George Stephenson

First Bourbons and strengthening of the absolute monarchy

To died from Henri III, assassinated by the fanatic monk Jacques Clement, and for lack of heir, the throne passes to a branch junior, the Bourbons, in the person of Henri IV, before king of Navarre. But this one being protesting, he is not recognized by the ultra-catholics of the Ligue. It is necessary for him to reconquer its kingdom and to convert with Catholicism, which it does in 1593. Once its consolidated capacity, Henri IV puts a term at the Wars of religion by promulgating the edict of Nantes of 1598. Helped of his minister Sully, Henri IV tries to give on foot the kingdom tested hard by the Wars of religion. When Henri IV is assassinated by François Ravaillac, a fanatic catholic in 1610, it bequeaths to his son Louis XIII a considerably reinforced kingdom.

''' Louis XIII ''' (1610 - 1643) is nine years old when his/her father Henri IV is assassinated in 1610. His/her mother Marie de Médicis ensures regency with her favorites and neglects the education of the young king. Louis XIII draws aside it from the capacity in 1617 while making assassinate his Concini favorite. From 1624, it reigns in close cooperation with its principal minister, the cardinal of Richelieu which it supports against the intrigues of the noble ones, furious to be isolated capacity. Under its reign, the Lorraine Auvergne and some places join the royal field. It follows a policy of domestication of the large lords of the kingdom (Business of the count de Chalais in 1626), of hardening towards the Protestants with which it manages to withdraw thestrong ones that the edict of Nantes granted to them. It installs intendant S of justice, organizes and finances in the provinces. Contrary to the officers those are revocable police chiefs. They are essential in the areas borders or occupied by the French. They ensure the order it while fighting against plunderings of the soldiers French and while making sure of the fidelity of the subjects, particularly the noble ones and cities. The king accentuates centralization by supporting the monetary workshop of striking of Paris at the expense of those of provinces. The considerable increase of the tax pressure, required by the war, causes many popular risings: in 1636-1637 that of the Crunching Saintonge - Périgord, in 1639 that of the Flip-flop of Normandy, severely repressed. Indeed, since 1635, Louis XIII and the cardinal of Richelieu is committed in the Thirty Year old Guerre near the Protestant German princes reducing the power of the dynasty of the Habsbourg of Spain, the first power European at that time and of those of Austria which is with the head of the Saint Worsens Roman Germanic. To weaken the Habsbourg, the French occupy of the fortified towns and ensure themselves of the passages which connect them to their allies, in Alsace, Lorraine and in the Piedmont.

The apogee of the absolute monarchy

Louis XIV has four years and half when his/her father dies in 1643. His/her mother Anne of Austria ensures regency with the Cardinal Mazarin that Richelieu had recommended on its bed of died to Louis XIII as being the best possible minister. Until 1661, date of its death, it is Mazarin which controls indeed, even after the majority of Louis XIV. It continues the effort of war started by Richelieu. The French troops gain decisive victories which make it possible to put an end to the Guerre Thirty Year old (1618-1648). The Traité of Münster of October 1648 grants to France almost all the Alsace, confirms the possession of the three évêchés and gives three fortresses to France on Right Bank of the the Rhine, Landau, Philippsbourg and Brisach. The conflict continues however with Spain until 1659. With the Peace of the Pyrenees, the royal field increases of Roussillon, of Artois and certain places of Hainaut like Thionville and Montmédy. Louis XIV marries the infante of Spain, Marie-Therese of Austria.

The reduction with the obedience of the autonomous bodies

During his childhood, Louis XIV was very marked by the Fronde (1648-1652). This succession of revolts parliamentary, nobilaire and popular had obliged it précipitemment to leave Paris in 1648 for German Saint in Bush hammer. It had seen the Parisian people there invading his room. This episode mainly explains its will to muzzle the nobility and the Parliaments, its mistrust of the capital. With died of Mazarin, in 1661, he declares that he will only control from now on, i.e. without Prime Minister. He claims his Secretaries of State a strict obedience and prohibits to them to only decide. Consequently, the great business of the reign of the sun king is to force with obedience all the autonomous bodies of the kingdom. To be sure to be obeyed of its ministers, it chooses them among the middle-class like Colbert or Tellier. It fills them honors, thus making sure of their recognition and their fidelity. The reign of Louis XIV marks a centralization extrème royal capacity. The great decisions are made by the council of in top which meets two or three times per week and where only 3 to 5 ministers sit. The council of parts or private council, chaired by the chancellor, is used as Court of Appeal in last spring and prepares the edicts. The council of the dispatches which meets every fifteen days occupies of the correspondence with the intendants, become more than ever the voice of the king in the provinces.

