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LOUIS XIV OF FRANCE: HIS LIFE AND REIGN
"The Sun King" - "Le Grand Monarch" - "Louis the Great"
His 72 year reign (1643-1715) is the longest in European history
I.
France: the most powerful nation in Europe
A. Replaced Spain as the dominant European power after the Thirty Years' War
B. During Louis' reign France became the political and cultural ideal of Europe
1. France was the model for all European society
2. All of Europe imitated the French court
3. French set the standards in art, literature, architecture, manners - all culture
4. France would be the cultural model for Europe until beginning of twentieth century
5. French became the language of style into the 20th century
C. Louis' France became the model for absolute monarchical governments of the 17th and 18th Centuries
1. Louis reorganized the national government to improve the absolute, centralized control he inherited
2. Louis reorganized the army and created the first modern national army
3. France became the model for diplomacy in foreign affairs
a. France succeeded the Italians as the standard-setter
b. French became the new diplomatic language
c. French is still the language of international agreements in politics and business
D. The successes of France in this period made it the model for a powerful nation-state of the era
II. The France of Louis XIV: status, circa 1650
A. Population: 20,000,000
1. Twice the population of Spain; Four times the population of England
2. Austrian Habsburgs ruled 22,000,000 but it was not a true nation because it lacked unity of territory or
language or culture
3. France had more manpower than any European nation except Russia in a much more concentrated area
B. Economy
1. Louis inherited the benefits of Cardinal Richelieu's policies of centralization and mercantilism
2. French agriculture was flourishing from improvements of the early 17th century
3. France had prosperous commerce and cities
4. French government continued to support agriculture and commerce
5. Mercantilism was practiced in foreign trade beginning with Henry IV
C. France was the major political victor of the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
1. Richelieu and Mazarin used the war to weaken the Habsburgs in both the Holy Roman Empire and Spain
2. Peace of Westphalia left the German states sovereign and divided and the Holy Roman Empire impotent:
Austria continued as a power but directed its energy away from France toward the Ottoman Empire
3. War between France and Spain continued until 1659
4. Peace of the Pyrenees, 1659, marked the defeat of Spain
a. Spain admitted to France's dominance
b. Louis XIV was married to the Infanta (eldest daughter of the King), Maria Theresa
c. Bourbon dynasty of France was joined to the Hapsburg dynasty of Spain and could possibly inherit the
throne of Spain
III. Louis XIV: Personality and qualifications
A. Active and intelligent
B. Believed in his right and responsibility in ruling France
C. Excellent at picking ministers to wield power in his name
1. Chose ministers from the ambitious, successful upper middle class
2. Avoided giving any power to the nobility; nobility was kept occupied with ceremony and court life
D. Education and personal background
1. Mostly practical learning statecraft from Cardinal Mazarin
2. Spoke Italian and Spanish fluently but little Latin
3. Excellent at European geography but knew only some French history
4. Devout Catholic
5. Absolute sense of royal dignity
6. The Fronde left Louis embittered toward the nobility and the people of Paris
IV. The Regency, 1643-1661
A. Louis was not yet five when Louis XIII died in 1643
B. Louis' mother, Anne of Austria, was named regent
1. She was unpopular in France because of her Spanish ancestry (the House of Hapsburg was called the House
of Austria in Spain)
2. Her loyalty was suspect because of France's wars with Spain
C. Cardinal Mazarin was Anne's first minister
1. Mazarin was personally trained by Richelieu
2. Mazarin was unpopular with the people
a. He was Italian (actually named Mazarini)
b. He inherited the long Thirty Years' War from Richelieu at his death, 1642, and the taxes that paid for it
3. Taxes were high due to Thirty Years' War
D. The Fronde: a revolt of the nobles and Parlements, 1648-1652, that was fueled by the anger of the lower class
