Absolutism in France

By: William Keller, Tori Soltis, and Franklin Boney, Daniel David

Period FMrs. Bowen

European HistoryDec 4

Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642)

• Secretary of State – 1616

• Ruled through Louis XIII from 1610 until his death

• Reformed and strengthened France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Richelieu

Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu

Dangers to the French State

• Huguenots– Sieged walled Huguenot cities

• French Nobility– Nobility ordered to take down their

walled/fortified castles

• Hapsburg Armies– Denied Hapsburgs civil equality, degraded

them

Intendants

• Richelieu strengthened the power of gov’t agents, or intendants to reduce the need of an army

• Replaced nobility• Selected from the French middle class• Extremely loyal to the king• Administered justice• Collected taxes

Cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661)

• Succeeded Cardinal Richelieu – Ruled under Louis XIV

• Wanted to increase power of France at all costs

• Nobles stripped of their power rebelled, called La Fronde

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazarin

La Fronde

• Rebellious nobles• Five years of revolts• Louis XIV was the target of several plots,

always in danger• Tension between the rebellious nobles

eventually caused La Fronde to fizzle out• Accepted oppression, now feared rebellion

was worse

• 11 miles southwest of Paris, France

• Was a hunting lodge given by Louis XIV until construction started in 1668 and was finished in 1710

• Was completely unfortified

http://mlefeuvre.club.fr/scienceslettres/Le%20chateau%20de%20Versailles.jpg

Versailles

• About 10,000 servants and nobles tended to louses every needs.

• Most famous room was hall of mirrors• It showed Louis political and religious dominance• It stood as the unofficial capital of France

The Splendors of Versailles

• An idea created byJean Baptiste Colbert

• country's economics were based on certain conditions

• He also realized the importance of trade and tariffs

http://www.ifremer.fr/envlit/actualite/img/20021015marquisdeseignelay.jpg

Mercantilism

• Louis was a faithful Catholic and believed that the Huguenots should have no rights

• As a result, about 200,000 Huguenots fled the country

http://history2.professorpage.info/absolutism_files/image012.jpg

The revocation of the Edict of Nantes

• He wanted to have a lot of control over Europe.

• He also wanted his son to take the Spanish Throne

Louis XIV’s Foreign Policy Goals

• Balance of power is the state in which no single nation is strong enough to assert its own will or dominate others

• Louis and his court often came to set standards for other monarchies and aristocracies all over Europe

Balance of Power

• The war of the succession to the spanish throne, in which Louis’ grandson had taken the throne

• The Holy Roman Empire went to war to with Spain and France to protect its inheritance

War of Spanish Succession 1701-1714

• Spain and France crowns were separated

• Spain’s empire got divided

• And it ultimately ended the war

Treaty of Utrecht

• Mainly he used his court to regulate other nations and set their standards

• His grandson took the Spanish throne and allied with France, which was a major factor in starting the Succession on the Spanish Throne war

How he achieved his goals

• Louis XIV forced the nobles out of their land

• He took away the Huguenot’s rights

• He also fought expensive wars, to gain more land

http://www.ambafrance-us.org/atoz/images/france.jpg

Absolutism growing in France