Louis XIV

i think he was a great king but i also think that unconsciously he did a lot of harm to france. because he became so powerful and everyone got the notion that the king must do everything. and he was followed by two incompetents (one because he didn't want to, second because he couldn't be competent) and the whole france was used to depending on the king... and when the king is bad... baboom!

Louis was the personification of vanity, but also of power!

One must remember that when Louis was a small child, the French nobility engaged in a coup, known as the Fronde, against the crown.  His mother and Cardinal Richelieu barely escaped with their lives, and the young Louis was severely traumatized in much the same way that Peter the Great was by the palace coup against his mother and her relatives in his childhood.

Louis grew up knowing that the only way to secure the safety of himself and his dynasty was to quash the political aspirations of a fractious nobility.  In fact, Versailles was enlarged into the "gilded cage" it became under Louis for largely political reasons.  Louis needed to cut the senior nobility off from their bases of support in their regional estates, and he devised the plan of luring them to Versailles.

In pursuit of that aim, he created both positive reinforcements and negative consequences relating to Versailles.  For reinforcement, he made Versailles the center of culture and entertainment in France.  It had to be a lush, never-ending -- and ultimatly addictive -- parade of music, art, high society, games and sundry other diversions.  On the consequences side of it, no one who did not spend a considerable portion of their year in or near Versailles had any hope of receiving lucrative appointments for themselves or their family members, state pensions, or other preferments.

Part of Louis' plan was to make life at Versailles so ruinously expensive for the nobility that they would be devoid of funds with which to raise private armies or pursue other political agendas.  Hence the ever-escalating elaboration of dress and entertainment expenses, the encouragement of high-stakes gambling, etc.

The primary reason Louis developed such a ponderous court etiquette was to give the nobility something to connive and fight over other than real political power.  If he could make the right to hold the king's right glove during the Grand Lever more desperately sought after than the right to hold the king's left glove, then he could effectively emasculate his nobility.  He did just that.

It was initially a brilliant strategy that bought France several generations of respite from civil war.  It was also a strategy that developed a life of its own, living well beyond Louis' need for it and ultimately contributing to the collapse of the monarchy.

Indeed, Louis destoyed the nobility's power to such an extent, that nobles could only content themselves flattering the King to see if they gained His favour.


About the Fronde, I suppose you meant Mazarin, didn't you?

Sorry . . . I did mean Mazarin.  Thanks for the catch.

I sometimes post while at work and get in too big a hurry.  I was thinking about writing a post about the Musketeers and apparently had Richelieu on the brain.

Nothing wrong with that, it happens quite often to everybody, I suppose!

Louis was the personification of vanity, but also of power!

Just like me  

Votre Altesse "Grand Duke", voici votre palais  :

http://www.insecula.com/salle/theme_40033_M0037.html

Gosh, these forums have got so international!! I'm out of my depth! Unless anyone speaks Irish? : - )

Gosh, these forums have got so international!! I'm out of my depth! Unless anyone speaks Irish? : - )

I know like 3 words--Dia Linn(which means "God be with us" or something like that) and seanchai(which means "storyteller.")

I should know more Irish as I'm about 50% full of it....

I know like 3 words--Dia Linn(which means "God be with us" or something like that) and seanchai(which means "storyteller.")

I should know more Irish as I'm about 50% full of it....

Hah! lol! don't worry bout not knowing it - very few people here do either.

Hah! lol! don't worry bout not knowing it - very few people here do either.

I know, and that makes me want to learn more but as I'm a professional slackarse I won't.

I know, and that makes me want to learn more but as I'm a professional slackarse I won't.

LOL!! Anyway getting back to Louis XIV, I was wondering, has anyone ever visited his palace at Versailles?

LOL!! Anyway getting back to Louis XIV, I was wondering, has anyone ever visited his palace at Versailles?

I would LOVE to. I would also love to see the Hall of Mirrors(if that exists..I only read it in the royal diaries version of Marie antoinette)

I would LOVE to. I would also love to see the Hall of Mirrors(if that exists..I only read it in the royal diaries version of Marie antoinette)

Sadly I've never been to Versailles - I've been to the Louvre, but that's about it. I know that Versailles is always said to be one of the most beautiful palaces in the world, but any pics I've seen of it never do it justice.