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From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS
XXV. ABSOLUTISM IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND, 1603-1715 A.D.
» Contents of this Chapter
Page 5
COURT OF LOUIS XIV AT VERSAILLES
Louis gathered around him a magnificent court, which he located at Versailles, near Paris. Here a whole royal city, with palaces, parks, groves, and fountains, sprang into being at his fiat. Here the "Grand Monarch" lived surrounded by crowds of fawning courtiers. The French nobles now spent little time on their country estates; they preferred to remain at Versailles in attendance on the king, to whose favor they owed offices, pensions, and honors. The king's countenance, it was said, is the courtier's supreme felicity; "he passes his life looking on it and within sight of it."
LOUIS XIV, THE KING
Louis taught and put into practice the doctrine of divine right. In his memoirs he declares that the king is God's representative and for his actions is answerable to God alone. The famous saying, "I am the State," [6] though not uttered by Louis, accurately expressed his conviction that in him was embodied the power and greatness of France. Few monarchs have tried harder to justify their despotic rule. He was fond of gaiety and sport, but he never permitted himself to be turned away from the punctual discharge of his royal duties. Until the close of his reign—the longest in the annals of Europe—Louis devoted from five to nine hours a day to what he called the "trade of a king."
[6] "_L'Etat, c'est moi._"
ABSOLUTISM IN FRANCE
Conditions in France made possible the despotism of Louis. Richelieu and Mazarin had labored with great success to strengthen the crown at the expense of the nobles and the commons. The nation had no Parliament to represent it and voice its demands, for the Estates-General had not been summoned since 1614 A.D. It did not meet again till 1789 A.D., just before the outbreak of the French Revolution. In France there was no Magna Carta to protect the liberties of the people by limiting the right of a ruler to impose taxes at will. The French, furthermore, lacked independent law courts which could interfere with the king's power of exiling, imprisoning, or executing his subjects. Thus absolute monarchy became so firmly rooted in France that a revolution was necessary to overthrow it.
THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents
url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp
Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy
