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Absolutism

Absolutism. Mark Knights. What does absolutism signify?. Unfettered royal power, usually monarchy by divine right The centralisation of decision-making The king as above the law The erosion of the rights of the people and their representative assemblies The loss of liberty

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Absolutism

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  1. Absolutism Mark Knights

  2. What does absolutism signify? • Unfettered royal power, usually monarchy by divine right • The centralisation of decision-making • The king as above the law • The erosion of the rights of the people and their representative assemblies • The loss of liberty • No right of resistance • Personified by Louis XIV of France (1643-1715)

  3. Myth or Reality? Peter H. Wilson, in Absolutism in Central Europe (2000) ‘absolutism was a reality which characterised central European political development between the mid- seventeenth and very late eighteenth centuries … it pushed monarchical rule in a significantly new direction; one which justifies the use of a specific term to distinguish it’ It arose out of an early C17th revitalised sense of monarchy that rejected most forms of formal consultation and limitations After the 30 Years War (1618-48), and as a reaction to crisis (moral and intellectual; international and military; socio-economic), it was distinguished by a personification and sacralisation of power; rise of nation state/fiscal-military state.

  4. Perry Anderson – Marxist interpretation (1974) Eastern model: monarchies reacted to threats from Swedish expansion and western capitalism by a compact between monarchies and aristocracies whereby the latter surrendered political power in return for the imposition of serfdom eg 1653 Brandenburg Recess between Elector Frederick William and the estates that allowed FW to raise a large army

  5. But …Absolutism is a disputed concept Nicolas Henshall, The Myth of Absolutism (1992) ‘The edifice of ‘absolutism’ is cracking. The building still stands but few seem to have noticed that it is hanging in mid-air. No one has assembled the materials for demolition, but nor has the case been made for a preservation order’ [Nicolas Henshall in History Today 42.6 (1992), p. 40] No ‘ism’ – an early C19th term that is anachronistic Not only did Louis XIV or his emulators in Europe fail to deliver an absolutist agenda, but they never had such pretensions They worked with representative assemblies; monarchy was also limited by practical constraints; not despotic; localism prevailed not central bureaucracy

  6. Ideological divisions Reaction against ‘monarchomachs’ or ‘king-haters’ Jean Bodin (1530-1596), Les Six Livres de la Republique(Paris, 1576) Notion of indivisible sovereignty ... Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)

  7. Hereditary, divine right....Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Bishop of Evreux (1627-1704) – a ‘Spokesman’ for French Absolute Monarchy ‘Of all monarchies, the best is the successive or hereditary, above all when it passes from male to male, and from eldest to eldest’

  8. Absolutism as the Projection of Power Peter Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV (1992) • ‘In the Seventeenth Century, European governments devoted more attention to the public image of the ruler than at any time since the Roman Empire’ • The Sun King (le roisoleil)

  9. Projecting power • a) ‘Traditional’ media:- • e.g. ‘Royal Touch’ • b) ‘Traditional Media given New Emphases:- • Statues and portraits (300) • Medals (3000 • Engravings (700)

  10. Versailles and the Apollo Theme – The Hall of Mirrors • The Royal ‘Palace’ • life as spectacle

  11. Charles Le Brun’s Central Panel in the Ceiling Decoration of the Hall of Mirrors – ‘The King Governs by Himself’ Goddess of Glory, beckoning the king into immortality Mars, the God of War, through obedience to whom (‘valour’) the king will attain glory King’s face reflected on the breastplate of Minerva, the goddess of ‘wisdom’ France, holding in her hands an olive branch (‘peace’) in a bouquet representing ‘justice’ Various goddesses representing the fruits of the king’s rule (music, literature, painting, etc ‘timon’ – or symbol of ‘state’ power

  12. 6 – Emulations of Versailles in Europe Versailles in Russia:- Peterhof Versailles in Austria: Schönbrunn (Venice) • Versailles in Germany:- • - Augustusburg (Brühl) – Archbishop-Elector of Cologne • Schwetzingen – Elector Palatine • Sanssouci(Potsdam) and Charlottenburg (Berlin) • - Herrenhausen (Hanover) • - SchlossSchließheim (Munich) • - Nordkirchen – Bishop of Münster • etc

  13. Court ballet Louis XIV as Apollo in  Les Noces de Pelée etde Thétis , 1654 Louis XIV as Apollo in Le Ballet Royal de la nuit. Painting by Henri Gissey, 1653.

  14. La Gloire • Bellicose • Natural defensible frontiers: • Alsace • FrancheComté • War with Dutch • 250,000 strong army by 1700 consuming 75% of state revenue • (Austria 100,000, Sweden 100,000, Russia 210,000),

  15. Louis XIV in Versailles Garden

  16. L’Étatc’estmoi • Personal rule after 1661 (age 22) • Trusted ministers: Colbert (finance/economy); Le Tellier and Louvois (military) • Curbing autonomy: • municipalities; • Parlements: rendered compliant but not abolished; Estates General did not meet after 1614; • Intendants • nobility (Elias, The Civilising Process, taming them; trade-off with tax privileges and political/military independence. Cf. Russia, Sweden)

  17. Scale Louis XIV’s statue, erected in Paris in the Place des Victoires in 1682, dismantled during the revolution

  18. Scale HyacintheRigaud, Portrait of Louis XIV (painted 1701-2) to present to Philip, duke of Anjou, Louis XIV’s grandson – a painting over 10 foot high and copied numerous times. Louis XIV’s 13 foot statue, erected in Paris in the Place des Victoires in 1682

  19. Religious Policy • Curbing diversity and clerical interest groups • Dispute with the papacy over right to appoint bishops 1670-90s and their revenue. ‘Gallican church’: autonomous from Rome, king supreme in all but spiritual matters • Jansenist ‘problem’ – crypto-Calvinists – stressed original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace and predestination. Dissolution of Port Royal stronghold in 1708 • Huguenots (protestants) – 1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes ended toleration Allegory to religion

  20. Behind the propaganda… • Critics such as Saint-Simon attacked the king’s vanity that encouraged servility • He was only 5’ 3”, lost most of his hair in his 20s and had an anal fistula! • Only 30 intendants and 60,000 officiers. • War-weary and poor • Dying remark: ‘I have loved war too much: do not imitate me in this respect or in my expenditure, which was too great’

  21. Conclusion • No single model of absolutism but common patterns • Rise of fiscal-military states • Myth and reality • Not a universal process – England and Dutch adopt different policies. Sweden’s absolutism was temporary.

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