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Louis XIV of France

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Historical figures


   Louis XIV
   King of France and of Navarre
   LOUIS XIV (1638-1715), by Hyacinthe Rigaud ( 1701)
   Reign May 14, 1643 – September 1, 1715
   Coronation June 7, 1654
   Full name Louis-Dieudonné
   Born September 5, 1638
   Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
   Died September 1, 1715
   Château de Versailles, Versailles, France
   Buried Basilica of Saint Denis, Saint-Denis, Paris
   Predecessor Louis XIII, King of France
   Heir apparent Louis de France, "le Grand Dauphin"
   Successor Louis XV, King of France
   Consort Marie-Thérèse of Austria, Infanta of Spain, Queen of France
   Issue Louis de France
   Anne-Élisabeth de France
   Marie-Anne de France
   Marie-Thérèse de France
   Philippe-Charles de France
   Louis-François de France
   Royal House House of France (Bourbon Branch)
   Father Louis XIII, King of France
   Mother Anne of Austria, Infanta of Spain, Queen of France

                                                 CAPTION: French Monarchy-
                                                          Capetian Dynasty
                                                         ( Bourbon branch)


                                             Henry IV
                        Sister
                            Catherine of Navarre, Duchess of Lorraine
                        Children
                            Louis XIII
                            Elisabeth, Queen of Spain
                            Christine Marie, Duchess of Savoy
                            Nicholas Henry
                            Gaston, Duke of Orléans
                            Henriette-Marie, Queen of England and Scotland
                                            Louis XIII
                        Children
                           Louis XIV
                            Philippe, Duke of Orléans
                                            Louis XIV
                        Children
                            Louis, the Grand Dauphin
                            Marie-Anne
                            Marie-Therese
                            Philippe-Charles, Duc d'Anjou
                            Louis-François, Duc d'Anjou
                        Grandchildren
                            Louis, Duke of Burgundy
                            King Philip V of Spain
                            Charles, Duke of Berry
                        Great Grandchildren
                            Louis, Duke of Brittany
                            Louis XV
                                             Louis XV
                        Children
                            Louise-Elisabeth, Duchess of Parma
                            Madame Henriette
                            Louis, Dauphin
                            Madame Marie Adélaïde
                            Madame Victoire
                            Madame Sophie
                            Madame Louise
                        Grandchildren
                            Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia
                            Louis XVI
                            Louis XVIII
                            Charles X
                            Madame Élisabeth
                                            Louis XVI
                        Children
                            Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, Duchess of Angouleme
                            Louis-Joseph, Dauphin
                            Louis (XVII)
                            Sophie-Beatrix
                                           Louis (XVII)
                                           Louis XVIII
                                            Charles X
                        Children
                            Louis (XIX), Duke of Angoulême
                            Charles, Duke of Berry
                        Grandchildren
                            Henry (V), comte de Chambord
                            Louise, Duchess of Parma

   Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) ( September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715)
   ruled as King of France and of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his
   death just prior to his seventy-seventh birthday. He acceded to the
   throne a few months before his fifth birthday, but did not assume
   actual personal control of the government until the death of his First
   Minister ("premier ministre"), Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661. Louis
   XIV, known as The Sun King (in French Le Roi Soleil) or as Louis the
   Great (in French Louis le Grand, or simply Le Grand Monarque, "the
   Great Monarch"), ruled France for seventy-two years—the longest reign
   of any French or other major European monarch. Louis XIV increased the
   power and influence of France in Europe, fighting three major wars—the
   Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the
   Spanish Succession—and two minor conflicts—the War of Devolution, and
   the War of the Reunions.

   Under his reign, France achieved not only political and military
   pre-eminence, but also cultural dominance with various cultural figures
   such as Molière, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Lully, Rigaud, Le Brun
   and Le Nôtre. These cultural achievements contributed to the prestige
   of France, its people, its language and its king. One of France's
   greatest kings, Louis XIV worked successfully to create an absolutist
   and centralized state. Louis XIV became the archetype of an absolute
   monarch. The phrase "L'État, c'est moi" ("I am the State") is
   frequently attributed to him, though this is considered by historians
   to be a historical inaccuracy and is more likely to have been conceived
   by political opponents as a way of confirming the stereotypical view of
   the absolutism he represented. Quite contrary to that apocryphal quote,
   Louis XIV is actually reported to have said on his death bed: "Je m'en
   vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours." ("I am going away, but the State
   will always remain").

Early years, Regency and war

   On his birth at the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1638, his
   parents, Louis XIII of France and Anne of Austria, who had been
   childless for twenty-three years, regarded him as a divine gift; hence
   he was christened "Louis-Dieudonné" ("Dieudonné" meaning "God-given");
   he also received the titles premier fils de France ("First Son of
   France") as well as the more traditional title Dauphin.

   Through Louis XIV's veins ran the blood of many of Europe's royal
   Houses. His paternal grandparents were Henri IV of France and Marie de'
   Medici, who were French and Italian respectively; while both his
   maternal grandparents were Habsburgs, Philip III of Spain and Margaret
   of Austria. In this manner, he counted as his ancestors various
   historical figures like Charles Quint and Frederick Barbarossa, both
   Holy Roman Emperors. He also found himself descended from the founder
   of the Rurik dynasty, Rurik the Viking, Charles I "le Téméraire", Duc
   de Bourgogne, the poet Charles, Duc d'Orléans, and Giovanni de' Medici,
   last of the great Condottieri. Most importantly, he traced his paternal
   lineage in unbroken male succession from Saint Louis, King of France.

