One can tell a significant amount about people by looking at their residence and kings are no different. Although it began as a humble hunting lodge under Louis XIII, Under Louis XIV’s rule, Versailles transformed into a grand palace (Wolf 352). Louis XIV created a palace that reshaped France into something bigger and better, something no one had ever attempted. The magnificent Versailles displayed both the power and wealth of Louis XIV and France. Some historians believe Versailles serves as simply a symbol of Louis XIV’s luxurious life, while others believe Versailles symbolizes the administration of France, but also led to the French Revolution (Barter 12). Louis XIV believed God wanted him to be the king and therefore, he also had absolute rule, unlike the model set by several kings before him allowing the nobles to control the country. The overabundance of power caused the king to become an extremely conceited man. He used to say “L’etat, c’est moi,” which means “I am the state” and also called himself the Sun King because he believed all power came from him, just like the sun. Louis XIV used Versailles as a tool to establish and maintain power, as well as to idealize his rule, which resulted in a consolidated France. Louis XIV's palace, Versailles, became known as the jewel of Europe and drew fellow monarchs to France. Louis XIV transformed Versailles into a grand palace by creating 5,000 acres of gardens, lawns, and woods with a total of 1,400 extravagant fountains along with ponds and plants, which also helped him display his political powers (De Nolhac 7). The extravagance of the landscape exhibited how he had enough power and money to create something magnificent. Louis XIV’s extravagant palace lured kings and queens ... ... middle of paper ... ... XIV had the capability to become a bigger presence and have a larger power than those before him. Versailles became the foundation for the new sect of royalty (Wolf 362). The Sun King left both positive and negative impacts to France. France became more powerful and became known as one of the most advanced European nations in art and literature. Also, France became known as the military leader of Europe, which possibly could have caused France to establish a powerful empire of colonies. With powerful colonies, France provided many resources and goods to trade with other countries. But, continuous war and the maintenance of Versailles caused France to drop into debt. Louis greatly misused power, which also led to revolutions. Versailles served as a device to help Louis XIV create and retain power as well as to glamorize his rule, which resulted in a stronger France.
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
While England lost its power to the nobles, France was able to control them .Instead of having the live among the peasants and the middle class, Louis XIV built the Palace of Versailles in order to force the nobles to be near the king to make sure that they were unable to create conflict with the will of the monarch. This way, the nobles no longer were the people that the middle class would run to when they had a
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 ban...
nation. In order to become a true absolute ruler Louis xiv needed to make sure
The interior (as stated above) is certainly just as awe inspiring as the exterior, notably that of the Hall of Mirrors. The main feature of the hall is the seventeen mirrored arches that reflect the seventeen arcaded windows which look out onto Versailles equally- magnificent garden. Each arch contains twenty-one mirrors, for a total of 357 in all. This magnificent hall measures 73 meters long, 10.5 meters wide, and 12.3 meters high (240x34x40ft). Statues and busts line the walls. Other areas of note are the Versailles Gardens, and the Royal Chapel, both of which echo the palace itself in regards to the beauty and grace of their appearance. As mentioned earlier, Versailles is a key example of baroque palace architecture, and many of the finest craftsmen in Europe worked it for many years.
Monarchs often displayed their power by commissioning buildings and monuments. Louis and Suleiman were no exceptions. Louis had one of the greatest palaces in the world build in the middle of a swamp. This showed his absolute power because no builder ...
However, because King Louis XIV was more interested in the creative activities of the state, France was weakened by several extensive wars, that and his
This is known as divine right. King Louis XIV an earlier ruler before Louis XVI was a monarch that used this way to rule France. For, Louis XIV, the sun was his symbol of divine right. Apollo represented the Sun as the God of peace and was a heavenly body that gave life. “Like the Sun God, Louis XIV, the warrior hero, brought peace to his people; he protected the arts and dispensed all the graces” (History Court Characters, n.d). Being a monarch using your power of divine right isn’t bad cause in trying to harm your country, it is using your power in such a way to make life better for a nation. The Palace of Versailles was built to resemble this power “he insisted on the resemblance carved in stone: the decor of Versailles was filled with depictions and attributes of the god” (History Court Characters, n.d). When Louis XVI inherited the throne and resided in Versaille, it was not to live an aristocratic life, it was to show his divine right and resemble his ancestor Louis XIV “Sun King.” The Sun King represented peace and grace to his people. No harm was meant intentionally by his rule as
When Louis the XIV began his rule in 1643, his actions immediately began to suggest and absolute dictatorship. Because of the misery he had previously suffered, one of the first things he did was to decrease the power of the nobility. He withdrew himself from the rich upper class, doing everything secretly. The wealth had no connection to Louis, and therefore all power they previously had was gone. He had complete control over the nobles, spying, going through mail, and a secret police force made sure that Louis had absolute power. Louis appointed all of his officials, middle class men who served him without wanting any power. Louis wanted it clear that none of his power would be shared. He wanted "people to know by the rank of the men who served him that he had no intention of sharing power with them." If Louis XIV appointed advisors from the upper classes, they would expect to gain power, and Louis was not willing to give it to them. The way Louis XIV ruled, the sole powerful leader, made him an absolute ruler. He had divine rule, and did not want to give any power to anyone other than himself. These beliefs made him an absolute ruler.
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.
Of all the absolute rulers in European history, Louis XIV of France was the most powerful, and the best example because of his successes, being able to continue his complete control even after failures, his ability to be able to use France’s money in any way he wanted, such as the Place of Versailles, taking away the nobles power, and his ability to delegate impotant jobs to smart yet loyal people.
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.
... then a noble. These governors were required to spend a large amount of time at Louis’ extensive palace of Versailles, which allowed Louis to monitor the generalités very closely. Religiously, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes and declared France a Catholic state. Louis hoped that religious unity and centralization would lead to stronger unity in the country as a whole. He expelled or executed any Protestants who refused to convert, and the Catholics supported most of his actions. Although he delegated most of the power in France to himself, Louis did acknowledge the power and authority of the Parlement of Paris, which helped to regulate local administration and taxes, but overall, Louis stripped the nobles and aristocracy of most of their powers. Louis XIV long rule gave France the time it needed to transform from a divided nation to a centralized and powerful one.
It is often debated whether or not the reign of King Louis XIV had a positive or negative effect on France. Although there were improvements during his reign in transportation, culture, and national defense, there were far more negative aspects. He depleted the national treasury with his liberal spending on personal luxuries and massive monuments. His extreme fear of the loss of power led to poor decision making, which caused the court to be of lower quality. King Louis XIV’s disastrous rule brought about a series of effects that influenced the French Revolution in the following century.
Built by Louis XIV, it was transformed into an immense and extravagant complex surrounded by a stylized English and French gardens; every detail of its construction glorified the king." Versailles, Palace of the Palace. Encyclopedia Britannica. Its garden is one of the most well-known and largest with its tree-lined paths, flowerbeds, fountains, and lakes. The king was extremely happy with what he had built for himself, his officials, and his people.