France’s Ultimate Monarch

Religious Wars Create a Crisis

• In the late 1500s, French Protestants & Catholics fought 8 civil wars.

• King Henry IV tried to end the conflict by guaranteeing religious tolerance in the Edict of Nantes

• After Henry’s death, Cardinal Richelieu becomes the power behind the throne & limits power of Protestants (think 3 Musketeers)

• French thinkers begin to embrace skepticism, the idea that nothing can ever be known for certain, as a world view.

Louis XIV Rules Absolutely

• Cardinal Mazarin rules France during Louis XIV’s childhood (he was 5).

• When Mazarin raised taxes and strengthened the central government nobles rioted but were unsuccessful.

• After Mazarin’s death, Louis XIV rules independently, becoming the most powerful king in the history of France.

• Louis’s finance minister, Jean Baptiste Colbert, tries to make France economically self-sufficient.

Louis’s Grand Style

• Louis XIV becomes the most powerful king of France. surrounds himself with luxury. brings nobles to his court and makes them wait on him (100 nobles to help him dress; 500 cooks, waiters & other servants).

builds a lavish palace at Versailles and becomes a great patron of the arts.

Louis Fights Disastrous Wars

• Louis XIV builds up a huge army (100,000 peacetime; 400,000 wartime) & wages war to expand French territory & influence.

• Other European nations join forces to equal French power.

• France gains but eventually weakens from constant war.

Group Activity

• Choose one of the following: Create a model of Versailles or any other palace at the time with descriptions of what you included

Perform a skit of what it would have been like to be at Versailles with Louis XIV

Write an essay about the measures Cardinal Richelieu took against French Protestants and the effects it had (2 pages).