Monarchy - Strength of renaissance kingship under Francis I (change)

He ordered the Bishop of Paris to stop the persecution against Cop.

October 1534 - They were sacramentarian denunciation of the Eucharist - they were violently offensive to the Catholic Mass and stated that priests were antichrists and that transubstantiation was the doctrine of the devils.

They did not necessarily harden his views as he had never tolerated such doctrine but it did move him to act against radicals and clarified the devision between reform and heresy.

The religion of the rebels and a threat to national order

They were a minority

1538 - it freed Francis from the need to court German princes + he recognised that greater powers over heresy were needed in Parlements in order to isolate Protestants.

1540 - gave the parlement overall control of heresy jurisdiction = shows that Protestantism was making headway in France.

-his ability to centralise government and lay the foundations for absolutism

-ability to collect taxation

-maintain law

- no Estates Generals = only in 1527 did he call an Assembly of Notables which compromised leading clerics, nobles and parlementaries - this acted as an extension of the King's council and to a great extent was controlled by the King himself.

Over 10,000 men forced  the royal commissioners out of the localities. The revolt was stopped by the King's personal intervention (aspect of strong monarchy) in La Rouchelle to pass judgement on the rebels.

Few noble revolts (although most of them were fighting in the italian wars). The old nobility remained loyal to the crown and helped to implement royal policy on the localities. EXCEPTION = Charles of Bourbon = even in periods of strong monarchy the nobility remained a potential threat. 

- Francis laid claim on Bourbon's land

- COB looked abroad for support = alliance with Charles V and Henry VIII

- Bourbon defeated (the most powerful nobleman in France)

The parlement of Rouen refused to ratify it so Francis closed it doen  until 1541 when he was satisfied with the loyalty of  its members. The Ordinance was passed in 1540.

Advance his own authority - any other developments were a by-product of his central aim. Promoting nationhood was not his primary intention.

He had promoted nation state, but France was still some way off territorial, legal and linguistic unity. ALTHOUGH in 1526, Burgundy pledged their loyalty to the French crown in the wake of Francis I's capture in Pavia = Francis had created a sense of belonging.

Through the use of provincial governors, baillis and maitres des requetes = royal control over provinces was increasing.

- The parlements still had to ratify legislation

- Provincial estates had to grant subsidies 

- Tax collection was granted by provincial estates

- The King could not erode local traditions and priviledges

- Renaissance monarchs who were interested in good government (Francis was more extravagant in terms of patronage, court life and expenditure)

- The rationale for war remained the same (though the scale and expense of war increased under FI)

- Both looked to u=increase royal revenue + make government more efficient

- Both benefited from a period of long, stable rule and economic prosperity 

- Neither faced much noble faction

Louis was more willing to rule with the advice of the parlements.

For the first time we see devisions = Catholic unity was under threat.

Representative institutions and the power of the nobility.

FWOR - local privilege and parochialism took hold.

New parlements in Provence & Rouen (LXII & FI)

Introduction of royal offers in the provinces e.g. gens de finances (LXII)

1538 - FI ignores the grievances of local estates in Albi and collects his subsidy

HII - collects the taillon from estates in Normandy whilst billeting troops there

His personal character & longevity of his rule

It emphasised the unique relationship between the French monarchy and the Catholic Church. The French King had the papal endorsement of 'rex christianissimus' meaning the Most Christian King. 

He had a willingness to reform and in particular to define clearly the powers of regional officials and make them accountable to the crown.

1504

A political treatise called The Monarchy of France (1515) - even Seyssell shows that monarchs were strong but not absolute as they had to answer to localities

Nobles - FI has to re-establish his authority over the nobles after he was captured at Pavia = shows how important it is to have more power than the nobles.

The started to codify the legal system under LXII

An enlightened means of improving Catholicism - context very different from the growth of Calvinism.

Continuity: 

- strong personal kingship

- fights in Italy

- bureaucracy and administration

- nation state = provinces becoming part of France

Change:

- beginning of religious disunity - he unwittingly encourages radical ideas = by his death Calvinism is already making headway

- eroding provincialism 

Centralisation had only marginally increased under LXII as only 8 royal officials were implemented under his gens de finances whereas FI made great headway with one royal official every 45km by 1547 whereas there had only been 1 every 60km in 1515. Yet HII made greater headway, making a 25% increase on his FI's tax - although arguably this would not have been possible without FI's initial progress.