Misplaced Pages

#939060

115-528: A son of Marc Louis de Trogoff de Kerlessy and Jeanne Eléonore Bourel de Kermès, de Kerlessy joined the Ancien Régime French fleet as a volunteer in 1764 and fought in the 1765 campaign against the Salétins . From 1773 to 1774 he took part in an exploratory voyage under Kerguelen , during which he was promoted to enseigne de vaisseau . He was captured by a British privateer in 1778. In March of

230-686: A Papal fief 36. Imperial Free City of Mulhouse 37. Savoy , a Sardinian fief (parl. in Chambéry 1537–59) 38. Nice , a Sardinian fief 39. Montbéliard , a fief of Württemberg 40. (not indicated) Trois-Évêchés ( Metz , Toul and Verdun ) 41. (not indicated) Dombes ( Trévoux ) 42. (not indicated) Navarre ( Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port ) 43. (not indicated) Soule ( Mauléon ) 44. (not indicated) Bigorre ( Tarbes ) 45. (not indicated) Beaujolais ( Beaujeu ) 46. (not indicated) Bresse ( Bourg ) 47. (not indicated) Perche ( Mortagne-au-Perche ) In an attempt to reform

345-563: A British ship after Dugommier and Napoleon Bonaparte retook the town. William Sidney Smith set fire to the main magazine and eight of the French ships of the line before departing. Trogoff emigrated, subsequently dying in February 1794. Ancien R%C3%A9gime Defunct Defunct The ancien régime ( / ˌ ɒ̃ s j æ̃ r eɪ ˈ ʒ iː m / ; French: [ɑ̃sjɛ̃ ʁeʒim] ; lit.   ' old rule ' )

460-579: A combination of aggression, annexation and quasilegal means, he set about extending his gains to stabilize and strengthen France's frontiers, culminating in the brief War of the Reunions (1683–1684). The resulting Truce of Ratisbon guaranteed France's new borders for 20 years, but Louis XIV's subsequent actions, notably his revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, led to the deterioration of his military and political dominance. Louis XIV's decision to cross

575-457: A daughter of King Philip IV of Spain by his first wife Elisabeth , the sister of Louis XIII. They were married in 1660 and had a son, Louis, in 1661. Mazarin died on 9 March 1661 and it was expected that Louis would appoint another chief minister, as had become the tradition, but instead he shocked the country by announcing he would rule alone. For six years Louis reformed the finances of his state and built formidable armed forces. France fought

690-506: A desire to produce an heir as soon as possible so as to reduce the chances of a succession dispute between Philip V and the Duke of Orléans in the event of the sickly king's death. Maria was already an adult woman at the time of the marriage, while the infanta was still a young girl. Nevertheless, Bourbon's action brought a very negative response from Spain, and for his incompetence Bourbon was soon replaced by Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury ,

805-568: A few smaller German princes and dukes in Italy. Extensive back-and-forth fighting took place in the Netherlands, but the dimensions of the war once again changed when both Emperor Leopold and his son and successor, Joseph, died. That left Archduke Charles, the second son of Leopold, younger brother to Joseph , as the Alliance candidate for both king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. Since such

920-526: A former protégé of his mother, the chief minister of France in 1624. Richelieu advanced an anti- Habsburg policy. He arranged for Louis' sister, Henrietta Maria , to marry King Charles I of England , on 11 May 1625. Her pro-Catholic propaganda in England was one of the contributing factors to the English Civil War . Richelieu, as ambitious for France and the French monarchy as for himself, laid

1035-526: A new tax based on the dixième , the vingtième , was enacted to reduce the royal deficit and continued for the rest of the ancien régime . Another key source of state financing was through charging fees for state positions (such as most members of parlements, magistrates, maître des requêtes and financial officers). Many of the fees were quite high, but some of the offices conferred nobility and could be financially advantageous. The use of offices to seek profit had become standard practice as early as

1150-469: A peace program that was agreed to by Fleury, and the two powers formed an alliance. The Dutch Republic was much reduced in power and so agreed with Britain's idea of peace. In Vienna, the Holy Roman Empire's Habsburg emperors bickered with the new Bourbon king of Spain, Philip V, over Habsburg control of most of Italy, but relations with France were undramatic. In the mid-15th century, France

1265-460: A series of wars from 1667 onward and gained some territory on its northern and eastern borders. Maria Theresa died in 1683 and the next year he secretly married the devoutly Catholic Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon . Louis XIV began to persecute Protestants, undoing the religious tolerance established by his grandfather Henry IV, culminating in his revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The last war waged by Louis XIV proved to be one of

SECTION 10

#1732775424940

1380-566: A sixtieth of the official charge, which permitted the titleholder to be free of the forty-day rule. The paulette and the venality of offices became key concerns in the parliamentarian revolts of the 1640s called the Fronde . The state also demanded a "free gift", which the church collected from holders of ecclesiastic offices through taxes called the décime (roughly a twentieth of the official charge, created under Francis I). State finances also relied heavily on borrowing, both private (from

1495-700: A successful conclusion in 1648 and defeating the nobility's challenge to royal absolutism in a series of civil wars known as the Frondes . He continued to war with Spain until 1659. In that year the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed signifying a major shift in power, France had replaced Spain as the dominant state in Europe. The treaty called for an arranged marriage between Louis and his cousin Maria Theresa ,

1610-636: A successor. Louis XIII outlived him but by one year, dying in 1643 at the age of forty-two. After a childless marriage for twenty-three years his queen, Anne, delivered a son on 5 September 1638, whom he named Louis after himself. In the mid eighteenth century, the Bourbon monarchy had a faulty system for finance and taxation. Their lacking a national bank led to them taking short-term loans, and ordering financial agents to make payments in advance or in excess of tax revenues collected. Louis XIV succeeded his father at four years of age; he would go on to become

