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Absolutism in France and
Spain
Louis XIII (r. 1610 -42)
Father to the sun king, he had also come
to power at a young age- 8 ½ after his
father, Henry IV , had been assassinated
 His mother, Marie de’ Medici was his
regent
 Powerful minister Cardinal Richelieu
played a role in France’s ascendancy to a
global power
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– Centralization of power in the King
Cardinal Richelieu (1585 –
1642)
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First minister to Louis XIII
Machiavellian
Exalted French monarchy to absolutist
level – centralization of France
Hated the Habsburg dynasty
Laid basis for French hegemony
(domination) across Europe culturally
“Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of
state.”
Raison d’etat
Philosophy guiding the centralization of
France
 Reason of the state at all costs
 Set up 32 different generalities (districts)
and set up an intendant system in which
nobles had to show up to the King’s court
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The Fronde (1648-53)
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French civil wars based on religious and political dissent
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Opposition in the provinces to the centralized
government
Nobles could not be reigned in and lower classes were
tired of taxation
System of “tax farmers” – officials petitioned the King for
the right to collect taxes in each province. Would raise
taxes to line their own pockets and send the rest to Paris
– Mainly affected peasants because middle class
received tax exemptions and nobles were already
exempt
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Louis XIV – Sun King
(1638 – 1715)
(r. 1643 – 1715)
Louis XIV
House Bourbon
 Age of Magnificence in France
 Devoutly Catholic
 Not necessarily as formally educated as other kings
– was a polyglot, was a great writer, had a very
practical political education from a young age
 Raised by his mother, Anne of Austria
and Cardinal Mazarin
 Father, Louis XIII, died when he was 6
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Type of Ruler
Deeply affected by the Fronde. Lived in
fear of the people and their power
 After the Fronde, government procedures
were institutionalized and major source of
revenue was taxation
 Louis XIV’s main minister was Cardinal
Mazarin, who tried to continue the trend
of Richelieu
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L’etat
c’est
moi.
Louis XIV’s reign
Louis used the secret police and spies to
control his subjects and especially the
nobles that potentially could be plotting
against him
 He authorized the opening of private mail
as well
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Mercantilism
Power through amassing wealth
 Minister of Finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert was
wealthy and extremely knowledgeable about the
economy
 Impressed certain changes to the French
economy to make it more self-sufficient and also
encouraged the expansion into a North American
New World empire in Louisiana and Canada
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– Shipped 400 peasants to “settle” Quebec
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Mercantilism was the economic theory that
stressed the governments' promotion of
limitation of imports from other nations
and internal economies in order to
improve tax revenues; popular during the
17th and 18th centuries in Europe.
Louis XIV’s Wars
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War of Spanish Succession (1701 – 1713) Charles II of
Spain was impotent and mentally inept (and he had no
heir to the throne of Spain)
In 1698 – European countries came to an agreement
that there would be a balance of power once he died.
France was NOT supposed to gain control of Spanish
crown
BUT Charles left his throne to his nephew, Philip of
Anjou (also Louis XIV’s grandson)
Louis reneged on the treaty and accepted the will
instead, angering the rest of Europe
WoSS
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England, Holland, Austria and Prussia declared war on
Louis and forced him into an all-out war –their goal to
was to maintain a balance of power in Europe and to
keep France from becoming a trading empire in the New
World (control of Spain’s territories)
John Churchill of England and Prince Eugene of Savoy,
led alliance to victory over France
This was occurring on top of other wars he had already
waged.
Philip became 1st Bourbon King of Spain, but had to
agree to never unite with France
Marked an end to French expansionism and their
burgeoning economy was checked
Absolutism In Spain
The Habsburgs and the waning of
Spain’s Power
Netherlands and the Habsburgs
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Charles V, Holy Roman
Emperor (Charles I of
Spain) retired in 1556
to a monastery. Left
Austria, Bohemia,
Hungary to bro
Ferdinand (new HRE)
Left Spain, Duchy of
Burgundy and
Netherlands
provinces to son,
Philip II of Spain
2 branches of
Habsburgs –
Austrian and
Spanish
established
Spanish
Habsburgs
King Philip II (r. 1554-1598) absolute monarch
 Defender of Catholicism
 Protected Spain’s colonies in America and the
Netherlands
 His armada was ultimately defeated by the smaller
English navy (1588). British “sea dogs” chalked it up to a
divine wind, but more likely it was due to their smaller,
more maneuverable ships
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Re-Catholicizing Europe, one
step at a time
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1/3 of the Spanish pop
worked for Church in some
capacity
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Supported Catholic
uprisings in England, France
and Netherlands (including
the slaughter of more
Huguenots); put down
moriscos in Spain
(eventually exiled
completely)
– Crusader legacy alive
and well
1566 – Calvinists in
Netherlands went on a
rampage, destroying all
vestiges of “popery” and
“idolatry”
1567 – Philip sent Duke of
Alba to Netherlands w/ 20K
soldiers to continue
Inquisition - “Council of
Troubles” (Council of Blood)
to weed out “problems”
Ultimately Spanish presence
led to the rise of a Dutch
nationality and more
problems for Philip
Phil's
Escorial
Built during reign of Philip II as a
direct response to the Reformation
 Named after the iron mines of the
area (28 miles NW of Madrid)
 Had its own cathedral, monastery
and art gallery
 Basically the Versailles of Spain
 Cost $3.4 million dollars
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Slow Decline of Spain
After years of being on top, the Spanish
Habsburgs slowly declined...losing territory
and international sway to France, England
and the Netherlands.
Rulers after Philip II were
notoriously...ineffective
King Charles II – “el hexado” (the HEXED)
or “el hechizado” (the Bewitched) (r. 16651700)
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His father was also his mother’s uncle.
– Charles's mother was a niece of Charles's father, being a daughter
of Maria Anna of Spain (1606–46) and Emperor Ferdinand III.
Thus, Empress Maria Anna was simultaneously his aunt and
grandmother and Margarita of Austria was both his grandmother
and great-grandmother. The inbreeding was so widespread in his
case that all of his eight great-grandparents were descendants of
Joanna of Aragon and Duke Phillip of Austria
– His genes were more homozygous than most children born of
siblings
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Did not talk until he was 4 or walk until age 8
– He couldn’t chew, he drooled, his tongue was so large that he
couldn’t be understood when he spoke
– He was not educated and the only outdoor activity he enjoyed
was shooting things (WHAT THE HECK???)
Charles
II
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His wife, who died in her
mid-20s after falling into
a deep depression when
she could not conceive
(prob Chucks’ fault…)
Charles the Strange
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Terrible ruler – he let Spain stagnate
Presided over more Inquisitional destruction
Tried to exhume his relatives before his death to “visit
with them”
Married 2x but was impotent, so did not produce an heir
According to the medical coroner, Charles' body
"contained not a single drop of blood, his heart looked
like the size of a grain of pepper, his lungs were
corroded, his intestines were putrid and gangrenous, he
had a single testicle which was as black as carbon and
his head was full of water.