After having enjoyed a great popularity which was worth the nickname of “Beloved to him”, Louis XV, intelligent but disillusioned monarch and sybarite, died in the general contempt of his people, at the end of a reign which had known an extraordinary economic advancement and intellectual.

In 1723, the young person Louis XV, who has just been proclaimed major, is not yet, at thirteen years, able to inaugurate in the facts his personal government.

On the councils of its tutor, Fleury, it charges the duke with Bourbon with fulfilling the functions of Prime Minister. The healthiest decision of this beginning of reign, in the middle of disorders generated by the dearness of the grains and the institution of new taxes, is fixing, on on June 15th, 1726, of the value-money of the book tournaments to 5.25 G: a feature is thus definitively drawn on the unhappy experiment from Law, and monetary stability will not be without effect on the beautiful economic growth of the century.

Whereas the duke of Bourbon thinks of engaging France in a conflict against Austria and Spain, Louis XV returns it and entrusts the ministry to Fleury, which, soixante-treize years, reaches the highest responsibilities for the State: he will exert them until January 1743, after having known a late political success, but one exceptional duration.  

The influence of Fleury  
Foreign policy
Hercules de Fleury, holder in 1698 of the poor bishopric of Frejus, was designated in 1715 at the station of tutor of the small Dolphin, the future Louis XV: he thus could inculcate in his pupil, in addition to a devotion sincere nun, the prudence of which it is necessary to use to control the kingdom in the interest of the people. In the field of the foreign politics, Fleury fraudulently registered against the quarrelsome diplomacy of the Sun king and dream before very guaranteeing peace. Helped in that by the Walpole English, with whom it is dependant of a reciprocal regard, it thinks before very containing the ambitions of the two powers most frustrated at the conclusion of the treaty of Utrecht, Spain and Austria. To arrive to its ends, he does not hesitate to reinforce the links between catholic France and the maritime and Protestant powers of Europe of the North-West. Consequently, joining again with a policy followed before him by Richelieu and Mazarin, Fleury manages to preserve European balance. And when the international tensions are made more sharp, as after the death of Auguste II, Electeur of Saxony and king de Pologne, the French intervention to contain the appetites of the continental great powers such as Russia and Austria is carried out with celerity, thus at the time of the war of succession of Poland in 1733: in 1738, during the negotiations which mark the end of this one, France obtains the fastening of Lorraine. The annexation of Corsica, in 1768, will then come to supplement this policy of enlarging of the kingdom.  

Religious policy
In the politico-monk field, Fleury also acts with much circumspection vis-a-vis resurgences of the parliamentary opposition, which, readily, fact causes common with the Jansenists (in particular at the time of the continuations of the business of the Unigenitus bubble which, in 1713, had condemned the puritanism) for better continuing vis-a-vis the king. He also manages not to push the Protestant minority with aggravation. The law, resulting from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, is applied with much reserve, and the judgments with the galleys rarefy: the first parochial registers of Protestant acts will appear in 1744; reformed are again tolerated in the kingdom.

Economy of the kingdom
Agriculture
As nearly 85 % of the French are still the rural ones, agriculture remains the base of the economy. However the year 1740, particularly bad (the cold and the rain destroyed harvests), watch although times changed: this year, the crisis frumentaire did not cause the terrible points of mortality which one had known at the previous century. Henceforth, carried by the rise of the cereal prices, French agriculture started a vigorous growth which it will continue throughout the century, thus supporting the rise of the population, which passes from 19 million in 1720 to nearly 26 million in 1774. Even if it is necessary to include in this increase the addition of Lorraine then Corsicans, it is a remarkable progression. Also, to increase the food resources available, small progress multiplies. One can note as of 1730 the attempts to make move back the fallow and soften the constraints of the rotations. In the large farms of the Paris region, the fodder cultures carry it even on bread grains. Consequently, if the productivity of the grounds remains unchanged, the rise of the breeding, the marked improvement of the marketing of the grains and the still timid but promising appearance of new and specialized cultures let forecast a great prosperity for the owners of the ground and the holders of negotiable surpluses. It is true in the Paris basin as in Flanders, in the Toulouse South or the Of Bordeaux one, even in southernmost Brittany. However, of the remote regions remain.