   Louis XIII and Anne had a second child, Philippe d'Anjou (soon to be
   Philippe I, Duc d'Orléans) in 1640. Louis XIII, however, did not trust
   in his wife's ability to govern France upon his demise. Thus he decreed
   that a regency council, of which Anne would be head, should rule in his
   son's name during his minority; this would have diminished the Queen
   Mother's power. Nevertheless, when Louis XIII died and his young son,
   Louis XIV, acceded on May 14, 1643, Anne had her husband's will
   annulled in the Parlement, did away with the Council and became sole
   Regent. She entrusted power to her chief minister, the Italian-born
   Cardinal Mazarin, who was despised in most French political circles
   because of his alien non-French background (although he had already
   become a naturalised French subject).
   Europe after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648
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   Europe after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648

   The Thirty Years' War, which had commenced in the previous reign, ended
   in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia, made up of the Treaties of
   Münster and Osnabrück, the work of Cardinal Mazarin. This Peace ensured
   Dutch independence from Spain and the independence of the German
   princes in the Empire. It marked the apogee of Swedish power and
   influence in German and European affairs. However, it was France who
   had the most to gain in the Peace. Austria ceded to France all Habsburg
   lands and claims in Alsace, and the petty German states eager to remove
   themselves from Habsburg domination placed themselves under French
   protection, leading to the further dissolution of Imperial power. The
   Peace of Westphalia humiliated Habsburg ambitions in the Holy Roman
   Empire and Europe and laid rest to the idea of the Empire having
   secular dominion over the entire Christendom.
   Louis XIV as a young child
   Enlarge
   Louis XIV as a young child

   Just as the Thirty Years' War ended, a French civil war, known as the
   Fronde, which effectively curbed the French ability to make good the
   advantages gained in the Peace of Westphalia, commenced. Cardinal
   Mazarin continued the policies of centralization pursued by his
   predecessor, Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, seeking to
   augment the power of the Crown at the expense of the nobility. In 1648,
   he sought to levy a tax on the members of the Parlement, a court whose
   judges comprised mostly nobles or high clergymen. The members of the
   Parlement not only refused to comply, but also ordered all of Cardinal
   Mazarin's earlier financial edicts burned. When Cardinal Mazarin
   arrested certain members of the Parlement, Paris erupted in rioting and
   insurrection. A mob of angry Parisians broke into the royal palace and
   demanded to see their king. Led into the royal bedchamber, they gazed
   upon Louis XIV, who was feigning sleep, and quietly departed. Prompted
   by the possible danger to the royal family and the monarchy, Anne fled
   Paris with the king and his courtiers. Shortly thereafter, the signing
   of the Peace of Westphalia allowed the French army under Louis II de
   Bourbon, Prince de Condé to return to the aid of Louis XIV and of his
   royal court. By January 1649, the Prince de Condé had started besieging
   rebellious Paris; the subsequent Peace of Rueil temporarily ended the
   conflict.

   After the first Fronde (Fronde Parlementaire) ended, the second Fronde,
   that of the princes, began in 1650. Nobles of all ranks, from princes
   of the Blood Royal and cousins of the king, like Gaston Jean-Baptiste,
   Duc d'Orléans, his daughter, Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans, Duchesse de
   Montpensier, Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, Armand de
   Bourbon-Condé, Prince de Conti, and Anne-Geneviève de Bourbon-Condé,
   Duchesse de Longueville; to nobles of legitimated royal descent, like
   Henri II d'Orléans, Duc de Longueville, and François de Vendôme, Duc de
   Beaufort; and nobles of ancient families, like François VI, Duc de La
   Rochefoucauld, Frédéric-Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duc de Bouillon,
   his brother, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, and Marie
   de Rohan-Montbazon, Duchesse de Chevreuse, participated in the
   rebellion against royal rule. Even the clergy was represented by Jean
   François Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz. The result of these
   tumultuous times, when the Queen Mother reputedly sold her jewels to
   feed her children, was a king filled with a permanent distrust for the
   nobility and the mob.

End of war and personal reign

   War with Spain, however, continued. The French received aid in this
   military effort from England, then governed by Lord Protector Oliver
   Cromwell. The Anglo-French alliance achieved victory in 1658 with the
   Battle of the Dunes. The subsequent Treaty of the Pyrenees, signed in
   1659, fixed the border between France and Spain at the Pyrenees;
   according to its terms, Spain ceded various provinces and towns to
   France in the Spanish Netherlands and Roussillon. The treaty signalled
   a change in the Balance of Power with the decline of Spain and the rise
   of France. By the abovementioned treaty, Louis XIV became engaged to
   marry the daughter of Philip IV of Spain, Maria Theresa (Marie-Thérèse
   d'Autriche). They were married on June 9, 1660; under the terms of the
   marriage contract, upon and in return for the full payment of a large
   dowry (50,000 gold écus), to be paid in three installments, Maria
   Theresa would find herself satisfied and agree to renounce all claims
   to the Spanish Monarchy and its territories. The dowry, however, was
   left unpaid since Spain was bankrupt, thus theoretically rendering the
   renunciation null and void.
   Anne of Austria and her niece, Marie-Thérèse, both Infantas of Spain
   and Queens of France
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   Anne of Austria and her niece, Marie-Thérèse, both Infantas of Spain
   and Queens of France

   The French treasury, after a long war, stood close to bankruptcy when
   Louis XIV assumed, upon the death of his Premier Ministre, personal
   control of the reins of government in 1661. Louis XIV appointed
   Jean-Baptiste Colbert as Contrôleur-Général des Finances in 1665.
   Colbert reduced the national debt through more efficient taxation. His
   principal means of taxation included the aides, the douanes, the
   gabelle, and the taille. The aides and douanes were customs duties, the
   gabelle a tax on salt, and the taille a tax on land. While Colbert did
   not abolish the historic tax exemption enjoyed by the nobility and
   clergy, he did improve the methods of tax collection then in use.

