King Louis XIV Estates

In late 1700s, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, which had completely opposite personalities, ruled the French monarch. The queen was a vivacious, bold, and outgoing person not an austere queen with simple taste and a stern manner of royalty. The queen made beneficent acts by kindly giving her personal allowance to the cadaverous poor people that were weak from hunger for the times of poverty. King Louis XVI, who lacked a stalwart personality, made frail and insufficient changes in the French government which caused him to face massive debt and resentment. Also, the redoubtable king caused fear for the middle and lower classes by forcing the French monarch to unwillingly assemble the Estates General to impose new land taxes.

King Louis XIV inherited the throne when he was only five years old. King Louis XIV of France, the absolute monarch, changed France's military and government. Hebuilt the Palace of Versailles, enhanced France's military, and involved most of Europe in war.

At this time in France, however, the monarch is the one in charge of ruling the country and the first estate is the only social class with any real political power. Thus, Louis XVI is in charge of the well-being of France while the majority of France’s population are left without a say in the country’s affairs. In addition to this lack of power, the majority of the people in France see Louis XVI as an incompetent leader. He and the queen had been spending large amounts of money and were running out quickly. To address this issue, Louis XVI decided that he was going to tax the nobility to make up for the rate at which money was being spent. Spurred by the lack of ability in their country’s leader, the people of France forced their king to call for a meeting of the estates-general, an assembly of representatives from all three estates. The focus of the meeting was to discuss the approval of this new tax that was going to be imposed on the nobility of France. According to the rules of the assembly, each estate would gather in separate halls to discuss the topic of the meeting and each estate was entitled to one vote. In the past, the clergy

The 16th and 17th centuries brought up the proposition of an absolute monarch, this is a ruler with total power over a country or territory. The idea of kings being chosen by God, or the divine right of kings, lead to absolutism, which was seen throughout Europe. Monarchs could be tyrants, they could take away the rights of their citizens. Monarchs could also be prosperous, improving their country economically, military, or gaining foreign alliances. Europe's absolute monarchs left the 16th and 17th centuries prosperous due to the fewer conflicts, the morals of monarchs, and everybody had an equal chance at upward-mobility.

Born on September 5, 1638, to King Louis XIII of France and his Habsburg queen, Anne of Austria, the future Louis XIV was his parents’ first child after 23 years of marriage; in recognition of this apparent miracle, he was christened Louis-Dieudonné, meaning “gift of God.” A younger brother, Philippe, followed two years later. When the king died on May 14, 1643, 4-year-old Louis inherited the crown of a fractured, unstable and nearly insolvent France. After orchestrating the annulment of Louis XIII’s will, which had appointed a regency council to rule on the young king’s behalf, Anne served as sole regent for her son, assisted by her chief minister and close confidant, the Italian-born Cardinal Jules Mazarin.

It has long been known that the objects we own can cement our status. For King Louis XIV, who referred to himself as the Sun Prince, a mere palace wasn’t enough for him. In the book, “Classical, Baroque: Versailles, or the Architecture of the Prince,” Louis Marin explains how every detail of Versailles was carefully planned out in order to exercise the absolute power of King Louis XIV, but he neglects to recognize the power that the city of Versailles gave King Louis XIV.

Louis XIV became the ruler of France in 1643. Louis is the best example of an Absolute Monarch in the 17th- 18th century. He Was known for his particularly aggressive foreign policies, for example he invaded the Spanish Netherlands because he believed it belonged to his wife. No one had any say over him. Alternatively, Under the Queen Elizabeth, England experienced a generally positive era filled with expansion and exploration.

King Louis XIV believed that state authority rested in him alone. Therefore, he used the following methods to secure his position as absolute ruler. Louis manipulated those who attended his court through the use of strategically granting presents, honorable distinctions, highly favored positions, financial allowances, as well as threat of punishment if not pleased with any individual. Louis made his courtiers so dependent on him that aristocrats trampled one another so to be the ‘one’ to garner Louis’ attention and pleasure. Dignitaries fought to be seated closer to Louis, nobles wrangled for the right to hold as he got dressed, his mistresses did whatever was necessary to please their king. How one behaved, spoke, their mannerisms, their clothing…all these were keenly observed by the king and could change at any moment which kept his courtiers on their toes. A lapse in etiquette surely meant doom for the offender as nobody

Absolutism is a system in which the ruler has total power. In seventeenth century Europe, rulers that led with this system believed that their power was given to them by God and they were responsible only to God. Absolute Monarchs had much power. They could make laws, levy taxes, determine justice, control officials, and determine foreign policies. Louis XIV is considered the best example of an absolute monarch because French culture, language, and manners spread across Europe. French diplomacy and wars took over the political affairs of western and central Europe. Louis XIV’s rule was copied throughout Europe.

