History of Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen

All of his decisions--political, military, and personal--were to the end of celebrating and preserving the rejoice of his royalty. Goubert describes how this love for glory served the king well

in the younger and position years but, in the end, served as a sort of display case flaw because he could not see that the masses of pot were bitter from poverty, heavy taxation, and war and were turning against him.

There be no obvious biases in Goubert's approach. He is fair and conjectural in his description of the intricate personal and political relationships that influenced the decisions of Louis xiv. His discourse is positive and friendly with no undue emphasis on personal weaknesses of the king. Goubert's own French nationality gives his work the flair of wiz who loves his country and culture and all associated with it.

The opening chapter sets the scene for the informant of Louis XIV's reign. At the time of the 1660's, the average life expectancy in France was about twenty-five years. Death was a central bit of life. About twenty-five children out of every one nose candy born died before the age of one. Only about cardinal would reach the age of sixty. Young mothers often died in accouchement and men quickly remarried, putting behind them the losses of old wives and children who had died (21).

The economy of France was agricultural. Peasants worked very hard to earn a living, collapse their taxes, and attempt to increase their holdings. The peasant had to perform diver

Goubert describes the conditions at Versailles as extremely crowded. Thirty-six railway yard workers, a complex family, a multitude of gentlemen and servants nearly go down the king and his second wife. At times, refuse in the corridors became so deep that the king and court would seek refuge in a chateau. Rogues and loose women hovered about, in spite of efforts to keep them away. clock was passed in gaming, entertainment, and prayer. By the time he reached fifty, he had operate rather moderate, except in eating. Over-indulging at the table was his nevertheless excess for the remainder of his years (173, 174).

An exceptionally cold overwinter of 1709 froze all the seeds. Fruit trees, walnuts, birds, and beasts died.

Lives were lost due to the cold, and it is said that horizontal the wine froze on the king's table because of the inadequacy of the heating at Versailles (258).

Goubert's masterful work reveals his understanding of the daily lives of the common flock and the nobility and the shifting balance in relating to each other. Louis XIV and the Twenty Million Frenchmen serves as an excellent introduction to France of that time.

A famine in 1693 and 1694 was impossible for Louis to ignore. Shortages of food combined with solitariness from war and a slump in trade meant that throng suffered greatly from poverty and disease. A writer in 1664 detect that poor souls wandered about, weak from hunger. They ate such things as cats, unawares horses, and blood from the slaughtering of cows and oxen. Poor wretches ate roots, herbs, and weeds. These conditions caused much indisposition and decline in marriages and the birth rate (216, 217).

Academies were formed to foster and support artists, craftsmen, and apprentices. They received lodging, material rewards, and protection from outsiders who might direct a threat to their economic security. Illustrious foreigners were also subsidized, to begin with lacemakers and glass-workers (83).

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