Absolutism

Absolutism

Louis XIV and Peter I where two of the most notable examples of an absolute monarch. To great extent, it can be stated that each monarch successfully fulfilled the goals of an absolute monarch by, limiting the power of the and nobility and church, increasing the power and prestige of their country, centralizing the power in the hands of the monarch and leaving a legacy.

Both of these thriving absolute monarchs came to power in the seventeenth century. Louis XIV was granted power in 1643 at the age of five, after the death of his father, Louis XIII. Louis XIV decided that absolutism was the way to govern a state after he lived through the chaos and anarchy of the twelve year Fronde, when he and his mother where captured and threatened by rebel groups. Peter I came into power at the age of ten in 1682, it was not until 1696 though that he became the absolute power of Russia after the death of his older half brother Ivan.

Both Louis XIV and Peter I had to have some way of limiting the power of the church and of the nobles so that they could have full control over their state. Louis XIV was able to succeed greatly on both of these issues. He first began to diminish the power of the nobility by building the palace of Versailles. He gained huge control over the nobility by requiring them to spend majority of the year at the palace of Versailles. This allowed him to keep a close watch on the nobles instead of them being in their own little communities. He distracted his guest at the Versailles with balls, dinners, performances, and celebrations, "which were significant factors contributing to Louis's absolutism rule." Louis XIV as well forced upon the nobles to be his courtiers, he then appointed commoners to be his regional governors. This way he believed that if he did this he could easily reduce a commoner and dismiss him, but the nobles had a greater influence and where harder to dismiss. The nobles were consequently caught up in trying to be apart of the social scene at the palace of Versailles, and so involved in wanting to be the noble who walked the King to bed, that the nobles forgot about exercising their power. He as well kept the nobles happy by not making them pay taxes and just increasing the taxes of the commoners. Louis XIV also held control over the amount of influence the church had. He first stated that the Pope was no longer allowed to send papal legates to France without the permission of the King. Even once the legate was sent it would be further examined until the legate was able to exercise its power. As well all regulations made by the Pope were worthless until the King of France approved them. Louis XIV's "feudal regionalism and dominance of the Church were replaced with national pride." Peter I was not as creative as Louis XIV but still just as effective. Instead of trying to distract his people, he made it quite clear that if anyone were to go against any of his ideas they would be tortured and killed. He depicted fear amongst his people thus subordinating the nobles and church that if anyone were to against his absolute rule he would have them killed, and this made no exception for his own son. Keeping control of the nobles and church was just one of the ways that Louis XIV and Peter I achieved their absolutism, they also achieved in making a name for their state.

Louis XIV and Peter I had to increase the power of their country to keep their absolute monarch to show their control over their country. To go about gaining power for their country they turned to the army to gain more land and therefore creating more power. Louis XIV was determined to gain an excessive amount of power for his country, he had so much aggression when he went to war with the United Provinces that Louis XIV was the purpose of William III, Prince of Orange to gain power after the resign of Johan de Witt. It was with that, that in 1678 that there was peace and the signing of the Treaty of Nijmegen, where Louis XIV gained territory in the Low Countries. Even though "the Treaty of Nijmegen improved France's influence on Europe" , Louis XIV was dissatisfied and was determined to gain Strasbourg, an important strategic outpost. In 1681, Louis XIV had taken over and Strasbourg and it was now under his control. Louis XIV was not as much into the military as Peter I was. When Peter I took the thrown his country, his country was decades behind the rest of Europe. "Peter was determined to understand how and why the Russian lagged behind their neighbors." Peter I was keen on making Russia more westernized. He first started with making his courtiers and officials cut their beards off, wear European style clothing, the abolishment of the Russian calendar, and shortened the alphabet. Once Peter began to alter the Russian way of life to becoming more European, he set out for a better navy and army for the security and