Conseil du Roi
The Conseil du Roi (French pronunciation: [kɔ̃sɛj dy ʁwa]; French for "The King's Council"), also known as the Royal Council, is a general term for the administrative and governmental apparatus around the king of France during the Ancien Régime designed to prepare his decisions and give him advice. It should not be confused with the role and title of a "Conseil du Roi", a type of public prosecutor in the French legal system at the same period.
One of the established principles of the French monarchy was that the king could not act without the advice of his council. Under Charles V, it was put forward that the king made decisions only after "good and careful deliberation" (French: bonne et mûre délibération), and this principle was maintained by his successors; the closing formula of royal acts "le roi en son conseil" expressed this deliberative aspect. Even during the period of French absolutism, the expression "car tel est notre bon plaisir" ("because such is our pleasure") applied to royal decisions made with consultation.
The administration of the French state in the early modern period went through a long evolution, as a truly administrative apparatus – relying on old nobility, newer chancellor nobility ("noblesse de robe") and administrative professionals – substituted the feudal clientel system. The exact divisions and names of these councils varied over time.
The kings of France traditionally always sought the advice of their entourage (vassals, clerics, etc.) before making important decisions (in the early Middle Ages, this entourage was sometimes called the familia), but only in the 12th century did this deliberation take the form of a specific institution called the King's Court (Latin: the "Curia Regis").
The Council had only a consultational role: the final decision was always the king's. Although jurists frequented praised (especially in the 16th century) the advantages of consultative government (with the agreement of his counsellors, the king could more easily impose the most severe of his decisions, or he could have his most unpopular decisions blamed on his counsellors), mainstream legal opinion never held that the king was bound by the decisions of his council. The opposite was however put forward by the States General of 1355–1358, and by the Huguenots and by the Catholic League in the second half of the 16th century.
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