Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/787

 CHAPTER XXVIII FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV Section 121. Position and Character of Louis XIV Under the despotic rule of Louis XIV (1643-17 15) France France at the 1 ^• • n • T-« rr • c, accession of enjoyed a commanding mrluence m European anairs. After Louis xiv the wars of religion were over, the royal authority had been ^^43-1715 reestablished by the wise conduct of Henry IV. Later, Riche- lieu had solidified the monarchy by depriving the Huguenots of the exceptional privileges granted to them for their protection by Henry IV ; he had also destroyed the fortified castles of the nobles, whose power had greatly increased during the turmoil of the Huguenot wars. His successor, Cardinal Mazarin, who conducted the government during Louis XIV's boyhood, was able to put down a last rising of the discontented nobility. When Mazarin died, in 166 1, he left the young monarch with What Riche- a kingdom such as no previous French king had enjoyed. The M^arin had nobles, who for centuries had disputed the power with the king, ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ were no longer feudal lords but only courtiers. The Huguenots, archy whose claim to a place in the State beside the Catholics had led to the terrible civil wars of the sixteenth century, were reduced in numbers and no longer held fortified towns from which they could defy the king's officers. Richelieu and Mazarin had suc- cessfully taken a hand in the Thirty Years' War, and France had come out of it with enlarged territory and increased impor- tance in European affairs. Louis XIV carried the work of these great ministers still The govern- farther. He gave that form to the French monarchy which it Louis xiv retained until the French Revolution. He made himself the very mirror of kingship. His marvelous court at Versailles became 681