1.9 Personal control 1685+

Question 1

who was madame de maintenon?

Answer 1

• the widow of a crippled comedy author
• became governor of Louis’ and Montespan’s children
• became the secret wife of Louis in 1683 after coming to Versailles in 1683

Question 2

how was madame de maintenon described by others?

Answer 2

• the duc de saint-simon painted her as a rugthless schemer who feigned religious devotion to exploit Louis’ fear of sin
• the princess palatinate blamed her for almnost every royal blunder
• she was blamed by many for the downfall of Louis in his later years

Question 3

in what two main ways did Maintenon exert personal influence over Louis?

Answer 3

1. influenced his succession plans and ministerial appointments
2. had control over Louis’ personal life

1. she had soft spots for the ducs de maine and toulouse and encouraged Louis to make them princes of the blood
2. stopped him having sex outside of marriage, encouraged him to have a more pious atmosphere at court, saw her role as central in ensuring Louis’ salvation

Question 4

how did education demonstrate Maintenon’s control over Louis?

Answer 4

• she designed a boarding school at Saint Cyr and acted as school general director from 1686
• hired one of Louis' playwrights to write her a play for Saint Cyr’s schoolgrils that cost 14,000 livres

• she didn’t quite have full control of the school however
• it provided education for the daughters of impoverished nobles or those killed serving the state and therefore matched Louis’ obsession with regulated conformity
• Louis also selected the students and the building design as well as choogin the uniform and rules

Question 5

how did religious decisions demonstrate Maintenon’s control over Louis?

Answer 5

• the papacy reportedly approached her as an informal diplomatic actor
• she supported the edict of fontainebleau and ecnouraged the destruction of port-royale but she was not instigator and others around Louis supported these policies (Le Tellier and Louvois for the Huguenots, Pontchartrait and others for the Jansenists)

Question 6

how did Louis show control/a lack of control over Louvois

Answer 6

• Louis’ decline in health from 1687 meant Louvois could assume more personal control
• continued draggonade persecution and terrorised Huguenots
• authorised civilian atrocities in the palatinate region along France’s eastern border in 1688
• disregarded Louis’ refusal to approve the burning of the town of Treves in 1690 and issued the order himself, claiming it was to spare Louis’ conscience
• defied Louis’ order in 1691 as French troops besieged Mons with Louis in attendance

• however, after hearing of Louvois’ disobedience in 1689 Louis reportedly grabbed a pair of fireplace tongs and was only stopped from smashing Lousvois’ head in by Maintenon
• he overrode Louvois’ order and saved Treves from being burned in 1690
• sent Louvois to the Bastille for defying him in 1691 who died shortly after receiving the letter from shock/heart attack/stroke/poison?
• all investigation into Louvois’ death was suppressed

Question 7

how was the paulette used to increase personal control?

Answer 7

• in 1701 the crown received 5.67 million livres through the paulette
• in 1702 the controleur general Chamillart ignored protests by the Parlement first president against paying another 5.67 million livres paulette and obtained the full payment after threatening to create new offices make up for any revenue shortfall

Question 8

how did Louis use intendants to maintain his control outside of Paris?

Answer 8

• intendants were effective as they received annual ministerial instruction and constant scrutiny
• they filled multiple roles such as rooting out corruption, ensuring good relations between civilians and the military, overseeing local justice and enforcing anti-Huguenot policies
• they managed hand-outs for the poor after the 1694 famine and quashed grain riots in Lyon in 1690

Question 9

what were limitations to Louis’ control over intendants?

Answer 9

• Brittany had no intendant until 1689
• they were overburdened and underpayed that meant they were corrupt as work was given to sub-delegates
• Louis couln’t enforce its three-year safeguarg and many intendants effectively monopolised their positions

Question 10

what new tax policies were introduced and what were five limitations to Louis’ control over taxation?

