Absolutism and the Baroque
Absolutism and the Baroque
The following texts are the property of their respective authors and we thank them for giving us the opportunity to share for free to students, teachers and users of the Web their texts will used only for illustrative educational and scientific purposes only.
The information of medicine and health contained in the site are of a general nature and purpose which is purely informative and for this reason may not replace in any case, the council of a doctor or a qualified entity legally to the profession.
History summaries and notes
Absolutism and the Baroque
Absolutism and the baroque
- Palaces and power
- Architecture played an important role in politics because it was used by kings to enhance their image and awe their subjects.
- The royal palace was the favorite architectural expression of absolutist power.
- The dominant artistic style of the age of absolutism was baroque-a dramatic and emotional style.
- Royal cities and urban planning
- Karlsruhe is a good example of how cities were rebuilt along orderly lines, and with great avenues and imposing public buildings.
- The new avenues brought speed to the city-as elegant carriages raced down the new broad and straight streets.
- The growth of St. Petersburg
- The new St. Petersburg is an excellent example of the tie among architecture, politics, and urban development.
- Peter the Great wanted to create a modern, baroque city from which to rule Russia.
- The city became a showplace for the tsar paid for by the Russian nobility and built by peasants.
- During the eighteenth century, St. Petersburg became one of the world’s largest and most influential cities.
- The new city was Western and baroque in its layout and design.
- It had broad. Straight avenues.
- Houses were built in a uniform line.
- There were parks, canals, and streetlights.
- Each social group was to live in a specific section.
- All social groups, especially the peasants, bore heavy burdens to construct the city.
- Tsarina Elizabeth and the architect Rastreli crowned the city with great palaces.
Source : http://www.mvla.net/teachers/FrankN/European%20History%20AP/Documents/Absolutism%20and%20baroque.doc
Web site link: http://www.mvla.net
Google key word : Absolutism and the Baroque file type : doc
Author : not indicated on the source document of the above text
If you are the author of the text above and you not agree to share your knowledge for teaching, research, scholarship (for fair use as indicated in the United States copyrigh low) please send us an e-mail and we will remove your text quickly.
Absolutism and the Baroque
NOTES ON ABSOLUTISM AND LOUIS XIV ARTICLE
LOUIS XIV: THE DEFINITION OF AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH
- KING LOUIS xiv WAS THE SOLE SOVEREIGN AND HE EXPRESSED IT BY SAYING THAT HE WAS THE STATE AND THAT HE WAS THE ONLY PERSON TO MAKE LAWS.
- King Louis XIV often started wars against France’s neighboring countries: war was a normal function of the state. At home, the role of the state was to maintain order.
- Kings were god’s representatives in the political affairs of earth: kings received their right to rule from God – the divine right of monarchy. Law and force within a country should be monopolized by the king: that was the point of absolutism in the seventeenth century.
- The most fundamental step taken by Louis XIV was to assure himself of control of the army: the army would be an instrument of the state. Armed forces had formerly been almost a private enterprise: they had been instruments of local princes.
- Louis xiv made war an activity of the state. Louis XIV was able to make changes both in size of army and in degree of government control, because of the growth of a large civilian administration; the army became much larger, and control and discipline were centralized.
- King Louis xiv lived a luxurious lifestyle and even built himself a huge baroque palace at Versailles to demonstrate his power: it was expensive to build and maintain. However, he was able to balance this way of living with his political responsibilities.
- Louis xiv needed a strong civil service administration: he preferred to use men of the bourgeois class who were dependent on him for their income and status. Unlike nobleman they could aspire to no independent political influence of their own.
- Finances were always a major problem for Louis; the crown could never squeeze enough taxes from the peasants and middle class to pay for expensive items like Versailles and the army. Being an absolute monarch, Louis did not want to make political concessions to the nobility in order to get taxes from them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
LOUIS XIV: THE DEFINITION OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY
- King Louis the 14 became the absolute ruler of France; he would boast and say things such as “the state is myself’. He personally controlled all of the state’s power, and the average man could do nothing to change that.
- Though the state (Louis) represented law and order within borders, it was generally lawless compared to the other states. Louis XIV didn’t care for claims of other rulers, and was constantly either at war, or preparing to be at war, with surrounding states: conquest created power and wealth.
- The idea that law and force within a country should be monopolized by the king was the essence of the seventeenth century doctrine of absolutism. This doctrine, affirming the divine right of kings, meant that the monarch received the right to rule from god.
- Maybe the most fundamental step taken by Louis XIV was to assure himself control of the army: now a national army. Formerly, armies were composed of units which were the property of lesser lords (feudal model).
- Louis made war an activity of state; he saw that all armed persons in France fought only for him producing peace and order in France (social control), while strengthening the fighting power of France against other states.
