• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • 1
    CommentGo Back
Download
 
French 1 Project: Versailles and Louis XIVLouis XIV has most certainly been one of the most influential figures inhistory. He has been the inspiration for a Beatles song, “Sun King”, and even afittingly egoistical band named Louis XIV. There is even a successful French musicaldirected by Emmanuel Moiré called “Le Roi Soleil,” (translating to “The Sun King”)which is about his life. His name at baptism (he was Catholic) was “Louis-Dieudonné”, meaning “Louis G-d-given.” He was born on September 5
th
1638, anddied on September 1
st
1715. He ruled France from March 9
th
1663 until he died atthe aforementioned date in 1715, making his 72 years the longest rule anyEuropean monarch has ever had to date. He was also of the Bourbon royal family,ad reestablished the Bourbon dynasty on the French throne by becoming king afterCardinal Mazarin’s death, who was Italian and the previous ruler of France.Absolutism was Louis XIV’s method of government. He was an absolutemonarch, meaning that he believed in a theory known as “The Divine Right Theoryof Monarchy.” The Divine Right Theory stated that a monarch’s power is establishedby the will of G-d, and that he was G-d’s vehicle for rule on Earth. By being anabsolute ruler, he was the most powerful person in the country. Everyone was underhim in terms of power. He even gave himself the famous nickname “The Sun King,”as all power radiates from him the same way that rays radiate from the sun. He hada few ways of establishing himself in such a high position of power, all of themregarding weakening the power of the Nobility. There were two powerful parties inFrance: The Monarchy and the Nobility, the Monarchy being the king and theNobility being a collection of influential and/or royal families. By lessening the powerof the Nobility, the balance of power between the Monarchy and the Nobility tippedin favor of the Monarchy, and therefore Louis XIV became stronger.1
 
French 1 Project: Versailles and Louis XIV There were several ways in which Louis XIV weakened the nobility. One wasby simply doing without them. He would present matters to the nobility asinfrequently as possible to make them increasingly irrelevant. Instead of relying inthe nobility, he relied on his ministers, or nobles that came from relatively new royalfamilies that he knew would be loyal to him. Not only did this help with increasingLouis XIV’s own power, but it also helped unify France. France was no longer acountry with different states and provinces in which the Nobility had power. Byincreasing his own power over these states, France became more centralized underLouis XIV thus ending the feudalistic environment in which France has been in forhundreds of years.On the theme of ministers that were employed under Louis XIV – Jean-Baptiste Colbert was easily one of the most important. Colbert was the economicminister for Louis XIV, and his big idea was Mercantilism. Mercantilism is a traderegulating economic policy in which all trade is maximized for the benefit of thestate. This meant that Colbert’s ultimate goal was to make France self-sufficient interms of trade, so that no imports to France were necessary and France onlyexported goods. Colbert’s endeavors were partially successful; the high tariffs heput on imports encouraged Frenchmen to create more goods, and the low tariffs onexports encouraged foreign countries to buy French goods. To also promote thismercantilist agenda, Colbert established a strong Merchant Marine. To make up for Louis XIV’s warmongering policies, Colbert established hightaxes on the peasants, which clearly did not make them very happy (not that Louisor Colbert cared about that). The taxes would be especially high, though, to makeup for the taxes that the Nobility did not have to pay. Louis XIV didn’t impose anytaxes on the Nobility in order to keep them happy so that they wouldn’t rebel much2
 
French 1 Project: Versailles and Louis XIVagainst his ever-increasing power. Colbert was also heavily supportive on makingCanada part of the French Empire. Making Canada a French colony or subsidiarystate would improve trade conditions by inviting new trading goods in addition topromoting mercantilist policy. However, Colbert’s policies were not overall totallysuccessful. While industrialization did indeed make major improvements, theagricultural economy suffered due to the heavy taxation on the peasants whocultivated the lands. That time period also brought poor harvests.Louis XIV was notorious for instigating a series of wars which were all part of his attempt to take over Europe. They failed, yet had many consequences for thelandscape of Europe. One significant consequence was breaking France out of the“Habsburg Entanglement.” France was surrounded by countries which were all rulesby the Habsburg family, and France was therefore alienated to some extent bythem. Louis XIV sought to change the rulers of the surrounding countries, or takethem over himself in order to break free of that.Of the 54 years that Louis XIV had personal rule over France, for 33 of themhe kept France at war. Louis XIV’s war policies were also rather novel. Unlike theprevious armies of France which were small armies controlled by different noblefamilies, Louis XIV outlawed these private armies and instead formed one big armycontrolled by the state. Since Louis ruled the state, it meant that he personallywould control the army.Some significant wars that reflected Louis XIV’s wildly expansionist policiesinclude the Franco-Dutch War, where Louis tried to gain control over the Dutchprovinces. The League of Augsburg War, which was against England and Amsterdamwho had lent a lot of money to England. The War of Spanish Succession, possiblythe most important war in which Louis XIV tried to make his grandson the King of 3
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...