Answer 10

the crown introduced the capitation (1695) and the dixieme (1710)
- corrupt officials embezzled public funds
- the capitation was only kept until 1699
- Alsace, Flanders and Franche-comte immediatley purchased exemptions: pays d’etats and imposition continually underpaid indirect taxes and didn’t have to pay the taille
- the dixieme gained Louis 96 million livres in 4 years but resulted in defiance of royal authority
- 75% of Augergne’s nobility refused to declare

Question 11

to what extent did Louis have control over the Paris Parlement

Answer 11

he lost their support after dropping his gallican religious policies in 1693 and inviting papal condemnation of Janensenism (many of those in the parlement were Janesnist)

Question 12

what were are the three estates of French society?

Answer 12

1. the nobility
2. the clergy
3. the peasantry

bankers profited from Louis’ wars, elites were able to evade and exploit taxation, this left an increasingly disproportionate burden on the lower orders.

Question 13

how were social divisions seen in the church?

Answer 13

• leadership was increasingly aristocratic
• aristocrats like Noailles were chosen for their silence and inaction over social problems
• the church did pay annyal don gratuits from 1688 to 1697 but it remained incredibly wealthy and undertaxed, avoiding paying the 1695 captitation and the 1710 dixieme
• in 1710 it paid 24 million livres to remove itself altogether from the dixieme

Question 14

to what extent did France actually pay taxes?

Answer 14

• in around 66% of France nobles were completely or generally exempted from direct taxation
• most purchased exemptions to the capitation and dixieme immediately
• many regions actively avoided paying taxes by immediatley purchasing capitation exemptions such as Alsace, Franche-Comte and Flanders
• Alsace did the same for the dixieme
• anti-dixieme protests broke out in a number of regions

Question 15

what effect did the war of spanish succession have on social divisions?

Answer 15

• it massively increased them
• it allowed bankers to profit through hyperinflationary money transfer charges
• in 1706 merchant bankers had a 101% handling fee for money going to Italy
• private financiers profited massively as seen in Desmaretz’s debts owed to others such as 28 million livres in interest owed on debts

Question 16

what statistics show living standards to have fallen from 1685?

Answer 16

• 80% of people depended upon agriculture
• widespread bread shortages saw peasants eating nothing but acorns and boiled grass in Cevennes and Poitou
• there were general crop failures and famine from 1692 to 1694

Question 17

how did wheat prices change?

Answer 17

• by 1694 wheat prices were over four times their 1686 average
• in the north of France the price of wheat from 1670 to 1690 increased by 185%
• in Reims almost 50% of people were reduced to beggary

Question 18

what effect did agrarian depression have?

Answer 18

• there were bad harvests from 1688-94 that killed 1/10 of the population
• conscription of 200,000 peasants left fields unattended
• net farm yields were 50% lower than 1661
• prices increased by 400% in Picardy
• there was an extremely harsh winter from 1708 to 1709 that meant bread became unaffordable for the masses and -40 degree temperatures destroyed crops

Question 19

what effect did depopulation have?

Answer 19

• around 6% of the population died from 1693-4
• deaths in the south west increased by 345%
• this exacerbated declining economy, labour supplies and taxation yields

Question 20

who made up the Burgundy circle and how did they come about?

Answer 20

• Cambrai Archbishop Fenelon, Rouen government official Boisguilbert and Vauban
• they were a group of intellectuals who were trying to influence the dauphin Duke of Burgundy

Question 21

how did Fenelon criticise the king?

Answer 21

• he wrote a scathing letter to Louis on the ongoing dire situation of most people
• he wrote a novel portraying the king as failing to listen and neglecting peace
• but he was later imprisoned

Question 22

how did Boisguilbert criticise Louis?

Answer 22

• he was an ant-Colbertiste and Jansenist
• saw increasing poverty in Rouen that caused him to criticise Louis for mismanaging France
• he proposed laissez-faire alternatives to mercantilist obsession over money as the source of wealth
• he demanded the abolition of the taille and removal of indirect taxes
• urged raising all subjects well being
• but he was exiled for three months and then largely ignored

Question 23

how did Vauban criticise Louis?

Answer 23

• lobbied for reform from 1689
• his research blamed harsh taxation for depopulation
• he wanted taxation to be made proportionate to wealth
• but his critical book was condemned and his arrest was ordered

Question 24

what and when was the Camisards rebellion?