The reign of Louis XIV was the longest of the modern era, and during his time, France reached remarkable achievements in art and architecture, such as the Palace of Versailles. Louis XIV was responsible for creating the lavish complex that was filled with Baroque interiors and surrounded by French and English gardens. In its later years, it was further renovated for other kings then given to the Republic for public use. Through its elaborate ornamentation and massive scale, the Palace of Versailles represents the glory of the Sun King and expresses the power of the French monarchy.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was the product of an oppressed people who were tired of living under a government in which they had no voice. During the Ancién Regime in France, there social classes, called estates, greatly divided the people on the basis of power and wealth. The first estate being the clergy, the second nobility, and the third estate being everyone else in the country of France (“The French Revolution” 23:20). The first two estates made up 3% of the population, while the third estate made up 97%, yet the first two estates held all the power. The French government at the time was an absolute monarchy, meaning the king derived his power from god and could exercise it without other constituted bodies having a right to challenge him (Introduction: Louis XIV and French Absolutism p.205). However, France was in such a state of crises in the late 18th century that Louis XVI called together the estates general, an assembly where all three estates were represented, for the first time in one hundred years (“The French Revolution” 23:00). Robes Pierre, a representative of the third estate, insisted that the nobles and clergy begin to pay taxes, but since the first and second estate held two thirds of the vote, he was quickly dismissed. After six weeks of meeting without achieving anything for the state, the third estate representatives become silenced by the first two estates. Enraged, they move next door to a tennis court and make “The Tennis Court

Maybe one of the most famous of European monarchs, King Louis XIV ruled France for about 72 years, was the French head of state. King Louis XIV reign was believed to be reputably famous as one of Absolute government, mainly because the king had his own dominating and particular way of governing the nation. At a young age of only 5 years old he attained the powers of a a king, Louis XIV ruled with the help of his mother and Cardinal Mazarin acting as head of the state deciding most of the civilian and official problems concerning the governance of France. With no from of formal and proper education. Louis XIV but grew with huge vision on nearly all matters of governance and developed up to be an extremely brilliant head of state. Since then start of his adulthood, XIV had supposed many plans for his country, and if one was to grade Louis XIV to today 's standards, one would surely place him in the group of 'Type-A personality '. It was because Louis XIV had learned and also from childhood that the top way to rule was to control the matter with absolute authority. By doing this, the King chose his consultants and advisors from the group of 'non-nobles, with the goal of inviting smallest disagreement, and for reasons of daunting his motives and decision without being questioned. The nobles were also useful, and had to remain engaged around the King 's loop, mainly because to win over their assurance, in return to there wealth and positions offered to them from the

2.The third estate went to meet at Versailles because they were upset that each estate got one vote despite the majority of

The meeting of the Estates-General was called by Louis in 1789. It marks the start of change and Revolution in France, and many factors affect the calling of this meeting. Arguably, it was the actions of the Paris Parlement that caused the meeting to be called; as they began to turn on the third estate and become the enemy. However, other factors did affect the calling of the Estates-General, such as the financial crisis in France- they were bankrupt and locked up in the old ancien regime system. I will also be looking at how the revolt of the nobles and the weakness of Louis XVI caused the calling of the meeting. There are many other factors than just the Paris Parlement’s actions, and ultimately I would argue that we cannot say this is the only reason or the most predominant reason for the calling of the Estates-General.

However, there was another important factor during these times. France suffered from harsh economic problems. Poor farm harvests by farmers hurt the economy, and trade rules from the Middle Ages still survived, making trade difficult. However, the most serious problem was the problem facing the government during this time. The French government borrowed much money to pay for the wars of Louis XIV. Louis still borrowed money to fight wars and to keep French power alive in Europe. These costs greatly increased the national debt, which was, at the time, already too high.<br><br>When King Louis XVI came into power, he realized that these problems existed. At first he did not know what to do, until he found a man by the name of Robert Turgot. He eased the financial crisis of France, but he had difficulties when he tried to introduce a major reform, that of taxing the nobles. He had such difficulties because the king could not tax the nobles unless the Parliament approved of the new tax laws. The people in the courts that voted on these laws were the nobles, called nobles of the robe, and therefore rejected Turgot's reform. After Turgot was rejected, the king fired him from his office. This led Louis XVI to summon the Estates General in 1789. The Estates General was the place where representatives from each social class could be represented. Here, many issues would be discussed, and at this time in