I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 271 The Educational Project in France

The children were still able to remain calm in front of the king. Although their red cheeks had already revealed their excitement, as soon as they left the sight of the king and ministers, they couldn't wait to discuss. The eldest princess's voice was the clearest. , she was favored by her father, and she had hardly suffered any setbacks, and she was even more courageous than the prince; the prince's voice was as calm and gentle as his actions; the Duke of Colonna also swept away the gloom before speaking and became eager and bright Get up; and the Grand Princess, although her tone is still as gentle and calm as before, she can also hear her little heart is jumping for joy.

  Louis bowed his head and listened until the children's footsteps gradually disappeared. He glanced at the prince and the minister beside him. "There is one more person," he said. "When he comes, we will continue with the next schedule."

That person is Cardinal La Riviere, who is now as embarrassed as the Archbishop of Canterbury in England, because although France is called the eldest daughter of God, it is definitely a period of rebellion for the Roman Church. Three hundred years of rebellious women, long ago, the Church of Rome received threats from France rather than support - and after the Sun King, the prestige of the Church of Rome has been further reduced. Patience, how can you endure the kingdom within the kingdom of the church?

But even the Church of Rome had to submit to this king. No matter what else, Louis XIV is now the most powerful Catholic king. The Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, whom the Church relied on before, was only the Archduke of Austria after all. And there are enough Protestant electors in the Holy Roman Empire. Needless to say, England, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, Norway... The Catholic territory is not as much as people think, so although angry, the Church of Rome still has to thank Louis XIV Captured Holland, Holland is a Protestant country, of course, if Louis XIV is willing to persecute Protestants to convert or expel them... The church can also let it go.

   But as soon as La Rivière heard the subject of this discussion, he knew that the Roman Church's plans were impossible to succeed.

   Because the theme of this conference is education. Louis XIV has been concerned about domestic education since he was a child. He also asked Bishop Mazarin. He has to say that in this regard, the princes of the Holy Roman Empire are ahead of the French, and in ten In the second half of the sixth century, the Duchy of Wittenberg and the Duchy of Saxony promulgated a law on compulsory education, and the Duchy of Weimar issued a similar law in the early seventeenth century. Children are required to go to school and not miss even one day of the year except for religious festivals - although this part of the law is difficult to implement, after all, when people still worry about food, clothing and even housing today, they will not care about tomorrow's children Whether it is possible to learn a word or solve a math problem; and the lack of teachers is also a big problem. In the city, priests or businessmen can still serve as teachers. In the countryside, there are more professions (not a sick sentence). They are most likely tailors, cattle herders, or old mercenaries. Generally speaking, those in charge of establishing schools don’t know what to choose. Some can only teach children simple reading and writing, some can teach them to recognize numbers, and some are simply rhetoric and brag about their past "deeds". , or blackmail their parents.

This kind of situation is not uncommon in France, so Louis XIV only popularized primary and secondary education in Versailles for the time being, because the king and his cronies often traveled between Versailles and Paris, and teachers' salaries were also high, so temporarily There were no troubling situations, and these schools produced what they saw as "new troops", loyal, intelligent, and brave and strong.

As the assets of Holland and Flanders gradually turned from merchants into gold and silver coins and flowed into the treasury, and after the division of the Dutch colonies, according to the Treaty of Versailles, each country paid money to France separately, even if Louis paid to France at the same time. The army (150,000 standing army) and the navy fleet still have room to support educational projects in the country - one of the four art academies overseen by the children, and the popularization of primary and even secondary education that Louis has always hoped to carry out is the top priority .

But this question involves the part that Bishop Lariviere does not want to see the most, that is, Huguenots - Huguenots are the title of Protestants in France, the same for the Church of Rome. It is an abominable heretic. In this regard, the Church of Rome certainly hopes that Louis XIV can act like the Queen Mother of Catherine Medici, which is to create another massacre.

But the most important reason for Louis to endure this group of pagans is the educational resources of the Huguenots-because from the very beginning, the Huguenots used education as a sword and shield to challenge the Catholic Church in France, As far as the king's spies have enquired, before being ordered to close down, the Huguenots had thirty-two colleges and eight universities, teaching the national language, courses in reading, writing, mathematics, and poetry, although inevitably there were also teachings. Questions and answers are such religious courses, but these teachers are real teachers, they have experience and teaching materials, and their educational philosophy has many places that overlap with Louis, regardless of gender, grades, classes, and exams every month.

   This kind of systematic education, I don’t know how it is better than the previous religious education-based church schools.

Speaking of which, there are also schools founded by the Jesuits in France. In addition to teaching the traditional seven arts, there are also teaching contents involving physics, natural science and chemistry. Directing students towards absolute blind obedience and obedience to the Catholic and Roman Churches was a sin intolerable for Louis XIV, even greater than the rebellion of the Huguenots.

   In addition, the Jesuits have also rejected the king's request for them to have a primary school curriculum, of course, to this group of stubborn idiots, children under the age of ten are all a group of unteachable animals.

   Bishop La Rivière shook his head at this, these Jesuit priests probably didn't know what their king had to do if he wanted to.

Sure enough, the king had determined that as long as the Huguenots were willing to hand over their teachers and teaching materials and obey the king's arrangements, they could live their lives peacefully in the Orleans region while maintaining their faith. Let M. Chambolance pass it on to the Huguenots in other places - if they insist on living in the original place, after all, the decree of Nantes allowed them to live in La Rochelle, Montauban and Nimes maintained their beliefs, but in the event of religious uprisings, the king not only announced the withdrawal of the Edict of Nantes, but also regarded them as treason.