French agriculture lets live in precariousness a mass of days laborer, who, for lack of means, remain from day to day by renting their arms in the farmers and the plowmen: this pauperism still involves on the occasion many dramas when a crisis frumentaire occurs, especially in the pockets of poverty, like the Massif Central, which are unaware of the global growth of the productions.

Transportation routes
Parallel to agricultural progress, the improvement of the highway network is decisive. This one must much with the action of the general inspector of Finances, Philibert Orry, which promulgated in 1738 a circular on the drudgeries making it possible to requisition the bordering rural populations of main road: in 1782, France will have 30 000 km of new motor-roads. The School of the Highways Departments knows in 1743, under the impulse of Trudaine, its true starting. Other technical training schools make their appearance in the years which follow, of which the School of the genius of Wall, matrix of the future Polytechnic school.  

Industry
Framed by the body of the inspectors of manufactures, which take care of the maintenance of a production of quality, carried by the opening of the markets which do not cease multiplying, organized by traders always more undertaking, French industry, between 1723 and 1743, starts it also its upswing. In Amiens, in Beauvais, in Sedan, the production of wool fabrics makes sometimes more than to double. In Saint-Quentin, Valencians or in the Breton cities, the fabrics of flax are increasingly numerous on the market. The Lyons silk trade thrives while the sales of ices of Saint-Gobain multiply. As many indices which illustrate the installation of a process of industrialization easily supporting the comparison with growth rates of English industry. Ensuring the richness of the commercial manufacturers of the city, this industrialization allows many peasants who profit from the extension of the domestic industry to find thus incomes complementary.

Cleansed finances
This prosperity facilitates the task of the general inspectors who follow one another Finances. The State being anxious to limit its interventions outside the borders, financial great balances of the kingdom are again gradually assured. In 1738 and 1740, Orry even manages to release a light surplus of the budget revenue and to thus join again with the results obtained at the time of the first years of the ministry of Colbert. However, the rise of the taxes remains moderate, in December of the growth of the national revenue. The enrichment of the kingdom, the limitation of the ambitions of the State and the rigor of ministerial management thus combine their effects to cleanse royal finances temporarily.

Madame de Pompadour
Once broken its engagement to the young Spanish infante and quickly married in 1725 with the girl of king Stanislas, dethroned of Poland, Marie Leszczyska, who will give him ten children, the king sacrifices very quickly to his passions. He faces in particular the Church and the devout party while posting himself with the duchess of Chateauroux. Then it makes of Mrs. de Pompadour, mistress declared of 1745 to 1750 and confidante listened until her death, in 1764, the center of the court. Beautiful, intelligent, resulting from this one, financial world made and demolishes the governments. Orry, Maurepas then Machault will owe him, for a good portion, their disgrace. Choiseul, conversely, will be indebted for him of its ministerial promotion. Hostile with the Jesuits and the devout party who, led by the Dolphin and the girls of the king, vilify his scandalous control, it supports the physiocrats and the philosophers, lending an attentive ear to Quesnay, but also to Voltaire, to Jean-Jacques Rousseau or with the promoters of the Encyclopedia. Equipped with a real artistic sensitivity, she exerts a true patronage: one owes him the place of the Harmony in Paris as well as many tables ordered To stop, in Van Loo or Quentin of the Tower.  

The interior policy  
The devout party
Recruiting until in the entourage close to the king, this one is animated mainly by the Jesuits. He wants to preserve the role of the pope near the Church of France while fighting to make respect the authority of Louis XV vis-a-vis the members of Parliament. Outside, this party preaches the alliance of the catholic powers against Protestant Europe of the North-West.

