Some of the most popular kings in the Early Modern France were Henry IV, Louis XIII as well as Louis XIV. The monarchs utilized royal tyranny making France one the most influential nations in Europe. The formation of absolute monarchy relied on the character of the ruler as well as the individuals he had chosen has his ministers. Some of the rulers such as Francis I and Henry II were extremely aggressive who ruled the nobles as well as other kingdoms that been conquered during French Wars Religion. The king had the power to order the arrest of any individual and convict him or her as long as it pleased him. There were secretaries appointed to handle matters related to navy and foreign affairs. The sovereign courts solved issues affecting the citizens as well as the government. The main sovereign court was the Parliament de Paris. It had the power to cancel a royal edict though the King could still override the decree through the lit-de-justice.
Topic II: The Gallican Church
The Gallican Church, though it was loyal to the Catholic doctrines, it disregarded some rights of the Catholic Church and asserted that infallibility was not only limited to the Pope but also to every episcopal organization under his governance as the leader. It claimed influence over the holy canons whilst contending that there was a difference between the historical and spiritual authority. The association between the Gallican church and monarchy was complex. Normally, the monarch did not vacillate in misusing the church. This was because of the authority that the Concordat of Bologna granted him. The kings used their power to choose bishops as well as abbots to protect the allegiance of the opportunistic nobles. The Concordat of Bologna that was agreed between the Papacy and the French monarch, permitted Francis I to elect bishops and reinstate annates to the Pope. Matters involving the Pope were not discussed by the general council. This law was seen by most French leaders as a menace to the French church.
Topic III: Law and Justice in the Sixteenth Century
The judicial system in Early Modern France was based on how political action was hypothesized. Though there was tyranny, the monarchs ruled using the law as well as public goodwill. The justice system, royal council inclusive, used the law as the basic linguistic, traditional, as well as bureaucratic outline that the subjects and administrative monarchy used. However, the law was neither binding nor static. Though the sovereign court known as Parliament de'Paris did not recognize any authority above it, decisions made by the monarch could not be resolved using systematic remedies. The king had the authority to interfere in cases in parliament and bring them to his council through the royal prerogative. The king also had the power to register edicts when lit de justice was held. In the rule of Francis I stretched the lit de justice to a certain level of royal authority such that he used it could apply royal edicts without the permission of the parliaments.
Topic IV: The French Renaissance
Renaissance is a French word which means resurgence. It took place between fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. The rebirth in French was inspired by the Renaissance that had begun in northern Italy and was at its climax in the reign of Francis I and Henry II. This period recorded a lot of findings and revival in fields such as art, literature, philosophy, science, religion as well as architecture. In arts, sculptors such as Donatello were made in conventional methods like contrapposto. The painters put more emphasis on landscape themes and individuals rather than religion. Some of the most popular painters in this era were Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti. Literature throughout the Renaissance focused majorly addressed issues related to religion, ancient times, politics as well as education. A technique of writing poems known as Sonnets also became prevalent. During this rebirth, Gothic customs increased in designs as well as structure that incorporated novel ideas of Renaissance under the leadership of Francis I, a creative architect. Francis I was to construct beautiful chateaus to supplant feudal castles. Some of those chateaus include Chambord and Azay-le-Rideau.
Topic V: The French Reformation in France and Geneva
Protestant Reformation was initiated by Martin Luther King in 1517 though the Ninety-five theses in Germany. However, the Reformation in France was instigated by a group of spiritualists under the guidance of Lefevre d'Etaples. The Protestants were against the sacramental beliefs of the Catholics. Furthermore, the Protestants believed that the Bible was the solitary power in religion unlike the Catholics who did not believe so. The Protestant considered the Catholic Church as not being entirely founded on the Bible.
John Calvin was a prominent French theologian as well as a resolute Protestant leader in the Reformation era. Geneva became a Protestant city due to the reforms introduced by Calvin. He worked together with William Farel to instill discipline in the churches in the city. Calvin wrote several articles that guided the believers on the way to conduct themselves as Christian. In one of his articles, he described the ways of conducting the Eucharist, excommunication as well as confession of faith. The Consistory was the main institution for monitoring the family. Before the arrival of Reformation in Geneva, it focused in handling religious cases. However, with the introduction of the Reformation, it started putting more focus on family issues. It always applied harsh rules to ensure morality in the family.
