Louis XIV and Absolutism A Brief Study with Documents

by Beik, William

• ISBN13: 9780312133092
• ISBN10: 031213309X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-20
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

This unique collection of documents with commentary explores the meaning of absolute monarchy by examining how Louis XIV of France became one of Europe's most famous and successful rulers. The documents, newly translated and carefully selected for their readability, examine the problems of the Fronde, Colbert's grasp of the economic and fiscal dimensions of the kingdom, the taming of the rural nobility, the interaction of royal ministers and provincial authorities, the repression of Jansenists and Protestants, popular rebellions, and royal image-making.

Author Biography

WILLIAM BEIK is professor of history at Emory University. An authority on the social and institutional history of seventeenth-century France, he is the author of Abolutism and Society: State Power and Provincial Aristocracy in Languedoc (1985), which won the 1986 Herbert Baxter Adams Prize of the American Historical Association, and of Urban Protest in Seventeenth-Century France: the Culture of Retribution (1987). He has written numerous articles and is coeditor of the New Approaches to European History series at Cambridge University Press.

Table of Contents

Foreword	v
Preface	vii
List of Illustrations	xv
PART ONE Introduction: Louis XIV and French Absolutism	1	(16)
Absolutism in Theory	2	(1)
French Absolutism in Practice	3	(1)
The Landed Nobility	4	(2)
The Robe Nobility	6	(3)
The Royal Commissioners	9	(1)
The Catholic Church	10	(2)
The Urban Bourgeoisie	12	(2)
The Lower Classes	14	(2)
A Note about the Text	16	(1)
PART TWO The Documents	17	(202)
Confronting French Society during the Fronde	19	(31)
Paris Rebels against the Crown	22	(7)
Madame de Motteville's Account of the Parisian Disturbances in August 1648	24	(5)
A Mazarinade against the Queen and the Cardinal	29	(6)
An Intimate Discussion between the King and the Queen Regent, His Mother, concerning the Affairs of the Day	30	(5)
The Parlementaires of Aix Strike Back, 1649	35	(5)
Haitze's Account of the Uprising in Aix, 1649	36	(4)
Agen Is Seduced by the Princes	40	(4)
An Account by Bru, Bookseller 1652	41	(3)
A Revolutionary Party in Bordeaux: The Ormee	44	(6)
Apology for the Ormese	45	(2)
The Ormee Abolishes the parlement of Bordeaux	47	(3)
The King and the Aristocrats at Court	50	(32)
The King and His Family	55	(8)
Mademoiselle de Montpensier	55	(1)
Saint Maurice	56	(3)
Primi Visconti	59	(4)
The World of the Court	63	(19)
Saint Maurice	64	(3)
Primi Visconti	67	(4)
The Princess Palatine	71	(7)
Exechiel Spanheim	78	(4)
Managing France	82	(26)
Colbert's Instructions for the Commissioners Who Have Been Sent into the Provinces, September 1663	85	(6)
Financial Memorandum by Colbert, Addressed to the King in 1670	91	(5)
Louis XIV'S Tax Flows	96	(12)
Reforming the Provinces: The Grands Jours d'Auvergne	108	(13)
Letters Patent for the Establishment of the Grands Jours	109	(1)
Excerpts from the Memoirs of Esprit Flechier	110	(11)
Reforming the Provinces: Interaction with Burgundy	121	(2)
Letters to and from Burgundy	123	(24)
Brulart to Mazarin, Dijon, January 5, 1660	124	(1)
Brulart to Mazarin, Dijon, April 20, 1660	125	(1)
Conde to Colbert, Dijon, June 18, 1662	126	(3)
Brulart to La Vrilliere, Dijon, January 31, 1663	129	(1)
Louis XIV to Brulart, Paris, February 13, 1663	129	(1)
Bouchu to Colbert, Dijon, February 14, 1663	130	(1)
Bouchu to Colbert, Dijon, February 17, 1663	131	(2)
Brulart to La Vrilliere, Dijon, February 21, 1663	133	(1)
Colbert to Bouchu, June 5, 1663	133	(1)
Bouchu to Colbert, Dijon, November 13, 1663	134	(1)
Brulart to Chancellor Seguier, Dijon, December 16, 1663	135	(1)
