AP Euro Week 5 Louis XIV and Absolutism

AP Euro Week 5: Louis XIV and Absolutism

Background: Louis XIII ► r. 1610 -1643 ► Heavily influenced by Cardinal Richelieu, his advisor § Increased taxes § Controlled nobility by banning duels and appointing intendants to watch them § Took away Huguenot’s political rights

Louis XIV

Intro to Louis XIV ► Becomes king at age 5, in 1643 ► The Fronde (failed noble revolt, 1648 -1653) takes place during his youth distrusts nobility, convinced that he must create strong, absolute government ► Cardinal Mazarin ruled France while Louis was young ► 1661 – Mazarin dies, Louis assumes control of the government

Political Changes ► Absolutism: king is absolute ruler, nobles have little/no power § “L’etat, c’est moi” § “Sun King § “Divine Right” ► Diminished power of local parlements ► Modernized army § Organized command, Louis on top § Increased discipline, size, supplies

The Sun King

Versailles ► To show his grandeur, Louis constructs a huge palace at Versailles ► Originally Louis’s hunting lodge, 15 km from Paris (isolated) ► Consumed as much as 60 -80% of France’s income ► **Also a political move: nobles come to live at Versailles and Louis can control them ► Court etiquette spreads throughout Euro

Economic Policies ► Jean-Baptiste Colbert: Louis’s finance minister, pursued mercantilist policies ► Colbert created Five Great Farms, a free trade zone within France about the size of England ► Colbert established manufacturing codes that regulated the quality of goods in certain industries ► Established French East India Company ► High tariffs on foreign goods, high taxes (harmful to lower classes)

Religious Policies ► Gallican church: Catholic but independent from Rome ► “un roi, un foi, un loi” ► Opposed Huguenots for political not theological reasons ► In 1685 he revoked the Edict of Nantes no more protections for Protestants, they must convert back to Catholicism § Many Protestants leave France § Bad political move?

Culture Under Louis XIV ► Versailles art and architecture thrived § Neoclassicism: emphasized order, harmony, and antiquity ► Louis XIV encouraged writers (Moliere, Racine, Cornielle) ► Salons – people discussed philosophy, literature, art ► French thought and language spread throughout Europe

Wars of Louis XIV: BOP ► Balance of Power (BOP): when one country threatens universal monarchy, all the other countries ally against it ► Many small, weak countries ally together – don’t have much power individually but are strong collectively

Wars of Louis XIV ► War of Devolution (First Dutch War) (1667 - 1668) § Louis invades Spanish Netherlands § Blocked by Triple Alliance (England, Holland, Sweden) § Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668): France loses Franche-Comte

Wars of Louis XIV ► Second Dutch War (1672 -1678) § Louis invades Holland § Gets support from England through Secret Treaty of Dover, 1670 § Blocked by Dutch, Habsburgs, Brandenburg, and Denmark § Treaty of Nimwegen(1678): France loses Holland but gets Franche-Comte

Wars of Louis XIV ► Invasion of the Spanish Netherlands (1683) § League of Augsburg forms (alliance against Louis) ► War of the League of Augsburg (1688 -1697) § France vs. Holland, England, & League of Augsburg § Treaty of Ryswick (1697): Matters left where they were before the war

Map of Wars of Louis XIV

War of Spanish Succession ► Charles II, king of Spain, was dying and without an heir, last of Spanish Habsburg line ► Louis XIV and the HRE (Leopold I) both married sisters of Charles ► In his will, Charles leaves Spain to Philip V, nephew of Louis ► Louis invades Spain based on France’s claim to Spanish throne ► France vs. Grand Alliance (1701): Holland, England, HRE, Prussia

Peace of Utrecht (1714) ► Philip V becomes king of Spain ► Spain can never be united with France ► Spanish Netherlands Austrian Netherlands ► England gains Gibraltar, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the asiento (trading rights in Spanish Empire) ► Ends Louis’s last attempt at French universal monarchy

Conclusion ► Louis XIV died in 1715 and his grandson Louis XV became king ► Many historians claim that his inclination towards war was his downfall