Versailles: How the Civilizing Process Impacted the Monarchy and Nobility

Based upon the political components of Norbert Elias’ civilizing process I further examine Louis XIV’s strategies of maintaining and increasing his power through the use of etiquette and manipulation to influence the court. This process is revealed through the drama around the showing of Tartuffe, the king’s image creation, and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes along with the destruction of nobles like the Chevalier de Rohan and the empowering of nobles like Madame de Maintenon. The main purpose of this project is to use the concept of the civilizing process as a means to explain what Louis XIV did to his court and nobility. By looking at the controversy caused by Tartuffe between Moliere, Louis XIV, and the Company of the Holy Sacrament, I explore how it would ultimately come to demonstrate the young king’s authority and centralization of power. Furthermore, the thesis explores how Louis XIV created his image by examining the symbolism within three grand festivals he hosted within Versailles and the daily routines he implemented and built upon at court such as the levee. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes is another demonstration of power by rolling back religious rights and maintaining that the king’s subjects subscribe to Catholicism, a faith deeply entrenched in innate hierarchies and not associated with the king’s foreign enemies. Along with these events I survey how Louis XIV’s disfavor and favor impacted the social and economic standing of particular members of the nobility, and how the king was able to utilize the social structures within Versailles to incentivize behavior he liked and to punish those who did not follow the rules of etiquette. Ultimately, I will use Norbert Elias’ concept of the civilizing process to aid in explaining how Louis XIV centralized the power and state to himself by establishing stricter codes of etiquette and bringing the nobility under his hand.