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King louis xiv and peter the great
King louis xiv and peter the great
King louis xiv and peter the great
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Many of the absolute monarchs limited the rights of the social classes within their societies. One of the rulers who did this, King Louis XIV of France, angered the lower class by deciding to not administer taxation fees among each social class. They didn’t think that it was fair that the much richer nobles and the church didn't have to pay the king's high taxes, but the poor did. Because Louis exempted two of the three social classes from paying, he opted to increase the tax fee to make up for the nobles and church. This took away what little money the lower class had left, and had a negative impact on the country’s people as the lower class’s rights were restricted when Louis did not uphold equal taxation. While draining the lower class’s funding, Louis’s taxation rules also made it much more difficult for the lower class to survive, as they lost the few rights and privileges they had left. …show more content…
Catherine gave nobles assured privileges and declared them a separate estate in Russian society to win their favor, but in result she lowered the rights of serfs. Through her later laws concerning serfs, the nobles were able to enforce stricter rules against their serfs and could even send them away to work in Siberia if they so desired. With these rules, serfs were treated almost as badly as slaves and lacked almost all rights that other classes had by birth. Through attempting to win the noble’s favor, Catherine impacted the serfs as she gave more power to the nobles and took away their rights. This led the serfs to be very unhappy with the conditions that they lived and worked in, much as the lower class was angry with Louis for his unfair
During Peter the Great’s reign a major problem in Russia was serfdom. Serfs were peasants that were forced to work on a noble’s land and were basically slaves. Serfdom was a major organization in Russia up until 1723 when Peter converted the household slaves into house serfs. Unfortunately, conversion to serf status and the later ban of the sale of serfs without land did not stop the trade in household slaves, it simply changed its name. Peter the Great was generally well liked by his nobles, even though he taxed them for absurd things like beards, beehives or corners in a house. The fact that the nobles still sided with Peter on everything after being taxed for ridiculous things showed their loyalty. However, Louis XIV had economic difficulties. To help fix this he hired Jean-Baptiste Colbert who invented Mercantilism, an economic system where exports exceed imports to maximize profit and create a self-sufficient state--great for an absolute monarch. However Colbert did not address Louis’ real issue which was him not taxing the nobles. The nobles refused to pay taxes and also did not like Louis; they just couldn’t do anything about it. Since, Louis could not sufficiently tax his nobles instead he relied on the bourgeoisie and peasants to pay excessive taxes. As you can see,
Duc de Saint-Simon lived in the Palace of Versailles with King Louis XIV of France during the late seventeenth century. Louis did not move his court to Versailles until 1682, so it can be assumed that this document was written after. In his memoirs, he took detailed notes describing Louis’ attributes overwhelmingly positive, but seemingly accurate. This author creates a somewhat skewed look for the king of France with the immense positivity. Louis ruled with an absolute monarchy, Saint-Simon seems to be composing this to please the king and also for later to understand what life was truly like in the court and life at Versailles.
During the reigns of King Louis XIV of France and King Peter I of Russia, also known as Peter the Great, the nobility was under strict control to limit its power and status in society and government. Both autocrats, or absolute rulers, put the nobles in an area separate from the rest of society to keep them under close watch. The kings’ opinion on religion also impacted the status and power of the nobility because most of them were skilled Protestants. This would prove to be a problem in the long run for Louis XIV. Overall, Peter the Great and Louis XIV despised the nobility and their power in the government and went to many measures to subdue them.
Louis XIV was an absolute monarch in France from 1643 to 1715. His father died when he was just four years old, making Louis XIV the throne’s successor at a very young age. Because of this, he ruled for seventy-two years, which made him “the longest monarch to rule a major country in European history” (Eggert). But it was when he was twenty-three years old when he decided to rule without a prime minister, believing it was his divine right. Translated by Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon, the author of the book The Memoirs of Louis XIV: His Court and The Regency, King Louis XIV wrote, “The royal power is absolute. The royal throne is not the throne of a man, but the throne of God himself. Kings should be guarded as holy things, and whoever
Absolutism describes a form of monarchical power that is unrestrained by all other institutions, such as churches, legislatures, or social elites. To achieve absolutism one must first promote oneself as being powerful and authoritative, then the individual must take control of anyone who might stand in the way of absolute power. The Palace of Versailles helped King Louis XIV fulfill both of those objectives. Versailles used propaganda by promoting Louis with its grandiosity and generous portraits that all exuded a sense of supremacy. Versailles also helped Louis take control of the nobility by providing enough space to keep them under his watchful eye. The Palace of Versailles supported absolutism during King Louis XIV’s reign through propaganda, and control of nobility.
Before the presence of equality came into play, some laws favored the rich over all others, and some only affected the poor; however, the growing middle class ended up being caught in the crosshairs of the two. During the Revolution, leaders went to protest this inequality, and in doing so went on to draw inspiration from the very ideas brought upon by Enlightenment thinkers, which in turn were the very building blocks of France’s 1789 Declaration of the Rights of
It is often debated whether or not the reign of King Louis XIV had a positive or negative effect on France. Although there were improvements during his reign in transportation, culture, and national defense, there were far more negative aspects. He depleted the national treasury with his liberal spending on personal luxuries and massive monuments. His extreme fear of the loss of power led to poor decision making, which caused the court to be of lower quality. King Louis XIV’s disastrous rule brought about a series of effects that influenced the French Revolution in the following century.
