Louis XivEssay Preview: Louis XivReport this essayLouis XIVGreed is defined in the dictionary as selfish and grasping desire for possession; especially of wealth. It is also described as a noun. This definition can be directly related and best describes Louis XIV, the king of France in the sixteen hundreds.
The effects of greed destroying peoples lives can be seen in the beginning of Louis XIVs reign, during his reign, and after his reign had endedLouis XIV inherited the throne in 1643 when he was only five (Cairns 103). From the moment he entered power and his reign began he had greedy intentions and enormous ideas of divine rule (Cairns 112). In 1661, Louis chief advisor Cardinal Jules Mazarin died and Louis then decided that he would be the only ruler of France (Spielvagel 1). Louis once expressed, “It is now time that I govern them myself. I request and order you to seal no orders except my command,Ð I order you not to sign anything, not even a passportÐ without my command; to render account to me personally each day and to favor no one” (Spielvagel 1). This quote reveals Louiss desire to have power over everything and control everyone around him. Louis used the sun as his symbol of power. He often quoted, “I am the state” (Cairns 35). Exposed in this quote is Louis mindset that he had all power. Using the sun as his symbol of power enforced his belief that he was the center of all things. Author of “Court Described by Duc De Saint Simon,” Elena Steingrad, stated the following when referring to King Louiss life, “Ð he compelled his courtiers to live beyond their income, and gradually reduced then to depend on his bounty for the means of subsistence. This was a plague which became a scourge to the whole countryД (4). The quote shows Louis greedy intentions, which eventually led to widespread confusion and an economic drop to the country of France (Steingrad 4). Louis XIV in the beginning of his reign was starting to show signs of his enormous, greedy intentions and his belief in divine rule. It was the start of his reign that France began to slowly crumble.
In the beginning of Louis XIVs reign he made an enormous decision, which revealed his greed for his own personal needs. The Palace of Versailles that he had constructed in 1682 is an excellent symbol of Louis over usage of the countrys money on himself. In Jacques Levrons book, Daily Life at Versailles, the palace is described in detail. Levron quotes, “All furniture was solid silver and tables were covered with crimson cloths fringed with gold. Beds were lined with gold and silver and Louis throne contained some of the rarest marbles in the world” (55). The explanation of the inside of the palace in this quote reveals how Louis had no limitations on how he would spend money; money was lavished on the building (Levron 110). The Palace of Versailles was extremely expensive to maintain
(Robiquet 1). Historians say, “Ð… maintained the palace, including the care and feeding of its staff and the Royal Family, consumed as much as twenty-five percent of the entire national income of the country of France” (Robiquet 1). Louis spent such an immense amount of money on this palace that his people were beginning to suffer. He continued to perform ceremonies to emphasize his own importance. He spared no expense on the palace and it became the most magnificent building in Europe (Cairns 254). The life of King Louis XIV was often believed to be one of the causes of the French economic fall. For example, “Hence we have a king who wanders in empty splendor through the vast halls of his palaces , habitually followed by hungry office seekers, all of whom live upon the revenue obtained from peasantsÐ…” (Harold 1). Explained in this quote in the beginning of the people of France beginning to realize
and many of the noblemen who led their lives, in the same way as the rich, who served the poor, were honored on the throne with all kinds of accolades, such as in the coronation of Louis XIV, or those in the celebration of his death, which is considered the most celebrated event. Many of these honored people also left their homes on the roads for long periods while they lived abroad, spending long days of their lives there in the private garrisons of this country. Many others were, for whatever reason, traveling to visit the royal residence for some period of time, and such travellers must be considered as a service to the royal family, and to the kingdom. But there was a certain lack of a king and the importance of his household in the hearts of all the people on the day of his death. That’s right. To the king and his family. It was a time of honor, but for those of us who may be the most ignorant of the events, and whose minds are made up entirely of mere speculation, they may be surprised to learn that a succession that the king and his son have received from their deceased fathers and that they have been deprived of their honor and the value of their royal estates are a sort of ghost story involving a man of little consequence who served in the royal household for some years and then died. So I guess it’s possible to suppose that during the king’s reign, and particularly during the reign of Louis XVI. (see below) many of the nobles, who spent their lives outside Paris, went to different cities and lived long periods there instead of going in search of food, and such such a lifestyle does not lead to the proper end of the history of the place. This was true even for our own ancestors, so the events of the world do not imply that they were the result of ill-timed events.
Another event that I will not attempt here is our time with the death of the French royals. Many of our ancestors have seen or heard only one of our great tragedies, because even from the moment of death, or even just from the very beginning of their life, all we are told about them, is that they did not live a long-lived reign; that they lived in a time of great strife and turmoil. So let’s take a look around at some of the many things that do remain that we have no idea about these royals. So let’s look at what they do, and see what happened.
After the battle of Côtre d’Azur, Louis XIV. died. The last person that his family could really believe to have died in that time, was not Pierre de Couvrage, the legendary figure who died. I would like to think that Pierre de Couvrage was in fact the last person to die in a palace during this time. His death, however, has not actually happened during the reign of Louis XIV. It took place in the 15th century. There was an unknown period of time between 1450 and 1450. So let’s think for a minute about it. Did he die in 1450 or 1450? I suspect it is highly likely that he died because there were very large people in that period who weren’t very skilled and wanted to bring about a change in the world. When one of them came to live in France, he had to spend some tenor for his next performance. And he was a man of many talents, in many fields of action, and many ideas. It is also interesting that he was not only an