Chapter 21 Section 2

 Edict of Nantes  Cardinal Richelieu  Skepticism  Louis XIV  Intentdant  Jean Baptiste Colbert  War of Spanish Succession

 Protestant Reformation began in 1560’s  One in ten French were Huguenot  Huguenot-French Calvinists  Large number of Protestant nobles  Threatened French Catholic monarchy

 1562 fighting between Catholics and Huguenots  1572 Catholic Queen ordered the killing of the Huguenots  Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre- Huguenots in town for the wedding of Henry of Navarre (10,000 to 70,000 killed)

 Henry of Navarre escaped by denying his religion  Was in line to be king  Fought Catholics troops to claim the throne  Converted to Catholicism  “Paris was worth the mass”

 Edict of Nantes- gave Huguenots limited freedom to worship  Could hold office in the 200 towns where they were a majority  Concept of one king, one law, one religion no longer in affect

 French people accepted the Edict because it stopped religious wars  Required Huguenots to support church financially  Henry focused on repairing country  Improved France’s financial situation

 Built up a surplus  Created new industries  Drained swamps  Built canals and roads  Stimulated trade encourage agriculture

 Henry killed in 1610 (stabbed)  Louis XIII was young, mother served as regent  Cardinal Richelieu- became a chief minister and most trusted advisor

 Louis XIII weak ruler  Richelieu strengthened monarchy  Crushed opponents  Both wanted to reduce the power of the Huguenots  People of La Rochelle helped English forces

 Richelieu’s troops laid siege to the city  Tore down the city’s wall made the churches become Catholic  Signal to Huguenots that resistance to the monarchy carried risks

 Spies found plots against the kings  Three prominent nobles were executed  Richelieu also directed foreign policy  To bring down Hapsburg family sided with Protestants in 30 year war

 The idea that nothing can ever be certain  Thinkers expressed doubt toward the churches  To doubt old ideas was the first step to finding the truth

 Michael de Montaigne- lived during the worst religious wars in France  Developed new form of literature the Essay  Essay- brief work that expressed someone’s opinion  Whenever a new belief arose, it replaced an old belief that people accepted

 Meditations on First Philosophy  Used reason and observation to answer arguments  Created philosophy of modern thinkers  Became an important figure in the Enlightenment

 Richelieu died 1642  Louis XIII died the next year  Louis XIV- best example of an absolute monarch  His mother was a regent  Cardinal Mazarin became chief minister

 Raised to be king  Trained to talk to ambassadors  Interpret state papers  Hunting, dancing  Different from father  Supremely confident in his ability to rule  When Mazarin dies he was 18

 Declared he could rule himself  Choose the sun as his personal symbol  Implying that the world revolved around him  “Letat c’est moi”means “I am the state”

 Retained absolute power  Began tradition of absolute monarchy  In charge of military  Political initiatives  Economic initiatives  Religion of his subjects  All under his direct control

 Louis deprive nobles of influence  Louis built an enormous palace at Versailles  Required nobles to visit him  Nobles gained prestige by being servants to the king

 Urged nobles to develop expensive habits of  Dressing  Dining  gambling  Nobles grew poorer and had to depend more on the king’s generosity

 Versailles was a grand spectacle of kingly power  Every moment of the day required rituals  Bowing courtiers  Eating  Dressing  Walking in the garden  All required a ritual

 Smashed power of the Huguenots  1685 revoked the Edict of Nantes  200,000 Huguenots fled France  Prosperous merchants, artisans  Loss of skill and wealth caused a financial crisis

 Lifestyle demanded a lot of money  Jean-Baptiste Colbert  Limited imports by increasing tariffs  Increased exports  Simplified tax system  Built up military from 70,000 to 200,000  Spent money on good equipment  Went to war four times

 1667 invades Spanish Netherlands  Gained12 towns  Led army to Dutch Netherlands  Dutch flooded their own country  1689 William of Orange becomes the king of England

 William joined the League of Augsburg  Austria, Spain, Sweden  These countries equaled France’s strength  France was weakened by poor harvests  Constant warfare  New taxes

 Louis XIV wanted to increase his power across the border  Louis had to melt down royal silver to pay for wars  War of Spanish Succession- Spanish king died without an heir  Three rulers tried to take over

 European monarchs did not want Spain and France so closely connected  England, Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire went to war against France  Fighting in North America was the French and Indian War

 1713 Louis accepted the Treaty of Utrecht  Louis grandson got Spanish throne  Louis gave up most of the territory he had taken  War benefited England  Louis remained in power till 1715

 Last years more sad then glorious  News of his death prompted rejoicing  France at top  Art, literature  France considered a military leader  Warfare construction of Versailles left France in debt