Absolute Monarchy

Absolute Monarchy
Absolutism meant that the sovereign power or ultimate authority in the state rested in the hands of a king who claimed to rule by divine right. Bishop Jacques Bossuet argued first that government was divinely ordained so that humans could live in an organized society. God established kinds and through them reigned over all the peoples of the world. Since king received their power from God, their authority was absolute. They were responsible to no one except God.
In France, King Louis XIV established an absolute monarchy government. Louis XIV was able to restructure the central policy-making machinery of government because it was part of his own court and household. The greatest danger to Louis’s personal rule came from the very high nobles and royal princes, who consider their natural function to assert the policy-making role of royal ministers. Louis eliminated this threat by removing them from the government and replaced them with Intendants who were directly responsible to the king. He kept nobilities preoccupied with court life and out of politics.
Louis XIV didn’t want to allow Protestants to practice their faith in largely Catholic France. The motto he had was “one king, one law, one faith.” He issued the Edict of Fountainbleau. In addition to revoking the Edict of Nantes, the new edict provided for the destruction of Huguenots churches and the closing of Protestant schools.
The cost of building Versailles and other palaces, maintaining his court, and pursuing his wars made finances an important issue for Louis XIV. Jean-Baptiste Colbert sought to increase the walth and power of France through mercantilism. To decrease the need for imports and increase exports, Colbert attempted to expand the quantity and improve the quality of French manufactured goods. He founded new luxuries industries and built infrastructures. He also imposed high tariffs on the imported goods.
Versailles became a symbol for the French absolutist state and the...