Topic VI: The French Wars of Religion
This was a string of radical clashes between French Catholic and Protestants popularly referred to as Huguenots. The war begun in 1562 and ended in1598. The immediate cause for this conflict was the French Protestant fight for liberty as well as right of establishment. Another factor was the fight of power between the king and the nobles as well as the internal conflict among the nobles. The expansion of French Calvinism influenced the French monarch Catherine de Medici to dislike the Huguenots. This instigated the annihilation of Protestants at Vassy in 1562 by Catholic de Guise family.
The Vassy massacre generated a string of uprising in the province. Though efforts were made to resolve the violence through a number of treaties, it worsened when the protestant leader, Gaspard II de Coligny was killed in the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre after Catherine de Medici induced her son Charles IX to issue an order for annihilation. This massacre renewed the civil war. The Huguenots often sought the assistance of foreign Protestants. The war ended after the enactment of the Edict of Nantes by Henry IV. However, it had a detrimental effect on the monarchy causing a lot political as well as social instability.
Topic VII: Henry IV and the Edict of Nantes
The Edict De Nantes was publicized by Henry IV at Nantes in Brittany. It provided a lot of freedom to the Protestants. It gave the Protestants the liberty of conscience as well as the freedom to organize public worship meetings throughout the nation except in Paris. It assured them of protecting their civil rights and created a special court to handle conflicts that involved Protestants and Catholics. Protestants leaders were to be remunerated by the monarchy and freed from particular duties. Furthermore, the Protestants were allowed to own the areas that they still had possession of by August 1597 and the monarch was to settle the garrisoning expenses.
This law reintroduced Catholicism in every region that Catholic activities had been previously stopped making the spread of new Protestant churches lawfully unfeasible. However, most of the Catholics considered the edict to be unfair. For instance, Pope Clement VIII was against it, he asserted that the law was constricting. Later in 1685, Louis XIV annulled it and denied all the Protestants of the freedom that the Edict of the Nantes had offered them. This led to a mass emigration of the Protestants to regions such as England and Prussia.
Topic VIII: Louis XIII and Richelieu
Louis XII became the monarch after the murder of his father Henry IV. Marie de' Medici, his mother was the regent until Louis became an adult and could now administrate the kingdom. Under the leadership of Louis XIII, the Bourbon Dynasty witnessed a lot of prosperity but there was a lot limited religious liberty. However, when Louis got into agreement with Cardinal Richelieu, there were a lot of developments that molded the future of France in the following 25 years. Richelieu was a French statesman nurtured in a family of little nobility in Poitou. He assisted Louis XIII to become a model of an outright ruler. Louis XIII demeaned the Hapsburgs and established a strong army as well as refurbished the port of Le Havre. He also negated the liberties Henry IV had granted to the Protestants. Furthermore, he planned for creation and governance of the New France by conquering the area between Quebec City to Montreal. The main achievement of Louis XIII, however, was his involvement in the Thirty Years war against Hapsburg, which ended few days after his demise. He was succeeded by Louis XIV.
Topic IX: Louis XIV and Mazarin
The reign of Louis XIV is popularly remembered for leading an absolute monarchy throughout his era, annulling the Edict of Nantes as well as formulating violent foreign policies. Mazarin, the Chief Minister, played a significant role in the reign of Louis XIV. He taught and administered the monarchy on behalf of the king when he was young. He also fought the rebels who attempted to overthrow the reign of the young king.
When Louis XIV took full control of the kingdom, he exemplified right absolutism by centralizing as bridle in governing France. He reduced France's deficit, rectified the disordered structure of taxation and minimized the borrowing culture. He also ordered the provincial nobles to renounce their political powers so as to form an organized and stable kingdom. He successfully established a centralized government with the middle class as its core. However, his imperious attitude towards foreign countries caused him to conflict with most of the neighboring nations.