1725-515: A union between Spain and the Holy Roman Empire would be too powerful in the eyes of Charles VI's allies, most of the allies quickly concluded a separate peace with France. After another year of fruitless campaigning, Charles VI did the same and abandoned his desire to become the king of Spain. The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht resolved all these issues. France gave up Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Louis XIV's grandson became King Philip V of Spain and kept all of his overseas colonies but renounced any rights to

1840-763: Is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty , the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. A branch descended from the French Bourbons came to rule Spain in the 18th century and is the current Spanish royal family . Further branches, descended from the Spanish Bourbons, held thrones in Naples , Sicily , and Parma . Today, Spain and Luxembourg have monarchs of

1955-538: Is the senior heir in line to the French throne . The first Bourbon king of France was Henry IV . He was born on 13 December 1553 in the Kingdom of Navarre . Antoine de Bourbon , his father, was a ninth-generation descendant of King Louis IX of France . Jeanne d'Albret , his mother, was the Queen of Navarre and niece of King Francis I of France . He was baptized Catholic , but raised Calvinist . After his father

2070-451: The fermiers généraux ('farmers-general"). The taille was only one of a number of taxes. There also existed the taillon (a tax for military purposes), a national salt tax (the gabelle ), national tariffs (the aides ) on various products (wine, beer, oil and other goods), local tariffs on speciality products (the douane ) or levied on products entering the city (the octroi ) or sold at fairs and local taxes. Finally,

2185-465: The généralités of the Renaissance went through a variety of reforms. In 1577, Henry III established 5 treasurers ( trésoriers généraux ) in each généralité who formed a bureau of finances. In the 17th century, oversight of the généralités was subsumed by the intendants of finance, justice and police. The expression généralité and intendance became roughly synonymous. Until

2300-433: The pays d'élection , the pays d'état and the pays d'imposition . In the pays d'élection (the longest-held possessions of the French crown; some of the provinces had held the equivalent autonomy of a pays d'état but had lost it through the effects of royal reforms) the assessment and collection of taxes were trusted to elected officials (at least originally, since later on those positions were bought), and

2415-609: The gabelle or salt tax. Southern France was governed by written law adapted from the Roman legal system , but northern France used common law , codified in 1453 into a written form. The representative of the king in his provinces and cities was the gouverneur . Royal officers chosen from the highest nobility, provincial and city governors (oversight of provinces and cities was frequently combined) were predominantly military positions in charge of defense and policing. Provincial governors, also called lieutenants généraux , also had

SECTION 20

#1732775424940

2530-540: The Battle of Waterloo on 7 July 1815. The conservative elements of Europe dominated the post-Napoleonic age, but the values of the French Revolution could not be easily swept aside. Louis granted a constitution on 14 June 1814 to appease the liberals, but the ultra-royalist party, led by his brother, Charles, continued to influence his reign. When he died in 1824 his brother became king as Charles X much to

2645-700: The Dauphin of France upon the death of his father Louis , the son of Louis XV, in 1765. He married Marie Antoinette of Austria, a daughter of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa , in 1770. Louis intervened in the American Revolution against Britain in 1778, but he is most remembered for his role in the French Revolution . France was in financial turmoil and Louis was forced to convene the Estates-General on 5 May 1789. They formed

2760-695: The French Revolution , until their respective extinctions in 1830 and 1814. Consequently, since the extinction of the Capetian House of Courtenay in 1733, the Bourbons are the only extant legitimate branch of the House of Capet. Although illegitimate, the House of Braganza traces its line to the House of Capet via their descent from Robert II of France through the First House of Burgundy , then through

2875-576: The Gobelins ; and intervened in favor of Protestants in the duchies and earldoms along the German frontier. This last was to be the cause of his assassination. Henry's marriage to Margaret, which had produced no heir, was annulled in 1599 and he married Marie de' Medici , niece of the grand duke of Tuscany. A son, Louis, was born to them in 1601. Henry IV was assassinated on 14 May 1610 in Paris. Louis XIII

2990-468: The Habsburgs ' internal family conflict, and the territorial expansion of France in the 17th century all demanded great sums, which needed to be raised by taxes, such as the land tax ( taille ) and the tax on salt ( gabelle ), and by contributions of men and service from the nobility. One key to the centralization was the replacing of personal patronage systems, which had been organised around

3105-507: The House of Orléans , then ruled for 18 years (1830–1848), until it too was overthrown during the French Revolution of 1848 . The princes of Condé was a cadet branch of the Bourbons descended from an uncle of Henry IV , and the princes of Conti was a cadet line of the Condé branch. Both houses, recognized as princes of the blood , were prominent French noble families, well known for their participation in French affairs, even during exile in

3220-677: The July Monarchy , lasted until the Revolution of 1848 . The Bourbon monarchy in France ended on 24 February 1848, when Louis Philippe was forced to abdicate and the short-lived Second Republic was established. Some Legitimists refused to recognize the Orléanist monarchy. After the death of Charles in 1836 his son was proclaimed Louis XIX , though this title was never formally recognized. Charles' grandson Henri, Count of Chambord ,

3335-579: The July Ordinances on 26 July 1830 intended to silence criticism against him. This resulted in the July Revolution . As a compromise the crown was offered to Louis Philippe , duke of Orléans, a descendant of the brother of Louis XIV , and the head of the Orléanist cadet branch of the Bourbons. Agreeing to reign constitutionally and under the tricolour , he was proclaimed King of the French on 7 August 1830. The resulting regime, known as

3450-562: The Kingdom of Etruria 1802–1807 and Duchy of Lucca 1814–1847. Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg married Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma , and thus her successors, who have reigned in Luxembourg since her abdication in 1964, have also been members of the House of Bourbon. Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil , regent for her father, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil , married a cadet of the Orléans line and thus their descendants, known as