Answer 24

• 1702
• a Huguenot rebellion in the Cevennes mountains that revolted against extreme conversion methods
• the house of the chief inquisitor was torched and he was stabbed 52 times
• ammbush tactics, guerilla warfare, local support and terrain knowledge made the Camisards difficult to defeat
• the civil war detracted from forces meant abroad

Question 25

how did the government attempt to deal with revolt?

Answer 25

• they tended to address the symptoms of the revolts and not the causes
• reaction was preferred over reform such as the 1693 spending on alms and housing for the homeless
• troops were sent to quell riots and enforce taxation

Question 26

what are the three ways in which Louis faced domestic challenges in the latter half of his reign?

Answer 26

1. economic recession and poverty
2. burdens of taxation
3. barriers to commerce

Question 27

what evidence was there of economic recession and poverty?

Answer 27

European recession in late 1600s affecting mostly rural population
- led to falling wages and prices and declining trade

Inefficient state of agriculture in France
- pre-modern methods of manual sowing and harvesting using wooden ploughs etc.
- this made output dependent on available labour which declined during war years

Poor diet and low life expectancy of peasantry
- John Locke reported ‘sunday joints’ of congealed blood
- they sometimes ate cats, dogs and horses if necessary
- this made them vulnerable to diseases
- Boisguilbert testified to low life expectancy in 1697

Continuing bad harvests
- bad harvests from 1688-94 killed 1/10 of the population

Question 28

how did Louis attempt to tackle economic recession and poverty?

Answer 28

• he declared sympathy with the plight of the poor
• he donated silver and gold from ornaments at Versailles for poor relief and encouraged nobles to also do so

Question 29

what unproductive responses did Louis have to economic recession and poverty?

Answer 29

• his wars damaged agricultural economy
• men in the army took away from agricultural labour
• the expenditure on lavish entertainments at Versailles continued even during times of famine

Question 30

what issues were there regarding the burdens of taxation?

Answer 30

taxes fell disproportionately on the poor and the third estate
- the poor were pushed closed to subsistence and those above them were unable to spare alms
- even Vauban argued the taxation system was causing misery and should be replaced with a taille on all groups of society

taille/duties on goods disincentivised trade and commercial farming

there was colossal increases in taxation to fund war
- taxes on the ordinary person went up massively
- but also government expenditure
- 42% of state expenditure on war in 1662
- 87% of state expenditure on war from 1690 onwards

Question 31

how did Louis attempt to tackle issues surrounding the burden of taxation?

Answer 31

• capitation and dixieme were introduced for slightly more equity in taxation (but not successful in the long run)

Question 32

how did Louis worsen the burden of taxes?

Answer 32

• continued warfare incurred continually rising costs till the end of his reign
• indulgences at Versailles, particularly under Maintenon, continued
• the system of tax exemptions persisted and there was the failure of the capitation and dixieme

Question 33

what barriers to commerce were there?

Answer 33

• much of the effects of high taxation
• tariff war with England and Holland damaged French interests rather than the enemy
• internal barriers to trade and Colbert’s reforms included tolls, vested interests, local laws and obstruction from provincial parlement

Question 34

how did Louis attempt to tackle barriers to commerce?

Answer 34

most reforms were from the time of Colbert
- the canal des deux mers linked the Atlantic and mediterranean
- france had the best roads in Europe
- there were real improvements in the postal service
- in 1700 Louis reconvened the council of commerce, filled with merchants, signifying a turning away from mercantilism and towards free trade

Question 35

how did Louis worsen the situation of barriers to commerce

Answer 35

• tariff wars continued made worse by war
• tolls and internal friction remained and by 1715 Britain was the largest free trade area in Europe

Question 36

what are five instances of opposition to Louis’ rule?

Answer 36

1. Normandy rebellion under Louis de Rohan 1674: tried to mount a rebellion in Normandy promising cooperation with peasants and huguenots. Rohan and all his collaborators were executed
2. the grand dauphin timidly mentioned the poor at court, Louis slapped him down
3. satirical publications, particularly smuggled in from England the Dutch republic, crown censorship remained
4. the burgundy circle, led by fenelon, published Telemachus 1699, all taken down
5. parlement and the sorbone 1713, opposition to unigenitus, Louis bullied them into compliance