Absolutism in France and Spain

Divine right to rule
claimed to make and enforce laws, denying any other institution or group the authority to check their power
Henry IV founder of Bourbon monarchy established foundation which Louis XII and Louis XIV built a stronger and centralized French state
Louis XIV was seen as epitome of an absolute monarch
- increased taxes, wars, and economic regulations

The foundations of French Absolutism

beginning the 17th century France is weak because of recovery from religious civil wars--no threat to Spain
- end of century reversed roles among France and Spain
Henry IV made recovery by defusing religious tensions and rebuilding French economy.
- Edict of Nantes--allowing Huguenots the right to worship in 150 traditionally Protestant towns
- built roads and canals and raised revenue by selling royal offices instead of taxing the people
  - murdered in 1610 by Catholic zealot
Cardinal Richelieu 1585-1643
- The first minister of the French crown for Louis XIII
- domestic policies goals to strengthen royal control
- wanted to repress Protestantism-"divisive force"
- extended use of intendants, commissioners for all districts appointed by the monarch, solely responsible
  - recruited men for the army and supervised tax collection, looked over the administration of local law, check local nobility, regulated economic actions for their districts.
  - Intendant increases power as well as the centralized state.
- foreign policy--destroy the Habsburgs' control over territories around France
  - Hated Habsburgs that supported protestants that were against Habsburg
Cardinal Jules Mazarin 1602-1661
- succeeded Richelieu as minister for Louis XIV
- continued centralizing policies
- Fronde- a series of violent uprisings during the early reign of Louis XIV triggered by growing royal control and increased taxation.--Happened because of struggle to increase royal revenues
- Magistrates of the parliament of Paris, most important law court, mad about Brown's autocratic measures.--known as robe nobles
  - encouraged violent protest by common folk--too violent and Louis XIV had to flee.
Louis XIV declared right to rule in 1651--end of regency of Anne of Austria
- people accepted because tried of violent protest--only wanted peace and order
Louis XIV and Absolutism
- The longest reign in European history-- monarch in France reached the peak of absolutist development.
- liked divine right of kinds
- ruled through councils of states--made up from ennobled or upper middle class
- Even with financial problems never called Estates General-- no expression or action for nobles--no first minister either--avoid the inordinate power of Richelieu.
- Hated division within realm and wanted religious unity (aka essential for security of the state)
- continued Protestant repression by Richelieu
- Revoked Edict of Nate and added new law which ordered Catholic baptism of Huguenots, destruction of Huguenot churches, closing of schools, and exile of Huguenots pastors who refuse Catholic faith
- limits on power
  - obliged to rule in a manner consistent with virtue and benevolence, uphold laws issued by royal predecessors, relied on the collaboration of nobles (without help would not be able to extend power in France and have wars)
LIfe at Versailles
- 1682 Louis moved to palace at Versailles with his court--became a political, social, and cultural life
- Versailles served as government offices for bureaucrats, living quarters for royal families and nobles and work for domestic servants
- Revolutionized court by making an elaborate set of etiquette rituals to mark every moment of his day
- Louis XIV excited for arts (patron)---scholars call it the age of Louis XIV as French classicism.
  - resembled renaissance Italy--discipline, balance, and restraint
  - plays were big like Moliere and Racine
  - aristocratic ladies wrote literature and held salon-- styles mocked as "precise"
- French culture grew internationally
  - French diplomacy and polite society replaced Latin a language of scholarship and learning
  - inspired cosmopolitan European culture in late 17th century looked to Versailles as model/center
The French Economic Policy of Mercantilism
- Jean-Baptiste Colbert--controller general and financial genius
  - Wealth and economy should serve the state
  - mercantilism
- Mercantilism is a collection of governmental policies for the regulation of economic activities by and for the state
- sell more good than bought
  - everything produced for french people
  - increase exports: supported old industries based on textiles, created guilds to boost quality standards and encouraged foreign craftsmen to immigrate to France
  - to increase sell of French goods: abolished domestic tariffs and raised tariffs on foreign products
  - 1664 Company of the East Indies for competing for trade with the Dutch for Asian trade
- He wanted Canda for goods--Quebec 1608 & Jacques Marquette Mississippi River control until Arkansas--then Louisiana
Louis XIV's Wars
- Louis put France in war for 33 years
- Francois le Tellier marquis de Louvois-secretary of war
  - created a professional army in which French state employed the soldiers
  - a rational system made for training and promotion
  - goal to expand France's borders
    - included the commercial centers in the Spanish Netherlands and Flanders, the city of Strasbourg
    - reached the limit to land expansion during the wars of the 1680s and 1690s
      - new taxes, failure in crops, malnutrition, and death
- Charles II (1700) died opened control of Spain and colonies--new leader Philip of Anjou (Louis grandson)
  - Louis broke treaty of division of Spanish possessions between France and HRE and War of Spanish Succession started
  - Grand Alliance against Louis XIV--English, Dutch, Austrians, and Prussians
  - Peace of Utrecht--ended the war allowed Louis's grandson Philip to remain, KIngs of Spain-- represented balance of power principle because set limits on extent of one power (France's expansion)
  - France lost land to England-- Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Hudson Bay Territory
- 1714 almost bankrupt
The Decline of Absolutist Spain in the Seventeenth Century
- 1610-1650 Spanish trade with the colonies in the New World fell 60%because of competition from Dutch and English traders and slaves dying of disease
- Metal production declining after 1620
- Madrid exceeded income
- Crown repeatedly devalued the coinage and declared bankruptcy--national collapse of credit
- manufacturing and commerce shrank
- Spain had a tiny middle class, elite said moneymaking was vulgar
- Expelled Moriscos--former Muslims
- high inflation forced business out
- Aristocrats could no longer afford lifestyle and increased the rents on estate--drove out peasants---decline in agricultural productivity
- Spain ignored new improvements in agriculture and manufacturing because of their origins
- Philip III 1598-1621 gave government issues to Duke of Lerma--used it to advance personal wealth
- Philip IV gave management of kingdoms to Gaspar de Guzman, Count-Duke of Olivares
  - Olivares compared to Richelieu
    - like the grandiose belief that the solution to Spain's difficulties rested in a return to the imperial tradition of 16th century
  - internal conflicts and military defeats remainder of the 17th century
  - 1640 revolts in Catalonia and Portugal and French crushed Spanish army at Rocroi
  - Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 ended the French-Spanish conflicts Spain was compelled to surrender extensive territories to France
  - 1688 Recognized independence of Portugal and Era of Spanish Dominance ENDED

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471-481 & 481-492 absolutism and constitutionalism