3565-533: The Kingdom of Navarra ; there were also foreign enclaves like the Comtat Venaissin . In addition, certain provinces within France were ostensibly the personal fiefs of noble families. Notably the Bourbonnais , Forez and Auvergne were held by the House of Bourbon until the provinces were forcibly integrated into the royal domain in 1527 after the fall of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon . From

Jean-Honoré de Trogoff de Kerlessy - Misplaced Pages Continue

3680-611: The National Assembly and forced Louis to accept a constitution that limited his powers on 14 July 1789. He tried to flee France in June 1791, but was captured. The French monarchy was abolished on 21 September 1792 and a republic was proclaimed. The chain of Bourbon monarchs begun in 1589 was broken. Louis XVI was executed on 21 January 1793. Marie Antoinette and her son, Louis, were held as prisoners. Many French royalists proclaimed him Louis XVII , but he never reigned. She

3795-546: The Orléans-Braganza , were in the line of succession to the Brazilian throne and expected to ascend its throne had the monarchy not been abolished by a coup in 1889 . All legitimate, living members of the House of Bourbon, including its cadet branches, are direct agnatic descendants of Henry IV through his son Louis XIII of France. The pre-Capetian House of Bourbon was a noble family, dating at least from

3910-538: The Portuguese House of Burgundy . Peter I of Portugal fathered an illegitimate son John I of Portugal , founder of the House of Aviz who in turn fathered an illegitimate son named Afonso , who in turn founded the extant House of Braganza . In 1700, at the death of King Charles II of Spain , the Spanish Habsburgs became extinct in the male line. Under the will of the childless Charles II,

4025-483: The Princes de Condé , survived until 1830. Finally, in 1589, the House of Valois died out and Antoine's son Henry III of Navarre became Henry IV of France. Family from India's claim to be a branch and their claim to The "Throne of France" As per the latest research carried out by Prince Michael of Greece and incorporated in his historical novel, Le Rajah Bourbon , Balthazar Napoleon IV de Bourbon from India

4140-794: The Rhine in September 1688 was designed to extend his influence and to pressure the Holy Roman Empire into accepting his territorial and dynastic claims, but Leopold I and the German princes resolved to resist, and the States General and William III brought the Dutch and the English into the war against France. Louis XIV faced a powerful coalition aimed at curtailing his ambitions. The main fighting took place around France's borders in

4255-548: The Spanish Habsburgs ' other European territories were largely ceded to Austria, and France was nearly bankrupted by the cost of the struggle. Louis died on 1 September 1715 ending his seventy-two-year reign, the longest in European history. The reign of Louis XIV was so long that he outlived both his son and eldest grandson. He was succeeded by his great-grandson Louis XV . Louis XV was born on 15 February 1710 and

4370-688: The Spanish Netherlands , the Rhineland , the Duchy of Savoy , and Catalonia . The fighting generally favoured Louis XIV's armies, but by 1696, France was in the grip of an economic crisis. The maritime powers (England and the Dutch Republic) were also financially exhausted, and when Savoy defected from the alliance, all of the parties were keen for a negotiated settlement. By the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick (1697), Louis XIV retained

4485-483: The Treaty of Vervins ended the war with Spain, adjusted the Spanish-French border, and resulted in a belated recognition by Spain of Henry as king of France. Ably assisted by Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully , Henry reduced the land tax known as the taille ; promoted agriculture, public works, construction of highways, and the first French canal; started such important industries as the tapestry works of

4600-708: The ancien régime in France evolved across years of state-building, legislative acts (like the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts ), and internal conflicts. The attempts of the Valois Dynasty to reform and re-establish control over the scattered political centres of the country were hindered by the Wars of Religion from 1562 to 1598. During the Bourbon Dynasty , much of the reigns of Henry IV ( r.  1589–1610 ) and Louis XIII ( r.  1610–1643 ) and

4715-553: The lordship of Bourbon and member of the House of Bourbon-Dampierre. Their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. His descendant, the Constable of France Charles de Bourbon , was the last of the senior Bourbon line when he died in 1527. Because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and lived in exile from France, his title was discontinued after his death. The remaining line of Bourbons henceforth descended from James I, Count of La Marche ,

Jean-Honoré de Trogoff de Kerlessy - Misplaced Pages Continue

4830-444: The 12th and the 13th centuries. A law in 1467 made these offices irrevocable except through the death, resignation or forfeiture of the title holder, and the offices, once bought, tended to become hereditary charges that were passed on within families with a fee for transfer of title. In an effort to increase revenue, the state often turned to the creation of new offices. Before it was made illegal in 1521, it had been possible to leave

4945-585: The Bourbon duke with Etruria , a new kingdom he created from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany . It was short-lived, counting only two monarchs, Louis and Louis II , as Napoleon annexed Etruria in 1807. King Charles IV of Spain had been an ally of France. He succeeded his father, Charles III , in 1788. At first he declared war on France on 7 March 1793, but he made peace on 22 June 1795. This peace became an alliance on 19 August 1796. His chief minister, Manuel de Godoy convinced Charles that his son, Ferdinand ,

5060-551: The Dutchman Piet Hein . English mariners nevertheless seriously pursued the opportunities for privateering and trade in Spain's colonies. As he neared his death, Charles II bequeathed his throne to the Bourbon candidate, the future Philip V of Spain. Philip's grandfather, Louis XIV, eagerly endorsed the choice and made unilateral aggressive moves to safeguard the viability of his family's new possessions, such as moving

5175-543: The French army into the Spanish Netherlands and securing exclusive trading rights for the French in Spanish America . However, a coalition of enemies opposed to that rapid expansion of French power quickly formed, and a major European war broke out from 1701 to 1714. To France's enemies, the notion of France gaining enormous strength by taking over Spain and all its European and overseas possessions

