Semester II - Week of 03/02

How might Versailles have functioned not only as a theatre of power but also a prison for the powerful?

AP Application - https://docs.google.com/a/cps.edu/forms/d/1OLBOgiQXQE5BD2mLIk0dxGA6EN0olnIzR3rbTmBGqR4/viewform

Listen to the song below - Absolutely Absolute and Absolutism

Now create your own song based on absolutism - yes, you will perform this song to the class - use the questions below to help you create your song.

1. To what extent were the Wars of Religion in France the result of an already ineffective and decentralized monarchy? What was the actual role played by religious differences within French society?

2. What effect did the Thirty Years' War have upon the reign of Louis XIII and his advisor, Richelieu? What effect did the decisions made by this administration have upon the future of the French state?

3. What steps did Louis XIV take to create a more efficient and centralized state? In what ways did he succeed in both increasing the authority of the crown and also in assuring its eventual overthrow in the French Revolution?

4. To what extent did religion dictate the alliances and policies of seventeenth-century Europe?

5. Is there a difference between divine-right monarchy and absolute monarchy? Explain.

6. What techniques did absolute monarchs use to increase their power?

7. What conception of the state does the expression "L'Etat, c'est moi!" reveal? Is centralization a necessary component of absolutism? Was the development of France's transportation network more of a political or more of an economic maneuver?

8. Can an absolute monarchy coexist with laissez-faire capitalism or is mercantilism a necessary expression of absolutism?

9. Discuss the foreign policies of absolute monarchs.

Louis XIV, he needed a place

That would be filled with splendor and grace

And so he did build

A place t’be filled

With expensive items of good taste

“The Nobles! They might conspire!”

Thought Louis as he filled up with ire

“If we round ‘em all up,

And distract enough.

There will be no way I’ll have to retire!”

So he gathered them up in Versaille

Where they vied for favor in his eye

“Oh, one more thing”

Thought the devious king,

“You’ll never, ever, say good bye.