France from the Late 16th to the Early 18th Century

1598

• King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes
• Granted religious toleration to the French Huguenots 
• Established Henry IV as a politique
• The French tax system was problematic
• The nobility was exempt from paying taxes
• Sully is appointed to a position from where he can change the tax system
• He doesn't fix the problem completely, but he makes it so that the taxes are used for something. 
• The Nobility of the Robe saw an increase in the bottom-end of the middle class
• People could bribe their way into positions of power
• 1610 Henry IV died. 
• He was from the House of Bourbon, a prestigious house in France
• His son, Louis XIII is only nine years old
• Adults are appointed to lead the country for him- regents
• Cardinal Richelieu 1624-1642 was the unofficial ruler of France
• He put politics ahead of religion
• He wanted to get rid of the up-and-coming nobles
• He divided France into 32 segments, which were led by intendants chosen by Richelieu
• Middle-class people were chosen to be intendants
• Cardinal Richelieu wanted to suppress the Austrian Hapsburg
• He supported the Protestants in the Thirty Years Wars 
• Richelieu dies and Louis XIII dies shortly afterwards
• Louis XIV came to power as a child. 
• He is known as the Sun king
• Louis XIV has his own chief minister: Mazarin 
• No one wanted to overthrow the power of the king, but just limit it. Known as Lefrondes. 
• They caused Louis XIV to leave France and move to Versailles
• Bossuet was a French bishop and the man who theorized the Divine Rite of Kings. The principal architect of absolutism in the 17th century. 
• Louis XIV said, "I am the state!" He thought of himself as an ultimate ruler, given power by God. 
• Louis XIV increased the power of the intendants 
• The power of the nobility, in turn, decreased
• The nobility, if they wanted to get their power back, needed to prove their allegiance to the king. 
• Jean Baptiste Colbert was appointed to be the Minster of Finance
• He instituted the practice of mercantilism 
• France now had a major colony in the New World: Quebec 
• In 1685, France had a population of 19 million people, 1 million of which are Huguenots. 
• Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes   
• The French working class was full of Huguenots; 20,000 of them left France