The Fronde: The Absolutism Of Louis XIV

The Fronde known in english and Le Fronde known as in french, was a series of civil wars that occurred in France between the years 1648 and 1653. Louis the XIV was in charge during this era and was making an attempt to check the growing power of royal government; its failure prepared the way for the absolutism of Louis XIV’s personal reign. The Fronde was a reaction to the policies that were started under the Cardinal de Richelieu, chief minister of Louis XIII from 1624 to 1642, who had weakened the influence of the nobility and reduced the powers of the judicial bodies, called Parlements. Opposed to the government from these groups gained momentum from 1643 under the “foreign” rule of the queen regent Anne of Austria and her Italian-born chief minister, …show more content…
From June 30 to July 12 an assembly of courts made a list of 27 articles for reform, including abolition of the intendants, tax reductions, approval of all new taxes by the Parliament, and an end to arbitrary imprisonment. A conflict broke into war in January 1649 which caused a blockade in Paris which was not enough to force the surrender of the Parliament. Faced with disturbances in the provinces and the continuing foreign war, the government negotiated the Peace of Rueil, which granted amnesty to the rebels and confirmed the concessions to Parliament. The Fronde of the Princes, was the second phase of the civil war, January 1650 to September 1653, had complex of intrigues, rivalries, and shifts of allegiance in which constitutional issues gave way to personal ambitions. The Great Condé, had helped the government in the war against the Parliament. Disappointed in his hope for political power, he became rebellious. When he was arrested, on Jan. 18, 1650, his friends took up arms in a series of uprisings in the provinces, called the first war of the