Mr. Beck World History. Would you submit to a ruler with absolute power if it meant your country being strong and wealthy?

THE REIGN OF LOUIS XIV

Mr. Beck

World History

KICKOFF QUESTION

Would you submit to a ruler with absolute power if it meant your country being strong and wealthy?

OBJECTIVES Analyze positive and negative aspects of Louis XIV’s legacy

Outline Louis XIV’s and France’s rise to power

SETTING THE STAGE 1559, King Henry II of France dies Left power to four sons who ruled one

after the other (all incompetently) Their mother (Catherine) actually held

the country together but could not prevent a series of 8 religious wars between Catholics and Huguenots (French Protestants)

RELIGIOUS WARS AND POWER STRUGGLES 1572: St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

Many Huguenot nobles were in Paris attending marriage of Catherine’s daughter to Henry of Navarre

Most nobles were slaughtered, Henry of Navarre survived

HENRY OF NAVARRE Became king when Catherine and her

sons all died Did not want to fight Catholics so gave

up Protestantism and became Catholic Edict of Nantes- act of religious

tolerance which allowed Huguenots to set up their own houses of worship in certain cities

Was stabbed to death by a fanatic who did not agree with his religious compromises

QUESTION

Would you give up your religion if it meant saving your country from war? Why or why not?

LOUIS XIII AND CARDINAL RICHELIEU Henry’s son Louis took over the throne

after Henry’s death Louis was a weak king but appointed a

strong minister (Cardinal Richelieu) to make up for his weaknesses

Richelieu essentially ruled France and took two steps to increase monarch powerWent against Huguenots (saw them as

threat)Weakened the nobles (tore down their

castles)

QUESTION

Why did Richelieu go against the nobles?

RICHELIEU Wanted to make France the strongest

state in Europe Saw Hapsburg Dynasty (Spain, Austria,

and Netherlands) as a threat Waged thirty years’ war with Hapsburg

Dynasty

LOUIS XIV COMES TO POWER Began reign when he was 4 years old French monarchy had already been

strengthened Boasted “I am the state”

LOUIS, THE BOY KING When Louis took the throne the true

ruler at the time was Cardinal Mazarin, the successor to Richelieu

Mazarin raised taxes and sparked a series of riots with the nobles who threatened to kill Louis

Louis would never forget his fear or hatred of the nobles

Nobles lost rebellion and people accepted Louis’ laws because rebellion was worse

QUESTION

Would you accept the rules of a tyrant because it was easier than rebelling? Why or why not?

LOUIS GAINS TOTAL POWER Mazarin died when Louis was 22 Louis excluded nobles from his councils Increased power of intendants-

officials who collected taxes and administered justice

ECONOMIC GROWTH Jean Baptiste Colbert was Louis’s

minister of financeWanted to make France self-sufficientTaxed importsGave tax breaks to French companiesEncouraged people to move to France’s

colony of Canada (fur trade)Louis cancelled Edict of Nantes after

Colbert’s death and many Huguenots fled (declined economy)

THE SUN KING’S GRAND STYLE Louis spent a fortune on personal

luxuries Surrounded himself with nobles as

servantsMade the nobles rely on himKept nobles away from their families and

increased power of his intendants Was a patron of the arts for his Palace

at Versailles

LOUIS FIGHTS DISASTROUS WARS 1667, Louis invaded Spanish

Netherlands to gain land War of Spanish Succession- England,

Austria, the Dutch Republic, Portugal, and German and Italian states joined forces to prevent spread of the Bourbon Dynasty’s powerCauses by Louis’s grandson being given the

throne of SpainFrom war, Great Britain gained Gibraltar

(key fort) and permission to participate in profitable slave trade

LOUIS’S DEATH AND LEGACY Louis died in 1715 and people

celebrated due to the hardships and wars he brought the country

His enemies in Prussia and Austria had been experimenting with absolute monarchies

MIXED LEGACY

Positive Negative

France was power in Europe

Ranked tops in Europe in art, literature, statesmanship

France was military leader in Europe

Warfare and Palace at Versailles put France in huge debt

Resentment over taxing poor would plague Louis’s heirs and lead to revolution

HOMEWORK/CLOSURERead page 600 and answer questions 1

and 2