands (Belgium). He claimed
  the land devolved to his wife/him after Philip
  IVs death.
• French troops invaded Flanders.
• TRIPLE ALLIANCE England, Sweden, and the United
  Provinces of Holland battled Louis and forced him
  to accept TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE 1668

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Louis XIV and the Netherlands

• 1670 Louis and his cousin Charles II of England
  signed the Treaty of Dover becoming allies
  against the Dutch. Triple Alliance over.
• Louis invaded the Netherlands 1672 aimed at
  Holland.
• Sun King eclipsed by Dutch cheese
• Louis invasion had the unforeseen side effect of
  bringing down the Dutch government and bringing
  to power in Holland William, Prince of Orange
  great-grandson of William the Silent and grandson
  of Charles I of England husband of Mary Stuart.

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• William of Orange became Louis XIVs greatest
  critic and led the wars against him.
• 1673 William of Orange united HRE, Spain,
  Lorraine and Brandenburg against the Christian
  Turk Louis XIV
• Peace of Nimwegen 1678-1679 Spain lost
  Franche-Comte

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League of Augsburg

• Louis maintained his army at a high level of
  alert and preparedness after the Peace of
  Nimwegen.
• Louis military and the seizure of the free city
  of Strasbourg led to the creation of the LEAGUE
  OF AUGSBURG in 1686 to stop French advancement
  into Germany.
• 1689 League of Augsburg HRE, Spain, Sweden,
  United Provinces, Bavaria, Saxony, Palatinate,
  and England (now under William and Mary)

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Nine Years War 1689-1697

• France and the League of Augsburg were at war
  but like previous wars with Louis it ended with
  a virtual stalemate.
• Peace of Ryswick 1697 Hollands borders
  secured and French expansion into Germany halted.
• France and England began struggle for control of
  North America.

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WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION 1702-1714

• 1700 Charles II of Spain died (Louis
  brother-in-law and cousin) leaving no children.
• Louis and Leopold HRE had claims to the throne
  but Marie Therese had renounced her claim in the
  Treaty of the Pyrenees 1659.
• Louis and Leopold each wanted his grandson to be
  named the new king of Spain most of Europe
  feared a Bourbon monarch in France and Spain.
• Charles II of Spain had left his throne to Philip
  of Anjou grandson of Louis XIV
• Louis quickly sent Philip to Madrid to be crowned
  Philip V sent French troops into the
  Netherlands and stated that Spanish lands in the
  Americas were open to French ships.

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The Grand Alliance

• 1701 the Grand Alliance (England, Holland, HRE)
  was formed to stop Louis from placing Philip on
  the throne of Spain.
• Grand Alliance wanted Flanders neutral as a
  barrier between France and Holland Leopold
  wanted his fair inheritance
• To cause problems in England, Louis XIV
  officially recognized the son of James II of
  England and Mary of Modena as James III of
  England.

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• France was ill prepared for war economically
  and militarily
• England had far superior forces and technology
• John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough led the
  alliance after the death of William III.
• 1704 Battle of Blenheim Churchill routed the
  French
• France hit with famine, revolts, etc.

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Treaty of Utrecht Treaty of Rastadt

• July 1712 Treaty of Utrecht peace with
  England
• March 1714 Treaty of Rastadt peace with
  Holland and the HRE
• 1. Philip V was king of Spain
• 2. thrones of Spain and France could never be
  united
• 3. Gibraltar given to England allowing for
  English domination of the Mediterranean Sea.
• 4. Louis recognized House of Hanovers right to
  succeed to the English throne.

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Legacy of Louis XIV

• 1. French empire in America
• 2. Grandeur of France
• 3. Spent badly needed money on wasteful wars
• 4. controlled and manipulated the French nobles,
  bourgeoisie and peasantry leaving them all with
  grievances against the crown.

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• 5. England emerged from these wars and the time
  period as a united GREAT BRITAIN and poised to
  assume dominance of the seas the French
  recognition of the right of the Hanoverians to
  assume the throne of England and Scotland removed
  the main source of funding to the Jacobite cause.

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• 6. the financial weakness of the French monarchy
  was a contributing factor in the French Revolution