5290-492: The French line, the Glorieux found itself fired on by six British ships of the line in rapid succession and her commander was soon killed. de Kerlessy then took over command, though the ship was now disabled. He then fought on for more than six hours, losing most of his crew killed and wounded before finally striking his flag and surrendering. He was taken prisoner but freed in 1783. His heroic defense resulted in his acquittal at

5405-470: The French nobility struggled to maintain their influence in local judiciary and state branches while the Fronde and other major internal conflicts violently contested additional centralization. The drive for centralization related directly to questions of royal finances and the ability to wage war. The internal conflicts and dynastic crises of the 16th and the 17th centuries between Catholics and Protestants,

5520-464: The French throne. Spain lost its European holdings outside the homeland itself. The former members of the alliance also profited from the war. The Dutch maintained their independence in the face of French aggression. The Habsburgs picked up territory north of Austria and in Italy, including the Spanish Netherlands and Naples. However, the greatest beneficiary of the war was Great Britain , since in addition to extensive extra-European territorial gains at

5635-439: The House of Bourbon. The royal Bourbons originated in 1272, when Robert , the youngest son of King Louis IX of France , married the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon . The house continued for three centuries as a cadet branch , serving as nobles under the direct Capetian and Valois kings. The senior line of the House of Bourbon became extinct in the male line in 1527 with the death of Duke Charles III of Bourbon . This made

5750-584: The Polish crown, but he was given the Duchy of Lorraine as compensation, which would pass to France after his death in 1766. Next came the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740 in which France supported King Frederick II of Prussia against Maria Theresa , Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary . Fleury died in 1743 before the conclusion of the war. Shortly after Fleury's death in 1745 Louis

5865-700: The Spanish throne separate from those of Naples , Sicily and Parma . The Spanish House of Bourbon (rendered in Spanish as Borbón [boɾˈβon] ) has been overthrown and restored several times, reigning 1700–1808, 1813–1868, 1875–1931, and since 1975. Bourbons ruled in Naples from 1734 to 1806 and in Sicily from 1735 to 1816, and in a unified Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1816 to 1861. They also ruled in Parma from 1731 to 1735, 1748–1802 and 1847–1859,

SECTION 50

#1732775424940

5980-424: The ability to convoke provincial parlements , provincial estates and municipal bodies. The title gouverneur first appeared under Charles VI . The Ordinance of Blois in 1579 reduced their number to 12, and an ordinance of 1779 increased their number to 39 (18 first-class governors and 21 second-class governors). Although in principle, they were the king's representatives, and their charges could be revoked at

6095-694: The abolition of slavery. He was made a contre-amiral on 1 January 1793 and commander in chief of France's Atlantic forces on 25 May 1793. He returned to the Mediterranean and in August 1793 handed Toulon and its fleet over to the British. One of his adjutants, Saint-Julien , refused to surrender and defected to the Republican forces with 300 sailors. Trogoff was made an outlaw by the Republican government on 9 September that year and on 18 December boarded

6210-409: The assessment of the tax was established by local councils and the tax was generally " real " and so was attached to non-noble lands (nobles with such lands were required to pay taxes on them). Pays d'imposition were recently conquered lands that had their own local historical institutions (they were similar to the pays d'état under which they are sometimes grouped), but taxation was overseen by

6325-566: The austere latter years of Louis XIV's reign. Following Orléans' death in 1723, the Duke of Bourbon , representative of the Bourbon-Condé cadet line, became prime minister. It was expected that Louis would marry his cousin, the daughter of King Philip V of Spain, but this engagement was broken by the duke in 1725 so that Louis could marry Marie Leszczyńska , the daughter of Stanislas , former king of Poland. Bourbon's motive appears to have been

6440-452: The beginning of the 13th century, when the estate of Bourbon was ruled by the Sire de Bourbon who was a vassal of the King of France . The term House of Bourbon ("Maison de Bourbon") is sometimes used to refer to this first house and the House of Bourbon-Dampierre , the second family to rule the seigneury . In 1272, Robert, Count of Clermont , sixth and youngest son of King Louis IX of France , married Beatrix of Bourbon , heiress to

6555-496: The blood royal were Bourbons; all remaining members of the House of Valois were members of the king's immediate family. In 1514, Charles, Count of Vendôme had his title raised to Duke of Vendôme . His son Antoine became King of Navarre , on the northern side of the Pyrenees , by marriage in 1555. Two of Antoine's younger brothers were Cardinal Archbishop Charles de Bourbon and the French and Huguenot general Louis de Bourbon, 1st Prince of Condé . Louis' male-line descendants,

6670-456: The church benefited from a mandatory tax or tithe , the dîme . Louis XIV created several additional tax systems, including the capitation , which began in 1695 and touched every person, including nobles and the clergy although exemption could be bought for a large one-time sum and the "dixième" (1710–1717, restarted in 1733), which enacted to support the military and was a true tax on income and on property value. In 1749, under Louis XV ,

6785-446: The civil war continued. Henry won a crucial victory at Ivry on 14 March 1590 and, following the death of the Cardinal the same year, the forces of the League lacked an obvious Catholic candidate for the throne and divided into various factions. Nevertheless, as a Protestant, Henry IV was unable to take Paris, a Catholic stronghold, or to decisively defeat his enemies, now supported by the Spanish. He reconverted to Catholicism in 1593 and

6900-423: The court martial for the loss of his vessel. He was promoted to capitaine de vaisseau in 1784 and given the cross of the order of Saint-Louis. Trogoff's great knowledge of the Antilles led to his holding several commands on Saint-Domingue , including the Active in 1786, then the Duguay-Trouin in 1791. The latter carried several soldiers to the island to reinforce French control after riots and protests against

7015-408: The date that the transfer of title was to take effect open-ended. In 1534, a rule adapted from church practice made the successor's right void if the preceding office holder died within forty days of the transfer, and the office returned to the state. However, a new fee, the survivance jouissante protected against that rule. In 1604, Sully created a new tax, the paulette or "annual tax" of

