Transcript File - HistoryRocks

Henry IV, Sully, Cardinal Richelieu, & Louis
XIV
Characteristics of
Absolutism
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Ruled by “Divine Right”
Cooperation with the nobility
Creation of Government Bureaucracies
Permanent Standing Armies
Henry IV (r.1589 -1610)
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Henry IV inherited an enormous mess
Starvation, war, pillage and plunder
He promised a “chicken in every pot”
Tried to gain protestant support by
appointing protestant Maximilien de
Bethune, duke of Sully as chief minister
• He and Sully helped France get back on its
feet
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Henry IV and Sully
The Edict of nantes (1598)
out of war
He tried to keep France
• Brief but successful war with Savoy in 1601
• Lowered taxes on the peasants
• 1602-4 introduced the paulette
• Annual fee paid by officials to guarantee heredity
in their offices
• Subsidized the Company for trade with the
Indies
• Started a country-wide highway system
The King is Dead
• Henry was assassinated in 1610 by a “crazed fanatic”
(Francois Ravaillac)
• Queen-regent Marie de Medici ruled for their son
Louis XIII
• Feudal lords and princes began to assert control
• Marie appointed Cardinal Richelieu to the council of
ministers in 1624
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Cardinal Richelieu
(1585 -1642)
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Richelieu’s Domestic
Policies
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• Main Goal = total subordination to the
monarchy
• Leveled castles (to put down feudal symbols
of independence)
• Dealt with threats (duke of Montmorency,
Godson of Henry IV)
• Divided France into 32 generalites (districts)
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Appointed royal commissioners (intendants)
Not locals from the district
Became the eyes and ears of the king
French Generalites
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Strengthening the Monarchy
• Henry IV created the Edict of Nantes (1598)
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• Allowed for 150 Huguenot towns
• Louis XIII saw this as “a state within a state” and
called for a unification of faith
• Battle ensues- La Rochelle (1628)
• Protestant district with ties to the English and Dutch
• The city fell and the Catholic liturgy was reinstated
• First mass was celebrated by cardinal Richelieu
himself
The Siege of La Rochelle
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Richelieu Continued
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• The creation of the French Academy
• Foreign policy = The destruction of the
Habsburgs
• Example: Participation in the Thirty Years’ War
• Major limitation = couldn’t tax at will
so…cooperation with local elites
• Raison d’etat = Reason of state
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“Where the interests of the state are concerned, God
absolves actions which, if privately committed, would be a
crime.” (p536)
From Richelieu to Mazarin
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• Mazarin was not as strong as Richelieu
• Period of civil wars (1648 -1653) known as the
Fronde
3 results of the Fronde
• Government would have to compromise with
the social elites and the bureaucracy
• Economy was devastated
• Was a traumatic experience that left a mark
on the young Louis XIV
Louis XIV
(b.1638 - d.1715)
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Louis XIV “The Sun
King”
Longest reign in European history
(r.1643-1715)
Responsible for the “complete domestication of the nobility”
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Built the Royal Court of Versailles
• Kept the nobility close at hand
• Never called the estates general
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Nobility had no means of united expression
• Appointed Colbert as the controller general of finances
Mercantilism under Colbert
• Theory = A nation’s international power was based on
the amount of gold they possessed
• France should sell products to other countries (for
gold) and make everything it needs within France =
self-sufficiency
• The government subsidized industry
• Set standards and regulations
• The Creation of a powerful merchant marine
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• Invested $ in shipbuilding and the training of sailors
• Helped make Canada and eventually Louisiana part of the
French empire
Colbert’s Projects
• Canal des Deux Mers
• 240 km in length (connects the Mediterranean Sea and the
Atlantic Ocean)
• An example of cooperation with local elites (nobility)
• Finished in 1681 (fifteen years to construct)
Religious Issues: The Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes (1685)
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First, the French monarchy never intended
religious toleration to be permanent
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Religious pluralism was still not accepted
Louis was basically tolerant but wanted one faith
for political reasons
“One king, one law, one faith”
Second, religious liberty was not a popular
policy
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Aristocrats wanted Louis to crackdown on
Protestants
The revocation cont.
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• Following the Revocation:
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Destruction of Huguenot churches
closing of schools
baptism of Huguenots
the exile of pastors
• Huguenots fled to Holland, England, Prussia,
Cape Town
• The Huguenots leaving had little impact on
the economy of France
Louis XIV’s Wars
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• Louis XIV kept France at war for 33 of his 54
years of personal rule
• France’s military grew from 25,000 men in
1635 to 250,000 in 1659
• Furthered the creation of a professional
military
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New methods of feeding the troops
Ambulance corps
Standardized weapons and uniforms
Rational system of promotion
Louis XIV’s Wars
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• War of Devolution (1667)
• Low Countries should go to his wife
• Triple Alliance
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Sweden, England, Holland
• Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 1668
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Gained commercial towns
Lille and Tournai
Wars Continued
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• The Dutch War (1672-1678)
• To save Amsterdam the Dutch flooded the
countryside
• Treaty of Nijmegen (1678/79)
• France gets Franche-Comte
• Parts of Flanders
Charles II of Spain
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Wars Continued
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• The War of Spanish Succession
• Charles II of Spain (r.1665-1700)
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No heirs
Philip of Anjou (Louis XIV’s grandson) was the next
closest relative
Union of Spain & France would upset the balance of
power w/in Europe
• Grand Alliance (1701)
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Prussia, Austria, Dutch, England
• War ends in 1713
Peace of Utrecht
(1713)
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Philip of Anjou = King of Spain
France and Spain never united
England receives territory from France
The English get the Slave trade from Spain
Dutch gain very little
Austria receives Spanish Netherlands
Completed the decline of Spain as a great
power
• “Balance of Power” principle
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