Louis XIV Failure Of Absolutism During The Glorious Revolution

The old regime of France failure to squash the growing uprising of the third estate is what lead to their demise. The monarchy did not stand firm in their archaic values such as absolutism which weakened their view in the merchant class eyes. The modern values that was emerging during this time was strengthened by the merchant class seeing the monarchy inability to lead in the archaic way they had before. Once the weakness was seen then the merchant class acted and started working harder for the changes they wanted.

Louis XIV was the Grand Monarch of Europe in the 17th Century, known as the Sun King. His time as ruler from an archaic point of view dictated that he was a great king. Louis wholeheartedly practiced absolutism. Which he ruled

with absolute uncontested power and the people had no say so. Also the only way you had a chance to get into power was through hereditary. This differs from a constitutional monarchy, in which the monarch's authority is legally bound or restricted by a constitution. Louis believed that he had a divine right to rule the people. So he should have all final say over legislative, executive, and judicial powers. He essentially could make the rules, dictate on the rules and act on the rules as he saw fit. The biggest example of his practice in absolutism is building the Palace of Versailles in France. He built that to control and watch over many of his nobles and other important people he bought them there to live. He acted as if he was the father and the people was his children. He ruled that way because the people wouldn’t know how to live civilly without his superior guidance.
The problematic display of ruler ship can be traced back before Louis XIV to the Tudors. When Queen Elizabeth I dies in 1603 she died with no heir to the throne. She was an absolute monarch but governed her kingdom with a compromise. Her compromise was that she would keep parliament but they would be under her total leadership. After her death James I of the House of Stuart was next in line to succeed. He did not understand the way Elizabeth had governed her kingdom by compromising with the people in parliament. James I and parliament relationship deteriorates horribly. The king and the parliament are openly contradicting each other on what powers they have. There were also growing religious tensions in the kingdom between Anglicans, Puritans, and Scottish Presbyterians.
These tensions finally boiled over when Charles I came into power which lead to Civil War. The Civil War was a power struggle between the supporters of the King, the Cavaliers, and the supporters of Parliament, the Roundheads. The civil war lasted for seven years during 1642 – 1649. Charles I was defeated militarily, tried by Parliament for treason, and executed. Oliver Cromwell was the military leader of the Parliamentary forces. Cromwell and the puritans created laws that were almost democratic in nature. The majority of English people who were not puritan objected these laws. So when Cromwell died in 1599 the people quickly sought to reestablish a legitimate king, who was Charles II. Charles was restored to the throne in 1600 and ruled to 1685. He was self-indulgent and let parliament rule with him. Things got turbulent again when his younger brother James II came into power in 1685. He had married a catholic princess, was believed to be catholic, and had his son was christened catholic. This led to a rebellion by the country against James II out of fear he would try to re-establish Catholicism as the official religion of England. Henry VIII had already rid England of being solely catholic and the people did not want to go back to being forced to serving Catholicism. They had already been exposed to more freedom of religion. Parliament made a major move by ousting the legitimate male line of Stuart kings and importing a new Protestant king and queen. This and the civil war showed the people were becoming less willing to take on the ideas of monarchy and archaic values. The people of Europe was seeing people of prominence in England fighting for a say in their government.

Which leads to Louis XIV failure that led to a decreased credibility in monarchy and archaic values by taking in James II.

Mary II was the Protestant daughter of James II from his first wife. William of Orange was the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic and the primary opponent of King Louis XIV. During The Glorious Revolution in 1689. William III and Mary II took a small fleet from the Netherlands to England and marched on London. Which caused James II and his family to flee London to seek refuge at the court of Louis XIV. Parliament had proven its superiority to the king and had victory over the king. Parliament established specific guidelines for the king to rule under. If Louis XIV had helped James II reestablish himself as an absolute ruler then maybe when his son came to power there may would have been more hesitation by the people to rebel. There would a universal showing by the ruling monarchs that the king is the absolute ruler and all his policies are the only

law.
King Louis XVI was known for being mild mannered, shy, and indecisive.

This resulted in him being an unfit king. So, when France goes into a steady decline economically and socially before and during his reign he has little solutions for the problem. America further pushes the French into a crisis by not reciprocating the help they gave in the American Revolution. Minister of Finance, Calonne, organizes Assembly of Notables from among the aristocracy and clergy. The group wanted any new taxes to be approved by the Estates General, who were the representative body of the three estates. Louis xvi summoned them to meet in 1789 to address the economic crisis and financial chaos. The third estate convinced Louis finance minister to tell Louis to agree to their demands. This led Abbé Sieyès to write “What is the third estate? His answer was everything. The king was scared off by the violent language, in the article backed away from supporting the third estate. The third estate decided to break off and form the national assembly. Louis made a weak attempt to stop the national assembly from meeting. They still met on the tennis court of the meeting hall. They vowed to not disband until France has a constitution. The masses start to take part of the revolution because they see Louis is unfit and they want change also. They start attacking the well to do citizen’s in French society to show they are fed up with the disparaging conditions they live in. Louis fails to squash National

Assembly or demonstrations. He attempts to flee Paris to Varennes so he can get help to reestablish himself as an absolute ruler. Crowds led by Jacobins clamor for King’s head, a trial in begins December of 1792. During this trial a saying is stated on what should be his fate “A king must either Reign or die. This King cannot reign, he must die.” Says Jacobin Louis St. Just
Louis is executed on January 21, 1793. Then in 1794 a new constitution is constructed that puts the power in the merchant class.
In conclusion the constant willingness and unwillingness by monarchs to make the people feel as if they have power in their lives led to their demise. Also the monarch’s inability to place consistent no nonsense leaders that could dictate the religion, politics, and social aspects their way. Made it difficult for the people to see having a monarch as the way to live once they were being introduced to new ideas. The people saw what the monarchs would let them get away with. So once the monarch was in a down period they saw an opportunity to even the playing field some.