Early European History Part 122

The brilliant reign of the French king cast its spell upon the rest of Europe. Kings and princes looked to Louis as the model of what a king should be and set themselves to imitate the splendor of his court. During this period the French language, manners, dress, art, literature, and science became the accepted standards of good society in all civilized lands. France still retains in large measure the preeminent position which she secured under the "Grand Monarch."

244. THE WARS OF LOUIS XIV

AMBITIOUS DESIGNS OF LOUIS XIV

How unwise it may be to concentrate all authority in the hands of one man is shown by the melancholy record of the wars of Louis XIV. To aggrandize France and gain fame for himself, Louis plunged his country into a series of struggles from which it emerged completely exhausted. Like Philip II, Louis dreamed of dominating all western Europe, but, as in Philip's case, his aggressions provoked against him a constantly increasing body of allies, who in the end proved too strong even for the king's able generals and fine armies.

THE BALANCE OF POWER

The union of the smaller and weaker countries of Europe against France ill.u.s.trates the principle of the balance of power. According to this principle no state ought to become so strong as to overshadow the rest. In such a case all the others must combine against it and treat it as a common enemy. The maintenance of the balance of power has been a leading object of European diplomacy from the time of the Thirty Years' War to the present day.

FRENCH MILITARISM

Louis himself lacked military talent and did not take a prominent part in any campaign. He was served, however, by very able commanders, including Conde and Turenne. Vauban, an eminent engineer, especially developed the art of siege craft. It was said of Vauban that he never besieged a fortress without taking it and never lost one which he defended. Louvois, the war minister of the king, recruited, equipped, and provisioned larger bodies of troops than ever before had appeared on European battlefields.

It was Louvois who introduced the use of distinctive uniforms for soldiers and the custom of marching in step. He also established field hospitals and ambulances and placed camp life on a sanitary basis. The labors of these men gave Louis the best standing army of the age.

THE RHINE BOUNDARY

Of the four great wars which filled a large part of Louis's reign, all but the last were designed to extend the dominions of France on the east and northeast to the Rhine. That river in ancient times had separated Gaul and Germany, and Louis, as well as Richelieu and Mazarin before him, regarded it as a natural boundary of France. A beginning in this direction had already been made at the close of the Thirty Years' War, when France gained nearly all of Alsace and secured the recognition of her old claims to the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun in Lorraine. A treaty which Mazarin negotiated with Spain in 1659 A.D. also gave France most of Artois, as well as part of Flanders. Louis thus had a good basis of further advance through Lorraine and the Netherlands to the Rhine.

TWO WARS FOR THE RHINE, 1667-1678 A.D.

The French king began his aggressions by an effort to annex the Belgian or Spanish Netherlands, which then belonged to Spain. [11] A triple alliance of Holland, England, and Sweden forced him to relinquish all his conquests, except a few frontier towns (1668 A.D.). Louis blamed the Dutch for his setback, and determined to punish them. Moreover, the Dutch represented everything to which he was opposed, for Holland was a republic, the keen rival of France in trade, and Protestant in religion.

By skillful diplomacy he persuaded England and Sweden to stand aloof, while his armies entered Holland and drew near to Amsterdam At this critical moment William, Prince of Orange, became the Dutch leader. He was a descendant of that William the Silent, who, a century before, had saved the Dutch out of the hands of Spain. When urged to submit, seeing that his country was surely lost, William replied, "I know one way of never seeing it, and that way is to die on the last dike." By William's orders the Dutch cut the dikes and interposed a watery barrier to further advance by the French. Then he formed another Continental coalition, which carried on the war till Louis signified his desire for peace. The Dutch did not lose a foot of territory, but Spain was obliged to cede to France the important province of Franche Comte (1678 A.D.).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, ACQUISITIONS OF LOUIS XIV AND LOUIS XV]

A THIRD WAR, 1689-1697 A.D.

Ten years later Louis again sought to gain additional territory along the Rhine, but again an alliance of Spain, Holland, England, and the Holy Roman Empire compelled 1689-1697 him to sue for peace (1697 A.D.). [12]

During the course of the war the French inflicted a frightful devastation on the Rhenish Palatinate, so that it might not support armies for the invasion of France. Twelve hundred towns and villages were destroyed, and the countryside was laid waste. The responsibility for this barbarous act rests upon Louvois who advised it and Louis who allowed it.

