Biography of Louis XIV (1643 – 1715) – The Sun King
Louis XIV was the King of France for 54 years. This long period of rule allowed him to dominated France. Louis was called "the Sun King" not only because he used the sun as his symbol, but because he believed that France depended on him the way the earth depended on the sun. Louis acted as the center of France, directing and controlling the lives of his subjects, often without caring about their own wishes.
Louis XIV was able to directly control the workings of his government through the administrative organization of his government. An important point of his administration was that he appointed intendants, or royal managers, from the middle class to govern the different parts of France according to his commands. The intendants were loyal to Louis XIV because they wanted to keep their positions. They worked to strengthen the power of the king by building the French economy and collecting taxes from the population. While these economic policies did grow the economy, the high taxes made many middle and lower class French citizens very poor.
Louis XIV's power was based his wealth. He used his wealth to build the Palace of Versailles to represent the glory and power of his reign. Versailles was more than just the center of Louis’ government. Louis spent extravagant amounts of money to make Versailles the cultural center of Europe. He financially supported the best artists, musicians and writers to make his court a sophisticated, luxurious and splendorous environment, which was envied and copied by European monarchs for generations. Louis cleverly used Versailles to weaken the nobles so they could not rebel against him. He required the nobles of France to live at Versailles so that he could keep an eye on them. However, many nobles actually enjoyed living at Versailles because it was so luxurious and there was always something to do. As a result of having to move to Versailles, the nobles became “absentee landlords”, which means they didn't take care of the peasants who worked their land.
Louis also used his money to fight wars to spread his power. For 30 of the 54 years that he ruled France, France was at war. Louis had the largest army in Europe at the time, with more than 400,000 professional soldiers. His most costly war was the War of the Spanish Succession where the other countries of Europe united in a "Balance of Power" strategy to defeat France. The smaller countries formed alliances to “balance” the greater power of France, because they saw France as such a big threat. Because of this, France was unable to use its greater military power to win any major victories.
Louis was a Catholic monarch and he believed that everyone should be the same religion because he believed this would give him more authority. In 1685, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes. An “edict” is an order from a king. The Edict of Nantes was issued by Louis' grandfather, Henry IV, and it allowed people to have religious freedom. When Louis XIV took away their religious freedom, hundreds of thousands of merchants and craftsmen who were not Catholic left France and went to countries like England and the Netherlands, where they could practice their religion. Ultimately, the loss of this skilled and productive population hurt the economy of France and strengthened the economies of France’s enemies.
Source # 1 - Painting of Louis XIV and is court at Versailles
Source # 2 - Video on the building of Versailles (Link to Video)
Source # 3 - Video on the gardens at Versailles - click here
Source # 4 - Video on Louis XIV use of technology to build his absolute monarchy - click here
Source # 5 - Sun Symbol on Gate at Paris of Versailles
Source # 6 - Hall of Mirrors at Versailles
Source # 7 - Map of Louis XIV's wars and Painting of Louis XIV as military leader
Source # 8 - Building the Canal du Medi - The painting to the left shows one of Louis XIV intendants (Colbert) showing him plans to build the Canal du Midi. A canal is a man-made channel of water, like a river. The map on the right shows the system of canals that were created in France under Louis XIV.
Source # 9 - Debt of the Royal Family of France during Louis XIV reign
Source # 10 - Duc de Saint-Simon: The Court of Louis XIV - The Duc de Saint-Simon resided for many years at Versailles. He left an account of Life there.
The Court
His natural talents were below mediocrity; but he had a mind capable of improvement, of receiving polish, of assimilating what was best in the minds of others without slavish imitation; and he profited greatly throughout his life from having associated with the ablest and wittiest persons, of both sexes, and of various stations. He entered the world (if I may use such an expression in speaking of a King who had already completed his twenty-third year), at a fortunate moment, for men of distinction abounded. His Ministers and Generals at this time, with their successors trained in their schools, are universally acknowledged to have been the ablest in Europe; for the domestic troubles and foreign wars under which France had suffered ever since the death of Louis XIII had brought to the front a number of brilliant names, and the Court was made up of capable and illustrious personages.... Glory was his passion, but he also liked order and regularity in all things; he was naturally prudent, moderate, and reserved; always master of his tongue and his emotions....
