How Effective Was the Ruling of Louis XIV

Louis XIV was a man of the monarchy during the age of enlightenment, he was the ruler of France for a total of 73 years. He was a ruler that changed France for some good and some bad ways. But the question is, was he an effective ruler? But first, what is an effective ruler? One who is productive and passionate about their country. Someone who is intelligent and confident in what they’re doing, someone who listens to the people and communicates with them. Although Louis XIV was well-liked, Louis was not an effective ruler because he demanded to be king, Revoked the edict of Nantes, and bankrupted France.

In the postmodernism days, if one just decided to declare they will rule the country and control the country, they would be laughed at. In 1661 Louis did such this, but the difference being is that no one laughed at him, they listened to him and he became ruler of France. At the age of 23, he decided to rule alone, without a chief manager. He also believed that he was chosen by God to become a ruler, which was the beliefs of every King. As Louis said himself “Nec Pluribus Impar”, none is equal, essentially saying he is the superior no one can be equal to him because he is so high in power. This quote said by Louis was his motto, the way he thought while he was alive. In 1661 when he declared himself ruler he went against his own mother. Without his chief minister, Marzin, he felt that he was capable of ruling a whole entire country. He demanded to become King and went against his own family to get what he wanted.

In regards to Louis going against people in his life, while King, Louis introduced the Edict of Fontainebleau, which stated that the Edict of Nantes will not apply to life anymore, he is revoking the Edict of Nantes, in which his grandfather signed. The Edict of Nantes states that Protestants could practice their own religion, it permitted them full civil rights. Essentially Protestants had rights, but Louis decided to revoke those rights from them. He took the rights of a lot of people, mostly the people who did not have any power, now having less power. Doing this almost 400,000 people left France to live in Prussia, England, Holland or even America. He drove a big percentage of the population to leave France and emigrate to different countries. It meant that France lost soldiers and craftsmen who helped in society. This was significant in history because then, there were not as many people in the country which also meant fewer taxes to collect, which meant less money for Louis. This also meant that Louis started to make wrong decisions for France.

Although Louis did build one of the greatest palaces in the world, it meant a lot for the country and the people in the country. Louis also improved the country, he built the Canal du Midi and the Marley pump. However, all of these things costed money, lots of money, in fact when Louis dies he leaves France in 200 million dollars of debt. Where when he first became king France was in 2 million dollars of debt. The Palace de Versailles was a major investment for Louis, it cost about 10% of all of the taxes in France to build this. People were starving and dying but Louis built a palace for himself. Another major thing Louis built during his reign was the Canal du Midi, it took about 12,000 people to build and the building was from 1667 to 1681. Louis also decided to make the military a lot larger, the military was about 12,000 soldiers, and by the time he finished, it was about 400,000 professionally armed and trained soldiers. All of these things cost money and lots of it. He made France into a bankrupt country and did not seem to notice the amounts of money he spent.

In conclusion, Louis was a ruler that was well-liked and did a lot for France but did he do too much? Was he effective by doing all he did? One perhaps thinks that he was not an effective ruler because of all of his doings. He demanded to be king and in a ruling, he overthrew his mother. He revoked the Edict of Nantes and bankrupted France. He did a lot for the country but all were not beneficial.