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The Institution of the Absolute Monarchy and “the Revolution of 1661”: The change of Status and Composition of the Royal Council

  • Korean Review of French History
  • Abbr : KRFH
  • 2007, (17), pp.65~90
  • Publisher : KOREAN SOCIETY FOR FRENCH HISTORY
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

LIM Seung Hwi 1

1선문대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study aims to follow the development of the institution of the Royal Council during the absolute monarchy of the Bourbons, especially of Louis XIV, “le roi Soleil”. The Royal Council was the important arms of royal power. The Council, one of the ancient traditions of the French Monarchy, began to be established a government organ. In this article, we have tried to verify the institutional status and the political nature of this Council, and to trace the conversion which this organ experienced during the absolute monarchy of Bourbons, especially after 1661, the year when Louis XIV has declared the personal government without the first minister. The Royal Council was the government organ by which the king exercise his power in the juridical form. At the reign of the first king of the Bourbons, the Royal Council, in principle, represented the Court. But after 1661, the Royal Council has changed its nature, and become the fictive and mythic symbol of the absolute monarchy of France. The form of government was officially juridical, but the execution of the power was not. The political and financial décisions were made by only one person, the king or the ‘contrôleur général’, for whom the Royal Council became a great surface.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.