people
1. People were frustrated with the tax policies coupled with nobility trying to recoup power from the absolute
monarchy
2. The nobility tried to regain the power it had lost during the dominance of Richelieu by attempting to
strengthen the power of the Parlements, the provincial law courts
3. Mazarin was twice exiled and had to rule from abroad
4. Louis was forced to leave Paris 3 times: He remembered and planned later revenge against the nobility and
Paris
5. The people gradually turned from backing the nobility to backing the monarchy when the nobility gave no
reforms
6. The monarchy emerged from the Fronde stronger with the opposition from the nobility divided
7. People turned back to the monarchy feeling the nobility had betrayed their support
D. Mazarin died, 1661
E. Louis XIV, now 18, announced he would be his own first minister and reorganized government for his personal
rule
IV. Reorganized French government
A. Four councils established: Louis chaired all councils
1. Council of State ("High Council"): controlled foreign policy
2. Council of Dispatches: controlled all internal affairs except finances
3. Council of Finances: controlled taxation, tariffs, revenues, and expenditures
4. Privy Council: controlled the administration of justice
5. Louis met with State, Dispatches, and Finances weekly
a. Council members advised Louis and carried out his decisions
b. Louis made all important decisions himself
6. Louis selected able ministers
a. Ministers were frequently chosen from successful members of the new middle class
b. Ministers were elevated to the nobility which created an ambitious lower nobility that was more loyal to
the monarchy
c. Jean Baptiste Colbert: controlled finances
d. Michel Le Tellier: advised on foreign affairs
e. François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois (son of Michel): advised on war and the military
f. Sebastien le Prestre de Vauban: advised on military engineering
B. Government improved and tightened Richelieu's intendant system
1. Intendants were responsible for implementing all royal policies in provinces and reporting to the monarchy
2. Government positions were to be no longer bought
3. All appointments and removals was done by Louis
4. Central government's control was increased over the provincial power of the nobility and parlements
5. Death of Colbert and the high expenses of the wars in Louis' later reign forced a return to the sale of offices
and titles to raise money
C. Improved finances were directed by Jean Baptiste Colbert
1. Nobility and the clergy continued to avoid a fair share of taxes
2. Colbert followed strong mercantilist policies
3. Colbert's policies increased government revenue, but the costs of warfare rose faster after 1680
4. Shortages of revenue brought a return of the sale of noble titles, government positions, and inflationary
measures
D. Reform of the military - Marquis de Louvois
1. Officer corps of the nobility was replaced by professionals appointed by Louis
2. Advancement in rank was based upon merit not birthright
3. Government took over recruitment, provisioning, and housing of the army from the nobility
a. Inspections begun to curb corruption
b. Inspector-General of Infantry, Colonel Martinet, still identified with strict military discipline
E. Government set up a reserve officers' system, supply depots, military hospitals, and first veterans' hospital (Hotel
des Invalides)
1. Reforms allowed the building of the first large-scale, (400,000 in war, 100,000 in peace) modern army
2. Marquis de Vauban invented the fixed bayonet and new methods of building and destroying fortifications
F. Control of the nobility
1. The nobility was the major roadblock to absolute monarchical power in France
2. Louis weakened their provincial power and wealth
3. Louis reduced the number and importance of provincial jobs and increases the power of the royally appointed
intendants
4. Louis added to the size of the nobility by appointment
5. Louis created nobility totally dependent on the monarchy
6. Louis forced the nobility to gain the King's favor for favor, prestige, position, and income
7. Louis built the apartments at Versailles to house all of the nobility for observation and control; Louis’ spies
kept him informed on any challenges from the nobility
G. Expansion of France's international empire