  If they wanted to escape, the same is true, now the king has enough troops to watch over them, and the Huguenots' military power was outlawed long ago.

   Since the fall of Flanders and Holland, there has been less for them to go.

But you have to say that they stayed in the three places of La Rochelle - in fact, two places, because Nimes also has almost no Huguenots - but they have to follow the Catholic Church's holiday arrangements And pay the 11th tax, but when they are surrounded by Catholics, life can be difficult for them.

   No wonder a convert said that when a priest stands behind an executioner, or a king's army of 100,000 people, it is difficult for you to disobey his words.

Now, Louis XIV gave them an option, which was to move to Orleans, a special area where the inhabitants had the same beliefs as them, where they could go on with their lives without having to convert or not have to To do hard labor, if only they would go to the king's school to be teachers...

"Are you saying that apart from literature and science, there are schools for artisans?" asked Bishop Larivière cautiously, a man neither smart nor stupid, not smart It was because he was stupid enough to compete with Prince Conti and the confessor of the Queen Mother for the position of cardinal. It is not stupid, that is, he decisively accepted the olive branch handed by the king who was still very young at the time.

   Now it is impossible for him to point fingers at the king's decision, or to go against the grain, he only hesitated, and did not raise any objection to this issue.

   "Are these schools first opened in Orleans?" asked Prince Conti.

"So to speak," said Louis, "because it belongs to my dearest brother," the Duke of Orleans immediately stood up and saluted: "I believe he can control his own territory." And the Duke of Orleans' territory is very large. - So the dukes of Orleans in the past were able to make waves, and now the king can also divide them into three parts belonging to Catholics (once loyal to Gaston), Huguenots and wizards, to ensure that they will be in the The last strength was consumed in the mutual restraint.

   "The other thing is," said Louis XIV, "that I do not wish to have other similar private schools on French soil, besides the primary, secondary and tertiary which I will open."

Bishop La Rivière moved uncomfortably, the meaning of the sentence was clear, it was addressed to him, and since the Huguenot schools had been ordered to close, the king was referring to other than the Jesuit schools What else could it be?

But he also went to the King's School in Versailles - anyone who's seen it knows why the King places so much importance on education, not even secondary schools and colleges, think about it, these kids are learning how to be loyal at the age of six or seven As for the king, when they grow up, will they still be like the Paris mob who, at the slightest incitement, go to attack the palace?

  There will be no two suns hanging in the sky, and this idea suddenly appeared in Bishop Lariviere's head-the Sun King does not allow any existence to be equal to him and to divide his people's hearts, even if that existence is a saint and a god.

Louis XIV gave a casual order like asking for tea and coffee, and then turned the issue to the next one, which is the school curriculum. The religious curriculum may be reserved, but not many, and the elementary school will be simple. Reading and writing, arithmetic; in secondary schools the king wants to add more content - physics, chemistry, astronomy, nature, law...history, geography, etc. As for the Greek and Latin courses that are required in Jesuit schools, It was cancelled directly by the king, which was of little benefit to the development of France.

As for university courses, the king suggested that there should be specializations, just as art academies are divided into painting and sculpture, drama, music and dance, people choose academies, and they choose their future careers, not as in the past, A doctor's child is a doctor, a businessman's child is a businessman, and a lawyer's child is a lawyer... Children can choose their careers according to their talents and interests.

   "It's a genius idea," Prince Conte quickly complimented: "I've always wanted to be a trumpeter."

   "I can let you play the trumpet before every banquet (Note 1)," Louis said jokingly: "But before that, you have to do one thing for me."

"Please instruct me." Mr. Colbert said with his head held high, he had no daughter to marry, so he was naturally not afraid, so he heard Louis XIV say: "I need you to help me examine a I trust you, gentlemen, to ensure that the materials are complete, detailed, and secure."

Colbert suddenly raised the few strands of hair he had, almost holding up his wig - compared to Prince Conti, who was sworn to do it perfectly, he was so weak that he could barely hear it. The voice asked, "A textbook?"

   "Well," said the king, "from elementary school to secondary school." Then he heard a "gum dong", and Mr. Colbert fainted immediately after hearing his answer.

The King    glanced at the Duke of Orleans beside him: "I'm not so anxious either."

  ———

In the same way, after realizing what a heavy, tedious and responsible job the king had entrusted to them, Prince Conti also seemed to have lost his soul (probably won't be able to return in a short time), the Duke of Orleans snickered. Let Bontang take them to a small hall to rest for a while, he and the king still have a little work to do.

After several minutes, Prince Conti finally calmed down under the comfort of hot chocolate and cream cake. He suddenly let out a whimper, which startled Colbert, and was accused of being too rude by Prince Conte, who was walking into the waiting room. and stupid.

  Prince Conti didn't have time to say anything to his brother, who looked hesitant, when Prince Condé walked in.

  The third group of people has been replaced in the Venus Hall, but this time it is no longer ministers, but generals.

Down from the Prince of Condé were the Duke of Luxembourg, the Viscount Turenne, and several other officers who had won a great deal for themselves on the battlefield. The king glanced at them and said bluntly: "I want to build a Military Academy."

   (end of this chapter)