In the 17th century England the aristocracy lost its privileges but retained its power; in 17th century

France the aristocracy retained its privileges but lost its power. Analyze the reasons for these developments.

The seventeenth century saw the decline of the French aristocracys power and the retention of its privileges, while the English aristocracy retained its power but lost its privileges. King Louis saw that that true greatness came from power, and he realized that the power lied in the aristocracy or nobles. By contrast, England almost did the exact opposite of what France did, with an opposite outcome. The imbalance of power and privileges in both France and England were impacted by religion through the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the influence France had on England; economic aspect through what social group was taxed the heaviest; and political aspect because of how they choose to control and reign over the country. The Edict of Nantes was put into place for religious tolerance. Since the aristocracy wanted religious unity, it would appear that the revocation of the Edict of Nantes would be giving power to the aristocracy. To the contrary, their desires had nothing to do in the decision to revoke it; it was purely for political interests. Therefore, revoking the Edict of Nantes gave a privilege of religious unity, but reduced their power because of the actual influence that made King Louis XIV make the decision. England, on the other hand, was influenced by the French King, Charles II, to bring Catholicism to an anti-catholic country. This struck fear into the aristocracy so the legislation passed a collection of laws that were in place to limit the power of the English King. As a result, Englands aristocracy gained power through limiting the power of the crown, but lost their privilege of religious separation. In conclusion, Englands aristocracy gained power through limiting government control, while France lost power because of their lack of influence toward their own king. Not only religion came into play when it came to power, taxation of which class also played a large role. The economical aspect played a large role within France and England when it came to power and privileges. In France, the aristocracy was given tax breaks,

putting most of the responsibility for revenue on the peasants. Even though the peasants were lower in class when it came to wealth; they had more of a say as to where the money went. The aristocracys tax breaks led to them having no say in anything political decreasing their power severely, but giving them the privilege of tax breaks. In England, the exact opposite was occurring. Much responsibility was on the nobility and the middle class to provide taxes. When compared to France, they lost a significant privilege, but gained a substantial amount of power. Money is not everything, government is the sole basis when deciding who is in power. The completion of Versailles contained and restrained the French aristocrats, denying them of their previous political power while permitting them a courtly life. Life in England was dominated by two wars: the English Revolution and the Glorious Revolution. England and France began their ideas of politics at the same level, but France moved on to succeed in having an absolute monarchy, while England maintained a parliamentary monarchy. The changes in the aristocracy in both France and England were mostly brought by the rulers of that time, King Louis XIV and King Charles II, and many events that took place throughout the 17th century.