LOUIS XIV AND ABSOLUTISM

Also by Ragnhild Hatton

EUROPE IN THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV

LOUIS XIV AND InS WORLD

WILLIAM m AND LOUIS XIV : ESSAYS BY AND FOR

MARK A. THOMSON, 1680-1720 (co-editor with f. S. Bromley)

LOUIS XIV AND ABSOLUTISM

Edited by

RAGNHILD HATTON

Editorial matter and selection© Ragnhild Hatton 1976 Chapters 1-13 inclusive© The Macmillan Press Ltd 1976

Reprint of the original edition 1976

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First published 1976 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD

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ISBN 978-0-333-10165-0 ISBN 978-1-349-16981-8 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16981-8

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Contents

Preface V1l

Notes on Contributors 1X

Maps xii

PART I ABSOLUTISM AND SOCIETY 1 The Singularity of Absolutism E. H. Kossmann 3

2 What is Absolutism? G. Durand 18

3 The Development of Monarchical Institutions and Society in France R. Mousnier 37

4 French Kingship and Absolute Monarchy in the Seventeenth Century F. Dumont 55

5 The Social Origins of the Secretaries of State under Louis XIV, 1661-1715 F. Bluche 85

PART II PROBLEMS OF INTERPRETATION 6 The Intellectual Development of Louis XIV from

1661 to 1715 A. Lossky 101

7 Louis XIV's Courtiers ]. Levron 130

8 Louis XIV and the Edict of Nantes ]. Orcibal 154

9 Royal Administration in a Frontier Province : the lntendancy of Alsace under Louis XIV G. Livet 177

PART III ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL MATTERS

10 Fiscalism and Public Opinon under Louis XIV ]. Meuvret 199

11 Manufacturing Industries in Seventeenth-Century France P. Deyon 226

VI Contents

12 The French Navy under Louis XIV Armel de Wismes 243

13 The Protestant Bankers in France, from the Revo-cation of the Edict of Nantes to the Revolution ]. Bouvier

Glossary

Chronology

List of Persons

263

281

287

297

Preface

These essays are intended to put students in touch with import­ant research in, or trends of thought on, the domestic reign of Louis XIV. Some will be familiar to academic teachers since they have already appeared in French; others have been commis­sioned for the volume. They differ in range and approach from extracts from books which were not annotated to contributions so condensed that the notes (printed after each essay) have to take up a good deal of space. There is even a printed lecture and a book review.

Kossmann's opening essay puts absolutism as a form of govern­ment into perspective and ranges therefore beyond Louis and France. Durand's 'What is absolutism?', after a general section, covers France up to the fall of the Ancien Regime, while Mous­nier and Dumont deal specifically with French monarchy and society in the seventeenth century. With Bluche we reach a piece of detailed research focused directly on Louis XIV's secretaries of state.

The second section opens with Lossky's stimulating essay, 'The intellectual development of Louis XIV'. This is a slightly amended version (but with a briefer title) of his contribution to Louis XIV and the Craft of Kingship, but in view of its im­portance it is well worth reprinting. Three essays illustrating aspects of, or problems in, Louis' government follow : Levron's interpretation of the role of the courtier; Orcibal's detective work on the reasons for Louis revoking the Edict of Nantes; Livet's analysis of the compromise achieved in the frontier province of Alsace.

The last section deals with economic and financial aspects of the reign and opens with the late Jean Meuvret's discussion of fiscal policy and public opinion - the last article he wrote before his death. Deyon deals with the problems of the manufacturing industry; Baron de Wismes assesses the role of privateering within the framework of the navy, and the economy; while Bouvier's

V1l1 Preface

review article, centred on the work of Liithy, discusses the signifi­cant role of the Protestant bankers - this, to give perspective, also extends beyond the reign.

The editor is grateful to the contributors for their help and co­operation in the rendering of their work into English. The trans­lations have been made by Dr Geoffrey Symcox of the University of California at Los Angeles and Dr Derek McKay of the London School of Economics, in collaboration with the editor. A special word of thanks is due to Professor John Bromley of the University of Southampton who supervised the translation of Meuvret's contribution, and to Hamish Scott of the University of Birming­ham who helped with the proof-reading.

For permission to reprint articles or sections of books the editor must thank the following: Annates, Economies, Societes, Civili­sations; XVIIe Siecle; Armand Colin and Editions du Seuil of Paris; and the Ohio State University Press of America.

The editor has appended a glossary of French and a few Latin terms which occur in the text, a list of persons mentioned where they are not sufficiently explained already in the text or in the notes, and a chronology of significant dates for the domestic history of the reign.

Notes on Contributors

FRAN<;:OIS BLUCHE, Docteur es Lettres, Professor of Modern History at the University of Paris (Nanterre). Specialises in social and insti­tutional history. Author of Les magistrats du parlement de Paris au XVI//6 siecle (1960); Le despotisme eclaire (1968); La vie quotidi­enne de la noblesse franfaise au XV/I/6 siecle (1973).

jEAN BoUVIER, Docteur es Lettres, Professor of Contemporary Eco­nomic History in the University of Paris VIII, secretary of the Association Franc;aise des Historiens Economistes. Specialist in finan­cial and banking history from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Author of Finances et financiers d'Ancien Regime, 2nd ed (1969); Monnaie et banque en France au XVI//6 siecle, in the series 'His­toire economique et sociale de la France', II: 1660-1789 (1972).