Parliaments
Courts of justice, the Parliaments sit at Toulouse, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Dijon, Rouen, Aix, Rennes, Pau, Metz, Besancon and Douai. But it is that of Paris which plays a crucial role at the sides of monarchy. Extending its jurisdiction on a very vast spring, this last, in addition to its functions of justice, records the laws. Also it of cease does not have, during all the reign of Louis XV, to be opposed to the tax edicts in order to safeguard the privileges of the aristocracy.  

Puritanism
Theological doctrines initially, the puritanism teach that only the grace can push the faithful one towards the good. But this grace, granted to a small number of elected officials, requires a faith with any test. The Jansenists, who recruit especially in broad fractions of the middle-class - particularly that of dress -, cultivate a mentality of opposition consequently. They fight unceasingly against the Jesuits. They are drawn up against any policy too favorable to the Protestants. Lastly, they frequently dispute the authority without division of the king.  

Gallicanism
This word was forged to the XIX E century. But the current of thought which it indicates traverses all the French history since the Middle Ages. They is a set of attitudes and a body of doctrines which mainly seeks to ensure the autonomy of the Church of France with regard to the pope. At the XVIIIe century, the Parliament is the spearhead of the gallicanism.  

A difficult international situation
Disappeared Fleury, the French diplomacy changed course. With the death of the emperor of Austria Charles VI, a new period of uncertainty opens in Europe. At the court, the party antiautrichien, supported by a public opinion austrophobe, is increasingly eager to break European balance with the profit of France. Consequently, the perenniality of the Protestant friendships of the North-East and North east put in danger, because England could not admit a French hegemony on the continent. The marshal of Saxony, large strategist, beats the Anglo-Dutchmen with Fontenoy (May 1745), then takes the control of the Austrian Netherlands. But they are only successes of prestige, which the victories of Rocourt (1746) and Lawfeld (1747) supplement. Louis XV considers that the kingdom is completed and is not unaware of that any expansionist policy would be worth in France to be continuously badgered by the British, the Austrians or the Dutchmen. The treaty of Aachen, if it devotes the apogee of the power of France in Europe, displeases with the public opinion: the king returned all his conquests and “worked for the king of Prussia”.  

However the international situation remains tended. Strong of the support of England, Prussia attacks Austria in 1756, which causes an inversion of alliances and obliges the French Armies to intervene to preserve European balance. But the defeats follow one another for the troops of Louis XV, so much on ground, against Prussia (Rossbach, 1757), that on sea and on the other side of the Atlantic, against the English. With the treaty of Paris (February 1763), the French government will give up its possessions of India and Canada.  

The attempt at tax reform of Machault
The reversal of the French diplomacy leads to the installation of an axis Paris-Vienna-Madrid, placed under the aegis of pope. Inside the kingdom, the catholic party feels consolidated. On bottom of dispute parliamentary and antijansenist, it is caught some first of all with the attempt at tax reform of Machault.  

Appointed general inspector of Finances in 1747, this one wishes to find the balance in the budget put at evil by the war. In 1749, it projects to create a new tax, twentieth, which would weigh on the net incomes of all the subjects of the king, including on those of the privileged people. At the latter, the outcry is general. But if the Parliament of Paris capitulates, high clergy made face with pugnacity. Initially, Louis XV supports his minister with firmness. But then, by a reversal of which it is usual, the king gives up it: Louis XV has just taken a turning whose consequences will appear dramatic for finances and the stability of the kingdom.  

However antagonism between the king and the Parliament of the capital takes an increasingly sharp turning. In April 1753, the high court is put in legal strike and affirms “natural defender of the fundamental laws of the kingdom”. The king exiles the Parisian members of Parliament, who, very quickly, obtain the support of their colleagues of province. Afterwards many adventures, Louis XV ends by repudiating Machault and amnestying the Parisian members of Parliament (September 1754): from now on, the king must take into account an political opposition, the Parliaments, which claim to represent the nation but which especially takes care to defend the privileges and the prerogatives of an aristocratic caste.  

