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Article 4

LOUIS XIV AND THE

Roger Mettam

HISTORIANS HAVE DEVOTED MUCH Further battles with the Huguenot 1661. Yet nearly twenty years were to attention to the decision of Louis XIV, minority dominated the subsequent elapse before severe pressure was in 1685, to revoke the of Nantes reign of Louis XIIIuntil, after the siege exerted upon the Huguenots to abjure "'nd thereby deny the French Protes­ and fall of the last Protestant strong­ their faith. nts - the Huguenots - any role in his hold at , another agree­ In his memoires for 1661, Louis XIV kingdom. The original Edict had been ment was reached in the 1629 Grace of listed the problems facing the crown issued in 1598 by his grandfather, Alais, which severely restricted the on his assumption of personal power, Henri IV, and was undoubtedly an access of Huguenots to offices and and he devoted some time to the uneasy compromise, designed to end removed their right to garrison places religious issues which concerned him. the so-called 'wars of religion' which of surety. Since that date, they largely The Jansenists and the defiant had divided Frenchmen since 1560. It ceased to be a problem for the French Cardinal de Retz, with his militant insisted that the Roman religion was government. They played a con­ supporters among the parish clergy of the true faith of the country, but it spicuous part in commercial and Paris, were all designated as danger­ allowed the presence of Protestants, industrial life, showed no signs of ous elements in society, but the permitting them to become royal offi­ disloyalty during the civil strife of the Huguenots were not even mentioned cials and to retain certain places of Frondes in 1648-53, and their only in this context. Later on in his text he surety which they had the right to crime was therefore to be an heretical does refer to them, and hopes that in defend militarily. The Edict was there­ sect in the Catholic dominions of the the long term this heresy canbe elimi­ fore a recognition that none of the Most Christian King, as the French nated. Yet Louis stresses that this must political and religious groups who monarchs always styled themselves. be achieved by gentle persuasion and had fought in the civil wars could Heterodoxy was always unwel­ that the previously granted to achieve a total victory, and that an come in any monarchy where the this minority must be respected. It accommodation was vital. Yet to the power of the ruler rested partly on a seems, therefore, that the decision to moderate Catholics and to the religious basis, but the adherents of revoke the and force extreme papalists, it went too far in its the RPR, the religion preiendue rqor­the Huguenots into submission was tolerance of these heretics, while to mee, as it was generally known at the taken, not at the beginning of the the Huguenots it was less than they time, gave Louis XIV no reason to feel personal rule, butat a muchlater date. had expected from a King who until that he was harbouring an actively Historians have selected a number recently had been the leader of their seditious group within his realm. If it of villains on whom to blame this cause. Henri IV had been compelled was their mere existence which was outrageous act of persecution, for that to convert to Catholicism in order to offensive to this Catholic sovereign, is the emotive language they have secure his throne, but his Catholic then it might be expected that he employed. To Protestant scholars, .ibjects suspected his sincerity and would have taken action against them especially in and the Nether­ the Protestants regarded his change of as soon as he took over the reins of lands, it bore the worst hallmarks of heart as a betrayal. power on the death of Mazarin in Catholic absolutism, but some French

First published in History Today, May 1985, pp. 15-21. Reproduced by kind permission of History Today, Ltd., 83-84 Berwick 22 Street, London W1V 3PJ England. s .~-

4. Louis XIV and the Huguenots writers have regarded it with little See, and might be somewhat mol­ as yet one more arrogant act by a more favour. It caused the exodus lified by a crusade against heresy? sovereign who had been violating the from of foreigners who had Whatever the calculated risks of rights and liberties of the Church for worked hard to boost French initiating the persecution of the many years. Indeed this one action economic life, the exileof manyFrench­ Huguenots, there were a number of did more than any other to harm the men who had been similarly indus­ consequences which could not have reputation of Louis XIV in his own trious, and the loss of men with great been foreseen in 1685, even though country and in many parts of Europe. military expertise, both in fighting historians have added them to the It is obviously vital for historians to and in the manufacture of new charges against Louis XIV when they discover why such a repressive deci­ weaponry, most of whom now placed have considered the revocation and sion was taken and who was respons­ their talents at the disposal of enemy its aftermath. First of all, Europe ible for it. rulers. Worst of all, it did not solve the seemed peaceful. The