France After Louis XIV and the Mississippi Bubble

Study Notes

France After Louis XIV

Despite military setbacks in the War of the Spanish Succession, France remained a powerful nation in 1715.
France possessed a large population, sophisticated economy, and well-established administration, inherited from Louis XIV.
The Duke of Orléans became regent after the death of Louis XIV.
The regency period was marked by financial and moral scandals, further weakening the monarchy.

John Law and the Mississippi Bubble

The Duke of Orléans entrusted financial management to John Law, a Scottish mathematician and gambler.
Law believed increasing the money supply through paper currency would stimulate the French economy.
He established a bank and a trading monopoly (Mississippi Company) in Louisiana.
The Mississippi Company took on France's national debt.
Law's plan involved issuing company stock in exchange for government bonds.
In 1719, the price of the stock rose sharply, leading to investors profiting by exchanging stock for paper money then gold.
Law's bank lacked sufficient gold to redeem all the paper money, halting gold payments in February 1720.
Law fled the country, and the collapse of the system became known as the Mississippi Bubble, undermining French economic stability.

Renewed Authority of the Parlements

The Duke of Orléans revived the participation of the French nobility in decision-making by creating councils where nobles served alongside bureaucrats.
The nobility still longed for their historical rights and influence over the monarchy.
The Parliament of Paris regained its full power by decree.

Louis's Early Wars

Louis XIV supported the claim of his first wife, Marie Thérèse, to inherit the Spanish Netherlands, leading to the War of Devolution.
The war ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668, where Louis gained control of certain towns bordering the Spanish Netherlands.
By the late 1660s, France was superior to any other European nation in population, administration, bureaucracy, army, and national unity.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's minister, helped fund the expansion and maintenance of the French military.
Louis's main foreign policy goals were to secure international boundaries for France, prioritizing securing the Spanish Netherlands, Franche-Comté, Alsace, and Lorraine.

France from Louis XIV to Cardinal Fleury

1643: Louis XIV ascends the French throne.
1643-1661: Cardinal Mazarin directs the French government.
1648: Peace of Westphalia.
1649-1652: The Fronde revolt.
1653: The Pope declares Jansenism a heresy.
1660/1661: Papal ban on Jansenists enforced in France.
1661: Louis XIV commences personal rule.
1667-1668: War of Devolution.
1670: Secret Treaty of Dover between France and Great Britain.
1672-1679: French war against the Netherlands.
1685: Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes.
1688-1697: War of the League of Augsburg.
1701: Outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession.
1713: Treaty of Utrecht between France and Great Britain.
1714: Treaty of Rastatt between France and the Empire and Holland.
1715: Death of Louis XIV.
1715-1720: Regency of the Duke of Orléans in France.
1720: Mississippi Bubble bursts in France.
1726-1743: Cardinal Fleury serves as Louis XV's chief minister.

Louis's Repressive Religious Policies

Louis XIV believed that political unity and stability required religious conformity, leading to a crackdown on religious dissenters.
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 targeted the Huguenots, French Protestants, leading to widespread persecution and emigration.
Louis XIV's religious policies aimed to enforce religious uniformity, ultimately backfiring and leading to economic and social instability in France.

Description

Explore the transitional period in France following the reign of Louis XIV, focusing on the regency of the Duke of Orléans and the financial strategies implemented by John Law. Understand how these developments impacted the French economy and led to the infamous Mississippi Bubble. This quiz will test your knowledge of key events and figures during this significant historical era.