Entrance to the Palace of Versailles

Built up from what had originally been a hunting estate and where he had been kept in safety during the revolt of the Fronde, Louis XIV ignored the advise of Colbert who urged that he remain at the Louvre and set about creating a suitable setting for his theory of government. It was modeled after the early baroque palace of his one-time finance minister, Fouquet. What symbols do you see on the entry gate that describe, in ornamentation, how this palace defines his perception of government.

He ended the practice of holding court at many palaces around the country and made Versailles the cite of his permanent court. Over 6,000 people a day came to view their king.

For the aristocracy it became literally a guilded cage, see St. Simon in W-R-W, p. 50, bottom. In a statement not included in the readings, St. Simon wrote: "Louis reduced everyone to subjugation and brought to his court those very persons he cared least about. Whoever was old enough to serve did not dare demur. It was still another device to ruin the nobles by accustoming them to equality and forcing them to mingle with everyone indiscriminately." 10-15,000 lived either in the palace or in their own palaces which they constructed in the environs.