V.2. ABSOLUTE MONARCHY EXERTS CONTROL

5.2. Absolute Monarchy exerts control

THE CIVIL WARS END BY TOLERATING PROTESTANTS —

THAT IS, TOLERATING CAPITALISM

(By the Edict of Nantes, in 1598)

The civil wars end with the a stronger king coming to power (Henri IV, in 1594). His dynasty, the Bourbons, will brake capitalists until the middle of the 18th century... After a fight over the introduction of a divisible currency brings the stronger rule of Gnapon in Djimini and his son Nambolosse keeps long-distance traders in check.

The reinforced monarchy dominates the new forces,
and spectacular dispersals of wealth vanish.

For a time. 

• Art shows an active kingship

• Detour: the French monarchy's lasting éclat

• French Baroque's sobriety 

• Defeating archaic opponents of growth

• In Spain, no civil war, no protestants, no capitalists

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Art shows an active kingship

ART SHOWS AN ACTIVE KINGSHIP

DOMINATING EXPANDING ECONOMIES STRENGTHENS KINGS 

From the turn of the 15th century they are shown as active and they spend infinitely more; the change coincides with the use of mythology.

Their images become dynamic instead of static:

•  Kings no longer sit or stand but are on horseback. 

 François I on horseback by Jean Clouet, no date / zoom

The king is on horseback but mount and rider are stationary: The work is transitional.

François I charges the Swiss mercenaries at the battle of Marignan, attributed to Noel Bellemare, 1539-1530 / zoom

Notice the elaborate dress. As so often, the king rides a white horse.

• Immobile deities become expressive figures surrounded by multitudes who rush toward the light:

God the Father Blessing between Two Angles by Gérard David, Flanders, 1506 / zoom

 For more, please click back.

• By the end of the century God is not portrayed because he is light, but all the human or heavenly figures are active:

Glorification of Saint Ignatius, trompe l'oeil in church of Sant'Ignazio, Rome, 1691-1694 / Video

By Andrea Pozzo, 1691-94 / Video

Saint Ignatius, founder of the Jesuit order, is received in Heaven.

Avenging angel

Jesus 

The spectacular architecture and painting

reinforce secular power 

while spending surplus wealth.  

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Detour: The French monarchy's lasting éclat

STRONGER MONARCHS DISPERSE WEALTH

 

BESIDES THE 300 YOUNG NOBLEWOMEN WHOM FRANCIS I INVITES TO THE COURT...

(1519-1547)

Francis I by Jean Clouet, the court painter, 1527-1530 / zoom

He is static, but his hands are free.

The greater finances under royal control lead to a mighty army,*  transforming the palace of Fontainebleau and rebuilding those of the Loire Valley, a style in art that is copied throughout Europe,

favorites, celebrations, huge royal households and immense processions...

• Fontainebleau:

Zoom

• Chenonceau, perhaps the most spectacular of the chateaux de la Loire:

Zoom

• He lavishly funds the arts, which add to the splendor of the court and bring the  "School of Fontainebleau," known throughout Europe:

Sculpture over royal doorway, attributed to Primaticcio, one of the chateau's main artists / zoom

• Françis invites Leonardo da Vinci to the court and harbors him for the rest of his life. Leonardo designs the Château de Chambord and sells him the Mona Lisa.

As imagined by the illustrator Albert Robido, toward 1900 / zoom

• The court becomes known for its refinement:

Woman at her toilette, School of Fontainebleau, mid-16th century / zoom

# # #

That evolution begins before Francis comes to power, and except for the time of the Wars of Religion, continues until the  Revolution. Two more activities:

• Catherine de Medici and 10-year-old Charles IX visit the entire kingdom, to unite the population behind him (In 1564-66) . 

Kings and court had always moved from palace to palace (to clean them, restore provisions and let game recuperate) or gone on politically-useful excursions, but the Queen Mother takes the prince to visit the whole kingdom. The royal family, their households, the Council, the court, ambassadors, ecclesiastics, craftspeople, cooks, dwarfs, minstrels — 15,000 people, plus thousands of horses and pack animals to carry clothing, tapestries, tents, wine, provisions, furniture, books — make up the cortege. 

Since the towns finance the honor of receiving the king, the expedition siphons off the new wealth of the provincial middle classes.

The extraordinary parade takes a full day to pass by. Spectators come from great distances, to break the routine and share in the rulers' show.

Events within Paris are spectacular too: 

 Louis XV leaves a session of Parliament, September 12, 1715, by Pierre-Denis Martin toward 1715 / zoom with analysis (in French) © GrandPalaisRmn / Agence Bulloz

• Households of hundreds of people surround not only kings and queens, but siblings, cousins, their wives and children from babyhood: 

Louis XIV's brother has nine doctors, three medical consultants, an apothecary and his aide, seven other aides, a dentist, five barbers... 27 people in his medical service alone.

-- Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orleans by Jacqueline Duchêne, 1995 (in French).
An example of a revelatory fact slipping without comment into the text.

So rooted were the households that rather than cut down those of his four youngest daughters, Louis XV has them raised in a convent.

Such flamboyance is expected of kings:
They cover its cost by expedients and loans,
which they may pay back with honors...
or not at all.  

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Detour: French monarchy's lasting éclat

DETOUR: THE FRENCH MONARCHY'S LASTING ÉCLAT

FRENCH CULTURE'S FIRST EMISSARY, ANNE BOLEYN

She had grown up in the court of Francis I where her father was England's ambassador to France, and her French fashions and repartees stood out in the rustic English court.