   Colbert also had wide-ranging plans to strengthen France through
   commerce and trade. His administration ordained new industries and
   encouraged manufacturers and inventors, such as the Lyons silk
   manufactures and the Manufacture des Gobelins, which produced and still
   produces tapestries. He also brought professional manufacturers and
   artisans from all over Europe, such as glassmakers from Murano, or
   ironworkers from Sweden or ship-builders from the United Provinces. In
   this manner, he sought to decrease French dependence on foreign
   imported goods and hence to decrease the flow of gold and silver out of
   France. Colbert also made improvements to the navy to increase French
   naval prestige and to gain control of the high seas in times of war and
   of peace, improvements to the merchant marine to remove, at least
   partially, control of French commerce from Dutch hands, and
   improvements to the highways and the waterways of France which
   decreased the costs and time of transporting goods around the kingdom.
   He ranks as one of the fathers of the school of thought regarding trade
   and economics known as mercantilism — in fact, France calls
   "mercantilism" Colbertisme, and his policies effectively increased
   French State revenue for the king.
   Silver coin of Louis XIV, dated 1674.The inscription in Latin on the
   obverse reads "LVDOVICUS XIIIID[EI] GRA[TIA]" and on the reverse
   "FRAN[CIA] ET NAVARRAE REX" (translated into English as "LOUIS XIIII
   (Louis XIV), BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF FRANCE AND OF NAVARRE").
   Enlarge
   Silver coin of Louis XIV, dated 1674.
   The inscription in Latin on the obverse reads "LVDOVICUS XIIII
   D[EI] GRA[TIA]" and on the reverse "FRAN[CIA] ET NAVARRAE REX"
   (translated into English as "LOUIS XIIII (Louis XIV), BY THE GRACE OF
   GOD, KING OF FRANCE AND OF NAVARRE").

   The Sun King proved an incredibly generous spender, dispensing large
   sums of money to finance the royal court. He brought the Académie
   Française under his patronage, and became its "Protector". He also
   operated as a patron of the arts, funding literary and cultural figures
   such as Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (or "Molière"), Charles Le Brun, and
   Jean-Baptiste Lully. It was under his reign and patronage that
   Classical French literature flourished with such writers as Molière,
   who mastered the art of comic satire and whose works still have a major
   impact on modern French literature and culture, Jean Racine, whose
   stylistic elegance is considered exceptional in its harmony, simplicity
   and poetry, or Jean de La Fontaine, the most famous French fabulist
   whose works are to this day learnt by generations of French students.
   The visual arts also found in Louis XIV the ultimate patron for he
   funded and commissioned various artists, such as Charles Le Brun,
   Pierre Mignard, Antoine Coysevox, André Le Nôtre and Hyacinthe Rigaud
   whose works became famed throughout Europe. In music, composers and
   musicians like Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jacques Champion de Chambonnières
   and François Couperin occupied the scene. Lully introduced opera to
   France and founded French Opera and, with Molière, popularized the
   Comédie-Ballet, while Couperin's famous book L'Art de toucher le
   clavecin greatly influenced Bach, Strauss and Maurice Ravel.

   Louis XIV ordered the construction of the military complex known as the
   Hôtel des Invalides to provide a home for officers and soldiers who had
   served him loyally in the army, but whom either injury or age had
   rendered infirm. While methods of pharmaceuticals at the time were
   quite elementary, the Hôtel des Invalides pioneered new treatments
   frequently and set a new standard for the rather barbarous hospice
   treatment styles of the period. Louis XIV considered its construction
   one of the greatest achievements of his reign, which, along with the
   Chateau de Versailles, is one of the largest and most extravagant
   monuments in Europe, extolling a king and his country.

   He also improved the Palais du Louvre, as well as many other royal
   residences. Originally, when planning additions to the Louvre, Louis
   XIV had hired Gian Lorenzo Bernini as architect. However, his plans for
   the Louvre would have called for the destruction of much of the
   existing structure, replacing it with a most awkward-looking Italian
   summer villa in the centre of Paris. In his place, Louis chose the
   French architect Claude Perrault, whose work on the "Perrault Wing" of
   the Louvre is widely-celebrated. Against a shadowed void, and with
   pavilions at either end, the simplicity of the ground-floor basement is
   set off by the rhythmically paired Corinthian columns and crowned by a
   distinctly non-French classical roof. Through the centre rose a
   pedimented triumphal arch entrance. Perrault's restrained classicizing
   baroque Louvre would provide a model for grand edifices throughout
   Europe and America for ages.

                                      Monarchical Styles of
                                                     King Louis XIV
                         Par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre
                        Reference style   His Most Christian Majesty
                        Spoken style      Your Most Christian Majesty
                        Alternative style Monsieur Le Roi

War in the Low Countries

   After Louis XIV's father-in-law and uncle, Philip IV of Spain, died in
   1665, Philip IV's son (by his second wife) became Charles II of Spain.
   Louis XIV claimed that Brabant, a territory in the Low Countries ruled
   by the King of Spain, had "devolved" to his wife, Marie-Thérèse,
   Charles II's elder half-sister by their father's first marriage. He
   argued that the custom of Brabant required that a child should not
   suffer from his or her father's remarriage, hence having precedence in
   inheritance over children of the second or subsequent marriages. Louis
   personally participated in the campaigns of the ensuing War of
   Devolution, which broke out in 1667.
   Marie-Thérèse of Austria, Infanta of Spain and Queen of France
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   Marie-Thérèse of Austria, Infanta of Spain and Queen of France

   Problems internal to the Republic of the Seven United Provinces (the
   Netherlands) aided Louis XIV's designs on the Low Countries. The most
   prominent political figure in the United Provinces at the time, Johan
   de Witt, Grand Pensionary, feared the ambition of the young William
   III, Prince of Orange, who in seeking to seize control might thus
   deprive De Witt of supreme power in the Republic and restore the House
   of Orange to the influence it had hitherto enjoyed until the death of
   William II, Prince of Orange. Therefore, with the United Provinces in
   internal conflict between supporters of De Witt and those of William of
   Orange, the "States faction" and the "Orange faction" respectively, and
   with England preoccupied in the Second Anglo-Dutch War with the Dutch,
   who were being supported, in accordance with the terms of the treaties
   signed between them, by their ally, Louis XIV, France easily conquered
   both Flanders and Franche-Comté. Shocked by the rapidity of French
   successes and fearful of the future, the United Provinces turned on
   their former friends and put aside their differences with England and,
   when joined by Sweden, formed a Triple Alliance in 1668. Faced with the
   threat of the spread of war and having signed a secret treaty
   partitioning the Spanish succession with the Emperor, the other major
   claimant, Louis XIV agreed to make peace. Under the terms of the Treaty
   of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668), France retained Flanders, including the
   great fortress of Lille, but returned Franche-Comté to Spain.
   Reception of Le Grand Condé at Versailles, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1878)
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   Reception of Le Grand Condé at Versailles, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1878)

