he only wanted help from the secretaries and ministers of state to assist him, when he asked for them. he did not want them to sign anything without command. Louis XIV swore to take complete control over the government. Louis began to call himself the “Sun King” as a symbol of his absolute power. After taking control of the government, he worked to centralize and tight control of France and its colonies.
He did not share his power with anyone or any organization. He limited the power of his nobles and princes by having them live in his palace where their power would have been void. The nobles over time felt they needed to please Louis in return for letting them live in the Palace of Versailles (Doc 5). Louis attempted to control Protestants in France by making them convert to Catholicism. In addition he would not allow them to leave the country and he took down their churches (Doc 6).
King Louis, also known as the sun king was a very extravagant ruler and had absolute control of France for the time of his reign. During this time, Louis spent large amounts of money on his interests, while having great influence over the people with a strong personality and making sure other influential people did not go against him. One of the effects on France by Louis XIV”s rule was the damage he did to the economy with things such as his own extravagances and a large amount of spending on the Versailles palace. Many other conflicts, such as the widespread persecution of Calvinist Protestants (known as Huguenots in France) and France’s involvement in many unsuccessful war campaigns caused France’s deficit to be double the amount of the yearly income of France. The damaging habits of the king and the damaged economy nearly pushed France to disaster and were just one of the many problems that emerged from the reign of Louis XIV.
The country had a massive lack of resources and food, which led King Louis XVI to borrow more money than he could afford, thus putting the country in immense debt. Despite the very visible crisis overthrowing the country, the king was incapable of accepting his mistakes and refused to change his ways. He maintained the unjust voting system, known as the Estates-General, and worsened the taxing system in order to pay off his debts. The people, especially those of the Third Estate, were clearly angry and dissatisfied with the state of the country, which led them seek out a movement for what was right. They began the French Revolution, which wouldn’t have been possible if Louis’ actions hadn’t been as drastic as they were.
Even though Philip II and Louis XIV use supreme power for different purposes, they both thought every decision they made was the correct one. This confidence would lead to the people of their regions having trust in their decisions, which is one of the reasons they did not revolt against these absolute monarchs. The sourcebook reads, “During his reign, Louis did not once call a meeting of the Estates General, the medieval council made up of representatives of all French social classes.” Louis XIV was so confident, he felt that he did not think anyone’s opinion but his own mattered. Everyone saw Louis confidence so much that he received the nickname, “the grand monarch.” Louis did not even bother to ask for anyone else's input, he just did what he thought would be best for himself. Philip had quiet confidence, which means he did not think that he was the smartest, he knew he was the smartest and so did everyone else.
He took a non military/ no war approach to dealing with foreign affairs while Henry VIII took a more confrontational approach, for example his invasion of France. Henry VII established good trade relations with the Happisburgh Empire (Germany and Austria) and France. He also used marriage to make alliances with other foreign countries and to keep the peace between countries. One example of this is when he married his son Arthur to Catherine of Aragon from Spain. Sadly, Arthur died, but King Henry VII, not wanting to make Catherine’s father angry arranged a marriage between Catherine and his next son Henry VIII.
This caused peasants to fight against their lords, burn feudal scripts, and seize manor houses. These riots that were propelled by hate, confusion, and conspiracy all kickoffed the infamous French Revolution. With King Louis, XVI reigning over France, there is a common question of “To what extent is King Louis XVI responsible for the Great Fear of 1789?” While there are many people to blame, King Louis XVI played the role of the peasants believing the outlandish rumors that caused the initial riots. He played this role by socially neglecting and placing harsh taxes on the Third Estate. King Louis XVI’s lackadaisical, inattentive, and unreasonable rule on the people of France, cause them to lose faith in their King
‘The consolidation of royal authority, in the years 1487-1509, was due to Henry VII’s control over the nobility.’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this view. It can be argued to a certain extent that the consolidation of royal authority for Henry VII, in the years 1487-1509, was a result of control over the nobility. The challenge lied in the ability to decrease their power without alienating them whilst removing their position of threat. However, there were other contributory factors in Henry’s consolidation of his royal authority, such as his diplomatic skills in dealing with foreign powers and the indispensable use of royal finances. Following the Battle of Bosworth of 1485, it was indisputable that Henry needed to establish new means of controlling the size and power of the nobility to levels which posed no threat to the throne.
Another famous ruler who demonstrated absolute power was King Louis XIV of France. At the age of twenty-three, Louis showed that he was determined to someday be the sole ruler of France. Louis proved ht he had what it took to be a strong ruler and this brought him closer to absolute power (Spielvogel 1). Using his absolute power he eventually had, Louis was able to do positive things for France. Louis would put in place massive construction project such as aqueducts and the Palace of Versailles.
According to Machiavelli, “One morning he assembled the people and senate of Syracuse, as if he had to discuss with them things relating to the Republic, and at a given signal the soldiers killed all the senators and the richest of the people; these dead, he seized and held the princedom of that city without any civil commotion” (Machiavelli, 1515, p. 38). In other words, this shows that intelligence and skill are important to be a leader; however, it is not necessary to be cruel just because fortune was not the reason why the person became a prince. My idea is that if a prince is intelligence he will not rush during difficult times, and he will decide what to do for his state and citizens carefully. In addition, the skills that he has will help him with the army during wars. Therefore, he will be able to end up the disorder that surrounded his