Dutch War of Protestant problem within the king­ 1672-9, in which the French had been * * * dom because, despite fierce and forced to fight the Holy Roman If the Huguenots had been hard­ socially divisive persecution, stub­ Emperor, the King of Spain and many working and docile subjects since born enclaves of Huguenots remained powerful German princes, when they 1629, the memory of their earlier in the frontier provinces until long had hoped to confront only the tiny misdeeds was still vivid. This was an after the death of Louis XIV in 1715, , had been far from age when much attention was paid to while many of those who had con­ successful for Louis XIV. Yet the fol­ the , and in particular verted awaited their revenge. lowing years had been more peaceful, to the reign of Henri IV and his Some chroniclers of these dramatic and in 1684 the Truce of Ratisbon was success in ending the 'wars of relig­ events have placed the principal signed by France, Spain and the ion'. In fact religion had been onlyone responsibility upon the King himself. Empire, which committed them to a element in the sixteenth-century civil The Edict of of 1685, further peace for twenty years. The wars, although warring aristocratic which revoked the Nantes agree­ French were therefore reassured that factions and provincial separatists ment, was based on the premise that, the Emperor had no aggressive had adopted sectarian labels when as the recent policy of conversion had designs against them, and would con­ they were politically convenient. The been overwhelmingly successful, centrate on the Turkish threat to his most enduring memories of there was no further need for an edict imperial lands. Another cause for Huguenot participation in those tur­ of toleration because there were no celebration was the accession of a bulent decades were that some of Protestants remaining. Surely, it has Catholic King, James II, to the throne them had contemplated the dismem­ been argued, the King did not really of England, with no indication that he berment of the kingdom, hoping to believe that. If he did not, then the would be forced to vacate it a mere establish a Protestant state in the revocation was clearly designed to three years later. The next great Euro­ southern and western provinces countenance persecution. Yet kings pean conflict, the Nine Years War of where they had been dominant; that are always at the mercy of their advis­ 1688-97, was not even thought to be they had also allied with foreign ers, and perhaps it is they who should likely. Also, the possible exodus of enemies of the crown; and that they be blamed, either for misleading their many Protestant Frenchmen was not had formulated political theories sovereign or for being themselves envisaged, because the royal minis­ which were unashamedly revolutio­ misled about the number of converts. ters were confident that their newly nary. To moderate Catholic French­ Madame de Maintenon, that most fortified frontiers were as capable of men, there was little to choose bet­ pious of royal mistresses, has also keeping citizens within France as they ween the Protestants and the ultra­ been suspected of influencing the were adequate for preventing unwel­ papists, for both groups seemed to King, as have his confessor and the come enemeies from violating her owe their prime allegiance to an inter­ other Jesuits. Some writers have sing­ territorial sovereignty. national system which appeared to led out the war minister, Louvois, Historical chance apart, the gov­ threaten the government of France. suggesting that he was reluctant to ernment was nevertheless guilty of After the Massacre of St Barth­ disband the army which he had complacency in its foreign policy dur­ olomew in 1572, Protestant writers assembled with such difficulty for the ing the . Louis had always pro­ had elaborated ideas of a social con­ recent Dutch War of 1672-9 and saw a tested the legitimacy of his diplomatic tract between king and people which policy of forced conversion as a way of claims and his military adventures, could be revoked if the sovereign employing the troops in peacetime. but other powers had not been con­ behaved in a tyrannical manner, in Many have noted that the revocation vinced. They saw him as an aggres­ this case his persecution of religious came two. years after the death of sive seeker after glory and new con­ creeds. Some even advocated tyran­ Colbert - the minister who had most quests, who was prepared to use the nicide, and further offended by insist­ valued the Protestants, both French most brutal tactics in order to achieve ing that society and government were and foreign, for their contribution to his purposes. The French therefore purely civil creations, by and for the his plans for economic revival and grossly underestimated the desire of people, and that there was no divine expansion. Or was it a gesture by many other rulers to humiliate their basis for such political arrangements. Louis XIV to appease the Pope, who nation. Similarly the Pope, far from Political theory was being secularised, had been increasingly irritated by the praising the King of France for his even if it was to safeguard the liberties aggressively gallican approach of the resolute assault on heresy, regarded of religious minorities. In fact these King to his relations with the Holy the revocation of the Edict of Nantes ideas, some of which were also

