How absolute was th emonarchy of Louis XIV?
At its peak the French empire under Louis XIV was vast, stretching across Europe from Spain, where the throne had come under Bourbon control, to eastern Prussia. Louis controlled the largest army in Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire. At this time, the whole of Europe was scared of Louis’ strength and also of his ambitions. Many historians see Louis XIV as the personification of Absolutism during the 17th century. Indeed it was Louis himself who expressed characteristically what absolutism meant: “When you are working for the good of the state you are working for yourself; the good of the one constitutes the glory of the other.” [1]Absolutism meant that all the power of the government rested solely in a country’s monarch. The nobility and institutions of the church had very limited power. This is a drastic change from medieval times and even the 16th century, when power was vested in the Catholic Church and the Nobility controlled the majority of a country’s land, making them powerful institutions within early modern society. In an absolute state there is no power for elected assemblies and estates, thus making the people virtually powerless although for most of the period this had always been the ca
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Approximate Word count = 2386
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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