Absolutism Mark Greengrass H205 - European World Warwick University

Republics of Genoa and Venice ‘City-states’ – Geneva, Dubrovnik, Hamburg The ‘United Provinces’ The Austrian Habsburg Empire The Polish ‘Commonwealth’ [Reszpospolita’] The Grey Leagues [Grisons] The Papal States 1. Europe’s Early-Modern Political Geography

Giovanni Botero, ‘Della Ragion dello Stato’ (1589) – ‘On Reason of State’ The ‘Nerves of State’ French revenue extraction: 3.46 million livres (1523) 20.3 million livres (1608) 115 million livres (c. 1640) Castile: c. 1 million ducats (1522) c. 10 million ducats (1598) 2. State Consolidation in Europe Justus Lipsius, Politicorum sive Civilis Doctrinae Libri Sex - On Politics, or Six Books of Civil Doctrine (1589)

4. Absolutism – the History of a Concept Nicolas Henshall, The Myth of Absolutism (1992) ‘The edifice of ‘absolutism’ is cracking. The building still stands but few seem to have noticed that it is hanging in mid-air. No one has assembled the materials for demolition, but nor has the case been made for a preservation order’ [Nicolas Henshall in History Today 42.6 (1992), p. 40] ‘Not only did Louis XIV or his emulators in Europe fail to deliver an absolutist agenda, but they never had such pretensions [Peter H. Wilson, in Absolutism in Central Europe (2000), p. 3]

5a. The ‘Myth’ of Absolutism Examined Jean Bodin ( ), Les Six Livres de la Republique (Paris, 1576)...and mixed reactions: -In the Holy Roman Empire -In Venice - Among Protestant ‘extreme critics’ (‘monarchomachs’ or ‘king-haters’) of absolute monarchy - Among ‘stakeholders Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)...and mixed reactions: -In England - in France

5a....Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Bishop of Evreux ( ) – a ‘Spokesman’ for French Absolute Monarchy ‘Of all monarchies, the best is the successive or hereditary, above all when it passes from male to male, and from eldest to eldest’

5b.....The ‘Myth’ of Absolutism Examined b) In relation to the Army: Guy Rowlands, Dynastic State and the Army under Louis XIV (2002) a) In relation to the Parlement of Paris and the magistrates: Albert Hamscher, After the Fronde: Louis XIV and the Parlement of Paris ( ) (1991) c) In Relation to the Court and the Aristocracy: Norbert Elias, Court Society Roger Mettam, Power and Faction in Louis XIV’s France (1991) d)In Relation to the Catholic Church e) In Relation to the Protestant Minority

6. Absolutism as the Projection of Power Peter Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV (1992) ‘In the Seventeenth Century, European governments devoted more attention to the public image of the ruler than at any time since the Roman Empire’ a) ‘Traditional’ media:- - e.g. ‘Royal Touch’ b) ‘Traditional Media given New Emphases:- - The Royal ‘Palace’ - Court ballet - Statues - Portraits c) Mechanically-reproduced media:- -Tapestries - Engravings - Medallions - Printed newspapers.... etc

6 Versailles and the Apollo Theme – The Hall of Mirrors

6 Charles Le Brun’s Central Panel in the Ceiling Decoration of the Hall of Mirrors – ‘The King Governs by Himself’ ‘timon’ – or symbol of ‘state’ power King’s face reflected on the breastplate of Minerva, the goddess of ‘wisdom’ Goddess of Glory, beckoning the king into immortality Mars, the God of War, through obedience to whom (‘valour’) the king will attain glory Various goddesses representing the fruits of the king’s rule (music, literature, painting, etc France, holding in her hands an olive branch (‘peace’) in a bouquet representing ‘justice’

6 Louis XIV – new and old media of political fashioning Engraved as Apollo, the Sun God, following a court ballet of 1662 Louis XIV - engraved as on horseback Louis XIV’s statue, erected in Paris in the Place des Victoires in 1682

Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Louis XIV (painted ) to present to Philip, duke of Anjou, Louis XIV’s grandson – a painting over 10 foot high and copied numerous times. The original is in the Louvre, but there is a copy in Versailles 6 Royal Portraiture

Versailles in Germany:- - Augustusburg (Brühl) – Archbishop-Elector of Cologne - Schwetzingen – Elector Palatine - Sanssouci (Potsdam) and Charlottenburg (Berlin) -- Herrenhausen (Hanover) -- Schloss Schließheim (Munich) -- Nordkirchen – Bishop of Münster -etc Versailles in Russia:- Peterhof Versailles in Austria: Schönbrunn (Venice) 6 – Emulations of Versailles in Europe