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1. THE AGE OF POWER adopted by the ultra-papist oppo­ ing Protestants from most administra­ future in the kingdom of Louis XIV, nents of Henri III and Henri IV, tive positions was supportedby many although they had done nothing dur­ ceased to be voiced so militantly in the other influential groups in France ing the war to arouse suspicions of --arly seventeenth century. Yet the which were always hostile to their disloyalty or of their sympathy iinisters of Louis XIII still regarded heterodoxy. The judges of the Paris for the Dutch cause. Some had com­ the Huguenots as potential republi­ , the senior law court in the plained that the international conflict cans and tyrannicides, who denied realm, were as hostile to Protestant­ was disrupting their trade, but the divine nature of kingship. ism as they were to any attempts by Catholic merchants and provincial Although many Protestant merchants Rome to assert papal authority within officials had also been outspoken on and town councillors were more the kingdom. Although the gallican­ this same point. At first, much of the moderate and wanted to live in peace ism of the parlementaires was initiative for putting pressure on the with their king, confirmed in their prompted by different concerns ­ Huguenots seems to have come spon­ religious freedom by the Edict of largely jurisdictional - from those of taneously from certain provincial Nantes, the more militant among the King, they were staunchly centres, although the Paris govern­ them again negotiated with foreign Catholic moderates and wanted ment seized this opportunity to reas­ powers in the 1620s and aroused royal nothing to do with heresy. So the sert its views on the desirability of doubts about their loyalty. Also there settlement of 1629 pleased many peo­ converting the RPR because it now were still influential nobles associat­ ple, because it ensured that saw that there was considerable sup­ ing with the Protestant rebels for more Huguenots could never be adminis­ port in some areas for this policy. Yet secularmotives, as was demonstrated tratively dominant in the provincial violent methods were still to be by the speed with which they cities. excluded. defected to the royalist side when At La Rochelle, as in many other The rising tension between the two sufficiently persuasive bribes, finan­ towns, a Catholic municipal magistra­ faiths in some French towns was cial or social, were offered to them. As ture was imposed by Richelieu upon a largely caused by the gentle prosely­ much of Europe was already deeply merchant population, many of whose tising tactics which the crown and its involved in the Thirty Years War, and principal and richest members were agents had been using for many it was only a matter of time before Huguenots. This did not necessarily years, the subtle approach which France would have to take an active cause tension, because the mercantile Louis XIV had advocated in his part in this conflict, Richelieu was and civic elites were not rivals on the memoires for 1661. Financial incentives keen to crush internal rebellion and same ladder of social advancement. featured prominently among these stop treacherous negotiations with The former dominated the economy, methods of persuasion, whether in 'ounrries which would be certain the latter the administration. Even in the form of bribes offered to individu­ .nernies once hostilities commenced. the 166Os, when foreign Protestants als or more general grants of fiscal When the Huguenot insurrection were enticed into France by Colbert, relief to those who converted. The was finally suppressed and the Grace and were encouraged to establish King and his ministers put direct of 1629 was signed, Richelieu did not much needed industries with the pro­ pressure on leading courtiers, while take steps to prevent the practice of tection of royal monopolies and in the provinces bishops, intendants the Protestant religion. He was pre­ grants of privileges, the native middle and royal agents either carried out the pared to tolerate many Huguenots class was seldom inflamed, for it had wishes of the King or even anticipated because they were clearly invaluable often shown itself to be uninterested them, in which case the monarch was for his own schemes of economic in establishing innovative manufac­ quick to laud their efforts. Neverthe­ reorganisation and colonial expan­ tures. Colbert was irritated by the less these plans for conversion were sion. It was only their free access to amount of French trade which was implemented to varying degrees in administrative office and their right to shipped by the Protestant Dutch, different parts of the kingdom, have places of surety which could no instead of by the French mercantile depending on the enthusiasm of the longer be allowed. Nevertheless a few marine which he was always trying to bishops and intendants, and on of them did attain positions of high expand, but this problem could be whether the two faiths were coexist­ favour, including Hervart, who solved by giving incentives to indi­ ing amicably or were already at odds. became one of the two intendants of genous shipbuilders and merchants, Some towns were predominantly of the finances under Mazarin, and by exclusive tariffs and ultimately by one religion, others more evenly Turenne, who was an outstanding war in 1672. It did not require the divided between the two, and what­ military commander during the reign persecution of the Huguenots and ever the ratio there was often no of Louis XIV. In foreign policy their foreign co-religionaries who had tension. Moreover some intendants Richelieu did not regard religion as an now become domiciled in France. In exaggerated the number of converts intrusive consideration, and he, like the 1660s their loyalty was to France, because they knewthat such informa­ Francois I a century earlier, sought not to fellow Protestants abroad, and tion would please the King, and that allies for purely strategic reasons. Colbert had the highest opinion of the central government would not be Where Francois had allied with the their worth. able to verify their statistics. In 1679 it German Protestant princes and even It was in the later 1670s that the was reported that 3,000 had abjured 'ith the Turk, Richelieu now cheer­ mood began to change, and when the during the last two years in Lan­ ..illy enlisted the aid of the Lutheran Peace of Nijmegen ended the Dutch guedoc, and that 25,000 ecus had been Swedish King, Gustav II Adolf. War in 1679 some Huguenots were spent there since 1676 in order to The government policy of exclud­ already apprehensive about their encourage them to do so.

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L .... mil '11 4. Louis XIV and the Huguenots Many of those who were prepared or as victims, because he had a deep The war minister knew that he must to go through the motions of conver­ detestation of internal disorder. Also make a serious attempt to reduce the sion continued to practice their former the presence of Huguenots in frontier number of Protestants in the army, in '''lith in secret. Yet it was not only provinces was very worrying, order to please his royal master, but .embers of the RPR who benefited because they might ally with a he intended to do so by conversion from the financial concessions made neighbouring Protestant enemy in rather than expulsion. Financial to converts. A number of less than time of war. These peripheral areas of incentives were duly offered, and scrupulous Catholics also profited, the kingdom were always trouble­ many soldiers did convert. As in civil because they declared first that they some and separatist, but heterodoxy society, a number of Catholics had always really been Huguenots made them more unreliable, and the changed their religion twice in order and then that they were now convert­ minister accordingly instructed local to benefit from the scheme. Many of ing to the true faith, thus qualifying officials to use all means, gentle and those abjuring their heresy were so for the rewards paid to 'nouveaux con­ fierce, to eliminate it. Yet he positively blatantly insincere that priests began ueriis', Also, some of those responsible welcomed the role of the Huguenots to refuse them entry to the Catholic for examining the would-be abjurers in industry, and especially in the communion, and Louvois was forced were less strict than others in the tests manufacture of armaments. On the to write to the bishops, demanding of orthodoxy which they demanded. death of Colbert in 1683, Louvois that they instruct their clergy to­ However false or genuine these con­ was actually made the minister respon­ receive anyone who wished to con­ versions, they were extremely offen­ sible for all such economic activities. vert without pressing them too hard. sive to the average Catholic, who had There were also many members of the His main purpose was to keep them in been a loyal son of the church, but RPR in the enlarged army which the army, asking very few questions who was being offered no fiscal con­ Louvois and his father, had created, about their convictions. cessions. It was these former heretics and which they did not want to see Far from wanting the as who were now being rewarded for reduced too greatly after the 1679 a justification for the retention of a their apostasy. Peace. About one-tenth of serving large peacetime army, Louvois had As the decade neared its end, the Frenchmen were Protestant, as were plenty of other tasks for his troops to crown, either of its own volition or on some of the crack troops of foreign carry out. Some particularly disor­ the advice of its provincial agents, origin, notably the splendid Swiss. derly regiments had been disbanded began to make life more difficult for Nor had Louvois any reason to doubt at the end of the war, but considerable the Protestants. The provisions of the their loyalty and willingness to serve forces were needed to carry out the 1598 Edict were still upheld, but any­ the King of France. He was therefore policy of reunions, by which Louis XN 'hing not specifically included in it determined that these men should not hoped to 're-unite' with his kingdom .ould now become a