Engraving of Louis XIV
Louis and his family portrayed as
Roman gods in a 1670 painting by
Jean Nocret. L to R: Louis's aunt,
Henriette-Marie; his brother,
Philippe, duc d'Orléans; the Duke's
daughter, Marie Louise d'Orléans,
and wife, Henriette-Anne Stuart; the
Queen-mother, Anne of Austria;
three daughters of Gaston
d'Orléans; Louis XIV; the Dauphin
Louis; Queen Marie-Thérèse; la
Grande Mademoiselle.
was persuaded to change his fiscal policy. Though willing enough to tax the nobles, Louis
feared the political concessions which they would demand in return. Only towards the
close of his reign under the extreme exigency of war, was he able, for the first time in
French history, to impose direct taxes on the aristocracy. This was a step toward equality
before the law and toward sound public finance, though it was predictably diminished by
concessions and exemptions won by the insistent efforts of nobles and bourgeois.[35]
Louis and Colbert also had wide-ranging plans to grow French commerce and trade.
Colbert's mercantilist administration established new industries and encouraged
manufacturers and inventors, such as the Lyon silk manufacturers and the Gobelins
tapestry manufactory. He invited manufacturers and artisans from all over Europe to
France, such as Murano glassmakers, Swedish ironworkers, and Dutch shipbuilders. He
aimed to decrease imports while increasing French exports, hence reducing the net outflow
of precious metals from France.
Louis instituted reforms in military administration through Michel le Tellier and his son
François-Michel le Tellier, successive Marquis de Louvois. They helped to curb the
independent spirit of the nobility, imposing order on them at court and in the army. Gone were the days when generals protracted
war at the frontiers while bickering over precedence and ignoring orders from the capital and the larger strategic picture, with the
old military aristocracy (noblesse d'épée, nobility of the sword) monopolizing senior military positions and the higher ranks.
Louvois modernized the army and reorganised it into a professional, disciplined, well-trained force. He was devoted to the
soldiers' material well-being and morale, and even tried to direct campaigns.
Louis's legal reforms were enacted in his numerous Great Ordinances. Prior to that, France
was a patchwork of legal systems, with as many traditional legal regimes as there were
provinces, and two co-existing legal systems—customary law in the north and Roman civil
law in the south.[36] The Grande Ordonnance de Procédure Civile of 1667, the CodeLouis, was a comprehensive legal code imposing a uniform regulation of civil procedure
throughout the kingdom. Among other things, it prescribed baptismal, marriage and death
records in the state's registers, not the church's, and it strictly regulated the right of the
Parlements to remonstrate.[37] The Code Louis later became the basis for the Napoleonic
code, which in turn inspired many modern legal codes.
One of Louis's more infamous decrees was the Grande Ordonnance sur les Colonies of
1685, the Code Noir (black code). Although it sanctioned slavery, it attempted to humanise
the practice by prohibiting the separation of families. Additionally, in the colonies, only
Roman Catholics could own slaves, and these had to be baptised.
Louis ruled through a number of councils:
Conseil d'en haut ("High Council", concerning the most important matters ofstate)—composed of the king, the crown prince, the controller-general offinances, and the secretaries of state in charge of various departments. Themembers of that council were called ministers of state.
Conseil des dépêches ("Council of Messages", concerning notices and administrative reports from the provinces).
Conseil de Conscience ("Council of Conscience", concerning religious affairs and episcopal appointments).