The spirit subversive of the century
As in echo with this opposition of a part of the world of the elites to the “royal despotism”, the middle of the century sees appearing various works which will largely contribute to give on the Lights their subversive character. Montesquieu publishes spirit of the laws (1748), Diderot the philosophical Thoughts (1746) and the Letter on the blind men (1749), Voltaire the Century of Louis XIV (1751), Rousseau, finally, delivers its Speech on the origin and the bases of the inequality among the men (1755). In 1751 the first volume of the Encyclopedia of Diderot and Alembert appears. It is there the kick-off of a publication which, with 25 ' 000 complete collections of 17 volumes sold the day before 1789, will be one of the greatest best-seller of the XVIII E century. By the recourse to the critical reason, the Lights engage little by little the questioning of monarchy and the dispute of the established powers.  

The epic of Chuck, chivalrous defrauder who puts France of Center-Is in boiling, which coincides, in 1754-1755, with the parliamentary crisis and Jansenist, is revealing of a ditch which goes widening between the aspirations of an increasingly enlightened public opinion and the decisions of a monarch too not very anxious to preserve his image and his authority. However, unhappy Damiens which, on on January 5th, 1757 with the castle of Versailles, carries a blow of penknife to the king will be tortured and quartered.  

The era Choiseul (1758-1770): relaxation by the compromises

Called with the service of the King in 1758, Choiseul has, upon the departure, a religious policy strengthened with regard to the Jesuits of which it obtains the setting with the variation by the pope in 1764. The edict of November 1764 thus devotes the abolition of the Society of Jesus. The gallicanism saw its hour of triumph.  

Increasing influence of the Parliaments
The triumph of the Parliament of Paris on the Order of the Jesuits is accompanied by a recrudescence of fanaticism: the magistrates draw up themselves against the Lights, while delivering a rearguard action against the Protestants. Delivered to the Parliament of Toulouse, Pasteur Rochette is hung in 1762; the same year, Jean Fixed, marked to have killed his/her son to prevent it from converting with Catholicism, is executed; the knight of the Bar, a eighteen year old young man suspected of practical sacrileges, is carried out in June 1766, while a specimen of the philosophical Dictionary of Voltaire, seized at his place, is burned by the torturer.  

Emboldened by their victory, the Parliaments do not have of cease to push their advantage. The fight against the royal power in the name of “freedoms” culminates with the business of Brittany. A public prosecutor at the Parliament of Rennes, Chalotais, draws up himself for obscure reasons against the commanding officer of the province, the duke of Pivot. Admonished by the king, the Breton Parliament, supported by that of Paris, resigns in 1765. Louis XV reminds the members of Parliament of the capital that they owe him obedience: “I will not suffer (...) that it is introduced into monarchy an imaginary body (...). It is in my only person that resides the sovereign power” (meeting of Scourging, March 3rd, 1766). But the act of authority of the king is without a future, and of Pivot resigns in 1768. By pushing to the extreme the art of the concession, Choiseul contributes to weaken the royal authority which is alienated, making way, a good part of the public opinion.  

Military and commercial policy
Person in charge of the Foreign affairs, the War and the Navy, Choiseul has a careful military matter policy, not yielding to temptations of the war and not neglecting the effectiveness of his armies. By the Act of Family (1761), it reinforces the links with Spain. In the commercial field, the policy led by Choiseul, favorable to the intensification of the trade with the Antilles and the colonies, saw his efforts crowning success. But it is at the time when the economic situation appears most flourishing that the first disorders appear, consequences of the attempts at liberalization of the trade of the grains: to bad harvests of 1764, a strong speculation is added. This deterioration of the economic situation, the multiple financial problems of the kingdom and the return in strength of the party of the excessively pious people will cause the fall of Choiseul in 1770.

