French Kingdom - Early Bourbon

  General Description   The House of Bourbon (The Ancien Regime) ruled France from the death of the childless Late Valois king Henry III in 1589 CE to the re-convening of the Estates General during the French Revolution. The Early Bourbon period covers the Kingdom of France from the inheritance of the monarchy by Henry VI to the rise of Louis XIV in 1661 CE. Henry VI inherited the crown amidst the Wars of Religion between the Roman Catholics and the Reformed Protestants, and is celebrated for his tolerance because of his the Edict of Nantes, which granted some rights to Protestants. ^[1] The reign of Henry VI restored the French monarchy to full power, and his superintendent of finance Sully was able to double state revenues. ^[1] The French army was modernized by King Louis XIII’s cardinal minister Richelieu. The Fronde, a series of revolts in the 1640s against cardinal minister Mazarin, led the crown to consolidate its power even further. ^[2] This paved the way for the absolute rule of King Louis XIV in the Late Bourbon period.
In 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded Québec, and the surrounding territory was claimed as New France. France obtained land from Spain in the south and German land from the Holy Roman Empire in the north in treaties from the Thirty Years’ War in 1648 CE and 1659 CE. ^[1] Because of these new claims, the territory of the French Kingdom covered 931,000 in 1600 CE and 2.6 million square meters by 1650 CE. ^[3]
Population and political organization
Important institutional and military reforms were instituted in this period. King Henry IV instituted a tax on holders of government and judicial offices which gave the owners of the office the right to transfer their position. The expansion and modernization of the French army under Richelieu led to the large-scale expansion of the French bureaucracy. ^[4]
The population within the boundaries of present day France is estimated at 18.5 million in 1600 CE, and 21 million in 1650 CE. ^[5]

[1]: (Haine 2000, 50) Haine, W. Scott. 2000. The History of France. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9RS462P7

[2]: (Haine 2000, 55) Haine, W. Scott. 2000. The History of France. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9RS462P7

[3]: (Chase-Dunn Spreadsheet)

[4]: (Haine 2000, 50-51) Haine, W. Scott. 2000. The History of France. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9RS462P7

[5]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 56. McEvedy C, Jones, R (1979) Atlas of World Population History, Allen Lane, London. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/6U4QZXCG/).