Question

Describe how Richelieu and Louis XIV weakened the power of the nobles

Answer 1

I'm guessing you're in AP Euro, Louix XIV built the Palace of Versailles, with building that he assigned nobles certain jobs as simple as tieing his shoes every morning. The nobles felt being a part of this palace was highly important because they were closer to the king, therefore had higher influence, when in reality he was manipulating them and distracting them from his power gains.

Answer 2

Cardinal Richelieu was a fervent believer in an absolute monarchy where the crown was the undisputed ruler. By doing that, he also hoped to make France strong above all other nations.

To this end, he set out to grind down the power of the nobles using a number of methods such as ordering the destruction of many castles aside from the ones needed to defend France. This aggravated the nobles and made him a hated man. He also crushed the Huguenots (French Protestants) who were allowed exclusive worship in a number of towns as well as maintain their own militia in France.

After laying siege to La Rochelle and defeating them, he rescinded their rights. Even though he was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, he stopped short of persecuting them but ensured that they could not wage war or challenge the throne with force of arms.

His superb spy network enabled him to uncover a plot against him by several nobles who wished to kill him. He executed a number of them, but pardoned others. He wasn't bloodthirsty as he believed that a strong monarchy would lead to a powerful France, but he didn't need to kill everyone to get there.

He centralized powers further under the king through the use of intendants - agents directly answerable only to the king and not the nobles. They would go on to do things such as collect taxes directly instead of the nobles, cutting their positions down even further.

He wasn't always so successful, however, and was nearly dismissed very early on when the mother of Louis XIII wanted to remove him as an advisor. She and others almost convinced the king to do so, but in the end, the king chose to support Richelieu and grant him the powers to do what he needed.

When Louis XIV ascended the throne well after Richelieu's death, France had already come out ahead of many of the other nations in Europe after the Thirty Years war thanks to Richelieu's work which had also bled the Hapsburgs dry. He continued the Cardinal's policies which now extended out to eliminate the Protestant presence in France by destroying their churches and openly banning them.

Louis XIV also continued to centralize power further diminishing the feudal aristocracy. Like Richelieu, he was a patron of the arts and supported that industry. By the time of his death, France experienced changes that would lead to the model of state copied by others in the years ahead. It had a strong government, a firm grasp of empire, and whose king was regarded as a powerful example of the Enlightened ruler.