Attempt at recovery in hand (1770-1774)

The legal reform of Maupeou
With the installation of a formed “triumvirate” of Maupeou, Terray and of Pivot, become secretary of foreign affairs in 1771, it is a policy of firmness which again seems to prevail. Facing unpopularity, Maupeou seeks once again to break the parliamentary opposition. The conflict is tied at the end of 1770 and leads to the edict of February 23rd, 1771, which abolishes the venality of the loads, thus destroying the hereditary feature of the dress. The edict founds, moreover, the exemption from payment of justice and creates a new Parliament, trained salaried and revocable judges: the immense territory in which the action of the Parliament of Paris was exerted is divided into five superior councils which, under pretext of devolution to bring justice closer to justiciable, break the power of the Parisian judges. Lastly, the reform is extended to the courses provincial then with the other courses sovereign of Paris and the province: Course of the assistances, the accounts, the currency, etc  

The “revolution” started by Maupeou is not only legal. It is also deeply political, since it destroys the body where with the most effectiveness the opposition of the caste peerage-book was expressed.  

The economic policy of Terray
In the economic domain, Terray in cost with moderate state intervention. If the export of corns towards the foreign countries is prohibited, it preserves a relative freedom of the trade of cereals inside the kingdom. These measurements appear judicious, since they accompany a phase by relaxation on the face of harvests. In the tax field, Terray rationalizes the plate of various twentieth, which becomes more equitable in their distribution. In 1774, the budget deficit is practically reabsorbed.  
The vigilance of Pivot
As for Pivot, in charge of the diplomacy, its task is relatively easy: within multipolar Europe where the great powers - Great Britain, France, Spain, Austria, Prussia and Russia - intend all to maintain relative a status quo, it is necessary for him simply to take care that monarchy does not launch out in a new conflict.  

Threatened monarchy
Louis XV thus inaugurates an era of enlightened despotism and modernizer which, however, causes many oppositions. Only one famous writer, Voltaire, take the party of Maupeou publicly: always hostile, through its successive fidelities, with parliamentary selfishness and Jansenist intolerance, it is made lawyer of a monarchy strong, only able to defend freedom and the property in the kingdom. But one can only remove of a stroke of the pen the embryo of representative system incarnated the Parliament: that runs up against all those which, for extremely various and sometimes opposite reasons, dream with the installation of a less authoritative monarchy, where the king would control with the downstream of the nation - heard like that of the privileged elites and commoners. The economic growth and cultural of the XVIII E century already made its work. Much more than the world of the trade and finance, the middle-class legal, titular of offices, owner and cultivated, dream more and more to make hear its voice. As for noble, which populates the army, the magistrature, the high civil service, they intend from now on to assume their responsibilities and to take the changing of a monarchy absolutist which finished its task by modernizing the apparatus of State.  

The death of the king
But the king has more commonplace concern. Its connection with Jeanne Long-beaked, former prostitute of luxury become countess of Barry at the conclusion of a marriage of kindness, feeds a whole literature of bottom stages, which ruins the image of the monarch and precipitates the discredit of a court considered to be unanimously frivolous and parasitic. Also, if the advertisement of the last disease of the king puts in effervescence the court, in Paris and in the main cities of the kingdom it is the indifference which prevails. It is well far time when, after its cure at the conclusion of an insolation which had failed to carry it (1744), of the hundreds of masses had been celebrated in all the kingdom. On May 10th, 1774, the king dies of the smallpox; he will be buried on the run, in a climate of general hostility.  

With the eyes of the lampoonists of the end of the century, Louis XV incarnates the completed example of the despotic and corrupted kings. Over the years, it had become the privileged target of a prompt public opinion to allot to him, wrongly or rightly, the responsibility for the incurred difficulties. The rumors libelous and quickly gravelly on its private life made the remainder: the royal function is then removed the sacred character from. Louis XV, who so many times ran up against the privileged people and restored the public purses, remained the image of the monarch of Former regime, concerned about his only pleasures, leaving to his heirs the “flood” which it had provided and neglected.