What Methods Did French Monarch Louis Xiv Use to Legitimize and Consolidate His Power?
The reign of France'due south Louis 14 (1638-1715), known equally the Sun Rex, lasted for 72 years, longer than that of any other known European sovereign. In that fourth dimension, he transformed the monarchy, ushered in a aureate age of art and literature, presided over a dazzling majestic courtroom at Versailles, annexed fundamental territories and established his country equally the ascendant European power. During the concluding decades of Louis Fourteen'south rule, French republic was weakened by several lengthy wars that drained its resources and the mass exodus of its Protestant population post-obit the king's revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Early on Life and Reign of Louis Fourteen
Born on September 5, 1638, to Rex Louis 13 of French republic (1601-1643) and his Habsburg queen, Anne of Austria (1601-1666), the hereafter Louis 14 was his parents' first child afterward 23 years of marriage; in recognition of this apparent miracle, he was christened Louis-Dieudonné, pregnant "gift of God." A younger brother, Philippe (1640-1701), followed two years later. When the rex died on May 14, 1643, 4-twelvemonth-one-time Louis inherited the crown of a fractured, unstable and nearly insolvent French republic. Later orchestrating the annulment of Louis Xiii's will, which had appointed a regency quango to rule on the immature king'southward behalf, Anne served as sole regent for her son, assisted by her master minister and close confidant, the Italian-born Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602-1661).
During the early years of Louis Fourteen'south reign, Anne and Mazarin introduced policies that further consolidated the monarchy's ability, angering nobles and members of the legal aristocracy. Showtime in 1648, their discontent erupted into a civil state of war known equally the Fronde, which forced the royal family to abscond Paris and instilled a lifelong fearfulness of rebellion in the young king. Mazarin suppressed the revolt in 1653 and past decade's stop had restored internal social club and negotiated a peace treaty with Hapsburg Kingdom of spain, making French republic a leading European power. The following twelvemonth, 22-year-old Louis married his first cousin Marie-Thérèse (1638-1683), daughter of King Philip 4 of Espana. A diplomatic necessity more than than anything else, the union produced six children, of whom only ane, Louis (1661-1711), survived to adulthood. (A number of illegitimate offspring resulted from Louis Xiv's affairs with a string of official and unofficial mistresses.)
READ MORE: nine Things You lot May Not Know Nearly Louis XIV
Louis XIV Assumes Control of France
After Mazarin's death in 1661, Louis XIV broke with tradition and astonished his court by declaring that he would rule without a main government minister. He viewed himself as the directly representative of God, endowed with a divine right to wield the absolute power of the monarchy. To illustrate his condition, he chose the sun as his emblem and cultivated the image of an omniscient and infallible "Roi-Soleil" ("Sun King") around whom the entire realm orbited. While some historians question the attribution, Louis is often remembered for the assuming and infamous statement "L'État, c'est moi" ("I am the Land").
Immediately after assuming command of the government, Louis worked tirelessly to centralize and tighten control of French republic and its overseas colonies. His finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), implemented reforms that sharply reduced the arrears and fostered the growth of industry, while his state of war minister, the Marquis de Louvois (1641-1691), expanded and reorganized the French army. Louis also managed to pacify and disempower the historically rebellious nobles, who had fomented no less than 11 ceremonious wars in four decades, past luring them to his court and habituating them to the opulent lifestyle there.
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A 1701 portrait of Louis 14 of France, known as Louis the Peachy or the Sun King (1638-1715), painting by Hyacinthe Rigaud.
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The Arts and the Regal Courtroom Under Louis Xiv
A hard-working and meticulous ruler who oversaw his programs down to the last detail, Louis Xiv nevertheless appreciated art, literature, music, theater and sports. He surrounded himself with some of the greatest artistic and intellectual figures of his time, including the playwright Molière (1622-1673), the painter Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) and the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687). He as well appointed himself patron of the Académie Française, the body that regulates the French language, and established diverse institutes for the arts and sciences.
To accommodate his retinue of newly devoted nobles (and, possibly, to distance himself from the population of Paris), Louis built several lavish châteaux that depleted the nation'southward coffers while drawing accusations of extravagance. Near famously, he transformed a royal hunting guild in Versailles, a village 25 miles southwest of the capital, into one of the largest palaces in the world, officially moving his court and government there in 1682. Information technology was against this awe-inspiring properties that Louis tamed the nobility and impressed foreign dignitaries, using amusement, anniversary and a highly codified system of etiquette to assert his supremacy. Versailles' festive atmosphere dissipated to some extent when Louis came nether the influence of the pious and orderly Marquise de Maintenon (1635-1719), who had served as his illegitimate children'southward governess; the two wed in a private ceremony approximately 1 year after the death of Queen Marie-Thérèse in 1683.
Louis Fourteen and Foreign Policy
In 1667 Louis XIV launched the War of Devolution (1667-1668), the outset in a series of military conflicts that characterized his aggressive approach to foreign policy, past invading the Spanish Netherlands, which he claimed as his wife's inheritance. Under force per unit area from the English language, Swedish and especially the Dutch, France retreated and returned the region to Kingdom of spain, gaining only some frontier towns in Flanders. This unsatisfactory effect led to the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678), in which French republic acquired more than territory in Flanders as well equally the Franche-Comté. Now at the summit of his powers and influence, Louis established "chambers of reunion" to annex disputed cities and towns along France'southward edge through quasi-legal means.
France'due south position equally the ascendant power on the continent—coupled with a colonial presence that burgeoned under Louis XIV—was perceived every bit a threat by other European nations, including England, the Holy Roman Empire and Spain. In the late 1680s, responding to notwithstanding another spate of expansionist campaigns past Louis' armies, they and several smaller countries formed a coalition known as the Grand Alliance. The ensuing war, fought on both hemispheres, lasted from 1688 to 1697; French republic emerged with most of its territory intact but its resources severely strained. More disastrous for Louis Xiv was the State of war of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), in which the aging king defended his grandson Philip V'south inheritance of Spain and its empire. The long conflict plunged a famine-ridden France into massive debt, turning public opinion against the crown.
Louis Xiv and Religion
It was not only decades of warfare that weakened both France and its monarch during the latter one-half of Louis XIV's reign. In 1685, the devoutly Cosmic king revoked the Edict of Nantes, issued past his granddad Henry 4 in 1598, which had granted freedom of worship and other rights to French Protestants, known as Huguenots. With the Edict of Fontainebleau, Louis ordered the devastation of Protestant churches, the closure of Protestant schools and the expulsion of Protestant clergy. Protestants would be barred from assembling and their marriages would be deemed invalid. Baptism and education in the Catholic organized religion would be required of all children.
Roughly 1 million Huguenots lived in France at the time, and many were artisans or other types of skilled workers. Although emigration of Protestants was explicitly forbidden by the Edict of Fontainebleau, scores of people—estimates range from 200,000 to 800,000—fled in the decades that followed, settling in England, Switzerland, Germany and the American colonies, among other places. Louis 14'due south act of religious zeal—brash, some have suggested, by the Marquise de Maintenon—had cost the country a valuable segment of its labor force while drawing the ire of its Protestant neighbors.
Expiry of Louis Xiv
On September 1, 1715, four days earlier his 77th birthday, Louis 14 died of gangrene at Versailles. His reign had lasted 72 years, longer than that of any other known European monarch, and left an indelible mark on the culture, history and destiny of France. His 5-year-former great-grandson succeeded him as Louis XV.
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/france/louis-xiv
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