Absolutism in France developed under Louis XIV, known as the Sun King. He centralized power in the monarchy through divine right ideology, weakening the nobility. Louis built the grand Palace of Versailles to demonstrate his absolute power and kept the nobility occupied and competing for favor there. Through laws like the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revoked rights of Protestants, Louis established religious and political unity in France under absolute royal authority.
And this is how the story of Rome begins the story of the city of the twins, born of diversity sons of Mars and mothered by a vestal virgin. A shepherd found the twins in the bushes near the Tiber river. Suckled by a wolf one of the twins would be killed by his brother who would build the most magnificent nation ever known. Romulas and Remus as the children were called, both wanted to build a new city. Romulus would create a truly unique civilization that confounds people even today. The city would become an empire to never be forgotten. Today, we still look back, and we see the legendary nation of Rome.
It has impacted our very lives, and changed the way early society would operate. Today students still all over the world still study Rome. American Students study Julius Caesar, English scholars hypothesis the possibility of the legendary King Arthur, perhaps being a Roman; Italian students study the twelve tablets of Roman law. The Romans, while not unique unto the land they lived, are unique in the way they put together knowledge, and instituted into their system. Roman government, Roman laws and pieces of Roman society can still be seen in today’s society...
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the French Revolution,” 1790 h.docxSALU18
Edmund Burke, “Reflections on the French Revolution,” 1790
http://web.archive.org/web/19981206201151/http://pluto.clinch.edu/history/wciv2/civ2ref/burke.html
Downloaded and edited by Dr. James W. Williams, Troy University, for HIS 1101, 20 September 2016
[Dr. Williams’ introduction: This is a very short extract from the Englishman, Edmund Burke’s essay on the French
Revolution, in which Burke set out what became the basic tenets of European conservatism. Note that this was
written before the French Revolution reached the point of abandoning a monarchy and the Reign of Terror and all
that followed.
[Document]
III. THE ERRORS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
INSTEAD OF DESTROYING THE OLD STATE THE FRENCH SHOULD HAVE BUILT ON THE FOUNDATION THEIR
ANCESTORS HAD LEFT THEM
You might, if you pleased, have profited of our example and have given to your recovered freedom a
correspondent dignity. Your privileges, though discontinued, were not lost to memory. Your constitution, it is
true, whilst you were out of possession, suffered waste and dilapidation; but you possessed in some parts the
walls and in all the foundations of a noble and venerable castle. You might have repaired those walls; you might
have built on those old foundations. Your constitution was suspended before it was perfected, but you had the
elements of a constitution very nearly as good as could be wished. In your old states you possessed that variety of
parts corresponding with the various descriptions of which your community was happily composed; you had all
that combination and all that opposition of interests; you had that action and counteraction which, in the natural
and in the political world, from the reciprocal struggle of discordant powers, draws out the harmony of the
universe. These opposed and conflicting interests which you considered as so great a blemish in your old and in
our present constitution interpose a salutary check to all precipitate resolutions. They render deliberation a
matter, not of choice, but of necessity; they make all change a subject of compromise, which naturally begets
moderation; they produce temperaments preventing the sore evil of harsh, crude, unqualified reformations, and
rendering all the headlong exertions of arbitrary power, in the few or in the many, for ever impracticable. Through
that diversity of members and interests, general liberty had as many securities as there were separate views in
the several orders, whilst, by pressing down the whole by the weight of a real monarchy, the separate parts would
have been prevented from warping and starting from their allotted places.
You had all these advantages in your ancient states, but you chose to act as if you had never been molded into
civil society and had everything to begin anew. You began ill, because you began by despising everything that
belonged to you. You set up your trade without a capital. If the last generations of your country appeared w ...
Letter VI—On the PresbyteriansTHE CHURCH OF ENGLAND is con.docxSHIVA101531
Letter VI—On the Presbyterians
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND is confined almost to the kingdom whence it received its name, and to Ireland, for Presbyterianism is the established religion in Scotland. This Presbyterianism is directly the same with Calvinism, as it was established in France, and is now professed at Geneva. As the priests of this sect receive but very inconsiderable stipends from their churches, and consequently cannot emulate the splendid luxury of bishops, they exclaim very naturally against honours which they can never attain to. Figure to yourself the haughty Diogenes trampling under foot the pride of Plato. The Scotch Presbyterians are not very unlike that proud though tattered reasoner. Diogenes did not use Alexander half so impertinently as these treated King Charles II.; for when they took up arms in his cause in opposition to Oliver, who had deceived them, they forced that poor monarch to undergo the hearing of three or four sermons every day, would not suffer him to play, reduced him to a state of penitence and mortification, so that Charles soon grew sick of these pedants, and accordingly eloped from them with as much joy as a youth does from school.
