0:00:06 > 0:00:07Bonjour!
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Welcome to Inside Versailles, where we're going to go straight in
0:00:09 > 0:00:13to an exciting discussion about one of my favourite subjects - power.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16And we are joined by Dr Joanne Paul.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19And the first thing, really, we should talk about here
0:00:19 > 0:00:22is Louis XIV - most powerful man in Europe,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25- perhaps, or certainly that's how he wants to be seen.- Absolutely.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29- And absolutely is the word.- Yes! - He's an absolutist monarch.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32- This is the phrase we use.- Yes. - What does that mean?
0:00:32 > 0:00:36It means that he has absolute power, as you said.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39He's the centre of all the power in France or, at least,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42as you say, wants to be seen that way - he wants to be
0:00:42 > 0:00:44the centre of it all, really.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Versailles is the biggest possible symbol of power, isn't it?
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Not just because it's so expensive, but also because all these nobles,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54who are used to living on their private country estates,
0:00:54 > 0:00:56now have to come and live under the eyes of his spies.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Yeah, he really takes them away from their own centres of power
0:01:00 > 0:01:03and brings them to his centre of power.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06And bringing them all together and doing things like having
0:01:06 > 0:01:09these court masques, which are very expensive.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13Yeah, here we have a portrait that's commemorating a court masque,
0:01:13 > 0:01:17and you can see the entire family of Louis dressed as these sort of
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23All the portraits we've seen have got Louis in the centre but,
0:01:23 > 0:01:25- here, he's just slightly to the side.- Yeah.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27What's the point of this? Is it power?
0:01:27 > 0:01:32- Well, it certainly is about power, but not necessarily Louis's.- Ah.
0:01:32 > 0:01:33This was commissioned by Philippe.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37Louis is dressed as Apollo, as he usually is, the Sun King.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41But Philippe has given himself the role of the Morning Star who,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45of course, heralds the sun and comes in before the sun does.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48So it is about these hierarchies of power,
0:01:48 > 0:01:52- but this one is all about Philippe. - How does Louis make decisions?
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Does he listen to advice or is it simply that, what he says,
0:01:55 > 0:01:56they have to put into power?
0:01:56 > 0:02:01Louis is very, very clear about the separation of counsel and command.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04So, at 22, when he comes in and decides he's going to rule himself,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07he very clearly tells his counsellors that I will
0:02:07 > 0:02:09consult you, I will listen to you,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12but I get to make the final decision, I'm the one who commands.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15And then you have this debate going on between the absolutists,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19who think that Parlement is really just there to register
0:02:19 > 0:02:22the King's edicts in the sense of sort of proclaiming them,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24and then you have the constitutionalists, who think that
0:02:24 > 0:02:28you're giving your consent, your stamp of approval, to these edicts.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Now, of course, Louis sides with the absolutists.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35And so, what Louis attempts to do is to chip away, really,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38at the power of the Parliament to resist his edicts.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42So they have this right of remonstrance - the right to say,
0:02:42 > 0:02:43no, we don't like what you're saying,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46we're not going to put our stamp of approval on it.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50And he starts to take away some of that power to the point that
0:02:50 > 0:02:53they're not even allowed to delay when they register an edict -
0:02:53 > 0:02:56- they have to do it right away. - Right.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01And he also takes away their power to call the King down and
0:03:01 > 0:03:02voice their concerns about the edicts.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05He says, I don't really want to go down there any more.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07And so, by chipping away at this power,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10he's really sort of saying, well, no, I have the power.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Power cannot be divided. It has to be from one source.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18There's a great line in the episode where Philippe says,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20"You've taken your clothes off, you've shown us your frailty."
0:03:20 > 0:03:24And that seems to me to be the crux of it - if you show your frailty,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27it could undermine this whole house of cards.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Precisely, and he's getting that a lot from Renaissance texts
0:03:30 > 0:03:34that emphasised reputation - that the reputation of
0:03:34 > 0:03:36a monarch was really everything.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40And so, you could be as full of vice and frailty as you like, sort of
0:03:40 > 0:03:44on the inside, but you had to give this great show of glory,
0:03:44 > 0:03:49this performance, this sort of court masque attitude towards things.
0:03:49 > 0:03:50And Louis is, in fact,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53the one who sort of invites in that close scrutiny
0:03:53 > 0:03:56by making his home really this performance.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58It means that he has to keep up that act.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02And how much does this interest in divine power set him against
0:04:02 > 0:04:05the religious aspects of court, because, essentially, if you're
0:04:05 > 0:04:08saying, God speaks through me, isn't that the role of the priest?
0:04:08 > 0:04:12Louis thinks that, within France, the kings have a right to decide
0:04:12 > 0:04:15about the Catholic Church and the Pope doesn't actually have
0:04:15 > 0:04:17any power to do that.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20So it is a little bit contrary to the Church, in some ways,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23that he claims this direct divine right.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Which means, what, the King has been appointed by God?
0:04:26 > 0:04:28And that the people have no right to resist him.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30And so, if you get a bad king,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33it's actually God's punishment and you have to endure it -
0:04:33 > 0:04:36- you can't try to overthrow the King or anything like that.- Harsh!
0:04:36 > 0:04:39And the greatest symbol of all of Louis's power was Versailles,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42so perhaps we should go and talk a bit more about it.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43Absolutely.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46When you look at Versailles, it looks so beautiful -
0:04:46 > 0:04:49this incredible place, beautifully laid out,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52yet, to so many of the nobles in there, it was a pure prison.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Versailles is one of his greatest tools of power as well as
0:04:56 > 0:04:57expressions of power.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00You can see in the gardens, for instance,
0:05:00 > 0:05:04this great sign of man's power over nature and the sort of rationalism.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06- As you tame it.- Absolutely.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11And even the sort of untamed bits were designed to control
0:05:11 > 0:05:13people's emotions, in certain ways.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17And so, there was a sort of rational irrationalism going on,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19or maybe irrational rationalism, but, either way,
0:05:19 > 0:05:24it was all controlled and all designed in a specific way.
0:05:24 > 0:05:25At this point,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28he doesn't care about the ordinary people of Paris or wherever.
0:05:28 > 0:05:29Not really, no.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33They make up France and he is France but, beyond that,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36he's certainly not interested in the vox populi -
0:05:36 > 0:05:37the voice of the people.
0:05:37 > 0:05:38It's not important to him.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41So, to Louis, the working classes aren't really anything more than
0:05:41 > 0:05:43just someone for him to make money out of.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45You also see that a bit with the aristocracy -
0:05:45 > 0:05:48that, basically, they're just there for him to make cash out of.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52I mean, every episode, they are gambling for these huge stakes.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55Yeah, they were gambling about three times a week within Versailles,
0:05:55 > 0:06:01and gambling was one of another ways in which Louis controls his nobles.
0:06:01 > 0:06:02By getting them to gamble,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06he's essentially taxing them without actually taxing them,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09cos you can't tax the nobles in France, and raising taxes in general
0:06:09 > 0:06:13is a sure-fire way, if you're a monarch, to lose your head.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15- Bit unpopular. - It doesn't really work.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17And he has lots of examples
0:06:17 > 0:06:19from recent history to remind him of that.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23So, instead, he gets them to sort of tax themselves
0:06:23 > 0:06:25while also appeasing them,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28keeping them fairly happy and keeping them in Versailles.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Versailles really is the seat of Louis's power.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33Joanne, that's been fascinating.
0:06:33 > 0:06:34Thank you so much for joining us,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38and thank you too for joining us this evening on Inside Versailles.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41- See you next week. Bonsoir.- Bonsoir.