Did Louis XIV Respond?
In a word-NO he felt that he was appointed by God to rule as he saw fit. Within France, upon the death of Cardinal Mazarin, his first minister, in 1661, Louis XIV assumed personal control of the reins of government. He was able to exploit the widespread public yearning for peace and order, which had resulted from the long foreign wars and domestic civil strife, caused by events such as the Fronde and abuses of the people perpetrated by some nobles, to consoliate central authority at the feudal aristocracy’s expense. Trials such as the Grands Jours d’Auvergne were used to impose order by punishing some of the most outrageous abuses by nobles, to “lift the people up from the oppression of the powerful” in the words of the Procureur Général Denis Talon, and to increase public support for Louis’ policies.[citation needed] At the same time, the French treasury stood close to bankruptcy. Louis XIV eliminated Nicolas Fouquet, the Surintendant des Finances, commuting the sentence of banishment