1
A Church of England minister appears as another Cato in presence of a juvenile, sprightly French graduate, who bawls for a whole morning together in the divinity schools, and hums a song in chorus with ladies in the evening; but this Cato is a very spark when before a Scotch Presbyterian. The latter affects a serious gait, puts on a sour look, wears a vastly broad-brimmed hat and a long cloak over a very short coat, preaches through the nose, and gives the name of the whore of Babylon to all churches where the ministers are so fortunate as to enjoy an annual revenue of five or six thousand pounds, and where the people are weak enough to suffer this, and to give them the titles of my lord, your lordship, or your eminence.
2
These gentlemen, who have also some churches in England, introduced there the mode of grave and severe exhortations. To them is owing the sanctification of Sunday in the three kingdoms. People are there forbidden to work or take any recreation on that day, in which the severity is twice as great as that of the Romish Church. No operas, plays, or concerts are allowed in London on Sundays, and even cards are so expressly forbidden that none but persons of quality, and those we call the genteel, play on that day; the rest of the nation go either to church, to the tavern, or to see their mistresses.
3
Though the Episcopal and Presbyterian sects are the two prevailing ones in Great Britain, yet all others are very welcome to come and settle in it, and live very sociably together, though most of their preachers hate one another almost as cordially as a Jansenist damns a Jesuit.
4
Take a view of the Royal Exchange in London, a place more venerable than many courts of justice, where the representatives of all nations meet for the benefit of mankin ...
THE PRINCECHAPTER I — HOW MANY KINDS OF PRINCIPALITIES THERE A.docxoreo10
THE PRINCE
CHAPTER I — HOW MANY KINDS OF PRINCIPALITIES THERE ARE, AND BY WHAT MEANS THEY ARE ACQUIRED
All states, all powers, that have held and hold rule over men have been and are either republics or principalities.
Principalities are either hereditary, in which the family has been long established; or they are new.
The new are either entirely new, as was Milan to Francesco Sforza, or they are, as it were, members annexed to the hereditary state of the prince who has acquired them, as was the kingdom of Naples to that of the King of Spain.
Such dominions thus acquired are either accustomed to live under a prince, or to live in freedom; and are acquired either by the arms of the prince himself, or of others, or else by fortune or by ability.
CHAPTER II — CONCERNING HEREDITARY PRINCIPALITIES
I will leave out all discussion on republics, inasmuch as in another place I have written of them at length, and will address myself only to principalities. In doing so I will keep to the order indicated above, and discuss how such principalities are to be ruled and preserved.
I say at once there are fewer difficulties in holding hereditary states, and those long accustomed to the family of their prince, than new ones; for it is sufficient only not to transgress the customs of his ancestors, and to deal prudently with circumstances as they arise, for a prince of average powers to maintain himself in his state, unless he be deprived of it by some extraordinary and excessive force; and if he should be so deprived of it, whenever anything sinister happens to the usurper, he will regain it.
We have in Italy, for example, the Duke of Ferrara, who could not have withstood the attacks of the Venetians in '84, nor those of Pope Julius in '10, unless he had been long established in his dominions. For the hereditary prince has less cause and less necessity to offend; hence it happens that he will be more loved; and unless extraordinary vices cause him to be hated, it is reasonable to expect that his subjects will be naturally well disposed towards him; and in the antiquity and duration of his rule the memories and motives that make for change are lost, for one change always leaves the toothing for another.
CHAPTER III — CONCERNING MIXED PRINCIPALITIES
But the difficulties occur in a new principality. And firstly, if it be not entirely new, but is, as it were, a member of a state which, taken collectively, may be called composite, the changes arise chiefly from an inherent difficulty which there is in all new principalities; for men change their rulers willingly, hoping to better themselves, and this hope induces them to take up arms against him who rules: wherein they are deceived, because they afterwards find by experience they have gone from bad to worse. This follows also on another natural and common necessity, which always causes a new prince to burden those who have submitted to him with his soldiery and with infinite other hardships which he must put upo ...
