King Louis the XIV was the head of the absolute monarch of France. Louis was born on September 5,1638 in Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, France. His mother was the Hapsburg Spanish Queen Anne of Austria and his father was the current King of France, Louis XIII. On May 14, 1643, when Louis XIV was just four years old, his father passed away. This made him be placed on the throne, becoming the leader of nineteen million French people and a highly unbalanced government. There was an attempt to overthrow the crown when Louis was ten, it created a civil war called the Fronde. Throughout the long war, Louis XIV suffered many hardships, including poverty and starvation. Thankfully for the young Louis, Mazarin, Louis’s Chief Master, finally had a victory over …show more content…
France's kings were first attracted to Versailles because of the area's hunting game. Louis XIII, bought up land, built a chateau and would use it for hunting trips. At the time, much of the land around Versailles was coarse, allowing wild animals to roam. Louis XIV chose the sun as his emblem and believed in centralized government with the king at its center. This when he decided to transform Versailles the seat of France's government by the time of his death. Louis wanted to outrank everyone with everything. With the building of Versailles, it cost France over billions of today’s currencies and put the French people in poverty. The palace of Versailles out did much of Europe and visitors were taken on tours to show how strong finical France was, even know they were not. Building Versailles is told to be what started to fall of the French monarchs because the people of France were starving because the monarch spent all the money of war and the palace was built and made number on priority. The place of Versailles is the main thing Louis the XIV is known for creating. Versailles ended up being around seventeen acres and costing the French government around 50.7 billion dollars, according to historians. Versailles, which can hold up to 20,000 people, has 700 rooms, more than 2,000 windows, 1,250 chimneys, and 67 staircases. Not only did the immediate royal family reside there, but the palace also housed many members of the French nobility, as well as all official government offices. Versailles is outside of Paris and was made as the official building of
Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, was an absolutist monarch of France who sought to heavily suppress the power of novels while simultaneously promoting the ideals of a “divine right monarchy”. A man notorious for his incredible spending on various personal ventures, such as the extremely costly construction of a new palace at Versailles, Louis XIV was often the subject of criticism and mockery, especially from the nobles who hoped to discredit him and his absolutist regime. Overall, Louis XIV did predominantly act in a manner with his own personal agenda in mind, as seen through his Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, occurring as a result of his desire to have his country fall in line with his own beliefs, his unrelenting expenditures
He moved his court because he did not feel safe in Paris and could watch over his court officials due to living so close to one another. This piece certainly provides evidence of what Louis himself valued, but perhaps these attributes are needed to effectively rule with absolutism. Throughout this entire document, the author is implying how great Louis is as a person and an effective ruler. He even goes to list his issues: “All his faults were produced by his surroundings...soon found out his weak point, namely, his love of hearing his own praises” (Saint-Simon). Louis cared deeply regarding his personal image and these weaknesses do not seem that drastic, but according to him, “It was this love of praise which made it easy for Louvois to engage him in serious wars” (Saint-Simon). The text gives historians information about Louis’ love-affair with Mademoiselle de la Valliere, compelling his courtiers to spend more than they earned creating a dependency, and other interesting details regarding his life that are excluded in textbooks. Overall, this document provides a deeper insight to King Louis XIV personality and justifications for why he chose the actions he did. Duc de Saint-Simon, someone that resided at the Palace of Versailles, can provide information about a man that ruled with an iron fist over his
Louis XIV of France used his grand and gaudy Palace of Versailles as a “pleasure prison” for the nobles, while Peter the Great sent all of his nobles to St. Petersburg – both of these actions made it difficult for nobles to rebel. In France, Louis XIV ridiculed the nobility by sending them to the Palace of Versailles and busying them with silly little jobs and knit-picky rituals. He gave them these useless jobs to prevent them from banding together, to overthrow him, and to keep all of them on constant watch.
The reading depicted the surprising visit of King Louis XIV, together with six hundred nobles and thousands of court servants at Chantilly in 1671. The host Prince de Condé and his most trusted headwaiter Francois Vatel was given fifteen days to be prepared for the arrival of the gigantic royal party. A spontaneous event of mis-arrangements during the preparation has gradually built up the stresses on Vatel which ultimately broke down his stress threshold and led to his tragic ending. Madame de Sévigné who was a talented letter writer in 17th century decided wrote down the tragic story of a courtier in her letter, even though she was never there to see it in person.
In order to finance the wars, taxation had to be raised, and everyone including the nobility had to pay (they used to be an exempt). Nearing the end of King Louis’s reign, France was bankrupt, resulting the people of the state to be at odds with their king. “France’s resources and finances were ultimately drained, leading King Louis and the state of France in debt, which made the people turn against him” (Eggert). Regardless, when it came to the arts, his rule as an absolute monarch has led him to contribute so much in various branches of creative activity today. Comparing the given examples, his use of the arts was one of the most important ways King Louis XIV introduced and glorified his rule as an absolute monarch to his people.
