V.4. ABSOLUTE MONARCHY TAKES CONTROL

5.4. ABSOLUTE MONARCHY CONTROLS

THE CIVIL WARS END BY ACCEPTING PROTESTANTS, THAT IS, NASCENT CAPITALISTS

(THE EDICT OF NANTES, 1598)

A stronger monarchy controls them. 

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 more active 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,

5.4.1.

Growing economies bring more active kings

5.4.1. GROWING ECONOMIES BRING MORE ACTIVE KINGS

THEY ARE SHOWN ON HORSEBACK AS THE STATIC IMAGE CHANGES: 

Tapestry (detail), musée de la Renaissance

King David, Brussels, toward 1520

In early 16th-century Flanders, 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 leads to his capture.That leads to the authorities of Flanders, which Spain controls, to commission a giant tapestry of the battle for its king.

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

Video / zoom 

"During the Renaissance its cost made tapestry the art of kings..."  the video's commentator says.

         

Of course they are more active.

Keeping profits from being invested

is more than ever the job of kings,

and greater resources let them do it. 

*     *     *

Next,
5.4.2.

Stronger kings disperse wealth

5.4.2. STRONGER KINGS DISPERSE WEALTH

 

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

(1519-1547)

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

He is static, but both hands are free.

Greater finances lead to a mighty army, transforming the palace of Fontainebleau and those of the Loire Valley,  favorites, celebrations, immense processions, huge royal households:

Zoom

Fontainebleau 

Zoom

Chenonceau, most spectacular of the chateaux de la Loire.

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

He lavishly funds the arts, which add to the splendor of the court. The "School of Fontainebleau," becomes known throughout Europe.

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

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

A favorite? The court becomes known for its refinement.

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

A ruyal procession in the 18th-century.

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.

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

Reducing royal households was not possible when lavish spending was part of kings' job. So Louis XV has his four youngest daughters raised in a convent.

Enormous spending begins before Francis comes to power, when explorations have already brought new sources of revenue and the need to control them. Except for the time of the Wars of Religion, continues until the Revolution. It is basic to the stabilizing function of kings.

They cover its cost by expedients and loans,
pay back with honors...
or not at all.  

*     *     *

Next,
5.4.3.

Detour:

French monarchy's lasting éclat

5.4.3. 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 to France, and her French fashions and repartees stood out in the rustic English court.

(In 1522) 

               By Hans Holbein  (1532-1536) / zoom

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

Skinny Anne was the opposite of the voluptuous beauties that were admired, 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

 

The modern aura:

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

                                                                                     Sabrina, dir. Billy Wilder, 1955

• "Christine Lagarde's Power Dressing" 

Forbes, 2011

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

John Kelly

French-flag cupcakes

A competition's award was 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.

*     *     *

Next,
5.4.4. 

French Baroque's sobriety 

5.4.4. FRENCH BAROQUE'S SOBRIETY

" Baroque:" The Portuguese term for a pearl of irregular form 

THE CHURCH REPLIES TO PROTESTANT

AUSTERITY AND RATIONALITY WITH ART THAT IS  EXUBERANT, EMOTIONAL AND WHOSE COST DISPERSES INVESTIBLE WEALTH — EXCEPT IN FRANCE

There the importance of a rational 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, 

Compare two major churches in Spain and France for opulence vs. restraint. On left, the pilgrimage destination of , on right, , the first French church .   

Zoom   

Saint James of Compostella

 

Saint-Paul Saint-Louis 

• 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 saint, a 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 another — huge —  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 a stronger monarchy

dominates the economy,

riches don't have to be dispersed.

*     *     *

Next,

5.4.5. 

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