Louis XIV’s Methods in Foreign Policy

Abstract

Historians rarely agree, but there is general acceptance of the view that between 1661 and 1715 Louis XIV maintained personal control over foreign affairs and took full responsibility for their conduct. He regarded foreign policy as the essence of his function as king and acknowledged the deep attraction it held for him: it allowed him ‘to watch the whole world, to be continuously informed of events in every province and nation, of the secrets of all the courts, and of the dispositions and weaknesses of every prince and foreign minister’. He believed that only a king apprised of this kind of information would be able to determine what was required by his ‘glory and interests’ — a phrase that recurs again and again in our texts — and to give the orders that would translate it into practical politics. For the rest, he held, ‘the function of the king is mainly to allow the operation of common sense, which always acts naturally and without difficulty’.

First published in the Revue des Travaux de l’Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, iv^e série (1966) under the title ‘Aspects de la Méthode de Louis XIV en Politique Etrangère’.