Monarchy: A Study of Louis XIV

by Hilaire Belloc, Roger Buck (foreword)

Monarchy-or Plutocracy? This is the rousing question Hilaire Belloc placed before his readers in this masterly 1938 work. Belloc, grown old, saw the revolutionary dreams of his youth were naive. The great liberal insurrections, which supposedly led to Democracy, had yielded instead to secretive control by shadowy Capitalistic elites. As provocative as this thesis was in 1938, many today harbour similar suspicions of entities as varied as Wall Street, Washington, the European Union and the World Economic Forum. Could the only answer be Catholic Monarchy, which naturally favours Distributism and a true democratic spirit? Pondering these pages, today's readers may well wonder! While this book tells the story of France's "Sun King," Louis XIV, it is not simply biography. Rather, it is a study of the mysterious nature of Monarchy. Moreover, Belloc stresses what "is central to this study ... is the natural conflict between Monarchy and the Money-power." For in Seventeenth Century France, Louis XIV combatted the new financial elites with a certain success-unlike his Stuart cousin James II, the last Catholic king of England, who fell before the power of Protestant monied interests. Here is an epic tale, wherein Capitalism triumphed in the emerging Anglosphere, while a flawed, French King chose instead "a road less travelled." Here, too, is a profound Catholic meditation on matters as diverse as French royalty, European tradition, economic justice and the hidden roots of plutocratic Globalism.This edition features an extensive foreword by Roger Buck, which penetrates Belloc's life and thought, while clarifying French history for the benefit of modern readers.

Genres: History

446 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

People considered Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc, French-born British writer, as a master of light English prose and also knew widely his droll verse, especially The Bad Child's Book of Beasts in 1896.

Sharp wit of Hilaire Belloc, an historian, poet, and orator, extended across literary output and strong political and religious convictions. Oxford educated this distinguished debater and scholar. Throughout his career, he prolifically across a range of genres and produced histories, essays, travelogues, poetry, and satirical works.

Cautionary Tales for Children collects best humorous yet dark morals, and historical works of Hilaire Belloc often reflected his staunch Catholicism and critique of Protestant interpretations. He led advocates of an economic theory that promotes and championed distribution of small-scale property ownership as a middle ground between capitalism and socialism alongside Gilbert Keith Chesterton, his close friend.

In politics, Hilaire Belloc served as a member of Parliament for the Liberal party, but the establishment disillusioned him. His polemical style and strong opinions made a controversial figure, who particularly viewed modernism, secularism, and financial capitalism as threats to traditional Christian society in his critiques.

Influence and vast literary legacy of Hilaire Belloc extends into historical circles. Erudition, humor, and a forceful rhetorical style characterized intellectual vigor and unique perspective, which people continue to study and to appreciate, on history, society, and human nature.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Belloc was a quirky writer in every respect, from his erratic use of capitalization to his dropping of historic references by obscure handles to his intriguing condensation of historical struggles along axes quite orthogonal to your typical Whig and sub-Whig historian. This period turns out to be a crucial one for Belloc's understanding of economic history, since it is the time that the oligarchy of the rich took final control in England, while in France it was staved off for a long time.

It's also fascinating to get his reaction to the world of the late 1930s, and the comment that the American Presidency is the most powerful monarchy in the modern world is surely more true now than then. To pull him and Chesterton into the 1970s, or 80s, or today, and see their reading of how the world has continued to evolve would be most entertaining, to say nothing of instructive.

There has surely been some large number of television treatments of Louis XIV's reign, although I doubt this book has ever served as a basis for any of them. There are seven or ten seasons' worth of material, and Belloc's interpretation of it would be both punctuated with dramatic episodes and driven by clear sympathetic goals: squashing the usurers (Fouquet et al.), securing the frontiers, temptation-fall-redemption with Montespan, etc. Then, of course, the whole Dumas corpus is available to steal from as needed...

[Roger Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than a biography. Much more! A profound meditation on monarchy and the spirit of Catholic Christendom vs. the Protestant Anglosphere.

I have an extensive review with long passages here: http://corjesusacratissimum.org/2014/...

Here I will just say this book moves me profoundly. Perhaps it is even changing my life. It is certainly shaping everything I am doing at my website ...