Absolutism in France was based on the idea of divine right monarchy, where kings received their power directly from God. Louis XIV ruled as an absolute monarch, centralizing authority and weakening the nobility. He built the grand Palace of Versailles to overawe visitors and keep the nobility occupied and competing for royal favor. Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes, expelling Protestants from France to strengthen Catholicism as the sole religion.

1. Absolutism
Case Study: France

3. Absolutism
• Sovereign power and ultimate authority rest
in the hands of the monarch who claims
divine right

4. Divine-Right Monarchy
• Idea established by Bishop Jacques Benin
Bossuet (1627-1704)
• Politics Drawn from the Words of the Scripture
• Government divinely ordained so people can
live with order
• God establishes kings and through them rules
over people
• Since kings get power from God, they are only
responsible to Him

5. Bishop Jacques Benin Bossuet
God
established
kings as his
ministers

6. Jean Domat (1625-1696):
On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy
• It is a further consequence of these principles that, since all
people do not do their duty and some, on the
contrary, commit injustices, for the sake of keeping order in
society, injustices and all enterprises against this order must
be repressed: which was possible only through authority
given to some over others, and which made government
necessary.
• This necessity of government over people equal by their
nature, distinguished from each other only by the differences
that God established among them according to their stations
and professions, makes it clear that government arises from
His will; and because only He is the natural sovereign of
men, it is from Him that all those who govern derive their
power and all their authority, and it is God Himself Whom

7. Foundations of French Absolutism
• Attempt by royal
ministers to keep
France from falling
into anarchy while
it is ruled by boy
kings
• See Fronde
Rebellion in your
textbook!

8. France under Louis XIII (1610-1643)
• Ruled by Cardinal Richelieu as minister (16241642)
– Strengthened monarchy
– Eliminated political and military rights gained by
Huguenots under Henry IV, but allowed them to
maintain religious rights
– Excluded provincial nobles who insisted their land
should be independent from central government
– Created a network of spies and crushed conspiracy
– Increase taille in failed attempt to reform the
economy
– Incurred huge debt during the Thirty Years War

9. Louis XIV, the Sun King, inherits throne at
four years old
• Mother Anne of Austria appointed regent
• She appoints Cardinal Mazarin Chief Minister
– Puts down rebellion by the Fronde further
centralizing royal authority

10. • At 23, Louis rules as king in his own right
– Established a conscientious routine and almost
never deviated from it
– Built Palace of Versailles to show his glory and
nobility
– Created a lavish court at Versailles, competition
between nobles for his affections
– Relied on professional bureaucrats and ministers
instead of nobility
– Worked to eliminate regional courts and laws
– Gained control over local politics through bribery if
necessary

11. “One king, one law, one faith”
• October 1685, issues Edict of Fontainbleau
which revoked the Edict of Nantes and closed
protestant churches and schools
• Many French Huguenots sought asylum in
Germany  greater economic trouble

12. Edict of Fontainbleau, 1685
• God having at last permitted that our people should enjoy perfect
peace, we, no longer absorbed in protecting them from our enemies, are
able to profit by this truce (which we have ourselves facilitated), and devote
our whole attention to the means of accomplishing the designs of our said
grandfather and father, which we have consistently kept before us since our
succession to the crown.
• And now we perceive, with thankful acknowledgment of God's aid, that our
endeavors have attained their proposed end, inasmuch as the better and
the greater part of our subjects of the said R.P.R. have embraced the
Catholic faith. And since by this fact the execution of the Edict of Nantes
and of all that has ever been ordained in favor of the said R.P.R. has been
rendered nugatory, we have determined that we can do nothing better, in
order wholly to obliterate the memory of the troubles, the confusion, and
the evils which the progress of this false religion has caused in this
kingdom, and which furnished occasion for the said edict and for so many
previous and subsequent edicts and declarations, than entirely to revoke
the said Edict of Nantes, with the special articles granted as a sequel to
it, as well as all that has since been done in favor of the said religion.