   The Triple Alliance did not last very long. In 1670, Charles II, lured
   by French bribes and pensions, signed the secret Treaty of Dover,
   entering into an alliance with France; the two kingdoms, along with
   certain Rhineland German princes, declared war on the United Provinces
   in 1672, sparking off the Franco-Dutch War. The rapid invasion and
   occupation of most of the Netherlands precipitated a coup, which
   toppled De Witt and allowed William III, Prince of Orange, to seize
   power. William III entered into an alliance with Spain, the Emperor and
   the rest of the Empire; and a treaty of peace with England was signed
   in 1674, the result of which was England's withdrawal from the war and
   the marriage between William III, Prince of Orange, and the Princess
   Mary, niece of the English King Charles II. Facing a possible Imperial
   advance on his flank while in the Low Countries in that year, Louis XIV
   ordered his army to withdraw to more defensible positions.

   Despite these diplomatic and military reverses, the war continued with
   brilliant French victories against the overwhelming forces of the
   opposing coalition. In a matter of weeks in 1674, the Spanish territory
   of Franche Comté fell to the French armies under the eyes of the king;
   while the Prince de Condé defeated a much larger combined army, with
   Austrian, Spanish and Dutch contingents, under the Prince of Orange,
   preventing them from descending on Paris. In the winter of 1674-1675,
   the outnumbered Vicomte de Turenne, through a most daring and brilliant
   of campaigns, inflicted defeat upon the Imperial armies under
   Montecuccoli, drove them out of Alsace and back across the Rhine, and
   recovered the province for Louis XIV. Through a series of feints,
   marches and counter-marches towards the end of the war, Louis XIV led
   his army to besiege and capture Ghent, an action which dissuaded
   Charles II and his English Parliament from declaring war upon France
   and which allowed him, in a very superior position, to force the allies
   to the negotiating table. After six years, Europe was exhausted by war,
   and peace negotiations commenced, being accomplished in 1678 with the
   Treaty of Nijmegen. While Louis XIV returned all captured Dutch
   territory, he gained more towns and associated lands in the Spanish
   Netherlands and retained Franche-Comté, which had been captured by
   Louis and his army in a matter of weeks. As he was in a position to
   make demands which were much more exorbitant, Louis' actions were
   celebrated as evidence of his virtues of moderation in victory.

   The Treaty of Nijmegen further increased France's influence in Europe,
   but did not satisfy Louis XIV. The King dismissed his foreign minister,
   Simon Arnauld, marquis de Pomponne, in 1679, as he was viewed as having
   compromised too much with the allies and for being too much of a
   pacifist. Louis XIV also kept up his army, but instead of pursuing his
   claims through purely military action, he utilised judicial processes
   to accomplish further territorial aggrandizement. Thanks to the
   ambiguous nature of treaties of the time, Louis was able to claim that
   the territories ceded to him in previous treaties ought to be ceded
   along with all their dependencies and lands which had formerly belonged
   to them, but had separated over the years, as had in fact been
   stipulated in the peace treaties. French Chambers of Reunion were
   appointed to ascertain which territories formally belonged to France;
   the French troops later occupied them. The annexation of these lesser
   territories was designed to give France a more defensible frontier, the
   "pré carré" suggested by Vauban. Louis sought to gain cities such as
   Luxembourg, for its strategic offensive and defensive position on the
   frontier, as well as Casale, which would give him access to the Po
   River valley in the heart of Northern Italy. Louis also desired to gain
   Strasbourg, an important strategic outpost through which various
   Imperial armies had in the previous wars crossed over the Rhine to
   invade France. Strasbourg was a part of Alsace, but had not been ceded
   with the rest of Habsburg-ruled Alsace in the Peace of Westphalia. It
   was nonetheless occupied by the French in 1681 under Louis' new legal
   pretext, and, along with other occupied territories, such as Luxembourg
   and Casale, was ceded to France for a period of twenty years by the
   Truce of Ratisbon.
   The young King Louis XIV, winner of wars and of hearts
   Enlarge
   The young King Louis XIV, winner of wars and of hearts

Height of power in the 1680s

   By the early 1680s, Louis XIV had greatly augmented France's influence
   and power in Europe and the world. Louis XIV's most famous minister,
   Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who died in 1683, exercised a tremendous
   influence on the royal treasury and coffers — the royal revenue tripled
   under his supervision. The princes of Europe began to imitate France in
   everything. French colonies abroad were multiplying in the Americas,
   Asia and Africa, while diplomatic relations had been initiated with
   countries as far afield as Siam and Persia. For example, the explorer
   René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed and named, in 1682, the
   basin of the Mississippi River in North America "Louisiane" in honour
   of Louis XIV (Both the Louisiana Territory and the State of Louisiana
   in the United States formed part of Louisiane), while French Jesuits
   could be seen at the Manchu Court in China. Louis XIV was also in the
   process of reinforcing the traditional Gallicanism, a doctrine limiting
   the authority of the Pope in France. Furthermore, Louis XIV began to
   diminish the power of the nobility and clergy. He achieved immense
   control over the second estate (nobility) in France by essentially
   attaching much of the higher nobility to his orbit at his palace at
   Versailles, requiring them to spend the majority of the year under his
   close watch instead of in their own local communities plotting
   rebellion and insurrection. It was only in this way were they able to
   gain pensions and privileges necessary to their rank. He entertained
   his permanent visitors with extravagant parties and other distractions,
   which were significant factors contributing to Louis' power and control
   over his hitherto unruly nobility.

