Bourbon Dynasty, Restored

Following the ousting of Napoleon I of France in 1814, the Allies restored the Bourbon Dynasty to the French throne. The ensuing period is called the Restauration, following French usage, and is characterized by a sharp conservative reaction and the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic Church as a power in French politics.

Louis XVIII, 1814-1824

Louis XVIII's restoration to the throne in 1814 was effected largely through the support of Napoleon's former foreign minister Talleyrand who convinced the victorious Allied Powers of the desirability of a Bourbon restoration. Louis was forced to grant a written constitution, the Charter of 1814, which guaranteed a bicameral legislature, with a hereditary/appointive Chamber of Peers and an elected Chamber of Deputies. The franchise was limited to men with considerable property holdings.

Related Topics:
1814 - Talleyrand

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After a first sentimental flush of popularity, Louis's gestures towards reversing the results of the French Revolution quickly lost him public support among the disenfranchised majority. Within a year, he fled Paris to Ghent on the news of the return of Napoleon from Elba, but returned after Waterloo had ended Napoleon's rule of the Hundred Days. This Second Restoration saw the atrocities of theWhite Terror, largely in the south, when supporters of the monarchy murdered many who had supported Napoleon's return. Although the King and his ministers opposed the violence, they were ineffectual in taking active steps to stop it.

Related Topics:
Waterloo - White Terror

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Louis' chief ministers were at first moderate, including Talleyrand, the Duc de Richelieu, and Élie Decazes, and Louis himself followed a cautious policy. The parliament elected in 1815, dominated by ultraroyalists, or Ultras, was dissolved by Richelieu as being impossible to work with, and electoral gerrymandering resulted in a more liberal chamber in 1816. However, the liberals ultimately proved just as unmanageable, and by 1820 Decazes and the King were looking for ways to revise the electoral laws again, to insure a more tractable conservative majority. However, the assassination of the Duc de Berry, the ultrareactionary son of Louis's ultrareactionary brother (and heir-presumptive) the future Charles X, in February 1820, caused Decazes's fall from power and the triumph of the Ultras. After an interval in which Richelieu returned to power from 1820 to 1821, a new Ultra ministry was formed, headed by the Comte de Villèle, a leading Ultra. Soon, however, Villèle proved himself to be nearly as cautious as his master, and, so long as Louis lived, overtly reactionary policies were kept to a minimum.

Related Topics:
Duc de Richelieu - Élie Decazes - Ultraroyalist - Gerrymandering - Duc de Berry - Charles X - 1820 - Comte de Villèle

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Louis XVIII died on September 16, 1824, and was interred atthe Saint Denis. His brother, the comte d'Artois, succeeded him as Charles X.

Related Topics:
September 16 - 1824 - Saint Denis - Charles X

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