SECTION 60

#1732775424940

7130-436: The dismay of French liberals. In a saying ascribed to Talleyrand , "they had learned nothing and forgotten nothing." Charles passed several laws that appealed to the upper class, but angered the middle class. The situation came to a head when he appointed a new minister on 8 August 1829 who did not have the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies . The chamber censured the king on 18 March 1830 and in response Charles proclaimed

7245-418: The double board, which was accused of poor oversight, made numerous administrative reforms, including the restructuring of the financial administration and increasing the number of généralités . In 1542, France was divided into 16 généralités . The number increased to 21 at the end of the 16th century and to 36 at the time of the French Revolution; the last two were created in 1784. The administration of

7360-432: The early years of Louis XIV ( r.  1643–1715 ) focused on administrative centralization. Despite the notion of " absolute monarchy " (typified by the king's right to issue orders through lettres de cachet ) and efforts to create a centralized state, ancien régime France remained a country of systemic irregularities: administrative, legal, judicial, and ecclesiastic divisions and prerogatives frequently overlapped,

7475-445: The eve of the French Revolution . Marie arranged the 1615 marriage of Louis to Anne of Austria , the daughter of King Philip III of Spain . In 1617, however, Louis conspired with Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes to dispense with her influence, having her favorite Concino Concini assassinated on 26 April of that year. After some years of weak government by Louis's favorites, the King made Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu ,

7590-566: The expense of Spain and France, it established further checks to French expansion within the continent by moderately strengthening its European allies. The quarter-century after the Treaty of Utrecht was peaceful, with no major wars. The main powers exhausted themselves in warfare, and suffered many deaths, disabled veterans, ruined navies, high pension costs, heavy loans and high taxes. In 1683, indirect taxes had brought in 118,000,000 livres, but by 1714, these revenues had plunged to only 46,000,000 livres. Louis XIV, with his eagerness for warfare,

7705-452: The four Généraux des finances (also called général conseiller or receveur général ) oversaw the collection of taxes ( taille , aides , etc.) by tax-collecting agents ( receveurs ) and the four Trésoriers de France (Treasurers) oversaw revenues from royal lands (the " domaine royal "). Together, they were the Messieurs des finances . The four members of each board were divided by geographical districts (although

7820-419: The grandson of the powerful Louis XIV. That was a confrontation between two different styles of ancien régime : the French and Spanish style versus the Habsburg style. Spain's silver and its inability to protect its assets made it a highly-visible target for ambitious Europeans. For generations, Englishmen contemplated capturing the Spanish treasure fleet, a feat that had been accomplished only once: in 1628 by

7935-586: The great banking families in Europe) and public. The most important public source for borrowing was through the system of rentes sur l'Hôtel de Ville of Paris, a kind of government bond system offering investors annual interest. The system first came to use in 1522 under Francis I. House of Bourbon House of Orléans House of Condé (extinct) House of Bourbon-Bhopal (disputed) Illegitimate branches The House of Bourbon ( English: / ˈ b ʊər b ən / , also UK : / ˈ b ɔːr b ɒ n / ; French: [buʁbɔ̃] )

8050-407: The ground for the absolute monarchy that would last in France until the Revolution. He wanted to establish a dominating position for France in Europe, and he wanted to unify France under the monarchy. He established the role of intendants , non-noble men whose arbitrary powers of administration were granted (and revocable) by the monarch, superseding many of the traditional duties and privileges of

8165-418: The husband of Napoleon's sister. This was very unpopular in Spain and resulted in the Peninsular War , a struggle that would contribute to the downfall of Napoleon. With the abdication of Napoleon on 11 April 1814 the Bourbon dynasty was restored to the Kingdom of France in the person of Louis XVIII , brother of Louis XVI. Napoleon escaped from exile and Louis fled in March 1815. Louis was again restored after

8280-567: The inauguration of the First French Republic ) and was originally pejorative. Simon Schama has observed that "virtually as soon as the term was coined, 'old regime' was automatically freighted with associations of both traditionalism and senescence. It conjured up a society so encrusted with anachronisms that only a shock of great violence could free the living organism within. Institutionally torpid, economically immobile, culturally atrophied and socially stratified, this 'old regime'

8395-748: The inheritance of the Spanish Empire would soon embroil Louis XIV and the Grand Alliance in a final war: the War of the Spanish Succession . Spain had a number of major assets apart from its homeland. It controlled important territory in Europe and the New World. Spain's American colonies produced enormous quantities of silver, brought to Spain every few years in convoys. Spain also had many weaknesses. Its domestic economy had little business, industry or advanced craftsmanship and

8510-550: The junior Bourbon-Vendôme branch the genealogically senior branch of the House of Bourbon. In 1589, at the death of Henry III of France , the House of Valois became extinct in the male line. Under the Salic law , the head of the House of Bourbon, as the senior representative of the senior-surviving branch of the Capetian dynasty ( first prince of the blood ), became King of France as Henry IV . Bourbon monarchs then united to France

8625-423: The king and other nobles, by institutional systems that were constructed around the state. The appointments of intendants , representatives of royal power in the provinces, greatly undermined the local control by regional nobles. The same was true of the greater reliance that was shown by the royal court on the noblesse de robe as judges and royal counselors. The creation of regional parlements had

8740-418: The king's will, some governors had installed themselves and their heirs as a provincial dynasty. The governors reached the height of their power from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century. Their role in provincial unrest during the civil wars led Cardinal Richelieu to create the more tractable positions of intendants of finance, policing and justice, and in the 18th century, the role of provincial governors

