Versailles served as a dazzling and awe-inspiring setting for state affairs and for the reception of foreign dignitaries, where the attention was not shared with the capital and the people, but was assumed solely by the person of the king. Court life centered on magnificence; courtiers lived lives of expensive luxury, dressed with suitable magnificence and constantly attended balls, dinners, performances, and celebrations. Thus, many noblemen had perforce either to give up all influence, or to depend entirely on the king for grants and subsidies. Instead of exercising power and potentially creating trouble, the nobles vied for the honour of dining at the king's table or the privilege of carrying a candlestick as the king retired to his bedroom.

it was the desire for system and order, for unity and obedience, that first claimed Louis' attention. He believed with a political theorist of his day "that the king alone is sovereign in his kingdom and that sovereignty is no more divisible than the point in geometry." all power had to be gathered in his hands. he denied the great nobles a significant role in the government, but to win their loyalty he brought them to court and treated them to a series of entertainments. He heaped on them titles, honorary positions, and pensions. To their younger sons went the richest ecclesiastical benefices. When court life became dull, there was usually a war on which king and noble could embark in search of honor and glory. No noble could hope for advancement without winning favor at court, and royal generosity was a heavy financial drain on France. Louis finally tamed the French nobility, but in doing so he became their captive. From the time of his reign, the fortunes of king and great noble were so closely bound together that they could not be separated. Their alliance led to their mutual destruction in the Revolution.

Absolute monarchy or absolutism meant that the sovereign power or ultimate authority in the state rested in the hands of a king who claimed to rule by divine right. But what did sovereignty mean? Late sixteenth century political theorists believed that sovereign power consisted of the authority to make laws, tax, administer justice, control the state's administrative system, and determine foreign policy. These powers made a ruler sovereign.

The day after Cardinal Mazarin's death, Louis XIV, at the age of twenty three, expressed his deterrnination to be a real king and the sole ruler of France: Up to this moment I have been pleased to entrust the gov emment of my affairs to the late Cardinal. It is now time that I govem them myself. You [secretaries and ministers of state] will assist me with your counsels when I ask for them. I request and order you to seal no orders except by my com mand, . . . I order you not to sign anything, not even a passport . . . without my command; to render account to me personally each day and to favor no one.