1. Colbert's mercantilism encouraged exploration and colonization
2. French colonies were established in North America along St. Lawrence River and Mississippi River valley
and the islands of Caribbean
3. French trading outposts were established in India
4. France gained much money as the primary importer of sugar, furs, and other goods from the Americas
5. By end of Louis' reign, the French empire was one of the three largest (with Spain and Britain)
V. Foreign policy under Louis XIV, 1648-1715
A. Louis' ultimate goal: to extend France to its natural boundaries: the Rhine River, the Alps, and the Pyrenees
1. Conflicted with the interests of the German princes in the Rhineland
2. Conflicted with Spain over the Spanish Netherlands
3. Conflicted with the Habsburgs because his marriage to Maria Theresa, Infanta of Spain, gave his children a
claim on the Spanish throne
4. Conflicted with United Provinces of the Dutch Netherlands over the mouth of the Rhine
5. Conflicted with England
a. Traditional English foreign policy towards the European continent
i. No single country dominates the continent
ii. No hostile power dominates the Low Countries
b. France threatened to gain too much control on the continent especially if it gained control of Spanish
possessions
c. England feared the French control of continental trade
d. England feared French domination of the Low Countries
e. English policy changed in 1688 when James II, pro-Louis XIV King of England, was replaced by
William III (William of Orange), anti-Louis XIV King of England
B. Louis' War of Devolution, 1667-1668 against Spain
1. Louis claimed the Spanish Netherlands through his wife, Maria Theresa of Spain
2. French armies fought Spain by invading Flanders and Franche Comté
3. Triple Alliance (England, United Provinces, and Sweden) formed to oppose France
4. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle gave France eleven border fortress towns in the Spanish Netherlands
C. Louis' Dutch War, 1672-1678
1. Anti-Dutch policy of Louis
a. France was threatened by the Dutch dominance of trade
b. Louis, a strong Catholic, hated the Calvinists of the Netherlands
c. Dutch entered the anti-French alliance with England and Sweden
2. Louis diplomatically isolated the Dutch by pushing them out of the Triple Alliance
a. England was granted the secret Treaty of Dover, 1670
i. Charles II had stayed with Louis during his exile (Charles' mother was the sister of Louis' father)
ii. Treaty was unknown to Parliament; Parliament opposed the growth of French power
b. Sweden was granted “financial consideration” (bribed)
3. Dutch were divided by internal dispute over a strong vs. a weak monarch in the Netherlands
a. Decentralized control was favored by the followers of John DeWitt
b. Stronger, more centralized monarchy was favored by the followers of William of Orange
c. DeWitt was assassinated as the French invaded
4. French invaded Flanders and Franche-Comté again
5. New anti-French alliance formed: Spain, Austrian Hapsburg Empire, Denmark, and the Electorate of
Brandenburg
6. Marriage of William of Orange to Mary Stuart caused Louis XIV to seek peace
a. Mary was the daughter of James, Duke of York (the brother of King Charles II), by his first wife, Anne
Hyde
b. Louis XIV feared the power of English Parliament after the discovery of the secret Treaty of Dover
c. James II would become King of England, 1685, as a true friend of Louis XIV
i. James II’s pro-French foreign policy will be a major factor causing the Glorious Revolution in
England
ii. The Glorious Revolution, 1688, replaced a French friend (James II) with a French enemy (William III
and Mary II)
7. Treaties of Nimwegen gave Franche-Comté and more border fortress towns in the Spanish Netherlands to
France
D. War of the League of Augsburg, 1688-1697
1. French claimed and took possession of all Alsace and Luxembourg and claimed the Palatinate in the
Rhineland
2. League of Augsburg, a new anti-French coalition, formed to oppose France: England, the United Provinces
(Netherlands), Spain, Sweden, Austrian Hapsburg Empire, Brandenburg-Prussia, and several other German
states
3. France invaded Rhenish Palatinate setting off the war
a. War spread to the Netherlands, Italy, North American colonies of England and France (King William’s
War), India, and the high seas
