Absolutism's Influence On Religion

2. Henry IV was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France. As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the Wars of Religion before ascending the throne in 1589. Before his coronation as King of France at Chartres, he changed his faith from Calvinism to Catholicism and, in 1598, he enacted the Edict of Nantes, which guaranteed religious liberties to the Protestants, thereby effectively ending the civil war. One of the most popular French kings, both during and after his reign, Henry showed great care for the welfare of his subjects and displayed an unusual religious tolerance for the time. By him granting religious liberties to the Protestants he was helping establishing a modern state in France.

Kings in France were said to be chosen by God to represent Him on earth. As argued by Jacques Bossuet “ Monarchical authority comes from God”. It was during the coronation ceremony in 1654 at Reims cathedral that will provide him the power of “god".With this reasoning, Louis XIV grew up wanting to assert his authority over the church and create a unified country under Christianity. As said by J. Orcibal“ Louis was more likely to proclaim himself more Catholic than the pope and to prove this by assuming leadership for a crusade against his own Protestant subject (…)”. He decided in 1685 to revoke the Edict of Nantes, which secure the right of protestant to exercise their faith. Peter the Great was also a religious man, and being inspired by the Western world, he also believed in divine right and on his role of protector of the Orthodox faith. However, one can notice a difference between the theory of absolutism in Russia and France: there was never a mention of limitation of power for the tsar. He used the church as a mean to expand his absolute power. He abolished the Patriarchate (the head of the

Nowadays purchasing firearms can be as easy as going to a gun show and buying a gun from there. Background checks are only required when making a purchase in a store. While this happens it makes

This caused a strong dislike of Louis to grow in France. In addition to political problems, France was facing social problems. In document two a graph of the Three Estates is displayed. In France the First Estate which was the clergy, made up only one percent of society, while the Second Estate which contained the nobility made up two percent and the Third Estate, which held all of the commoners made up ninety seven percent of society. The first and second estate contained the least amount of people and enjoyed the most privileges in France.

France was set up for absolute monarchy by King Henry IV. Henry’s ambitions neutralized the clash between Catholics and Protestants, in the Edict of Nantes. Before Henry’s assassination, he had created a financial surplus in the kingdom. Next in line for the throne was Louis XIII, Henry’s son, but he was too young to rule, so Cardinal Richelieu had control over the kingdom. He limited the political privileges of the Huguenots and involved France in the Thirty Years War, and by doing this he affirmed the royal power and engaged France more in European affairs.

There are very few members in the first and second estates, yet they owned the most land, while the third estate made up most of the population, yet owned very little land. “First: Clergy - 1% of the people owned 10% of the land. Second Estate: Nobles - 2% of the people owned 35% of the land. Third Estate - Middle class, peasants, city workers 97% of the people owned 55% of the land.” (Document 2) There were high prices, high taxes, and people were listening to enlightenment ideas. Louis XVI decided to tax the Second Estate. They called a meeting of the Estates-General - an assembly of representatives from all three estates. (ROI) In addition, as a political cause, the third estate had no privileges or say in the government,while both the clergy and nobles did. As mentioned before, the inequality of taxes proved another gap in the social classes. “The Revolution had been accomplished in the minds of men long before it was translated into fact.... The middle class...was sensitive to their inferior legal position. The Revolution came from them-the middle class. The working classes were incapable of starting or controlling the Revolution. They were just beginning to learn to read.” (Document 4) Estates- General was the first such meeting in 175 years. Met on May 5th,1789 in Versailles. In the Estate- General each estate had one vote. (ROI)

They, like a fox, slyly gained political influence over the church by negotiating with the pope. They were given the ability to choose who would be the Church’s clergy and priests. This is extremely important to the throne, for with this capability, the monarch would be able to control the faith of their nation. Not only would they manage the finances and property of the people, but also the hearts. Another “fox-like” quality of the French monarchs is the astute way in which Edward IV and others conducted foreign policy. They focused on diplomacy when dealing with foreign affairs, which helped them to avoid expensive wars. This saved their nation a large amount of money, because instead of constant fighting, there was continual growth. In a similar manner to England, the French monarchy displayed sneaky characteristics by choosing from among smaller landowners and urban lawyers for a government council. By choosing these landowners and lawyers, the monarch received more financial support and power than they would have by choosing nobles and aristocrats. Along with the “fox-like” actions, France also showed “lion-like” characteristics with Edward, Richard III, and Henry VII who attempted to reinstate prominence, suppress the influence of the nobility, and demonstrate law and discipline a local level around France. By lessening the importance of nobles, the rulers gained control and started to rebuild the position of the monarch. They were fierce in their endeavors to gain power and enforce law in their nation. This, along with the newly established influence on the church and careful efforts to avoid expensive and unnecessary wars, showed how France both had “fox-like” and “lion-like”

