Royal And Political Authority Of Louis XIV: Absolute Monarchy

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Allen Lee 2014/12/7 FR376 Professor: Geoffrey Turnovsky Final paper Royal and Political authority of Louis XIV Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the house of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death. His reign of 72 years is the longest of any monarch of a major country in European history. He is one of the major representatives of the absolute monarchy in Europe. In this essay, I will state the most famous theory of him, "L'état, c'est moi" (I am the State!). It is the French feudal autocratic monarchy, which established by him. I will premise the series of measures he quoted to strengthen the monarchy and their impacts. There are four main measures taken by…show more content…
An absolute monarch wields unrestricted political power over the sovereign state and its people. Throughout much of European history, the Divine Right of Kings was the theological justification for absolute monarchy. Many European monarchs, such as those of Russia, claimed supreme autocratic power by divine right, and that their subjects had no rights to limit their power. When it comes to the King of France, Louis XIV, he concentrated his legislative, executive, and judicial powers. He was the supreme judicial authority. For example, he could condemn men to death without the right of appeal. It was both his duty to punish offenses and stop them from being committed. From his judicial authority followed his power both to make laws and to annul…show more content…
He undermined the power of the Catholic Church in secular terms, and brought up the theory of "the right of kings is divined by god”. He held the view that in order to obtain supreme power, he must be unified Frenchman's religious beliefs. So he put pressure on Protestants. Especially in 1685 the Edict of Fontainebleau was vicious. Thus, He overthrew King Henry IV’s tolerant Edict of Nantes in 1598. After the edict issued, Huguenot churches were destroyed, Protestant schools were closed. These commands by Louis XIV has forced many Huguenots emigrate, most moved to the Netherlands, Prussia, Great Britain and the United States. In my opinion, this is a historic mistake. Because many of these fugitives are very good craftsmen, their skills exile with them. These skills exile to the country they arrive and bring them tremendous
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