Bourbon France · 1643-1715

Louis XIV and Versailles

The Sun King turns his father's hunting lodge into the most famous palace in Europe and keeps the nobles close. Students explore how Louis XIV used buildings, ceremony and war to show absolute power, and what it cost France.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1700
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

The Sun King turns his father's hunting lodge into the most famous palace in Europe and keeps the nobles close. Students explore how Louis XIV used buildings, ceremony and war to show absolute power, and what it cost France.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain what "absolute monarchy" means, using Louis XIV as an example.
  • Describe how Versailles helped Louis control the nobility.
  • Weigh the costs and benefits of Louis XIV's wars and policies for France.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1700

From Paris to Versailles

Open the map in 1700 and zoom in on Paris. Versailles lies about 20 km to the south-west. Why would a king move his court and government out of the capital?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1700

France and its neighbours

Zoom out in 1700 and find France's neighbours: Spain, the Dutch Republic, the Holy Roman Empire and England across the Channel. Louis fought wars against all of them. Why did so many states join together against France?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1700

Huguenots leave

Look at the Protestant lands around France: the Dutch Republic, England, Brandenburg-Prussia and Switzerland. After 1685 many French Protestants fled there. Why would these states welcome them?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Louis became king at the age of four. Who really ruled France while he was a child?
  2. Thousands of nobles spent much of their lives at Versailles. Why was that useful for the king?
  3. Louis chose the Sun as his symbol. What message did that send?
  4. In 1685 Louis cancelled the Edict of Nantes. What did France lose when the Huguenots fled?
  5. The saying "I am the state" is often linked to Louis, but he probably never said it. Why does it stick to him?
4

Game round

10 min

Play a round of Rule History as Peter the Great, who visited Paris and Versailles in 1717 and built his own palace of Peterhof near St Petersburg. Discuss: why did so many rulers copy Versailles?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.