Louis XIV
Louis XIV, King of France from 1643 to 1715, believed that being King entailed more than forcing a nation to follow orders without thinking or allowing a nation to be led by nobles or committees with no legitimate claim to power. He envisioned a type of utopia; a French nation led by a king who God himself ordained to rule a nation absolutely without losing track of the nation's best interest. Louis XIV longed to rule in such a way that he could serve the "greater good"; he struggled to satisfy the goals he set for France without destroying the morale of the common man. He sacrificed his personal life by marrying to serve France, as well as sacrificed his privacy to be the King he believed he should be. Louis XIV ascended to the throne in 1643, shortly before his fifth birthday. Until the young king grew old enough to rule, his mother, Anne of Austria, and Jules Cardinal Mazarin, the principal minister of his father, Louis XIII, served as regents and educators to Louis XIV. Because he came to power at such a young age, he did not receive the standard education of a prince, which consisted of Latin, ancient history, rhetoric, and the arts ("Louis XIV" 1). Instead, Mazarin trained him in the "practical necessities of kingshi
The creation of the court at Versailles and the intimidating Palace itself, the dismissal of the formal, traditional committees of nobles, and his introduction of an informal committee all served to impress his power upon his subjects. Courtiers were encouraged to attend social functions rather than engage in politics (Saint-Simon 39). Constant warfare, persecution of Protestants, and over-taxation hindered many of Louis XIV's lower-class subjects. Louis XIV's spiritual instruction came from his mother, a devout Roman Catholic. In a multitude of ways, Louis XIV changed the monarchy of France permanently, and created a new breed of ruler: an absolute monarch whose subjects worshipped him as a pseudo-god but a leader who also consciously attempted to rule fairly and effectively by sacrificing his own desires and even his own people to fulfill the glory of the state. At Versailles, the King's routine was every courtier's routine. Louis XIV's distaste for Paris ultimately led to the creation of one of the greatest Royal courts in history at the Palace of Versailles, built at the King's request and constructed by more than 30,000 men over the course of nearly fifty years. The sun, after all, has power over all creation; if the sun did not rise and set, life could not exist, and Louis XIV believed that by associating himself with the sun, he could gain some of its power. His third goal, the establishing of specific borders, was met through an exhaustive series of military campaigns throughout the course of Louis XIV's reign. He lived for his beliefs, and never faltered in his devotion to his family and country. He believed France to be the greatest nation in the world, and he was forced to sacrifice some of his subjects for his beliefs, realizing that the "greater good" would come from his sacrifices, painful as they were for his subjects. Instead, the only men who wielded power were those selected by Louis XIV to be a part of his informal cabinet, men who owed the King everything and therefore would not betray him due to any belief in their own nobility and political influence ("Louis XIV" 1). The real power lay in Louis XIV himself, and he carefully cultivated his image as an absolute monarch. His ideals were noble, if occasionally unattainable, and if he made mistakes, his goal was achieving the "greater good". One further step was needed, however; Louis XIV decided to further his popular image by informally dubbing himself the "Sun King" ("Louis XIV" 1).
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