VI. LE ROI-SOLEIL, L'ANTI-CAPITALISTE ULTIME

 

"MAD" VERSAILLES AND QUASHING PROTESTANTS ARE PUZZLES THAT WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND. 

Raised to think economic growth a necessity, we rarely consider the destabilization it brings or grasp that pre-capitalist, agricultural societies suppressed it. 

Louis XIV didn't think in that way either, but in terms of grandeur and doing God's will. By destroying resources on an unimaginable scale and crushing "heresy," he protected the status quo for generations. 

Building the Chateau of Versailles by Adam Frans van der Meulen, 1669 / zoom

The painting shows no water, not even the barrels in which it was brought.

 

Dragonnade (detail) by Maurice Leloir in Le Roy Soleil by Gustave Toudouze, 1931

Siccing dragoons onto Protestants unless they converted forced them to accept the traditional barriers to gain.

In brief

• The monarchy's string of palaces

• Waterless Versailles

• Gargantuan works bring water to the site 

• Outlawing Protestants brings capitalists to heel

• Detour: a faith specific to France

• Controls on profit start to crack

*     *    *

Versailles takes containing growth
farther than ever imagined. 
But when capitalism expands regardless,  
Louis turns to violence.