Vocabulary/Key Terms
Define absolutism
A political system in which a ruler holds total power.
Who was next in line for throne after Louis XIV?
What was one key thing that kept Louis XIV in power?
He controlled the central policy-making machinery of the government.
What caused financial issues for Louis XIV?
The cost of building palaces, maintaining his court, and pursuing wars
When did Louis XIV die?
1715
What is it called when a king is chosen by God?
The Divine Right of Kings
Who was the most important absolute monarch in France?
Louis XIV (The Sun King)
How did Louis XIV increase his royal power?
He developed a standing army that could increase to 400,000 soldiers.
Which social class was a threat to absolutism?
Nobility
Versailles was built by...
Louis XIV
How did absolute monarchs maintain power in France?
To maintain power absolute monarchs would control the state’s military, legal system, and tax collection.
Who started absolutism in France?
Cardinal Richelieu
How did Louis XIV maintain monarchical power?
How was nobility a threat to absolutism?
It required more authority.
What were the consequences of the French Revolution in France?
It led to the end of a monarchy and the establishment of democracy.
Define centralization of power
When a monarch consolidated authority over France, reducing the power of the nobility, regional governments, and other institutions.
Who was responsible for developing trade, industry and the merchant navy, modernizing Paris, and backing new advances in the sciences?
Jean Baptiste
How did Louis XIV maintain religious harmony?
He made the anti-Protestant policy to convert the Huguenots to Catholicism
What religious group harassed King Henry IV to convert to Catholicism.
Huguenots
Which two prime ministers preserved the throne before Louis XIII and Louis XIV could come to power?
Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin
Define mercantilism
A set of principles that dominated economic thought in the seventeenth century
Who was the leader of the Huguenots
John Calvin
Who did Louis XIV have total authority over?
How did the parliament in France threaten absolutism as they shared power?
To raise taxes as the state was forced to increase taxes.
Who were immortalized in Alexandra Dumas' classic novel, The Three Musketeers.
Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu