The Various Aspects Of Absolutism And King Louis XIV

Absolutism is a simple manner was the absolute power held by the monarch, and was exempt from being challenged. In other words, a monarch could, in theory, regulate various aspects of life without their authority being called into question. In France, absolutism is associated with the likes of Louis XIII, but rather more so with his descendent, King Louis XIV. However, while in theory absolutism granted the king a vast majority if the power and authority, it does not mean that it worked that way in practice. The king still had to answer to God. Furthermore, there were other variables involved such as the different nobilities, royal commissioners, the catholic church, and the lower class. This essay will look at the various aspects of absolutism:
it’s relations with religion, how it went about managing France, and its relationship with the people. To start, it is important to delve deeper into what allowed the king to claim absolute power. Essentially, what absolutism did was that it created a direct link between the king and God, which was called divine right law. Therefore, considering how large the Catholic Church was during this period of time, religion can be considered extremely important to defining the power of the king. By establishing a link with God, the king was able to establish a link to the population. In that sense, a Catholic individual now had a reason to support the king. Due to the importance of religion, divine right law was vehemently supported by many, specifically from the bishop Bossuet, whose document was the source of the first assignment. In his document, Vision in Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture, Bossuet outlined his views on the importance of the relationship between the King and God. Essentially, that main points he tried to get across were this: royal authority should be treated as sacred; royal authority is paternal; and royal power is absolute. Essentially, what Bossuet expressed here is that the royal power is drawing its authority from religion. However, absolutisms relation with religion did not sit well with everybody. While the monarchy had amplified its power due its claim of being connected to God, it had also created a problem with the pope. Not only had the monarchy of France establish that they had been chosen by God, the pope had claimed the same thing. Consequently, this had created a tension between the two battling for that title of being chosen. This is illustrated in a
December 29, 1679 letter from Pope Innocent XI to Louis XIV. In this letter, the pope attempted to denounce the King’s authority and his connection to God. In addition to this, the pope framed the letter to appear as though God had directed this message to him to further denounce the King’s power in this situation. However, it was not just the pope that king had tensions with.
In addition to his troubles with the pope, the King also had to deal with another group—the protestants.
A large part of Louis’s religious authority was that it relied on a majority of the population having a uniform belief system. To the Catholic Church, Protestantism was considered heresy. Therefore, if there was an increase in the number of Protestants, it would mean that there would be less individuals that supported the King’s authority. In other words, they would have become a problem for the king. Moving forward, the protestants would face harassment. This is evident in D’Aguesseau’s List of Protestants Who Have Left Languedoc in Violation of the Royal Orders. As the title implies, this was a list of Protestants who had been forced into exile. William Beik suggests that very fact that such a list exists displayed how carefully they had been watched. Overall, what can be noted is that the monarchy’s connection to religion had certainly assisted in establishing power and authority; however, it had also brought with it problems, as exemplified through troubles with the pope and
Protestants.
In addition to religion’s role in absolutism, it is also important to examine how it helped Louis XIV manage France.
This can be analysed through the royal council meetings that were held. These consisted of individuals being sent out through France, and interacting with the rest of the region. Given the nature of absolutism, it is no surprise that the king had tried to manage a variety of jobs. In a set of instructions from the financial minister, it outlines the different undertakings of said commissioners. The data that is being collected includes the following: maps, ecclesiastical records, military, justice, finances, the king’s revenues, navy, manufacturing, bridges and roads, horse breeding, and more. This list demonstrates that vast amounts of data the king wanted to collect, and the exactly what subjects that king wanted to tackle. The king was looking at a wide range of things from maps to establishing more horse breeding, interestingly
enough.
In addition to this, another large part of absolutism was the finances. By examining various documents, it would seem that the financial situation in France was not at a high point. This is exemplified in a financial memorandum by Colbert in 1670 that was addressed to the King. Colbert’s writing indicates that the financial situation was not where it should have been. This is illustrated by the first line of the letter, “Sire, the state of Your Majesty’s finances has caused me to do a close study to find a reason for the changes I have observed.” Furthermore, this can be observed in the expenditures by the government. The grand total of expenditures in had tripled from 1663 to 1681. As Beik wrote, a large amount of wealth was being taken from agriculture producers and merchants and given to nobles, officers, and urban financiers. Given that, how did this affect his relationship with the people?
While there were groups that supported the king, and also groups had undergone hardships under absolutism. This can be seen in the people of Dijon. There had been individuals had not been as compliant with the king as others have, and even attempted to incite an uprising. This is illustrated in a document from November 21, 1668, Request by the City Council of Dijon for a Monitory. The document mentioned criminals, male and females that had carried malice towards the king. It mentioned that individuals had tried to create an uprising by going door-to-door to enlist people to their cause. As evident in the document, not everyone had been happy with the current situation. As a result, they threatened violence and an uprising.