Lecture 13 Francef19Taxation in EuropeDomain states an.docxcroysierkathey
Lecture 13 France
f19
Taxation in Europe
Domain states and tax states
Starting around 1500 there was a large increase in tax revenues and the size of armies in Spain, France, Austrian Empire, England
Kings consolidated territories (easier for defense)
Kings hired mercenaries from at home and other countries
Contrast with China, which went directly to conscription of mass armies by 200 BCE
Revenues used mainly for military (90%)
France
French state was built up from a base around Paris that was the property of the royal family; these provinces were ruled directly by the king; other provinces were added over time but were allowed to retain their own inherited rules; let’s call these the core provinces and the peripheral provinces
In general the provinces had Estates, composed of the three orders: clergy, nobility, and commoners, or the first, second, and third estates
The provincial Estates gained privileges for themselves, with different rules for different provinces, especially in the more recently acquired peripheral provinces
France
There was also an Estates General, representing the whole country; it failed to restrain the king in the 1440s as France was driving England out of France; the Estates General was last called together in 1614 and again failed; not called again until 1789
After 1500 French kings continued to bargain with provincial estates (now called parlements); elites at provincial and local levels bargained for tax exemptions; these elites came to include wealthy businessmen as well as aristocrats and clergy; the tax burden fell on non-elites
French kings’ desire for revenue exceeded tax revenues; they resorted to borrowing from financial centers in Italy, Switzerland, Germany
France
Lenders borrowed on the promise of future tax receipts; kings at times failed to pay, and renegotiated the loans
Kings turned to the sale of offices; office holder was entitled to receive part or all of the revenue from a particular tax in a particular location
In early 1600s king offered to make some offices hereditary in return for a fee (the paulette); this venal office holding spread; system of office holding and taxation became very complex, with special privileges for individuals, some of whom were aristocrats, others merely wealthy
France
Kings’ credibility was low among foreign lenders; kings resorted to demanding loans from office holders, who after all had a stake in the system; this is called “inside finance”
Administrative centralization; kings appointed officials to go into the provinces and supervise the collection of taxes; they served at the pleasure of the king’s finance minister and were independent of local elites and venal office holders; these royal officials were called intendants; typically a recently ennobled man, with an assistant who was a commoner
Practice 11, 12 Political Accountability
France
Thirty Years War 1618-48 was very costly for France; heavy taxation and large accumulated debt; the new king ...
And this is how the story of Rome begins the story of the city of the twins, born of diversity sons of Mars and mothered by a vestal virgin. A shepherd found the twins in the bushes near the Tiber river. Suckled by a wolf one of the twins would be killed by his brother who would build the most magnificent nation ever known. Romulas and Remus as the children were called, both wanted to build a new city. Romulus would create a truly unique civilization that confounds people even today. The city would become an empire to never be forgotten. Today, we still look back, and we see the legendary nation of Rome.
It has impacted our very lives, and changed the way early society would operate. Today students still all over the world still study Rome. American Students study Julius Caesar, English scholars hypothesis the possibility of the legendary King Arthur, perhaps being a Roman; Italian students study the twelve tablets of Roman law. The Romans, while not unique unto the land they lived, are unique in the way they put together knowledge, and instituted into their system. Roman government, Roman laws and pieces of Roman society can still be seen in today’s society...
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the French Revolution,” 1790 h.docxSALU18
Edmund Burke, “Reflections on the French Revolution,” 1790
http://web.archive.org/web/19981206201151/http://pluto.clinch.edu/history/wciv2/civ2ref/burke.html
Downloaded and edited by Dr. James W. Williams, Troy University, for HIS 1101, 20 September 2016
[Dr. Williams’ introduction: This is a very short extract from the Englishman, Edmund Burke’s essay on the French
Revolution, in which Burke set out what became the basic tenets of European conservatism. Note that this was
written before the French Revolution reached the point of abandoning a monarchy and the Reign of Terror and all
that followed.