   Louis XIV hence attempted to increase his influence over the Church. He
   convened an assembly of clergymen (Assemblée du Clergé) in November
   1681. Before it was dissolved in June 1682, it had agreed to the
   Declaration of the Clergy of France. The power of the King of France
   was increased, in contrast to the power of the Pope, which was reduced.
   The Pope was not allowed to send papal legates to France without the
   king's consent; such legates as could enter France, furthermore,
   required further approval before they could exercise their power.
   Bishops were not to leave France without the royal approbation; no
   government officials could be excommunicated for acts committed in
   pursuance of their duties; and no appeal could be made to the Pope
   without the approval of the king. The king was allowed to enact
   ecclesiastical laws, and all regulations made by the Pope were deemed
   invalid in France without the assent of the monarch. The Declaration,
   however, was not accepted by the Pope for obvious reasons.

   Moreover, Louis XIV also attempted to reduce the influence of the
   nobility, continuing the work of the Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin.
   He, as a result of the experiences derived from the Fronde, believed
   that his power would prevail only if he filled the high executive
   offices with commoners, or at least members of the relatively newer
   aristocracy (the "noblesse de robe"), because while he could reduce a
   commoner to a nonentity by dismissing him, he could not destroy the
   influence of a great nobleman. Thus Louis XIV forced the older
   aristocracy to serve him ceremonially as courtiers, whilst he appointed
   commoners or newer nobles as ministers and regional intendants. As
   courtiers, the power of the great nobles grew ever weaker. The
   diminution of the power of the high aristocracy could be witnessed in
   the lack of such rebellions as the Fronde after Louis XIV. In fact, the
   victory of the Crown over the nobles finally achieved under Louis XIV
   ensured that the Fronde was the last major civil war to plague France
   until the Revolution and the Napoleonic Age.
   The Cour d'Honneur of the Château of Versailles
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   The Cour d'Honneur of the Château of Versailles

   Louis XIV had the Château of Versailles outside Paris, originally a
   hunting lodge built by his father, converted into a spectacular royal
   palace in a series of four major and distinct building campaigns. By
   the end of the third building campaign, the Château had taken on most
   of the appearance that it retains to this day, except for the Royal
   Chapel in the last decade of the reign. He officially moved there,
   along with the royal court, on May 6, 1682. Louis had several reasons
   for creating such a symbol of extravagant opulence and stately
   grandeur, and for shifting the seat of the monarch. The assertion that
   he did so because he hated Paris, however, is flawed as he did not
   cease to embellish his capital with glorious monuments while improving
   and developing it. Versailles served as a dazzling and awe-inspiring
   setting for state affairs and for the reception of foreign dignitaries,
   where the attention was not shared with the capital and the people, but
   was assumed solely by the person of the king. Court life centered on
   magnificence; courtiers lived lives of expensive luxury, dressed with
   suitable magnificence and constantly attended balls, dinners,
   performances, and celebrations. Thus, many noblemen had perforce either
   to give up all influence, or to depend entirely on the king for grants
   and subsidies. Instead of exercising power and potentially creating
   trouble, the nobles vied for the honour of dining at the king's table
   or the privilege of carrying a candlestick as the king retired to his
   bedroom.

   Louis also instituted various legal reforms. The Code Noir granted
   sanction to slavery (though it did extend a measure of humanity to the
   practice such as prohibiting the separation of families), but no person
   could disown a slave in the French colonies unless he were a member of
   the Roman Catholic Church, and a Catholic priest had to baptise each
   slave. The major legal code formulated by Louis XIV, the Code Louis,
   also played a large part in France's legal history as it was the basis
   for Napoleon I's Code Napoléon, which is itself the basis for the
   modern French legal codes.
   The Doge of Genoa at Versailles on the 15 May 1685Reparation faite à
   Louis XIV par le Doge de Gênes.15 mai 1685 by Claude Guy Halle, Château
   de Versailles
   Enlarge
   The Doge of Genoa at Versailles on the 15 May 1685
   Reparation faite à Louis XIV par le Doge de Gênes.15 mai 1685 by Claude
   Guy Halle, Château de Versailles

   By 1685, Louis XIV stood at the apogee of his power. One of France's
   chief rivals, the Holy Roman Empire, was occupied in fighting the
   Ottoman Empire in the War of the Holy League, which began in 1683 and
   lasted till 1699. The Ottoman Grand Vizier had almost captured Vienna,
   but at the last moment King John III Sobieski of Poland led an army of
   Polish, German and Austrian forces to final victory at the Battle of
   Vienna in 1683. In the meantime, Louis XIV, by the Truce of Ratisbon,
   had acquired control of several territories, including Luxembourg and
   Strasbourg, which covered the frontier and protected France from
   foreign invasion. After repelling the Ottoman attack on Vienna, the
   Holy Roman Empire was no longer in grave imminent danger from the
   Turks, but the Emperor nevertheless did not attempt to regain the
   territories annexed by Louis XIV, but rather acquiesced to the fait
   accompli of the Truce. After having his city bombarded by the French in
   1685 from the sea as punishment for having supported the Spanish and
   having granted them use of Genoese ships in the Franco-Dutch War, the
   Doge of Genoa travelled to Versailles where he was received amidst
   courtly magnificence and made his apologies and peace to Louis XIV.

   Louis XIV's Queen, Marie-Thérèse, died in 1683. He remarked on her
   demise that that was the only one occasion in which she had caused him
   anguish. Although he was said to have performed his marital duties
   every night, he had not remained utterly faithful to her for long after
   their union in 1660: his mistresses included Louise de la Valliere,
   Duchesse de Vaujours, Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart,
   Marquise de Montespan, and Marie-Angelique de Scoraille, Duchesse de
   Fontanges. As a result, he produced many illegitimate children, later
   intermarrying them into families of the highest pedigree, even into
   branches of the Royal family itself. Many scions of these resultant
   illegitimate royal cadet branches would go on to claim positions of
   power and influence in the next century. He proved, however, more
   faithful to his second wife, Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de
   Maintenon. The marriage between Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon,
   which probably occurred in late 1685, was secret and morganatic, and
   would last to his death.
   Madame de Maintenon, Louis XIV's second wife
   Enlarge
   Madame de Maintenon, Louis XIV's second wife