At the beginning of his personal reign (1661-1715), Louis XIV starts the recovery of the royal authority. The governors of the province resulting from the nobility do not have any more an army at their disposal and must reside at the court, which makes difficult the clientelism. In 1665, Louis XIV interdict with the Parliaments to deliberate on the edicts and orders to them to record them without vote. With Colbert, he undertakes to reform justice. They create the council of justice which writes codes which apply to all the kingdom: the civil ordinance or codes Louis, the ordinance of National Forestry Commission, the criminal ordinance, the ordinances maritime and commercial and finally the colonial ordinance published in 1686 and more known under the name of black code. Not being by sure fidelity of the officers hereditary owners of loads, he entrusts their functions to revocable police chiefs. This process ends up forcing the officers with obedience. The nobility which had hard disputed Mazarin during its minority, loses any political power. It is domesticated with Versailles where its larger concern is to point out itself of the king. For that, it must make excessive expenditure and is reduced by it to beg pensions with the king to ensure his sumptuous way of life.

An ambitious foreign policy

Louis XIV thinks that the war is the natural vocation of a king. But at the beginning of its reign, the army is still a private company monopolized by the nobility. The regiments and the companies are the property of officers who buy their rank. Under the aegis of Tellier then of his/her son Louvois, all the two ministers of state and consequently taking part in the prestigious council of in top, the officers are controlled by civil administrators who apply strict regulations, stripping them of most of to be able to them. The military reforms make it possible Louis XIV to have a more and more disciplined army. the port of the uniform is generalized little by little. Louvois makes build the first barracks. The military efforts make it possible Louis XIV to gain bright victories in the first part of its personal reign. The Guerre of Devolution (1667-1668) enables him to conquer new fortified towns in the north of France among which Dunkirk, Lille and Douai. The Traité of Nimègue of 1678 put an end to the Guerre of Holland. Exchanges of fortified towns make it possible to regularize the border in north. In 1680-1681, Louis XIV, extremely of his domination without division on Europe proceeds to the policy of the " réunions". The goal is to connect the chain of fortified towns worked out by Vauban. In full peace it annexes inter alia Nancy, Sarreguemines, Lunéville, the county of Montbeliard, Pont-à-Mousson, Strasbourg. This violation of the international law makes indignant the States of Europe. Louis XIV alienates the Protestant States by révocant the edict of Nantes in 1685. Its relationship with England is tightened. Indeed France starts to populate Quebec, colonization progresses to America, the French found commercial counters in India, which competes with the British projects. The September 25th, 1688 Louis XIV launches a demanding ultimatum that the truce which granted the occupation of the " to him; réunions" for 20 years is to transform into final treaty. It makes occupy and devastate the Palatinat of which it asserts the succession. This involves the Guerre of the league of Augsburg directed by William of Orange, Stathouder of Holland, become king d' Angleterre with his wife Marie II. The war is undecided and is very expensive whereas France knows one period of food shortage in 1693. Louis XIV agrees to negotiate, it returns the " réunions" but preserves Strasbourg by the treaty of peace of Ryswick of 1697.

The Guerre of the league of Augsburg obliges the count de Pontchartrain, successor of Colbert, to increase the size and to claim more moneys with the farmers general who manage the gabelle one and the assistances. It institutes a new tax, the Capitation in 1695, tax that all the subjects even the privileged people must pay contrary to the size, but its distribution is relatively unjust. To find the money which monarchy needs, it sells offices, multiplies the loans near the traders. at the end of the War of the league of Augsburg, the country finds the economic growth. But in 1700, the king of Spain dies without heir and designates as heir the second wire to the dolphin, which becomes king under the name of Philippe V. Fear to see France dominating the world thanks to the Spanish colonies causes the formation of a new league against it. The war of succession of Spain starts in 1703. France after some victories knows many reverses which push Louis XIV to require feed it in 1709, peace which he refuses in front of the requirements of united. in 1711, the Habsbourg applicant with the throne of Spain becomes emperor of Austria. The English fearing the domination of Habsbourg ask for peace. This one is signed with Utrecht in 1714.

