Louis XIV most important Absolute monarch Different ways

Louis XIV: most important Absolute monarch

Different ways kings gained absolute power: • Spain: (Charles V, Phillip II) used Catholic Church and Divine Right • Russia: (Ivan the Terrible) killed all competing nobles, also claimed to be successor to Roman Empire (Czar- Caesar) • Ottomans: (Suleiman the Magnificent) claimed to be next Caliph by conquering Mecca • China: (Ming, Qing) Mandate of Heaven, Confucian system

Before taking power:

BUILDING ABSOLUTISM Rise of the Sun King Confident in Ability to Rule • Louis XIV becomes king at young age, with mother as regent • Young king supremely confident in ability to rule • Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister after Richelieu, provided advice • When Mazarin died, 18 -year-old Louis declared he would run government himself – takes reigns of government in 1661 • Louis raised to be king, taught skills needed from childhood • “I am the state, ” he declared Young Louis XIV Cardinal Mazarin

• Sun King: because he saw himself as the center of the France • Court life in France revolved around worshipping of Louis and everything he did

RULE OF LOUIS XIV Central Government • Drew power to himself, deprived nobles of influence • Built palace outside Paris at Versailles; demanded nobles visit and live there • Nobles gained prestige being servants at Versailles court, not by fighting • Additionally, Louis urged nobles to develop expensive new habits of dressing, dining, and gambling • As nobles grew poorer, had to depend on king’s generosity just to survive Versailles

Life at Versailles • “In everything [Louis XIV] loved splendor, magnificence, profusion. He turned his taste into a maxim for political reasons and instilled it into his court on all matters. One could please him by throwing oneself into fine food, clothes, retinue, buildings, gambling. These were occasions which enabled him to talk to people. The essence of it was that by this he attempted and succeeded in exhausting everyone by making luxury a virtue and for certain persons a necessity, and thus he gradually reduced [the nobility] to depending entirely on his generosity. . . ” • The Duke of Saint-Simon

• Versailles was--and still is--considered a marvel of construction. Many Kings and nobility in Europe tried to copy Versailles, but none came close

Royal Chapel, Palace of Versailles (completed in 1710)

Ceiling of the Royal Chapel: The Holy Trinity

Spy Network • “Louis XIV took very special to be informed about everything that was going on. . . in public and in private. He had an infinity of spies. . . of every kind. Some were ignorant of the fact that their relations went all the way to him, others knew it. • “But the cruelest of all the ways by which the king was kept informed, and it was many years before it was realized, and many never did realize it. . . was by opening letters. • “It is impossible to understand how promptly and efficiently it was done. The king saw extracts from every letter. . . which the chiefs of the postal service judged should reach him. A word of criticism of the king or the government, a bit of sarcasm could ruin one forever. ” • The Duke of Saint-Simon

French Colonies • Reasons for Colonies: – 1. Trading posts (for furs) – 2. Missionaries (converting indians) – 3. Excess population (not a huge problem)

New France Reason for colonization: trading furs and missionary work

Saint Domingue (Haiti) Reason for colonization: SUGAR!!!!!!

French Colonial System • New France: – trappers, soldiers, and missionaries – Economy: trade with Indians • Saint Domingue: – rich white planters, African slaves, and poor white laborers – Small population of mulatto middle class • Economy: sugar plantations

Dutch Colonies • Mostly set up for trade

Dutch Colonies • New Amsterdam: (New York) captured by British • South Africa: farmers (Afrikaaners, later Boers) • Indonesia • Trading posts in India, Caribbean, and Pacific

South Africa

Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) • Began with trading posts, then conquered all the islands