irtual detention of the aristocracy helped him gain power.Louis also helped himself gain power by selling titles of nobility. Since Louis had to fill many positions within the government with nobles, he would often use men whose upper-class status was recent. Such men, unlike hereditary nobles, could aspire to no independent political influence of their own. The sale of titles also helped Louis gain much needed money for his dwindling treasury.The man most often responsible for raising such money was Jean Baptiste Colbert, Louis Financial Minister. IN the beginning of his reign, Louis was unable to tax the nobles while keeping control of them. As a result, he had to find other ways of gaining money. He raised taxes to the lower classes, sold patents of nobility to bourgeois, and even sold government and military positions. None of these things worked however. The inability to tax the nobles alone hurt his bid for absolutism. Colbert worked hard to help Louis gain money for 20 years. The fact that Louis was even able to appoint an economic advisor without any consent showed Louis power and absolutism. Though Colbert never did solve Frances economic problems, his mere appointment asserted the absolutism of Louis XIV. Louis XIV gained his absolutism through strong controlled military, a leashed aristocracy, his ability to appoint nobles, and his ability to appoint an economic advisor. Louis silenced the aristocracy, parlement, and Estates General during his reign, thus establishing absolutism....