   Madame de Maintenon, once a Protestant, had converted to Roman
   Catholicism. It was once believed that she vigorously promoted the
   persecution of the Protestants, and that she urged Louis XIV to revoke
   the Edict of Nantes (1598), which granted a degree of religious freedom
   to the Huguenots (the members of the Protestant Reformed Church).
   However, this view of her participation is now being questioned. Louis
   XIV himself supported such a plan; he believed, along with the rest of
   Europe, Catholic or Protestant, that, in order to achieve national
   unity, he had to first achieve a religiously unified
   nation—specifically a Catholic one in his case. This was enshrined in
   the principle of "cuius regio, eius religio", which defined religious
   policy throughout Europe since its establishment, by the Peace of
   Augsburg, in 1555. He had already begun the persecution of the
   Huguenots by quartering soldiers in their homes, though it was
   theoretically within his feudal rights, and hence legal, to do so with
   any of his subjects.

   Louis continued his attempt to achieve a religiously united France by
   issuing an Edict in March 1685. The Edict affected the French colonies,
   and expelled all Jews from them. The public practice of any religion
   except Roman Catholicism became prohibited. In October 1685, Louis XIV
   issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking that of Nantes, on the
   pretext that the near-extinction of Protestantism and Protestants in
   France made any edict granting them privileges redundant. The new edict
   banished from the realm any Protestant minister who refused to convert
   to Roman Catholicism. Protestant schools and institutions were banned.
   Children born into Protestant families were to be forcibly baptised by
   Roman Catholic priests, and Protestant places of worship were
   demolished. The Edict precluded individuals from publicly practising or
   exercising the religion, but not from merely believing in it. The Edict
   provided "liberty is granted to the said persons of the Pretended
   Reformed Religion [Protestantism] ... on condition of not engaging in
   the exercise of the said religion, or of meeting under pretext of
   prayers or religious services." Although the Edict formally denied
   Huguenots permission to leave France, about 200,000 of them left in any
   case, taking with them their skills in commerce and trade. The Edict
   proved economically damaging though not ruinous; and while Sébastien Le
   Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban, one of Louis XIV's most influential
   generals, publicly condemned the measure, its proclamation was widely
   celebrated throughout France.

The League of Augsburg

   The wider political and diplomatic result of the revocation of the
   Edict of Nantes, however, was to provoke increased anti-French
   sentiment in Protestant countries. In 1686, both Catholic and
   Protestant rulers joined in the League of Augsburg, ostensibly a
   defensive pact to protect the Rhine, but really designed as an
   offensive alliance against France. The coalition included the Holy
   Roman Emperor and several of the German states that formed part of the
   Empire — most notably the Palatinate, Bavaria, and Brandenburg. The
   United Provinces, Spain and Sweden also adhered to the League.

   Louis XIV sent his troops into the Palatinate in 1688 after the
   ultimatum to the German princes to ratify the Truce of Ratisbon and
   confirm his possession of annexed territories, as well as to recognise
   his sister-in-law's claims, expired. Ostensibly, the army had the task
   of supporting the claims of Louis XIV's sister-in-law,
   Charlotte-Elizabeth, Duchesse d'Orléans, to the Palatinate. (The
   Duchesse d'Orléans's nephew had died in 1685, and the comital Crown had
   gone, not to her, but to the junior Neuburg branch of the family.) The
   invasion had the actual aim, however, of applying diplomatic pressure
   and forcing the Palatinate to leave the League of Augsburg, and thus
   weakening it.

   Louis XIV's activities united the German princes behind the Holy Roman
   Emperor. Louis had expected that England, under the Catholic James II,
   would remain neutral. In 1688, however, the "Glorious Revolution"
   resulted in the deposition of James II and his replacement by his
   daughter, Mary II of England, who ruled jointly with her husband,
   William III of England (Prince of Orange). As William III had developed
   an enmity against Louis XIV during the Dutch War, he pushed England
   into the League of Augsburg, which then became known as the Grand
   Alliance.
   Marshal de Luxembourg.
   Enlarge
   Marshal de Luxembourg.

   The campaigns of the War of the Grand Alliance (1688–1697) generally
   proceeded favorably for France. The forces of the Holy Roman Emperor
   proved ineffective, as many Imperial troops still concentrated on
   fighting the Ottoman Empire and the Germans generally took to the field
   much later than the French. Thus France could accumulate a string of
   victories from Flanders in the north, to the Rhine valley in the east,
   to Italy and Spain in the south, as well as on the high seas and in the
   colonies. Louis XIV aided James II in his attempt to regain the British
   crown, but the Stuart king was unsuccessful, losing his last stronghold
   in Ireland a year after the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Williamite
   England could then devote more of her funds and troops to the war on
   the continent. Nonetheless, despite the size of the opposing coalition,
   which encompassed most of Europe, French forces in Flanders under the
   famous pupil of the Great Condé, François Henri de
   Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Piney (called the Duc de Luxembourg),
   crushed the allied armies at the Battle of Fleurus in the same year as
   the Battle of the Boyne, as well as at the Battle of Steenkerque (1692)
   and the Battle of Neerwinden (1693). Under the personal supervision of
   Louis XIV, the French army captured Mons in 1691 and the hitherto
   impregnable fortress of Namur in 1692; thus, with the capture of
   Charleroi by Luxembourg in 1693 after his victory at Neerwinden, France
   gained the advanced defensive line of the Sambre. At the battles of
   Marsaglia and Staffarde, France was victorious over the allied forces
   under Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, overrunning his dominion and
   reducing the territory under his effective command to the area around
   Turin. In the southeast, along the Pyrenees, the Battle of the Ter
   opened Catalonia to French invasion. The French naval victory at the
   Battle of Beachy Head in 1690, however, was offset by the Anglo-Dutch
   naval victory at the Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue in 1692; but
   neither side was able to entirely defeat the opposing navy. The war
   continued for four more years, until the Duke of Savoy signed a
   separate peace and subsequent alliance with France in 1696, undertaking
   to join with French arms in a capture of the Milanese and allowing
   French armies in Italy to reinforce others; one of these reinforced
   armies, that of Spain, captured Barcelona.
   Prince de Conti
   Enlarge
   Prince de Conti

