5.3. MONARCHS TAKE THE REINS

MENU: 5.3. MONARCHS TAKE THE REINS

STRONGER POWER APPEARS WHENEVER THE ECONOMY SIGNIFICANTLY GROWS 

Europe's most powerful monarchy takes power in France a few years before nascent capitalists — Protestants — are officially tolerated. 

(Civil wars end with stronger monarchy, 1694; Edict of Nantes, by which Protestants allowed, 1598)

     Henri IV enters Paris, March 24 1594 by Francois Gérard / zoom

Henri IV wearing the Cross of the Order of the Holy Spirit by Frans Pourbus the Younger, toward 1600 / zoom

In brief

• Growing economies bring stronger kings

• Stronger kings disperse wealth

• 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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Next,

5.3.1.

Growing economies bring more stronger kings

5.3.1. GROWING ECONOMIES BRING STRONGER KINGS

THEY ARE SHOWN ON HORSEBACK AS THE STATIC IMAGE CHANGES: 

Tapestry (detail), musée de la Renaissance

King David, Brussels, toward 1520

This king is not dressed for combat. Vassals surround him so he cannot fight, as in parts of the African savannah. Yet he is on horseback. But not on a white horse, as the two knights around him are.

Three powerful kings of about 1530-1550:

 François I à cheval by Jean Clouet, 1540 / zoom

France, Francis I

                                       By Friedrich Bouterwerk, no date :  zoom            By Cornelis Anthonisz, Dutch, 1538 / zoom 

England, Henry VIII

By Titian, 1548

Spain, Charles V (The rare black horse fits the dark skies.)

Francis I charges into battle.

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

Zoom

Notice the elaborate dress and of course, the white horse.

*    *

Ten years later, Francis's exploits bring his capture. That leads to the authorities of Flanders, which Spain controls, to commission a giant tapestry of the battle for its king. "During the Renaissance its cost made tapestry the art of kings..." the video's commentator says.

  The Battle of Pavia, 1525 (detail of tapestry finished in  1531)  / zoom

Video / zoom 

       

Keeping profits from being invested

is more than ever the job of kings. 

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Next,
5.3.2.

Stronger kings disperse wealth

5.3.2. STRONGER KINGS DISPERSE WEALTH

 

WHEN TOWARD 1500 EXPLORATIONS  BRING UNPRECEDENTED REVENUES AND EMERGING CAPITALISTS...

LOUIS XII (1498-1515) begins the transformation of the royal court by inviting noblemen's daughters to civilize it. Francis I (1515-1547) expands their presence. 

The French court becomes Europe's most sophisticated.

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

  Le concert après le repas, 1540-1550 by Ambrosius Benson / © Louvre / zoom

Bal au mariage du duc de Joyeuse, artiste inconnu, Louvre, vers 1570

 Bal au cour des Valois, vers 1580, artist unknown © Musée de Rennes, Adélaïde Beaudoin / zoom

Zoom

 The court at Fontainebleau, tapestry.

*     *

The need to burn through the new resources leads to transforming the palace of Fontainebleau and remodeling or building those of the Loire Valley, lavishly promoting the arts, superb favorites, immense processions and huge royal households:

Zoom

Fontainebleau 

Zoom

Chenonceau, most spectacular of the chateaux de la Loire.

• Francis purchases major works now at the Louvre. 

Zoom

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

Zoom

He receives Raphael's The Holy Family at Fontainebleau.

• The "School of Fontainebleau" becomes famous.

Zoom

• Diane de Poitiers, favorite of Henri II

                Zoom

 Zoom

• Procession:

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

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 applaud the rulers.

Destruction of gain on a grand scale always reinforces authority.  

*    * 

Royal households:

Hundreds of people surround 

not only kings and queens, 

but siblings, cousins and children from birth. 

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

Reducing royal households was impossible when lavish spending was so deeply associated with the king. So Louis XV has his four youngest daughters raised in a convent.

*The multitude that surrounded a personnage also showed rank. The capital of Dahomey was not very populated and to give white visitors the impression of a crowd, a procession's participants mixed up and passed by them several times

The royal households have a similar purpose. 

*    *

The civil wars bring ruin, but the far more powerful court that appears later continues the expenses until the Revolution.

They cover its cost by expedients and loans,
which they pay back perhaps, 

or substitute an honor...
or do not do so at all. 

*     *     *

Next,
5.3.3.

Detour:

French monarchy's lasting éclat

5.3.3. 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, and her French fashions and repartees stood out in the rustic English court.

(In 1522) 

               By Hans Holbein (1532-1536) / zoom

The only portrait that is realistic, in spite of the bright blond hair.

Skinny Anne was the opposite of the voluptuous beauties that were admired, but she had absorbed the sophistication, allure and flirtatious conversation of Francois's court. Henry VIII, brilliant and cultivated, 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

 

The modern aura:

• A chauffeur's daughter (Audrey Hepburn) returns to Connecticut after two  years in Paris:

                                                                                     Sabrina by Billy Wilder, 1955

• "Christine Lagarde's Power Dressing" 

Forbes, 2011

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

    Photos by host John Kelly 

French-flag cupcakes

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

 "Art de vivre"

 harks back to the court.

*     *     *

Next,
5.3.4. 

French Baroque's sobriety