8855-725: The late 15th century to the late 17th century and again in the 1760s, French territory greatly expanded and it attempted to better integrate its provinces into an administrative whole. Despite centralization efforts of the kings, France remained a patchwork of local privileges and historical differences. The arbitrary power of the absolute monarchy was much limited by historic and regional particularities. Administrative (including taxation), legal ( parlement ), judicial and ecclesiastic divisions and prerogatives frequently overlapped (for example, French bishoprics and dioceses rarely coincided with administrative divisions). Certain provinces and cities had won special privileges, such as lower rates for

8970-495: The late 17th century, tax collectors were called receveurs . In 1680, the system of the Ferme générale was established, a franchised customs and excise operation in which individuals bought the right to collect the taille on behalf of the king, through six-year adjudications (certain taxes like the aides and the gabelle had been farmed out in this way as early as 1604). The major tax collectors in that system were known as

9085-545: The marriage of her daughter, Margaret of Valois , to Henry, ostensibly to advance peace between Catholics and Huguenots. Many Huguenots gathered in Paris for the wedding on 24 August, but were ambushed and slaughtered by Catholics in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre . Henry saved his own life by converting to Catholicism. He repudiated his conversion in 1576 and resumed his leadership of the Huguenots. The period from 1576 to 1584

9200-611: The money, and the treasury was always short. The banking system in Paris was undeveloped, and the treasury was forced to borrow at very high interest rates. London's financial system proved strikingly competent in funding not only the British Army but also those of its allies. Queen Anne was dead, and her successor, King George I, was a Hanoverian who moved his court to London but never became fluent in English and surrounded himself with German advisors. They spent much of their time and most of their attention on Hanoverian affairs. He too

9315-628: The most important to dynastic Europe. In 1700, King Charles II of Spain , a Habsburg, died without a son. Louis's only legitimate son, the Grand Dauphin , as the late king's nephew, was the closest heir; and Charles willed the kingdom to the Dauphin's second son, the Duke of Anjou. Other powers, particularly the Austrian Habsburgs , who had the next closest claims, objected to such a vast increase in French power. Initially, most of

9430-532: The most powerful king in French history. His mother Anne served as his regent with her favorite Jules, Cardinal Mazarin, as chief minister. When Louis was age 7, Nicolas de Neufville de Villeroy became governor of the young king. The main childhood places of Louis XIV were the Palais-Royal and the nearby Hôtel de Villeroy . Mazarin continued the policies of Richelieu, bringing the Thirty Years' War to

9545-531: The next year Trogoff was promoted lieutenant de vaisseau. After fighting under d'Estaing , he was made second in command of the 74-gun Glorieux , which became part of the comte de Grasse 's squadron in March 1781, which in September 1781 defeated the British at Chesapeake . However, de Kerlessy was then also present at the squadron's defeat at the Saintes on 12 April 1782. When the British commander Rodney cut

9660-521: The noble governors. Although it required a succession of internal military campaigns, he disarmed the fortified Huguenot towns that Henry had allowed. He involved France in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) against the Habsburgs by concluding an alliance with Sweden in 1631 and, actively, in 1635. He died in 1642 before the conclusion of that conflict, having groomed Cardinal Jules Mazarin as

9775-538: The other powers were willing to accept Anjou's reign as Philip V , but Louis's mishandling of their concerns soon drove the English , Dutch and other powers to join the Austrians in a coalition against France. The War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701 and raged for 12 years. In the end Louis's grandson was recognized as king of Spain, but he was obliged to agree to the forfeiture of succession rights in France,

9890-535: The part of the Kingdom of Navarre north of the Pyrenees , which Henry's father had acquired by marriage in 1555, ruling both until the 1792 overthrow of the monarchy during the French Revolution . Restored briefly in 1814, and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire , the senior line of the Bourbons was finally overthrown in the July Revolution of 1830. A cadet Bourbon branch,

10005-1875: The revolution, there were 36 généralités , the last two being created in 1784. 1. Généralité of Bordeaux , ( Agen , Guyenne ) 2. Généralité of Provence , or Aix-en-Provence ( Provence ) 3. Généralité of Amiens ( Picardy ) 4. Généralité of Bourges ( Berry ) 5. Généralité of Caen ( Normandy ) 6. Généralité of Châlons ( Champagne ) 7. Généralité of Burgundy , Dijon (Burgundy) 8. Généralité of Grenoble ( Dauphiné ) 9. Généralité of Issoire , later of Riom ( Auvergne ) 10. Généralité of Lyon ( Lyonnais , Beaujolais and Forez ) 11. Généralité of Montpellier ( Languedoc ) 12. Généralité of Paris ( Île-de-France ) 13. Généralité of Poitiers ( Poitou ) 14. Généralité of Rouen ( Normandy ) 15. Généralité of Toulouse ( Languedoc ) 16. Généralité of Tours ( Touraine , Maine and Anjou ) 17. Généralité of Metz ( Trois-Évêchés ) 18. Généralité of Nantes ( Brittany ) 19. Généralité of Limoges (divided in two parts: Angoumois & Limousin – Marche ) 20. Généralité of Orléans ( Orléanais ) 21. Généralité of Moulins ( Bourbonnais ) 22. Généralité of Soissons ( Picardy ) 23. Généralité of Montauban ( Gascony ) 24. Généralité of Alençon ( Perche ) 25. Généralité of Perpignan ( Roussillon ) 26. Généralité of Besançon ( Franche-Comté ) 27. Généralité of Valenciennes ( Hainaut ) 28. Généralité of Strasbourg ( Alsace ) 29. (see 18) 30. Généralité of Lille ( Flanders ) 31. Généralité of La Rochelle ( Aunis and Saintonge ) 32. Généralité of Nancy ( Lorraine ) 33. Généralité of Trévoux ( Dombes ) 34. Généralité of Corsica , or Bastia ( Corsica ) 35. Généralité of Auch ( Gascony ) 36. Généralité of Bayonne ( Labourd ) 37. Généralité of Pau ( Béarn and Soule ) The desire for more efficient tax collection

