FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV World History Mr. Redus

Religious Wars  Lasted from 1560s to 1590s  Religious wars between Huguenots (French Protestants) and the Catholics  These wars tore France apart

St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre  August 24, 1572  Huguenots and Catholics gathered to celebrate a royal wedding  Violence broke out and 3,000 Huguenots were killed  The next few days thousands more were killed  This came to symbolize the breakdown of order in France

Henry IV  Huguenot prince who inherited the French throne in 1589  He knew that he would have a lot of trouble ruling as a Huguenot in a predominately Catholic country so he converted  To protect Huguenots he passed the Edict of Nantes

Edict of Nantes  Granted religious toleration  Allowed the Huguenots to fortify their towns and cities

Healing a shattered land….  He wanted “a chicken in every pot”  Wanted a good Sunday dinner for every peasant  Henry’s government reached into every aspect of his people’s lives  His officials administered justice, improved roads, built bridges, and revived agriculture  This laid the groundwork for absolutism

Henry’s death  Was killed by an assassin  His 9year old son, Louis XII, inherited the throne  Louis appointed Cardinal Armand Richelieu as his chief minister

Armand Richelieu  Sought to destroy the power of the Huguenots and nobles  These 2 groups did not bow to royal authority  Destroyed the Huguenots walled cities  Outlawed their armies  Allowed them to still practice their religion  Defeated the private armies of the nobles  Destroyed their fortified castles  Tied the nobles to the king by giving them high positions at court or in the army

Cardinal Jules Marzipan  He was handpicked by Richelieu  Served as chief minister to the 5 year old king- Louis XIV  Worked hard to extend royal power

The Fronde  Uprising that involved the nobles, merchants, peasants and the urban poor  Each for their own reason  The rioters drove the boy king out of his palace  An experience that will forever haunt him

“I am the State”  Louis believed in divine right  He took the sun as the symbol of his absolute power  He did not call a meeting of the Estates General once during his reign  A medieval council made up of representatives of all French classes  Kept royalty in check

Strengthening Royal Power  He followed the policies of Richelieu  Expanded the bureaucracy  Appointed intendants  Royal officials who collected taxes, recruited soldiers and carried out his policies in the provinces  These positions often went to wealthy middle class men Cemented ties between middle class and the monarchy

Strengthening Royal Power cont..  The French army became the most powerful in the Europe  The state paid, fed, trained and supplied 300,000 soldiers  Louis used this highly disciplined army to enforce his policies at home and abroad

Jean Baptist Colbert  Finance minister  Followed mercantilist policies to strengthen France’s economy  Had new lands cleared for farming  Encouraged mining and other basic industries  Encouraged overseas colonies  New France in North America  Regulated trade with the colonies  His policies made France the wealthiest state in Europe

Versailles  Louis turned a royal hunting lodge into an immense palace  Spared no expense  Most magnificent building in Europe  Displayed the finest paintings, statues, chandeliers, and mirrors  Gardens were set up in geometric patterns  Became the perfect symbol of the Sun King’s wealth and power  Housed at least 10,000 people  Nobles, officials and servants

Court Ceremonies  Louis XIV perfected elaborate ceremonies  These ceremonies emphasized his own importance  Lev ée  Major ritual  High-ranking nobles competed for the honor of holding the royal wash basin or handing the king his diamond-buckled shoes  These rituals served a major purpose  By bringing the nobility to court he had them working for privileges instead of going to battle for power  He protected their prestige and left them free from paying taxes

Cultural Flowering  He sponsored musical concerts & commissioned plays by the best writers  This was the period of the classical age of French drama

Jean Racine  Wrote tragedies based on Ancient Greek myths

Moli ére  Wrote comedies  The Miser  Made fun of French society

Ballet  New form of dance drama  First gained it’s popularity in France

Successes  He ruled for 72 years  Longer than any other monarch  French culture, manners, and customs replaced those of Renaissance Italy as the standard of Europe

Wars of Louis XIV  He poured tons of resourced into wars to expand France’s borders  He was able to gain some territories at first  Later wars were disastrous  Rival rulers joined forces to keep the French in check  The Dutch & English worked together to keep the balance of power  An even distribution of economic and military power that would stop any one European nation from becoming too powerful

Philip V  Louis’s grandson  Inherits the Spanish throne  Declares that Spain and France “must regard themselves as one”  Neighboring powers were eager to stop this England led this group

War of Spanish Succession  Lasted until 1713  War to stop France and Spain from becoming one nation  France finally signed the Treaty of Utrecht  Philip remained on the Spanish throne  France agreed to never unite the two crowns

Persecution of the Huguenots  Louis saw the Huguenots as a threat to religious and political unity  1685: revokes the Edict of Nantes More than 100,000 Huguenots flee France  The most costly of Louis’s mistakes  Huguenots had been the hardest workers and the most prosperous  Their loss was a serious blow to the French economy

Looking Ahead  Louis outlived his sons and grandsons  Died in 1715  His 5 year old great-grandson, Louis XV, inherited the throne  He was too weak a king to deal with the problems that he inherited  He devoted his days to pleasure  He ignored the need for reform