THE SPANISH SUCCESSION

Thus far the European balance of power had been preserved, but it was now threatened in another direction. Charles II, the king of Spain, lay dying, and as he was without children or brothers to succeed him, all Europe wondered what would be the fate of his vast possessions in Europe and America. Louis had married one of his sisters, and the Holy Roman Emperor another, so both the Bourbons and the Austrian Hapsburgs could put forth claims to the Spanish throne. When Charles died, it was found that he had left his entire dominions to Philip of Anjou, one of Louis's grandsons, in the hope that the power of France might be great enough to keep them undivided. Though Louis knew that acceptance of the inheritance would involve a war with Austria and probably with England, whose king was now Louis's old foe, William of Orange, [13] ambition triumphed over fear and the desire for glory over consideration for the welfare of France. At Versailles Louis proudly presented his grandson to the court, saying, "Gentlemen, behold the king of Spain."

WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION, 1702-1713 A.D.

In the War of the Spanish Succession France and Spain faced the Grand Alliance, which included England, Holland, Austria, several of the German states, and Portugal. Europe had never known a war that concerned so many countries and peoples. The English ruler, William III, died shortly after the outbreak of hostilities, leaving the continuance of the contest as a legacy to his sister-in-law, Queen Anne. [14] England supplied the coalition with funds, a fleet, and also with the ablest commander of the age, the duke of Marlborough. In Eugene, prince of Savoy, the allies had another skillful and daring general. The great victory gained by them at Blenheim in 1704 A.D. was the first of a series of successes which finally drove the French out of Germany and Italy and opened the road to Paris.

But dissensions among the allies and the heroic resistance of France and Spain enabled Louis to hold the enemy at bay, until the exhaustion of both sides led to the conclusion of the Peace of Utrecht.

PEACE OF UTRECHT, 1713 A.D.

This peace ranks with that of Westphalia among the most important diplomatic arrangements of modern times. First, Louis's grandson, Philip V, was recognized as king of Spain and her colonies, on condition that the Spanish and French crowns should never be united. Since this time Bourbon sovereigns have continued to rule in Spain. Next, the Austrian Hapsburgs gained most of the Spanish dominions in Italy, as well as the Belgian or Spanish Netherlands (henceforth for a century called the Austrian Netherlands). Finally, England obtained from France possessions in North America, and from Spain the island of Minorca and the rock of Gibraltar, commanding the narrow entrance to the Mediterranean. England has never since relaxed her hold upon Gibraltar.

BRANDENBURG AND PRUSSIA

Two of the smaller members of the Grand Alliance likewise profited by the Peace of Utrecht. The right of the elector of Brandenburg to enjoy the t.i.tle of king of Prussia was acknowledged. This formed an important step in the fortunes of the Hohenzollern [15] dynasty, which to-day rules over Germany. The duchy of Savoy also became a kingdom and received the island of Sicily (shortly afterwards exchanged for Sardinia). The house of Savoy in the nineteenth century provided Italy with its present reigning family.

POSITION OF FRANCE

France lost far less by the war than at one time seemed probable. Louis gave up his dream of dominating Europe, but he kept all the Continental acquisitions made earlier in his reign. And yet the price of the king's warlike policy had been a heavy one. France paid it in the shape of famine and pestilence, excessive taxes, heavy debts, and the impoverishment of the people. Louis, now a very old man, survived the Peace of Utrecht only two years. As he lay on his deathbed, the king turned to his little heir [16] and said, "Try to keep peace with your neighbors. I have been too fond of war; do not imitate me in that, nor in my too great expenditure."

These words of the dying king showed an appreciation of the errors which robbed his long reign of much of its glory.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARLBOROUGH A miniature in the possession of the Duke of Buccleugh.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, EUROPE after the Peace of Utrecht, 1713 A.D.].

245. THE ABSOLUTISM OF THE STUARTS, 1603-1642 A.D.

TUDOR ABSOLUTISM

During the same century which saw the triumph of absolutism and divine right in France, a successful struggle took place in England against the unlimited power of kings. Absolutism in England dated from the time of the Tudors. Henry VII humbled the n.o.bles, while Henry VIII and Elizabeth brought the Church into dependence on the crown. [17] These three sovereigns were strong and forceful, but they were also excellent rulers and popular with the influential middle cla.s.s in town and country. The Tudors gave England order and prosperity, if not political liberty.

