A Political and Social History of Modern Europe V.1.

by Carlton J. H. Hayes

ADDITIONAL READING

HENRY IV, RICHELIEU, AND MAZARIN. Brief general accounts: H. O. Wakeman, The Ascendancy of France, 1598-1715 (1894), ch. i-vii; Mary A. Hollings, Renaissance and Reformation, 1453-1660 (1910), ch. xi, xii; J. H. Sacret, Bourbon and Vasa, 1610-1715 (1914), ch. i-vii; A. J. Grant, The French Monarchy, 1483-1789, Vol. I (1900), ch. vi-ix; G. W. Kitchin, A History of France, 3d and 4th editions (1894-1899), Vol. II, Book IV, ch. i-iii, Vol. III, Book IV, ch. iv-viii; H. T. Dyer, A History of Modern Europe from the Fall of Constantinople, 3d ed. rev. by Arthur Hassall (1901), ch. xxix-xxxv; Victor Duruy, History of Modern Times, trans. and rev. by E. A. Grosvenor (1894), ch. xvii, xviii, xx; Cambridge Modern History, Vol. II, ch. xx (by Stanley Leathes, on Henry IV), Vol. IV, ch. iv (on Richelieu), xxi (on Mazarin); Histoire générale, Vol. V, ch. vi-viii, Vol. VI, ch. i. More detailed works: Histoire de France, ed. by Ernest Lavisse, Vol. VI, Part I (1904), Livre IV (on Henry IV), Vol. VI, Part II (1905), Livres I-III (on Henry IV and Richelieu, by J. H. Mariéjol), Vol. VII, Part I (1906), Livre I (on Mazarin, by E. Lavisse); P. F. Willert, Henry of Navarre (1897), in "Heroes of the Nations" Series; C. C. Jackson, The First of the Bourbons, 2 vols. (1890); J. B. Perkins, Richelieu and the Growth of French Power (1900), in the "Heroes of the Nations" Series, and, by the same author, an admirable writer and authority on the whole period, France under Mazarin, 2 vols. (1886); Georges (Vicomte) d'Avenel, Richelieu et la monarchie absolue, 4 vols. (1884-1890), the foremost French work on the subject; Gabriel Hanotaux, Origines de l'institution des intendants de provinces (1884), a careful study of the beginnings of the office of intendant by a famous French statesman and historian; P. A. Chéruel, Histoire de France pendant la minorité de Louis XIV, 4 vols. (1879-1880), and, by the same author, Histoire de France sous le ministère de Mazarin, 1651-1661, 3 vols. (1882), a very elaborate treatment of Mazarin's public career in France; Louis Batiffol, The Century of the Renaissance in France, Eng. trans. by Elsie F. Buckley (1916), containing an excellent chapter on the French monarchy at the close of the sixteenth century.

THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. General treatments: E. F. Henderson, A Short History of Germany, Vol. I (1902), ch. xvii, xviii, a good, short introduction; S. R. Gardiner, The Thirty Years' War (1897), in the "Epochs of Modern History" Series, the best brief survey; History of All Nations, Vol. XII, ch. iv-viii, by Martin Philippson, a well-known German historian; Cambridge Modern History, Vol. IV (1906), ch. i, iii, v-vii, xiii, xiv, xx, xxii; Histoire générale, Vol. V, ch. xii; Anton Gindely, The Thirty Years' War, trans. from the German by Andrew Ten Brook, 2 vols. (1884), a popular treatment by a recognized authority in this field, breaking off, unfortunately, in the year 1623; Gustav Droysen, Das Zeitalter des dreissigjährigen Krieges (1888) and Georg Winter, Geschichte des dreissigjährigen Krieges (1893), two bulky volumes in the Oncken Series devoted respectively to the political and military aspects of the war; Émile Charvériat, Histoire de la guerre de trente ans, 2 vols. (1878), a reliable French account of the whole struggle. On the history of the Germanies from the religious peace of Augsburg to the peace of Westphalia there is the painstaking Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Gegenreformation und des dreissigjährigen Krieges, 1555-1648, by Moritz Ritter, 3 vols. (1889-1908). For the history of Austria during the period, see Franz Kroncs, Handbuch der Geschichte Oesterreichs von der ältesten Zeit, Vol. III (1877), Books XIV-XV. For the Netherlands, with special reference to Spain's part in the war: Henri Pirenne, Histoire de Belgique, Vol. IV, 1567-1648 (1911). For Bohemia: Ernest Denis, Fin de l'indépendance bohême, Vol. II (1890), and, by the same author, La Bohême depuis la Montagne-Blanche, Vol. I (1903). For Denmark and Sweden: R. N. Bain, Scandinavia, a Political History of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, from 1513 to 1900 (1905). There is a convenient biography of Gustavus Adolphus by C. R. L. Fletcher in the "Heroes of the Nations" Series (1890), and a more detailed study in German by Gustav Droysen, 2 vols. (1869-1870). On Wallenstein there are two standard German works: Leopold von Ranke, Geschichte Wallensteins, 3d ed. (1872), and Anton Gindely, Waldstein, 1625-1630, 2 vols. (1886). The best brief treatment of European international relations in the time of Richelieu and Mazarin is Emile Bourgeois, Manuel historique de politique étrangère, 4th ed., Vol. I (1906), ch. i, ii, vi. For a brief treatment of the development of international law during the period, see D. J. Hill, History of Diplomacy in the International Development of Europe, Vol. II (1906), ch. vii. The treaties of Westphalia are in the famous old compilation of Jean Dumont, Corps universel diplomatique du droit des gens, 8 vols. (1726-1731).

CHAPTER VII

THE GROWTH OF ABSOLUTISM IN FRANCE AND THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN BOURBONS AND HABSBURGS, 1661-1743

THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV

Upon the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, the young king Louis XIV declared that he would assume personal charge of the domestic and foreign affairs of the French monarchy. From that date, throughout a long reign, Louis was in fact as well as in name ruler of the nation, and his rule, like that of Napoleon, stands out as a distinct epoch in French history.

[Sidenote: Louis XIV the Heir to Absolutist Tendencies]

Louis XIV profited by the earlier work of Henry IV, Sully, Richelieu, and Mazarin. He inherited a fairly compact state, the population of which was patriotic and loyal to the crown. Insurrections of Protestants or rebellions of the nobles were now things of the past. The Estates-General, the ancient form of representative government, had fallen into disuse and oblivion. Local administration was conducted by faithful middle-class officials, the intendants; and all powers of taxation, war, public improvements, police, and justice were centered in the hands of the king. Abroad, the rival Habsburgs had been humbled and French boundaries had been extended and French prestige heightened. Everything was in readiness for a great king to practice absolutism on a scale never before realized.

[Sidenote: Absolutism. Monarchy by Divine Right]