THE REIGN OF LOUIS XIV

Section 2

The Reign of Louis XIVReligious Wars and Power Struggles 1562-1598 Huguenots and Catholics

fought 8 religious wars, during this time chaos spread through France

Huguenots were French Protestants 1572 St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

sparked 6 week war between Catholics and Protestants

1589 Henry IV (a Protestant king) takes throne and gives up Protestantism and becomes Catholic to bring peace

1598 Henry issues the Edict of Nantes that allowed Huguenots to live in peace across France and set up their own churches

After a generation of war people welcomed peace and Henry began to restore French monarchy and prosperity

The Reign of Louis XIV After the death of Henry his son, Louis XIII

took over 1624 he appointed Cardinal Richelieu as

his minister Richelieu was the real power in France Took steps to increase the power of the

Bourbon monarchy in FranceA. Took power from Huguenots, dictated

their living conditions B. Took power from nobles, made them

more dependent on the king for protection

C. Put middle class in more powerful government positions

D. Richelieu also became involved in wars with the most powerful European dynasty the Hapsburgs (the Thirty Years War)

The Reign of Louis XIVWriters turn toward Skepticism New French intellectual movement grew at

this time, they had witnessed the religious wars

Many turned to the idea of skepticism (nothing can be known for certain), and the began to doubt the teaching of the church

Montaigne- developed new for of literature, the essay, to express a writers thoughts and feelings

Believed that humans could never have an absolute knowledge of what is true

Descartes used observations to determine that we could never know what was true

Influenced modern thinkers by developing the scientific method

The Reign of Louis XIVLouis XIV Comes to Power Louis became king at age 4 in 1642 and ruled

for 72 years Believed that he and France were one (“I am

the state”) When Louis was young the real power behind

the throne was Cardinal Mazarin The nobles hated him because he raised their

taxes and made the central government stronger

1648- 1653 many riots broke out across France protesting Mazarin’s policies

Louis felt threatened and he never forgot about this, he decided to make the monarchy so strong that this would not happen again

Rebellions failed because peasants and townspeople grew tired of the fighting

Because they were tired of wars they accepted Louis oppressive laws

The Reign of Louis XIVWhen Mazarin died Louis took control of the

government himself◦Weakened power of the nobles by removing them

from his government◦ Increased the power of government agents who

collected taxes and administered justice (intendants), they were not part of the nobility

◦Louis made sure local officials kept in touch with him regularly

The Reign of Louis XIVEconomic Growth Louis used finance minister Jean Baptiste

Colbert to help France attain economic and political power

Colbert wanted France to become self sufficient and used mercantilist policies to meet his goalsExpanded manufacturingPlaced a high tariff on goods from other

countriesRecognized importance of colonies to help

economy After Colbert’s death in 1685 economic

progress slowed Louis canceled Edict of Nantes

Many Huguenot businessmen and artisans left France and it took many skilled workers out of the economy

The Reign of Louis XIV Louis surrounded himself with luxury at his palace

Versailles Palace became a symbol of wealth, seat of government,

home for nobles◦ Made nobles dependent on Louis ◦ Kept intendants in power in other parts of the country◦ By keeping nobles at Versailles it kept them from fighting each

other, they fought for favor of Louis Louis was a patron of the arts and he made ballet and

opera more popular The purpose of art was to glorify the king and promote

his absolute rule

The Reign of Louis XIV Under Louis France was the most powerful country

in the world France had the largest, best trained and equipped

army in Europe1667 Louis invades Spanish Netherlands to expand

French boundaries Dutch defeat French1680’s European alliance established to stop French

and achieve a balance of power across Europe (no single country could dominate others)

Alliance called the League of Augsburg (England, Spain, Hapsburg Austria, other smaller countries) they equaled French strength

Poor harvests and constant warfare and higher taxes weakened France at this time

The Reign of Louis XIVWar of Spanish Succession War fought between Spain and France, the two greatest

European powers Other European countries joined in War lasted for 14 years, ended by the Treaty of Utrecht Big winner was Great Britain British took over Gibraltar that controlled the entrance to

the Mediterranean Also gave the British French controlled territories in the

Americas

The Reign of Louis XIVLouis Death and LegacyLouis death was good news across

France, they were tired of the Sun KingLegacy

1. Made France a European power2. France became a military power3. Led other nations in the promotion of art,

literature4. Constant warfare left France in debt5. Tax burden and the abuse of power by Louis

would eventually lead to rebellion against the monarchy by the end of the 1700’s