King Louis XIV of France

      An absolute monarch is a king/queen who has basically absolute control over his/her state and its subjects. They thought themselves to be appointed rulers by God himself. They had the “Devine Right to The Throne”. They were unmatched financially, militarily and politically; whatever they say goes. King Louis XIV of France was one of the most famous absolute monarchs to ever exist and this document will tell you exactly how.

       First off, who is Louis XIV? He was the king of France. He became king when he was 4½ years old, leaving his mother to rule until he was 17. He was known as the “sun king” because of the elegance of his art, buildings, clothes, mistresses … etc. Obviously he was an unmatched character in history that was undoubtedly an absolute monarch.

       The first of many points that support this idea is his dominance in decision-making. This is most greatly shown in one of his many famous quotes: “I order you not to sign anything, not even a passport without my command.” This shows his uncut authority in office.

Another point that can be made about his authority is that he weakened the nobles. “I had no intension of sharing my authority with them…” were his words concerning the subject. Furthermore he dismisses any others who may have a wee impact on the realm by saying “L’état, ce moi!” meaning I am the state.

       He also made many major changes to the legal system. These were very affective within the realm and abroad. The parliament’s power was stripped by obstruct legislation. The judicial structure was ameliorated by the new codes of civil / criminal procedure. Municipal law enforcement was improved due to the establishment of the lieutenant general of police for Paris. This was later used in other cities as well. These changes helped keep the realm under his control and impressed the foreign dignitaries.

       King Louis also fabricated the term “Bureaucracy”. A bureaucracy is when important decisions are made by state officials; or in this case Louis himself. He wanted to eliminate any doubt that he was the soul decision taker in office. By creating Bureaucracy he made this “legal”.

       One other thing that he did quite often was glorifying monarchy. This was mostly making his life even more amazing. His biggest and most famous creation was a palace in Versailles. It was the biggest palace in the world. Its gardens were so massive that the fountains within had to be turned off unless the king was walking by; this was to not waste water. In fact one of the architects said that with this many fountains the king would dry out the Seine.

       Also vocalizing the glorification of monarchy was his title and role model, “The Sun King”. His title meant that he was over powering, like the sun. He was the one who shed light on the world, like the sun. He was very fond of himself. He had art made of him, clothes made out of gold for him and he even had specialists choose women to be mistresses for him. All of this was to make his life more luxurious and impress the foreign kings and queens. He glorified himself by glorifying monarchy.

       Another factor showing Louis’s absolutism is his many European conquests. His main problem was with the Spanish. His wife was the daughter of the Spanish king and after he died the realm was inherited to her brother and nothing to her. This infuriated Louis and caused him to launch a full-on attack on the Spanish armada in Normandy and the Netherlands. After a few years of war France was able to subdue the lands in the north that formerly belonged to the Spanish.

       During this main event in the war books of Louis XIV he gained much more than land. He gained a considerable amount of gold and respect. At the time the three major military powers were England, Spain and France. After the Spanish defeat in the Netherlands the French got a firm grasp on first place amongst the three. Even the English were astounded at the swift defeat of the Spanish despite their increased numbers and military force. This showed that despite being a piece pampered French pastry, Louis was not here to mess around.

He still holds the record for longest monarch to rule; he ruled for over 70 years. The amount of time that he ruled for helped him establish many bonds with foreign dignitaries and help his young reign remain strong.

       His personality was probably the most important of the reasons that he is considered an absolute monarch. You see, he was too busy to care where, or how something would be accomplished. He wanted results, and results only. This kind of attitude was literally “fit for a king”.

       Despite his arrogance he was quite a strong ruler. He managed to help France prosper in a time of difficulty in Europe. He had the stamina to keep this great nation under control for 70 years. That, if not anything, speaks miles about his character.

       In the end, with all of the overwhelming evidence that this document has presented you with, there should be absolutely no doubt as to whether Louis XIV was an absolute monarch or not. The Sun King was a great lucrative ruler that was an absolute monarch from sunrise to sunset.