   The War of the Grand Alliance eventually ended with the Treaty of
   Ryswick in 1697. Louis XIV surrendered Luxembourg and all other
   "Réunion" territories he had seized since the end of the Dutch War in
   1679, but retained Strasbourg, assuring the Rhine as the border between
   France and the Empire. He also gained de jure recognition of his
   hitherto de facto possession of Haiti, as well as the return of
   Pondicherry and Acadia. Louis also undertook to recognise William III
   and Mary II as Joint Sovereigns of Great Britain and Ireland, and
   assured them that he would no longer assist James II; at the same time
   he renounced intervention in the electorate of Cologne and claims to
   the Palatinate in return for financial compensation. Spain recovered
   Catalonia and the many territories lost, both in this war and the
   previous one (War of the Reunions), in the Low Countries. Louis XIV
   returned Lorraine to her duke, but on terms which allowed French
   passage at any time and which severely restricted the Duke's political
   manoeuvrability. The Dutch were allowed to garrison forts in the
   Spanish Netherlands, the "Barrier", to protect themselves against
   possible French aggression. The generous terms of the treaty were seen
   as concessions to Spain designed to foster pro-French sentiment, which
   would eventually lead Charles II, King of Spain to declare Philippe,
   Duc d'Anjou (Louis' grandson) his heir. Moreover, despite such
   seemingly disadvantageous terms in the Treaty of Ryswick, French
   influence was still at such a height in all of Europe that Louis XIV
   could offer his cousin, François Louis, Prince de Conti, the Polish
   Crown, duly have him elected by the Sejm and proclaimed as King of
   Poland by the Polish primate, Michał Radziejowski. However, Conti's own
   tardiness in proceeding to Poland claiming the throne allowed his
   rival, Augustus II the Strong, Elector of Saxony to seize the throne
   and have himself crowned king.

The Spanish Succession

   The great matter of the succession to the Spanish Monarchy dominated
   European foreign affairs following the Peace of Ryswick. The Spanish
   King Charles II, severely incapacitated, could not father an heir. The
   Spanish inheritance offered a much sought-after prize for Charles II
   ruled not only Spain, but also Naples, Sicily, the Milanese, the
   Spanish Netherlands and a vast colonial empire—in all, twenty-two
   different realms.

   France and Austria were the main claimants to the throne, both of which
   had close family ties to the Spanish royal family. Philippe, Duc
   d'Anjou (later Philip V of Spain), the French claimant, was the
   great-grandson of the eldest daughter of Philip III of Spain, Anne of
   Austria, and the grandson of the eldest daughter of Philip IV of Spain,
   Marie-Thérèse of Austria. The only bar to inheritance lay with their
   renunciation to the throne, which in the case of Marie-Thérèse,
   however, was legally null and void as other terms of the treaty had not
   been fulfilled by Spain. Charles, Archduke of Austria (later Holy Roman
   Emperor), and younger son of Leopold I by his third marriage (with
   Elenor of Neuburg), claimed the throne through his paternal
   grandmother, who was the youngest daughter of Philip III; this claim
   was not, however, tainted by any renunciation. Purely on the basis of
   the laws of primogeniture, however, France had the best claims since
   they were derived from the eldest daughters.
   Philip V, King of Spain
   Enlarge
   Philip V, King of Spain

   Many European powers feared that if either France or the Holy Roman
   Empire came to control Spain, the balance of power in Europe would be
   threatened. Thus, William III, King of Great Britain and Ireland and
   Stadholder of the Netherlands, preferred another candidate, the
   Bavarian Prince Joseph Ferdinand, who was the grandson of Leopold I,
   Holy Roman Emperor through his first wife Margaret Theresa of Spain,
   younger daughter of Philip IV. Under the terms of the First Partition
   Treaty, it was agreed that the Bavarian prince would inherit Spain,
   with the territories in Italy and the Low Countries being divided
   between the Houses of France and Austria. Spain, however, had not been
   consulted, and vehemently resisted the dismemberment of its empire. The
   Spanish royal court insisted on maintaining the entirety of the Spanish
   Empire. When the Treaty became known to Charles II in 1698, he settled
   on Joseph Ferdinand as his sole heir, assigning to him the entire
   Spanish inheritance.

   The entire issue opened up again when smallpox claimed the Bavarian
   prince six months later. The Spanish royal court was intent on keeping
   the vast Spanish Empire united under one head, and acknowledged that
   such a goal could be accomplished only by selecting a member either of
   the House of France, or of Austria. Charles II, under pressure from his
   German wife, chose the House of Austria, settling on the Emperor's
   younger son, the Archduke Charles. Ignoring the decision of the
   Spanish, Louis XIV and William III signed a second treaty, allowing the
   Archduke Charles to take Spain, the Low Countries and the Spanish
   colonies, whilst Louis XIV's eldest son and heir, Louis de France,
   Dauphin de Viennois would inherit the territories in Italy, with a mind
   to exchange them for Savoy or Lorraine.

   In 1700, as he lay upon his deathbed, Charles II unexpectedly
   interfered in the affair. He sought to prevent Spain from uniting with
   either France or the Holy Roman Empire, but, based on his past
   experience of French superiority in arms, considered France as more
   capable of preserving the empire in its entirety. The whole of the
   Spanish inheritance was thus to be offered to the Dauphin's younger
   son, Philippe, Duc d'Anjou, failing which it would be offered to the
   Dauphin's third son, Charles, Duc de Berry, and thereafter to the
   Archduke Charles. If all these princes refused the Crown, it would be
   offered to the House of Savoy, distantly related to the Spanish royal
   family.