[Document]
III. THE ERRORS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
INSTEAD OF DESTROYING THE OLD STATE THE FRENCH SHOULD HAVE BUILT ON THE FOUNDATION THEIR
ANCESTORS HAD LEFT THEM
You might, if you pleased, have profited of our example and have given to your recovered freedom a
correspondent dignity. Your privileges, though discontinued, were not lost to memory. Your constitution, it is
true, whilst you were out of possession, suffered waste and dilapidation; but you possessed in some parts the
walls and in all the foundations of a noble and venerable castle. You might have repaired those walls; you might
have built on those old foundations. Your constitution was suspended before it was perfected, but you had the
elements of a constitution very nearly as good as could be wished. In your old states you possessed that variety of
parts corresponding with the various descriptions of which your community was happily composed; you had all
that combination and all that opposition of interests; you had that action and counteraction which, in the natural
and in the political world, from the reciprocal struggle of discordant powers, draws out the harmony of the
universe. These opposed and conflicting interests which you considered as so great a blemish in your old and in
our present constitution interpose a salutary check to all precipitate resolutions. They render deliberation a
matter, not of choice, but of necessity; they make all change a subject of compromise, which naturally begets
moderation; they produce temperaments preventing the sore evil of harsh, crude, unqualified reformations, and
rendering all the headlong exertions of arbitrary power, in the few or in the many, for ever impracticable. Through
that diversity of members and interests, general liberty had as many securities as there were separate views in
the several orders, whilst, by pressing down the whole by the weight of a real monarchy, the separate parts would
have been prevented from warping and starting from their allotted places.
You had all these advantages in your ancient states, but you chose to act as if you had never been molded into
civil society and had everything to begin anew. You began ill, because you began by despising everything that
belonged to you. You set up your trade without a capital. If the last generations of your country appeared w ...
Letter VI—On the PresbyteriansTHE CHURCH OF ENGLAND is con.docxSHIVA101531
Letter VI—On the Presbyterians
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND is confined almost to the kingdom whence it received its name, and to Ireland, for Presbyterianism is the established religion in Scotland. This Presbyterianism is directly the same with Calvinism, as it was established in France, and is now professed at Geneva. As the priests of this sect receive but very inconsiderable stipends from their churches, and consequently cannot emulate the splendid luxury of bishops, they exclaim very naturally against honours which they can never attain to. Figure to yourself the haughty Diogenes trampling under foot the pride of Plato. The Scotch Presbyterians are not very unlike that proud though tattered reasoner. Diogenes did not use Alexander half so impertinently as these treated King Charles II.; for when they took up arms in his cause in opposition to Oliver, who had deceived them, they forced that poor monarch to undergo the hearing of three or four sermons every day, would not suffer him to play, reduced him to a state of penitence and mortification, so that Charles soon grew sick of these pedants, and accordingly eloped from them with as much joy as a youth does from school.
1
A Church of England minister appears as another Cato in presence of a juvenile, sprightly French graduate, who bawls for a whole morning together in the divinity schools, and hums a song in chorus with ladies in the evening; but this Cato is a very spark when before a Scotch Presbyterian. The latter affects a serious gait, puts on a sour look, wears a vastly broad-brimmed hat and a long cloak over a very short coat, preaches through the nose, and gives the name of the whore of Babylon to all churches where the ministers are so fortunate as to enjoy an annual revenue of five or six thousand pounds, and where the people are weak enough to suffer this, and to give them the titles of my lord, your lordship, or your eminence.
2
These gentlemen, who have also some churches in England, introduced there the mode of grave and severe exhortations. To them is owing the sanctification of Sunday in the three kingdoms. People are there forbidden to work or take any recreation on that day, in which the severity is twice as great as that of the Romish Church. No operas, plays, or concerts are allowed in London on Sundays, and even cards are so expressly forbidden that none but persons of quality, and those we call the genteel, play on that day; the rest of the nation go either to church, to the tavern, or to see their mistresses.
3
Though the Episcopal and Presbyterian sects are the two prevailing ones in Great Britain, yet all others are very welcome to come and settle in it, and live very sociably together, though most of their preachers hate one another almost as cordially as a Jansenist damns a Jesuit.
4
Take a view of the Royal Exchange in London, a place more venerable than many courts of justice, where the representatives of all nations meet for the benefit of mankin ...
THE PRINCECHAPTER I — HOW MANY KINDS OF PRINCIPALITIES THERE A.docxoreo10
THE PRINCE
CHAPTER I — HOW MANY KINDS OF PRINCIPALITIES THERE ARE, AND BY WHAT MEANS THEY ARE ACQUIRED
All states, all powers, that have held and hold rule over men have been and are either republics or principalities.
Principalities are either hereditary, in which the family has been long established; or they are new.
The new are either entirely new, as was Milan to Francesco Sforza, or they are, as it were, members annexed to the hereditary state of the prince who has acquired them, as was the kingdom of Naples to that of the King of Spain.
Such dominions thus acquired are either accustomed to live under a prince, or to live in freedom; and are acquired either by the arms of the prince himself, or of others, or else by fortune or by ability.
