When we speak of "absolutism," most of us think immediately of Louis XIV, the Sun King, and his splendrous court at Versailles. But those glittering images cover over a centuries-long struggle by the Bourbon dynasty to consolidate power by forging quiet strategic alliances with the lower and middle classes against the nobility, building up a precarious potemkin village that would soon collapse under financial strain, throwing all of Europe into confusion. Please become a patron to hear the upcoming Myth of the Month: Astrology -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Image: Louis XIV as Jupiter, vanquisher of the Fronde, Charles Poerson, 1650s.