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French Nobility

The French nobility was a group of rich French people. They carried armor, a sword and had the right to hunt. Most people of this time were not allowed to do any of this, so they were very lucky people. The French nobility also did not need to pay tailles, if they did not own land that was out of reach for the French government. A taille was payed by common people, which was basically tax collected by the government. By the fifteenth century, serfdom started to increase, and the power of nobles started to decrease. Serfdom involved mining, working in fields. Serfs were agricultural slaves that worked for a master, without any pay.

Myself

   Hello, I am Louis XIV of France. I was the king of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643. My mother is Marie de Medici, she was the first Bourbon queen of France, and my father is Henry IV of France. I am also married to my lovely wife Anne, even though we have not seen each other in nine years. We married when I was fourteen years old. When participating in the Thirty Years' war, I was against the House of Habsburg. I am very lucky to have a life like this. My mother is very powerful, she helped me take the throne away from my father, which was given to me when I was older. Many people such as my first minister, Cardinal Richelieu helped me during my reign. Cardinal Richelieu acted as a regent for me, because I was too young to rule at the age of nine. He destroyed the disastrous plans of the nobles and sent out royal officials called intendants to carry out the orders of the central government. He also set out spies to spy on nobility, the spies would then destroy any evil plan the nobles thought of. By the age of fourteen, I started ruling the government in my own hands. He helped me rule France, I look up to him and he is a very intelligent, trustworthy man. Cardinal Richelieu helped me become an absolute ruler, he taught me about ruling, what I should do to improve and the characteristics of becoming a great ruler. I am a very religious man, and I also believe that my army is very strong. I will lead them into battle if any danger comes to us, and we will conquer any country that tries to challenge us. 

Edict Of Nantes

The Edict Of Nantes ended the religious wars in France from 1562 to 1598. It was issued in 1598. On August 24, when soldiers killed Huguenot leaders. For three days, Huguenots were killed by Catholic mobs. Three-thousand Huguenots were killed after three days and thousands more were killed in other towns. The Huguenots fought back when they gained power. The Edict of Nantes made Catholicism the official religion of France. It also let Huguenots worship in many places and let them use different towns for protection. Huguenots were allowed political privileges and let them hold public offices. The Edict of Nantes recognized the rights of the Protestant minority and religious toleration. This saved the Huguenots and benefited them very much. Cardinal Richelieu eliminated the political and military rights of the Huguenots and saved their religious ones, he knew about the importance of the French nobility and what role they played in the government. Richelieu also made spies destroy noble ideas and crushed them. This helped the Huguenots by destroying disastrous ideas of the nobility.

My Reign

When I was about nine years old, my father's reign ended when my mom killed him. I was too young at the time, and didn't know what was going on. I only knew that my father was dead and my mother told me that I was going to rule France by myself when I'm older. There was a rebellion of nobles, because they believed that I was too young to rule France by myself. My mother helped protect me in everything. She called in for an estates general, which said that I would be able to rule France when I am thirteen years old. This did not help anything and was a waste of money and time. My mother also ordered the Edict of Nantes, which separated civil from religious unity. It opened a path for secularism and religious tolerance. The Edict of Nantes ended the religious wars and also helped the Huguenots out by letting them practice their religion. She also relied on Concino Cocini which was an Italian. Most of the nobles disliked him because he was a foreigner, they also were very violent with him. He helped out my mother in many ways.

Cardinal Richelieu

       Cardinal Richelieu helped a lot during my reign. He helped me shape France into a strong country. By him helping me, I became an absolute monarchy. Absolute monarchy is where the leader and the government governs most of the people. There is no constitution for absolute monarchy and it is by hereditary, meaning that it is passed down by male heir. This benefited everyone, the French monarchy was stable and we were successful in the Thirty Years' War against the Habsburgs. I led the Siege of La Rochelle, we were successful. I also helped my country by building and establishing a strong navy. By having a strong navy, we can explore the world. By exploring, we can learn about new things in the world and also start trades between different countries. I also helped the French by expanding land to places out of France. We got new ideas to come to France, new ideas meant that the economy would spread. New ideas meant that more trade was available, and the economy would grow more powerful. This helped the administration and development of France. There was a much more centralized government in France and things were not out of control. Cardinal Richelieu also initiated policies that strengthened the power of the monarchy.