CHAPTER II — CONCERNING HEREDITARY PRINCIPALITIES
I will leave out all discussion on republics, inasmuch as in another place I have written of them at length, and will address myself only to principalities. In doing so I will keep to the order indicated above, and discuss how such principalities are to be ruled and preserved.
I say at once there are fewer difficulties in holding hereditary states, and those long accustomed to the family of their prince, than new ones; for it is sufficient only not to transgress the customs of his ancestors, and to deal prudently with circumstances as they arise, for a prince of average powers to maintain himself in his state, unless he be deprived of it by some extraordinary and excessive force; and if he should be so deprived of it, whenever anything sinister happens to the usurper, he will regain it.
We have in Italy, for example, the Duke of Ferrara, who could not have withstood the attacks of the Venetians in '84, nor those of Pope Julius in '10, unless he had been long established in his dominions. For the hereditary prince has less cause and less necessity to offend; hence it happens that he will be more loved; and unless extraordinary vices cause him to be hated, it is reasonable to expect that his subjects will be naturally well disposed towards him; and in the antiquity and duration of his rule the memories and motives that make for change are lost, for one change always leaves the toothing for another.
CHAPTER III — CONCERNING MIXED PRINCIPALITIES
But the difficulties occur in a new principality. And firstly, if it be not entirely new, but is, as it were, a member of a state which, taken collectively, may be called composite, the changes arise chiefly from an inherent difficulty which there is in all new principalities; for men change their rulers willingly, hoping to better themselves, and this hope induces them to take up arms against him who rules: wherein they are deceived, because they afterwards find by experience they have gone from bad to worse. This follows also on another natural and common necessity, which always causes a new prince to burden those who have submitted to him with his soldiery and with infinite other hardships which he must put upo ...
Lecture 13 Francef19Taxation in EuropeDomain states an.docxcroysierkathey
Lecture 13 France
f19
Taxation in Europe
Domain states and tax states
Starting around 1500 there was a large increase in tax revenues and the size of armies in Spain, France, Austrian Empire, England
Kings consolidated territories (easier for defense)
Kings hired mercenaries from at home and other countries
Contrast with China, which went directly to conscription of mass armies by 200 BCE
Revenues used mainly for military (90%)
France
French state was built up from a base around Paris that was the property of the royal family; these provinces were ruled directly by the king; other provinces were added over time but were allowed to retain their own inherited rules; let’s call these the core provinces and the peripheral provinces
In general the provinces had Estates, composed of the three orders: clergy, nobility, and commoners, or the first, second, and third estates
The provincial Estates gained privileges for themselves, with different rules for different provinces, especially in the more recently acquired peripheral provinces
France
There was also an Estates General, representing the whole country; it failed to restrain the king in the 1440s as France was driving England out of France; the Estates General was last called together in 1614 and again failed; not called again until 1789
After 1500 French kings continued to bargain with provincial estates (now called parlements); elites at provincial and local levels bargained for tax exemptions; these elites came to include wealthy businessmen as well as aristocrats and clergy; the tax burden fell on non-elites
French kings’ desire for revenue exceeded tax revenues; they resorted to borrowing from financial centers in Italy, Switzerland, Germany
France
Lenders borrowed on the promise of future tax receipts; kings at times failed to pay, and renegotiated the loans
Kings turned to the sale of offices; office holder was entitled to receive part or all of the revenue from a particular tax in a particular location
In early 1600s king offered to make some offices hereditary in return for a fee (the paulette); this venal office holding spread; system of office holding and taxation became very complex, with special privileges for individuals, some of whom were aristocrats, others merely wealthy
France
Kings’ credibility was low among foreign lenders; kings resorted to demanding loans from office holders, who after all had a stake in the system; this is called “inside finance”
Administrative centralization; kings appointed officials to go into the provinces and supervise the collection of taxes; they served at the pleasure of the king’s finance minister and were independent of local elites and venal office holders; these royal officials were called intendants; typically a recently ennobled man, with an assistant who was a commoner
Practice 11, 12 Political Accountability
France
Thirty Years War 1618-48 was very costly for France; heavy taxation and large accumulated debt; the new king ...
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 and rules peoples by them
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 they represent in their functions.
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 (1624-1642) 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 Fontainbleauwhich 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
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/versailles-during-the-centuries/living-at-the-court/a-day-in-the-life-of-louis-xiv
21. Finally… Did not meet with the Estates General ever during his 72 year reign