When Louis the XIV began his rule in 1643, his actions immediately began to suggest and absolute dictatorship. Because of the misery he had previously suffered, one of the first things he did was to decrease the power of the nobility. He withdrew himself from the rich upper class, doing everything secretly. The wealth had no connection to Louis, and therefore all power they previously had was gone. He had complete control over the nobles, spying, going through mail, and a secret police force made sure that Louis had absolute power. Louis appointed all of his officials, middle class men who served him without wanting any power. Louis wanted it clear that none of his power would be shared. He wanted "people to know by the rank of the men who served him that he had no intention of sharing power with them." If Louis XIV appointed advisors from the upper classes, they would expect to gain power, and Louis was not willing to give it to them. The way Louis XIV ruled, the sole powerful leader, made him an absolute ruler. He had divine rule, and did not want to give any power to anyone other than himself. These beliefs made him an absolute ruler.
There were a major divided on the status of classes and the Aristocrats Revolt. Louis XVI puts the French into debt and tried to submit a package reform to the Assembly of Notables and they denied the request. When Louis XVI suggested more uniform land tax the nobility refused and became heroes to the people. Marquis de Lafayette wrote, “The Representatives of the people of France, formed into a National Assembly, considering that ignorance, neglect, or contempt of human rights, are the sole causes of public misfortunes and corruptions of Government…”
The social classes consisted of the upper class, which included aristocrats and wealthy landowners, the middle class, which was made up of traders, public workers, shop owners, and members of the social work force. Finally, the lower class consisted of farmers and slaves. The differences between each class were quite noticeable, and the reason behind this was the way that the government regulated the flow of the money (Lemann). The upper class, which held most of the power, greatly influenced the creation of laws and the collection of taxes. This led to excessive taxes for the middle and lower class, which then went to the “government” or the upper class. Consecutively, the upper class paid little to no taxes, allowing their wealth to greatly increase (Thacker). Hence, while the middle and lower classes kept on losing money and becoming poorer, the upper class gained more money and exponentially increased their
The social differences in France were very unreasonable. People openly argued that “social differences should not be defined by law, as they were in the old regimes order” (2). In France, much of the inequality came from the social class system. It led to angry peasants and tons of revolting. This could have been avoided if France maintained equality for all estates, as it would have been rational. In addition, the clergy and nobles were given many rights which “included top jobs in government, the army, the courts, and the Church” (109). This was very biased as they were able to get the highest jobs, not because they earned it, but because of their social stature. Meanwhile, commoners or bourgeoisie, were not granted those jobs even if they had the ability to do them. This caused much of the third estate to become mad which led to uncivilized manner in France. If the government had just given equal rights and granted jobs by merit opposed to social class rankings, there would have been less drama between the estates and everything would have been
Looking at Catherine the Great’s legacy, she had many accomplishments one being the fact that she was immediately proclaimed Empress of Russia upon her husband’s death (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, and Frank, 544). Catherine knew that Russia needed reforms, but had to make virtue out of necessity with some of the reforms she created (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, and Frank, 545). “In 1785. Catherine issued the Charter of the Nobility, which guaranteed nobles many rights and privileges” (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, and Frank, 545). Favor had to be shown to the nobles because they could make sure she didn’t keep the throne (Kagan, Ozment, Turner, and Frank, 545). She slowly started to reform the government, and westernize Russia as well with those reforms (Gilligan and Linder, 1). She established the first Assignation Bank for Russia, an orphanage for children, and Smolny Institute and school for girls (Young, 1). Catherine also expanded Russia’s borders by taking over Southern Ukraine and the Crimea, as well as winning many wars with the Ottoman Empire (Gilligan and Linder, 1). “Military success, combined with shrewd diplomacy, saw Russia gain recognition as one of Europe’s Great Powers” (Young, 1). Catherine tried to follow her heart and do what she felt was right for her people and her country while trying to keep the nobles happy enough that they would allow her to keep the
An Analysis of the Absolute Monarchy of France in the 17th Century This historical study will define the absolute monarchy as it was defied through the French government in the 17th century. The term ‘absolute” is defined I the monarchy through the absolute control over the people through the king and the royal family. All matters of civic, financial, and political governance was controlled through the king’s sole power as the monarchical ruler of the French people. In France, Louis XIII is an important example of the absolute monarchy, which controlled all facts of military and economic power through a single ruler. Udder Louis XIII’s reign, the consolidation of power away from the Edicts of Nantes to dominant local politics and sovereignty
As Andrew Jackson once said, “many of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by acts of Congress”. This fits the classism model, or the systematic oppression of subordinated class groups to advantage and strengthen the dominant class groups, the lower class’ injustices allowing the upper class to thrive and be bettered. The elite’s mindset that they are more important than the average citizen allows them to hold the idea that they deserve more rights or protection than the average citizen as well. Huston expands on this application while expounding on the political economy of aristocracy, advancing that “in lands characterized by political monopoly, rulers, monarchs, or aristocrats used governmental policies to enrich themselves and their retainers, thus producing a maldistribution of wealth” (Huston 1089). This political monopoly model holds true in America today with the upper class taking advantage of governmental processes to better themselves above regular tax-paying citizens with the idea that they are deserving of it. James Huston again validates this reasoning by stating “the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes” (Huston 1098).
Populations can endure a lot from others and become used to it as Michel Foucault said “there are forms of oppression and domination which become invisible-the new normal”. As long as there is something that is offered to them in exchange for the oppression, many will be willing to go along and make the sacrifices necessary. Oppression is more than believing one person is less than another. It is using fear of acceptance and the loss of their own life against someone to get them to agree to something. This can be seen in during many points in history. In the Palace of Versailles, those who were oppressed financially were promised to be accepted into Louis XIV’s daily life. The Indigenous of Canada were promised education for their children in the residential schools, but they instead were forced to