Editing Louis XVI (section)

==Absolute monarch of France (1774–1789)==
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[[File:Louis XVI Helping Poor.gif|thumb|Louis XVI distributing money to the poor of Versailles, during the brutal winter of 1788]]
When Louis XVI acceded to the throne in 1774, he was nineteen years old. He had an enormous responsibility, as the government was deeply in debt, and resentment of despotic monarchy was on the rise. His predecessor, his grandfather [[Louis XV]], had been widely hated by the time of his death. The public remembered him as an irresponsible man who spent his time womanizing rather than administrating.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardman |first=John |title=Louis XVI |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1993 |isbn=0-300-05719-9 |page=25}}</ref> Furthermore, the monarchy had poured money into a series of unsuccessful foreign military campaigns, leaving France in a state of financial difficulty.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doyle |first=William |title=The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-19-285396-1 |location=New York |pages=19–21}}</ref> The young Louis XVI felt woefully unqualified to resolve the situation.

As king, Louis XVI focused primarily on religious freedom and foreign policy. Although raised as the Dauphin since 1765, he lacked firmness and decisiveness. His desire to be loved by his people is evident in the prefaces of many of his edicts that would often explain the nature and good intention of his actions as benefiting the people, such as reinstating the {{lang|fr|[[parlement]]s}}. When questioned about his decision, he said, "It may be considered politically unwise, but it seems to me to be the general wish and I want to be loved."<ref>Hardman, John. Louis XVI, The Silent King. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. pp. 37–39.</ref> In spite of his indecisiveness, Louis XVI was determined to be a good king, stating that he "must always consult public opinion; it is never wrong."<ref>Andress, David,(2005) ''The Terror'', p. 13</ref> He, therefore, appointed an experienced advisor, [[Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas]] who, until his death in 1781, would take charge of many important ministerial functions.

Among the major events of Louis XVI's reign was his signing of the [[Edict of Versailles]], also known as the Edict of Tolerance, on 7 November 1787, which was registered in the [[Parlement of Paris]] on 29 January 1788. Granting non-Roman Catholics – [[Huguenot]]s and [[Lutheran]]s, as well as [[Jew]]s – civil and legal status in France and the legal right to practice their faiths, this edict effectively nullified the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]] that had been law for 102 years. The Edict of Versailles did not legally proclaim freedom of religion in France – this took two more years, with the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] of 1789 – however, it was an important step in eliminating religious tensions and it officially ended religious persecution within his realm.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120714094231/http://booking-help.org/book_338_glava_314_Edict_of_Versailles_(1787).html Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Ideals, ''Edict of Versailles (1787)'']}}, downloaded 29 January 2012</ref>

=== Economic policies ===
Radical financial reforms by [[Anne Robert Jacques Turgot]] and [[Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes]] angered the nobles and were blocked by the ''parlements'' who insisted that the King did not have the legal right to levy new taxes. So, in 1776, Turgot was dismissed and Malesherbes resigned, to be replaced by [[Jacques Necker]]. Necker supported the [[American Revolution]], and he carried out a policy of taking out large international loans instead of raising taxes. He attempted to gain public favor in 1781 by publishing the first ever accounting of the French Crown's expenses and accounts, the ''[[Compte-rendu au Roi]]''. This misleading publication led the people of France to believe the kingdom ran a modest surplus.<ref>{{cite book|last=Doyle|first=William|title=The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction|year=2001|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York|pages=26–27}}</ref> When this policy of hiding and ignoring the kingdom's financial woes failed miserably, Louis dismissed and replaced him in 1783 with [[Charles Alexandre de Calonne]], who increased public spending to "buy" the country's way out of debt. Again this failed, so Louis convoked the [[Assembly of Notables]] in 1787 to discuss a revolutionary new fiscal reform proposed by Calonne. When the nobles were informed of the true extent of the debt, they were shocked and rejected the plan.