The end of the reign of Louis XIV is particularly painful because of the glacial weather conditions which kill certainly several million people in France by the cold or the hunger. Because also of the hardness of its interior policy, its religious intolerance and especially of its continual Guerre S which brought back relatively few grounds to France but made hecatombs, absorbed fortunes, nuirent so much with the trade and reduced to poverty cities and campaigns. Also, the death of the King is accommodated in 1715 like a delivery by the whole of the kingdom. Bonfires are lit in the villages. The future Louis XV being still child, a Regency is installation. This period is characterized by a relaxation in manners after the austerity of the last years of reign of Louis XIV and by the resurgence of the local authorities previously reduced to silence.

The Age of Enlightenment

Louis XV reign of 1715 to 1774. Being only 5 years old with died of its great-grandfather, Louis XIV, the capacity is entrusted to council of regency directed by the duke of Orleans. This one took care to make break the will of the late king, who limited his capacity, by the Parlement of Paris in exchange of a return to the right of remonstrance. One of the autonomous capacities muzzled by Louis XIV thus finds a bargaining power of the monarchy of which it will be useful throughout the XVIIIe century. The time is with the loosening of moral standards, the economic boom, the speculation the taste for the exotic products supports the development of the ports of the Atlantic. The merchants of colonial produce, the monarchy and the traffickers of slaves make bright fortunes and the colonists import manufactured goods of France. The port of Nantes develops and the slave traders are made build with Nantes, Bordeaux and La Rochelle of imposing buildings. The New-Orleans is founded in 1718. When the regent dies in 1723, Louis XV reign personally. Until 1743, it is pressed on a Fleury Prime Minister, his former tutor in whom it has any confidence. under its reign, France increases Lorraine. In 1735, this sovereign principality, several times occupied by France, is given to Stanislas Leszczynski, driven out throne of Poland by the Russians and the Austrians and father-in-law of Louis XV. To its death in 1766, it enters the royal field. The Corsica is yielded by the Republic of Genoa in 1768. Previously in 1762, the areas of the Dombes it had also joined the field. During its reign, Louis XV refuses several times the proposals which are made to him annex the Austrian Netherlands (the current Belgium) in exchange of its alliance or its neutrality, without the historians including/understanding the reason well of it. By losing the War Seven Year old (1756-1763), France loses its political importance overseas, in particular in America (loss of the Canada) and in India (where it preserves only Yanaon, Chandernagor, Karikal, Mahé and Pondichéry) by yielding its territories to the rival Great Britain by the treated of Paris of 1763.

The reign of Louis XV is very brilliant on the cultural level, with the appearance of the philosophical of the Lumières such Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Diderot and D' Alembert. The major problem of the State is then the chronic budget deficit which results in making the king depend on financial and of the big businessmen. Another source of paralysis of the systems of government, opposition of the Parliament S, being posed as a defender laws of the kingdom and countervailing power. Being opposed to any attempt reforms of the kingdom, it contributes to the crisis of the absolute monarchy under the reign of Louis XVI.

Under the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, a policy of simplification and regularization of the borders is undertaken. It is a question of carrying out exchanges of places advanced with the Neighboring states to avoid the French enclaves as well apart from the borders as foreign inside the territory. In 1789, there exist nothing any more but three foreign enclaves in French territory, Avignon and Comtat which belong to the pope, the principality of Montbeliard and the Republic of Mulhouse.

The grandson of Louis XV, Louis XVI is the last absolute monarch of a kingdom mined by the financial problems and budgetary. He is relieved by the French revolution.

Louis XX

To date, Louis XX (Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou) is the groin of the Maison of Bourbon and for this reason chief of the Maison of France and, according to the legitimists, heir to the crown of France.

Reigning branches

Only are represented today on a throne:

the connects elder, through the king Jean-Charles I {{er}} of Spain, wire of 4th wire of the king Alphonse XIII;
the branch resulting from the sovereign dukes of Parma, through the large-duke Henri I {{er}} of the Luxembourg which, however, like his/her father before him, bears in priority the name and arm with the duchy of Nassau, inherited the large-duchess Charlotte I {{Re}}.

See too

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