P. DEYON, Professor of Economic and Social History at the Univer­sity of Lille. Author of Amiens, etude sur la societe urbaine au XVI/ 6 siecle (1967); Le mercantilisme (1969); La France Baroque, in the series 'Histoire de la France' (1971).

FRAN<;:Ois DuMONT, Professor of History of Comparative Law at the Universite du Droit d'Economie et des Sciences Sociales, Paris. Author of Le bureau des finances de la generalite de Moulins (1923); Une session des Etats genereaux de Bourgogne: La 'terme' de 1718 (1936); L'intendance de Dijon et le Mafonnais (1945); £'administra­tion bourguignonne au XVI//6 siecle (1947).

GEORGES DuRANo, Agrege d'Histoire; Maitre-assistant at the Uni­versity of Lyon II. Author of Etats et institutions XVI-XVI//6

siecles (1969); Le patrimoine fancier de l'Hotel Dieu de Lyon, con­tribution a l'etude de la grand propriete rhodanienne (1973). In preparation, Vin, vigne et vignerons en Lyonnais et Beaujolais, 1500-1789.

E. H. KossMANN, Professor of History at Groningen University, the Netherlands; formerly Professor of Dutch History, University Col­lege, London. Author of La Fronde (1954); 'Een blik op het Franse absolutisme', Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis (1965); 'Typologie der monarchieen van het Ancien Regime', in De Monarchic (1966).

A.•

X Notes on Contributors

JACQUES LEvRoN, Conservateur en Chef Honoraire des Archives, Department of Seine-et-Oise. Author of numerous works on French palaces (one of which has been translated into English: The Royal Chateaux of the Ile-de-France, 1965, from the French original of 1964) and many guides to monuments and archives. Apart from Les Courtisans in the series 'Les Temps qui Court' (1961), from which our (abbreviated) essay is taken, he has also published Versailles, ville royale ( 1964), La vie quotidienne a la cour de Versailles au XVII6 et XVIII6 siecles (1965), and Les incormus de Versailles (1968).

GEORGES LIVET, Docteur es Lettres, Professor of Modern History at the University of Strasbourg. Vice-President of the Comite Fran­c;aise des Sciences Historiques. Author of Le due de Mazarin, gouver­neur d'Alsace 1661-1713 (1954); L'intendance d'Alsace sous Louis XIV, 1648-1715 (1956); La route royale et la civilisation fran~aise de la fin du xve au milieu du XV II6 siecle ( 1959); Chapters VII and IX in Histoire de l'Alsace (1970) and Chapters IX, x and XI, in Documents de l'histoire de l'Alsace (1972).

ANDREW LossKY, Professor of History at the University of Cali­fornia, Los Angeles. Author of Louis XIV, William III and the Baltic Crisis of 1683 (1954); 'The Nature of Political Power According to Louis XIV', in The Responsibility of Power: Historical Essays in Honour of Hajo Holborn, ed. Krieger and Stern (1967); 'Maxims of State in Louis XIV's Foreign Policy in the 1680s', in William III and Louis XIV. Essays by and for Mark A. Thomson, ed. Hatton and Bromley (1968).

JEAN MEUVRET was Director of Studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris. The essay in this volume was the last work by this eminent historian who died in October 1971. He contributed a chap­ter to the New Cambridge Modern History, VI (1970) entitled 'Prices, Population and Economic Activities in Europe, 1688-1715: A Note'; for a selection from his many articles, see Etudes d'histoire economique. Receuil d' articles (1971).

RoLAND MoUSNIER, Docteur es Lettres (Sorbonne), Professor of Modern History at the Sorbonne, Director of the Centre de Recher­ches sur la Civilisation de !'Europe Moderne. Author of La venalite des offices sous Henri IV et Louis XIII (1946; 2nd ed. 1971); Fureurs paysannes (1968; English translation, 1971); Les hierarchies sociales, de 1450 a nos jours (1969; English translation, 1973); La plume, la faucille et le marteau. Institutions et societe en France du moyen-age a la Revolution, collected essays (1970); editor of and contributor toLe conseil du roi de Louis XII ala Revolution (1970).

Notes on Contributors xi

JEAN 0RCIBAL, Docteur es Lettres, Dir. Pratique of Studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris. Specialist in religious history, editor of the volume Problemes et methodes d'histoire des religions (1968). His best known works are Fenelon et la cour romaine, 1700-1715 (1940); Louis XIV contre Innocent XI. Les appels au futur concile de 1688 et ['opinion franfaise (1949); and Louis XIV et les Protestants (1951).

BARoN ARMEL DE WISMES, member of the Comite de Documenta­tion Historique de Ia Marine Franc;aise. Author of Jean Bart et la guerre de course (1965); Nantes et le pays Nantais (1970); Ainsi vivaient les marins (1971); Les Chevaliers de Malte (1972); De­couverte de La Filibuste (1973); Les Grand Ports bretons du XVII6

et du XVIII6 siecles (1973).

xii Louis XIV and Absolutism

---Districts under one intendant

----- Frontiers

eTowm in which local Estatet and Parlt!mt!nts met

OTowns in which intendant's office located

The administrative divisions of France

Source: La France au temps de Louis XIV, ed. Georges Mongredien et al. (Paris, 1966).

Louis XIV and Absolutism

The economic life of France in the reign of Louis XIV

Source: As map opposite.

xiii