10120-416: The royal intendant . Taxation districts had gone through a variety of mutations since the 14th century. Before the 14th century, oversight of the collection of royal taxes had fallen generally to the baillis and sénéchaux in their circumscriptions. Reforms in the 14th and the 15th centuries saw France's royal financial administration run by two financial boards, which worked in a collegial manner:

10235-501: The same initial goal of facilitating the introduction of royal power into the newly assimilated territories, but as the parlements gained in self-assurance, they started to become sources of disunity. By the end of 1789 the term Ancien Régime was commonly used in France by journalists and legislators to refer to the institutions of French life before the Revolution. It first appeared in print in English in 1794 (two years after

10350-449: The second grandson of King Louis XIV of France was named as his successor, to preclude the union of the thrones of France and Spain. The prince, then Duke of Anjou, became Philip V of Spain . Permanent separation of the French and Spanish thrones was secured when France and Spain ratified Philip's renunciation , for himself and his descendants, of the French throne in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and similar arrangements later kept

10465-463: The system, new divisions were created. The recettes générales , commonly known as généralités , were initially only taxation districts (see "state finances" below). The first 16 were created in 1542 by edict of Henry II . Their role steadily increased, and by the mid-17th century, the généralités were under the authority of an intendant and were a vehicle for the expansion of royal power in matters of justice, taxation and policing. By

10580-477: The tax was generally "personal" and so was attached to non-noble individuals. In the pays d'état ("provinces with provincial estates"), Brittany , Languedoc , Burgundy , Auvergne , Béarn , Dauphiné , Provence and portions of Gascony , such as Bigorre , Comminges and the Quatre-Vallées , recently acquired provinces that had been able to maintain a certain local autonomy in terms of taxation,

10695-470: The term généralité appears only in the late 15th century). The areas were named Languedoïl, Languedoc, Outre-Seine-and-Yonne, and Nomandy (the last was created in 1449, the other three earlier), with the directors of the "Languedoïl" region typically having an honorific preeminence. By 1484, the number of généralités had increased to six. In the 16th century, the kings of France, in an effort to exert more direct control over royal finances and to circumvent

10810-492: The ultra-Catholic leader, Henry of Guise , fought a confusing three-cornered struggle for dominance. After Henry III was assassinated on 31 July 1589, Navarre claimed the throne as the first Bourbon king of France, Henry IV. Much of Catholic France, organized into the Catholic League , refused to recognize a Protestant monarch and instead recognized Henry IV's uncle, Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon , as rightful king, and

10925-466: The whole of Alsace , but was forced to return Lorraine to its ruler and to give up any gains on the right bank of the Rhine. Also, Louis XIV accepted William III as the rightful King of England, and the Dutch acquired their barrier fortress system in the Spanish Netherlands to help secure their own borders. However, with the ailing and childless Charles II of Spain approaching his end, a new conflict over

11040-484: The young king's tutor, in 1726. Fleury was a peace-loving man who intended to keep France out of war, but circumstances presented themselves that made this impossible. The first cause of these wars came in 1733 when Augustus II , the elector of Saxony and king of Poland died. With French support, Stanislas was again elected king. This brought France into conflict with Russia and Austria who supported Augustus III , Elector of Saxony and son of Augustus II. Stanislas lost

11155-503: The younger son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon . With the death of his grandson James II, Count of La Marche in 1438, the senior line of the Count of La Marche became extinct. All future Bourbons would descend from James II's younger brother, Louis , who became the Count of Vendôme through his mother's inheritance. In 1525, at the death of Charles IV, Duke of Alençon , all of the princes of

11270-574: Was anathema. Furthermore, the prospect of capturing Spanish territories in the New World proved very attractive. France's enemies formed a Grand Alliance, led by the Holy Roman Empire's Leopold I , which included Prussia and most of the other German states, the Dutch Republic, Portugal , Savoy (in Italy ) and England . The opposing alliance was primarily France and Spain but also included

11385-520: Was crowned king retroactively to 1589 at the Cathedral of Chartres on 27 February 1594. Henry granted the Edict of Nantes on 13 April 1598, establishing Catholicism as an official state religion but also granting the Huguenots a measure of religious tolerance and political freedom short of full equality with the practice of Catholicism. This compromise ended the religious wars in France. That same year

11500-515: Was executed on 16 October 1793. He died of tuberculosis on 8 June 1795 at the age of ten while in captivity. The French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars spread nationalism and anti-absolutism throughout Europe, and the other Bourbon monarchs were threatened. Ferdinand IV was forced to flee from Naples in 1806 when Napoleon Bonaparte deposed him and installed his brother, Joseph , as king. Ferdinand continued to rule from Sicily until 1815. Napoleon conquered Parma in 1800 and compensated

11615-407: Was gone and replaced by a small sickly child, the last Bourbon survivor. This death had the potential to throw France into another round of warfare. Louis XV lived until the 1770s. France's main foreign policy decisionmaker was Cardinal Fleury , who recognised that France's need to rebuild and so pursued a peaceful policy. France had a poorly-designed taxation system in which tax farmers kept much of