PARLIAMENT UNDER THE TUDORS

The English Parliament in the thirteenth century had become a body representative of all cla.s.ses of the people, and in the fourteenth century it had separated into the two houses of Lords and Commons. [18] Parliament enjoyed considerable authority at this time. The kings, who were in continual need of money, summoned it frequently, sought its advice upon important questions, and readily listened to its requests. The despotic Tudors, on the other hand, made Parliament their servant. Henry VII called it together on only five occasions during his reign; Henry VIII persuaded or frightened it into doing anything he pleased; and Elizabeth seldom consulted it. Parliament under the Tudors did not abandon its old claims to a share in the government, but it had little chance to exercise them.

JAMES I, KING, 1603-1625 A.D.

The death of Elizabeth in 1603 A.D. ended the Tudor dynasty and placed the Stuarts on the English throne in the person of James I. [19] England and Scotland were now joined in a personal union, though each country retained its own Parliament, laws, and state Church. The new king was well described by a contemporary as the "wisest fool in Christendom." He had a good mind and abundant learning, but throughout his reign he showed an utter inability to win either the esteem or the affection of his subjects.

This was a misfortune, for the English had now grown weary of despotism and wanted more freedom. They were not prepared to tolerate in James, an alien, many things which they had overlooked in "Good Queen Bess."

JAMES I ON DIVINE RIGHT

One of the most fruitful sources of discord between James and the English people was his exalted conception of monarchy. The Tudors, indeed, claimed to rule by divine right, but James went further than they in arguing for divine _hereditary_ right. Providence, James declared, had chosen the principle of heredity in order to fix the succession to the throne. This principle, being divine, lay beyond the power of man to alter. Whether the king was fit or unfit to rule, Parliament might not change the succession, depose a sovereign, or limit his authority in any way. James rather neatly summarized his views in a Latin epigram, _a deo rex, a rege lex_--"the king is from G.o.d and law is from the king."

[Ill.u.s.tration: GOLD COIN OF JAMES I.

The first coin to bear the legend "Great Britain".]

JAMES I AND PARLIAMENT

Naturally enough, the extreme pretensions of James encountered much opposition from Parliament. That body felt little sympathy for a ruler who proclaimed himself the source of all law. When James, always extravagant and a poor financier, came before it for money, Parliament insisted on its right to withhold supplies until grievances were redressed. James would not yield, and got along as best he could by levying customs duties, selling t.i.tles of n.o.bility, and imposing excessive fines, in spite of the protests of Parliament. This situation continued to the end of the king's reign.

JAMES I AND PURITANISM

A religious controversy helped to embitter the dispute between James and Parliament. The king, who was Puritanism a devout Anglican, made himself very unpopular with the Puritans, as the reformers within the Church of England were called. The Puritans had no intention of separating from the national or established Church, but they wished to "purify" it of certain customs which they described as "Romish" or "papist." Among these were the use of the surplice, of the ring in the marriage service, and of the sign of the cross in baptism. Some Puritans wanted to get rid of the _Book of Common Prayer_ altogether. The Puritans were distinguished by their austere lives. They looked with disfavor on May Day and Christmas festivities, observed the Jewish Sabbath in all its rigor, and condemned the Anglicans who played games and danced upon the village green on Sundays. As the Puritans had a large majority in the House of Commons, it was inevitable that the parliamentary struggle against Stuart absolutism would a.s.sume in part a religious character.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A PURITAN FAMILY Ill.u.s.tration in an edition of the _Psalms_ published in 1563 A.D.]

CHARLES I, KING, 1625-1649 A.D.

The political and religious difficulties which marked the reign of James I did not disappear when his son, Charles I, came to the throne. Charles was a true Stuart in his devotion to absolutism and divine right. Almost immediately he began to quarrel with Parliament. When that body withheld supplies, Charles resorted to forced loans from the wealthy and even imprisoned a number of persons who refused to contribute. Such arbitrary acts showed plainly that Charles would play the tyrant if he could.

PEt.i.tION OF RIGHT, 1628 A.D.