b. Fighting in the colonies showed the effect of European expansion: European wars could now become
world wars
4. French army initially was successful on the continent but was defeated by the English and Dutch navies
resulting in a stalemate
a. The League of Augsburg controlled the seas
b. France controlled the western European continent
5. French backing of James II's attempt to regain English throne failed at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland,
1690
6. Treaty of Ryswick (1697) returned most French gains
a. France gained the province of Alsace
b. Dutch gained commercial trading rights
c. William of Orange was recognized as the King of England (William III and Mary II)
i. James (Stuart), the “Old Pretender” would live out his life in France
ii. Supporters of the restoration of the Stuarts would continue to launch attempts to return from
France through the eighteenth century
E. War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-1713 (the most important and culminating conflict of Louis XIV’s
foreign policy)
1. Charles II of Spain died leaving Spain to the grandson of Louis XIV
a. Charles II was childless and had been sickly for years leading the other nations to speculate on the
problems of who would inherit the throne
b. Philip of Anjou (grandson of Louis XIV from the Bourbon family and nephew of Charles II) became
Philip V of Spain, the first Spanish Borbon
2. France backed by Spain and Bavaria was opposed by the "Grand Alliance": England, United Provinces
(Netherlands), Austrian Hapsburg Empire, Brandenburg-Prussia, and Portugal
3. Grand Alliance was led by superior naval power and great generals, Duke of Marlborough (John
Churchill) and Prince Eugene of Savoy
4. French were repeatedly defeated, 1702-1709, but harsh peace terms caused French and Spanish to
continue war
a. Cost of victory was excessive: Battle of Malplaquet was the bloodiest battle of European history until
World War I with heavy casualties on both sides
b. Grand Alliance fragmented when Charles, Archduke of Austria, became Holy Roman Emperor: the
English feared a Habsburg union of Austria and Spain almost as much as Bourbon union of France and
Spain
5. Results: Treaties of Utrecht (1713) between England and France and Rastatt (1714) between Spain and
France
a. Great Britain received Gibraltar, Minorca, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Hudson Bay territory;
gained the right to supply the Spanish New World colonies with slaves (asiento)
b. Austrian Habsburgs received the Spanish Netherlands (renamed the Austrian Netherlands), Kingdom
of Naples, Duchy of Milan, and Sardinia
c. Elector of Brandenburg was recognized as King of Prussia
d. Duke of Savoy became King of Savoy and also received Sicily
i. Sicily traded for Sardinia, 1720)
ii. House of Savoy founded combining the duchies of Savoy and Piedmont with the Kingdom of
Sardinia
e. Dutch received control over border fortress towns between France and the Netherlands
f. Philip V was recognized as King of Spain but the same person was forbidden to occupy both the
thrones of France and Spain
i. Bourbons will hold French throne until 1830
ii. Bourbons hold Spanish throne at present (King Juan Carlos de Borbon)
6. Peace of Utrecht marks the end of French domination of Europe as a new balance of power is established
replacing that of 1648
a. Modern French boundaries were achieved; growth of French power halted but not crushed
b. France was exhausted by the wars of Louis XIV
c. French monarchs following Louis XIV lacked his dynamic energy but inherited his debts and the
tradition of rule by absolute monarchy
7. Peace of Utrecht attempted to reestablish the balance of power
VI. Louis' religious policy
A. Huguenots (French Calvinists) = 1,500,000
1. Edict of Nantes (1598)
a. Granted limited toleration to Protestantism in France
b. Modified by Peace of Alais (1629) under Richelieu
2. Huguenots were pressured by Louis to convert to Catholicism
a. Privileges restricted: their homes used as soldiers quarters
b. Children of Huguenots were baptized Catholics at age 7
3. Edict of Nantes was revoked, 1685
a. 200,000 Huguenots fled France
b. Many refugees were skilled artisans and tradesmen
c. Refugees went to England, the Netherlands, Brandenburg, and America
d. Loss of Huguenots damaged the French economy and Louis' prestige abroad
e. Event was one catalyst for the Enlightenment