[[File:Le Couronnement de Louis XVI 1775 Silver Medallion.jpg|thumb|left|''"Le Couronnement de Louis XVI"'', 18th century motif by Benjamin Duvivier, coins honouring the 11 June 1775 [[Coronation of Louis XVI]]]]After this, Louis XVI and his new [[Controller-General of Finances]], [[Étienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne]], tried to simply force the Parlement of Paris to register the new laws and fiscal reforms. Upon the refusal of the members of the ''Parlement'', Louis XVI tried to use his absolute power to subjugate them by every means: enforcing in many occasions the registration of his reforms via ''[[Lit de justice]]'' (6 August 1787, 19 November 1787, and 8 May 1788), exiling all ''Parlement'' magistrates to [[Troyes]] as a punishment on 15 August 1787, prohibiting six members from attending parliamentary sessions on 19 November, arresting two very important members of the ''Parlement'', who opposed his reforms, on 6 May 1788, and even dissolving and depriving of all power the "Parlement", replacing it with a plenary court, on 8 May 1788. The failure of these measures and displays of royal power is attributable to three decisive factors. First, the majority of the population stood in favor of the ''Parlement'' against the King, and thus continuously rebelled against him. Second, the royal treasury was financially destitute to a crippling degree, leaving it incapable of sustaining its own imposed reforms. Third, although the King enjoyed as much absolute power as his predecessors, he lacked the personal authority crucial for absolutism to function properly. Now unpopular with both the commoners and the aristocracy, Louis XVI was therefore only very briefly able to impose his decisions and reforms, for periods ranging from 2 to 4 months, before having to revoke them.

[[File:Louis XVI visitant le port de Cherbourg en 1786.jpg|thumb|Louis XVI visiting [[Cherbourg-en-Cotentin|Cherbourg]] in June 1786, on the occasion of the work to put in place a dike (1817 painting)]]As authority dissipated from him and reforms were clearly becoming unavoidable, there were increasingly loud calls for him to convoke the [[Estates General (France)|Estates General]], which had not met since 1614 (at the beginning of the reign of [[Louis XIII]]). As a last-ditch attempt to get new monetary reforms approved, Louis XVI [[Estates General of 1789|convoked the Estates General]] on 8 August 1788, setting the date of their opening on 1 May 1789. With the convocation of the Estates General, as in many other instances during his reign, Louis XVI placed his reputation and public image in the hands of those who were perhaps not as sensitive to the desires of the French population as he was. Because it had been so long since the Estates General had been convened, there was some debate as to which procedures should be followed. Ultimately, the Parlement of Paris agreed that "all traditional observances should be carefully maintained to avoid the impression that the Estates General could make things up as it went along." Under this decision, the King agreed to retain many of the traditions which had been the norm in 1614 and prior convocations of the Estates General, but which were intolerable to a Third Estate (the bourgeoisie) buoyed by recent proclamations of equality. For example, the First and Second Estates (the clergy and nobility respectively) proceeded into the assembly wearing their finest garments, while the Third Estate was required to wear plain, oppressively somber black, an act of alienation that Louis XVI would likely have not condoned. He seemed to regard the deputies of the Estates General with respect: in a wave of self-important patriotism, members of the Estates refused to remove their hats in the King's presence, so Louis removed his to them.<ref>Baecque, Antoine de, ''From Royal Dignity to Republican Austerity: The Ritual for the Reception of Louis XVI in the French National Assembly (1789–1792)'', The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 66, No. 4 (December 1994), p. 675.</ref>

This convocation was one of the events that transformed the general economic and political ''malaise'' of the country into the [[French Revolution]]. In June 1789, the Third Estate unilaterally declared itself the [[National Assembly (French Revolution)|National Assembly]]. Louis XVI's attempts to control it resulted in the [[Tennis Court Oath]] (''serment du jeu de paume''), on 20 June, the declaration of the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]] on 9 July, and eventually to the [[storming of the Bastille]] on 14 July, which started the French Revolution. Within three short months, the majority of the King's executive authority had been transferred to the elected representatives of the Nation.

====Royal spending====

[[File:J.M. Moreau - Souper donné à Louveciennes.jpg|thumb|[[Jean-Michel Moreau]] – Souper donné à [[Louveciennes]] (1771) ]]

The [[Menus-Plaisirs du Roi]] was under the direction of [[Papillon de la Ferté]] and he gave details in his journal about the costs of the performances over the years 1756–1780 in three different palaces.<ref>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k108528n/f3.image/f1n458.pdf?download=1 Journal de Papillon de La Ferté]</ref> The wedding in 1771 was especially costly. The performance of [[Castor et Pollux]] in 1779 when he was visited by his brother-in-law, Joseph II, involved more than 500 people.
Royal household spending in 1788 was 13% of total state expenses (excluding interest on debts).<ref>Finances of Louis XVI (1788) | Nicholas E. Bomba https://blogs.nvcc.edu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110420130803/http://blogs.nvcc.edu/ |date=20 April 2011 }} › nbomba › files › 2016/10</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ixJWG9q0Eo4C | title=Compte rendu au roi, au mois de mars 1788, et publié par ses ordres | year=1788 | publisher=de l'Imprimerie royale }}</ref>