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Louis XIII (1601-1643) and Louis XIV (1638-1718) was a father son pair of kings for the French, who both believed to rule by divine right, but they differed in how they used their religious factor in their country and how they managed their kingdoms finances. Louis XIII relied on his Cardinal who helped him rule and manage the kingdom. While Louis XIV trusted only himself to rule his Monarchy. This led to different outcomes in their monarchies.
Louis XIII and Louis XIV both claimed to rule by divine right. Both strongly believed in how they ruled their kingdoms and showed that they wanted as much power as they could attain. Both kings always had the final decision for everything and one thing Louis XIII decided to do was go to war against Spain for balance of power. Louis XIV built Versailles because he wanted a magnificent place for all the powerful people to live because he was paranoid. These two kings got to do whatever they wanted since they were ruling with Divine Right. They used this belief to increase their power within their kingdom and influence their power outside the kingdom.
France was a catholic country and both rulers were catholic but the way that both used their religion was very different. When Louis XIII was king of France he had an advisor named Cardinal Richelieu who helped him rule France, he showed Louis XIII an opportunity to shift the balance of power in Europe but it contrasted with their religion. Even though France was catholic Cardinal Richelieu saw a chance to take down Spain and the Hapsburgs by fighting for the Protestants. This tactic worked for France and it became the most powerful country in Europe, but they fought for the other religion for balance of power. Louis XIV was a very proud catholic and said that “I am state”, and since he was catholic everyone will be catholic in France. He also revoked the Edict of Nantes, this made it so you cannot express free religion you must be catholic in France. This caused the middle class (Huguenots) to leave France and go to the new world which weakened commerce in France. Religion was used differently in both Monarchies for what the kings thought would be the best decision.
The decisions made by each king had monumental effects on the financial stability of France. Louis XIII kept France in perfect shape using his money in war and expansion of France in great ways; he won the thirty year war and thus making France the most powerful country in Europe. Louis XIV was a complete opposite ruining Frances finances. While Louis XIV was king he 4x the size of his army and spent 30 of his 54 years as king in war which drained the finances of France. The biggest mistake Louis XIV made was when he spent 1 billion dollars on the city of Versailles and bankrupted the treasury of France (Even though he invested in the new world and was making money from that). The kings couldn’t have been more different in how they managed their finances in their kingdoms.
Louis XIII and Louis XIV ruled their kingdoms similar in that they ruled with a divine right system. Religion dictated Louis XIV decision making, while Louis XII thought more about his balance of power when he went to war with Spain and his own religion. The economy differed for both kings while Louis XIII spent his money carefully and kept his economy healthy, however Louis XIV spent his money whenever and however he wanted and this ruined his economy. Both had different outcomes of how their monarchies continued after they died but both ruled and made good and bad decisions.