target for repres­ fallpreyto the growingdesire of Louis certain neighbouring territories to sive governmental decrees. As the XIV that his realm be purged of which he claimed a frequently dubi­ Edict had been designed to solve cer­ heresy. ous legal right. Many soldiers were tain problems, there were many also working on the massive engineer­ aspects of daily life which it simply HUGUENOT GLOSSARY ing projects associated with the ignored. Many of these were now DEACONS - Calvinist deacons were laymen who embellishment of Versailles, espe­ regulated, and in such a way that the organised poor relief. not (as in the Anglican cially the extensive river diversions to Huguenots could be greatly harrassed Church) men in training for the ministry. provide a constant water source for DRAGONNADES - the selective billeting of and inconvenienced if Catholic offi­ on Protestant households in order to this garden of delights. The idea of cials in the localities chose to do so. achieve conversion, begun in 1681. Billeting dragonnades did not come from Yet these irritations were as nothing involved paying soldiers' wages as well as accom­ Louvois but from a provincial inten­ modating them, and was commonly accompanied beside the next stage in this policy of by threats and violence. dant, Marillac, in 1681, and the King repression, the dragimnades, the billet­ mE EDlCf OF NANTES - was a 'perpetual and welcomed it. The war minister ting of dragoons on recalcitrant irrevocable' grant of recognition, protection and limited toleration to the Huguenots. It was undoubtedly provided the troops, but Huguenots. Itwas this decision which revoked by the Edict of Fontainbleau of 1685. he continually exhorted the military really caused alarm among the French JANSENISTS - were advocates of a strictly moral administrators to ensure that the and austere form of Catholicism, and were COnse­ Protestants and anger among their quently fierce enemies of the casuistical Jesuits. dragoons strictly observed all the co-religionaries in other countries. Also, Richelieu and Louis XIV wrongly suspected rules of proper behaviour. He had Because it involved the army, it is this them of planning wider political subversion. been compelled to abandon his pre­ MAISONS DE cHARITt - relief establ­ increase in brutality which historians ishments in Soho and Spitalfields, places where ference for gentle persuasion and have frequently attributed to the war food and other necessities were distributed. acquiesce in a policy of forced conver­ minister, Louvois, and his father, Le mE MASSACRE OF ST BARmOLOMEW - of sion, but he was not prepared to August 1572, in which some 13,000 Huguenots Tellier. were slain, was blamed on the King himself, and condone brutality. Needless to say, The attitude to religion of Louvois he was regarded thereafter by the Protestants as a the reservations of the minister were tyrant. was governed primarily by political UNITED PROVINCES - the northern provinces disregarded in some areas, and many considerations. Some Huguenots of the Netherlands, successful in winning inde­ hapless Huguenots experienced con­ were dangerous, others were harm­ pendence from -Spanish control in the sixteenth siderable savagery at the hands of century, which became the Dutch Republic. less, and a third group was positively WALLOON - French-related language used in the troops who always had the reputation useful. In the first category Louvois southern provinces of the Netherlands, in the area for lawlessness, against Protestants included all those involved in local now Belgium and the Franco-Belgian frontier and Catholics alike. region. disturbances, whether as instigators Some Huguenots and foreign

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1. THE AGE OF POWER Protestants began to depart in 1680, more violent terms. Indeed some of on this state of affairs with some dis­ and the exodus gathered in speed and these tracts were written within the taste. He noted that some had readily volume until the revocation of the kingdom itself, but with a false title­ betrayed their faith in order to remain T:''iict, and beyond into 1686 and 1687. page which claimed a foreign place of in their native land, while others uvois was appalled at the inability origin in order to mislead the French showed an equally hypocritical zeal of the frontier guards to prevent their police authorities. for their beliefs which thus ensured departure. He protected those foreig­ A few of the Catholic critics within them a warm welcome in England. ners who did remain, and in 1686 France blamed Louvois, but more Once there, some of them acquired a persuaded Louis to grant permission popular targets were the Jesuits, degree of prosperity which had for Protestant merchants from other Madame de Maintenon and certain sluded them in France, and the Engl­ countries to trade freely within high churchmen, in particular the ish traders suffered in consequence. France. Regrettably few were inclined Archbishop of Paris. Yet a number of This contemporary observation to do so, and even fewer Frenchmen them clearly implied, and a few underlines the fact that the emigres responded to the invitation of the openly stated, that the King himself