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Out of this conflict came a document known as the Four Gallican Articles, which reaffirmed the throne's supremacy over the pope, even in doctrinal matters. At one time relations between Paris and Rome were so strained that it seemed as though the French church might break away completely from the church in Rome. Louis, however, made some concessions to Rome in order to gain the support of the Roman Catholic church against hostile Protestant forces. Louis persecuted two religious groups in particular. The first of these groups was the Jansenists, a faction of the Catholic church that believed in the doctrine of predestination. Although this group was protected by the pope, Louis believed them to be dangerous to both church and state and persecuted them severely. Another group persecuted by Louis XIV was the Huguenots. During Colbert's lifetime, this group was protected because its followers made up a large percentage of France's skilled workers and leaders in commerce, industry, and banking. After Colbert's death, however, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes, which protected the religious freedom of the Huguenots. Huguenots were no longer free to worship as they pleased for fear of being thrown into prison as an enemy of the state. This policy proved to have a very bad effect on the French economy because many Huguenots fled France to escape religious persecution. The planting of colonies was part of Colbert's plan for improving the economy of France. Frenchmen were encouraged to move to Canada to conduct the lucrative fur trade there. Colbert recognized that colonies were an important source of raw materials for French industries and that they provided a market for French goods. Inspite of Colbert's position toward exploration and colonization, Louis XIV passed up opportunities to build a French empire in America and India, instead concentrating on domestic matters and expanding France's immediate borders. The parlements were the law courts that were at the center of the power of the nobility. Louis rendered the parlements powerless by decreeing that his laws had to be recorded at once. The parlements could no longer debate constitutional policy. Objections could only be heard after the law had been recorded. The parlements at court were in awe of "The Sun King" and did nothing to prevent this loss of power. Louis made the traditional French court, once powerful instruments of political ambition and noble privilege, subservient to him and successfully eliminated the threat of the nobility as a class. He made it clear that he placed his law over the old feudal privileges. Rule of Louis XIV brought absolutism to its pinnacle, and it continued to thrive for three quarters of a century after his death. When the first minister who was overseeing Louis' education died in 1661, the twenty-three-year-old king surprised everyone by announcing that he was going to be his own first minister and run the state himself. As did other absolutists, Louis believed himself to be ordained by God as the personification of the state. Naturally, he was the best one to decide what was best for the state. Although he never actually spoke the words "L'etat, c'est moi." ( I am the state.), Louis XIV undoubtedly ruled France by the sentiment they expressed. His logo was the sun, the center of the universe, and he was sometimes called "The Sun King." Louis' motto was "Nec pluribus impar," meaning "None his equal." Louis planned for great fiscal and economic reforms. For this Louis looked to his trusted administrator, John Baptiste Colbert. Louis entrusted to Colbert the administration of finances, industry, commerce, agriculture, colonies, and art. Louis and Colbert believed that the state should govern the economic affairs of the country as well as the political affairs. They also believed that the interests of the ruler were more important than those of individuals. Colbert applied the principals of orderliness to financial administration of the country. He decreased direct taxes paid by the poor and increased direct taxes paid by everyone. Through this careful planning and elimination of graft within the system, Colbert tripled the amount of tax money received. For several years, under his guidance, France enjoyed a balanced budget. Louis' expenditures, however, soon drove the government of France deeper and deeper into debt. War drained the country's resources and created a great need for more money. In 1695 he ordered a head tax on everyone including the nobles. In 1710 he levied a national 10% income tax. Louis XIV imposed taxes on the nobility. This broke a long standing policy that the aristocracy received immunity from ordinary taxes, but Louis' many ambitious projects required huge amounts of money. Louis's economic policies were designed not only to promote economic growth, thus providing more money for the state through taxes, but also to build up the state's power. This dual goal of prosperity and power later became known as mercantilism. Colbert carefully manipulated the prices of France's imports and exports to maintain a favorable balance of trade. This meant that other countries would owe France money, which they would have to pay in silver or gold. Louis improved communications, road and river networks, and built a canal system in order to expand domestic commerce. Colbert simplified a system of tariffs between farms and the rest of France that somewhat reduced rates and stimulated domestic commerce. One of Louis' dreams was for France to become as self-sufficient as possible. To help accomplish this Colbert arranged for the immigration of skilled workers. Through government subsidies, he established new industries in fields where there had previously been little production. Colbert also closely regulated the quality and size of many goods through craft guilds. Louis XIV desire was that French goods would have a reputation for high and uniform quality that both Frenchmen and foreigners would prefer French goods over all others. In this Louis failed because of artisan and consumer resistance to the standardization of goods. Louis and Colbert also tried to improve agricultural production and forestry. Inspite of Colbert's efforts, Louis failed to raise the level of the French economy. The government's excessive control stifled initiative in business and created an unmanageable bureaucracy. In order to accomplish his goals, Louis created the finest war machine in Europe. No one country could challenge the military power of France in size, training, or weapons. The French army had over 100,000 members during times of peace and was expanded to over 400,000 during wartime. Of course, the army was directly under royal command. Colbert added more than 100 warships to the French navy. Colbert's navy might have given France supremacy over the seas, but after Colbert's death Louis cut the budget of the navy, allowing England to rule the seas. The scientific breakthroughs made by scholars during the late 17th century established a new interpretation of the physical universe. Natural scientists discovered the laws that govern physical matter. Their findings laid the foundation for the great intellectual movement of the eighteenth century that is known as the Enlightenment. The geniuses of this period believed that there were also universal natural laws that govern social behavior. This quest for orderliness and rationality carried over from science and philosophy was at the heart of Louis' approach to solving the problems of government. His goal was to perfect the machinery of absolutism so that that it would automatically provide for the welfare of his country, while perpetuating his own power. He created a huge bureaucracy, and placed himself at its hub. In his pursuit of control and regulation, Louis set out to control the direction of the creative arts as well. He did this by the creation of seven academies. The academies created standards for art and learning. Under the Sun King's guidance, France experienced one of the greatest periods of cultural glory in its history. The goals of Louis VIV foreign policy were to make France the arbitrator of all of Europe and to expand France's boundaries to its natural boundaries - the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees. Between 1667 and 1713 Louis engaged in a series of wars to achieve this goal. Countries tipped the balance of power by uniting against France. Three times armies from the Netherlands, England, Sweden, Austria, Spain, and Germany joined forces to stop the French army at the Dutch front. The thirteen-year-long War of Spanish Succession was fought when France's neighbors once again formed an alliance to prevent the French and the Spanish thrones from uniting when Louis's grandson, Philip was made heir to the throne for Spain. Overall, Louis failed to achieve most of his military goals. Instead, he wasted thousands of French lives and emptied France's treasury. Bibliography: The European History of the World; Jerome Blum, Rondo Cameron, Thomas Barnes; Little, Brown and Company Boston, 1970; 267-293 Louis XIV, King of France Encylopedia Brittanica Intermediate http://search.ebi.eb.com The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia http://looksmart.infoplease.com Textbook Word Count: 1519
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