INTRODUCTION

I. THE AGE OF MOLIÈRE

FRENCH literature of the seventeenth century is so closely connected with the Monarchy at the period of its greatest expansion, and at the beginning of its decline, that a few pages must be devoted to the historical and social aspect of this epoch.

The sixteenth century closed on a country exhausted by civil war but hopeful for the future. Henry IV was firmly seated on the throne, and he had secured liberty of

Political

conscience by the Edict of Nantes (April 1598). Survey. The whole nation was tired of strife and yearned for order and prosperity. By wise administration Henry set himself to realize the aim jokingly expressed in the wish that there might be a fowl for every peasant to put into his pot on the Sunday. The rigid economy of Henry's chief Minister, Sully, was so successful that in a decade the burden of national debt was removed, and there was a substantial reserve. Agriculture was so encouraged as to become the national reservoir of wealth drawn on by the whole country, and particularly by the large towns, which grew in prosperity and importance. On the murder of Henry in 1610 France entered into a troubled period of political uncertainty. The Queen Regent allowed herself to be guided by foreign favourites, old religious differences were revived, strife between the nobles and the royal power became accentuated. Out of this turmoil emerged a figure destined to become for

some twenty years the chief actor on the European stage— -Armand du Plessis, Cardinal de Richelieu. Never did a more energetic mind inhabit a frail body or a more military spirit burn in a Prince of the Church. In France he combated Protestantism as an opponent to the growth of the royal power; abroad he upheld Protestantism in its struggle against Catholicism and the Spanish power. He was the first politician of his age, and has himself succinctly outlined his policy to ruin the Huguenot party—that is, as a political party, to abase the pride of the nobles, to bring back all subjects to their duty, and to raise France to her fitting dignity among foreign nations. By the fall of La Rochelle (1628), by the reduction of Protestant resistance in the South and the Treaty of Alais (1629), the danger of a divided country was reduced to insignificant proportions. Through the force of his own powerful personality Richelieu succeeded in placing the royal power above representative assemblies, above the nobility, above religious institutions. The power of the Parlement (a body of lawyers whose duties were chiefly advisory, cf. p. xiii) was reduced to the merest shadow. The nobles were shorn of their influence in the royal councils. The people were reduced to a state of tax-paying servitude. Richelieu could now turn his attention to foreign affairs. Through the skilful use of national and allied forces, France became supreme in parts of Alsace and Lorraine, and gained great ascendency in Italy, while Spain was weakened by the revolt of Catalonia, the declaration of independence by Portugal, and the defeat of her fleet by the English and Dutch.

The death of Richelieu took place in December 1642, and that of Louis XIII in May 1643. During the five months' interval between Richelieu's death and his own, Louis XIII had made arrangements for State affairs to be managed during the minority of Louis XIV-now five years old-by a Council of Regency, with the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, as President, other members being the

Duke of Orleans (the King's brother), Condé (a distant cousin), and four nominees of Richelieu, the most important of whom was Mazarin. This Council soon divided into camps; the Queen Mother and Mazarin on the one hand had to battle with all the forces of reaction on the other, and the sordid and unsavoury struggle known as the Fronde began the Parlement demanding, among other things, reform of taxation and the establishment of a law like that of Habeas Corpus, the people demanding chiefly relief of taxation, the nobles striving to regain their old political influence. So that during the first war of the Fronde we have Parlement, nobles, and people united against the Court and Mazarin. However, the Parlement party, dreading lest matters should follow the same lines as contemporary events in England (Charles was a prisoner at Carisbrooke Castle), came to an agreement with the Court and withdrew from the struggle (Oct. 1648). But the nobles were more tenacious. It is impossible to follow the plottings and secessions of the nobles among themselves, in which we find Condé and Turenne now for and now against the Court. Not merely did Paris and the surrounding districts suffer, but also Normandy, Poitou, Guyenne, and Bordeaux; and the cruelty of the troops of the nobles and their foreign mercenaries resulted in the greatest excesses against the poor peasantry. The people of Paris, holding the municipal officers responsible for maladministration, rose against them and massacred a number of them in the Town Hall, and forced the Queen and the young King to retire to St. Germains. The Fronde in the provinces assumed a serious aspect at Bordeaux, and this town was for a time under a democratic government. However, the diplomacy of Mazarin, now united to the personal influence. of the young King, who had declared himself of age in 1651, was finally successful. The results that emerged from the struggle were that the Parlement had lost all its political influence, the cause and estates of the nobles were ruined, and the people were more impoverished than ever. Internal

opposition being overcome, the frontiers were consolidated and Spanish interference rendered improbable by the marriage of Louis with the Infanta Maria Theresa.

Mazarin died in March 1661, and henceforth Louis will be his own first Minister, henceforth the principal offices of State will be in the hands of Ministers chosen from the middle classes, whom the King can make and unmake. Yet Louis obtained the services of some remarkable menFouquet, the Superintendent of the Finances; Lionne and Louvois as military administrators; and particularly Colbert, whose activities were general.

Although by his marriage contract Louis had abjured any claims to Spanish territory, Philip IV of Spain (the Queen's father) was no sooner dead (1665) than Louis laid claim to such portions of the Spanish Netherlands as should secure his northern frontiers. Most of the large towns in the provinces which now form the northern départements of France fell to his arms under capable leaders like Turenne and Vauban; later also Franche-Comté was added. After the conclusion of the Peace of Nijmegen, 1678, and the Truce of Ratisbon in 1684, Louis appeared to be at the zenith of his power.

In theory the King governed absolutely, but his edicts were registered by the Parlements. The name may give rise to confusion, so it may be stated that the Parlement of Paris was the supreme judicial court of appeal in France, Constitu- and that it tenaciously held to its right to discuss

tion.

royal edicts.

In case of resistance, the King attended in person, held what was known as a lit de justice, and registration of the royal edict took place 'under constraint of force.' There were also here and there provincial parlements, a relic of the times when duchies such Guyenne, Burgundy, etc., had been under independent dukes, before they were incorporated under the central power of the King of France. These provincial parlements were similar in function to the Parlement of Paris but of

as

less importance. Parlement was then mainly the instrument of monarchy, whereas, as we shall see, the States general could claim to be the defence of national privileges.

The

Three

The three estates of the realm-clergy, nobility, and people (or tiers état)—were first convoked in a States general by Philippe le Bel in 1302, when the King, excommunicated by the Pope, sought the support of his people. From 1302 till 1614 the States general Estates. met some twenty times, and the reason for their convocation was usually either great financial or political stress; subsequent to 1614 no States general were summoned till May 1789, the eve of the Revolution. If the history of these meetings of the States seems a record of proposals rather than achievements, their very existence was an admission that the nation had a right to be consulted both as to its government and its taxation.

For purposes of taxation and local administration the kingdom was divided into pays d'élection and pays d'états. The former owed this name to the fact that financial

Local

officers appointed by the King, called élus, were Adminisentrusted with matters of taxation, whereas the pays "tration. d'états were those provinces which retained a certain amount of local autonomy.

Provincial

States.

The chief provincial States were those of Languedoc, Burgundy, Dauphiny, Artois, Normandy, and Brittany. These were held in an important town within the area of the States' jurisdiction; they were opened by a royal commissioner, generally the Governor of the province, and they were often presided over by the chief local Church dignitary; e.g. the Archbishop of Narbonne was the perpetual president of the States of Languedoc, and the Archbishop of Marseilles of those of Provence. The period of their sittings was often limited by royal decree, as well as the matter of their deliberations. The session of the States meant to the members or deputies a very welcome opportunity for meeting, and a source of income to the town chosen