B. Gallican (Catholic Church in France) Church crisis
1. Conflict between Louis and the Papacy over the administration and appointment to Church offices
2. French clergy backed Louis at the Assembly of the Gallican Clergy, 1682
3. Pope traded: Louis suppressed the Jansenists, reform movement pressuring the Papacy; the Pope gave
Louis increased royal control over the Gallican church
C. Jansenism (Catholic reform movement)
1. Questioned authority of both king and pope, similar to the Calvinist challenge to the authority of the state
2. Jesuits branded the Jansenists as heretics
3. Many prominent Jansenists had been Frondeurs (e.g., Cardinal de Retz) or prominent religious
intellectuals (scientist Blaise Pascal)
4. Louis XIV persuaded Pope Clement XI to condemn Jansenists as heretics
5. Convent at Port Royal, headquarters of the movement, was destroyed and its members dispersed by the
French army
6. Louis extended the rule of the Gallican Church but damaged the vitality of its membership
D. Quietists
1. Led by Madame Jeanne Marie Guyon
2. Sought a more mystical and emotional faith
3. Taught there was no need for a priesthood
4. Movement was undone by its own exhibitionism and self-righteousness and lost public support
VII. French culture
A. Louis’ patronage was important to decorate the magnificent court
B. Literature and architecture was characterized by order, harmony, dignity, and grandeur
1. The reign of Louis XIV is the height of the Baroque period
2. Others were inspired by the French court and encouraged to imitate
C. Style in manners and speech set by the Paris salon of Marquise de Rambouillet
D. Literature
1. Pierre Corneille (1606-1684)
a. Emphasized character over plot
b. Idealized virtues and praised patriotism and national glory: love of country over personal love; death
before dishonor
c. Wrote Cid, Horace, Cinna
2. Jean Racine (1639-1699)
a. Characterized by dramatic force and beauty of language
b. Considered master of analysis of human passions
c. Showed uncontrolled emotion as enemy of human society, destroying social order
d. Wrote Andromaque, Phedre, Esther, Athalie
3. Jean Baptiste Molière (Jean Poquelin) (1622-1673)
a. Comedies ridiculed affected language and pretentious manners
b. Satirizes human follies of all classes: avarice, jealousy, vanity, pedantry; exhaults honor, sincerity,
and resolution
c. Social types are satirized: social climbers, misanthropes, hypocrites, and misers
d. Wrote Les Precieuses Ridicules, Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope
4. La Fontaine (1621-1695)
a. Humorous view of human weaknesses and vices
b. Wrote Fables
5. Duc de la Rochefoucauld wrote Maxims showing his disenchantment with human nature
6. Saint-Simon (1675-1755)
a. Wrote forty-volume Memoirs
b. Gives best picture of court life of the time
c. His personal dislike of Louis XIV and his support for the nobility are shown
E. Art: the Age of French Classicism
1. Court paintings showed classical style
a. Emphasis was on the grandeur of the monarchy
b. Monarchs’ portraits were important for image of the monarchy
2. Art was used as propaganda to promote pride in the monarchy as the symbol of France; the style was
copied throughout Europe
3. Nicholas Poussin (1594-1665): finest example of French Classicist painting
F. Architecture, the Baroque
1. Palace of Versailles is most magnificent structure of the Age: architect Louis Le Vau and designer of the
gardens, André Le Nôtre
2. Palace of Versailles became the political and cultural center of Europe
3. Design, scope, and majesty of Versailles was copied by other monarchs from all over Europe
G. Music
1. Louis was a major patron of the opera
2. Brought Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), great composer of the day, to France
3. Louis was patron to François Couperin (1668-1733), great composer for the harpsichord and organ
4. Louis was patron to Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1668-1733), composer of religious music used during
meals at Versailles
5. Staged operas at Versailles
H. Dance
1. Louis was a major patron of the dance
2. Established a palace school at Versailles for ballet
3. Sponsored many dance productions at Versailles and elsewhere
4. Actually danced himself in his younger years
5. The rules and vocabulary for ballet were established in France – terminology still French