ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Sun King's impact on the daily lives of his people. The contrast between aspiration and achievement is well illustrated by Louis's legal reforms. Most of these were masterminded by Colbert, such as the Code Louis, the Ordonnance Criminelle and the Ordonnance de Commerce. The problem of identifying political dissent in the France of the ancien regime is that there was no such thing as a 'loyal opposition', in contrast to developments in early eighteenth-century Britain. The latter part of Louis XIV's personal rule was not exactly the golden age of feminism. Not surprisingly women were the chief victims of the Sun King's crusade to stamp out vice, inspired by his moralistic second wife, Mme de Maintenon. Women were described as 'soldiers of Satan'. Louis XIV and Mme de Maintenon knew exactly what sort of France they were trying to create. They wanted the French to be respectful, devout and clean-living.
