Richelieu, Mazarin and Louis XIV

Thirty years ago, the monolithic absolutism of Louis XIV was still ranked among the most enduring of historical clichès. Under the omnipotent Sun King, bourgeois ministers and intendants systematically reformed and unified the entire kingdom, drawing support from other members of their own rising class. A mighty army, an aggressively gallican religious policy and a flowering of the arts confirmed the impression that this century of dynamic change was indeed the greatest of ages.