13. • Under Chief Finance Minister Jean-Baptiste
Colbert, attempted to strengthen economy
through strict adherence to mercantilism
– Worked to improve the quality of French goods
– Established new luxury industries
– Increased tariffs on imported goods
– Built roads and canals
– Rather than strengthen the economy, most of the
money collected by Colbert was used to finance
Louis’s many wars

14. Wars of Louis XIV
• Spent 2/3 if his reign engaged in foreign war
to increase French lands and power,
– Most famous = War of Spanish
succession, planned to put his grandson Philip on
Spanish throne following the death of Charles II
– Treaty of Utrecht 1713 of Rasatt in 1714 made
Philip of Bourbon Philip V of Spain, but eliminated
his right to the French throne for him and his
successors

15. Life at Versailles
• Versailles served many practical purposes
– Home to Princes of the Blood
– Residence for the king and his ministers
– Kept nobility engaged in myriad activities so they
couldn’t plot against him
– Full of daily ceremony to inspire awe and keep
people busy

16. Paris and Versailles (France)

17. Duc de Saint-Simon
• He availed himself of the frequent festivities at Versailles, and
his excursions to other places, as a means of making the
courtiers assiduous in their attendance and anxious to please
him; for he nominated beforehand those who were to take
part in them, and could thus gratify some and inflict a snub
on others. He was conscious that the substantial favours he
had to bestow were not nearly sufficient to produce a
continual effect; he had therefore to invent imaginary
ones, and no one was so clever in devising petty distinctions
and preferences which aroused jealousy and emulation… It
was another distinction to hold his candlestick at his coucher;
as soon as he had finished his prayers he used to name the
courtier to whom it was to be handed, always choosing one
of the highest rank among those present....

18. • Not only did he expect all persons of distinction to be in
continual attendance at Court, but he was quick to
notice the absence of those of inferior degree; at his
lever, his coucher, his meals, in the gardens of Versailles
(the only place where the courtiers in general were
allowed to follow him), he used to cast his eyes to right
and left; nothing escaped him, he saw everybody. If any
one habitually living at Court absented himself he
insisted on knowing the reason; those who came there
only for flying visits had also to give a satisfactory
explanation; any one who seldom or never appeared
there was certain to incur his displeasure. If asked to
bestow a favour on such persons he would reply
haughtily: "I do not know him"; of such as rarely
presented themselves he would say, "He is a man I
never see"; and from these judgements there was no
appeal.

19. • He loved splendour, magnificence, and profusion in all
things, and encouraged similar tastes in his Court; to spend
money freely on equipages and buildings, on feasting and at
cards, was a sure way to gain his favour, perhaps to obtain the
honour of a word from him. Motives of policy had something
to do with this; by making expensive habits the
fashion, and, for people in a certain position, a necessity, he
compelled his courtiers to live beyond their income, and
gradually reduced them to depend on his bounty for the
means of subsistence. This was a plague which, once
introduced, became a scourge to the whole country, for it did
not take long to spread to Paris, and thence to the armies and
the provinces; so that a man of any position is now estimated
entirely according to his expenditure on his table and other
luxuries. This folly, sustained by pride and ostentation, has
already produced widespread confusion; it threatens to end
in nothing short of ruin and a general overthrow.

20. • With an almanac and a watch, you could be three
hundred leagues from here and say what he was
doing". The King's day was timed down to the last
minute so that the officers in the service of the
monarch could plan their work as accurately as
possible. From the rising ceremony to the
retiring, he followed a strict schedule, as did all the
members of the Court, all regulated like clockwork.
• http://m.en.chateauversailles.fr/history/versaillesduring-the-centuries/living-at-the-court/a-day-inthe-life-of-louis-xiv

21. Finally…
• Did not meet with the Estates General ever
during his 72 year reign

22. Questions
1. What steps were taken by the French
monarchs and/or their regents to centralize
royal authority?
2. How did Louis XIV’s highly ritualized life
support order and increase his power?
3. Cerate a Venn diagram comparing the
government systems of France and England
prior to 1750.