(In 1522) 

               Believed to be Anne Boleyn, by Hans Holbein  (1532-1536) / zoom

        Scouts de France, gone from the web; source was not named.

Skinny Anne was the opposite of the voluptuous beauties that were admired then as now, but she had absorbed the sophistication, allure and flirtatious repartie of Francis's court. Brilliant and cultivated Henry VIII composed motets in Latin to sing with her...

Their love letters are in French. 

-- Une reine pas très catholique ("An Unconventional Queen") by Dominique Muller, 1996:

Having the main characters speak for themselves

 — Anne, her awful father, Henry  —  

makes this story still more gripping. 

The modern aura:

• A servant's daughter (Audrey Hepburn) returns to Connecticut from Paris:

Sabrina by Billy Wilder, 1954

 

• "Christine Lagarde's Power Dressing" 

Forbes, 2011

• The Denver Kiwanis club makes a French dinner a raffle prize:

French-flag cupcakes

John Kelly

The competition was for a dinner of French cuisine at the home of member who had learned French, come regularly to Paris and followed classes in French cooking. 

Americans admire an "art de vivre"

that harks back to the court.

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Catholics defend barriers to gain...

FRENCH BAROQUE'S SOBRIETY

"BAROQUE:"* THE CHURCH REPLIES TO PROTESTANT

 AUSTERITY AND RATIONALITY WITH ART THAT IS  EXUBERANT, EMOTIONAL AND WHOSE EXPENSE DISPERSES INVESTIBLE WEALTH

* The Portuguese term for a pearl of irregular form 

But the importance of the French middle class* brings a style that is more subdued than in other Catholic lands.**

* As said in Baroque et classicisme by Victor Tapié, 1957, a classic whose economic explanation would be unlikely today. 

I attended Monsieur Tapié's classes at the Sorbonne, and recall a flamboyant conservative who would illustrate the baroque by running his fingers through his flowing white hair, while wearing a giant ruby ring, 

** Certain German principalities, central Europe, Spain and Portugal with their colonies.

Compare Saint James of Compostella in Spain with Saint-Paul Saint-Louis in Paris for drama and opulence vs. restraint:

Zoom

• Columns, carved vs. plain: 

Zoom

• Altar, gold vs. candles:

Zoom

• Messages from the saints who look down from the summit:

                                     Zoom (to enlarge please click)

Saint-James: the pilgrim is traditionally Catholic.

Saint-Paul: the saint is a canonized king (Louis IX-Saint Louis), who wears a crown rather than a halo and stands under a second crown that is easily seen from the street. He announces the power of monarchy, while the architecture and decor suggest that obedience to the rulers is necessary for salvation.

Saint-Paul's relative simplicity characterizes other Parisian building of the time, place des Vosges and pont Neuf. Because the powerful, commerce-oriented French middle class resists what it considers exaggeration... 

 

And because since a new monarchy

dominates the economy,

riches don't have to be dispersed.

For now.

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In Spain, no civil war, no Protestants, no capitalists

IN SPAIN, NO CIVIL WAR, NO PROTESTANTS, NO CAPITALISTS

SPANISH KINGS TOO OBTAIN NEW RESOURCES, AND THEIR IMAGE CHANGES AS DOES THAT OF FRENCH KINGS

Charles V by Titien, 1548 / zoom

But those resources come from the outside, not from local producers:  

Zoom with chart

Origins of Spain's new revenues: Flanders and the New World

They finance 150 years of hegemony and Spain's Golden Age with its churches, theater decors and thousands of plays. But wealth remains limited to the top nobility and the culture is famously austere. Compare the costumes of the French and Spanish courts:

Meeting of Louis XIV and Philip IV, anonymous, 17th century / zoom

Louis in red, Philip in black; members of the French court in color, ruffles and ribbons, those of the Spanish court sober.

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz by el Greco, 1687 / zoom                    The Death of Charles X, French royalist print, 1836 / zoom

They finance the Inquisition as well, which takes off in the 16th century and like official neutralizations of wealth...

• It uses up funds...

• Tribunals appear throughout Spain and in the territories it controls. Each remunerates two or three Inquisitors (thoroughly trained, well-paid members of the elite) plus notaries, lawyers, scribes, doctors, prison guards and executioners.

-- The Faith of Remembrance: Marano Labyrinths by Nathan Wachtel, 2009

The Procession of the Inquisition of Goa, 1783 / zoom

In 18th-century Goa the Church replaces the king.

Auto de Fe in the Plaza Mayor of Madrid by Francisco Rizi, 1683 / zoom 

Victims must repent before the king or if outside Madrid, before his representatives. Then they learn whether or not they will be burned. 

• Terrifyingly reinforces authority, especially at night:  

The Inquisition at Night by Francisco Goya, 1810 / zoom

The regime makes forcibly converted Jews or Muslims who may still retain ancestral practices the defenseless enemy. But not Protestants, whom the archaic monarchy keeps from even starting.

So Spain does not change...

Internet, photographer not named

 The facade is rebuilt in the 18th century — with 16th-century decor.

And when its outside revenues give out,
France will suck it into its orbit as inexorably
as African producers sweep away the old kingdoms
when the Atlantic slave trade ends.

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Defeating archaic opponents of growth