11730-1592: Was greatly curtailed. 1. Île-de-France ( Paris ) 2. Berry ( Bourges ) 3. Orléanais ( Orléans ) 4. Normandy ( Rouen ) 5. Languedoc ( Toulouse ) 6. Lyonnais ( Lyon ) 7. Dauphiné ( Grenoble ) 8. Champagne ( Troyes ) 9. Aunis ( La Rochelle ) 10. Saintonge ( Saintes ) 11. Poitou ( Poitiers ) 12. Guyenne and Gascony ( Bordeaux ) 13. Burgundy ( Dijon ) 14. Picardy ( Amiens ) 15. Anjou ( Angers ) 16. Provence ( Aix-en-Provence ) 17. Angoumois ( Angoulême ) 18. Bourbonnais ( Moulins ) 19. Marche ( Guéret ) 20. Brittany ( Rennes , parlement briefly at Nantes ) 21. Maine ( Le Mans ) 22. Touraine ( Tours ) 23. Limousin ( Limoges ) 24. Foix ( Foix ) 25. Auvergne ( Clermont-Ferrand ) 26. Béarn ( Pau ) 27. Alsace ( Strasbourg , cons. souv. in Colmar ) 28. Artois (cons provinc. in Arras ) 29. Roussillon (cons. souv. in Perpignan ) 30. Flanders and Hainaut ( Lille , parliament first in Tournai , then in Douai ) 31. Franche-Comté ( Besançon , formerly at Dole ) 32. Lorraine ( Nancy ) 33. Corsica (off map, Ajaccio , cons. souv. in Bastia ) 34. Nivernais ( Nevers ) 35. Comtat Venaissin ( Avignon ),

11845-428: Was in very poor physical and mental health. As King Charles II had no children, the question of who would succeed to the Spanish throne unleashed a major war. The Vienna-based Habsburg family, to which Charles II belonged, proposed its own candidate for the throne. However, the Bourbons, the ruling family of France, instinctively opposed expansions of Habsburg power within Europe and had their own candidate : Philip ,

11960-607: Was incapable of self-modernization". The Nine Years' War (1688–97), between France and a coalition of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic, Spain, England and Savoy, was fought in continental Europe and on the surrounding seas, and in Ireland, North America and India. It was the first truly global war . Louis XIV emerged from the Franco-Dutch War in 1678 as the most powerful monarch in Europe and an absolute ruler with numerous military victories. Using

12075-515: Was influenced by his mistress the Marquise de Pompadour to reverse the policy of France in 1756 by creating an alliance with Austria against Prussia in the Seven Years' War . The war was a disaster for France, which lost most of her overseas possessions to the British in the Treaty of Paris (1763) . Maria, his wife, died in 1768 and Louis himself died on 10 May 1774. Louis XVI had become

12190-536: Was killed in 1562, he became Duke of Vendôme at the age of 10, with Admiral Gaspard de Coligny (1519–1572) as his regent. Seven years later, the young duke became the nominal leader of the Huguenots after the death of his uncle the Prince de Condé in 1569. Henry succeeded to Navarre as Henry III when his mother died in 1572. That same year Catherine de' Medici , mother of King Charles IX of France , arranged for

12305-442: Was one of the major causes for French administrative and royal centralisation during the early modern period. The taille became a major source of royal income. Exempted were clergy and nobles (except for non-noble lands held in pays d'état , see below), officers of the crown, military personnel, magistrates, university professors and students, and certain cities ( villes franches ) such as Paris. The provinces were of three sorts,

12420-486: Was only nine years old when he succeeded his father. He was to prove a weak ruler; his reign was effectively a series of distinct regimes, depending who held the effective reins of power. At first, Marie de' Medici, his mother, served as regent and advanced a pro-Spanish policy. To deal with the financial troubles of France, Louis summoned the Estates General in 1614; this would be the last time that body met until

12535-473: Was plotting to overthrow him. Napoleon exploited the situation and invaded Spain in March 1808. This led to an uprising that forced Charles to abdicate on 19 March 1808 in favor of his son, who became Ferdinand VII. Napoleon forced Ferdinand to return the crown to Charles on 30 April and then convinced Charles to relinquish it to him on 10 May 1808. In turn, he gave it to his brother, Joseph, king of Naples on 6 June 1808. Joseph abandoned Naples to Joachim Murat ,

12650-422: Was poor. Spain had to import practically all of its weapons and its large army was poorly trained and poorly equipped. Spain had a small navy since seamanship was a low priority for the elites. Local and regional governments and the local nobility, controlled most of the decisionmaking. The central government was quite weak, with a mediocre bureaucracy, and few able leaders. King Charles II reigned 1665 to 1700, but

12765-464: Was relatively calm in France, with the Huguenots consolidating control of much of the south with only occasional interference from the royal government. Extended civil war erupted again in 1584, when François, Duke of Anjou , younger brother of King Henry III of France , died, leaving Navarre next in line for the throne. Thus began the War of the Three Henrys , as Henry of Navarre, Henry III, and

12880-471: Was smaller than it is today, and numerous border provinces (such as Roussillon , Cerdagne , Conflent , Vallespir , Capcir , Calais , Béarn , Navarre , County of Foix , Flanders , Artois , Lorraine , Alsace , Trois-Évêchés , Franche-Comté , Savoy , Bresse , Bugey , Gex , Nice , Provence , Dauphiné and Brittany ) were autonomous or belonged to the Holy Roman Empire , the Crown of Aragon or

12995-401: Was the political and social system of the Kingdom of France that the French Revolution overturned through its abolition in 1790 of the feudal system of the French nobility and in 1792 through its execution of the king and declaration of a republic . "Ancien régime" is now a common metaphor for "a system or mode no longer prevailing". The administrative and social structures of

13110-513: Was threatened by an unstable throne, since the Stuart pretenders, long supported by Louis XIV, threatened repeatedly to invade through Ireland or Scotland and had significant internal support from the Tory faction. However, Sir Robert Walpole was the dominant decision-maker from 1722 to 1740, in a role that would later be called prime minister. Walpole strongly rejected militaristic options and promoted

13225-463: Was thus aged only five at his ascension, the third Louis in a row to become king of France before the age of thirteen (Louis XIII became king at 9, Louis XIV at almost 5 and himself at 5). Initially, the regency was held by Philippe, Duke of Orléans , Louis XIV's nephew, as nearest adult male to the throne. This Régence was seen as a period of greater individual expression, manifested in secular, artistic, literary and colonial activity, in contrast to

#939060