Louis Xiv Frq

King Louis XIV was a totalitarian and absolutist whose goal was “one king, one law, one faith.” He successfully accomplished his goals for “one king” and “one law” through divine right, and the establishment of Versailles, which centralized France and limited the power of the nobility. His last goal, however, “one faith” was hardly successful because it took a considerable amount of time to accomplish; but he eventually ended up with an entirely Catholic France. Louis XIV was successful in having “one king” and “one law” because he insisted that he was granted the right to rule by God and he is the rightful King for France. This “divine right” eventually led him to be famously named the “Sun King” which symbolizes the concept of everything revolving around him, thus being “one king.” Furthermore, the establishment of Versailles allowed Louis XIV to limit the great nobility of France. He excluded high ranking nobles from court which allowed him to rule as he wished, rather than having the nobility advise him, giving him his “one law.” The limitations that Versailles set for the nobility made it less likely for internal strife to occur, specifically a revolt of the nobility against the king and the law. Additionally, Louis XIV carefully chose bourgeois officials in order to maintain his status as the “one king”; having officials from the middle class showed that Louis had no intention of sharing any sort of power with them. Louis’s goal for “one faith” included having a Catholic France. He succeeded in making all of France Catholic using several tactics. He began by prosecuting Protestants and revoking the Edict of Nantes, which had previously granted religious freedom to the Huguenots. This new law forced Huguenots to convert to Catholicism, or be placed in exile for not renouncing their faith. Virtually all of the Huguenots converted and the others emigrated. Louis XIV was ultimately successful with his goal “one king, one law, one faith.” He successfully made himself the absolute and undisputed ruler of France, without sharing this power with his advisors. Additionally, he accomplished religious unity within France, but caused a minor economic disturbance due to the amount of Huguenot workers that left France.