He strongly opposed the French Protestants known as Huguenots. Louis threatened the Huguenots with brutal military force and immoral evils if they did not convert to Catholism. His religious upbringing, and consultants conducted him to think he could not go to heaven unless he wiped all the heretics from France. Those that refused to convert were slaughtered without sympathy. Louis XIV claimed to rule France by divine right, with the belief that monarchs are chosen by God to lead the state. Louis XIV considered it his responsibility as a Catholic monarch to make all of France fully Catholic, even if there would be many lives lost and French blood spilt. Although Louis XIV achieved absolute power in France, but he faced many dilemmas. Louis XIV had lost immense quantities of money by participating in wars overseas. His religious bias caused many Huguenots to flee from France in fear of death, leading this to severely disabled the French economy. Although his actions gave him the support of various Catholic nations, the Protestant nations like England now intensely stood against Louis XIV for his strict beliefs in Catholism, and formed the League of Augsburg in spite of him. This led to more conflict, which made France go further and further into debt leading to elevated taxes. Which enraged an already distressed

Henry IV of France was able to act as a "fox" by evaluating what mattered more to him. When Henry converted to Catholosism out of being a Hugenot during the Saint Bartholomew 's Day Massacre, it was clear that he valued his own life over religion. Even when he coverted back to Calvinism afterwards, he soon relized his valued of being in power over religion would cause him to convert, once again, back into Catholism. “Paris is worth a Mass," he said as he gave into the Roman Catholic Church for the leadership of France. This value of state over religion made him a politique, believing that no religious truth was worth the ravages of cicil war. He kept France from futher civil war by issuing the Edict of Nantes which acknowledged Catholicism as th official religion of France but guaranteed the Hugenots the rights to worship. He was wise to recognize that tolerance can help establish peace in his nation and also to convert to Cathalosism because of their bigger population in France.

One major cause of the old regime were the taxes and laws between the three estates. As seen in Document 2, “the 3rd estate paid 50% of income in taxes while the 1st and 2nd paid less than 5%” (Doc 2). This clearly shows that the most populated estate, the third estate, paid half of their income as their taxes. Larger amounts of taxes the third estate paid versus the lower amount of taxes for the first and second estates. Another significant cause was the unequal three estates and the third estate was overpowered. The third estate had more power in laws and taxes and their relationship with the lower estates were not good. As demonstrated in Document 7, the cartoon of the “The political and social system in France” (Doc 7). This cartoon proves the relationship between the third estate and the two lower estates. The lower estates didn’t have anything to do with taxes and laws and the third estates were all in laws and taxes. The final

In 1685, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes and put the Edict of Fontainebleau in its place. Because of this document, all religious toleration for Huguenots (previously allowed by the Edict of Nantes) was no longer allowed, leaving them with two options: convert to Catholicism or leave France. Through this law, Louis achieved national religious unity.

King Louis XIV distrusted the Protestants and everything they stood for. Because of that, he revoked the Edict of Nantes and

The Catholic monarchy and the Protestant group, the Huguenots, could not see eye to eye on how France should be run or what religion should be in control. During this time in history, people believed only one type of religious expression was allowed in a country. The Reformation gave the possibility for people to follow their own beliefs in religion, rather than follow the one religion of the country. “In a society in which the church served as the central institution in people’s lives, this radical new idea struck at the very foundation of European politics and social realities” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2011, p. 88). The French War of Religions was a result of this new thinking.

This meant that they were heavily taxed like the rest of the Third Estate, but many avaided taxes. Some of the bourgeois were envious of the nobility and had resentment towards the First and Second Estates, many against the Ancien Regime and well educated a large proportion of the bourgeois knew of the discoveries happening during the Age of Enlightenment. The Ancien Regime prioritised the people of France in order of Estates, with the King being above all, as a result of the system keeping 97% of the population in one category the system did not satisfy many of the bourgeois of the time resulting in them supporting the revolution.

The church and the state had to contend with the growing influence of the Enlightenment and the need to strike a new balance with religion, a more utilitarian balance determined in large part by its own political rationalism. Power was held within the monarchy and the church. The monarchy of France and the Catholic Church were allies that were unbreakable. The King was the master of the temporal realm, while the Church under his protection ruled the spiritual realm. Kings derived their authority from God and stood immediately below him in rank. The monarchy had the support of the church and the church had the support of the monarchy. Power was based on morality and the church thrived on positive morality and the monarchy was proof of this morality. The balance between these two powers in France was equivalent to one another. The whole system