He considered the German culture of his time to be inferior to that of France or Italy; however, he did try to foster its development. He thought that German culture had been hindered by the devastating wars of the 17th century (the Thirty Years' War, the Ottoman wars, the invasions of Louis XIV) but that with some time and effort, it could equal or even surpass its rivals. In his view, this would require a complete codification of the German language with the help of official academies, the emergence of talented classical German authors and extensive patronage of the arts from Germanic rulers, a project of a century or more. Frederick's love of French culture was not without limits either. He disapproved of the luxury and extravagance of the French royal court, and he ridiculed German princes (especially Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland) who imitated French sumptuousness in his work ("Of Manners, Customs, Industry, and the Progress of the Human Understanding in the Arts and Sciences").