- Louis made it a political principle to overawe the country with his own grandeur; he built himself a whole new baroque palace at Versailles. Versailles was a monument to worldly splendor: it was huge, extravagant and the greatest palace in Europe - very expensive.
- For positions in the government, Louis XIV used the bourgeois class (men who were dependent on him for money and status) because bourgeois officials would be more loyal than the nobility, who were losing rights to the crown. He also made a strong system of administrative coordination, centering in a number of councils of state, which “intendants” represented: all local questions were handled by these centralized officials not local ones.
- Finance was always the weak spot in the French monarchy, mainly because methods of collecting taxes were costly and inefficient. Direct taxes passed through intermediate officials, while indirect taxes were collected by private tax-farmers, who made a substantial profit; poor peasants were squeezed and Louis didn’t want to make concessions to the nobility in order to be able to tax them – government debt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOUIS XIV: THE DEFINITION OF AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH
- Louis tried to monopolize all power and sovereignty in his own person: “I am the state.” This meant power over lawmaking and the army.
- Before Louis’s time most kings didn’t own their own armies: army units were ‘owned’ by lesser lords. Louis changed things and monopolized the power: the army was a larger, centralized instrument of the king’s power.
- Law and force was to be monopolized by the lawful king: absolutism. Louis believed in the ‘divine right of rule:’ that he received his title and rule from god.
- Louis wanted to assure himself control of the army. Formerly, armies usually fought for the interests of their commander, who was a lesser lord.
- Louis ‘made war an activity of state;’ he increased the French army in size, raising it from 100,000 to 400,000. The army was used for foreign conquest and for putting down rebellions at home if necessary.
- Louis wanted to show France his grandeur by building himself a huge palace called Versailles near Paris; he also had certain gentlemen attend to his every need. Versailles meant no other French noble could carry the burden of living in as much splendor as Louis did.
- Louis chose his government officials from the bourgeoisie: bourgeois officials would get their income and status from Louis, unlike the already privileged gentry. He also instituted an inquisition style of rule with his councilors (intendants): local control was from the crown.
- Finance was always the weak point of the monarchy; to pay for Versailles and the army. Poor peasants paid almost all of the taxes; Louis had trouble taxing the nobility because they would ask for concessions from the crown – as a result, the crown was always in debt.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOUIS XIV: THE DEFINITION OF AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH
- He wanted to bring France under his complete power: sovereignty rests in his person. He had complete control over lawmaking and the army.
- ‘It seemed that Louis XIV was always either at war or preparing for war with France’s neighbors. The modern state was created by the needs of peace (control of his subjects) at home and war abroad.’
- “The idea that law and force within a country should be monopolized by the lawful king was the essence of absolutism:” the sovereign power was the person of the monarch. The divine right of kings: Louis’s power came from God.
- Louis XIV wanted to ensure that he (the state – FRANCE) had full control of all the armed forces in France. He wanted to take control of the armies from the nobles WHICH HAD FORMERLY RAISED THEIR OWN LOCAL ‘PRIVATE’ ARMIES.
- “Louis made war an activity of state”: before Louis XIV took control of France, there was little integration in the army. Louis XIV unified control: He systemized the military ranks and grades and clarified the chain of command, placing himself at the top – the size of the army increased from 100,000 to 400,000….the army could be used to keep order at home.
- Louis “made it a political principle to overawe the country (and the rest of Europe) with his own grandeur.” He built the greatest palace in all of Europe: a huge baroque wonder at Versailles outside of Paris – this was a symbol of his power.
- For government positions, Louis preferred to use people from the bourgeoisie, who were dependent on him for their salary and status, unlike the already privileged nobility. Even local affairs were taken care of by crown officials called intendants: power was centralized.
- Finance was always a weak spot in the French monarchy, and methods of collecting taxes were normally costly and inefficient: the system unjustly taxed the poor and was ruinous to the government, because they could never make enough money. This was also ruinous to the French nobility who never paid taxes and lost all of their power over government.
Source : http://teacherweb.com/CA/Northgate/blaisdell/NOTESONABSOLUTISMANDLOUISXIVARTICLE.doc
Web site link: http://teacherweb.com
Google key word : Absolutism and the Baroque file type : doc
Author : not indicated on the source document of the above text
If you are the author of the text above and you not agree to share your knowledge for teaching, research, scholarship (for fair use as indicated in the United States copyrigh low) please send us an e-mail and we will remove your text quickly.
Absolutism and the Baroque
If you want to quickly find the pages about a particular topic as absolutism and the baroque use the following search engine:
Summaries and notes about absolutism and the baroque
Please visit our home page
Larapedia.com Terms of service and privacy page