Louis XV of France

Louis XV (February 15, 1710 – May 10, 1774), called the Well-Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1715 to 1774. Miraculously surviving the death of his entire family, he was loved by the French at the beginning of his reign. However, in time, his inability to reform the French monarchy and his policy of appeasement on the European stage lost him the support of his people, and he died one of the most unpopular kings of France.

The Ministry of Cardinal de Fleury

From 1726 until his death in 1743, Cardinal de Fleury ruled France with the king's assent. It was the most peaceful and prosperous part of the reign of Louis XV, despite some Parliamentarian and Jansenist unrest. After the financial and human losses suffered at the end of the reign of Louis XIV, the rule of Fleury, generating peace and order, is seen by historians as a period of "recovery" (French historians talk of a gouvernement "réparateur"). It is hard to determine exactly which part the king took in the decisions of the Fleury government, but what remains certain is that the king steadily supported Fleury against the intrigues of the court and the conspiracies of ministers.

Related Topics:
1726 - 1743 - Parliamentarian - Jansenist

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With the help of controllers-general of finances Michel Robert Le Peletier des Forts (1726-1730) and above all Philibert Orry (1730-1745), Fleury stabilized the French currency (1726) and eventually managed to balance the budget in 1738. Economic expansion was also a central goal of the government: communications were improved, with the completion of the Saint-Quentin canal (linking the Oise and Somme rivers) in 1738, later extended to the Escaut River and the Low Countries, and above all with the systematic building of a national road network. The body of ponts et chaussées engineers, instituted by the central state, built modern straight highways starting in Paris and reaching the far-away borders of France, in the typical star pattern that is still the backbone of the National Highway network of France today. By the middle of the 18th century, France had the most modern and extensive road network in the world, with most of these highways still used today by automobile traffic. Maritime trade was also stimulated by the Bureau and the Council of Commerce, and the French foreign maritime trade increased from 80 to 308 million livres between 1716 and 1748. However, rigid Colbertist laws (prefiguring dirigisme) hindered industrial development.

Related Topics:
Controllers-general of finances - Michel Robert Le Peletier des Forts - 1726 - 1730 - Philibert Orry - 1745 - 1738 - Oise - Somme - Escaut River - Low Countries - ''ponts et chaussées'' engineers - Livres - 1716 - 1748 - Colbertist - Dirigisme

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The power of the absolute monarchy was demonstrated with the quelling of the Jansenist and Gallican oppositions. The troubles caused by the convulsionaries of the Saint-Médard graveyard in Paris (a group of Jansenists pretending that miracles took place in this graveyard) were put to an end in 1732. On the other hand, after the "exile" of 139 Parliamentarians in the provinces, the parlement of Paris had to register the Unigenitus papal bull and was forbidden to hear religious cases in the future.

Related Topics:
Absolute monarchy - Jansenist - Gallican - 1732 - Parlement - Unigenitus - Papal bull

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Abroad, Fleury sought peace at all cost, averse as he was to wars. His peace policy was based on an English alliance and the reconciliation with Spain. In September 1729, at the end of her third pregnancy, the queen finally gave birth to a male child, Louis, dauphin de France, who immediately became heir to the throne. The birth of a long awaited heir, which ensured the survival of the dynasty for the first time since 1712, was welcome with tremendous joy and celebrations in all spheres of French society, and indeed in most European courts. The royal couple was at the time very united and in love of each other, and the young king was extremely popular. The birth of a male heir also dispelled the risks of a succession crisis and the likely war with Spain that would have resulted.

Related Topics:
Spain - 1729 - Louis, dauphin de France

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1733, despite Fleury's peace policy, the king, won over by his secretary of state for foreign affairs Germain Louis Chauvelin (1727-1737), intervened in the War of the Polish Succession in an attempt to restore his father-in-law Stanislaus Leszczynski on the Polish throne. France also hoped to secure the long coveted duchy of Lorraine from its duke Francis III, who was expected to marry Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI's daughter, Maria Theresa, which would bring Austrian power dangerously close to the French border. The half-hearted French intervention in the east was unable to reverse the course of the war, and Stanislaus could not recover his throne. In the west, however, French troops rapidly overran Lorraine, and peace was restored as early as 1735. By the Treaty of Vienna (November 1738), Stanislaus was compensated for the loss of his Polish throne with the duchy of Lorraine, which was scheduled to pass to France on his death (through his daughter), while Duke Francis III of Lorraine was made heir to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The war cost very little to France, compared to the financial and human drains of Louis XIV's wars, and was a clear success for French diplomacy. The acquisition of Lorraine (effective in 1766 at Stanislaus' death) was to be the last territorial expansion of France on the continent before the French Revolution.

Related Topics:
1733 - Secretary of state for foreign affairs - Germain Louis Chauvelin - 1727 - 1737 - War of the Polish Succession - Stanislaus Leszczynski - Duchy of Lorraine - Francis III - Holy Roman Emperor - Charles VI - Maria Theresa - 1735 - Treaty of Vienna - 1738 - Grand Duchy of Tuscany - 1766 - French Revolution

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shortly after this favorable result, France's mediation in the war between the Austrian Empire and the Ottoman Empire led to the Treaty of Belgrade (September 1739) which ended the war in favor of the Ottoman Empire, a traditional ally of France against the Habsburgs (since the early 16th century). As a result, in 1740 the Ottoman Empire renewed the French capitulations, which marked the supremacy of French trade in the Middle East. After all these successes, the prestige of Louis XV, arbiter of Europe, was at its highest.

Related Topics:
Austrian Empire - Ottoman Empire - Treaty of Belgrade - 1739 - Habsburg - 16th century - 1740 - Capitulations - Middle East

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1740, the death of Emperor Charles VI and his succession by his daughter Maria Teresa started the European War of the Austrian Succession. The old cardinal de Fleury did not have enough energy left to oppose the war, and the king gave in to the strong pressure of the anti-Austrian party at court: he entered the war in 1741 by allying with Prussia. The war would last seven long years. France was renewing with the cycle of wars so typical of Louis XIV's reign. Fleury, however, did not live to see the end of the war, and died in January 1743. The king, following at last the example of his predecessor Louis XIV, decided henceforth to rule without a prime minister, thus starting his personal reign.

Related Topics:
1740 - War of the Austrian Succession - 1741 - Prussia - 1743

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~