Answering Questions on the Ascendancy of France, 1589-1715
Richard Wilkinson examines the examiner’s agenda and advises accordingly.
The Problem
By May 1610 France had made a halting and partial recovery from the Wars of Religion which had plagued French society since the death of Henri II in 1559. This recovery, however, was severely jeopardised when its architect, the popular and pragmatic Henri IV, was stabbed to death in his coach by a suicidal fundamentalist. The French state's enemies both at home and abroad sharpened their knives in pleasurable anticipation.
Historian and examiners alike are fascinated by the outcome. For France did not relapse into a second dark age. She not only survived but became the arbiter of Europe, while at home the crown in the persons of the strange Louis XIII (1610-1643) and the splendiferous Louis XIV (1643-1715) dominated society as never before. It was la grande siècle abroad and the age of absolutism at home. How can this achievement be explained?
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