Lessons from France under Louis XIV and XV
Louis XIV ruled from 1643 to 1715. He had great physical endurance for long hours of work and entertainment. He came to power when the country was going through economic hard times. Bad weather and wars damaged agricultural production leading to food shortages and financial difficulties. At the same time all French classes made demands: Peasants demanded rights, nobility demanded more power and the monarch demanded that the peasants and nobles fall in line. This jockeying created conditions for the emergence of absolute rulers.
Absolutism represented a form of government in which rulers exercised absolute power over their subjects: controlling government, religious, judiciary and military institutions as well as economic policy and culture. To achieve this goal, the ruler tried to eliminate all competition in the kingdom.