How Did Louis XIV Control His Nobles??
“Louis also achieved immense control over … the nobility in France by attaching much of the higher nobility to his orbit at his palace at Versailles, requiring them to spend the majority of the year under his close watch instead of in their own local communities and power-bases plotting rebellion and insurrection. Only in this way were they able to gain the pensions and privileges that were necessary to their rank. He entertained his permanent visitors with extravagant parties and other distractions, which were significant factors contributing to Louis’ power and control over his hitherto unruly nobility.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_o… (scroll down for more detail to ” Height of Power in the 1680s”) Basically, he kept his nobles at court in Versailles so that they would be under his eye and not on their estates possibly plotting against him. It was a great dishonour to be sent back to your estat
