Transcript France’s Ultimate Monarch

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).