Antecedent
In 1661, prime minister Mazaran died, and Louis XIV took the throne in 1661, Louis XIV ordered the reclamation of a forest depression on the southwestern outskirts of Paris. His father, Louis XIII, had bought this wasteland for about forty years for ten thousand livres, surrounded by woods, and was an excellent hunting ground.
In this year, Louis XIV decided to build an unprecedentedly luxurious official palace here, a palace where future generations can remember the name of Louis XIV, the Sun King. Twenty years later, the palace became the best symbol of the king's power, and it got its name from the Palace of Versailles because of this wasteland.
Louis XIV was the longest reigning king in French history, and during his reign the reign of France reached its peak. And his famous sayings are numerous, such as "the state is the state", "the divine power of the monarch is the light of Almighty God", "the power to examine the king belongs only to God", and so on.
The solipsistic emperor, though conceited, was very shrewd and capable.
In 1661, his prime minister, godfather and mentor Mazalam died, and Louis XIV, 23, became pro-government. From this year on, he took power large and small into his own hands on the grounds that "when he came to the throne, he took power large and small into his own hands, and never appointed a prime minister again.
From 661 onwards, the construction of the Palace of Versailles lasted for nearly half a century, costing a huge amount of Livre. Paris already has many royal palaces such as the Louvre, the Tuileries, and Fontainebleau. Why would such a shrewd Louis XIV embark on such a project?
This really begins with the childhood of Louis XIV.
Louis XIII died in 1643 and was on the throne at the age of five, assisted by his mother, Anna, Regent prime minister and cardinal Mazarin.
Louis XIV grew up in a turbulent environment of france's domestic and diplomatic tumultuous affairs. Thirty years of civil war and the subsequent Franco-Spanish War depleted the country, and the government had to increase its heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes in order to pay for the increase in military expenditures year after year. The war worsened the foreign trade environment and made national income extremely unstable. The end result was a steady stream of petty-bourgeois and plebeian uprisings and insurrections within the kingdom.
The most typical and largest is the "Defron Movement" In 1648, the citizens of Paris built 1,200 fortresses on the streets of Paris overnight because they were dissatisfied with the government's arrest of judges protesting against the tax increase. The regent empress dowager, Mazalam, was forced to flee with the young Louis XIV, and was frightened and distressed along the way.
In 1650, Prince Condé, who had helped the royal family suppress the deForon movement, was dissatisfied with his treatment and openly rebelled, leading an army into Paris, forcing Louis XIV to flee again.
These two events left a lifetime of shadows on Louis XIV. He did not trust commoners and officials, much less nobles. Educated by Mazaran, he believed only in absolute kingship.
After Louis XIV came to power, he once told his confidant that in addition to brilliant military achievements, architecture is the thing that can best express the greatness and wisdom of the monarch. It tells future generations about the exploits of the monarch, and he can attract the admiring eyes of the people.
It was for this purpose that he continued to open new projects in Paris and Saint-Germain. But these minor works did not satisfy his ambitions, especially after he saw the mansion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Fugai, in 1661, when Fugai's new mansion was built and Louis XIV was invited to visit. The palatial hall stimulated the king who was still living in the old Louvre at the time. Within a month, Louis XIV had thrown Fuguet into the Bastille for embezzlement and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Shortly thereafter, Louis XIV chose versailles, a desolate but vast land.
Louis XIV punished Fugai and the official of Versailles, ostensibly out of jealousy, but in fact had a deeper meaning.
From 1682 onwards, Louis XIV moved into the unfinished Palace of Versailles. Since then, it has become his long-term residence. At that time, the Palace of Versailles had already built 2300 rooms, and Louis XIV summoned a large number of nobles into the palace. The nobles and ministers were impressed by the magnificent palace, and Louis XIV established an extremely strict system of etiquette such as the king's bed-rising ceremony, the bedtime ceremony, the bedtime ceremony, etc., and thus established honorary positions, including the imperial coat, to fill his favored nobles.
In addition, the Palace of Versailles regularly held grand feasts, and the invitees were considered the most powerful and favored members of the king, and had the opportunity to receive rich gifts and rewards.
Through this series of actions, the king raised the nobles who had previously scattered in their fiefdoms and domesticated them into his vassals. The nobles, after living a life of indulgence and snouting on the king's nose, were like animals with plucked claws, and they were more docile. Louis XIV's personal authority also reached its peak.
Louis XIV died in 1715, and versailles, a symbol of royal authority, stood for hundreds of years.
consequence
From 1789 to 1883, the French Revolution broke out. As a symbol of autocratic kingship, versailles were repeatedly looted and destroyed by the people.
Conclusion: The reign of Louis XIV was the peak of French despotic monarchy, and versailles was both a product and a witness to it.