His Ministers, generals, mistresses, and courtiers soon found out his weak point, namely, his love of hearing his own praises. There was nothing he liked so much as flattery, or, to put it more plainly, adulation; the coarser and clumsier it was, the more he relished it.....
It was this love of praise which made it easy for Louvois to engage him in serious wars, for he persuaded him that he had greater talents for war than any of his Generals, greater both in design and in execution, and the Generals themselves encouraged him in this notion, to keep in favor with him. I mean such Generals as Condé and Turenne; much more, of course, those who came after them. He took to himself the credit of their successes with admirable complacency, and honestly believed that he was all his flatterers told him...
His mind was occupied with small things rather than with great, and he delighted in all sorts of petty details, such as the dress and drill of his soldiers; and it was just the same with regard to his building operations, his household, and even his cookery. He always thought he could teach something of their own craft even to the most skilful professional men; and they, for their part, used to listen gratefully to lessons which they had long ago learnt by heart. He imagined that all this showed his indefatigable industry; in reality, it was a great waste of time, and his Ministers turned it to good account for their own purposes, as soon as they had learnt the art of managing him; they kept his attention engaged with a mass of details, while they contrived to get their own way in more important matters.
His vanity, which was perpetually nourished ... He imagined that they were great only through him, mere mouthpieces through which he expressed his will; consequently he made no objection when they gradually encroached on the privileges of the greatest noblemen. He felt that he could at any moment reduce them to their original obscurity; whereas, in the case of a nobleman, though he could make him feel the weight of his displeasure, he could not deprive him or his family of the advantages due to his birth. For this reason he made it a rule never to admit a seigneur to his Councils, to which the Duke de Beauvilliers was the only exception....
Life at Versailles
Very early in the reign of Louis XIV the Court was removed from Paris, never to return.
He availed himself of the frequent festivities at Versailles, and his excursions to other places, as a means of making the courtiers assiduous in their attendance and anxious to please him; for he nominated beforehand those who were to take part in them, and could thus gratify some and inflict a snub on others. He was conscious that the substantial favors he had to bestow were not nearly sufficient to produce a continual effect; he had therefore to invent imaginary ones, and no one was so clever in devising petty distinctions and preferences which aroused jealousy and emulation.
Not only did he expect all persons of distinction to be in continual attendance at Court, but he was quick to notice the absence of those of inferior degree; at his lever, his coucher, his meals, in the gardens of Versailles (the only place where the courtiers in general were allowed to follow him), he used to cast his eyes to right and left; nothing escaped him, he saw everybody. If any one habitually living at Court absented himself he insisted on knowing the reason; those who came there only for flying visits had also to give a satisfactory explanation; any one who seldom or never appeared there was certain to incur his displeasure.
He always took great pains to find out what was going on in public places, in society, in private houses, even family secrets, and maintained an immense number of spies and tale-bearers. These were of all sorts; some did not know that their reports were carried to him; others did know it; there were others, again, who used to write to him directly, through channels which he prescribed; others who were admitted by the backstairs and saw him in his private room. Many a man in all ranks of life was ruined by these methods, often very unjustly, without ever being able to discover the reason; and when the King had once taken a prejudice against a man, he hardly ever got over it....
No one understood better than Louis XIV the art of enhancing the value of a favor by his manner of bestowing it; he knew how to make the most of a word, a smile, even of a glance. If he addressed any one, were it but to ask a trifling question or make some commonplace remark, all eyes were turned on the person so honored; it was a mark of favor which always gave rise to comment....
He loved splendor, magnificence, and profusion in all things, and encouraged similar tastes in his Court; to spend money freely on equipages and buildings, on feasting and at cards, was a sure way to gain his favor, perhaps to obtain the honor of a word from him. Motives of policy had something to do with this; by making expensive habits the fashion, and, for people in a certain position, a necessity, he compelled his courtiers to live beyond their income, and gradually reduced them to depend on his bounty for the means of subsistence.
Source # 11 - A person who lived at the time of Louis XIV wrote the following description of how commoners lived in France a the time:
The highroads of the country, and the streets of the towns and cities are full of beggars whom nakedness and famine have driven forth...One tenth of the population are actually beggars; five tenths do not absolutely beg, but are on the verge of starvation.
