17th CENTURY FRANCE
1562-1589
French Wars of Religion
Catholic monarchy (Valois dynasty) versus
French Huguenot (Calvinist) nobility under Bourbon Prince
HENRY IV (1589-1610)
Bourbon Prince of Navarre, leader of Huguenots
1589 victor in religious wars
converts to Catholicism twice:
1572 St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
1593 "Paris is worth a Mass"
politique: political motives over religious ones
1610 assassinated by Catholic monk, Ravaillac
1598 Edict of Nantes:
religious settlement of French religious wars
Catholicism as official religion, Calvinism tolerated,
in lands of Huguenot nobles and
in fortified towns (La Rochelle)
1685 Revocation of Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV:
absolutist monarch refuses to tolerate Huguenot autonomy
PARLEMENTS:
courts of appeal (not English “Parliament”)
one central royal court: parlement of Paris
right to register royal edicts & right of remonstrance
(protest)
12 provincial parlements: including
Bordeaux, Brittany, Rouen, Toulouse, Aix en Provence
Parlements are appellate law courts which function as "supreme court"
for a given area, hearing appeals from lower courts, and deciding on the
constitutionality of royal edicts. This power is exercised through the
parlement's right to register royal edicts before they become law. The
other major power of parlements is the right of remonstrance, or right
of protesting against some royal action or decree. These are not legislative
institutions (but rather royal courts), and King can force registration of an
edict in a ceremony called lit de justice (bed of justice).
Venality
of office:
sale of offices for revenue; dilutes power of older nobility
noblesse de robe -- office holding lawyers, parlementaires
vs
noblesse de l'épee -- old feudal nobility of the sword
1604 paulette:
venal offices become hereditary = new class of nobility
resented by older nobility, leads to Estates General of 1614
LOUIS XIII (born 1602; king 1610-1643)
MARIE DI MEDICI 1610-1624
Regent for her son; devot = pious Catholic, pro-Spain
arranges Catholic marriage to Anne of Austria
1614 Estates General: last meeting until 1788
First estate = clergy, Second estate = nobility, Third estate = bourgeoisie
central issue: old nobility opposed to paulette
1615 Remonstrance of parlement of Paris to keep paulette
conflict of old and new nobility
CARDINAL RICHELIEU (First Minister 1624-1642):
politique: alliance with German Protestants, anti-Spain
policies: centralization, absolutism, raison d’ état
17th C FRANCE: Internal Organization
limits to central authority: from feudal and provincial autonomy
"liberties & privileges" of certain areas and institutions,
such as those with local parlements;
also local estates:
PAYS
D'ÉTATS = 6 provinces, 1/3 of French territory
Normandy, Burgundy, Brittany, Dauphine, Provence, Languedoc
local provincial estates (états): control over taxation
pays d'états pay only 1/10 of the taxes of the nation as a
whole.
peripheral territories, independent legal systems
Cardinal
Richilieu:
1) consolidation of power, monopoly on force:
Nobility: ban on duelling, 1627 executionof Montmorency
Huguenots: 1627-1628 siege of La Rochelle
Armed forces: Navy - 1630’s Ordonnance de la Marine
2)
actions against local institutions:
suppression of provincial états:
Burgundy, Provence, Dauphine.
1641 Edict limiting parlements’ right of remonstrance
3) growth of royal bureaucracy:
intendants: royal officials directly responsible
to Crown,
oversee local political administration & taxation.
1648-1653 FRONDE: revolt of parlements,
hereditary officeholders
against royal centralization of authority, against ABSOLUTISM.
LOUIS
XIV (1643-1715)
1643-1651: Regency of his mother, Anne of Austria
Chief Minister Cardinal Mazarin
1651-1715: Louis XIV rules on his own as absolutist monarch