Enlightenment · Europe · Politics

1652

Fronde of the Princes Crushed

1652

Mazarin and young Louis XIV, returning from exile, crushed the aristocratic Fronde led by the Great Conde. The magnates submitted, the parlements went quiet, and the monarchy emerged stronger than before. Louis would remember the humiliation of fleeing Paris in his nightshirt and build Versailles partly in answer, ensuring the nobility would never again threaten the throne.