Bouchu to Colbert, December 10, 1664	136	(1)
Bouchu to Colbert, Dijon, January 25, 1665	137	(1)
Brulart to La Vrilliere, Dijon, January 25, 1665	138	(1)
La Vrilliere to Brulart, Paris, February 3, 1665	139	(1)
Bouchu to colbert, Port Digoin, October 30, 1665	140	(1)
Bouchu to Colbert, Dijon, March 21, 1666	141	(1)
Bouchu to Colbert, April 21, 1666	142	(1)
Bouchu to Colbert, Auxerre, November 4, 1667	142	(2)
Bouchu to Colbert, Dijon, June 23, 1669	144	(1)
The Viscount Mayor and Echevins of Dijon to Colbert, July 14, 1669	145	(1)
Bouchu to Colbert, Dijon July 14, 1669	146	(1)
Colbert to Bouchu, Paris, December 19, 1670	146	(1)
Meeting the People of Dijon	147	(9)
Brulart to Louvois, Dijon, June 1673	147	(1)
Request by the City Council of Dijon for a Monitory, November 21, 1668	148	(1)
Extract from the Deliberations of the City Council, April 7, 1671	149	(1)
Petition about Drunken Husbands, April 8, 1672	149	(1)
Illegal Vending, June 30, 1673	150	(1)
Illegal Production September 11, 1673	151	(1)
Homelessness, September 2, 1674	151	(1)
Illegitimate Births, April 27, 1675	152	(1)
A Riot by Winegrowers, January 1684	153	(1)
Petition to the Mayor and Echevins from the Protesters	154	(1)
Debauchery of Youth, March 28, 1688	154	(2)
Social Unrest: The Revolts of 1675	156	(10)
Eyewitness Account by Ferrant, Agent of the King's Tax Receiver Le Maigre, Bordeaux, March 30, 1675	157	(3)
The Mayor and Consuls of Bergerac to de Seve, Intendant of Bordeaux, May 3, 1675	160	(1)
La Case, Tax Collector from Quimper [Brittany], to Colbert, June 24, 1675	161	(1)
Dallier, Tax Farmer from Nantes, to Colbert, June 25, 1675	162	(1)
The Bishop of Saint Malo to Colbert, July 23, 1675	162	(4)
Absolutism and the Churches	166	(33)
Divine Right Monarchy	167	(6)
Bossuet's Vision in Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture	168	(2)
Bossuet Chides Louis XIV about the State of his Soul	170	(3)
Dealing with the Gallican Church and the Pope	173	(5)
Pope Innocent XI to Louis XIV, December 29, 1679	174	(1)
Memoirs of the Intendant Foucault on the Resistance over the Re gale, 1679-1680	175	(2)
Declaration of the Clergy of France, 1682	177	(1)
Dealing with the Jansenists	178	(5)
Suppression of the Abbey of Port Royal des Champs by d'Argenson, Paris Lieutenant of Police, 1709	179	(4)
Dealing with the Huguenots	183	(14)
Commission for the Execution of the Edict of Nantes, 1663	185	(1)
Commentary
Saint Maurice, November 23, 1668	186	(1)
Verbal Abuse, Protestants to Catholics [Summary], 1678	186	(1)
Memoir by the Intendant d'Aguesseau on How to Convert the Pastors and Huguenots of Languedoc, 1679	187	(2)
Verbal Abuse: Catholics to Protestants [Summary], 1680	189	(1)
Letter of the Intendant d'Aguesseau to Secretary of State Chateauneuf, Toulouse, September 29, 1682	189	(1)
Demolition of the Main Protestant Temple in Montpellier, 1682	189	(2)
Report of the Intendant d'Aguesseau on the Situation in Montpellier and Languedoc, July 18, 1683	191	(1)
D'Aguesseau's List of Protestants Who Have Left Languedoc in Violation in the Royal Orders August 3, 1685	192	(1)
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Fontainebleau, October 25, 1685	193	(3)
Royal Dragoons in Languedoc, 1685	196	(1)
List of Property Belonging to Protestants Who Have Fled from the Diocese of Montpellier [Summary], 1686	196	(1)
Epilogue	197	(2)
The Princess Palatine Remembers Louis XIV	197	(2)
The King and His Image	199	(20)
Charles Perrault on Colbert's Plans to Glorify the King	200	(1)
Chapelain to Colbert, Paris, November 18, 1662	201	(3)
Report to the Estates of Languedoc on the Equestrian Statue of the King, October 30, 1686	204	(1)
The King's Own Words	204	(15)
Excerpts from Louis XIV's Memoires for the Instruction of the Dauphin	206	(13)
PART THREE Conclusion	219