5.4.6. ARCHAIC OPPONENTS OF GROWTH RESIST AND ARE DEFEATED

THE SPANISH MONARCHY AND THE FEUDAL FRENCH NOBILITY REJECT CHANGE THAT UNDERMINES THEIR CONTROL

As in Djimini where the Senufo resist the use of a divisible currency, and then the invasion of traders whom a new class of producers backs. 

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Spain's outside revenues allow immobility: 

• The slain commander goes to battle in an armchair — Spanish warfare retains practices that limit efficiency to maintain the status quo :

This and other illustrations on this page by Maurice Leloir, in Le Roy-Soleil by Gustave Toudouze, 1931

Leloir's illustrations were known for their accuracy. But the book says nothing about attending the fight from a chair, another example of skipping details that seem incomprehensible.   

• France begins to swallow up Spain at the end of 150 years of conflict (the treaty of the Pyrenees, 1559, ends the latest outbreak). 

The marriage of Louis XIV and the Spanish king's eldest daughter strengthens indicates a change (in 1661)

that the couple's grandson becoming ruler of Spain finalizes (in 1700).

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French nobles fail to resist the muscular monarchy that protects growth, though they launch five revolts (in 1626-1642) and a civil war (in 1648-1652): 

Leloir in Richelieu by Théodore Cahu, 1903

The Count of Chalais on his way to execution (in 1626)

Leloir, reference above

Henri II de Montmorency's mother pleads unsuccessfully for his pardon (in 1632)

Une histoire populaire de la France by Henri Martin, 1888 / zoom

Marie-Louise de Montpensier, the king's first cousin, orders the cannoneers of the Bastille fortress to fire on the royal troops (in 1652).

Spain and French nobles belong

 to societies of an earlier kind: 

Their defeat confirms the victory 

of the powerful French monarchy
that keeps capitalism under control. 

End of this section.

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  Next section,
V.3.
 The Sun King, anti-capitalist?