King Louis XIV was a showy and self-absorbed king. His palace was representative of his personality and ideals. The Versailles palace architecture displayed Louis XIV ideals of secular issues. He cared more about spending money to show off his power. Unlike the Escorial, Versailles was centered on “The Sun King” instead of religion. At one point Louis XIV stated that “he was the state”. This statement was saying that Louis XIV represented the center and best of France. An example of this was that King Louis XIV lived in the middle of Versailles. Versailles was also very ornate and had the atmosphere of freeness. However, the Escorial was very basic like Philip II.
His talent for distracting the noble class with lavish parties and events they felt obligated to attend left them too busy to deal with the affairs of the state, providing him the perfect chance to make all the decisions on his own accord and effectively allowed him to rule as an absolute monarch. Louis XIV managed to make it a necessity to attend his festivities, where nobles who were absent were looked down upon and question on their loyalty to the king. Louis himself, however, would only attend his parties for thirty minutes to an hour before going off and making important political decisions. Louis XIV also managed to reduce the nobles power while they were busy partying, which would soon prove disastrous during the rule of his great-grandson Louis XVI. Louis also acquired a large debt for France with the construction of the Palace of Versailles.
Throughout the medieval period, there were many good kings;, however, Louis IX was more than a good king,; he was a great king. As He was the son of King Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile, he was born into royalty being the and the oldest among twelve others siblings. He was born into royalty on August 25, 1215. HHowever, his father died when he was only twelve12 years old, which left him leaving him as king of France at a very young age. His mother became took over as regent until he was ready to rule by himself.
He is very well known for his palace, Versailles. Versailles began as a hunting chateau during King Louis XIII reign. King Louis XIV is best known for the lavish add-ons to the palace. His love for the fine things is shown through Duc de Saint-Simon’s, a resident of Versailles for many years, account of life at the palace, “He loved splendour, 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 favour, perhaps to obtain the honour of a word from him.” This first-hand account is taken from Saint-Simon who was obviously close to the King.
...s was from a military stand point, which was rare for him. In 1667, Louis attacked a portion of the Netherlands that was owned by the Spanish. This resulted in the gaining of 12 towns, which encouraged Louis to attack the Dutch Netherlands, which did gain him a few wealthy port towns, before ending in disaster. Louis’ last great success was the building of the Palace of Versailles, which as described earlier was a feat never before matched by a ruler.
Louis fought his early wars for defensive purposes— to secure France’s northern border and to remove the Spanish from strategic towns. However, the Sun King pursued many subsequent wars to increase his power and influence. For example, Louis believed that if France had once historically controlled a region, France was justified in winning the region once again. Louis believed, as a divine right ruler, that he had the authority to break truces at will. Consequently, Louis made many enemies out of nearby countries, including Spain, England, and the Netherlands. After Louis won the Campaign in the Franche-Comte region in 1668, Europe was not interested in having France become the preeminent power in Europe. Louis believed that trade would generate wealth and by keeping trade within his own colonies, he could capture the profits that would have been otherwise outside of his control. By reorganizing the administrative and financial aspects of his kingdom and developing trade and manufacturing, he improved the prosperity of his empire. Louis sought to finance his military objectives from this new income stream, but ultimately, it was not enough. Louis XIV’s many wars, and the lavish life at Versailles, exhausted France of funds. Since only the lowest French classes such as the farmers paid the
One of the most important elements of Versailles that affected Louis XIV’s reign was the use of propaganda. The Palace contained “paintings, statues, tapestries” (Page) and a general grandness that significantly promoted Louis’ name. Louis himself was a “prominent subject in the artwork” (Montclos 330) and was portrayed as handsome and god-like. Even in the aspects of the Palace where Louis wasn’t literally being represented, the grand nature of Versailles sent out a message that the King was living lavishly, and was therefore very powerful. Louis XIV used the grandiosity of his Palace and the art inside to promote himself to his people.
Versailles: An Illusion of The Sun King’s Authentication The Palace of Versailles is among the most well regarded architectural pieces of modern Europe. The masterpiece was originally established in 1624 as a hunting lodge and chateau for Louis XIII of France (reigned 1610-1643). His successor, Louis XIV (reigned 1643-1715), turned the building into an extravagant palace in which he would live in full time; once he moved to Versailles he never went back to Paris due to his issues with the parlement of Paris (The Palace of Versailles, Encyclopedia Britannica). The illustrious palace is laced with detail and exuberance meant to glorify Louis XIV himself.
...e the price of bread, or to better the way the starving saw him by cutting down on the expenses of Versailles. Overall, the weakness and indecisive actions of Frances monarch, King Louis XVI did not make those serving him respect or be loyal to him and his choices.
The Palace of Versailles was the official home of the Kings of France from 1682 until 1790. Originally, a hunting lodge built in 1624 by Louis XIII, but then was expanded by Louis XIV in the beginning of 1669. With beautiful architecture and amazing landscape, it is one of the most well- known and beautiful palaces in France. Its garden is so unique and one of Europe's largest. It played a huge responsibility in French government and was used for some of the biggest meetings of Kings and Queens. It is a very reflective place for the French and showed a basis of culture for the people. The small structure became the base on which was constructed into one of the most extravagant buildings in the world. The Palace of Versailles is a famous French landmark due to its elaborate construction, its role as a center of government, and its influence on French culture.