Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
The Church in Early Modern France Religious Nationalism – Revolution – Anti-Catholicism - Dictatorship For most of the late 1600s and early 1700s, France was ruled by King Louis XIV, a very authoritarian and powerful figure – rumored to have said “L'État, c'est moi” (I am the state). The Catholic King Louis XIV wanted to unify his country and Gallicanism became a way of bridging deep suspicion between France’s Catholics and Protestants. Gallicanism or religious nationalism appeared in the late 17th century, when French clerics and also theologians at the Sorbonne University declared that the Pope had no authority over the king's realm, nor his superiority to a general council, nor infallibility apart from the Church's consent. However, a few years later, French bishops wrote the Pope a letter in which they disavowed everything that had been decreed in that assembly in regard to the ecclesiastical power and the pontifical authority. The king Louis XIV himself wrote to the pope to announce that a pro-Gallican royal order had been issued against his will. Despite this, in the early 1700sGallicanism was supported by most French clerics, and defended in universities, schools, and seminaries. The Luxurious Palace of Versailles Execution of Aristocrats after the Revolution France became a heavily indebted country, after King Louis XIV spent a fortune on wars and building his beautiful Versailles Palace. Later King Louis XVI spent a fortune to help American colonists rebel against France’s rival England. National economic problems led to a very high tax rate to pay of Frances debts in the time of Louis XVI, leading poverty and unemployment. As well, there was a famine in the 1780s. Already influenced by nationalist ideas, many French discontent people wanted radical change, leading to the French Revolution. In 1789, King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antionette were removed from power and executed, the start of a reign of terror. The French Revolution and the Catholic Church Cult of Reason in Notre Dame A Guillotine Execution - the Reign of Terror Under the French Monarchy, the Catholic Church and clerics were protected, given positions of power & honour and granted the right to tax the Catholic faithful. After the Revolution, much of the fury of the Revolutionaries was turned against the king’s allies, including Church. Churches were closed, many priests were executed, Catholic monuments were destroyed, religious instruction was outlawed, clerics forcibly married, and a Cult of Reason was instituted in France by the Revolutionaries. Of the approx. 40,000 French people executed, beheaded by guillotine, during the reign of terror, nearly 3000 were clerics. As well, in 1793 the Catholic Cathedral in Paris, Notre Dame was turned into a Temple of Reason and much of the sacred art and relics were destroyed. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and the Concordat Napleon Bonaparte leading French Armies on Campaing in Russia In 1801, the government of Napoleon Bonaparte signed a Concordat or agreement with Pope Pius VII. This ended the anti-Catholic and de-Christianizing policies of the French government. The agreement granted religious freedom and recognized that Catholicism was the religion of the majority of the French. It guaranteed the Pope’s right to appoint and remove bishops. As well, the French state agreed to pay salary to priests and to return Church lands confiscated after the revolution. The concordat of 1801 made peace between Catholics and the French stated, lasting throughout the 19th century. Three years later, in 1804, Napoleon crowned himself emperor. During his reign Napoleon led France to long, costly and destructive wars, that 100,000s of deaths and the destruction of much of Europe. Catholicism in Early Modern France 1) What sort of ruler was King Louis XIV? Why did he support Gallicanism for a time? 2) What were some of the main beliefs of French Gallican theologians? 3) What problems did Louis XIV’s construction of the Versailles palace bring about? 4) What was France’s economy like in the time of King Louis XVI? 5) What were some reasons why many French people supported the French Revolution? 6) What was the position of the Catholic Church in France before the Revolution? 7) Why did the Revolutionaries target the Catholic Church during the reign of terror? 8) How were people executed during the reign of terror? 9) What religious view did the Revolutionaries try to impose of France? 10) How did Napoleon Bonaparte end anti-Catholicism in France? 11) Was Napoleon Bonaparte a very saintly and peaceful ruler?