were a varied group with regard to minister to return home. At least had made a major errorof judgment. personal wealth. Many were prosper­ Louvois was able to prevail upon the This was an extraordinary assertion. ous merchants and craftsmen who King to exempt regiments of foreign The usual way of criticising the gov­ easily transferred their operations to origin, like the Swiss, from his new ernment was to praise the monarch another land with which they often religious uniformity. and blame the ministers either for had economic links already. Others If some 300,000 Protestants fled misadvising him or for acting without had been less successful in the French from France, twice that number his knowledge. Very often the advis­ commercial and industrial world, but remained there. Most of these con­ ers were genuinely thought to be the hoped to improve their position in a verted to Catholicism, but their sincer­ culprits, for the sovereign was held in new location. Some were poorer ity could not be guaranteed and great awe. Now he was beginning to because much of their wealth had ministers were always worried lest be personally blamed for a tyrannical been in land and it was difficult to tum they should rise up against their act towards loyal and industrious sub­ this into capital which could then be monarchical oppressor. In the dif­ jects, and from then on the criticism transported abroad. Accordingly the ficult mountainous areas of the South, would mount. Soon he would be landed Huguenots fled in smaller these fears became a reality on a censured for his wider religious pol­ numbers, because many felt that they number of occasions before the death icy, his aggressive diplomacy, his bel­ had no choice but to remain on their of Louis XIVin 1715. Moreover, if the ligerence in war and his mistakes in estates and disguise their faith. vocation of 1685 was actively sup­ the internal government of France. As we reflect on the events of 1685 rted by many bishops, judges, Truly the revocation of the Edict of in this tercentenary year, it is certainly priests, nobles, town councillors and Nantes was a turning-point in the difficult to excuse Louis XIV for his ordinary Catholic subjects, it was reputation of Louis XIVin France and policy of persecution. Yet the condemned by many others, some of Europe, and from that moment he Huguenots were not all the guileless whom were extremely lucid and would seem to have been less and less innocents which their propagandists vocal. It was not that they included in control of events. Within ten years would have us believed. Many numerous Protestant sympathisers, of 1685, his armies would be danger­ abjured their faith and stayed at but they either deplored forced con­ ously on the defensive, he would home, but some saw that there was an versions on the grounds that they did have submitted to the authority of opportunity to advance themselves in not really save souls, or they lamented Rome, and his kingdom would be Protestant countries which could not the departure of so many useful citi­ both impoverished and disgruntled. refuse to receive and protect them. zens from the kingdom. Among these Although not all his later problems Thus, among many of those who critics were some senior and can be blamed directly on the revoca­ stayed in France or left for other lands, respected bishops, who not only pro­ tion, that act undoubtedly contri­ it was the business acumen for which tested loudly but refused to imple­ buted greatly to the fervour with they have always been renowned ment the policy of repression with any which his enemies flung themselves which governed their religious fervour in their own dioceses. Some upon him in the wars ahead, increas­ allegiance. of them said that it would have been ing his difficulties still further. better to reform the abuses in their Meanwhile, other countries bene­ FOR FURTHER READING: own church before seeking to gain fited in many ways from the skills of ].H.M. Salmon, Society in Crisis: France in the converts to it. Military commanders, the Huguenots, both practical and Sixteenth Century (Methuen, 1974);Mark Green­ provincial governors, courtiers and artistic. Yet they were not always grass, France in theAgeofHenri N: theStruggle for officials were all represented in these popular with the societies they joined, Stability (Longman, 1984); David Parker, The Making of French Absolutism (Edward Arnold, critical ranks, and many of these also because some were considered too 1983), and LA Rochelle and the French Monarchy: failed to take the repressive measures successful and others became a bur­ Conflict and Order in Seventeenth-Century France which were required of them. In addi­ den upon their new homelands. An (Royal Historical Society, 1980); H.G. Judge, tion, pamphlets from Huguenots in anonymous Englishman, writing in 'Church and State under Louis XIV', History (October, 1960);Jean Orcibal, 'Louis XIVand the - 'ile were successfully smuggled into 1715, who had encountered them in Edict of Nantes', in Ragnhild Hatton (ed.) Louis .nce, castigating Louis XIV in ever England and in France, commented XN and Absolutism (Macmillan, 1976).

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