   Louis XIV thus faced a difficult choice: he could have agreed to a
   partition and to possible peace in Europe, or he could have accepted
   the whole Spanish inheritance but alienated the other European nations.
   Louis XIV originally assured William III that he would fulfil the terms
   of their previous treaty and partition the Spanish dominions. Later on,
   however, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de Torcy (nephew of
   Jean-Baptiste Colbert) advised Louis XIV that even if France accepted a
   portion of the Spanish inheritance, a war with the Holy Roman Empire
   would almost certainly ensue; and William III had made it very clear he
   would not assist France in a war to obtain the territories granted her
   by the Partition Treaties. Louis XIV agreed that if a war occurred in
   any event, it would be more profitable to accept the whole of the
   Spanish inheritance. Consequently, when Charles II died on November 1,
   1700, Philippe, Duc d'Anjou became Philip V, King of Spain.

   Louis XIV's opponents reluctantly accepted Philip V as King of Spain.
   Louis XIV, however, acted too precipitately. In 1701, he transferred
   the " Asiento", a permit to sell slaves to the Spanish colonies, to
   France, with potentially damaging consequences for British trade.
   Moreover, Louis XIV ceased to acknowledge William III as King of Great
   Britain and Ireland upon the death of James II, instead acclaiming
   James II's son and proper heir, James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old
   Pretender"), King. Furthermore, Louis XIV sent forces into the Spanish
   Netherlands to secure its loyalty to Philip V and to garrison the
   Spanish forts, which had long been garrisoned by Dutch troops as part
   of the "Barrier" protecting the United Provinces from potential French
   aggression. Consequently, an alliance was formed between Great Britain,
   the United Provinces, the Holy Roman Empire and most German states.
   Bavaria, Portugal and Savoy were allied with Louis XIV and Philip V.

   The subsequent War of the Spanish Succession continued for most of the
   remainder of Louis XIV's reign. It began with Imperial aggression even
   before war was officially declared. France had some initial success,
   nearly capturing Vienna, but the victory of Marlborough and Eugene of
   Savoy at the Battle of Blenheim ( 13 August 1704), as well as other
   reverses such as the Battle of Ramillies, the Battle of Turin and the
   Battle of Oudenarde coupled with famine and mounting debt forced her
   into a defensive posture. Bavaria was flung out of the war after her
   conquest following the Battle of Blenheim, and Portugal and Savoy
   subsequently defected to the opposite side. The war proved costly for
   Louis XIV; by 1709, he was grievously weakened and was willing to sue
   for peace at nearly any cost, even to return all lands and territories
   ceded to him in his reign and to return to the frontiers of the Peace
   of Westphalia, signed more than sixty years prior. Nonetheless, the
   terms dictated by the allies were so harsh, including demands that he
   attack his own grandson alone to force the latter to accept the
   humiliating peace terms, that war continued. Whilst it became clear
   that France could not retain the entire Spanish inheritance, it also
   seemed clear that its opponents could not overthrow Philip V in Spain
   after the definitive Franco-Spanish victory of the Battle of Almansa,
   and those of Villaviciosa and Brihuega, which drove the allies out of
   the central Spanish provinces.

   The death of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and elder son of Leopold I
   made the prospect of an empire as large as that of Charles V being
   ruled by the Archduke Charles dangerously possible. This was, to Great
   Britain, as undesirable as a union of France and Spain. Thus,
   preliminaries were signed between Great Britain and France in the
   pursuit of peace. Louis XIV and Philip V eventually made peace with
   Great Britain and the United Provinces in 1713 with the Treaty of
   Utrecht. Peace with the Holy Roman Empire came with the Treaty of Baden
   in 1714. The general settlement recognised Philip V as King of Spain
   and ruler of the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Spain's territory in
   the Low Countries and Italy were partitioned between Austria and Savoy,
   while Gibraltar and Minorca were retained by Great Britain. Louis XIV,
   furthermore, agreed to end his support for the Old Pretender's claims
   to the throne of Great Britain. France was also obliged to cede the
   colonies and possessions of Newfoundland, Rupert's Land and Acadia,
   while retaining Île-Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island) and Île
   Royale (now Cape Breton Island), in the Americas to Great Britain;
   however, most of those continental territories lost in the devastating
   defeats in the Low Countries were returned to her, despite Allied
   persistence and pressure to the contrary, and she also received further
   territories to which she had a claim such as the principality of
   Orange, as well as the Ubaye Valley, which covered the passes through
   the Alps from Italy.

Death

   Louis de France,Le Grand Dauphin
   Enlarge
   Louis de France,
   Le Grand Dauphin

   Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715 of gangrene, a few days before his
   seventy-seventh birthday. His body lies in the Saint Denis Basilica in
   Saint Denis, a suburb of Paris. He had reigned for 72 years, making his
   the longest reign in the recorded history of Europe. Almost all of
   Louis XIV's legitimate children died during childhood. The only one to
   survive to adulthood, his eldest son, Louis, Dauphin de Viennois, known
   as "Le Grand Dauphin" predeceased Louis XIV in 1711, leaving three
   children. The eldest of these children, Louis, Duc de Bourgogne, died
   in 1712, soon to be followed by Bourgogne's eldest son, Louis, Duc de
   Bretagne. Thus Louis XIV's five-year-old great-grandson Louis, Duc
   d'Anjou, the younger son of the Duc de Bourgogne, and Dauphin upon the
   death of his grandfather, father and elder brother, succeeded to the
   throne and was to reign as Louis XV of France.
   Louis, Duc de Bourgogne
   Enlarge
   Louis, Duc de Bourgogne

   Louis XIV sought to restrict the power of his nephew, Philip II, Duc
   d'Orléans, who as closest surviving legitimate relative in France would
   become Regent for the prospective Louis XV. Louis XIV instead preferred
   to transfer some power to his illegitimate son by Madame de Montespan,
   Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, Duc du Maine and created a regency council
   like that established by Louis XIII in anticipation of Louis XIV's own
   minority. Louis XIV's will provided that the Duc du Maine would act as
   the guardian of Louis XV, superintendent of the young king's education
   and Commander of the Royal Guards. The Duc d'Orléans, however, ensured
   the annulment of Louis XIV's will in Parlement, bribing the
   Parlementaires to do so with the return of their privileges which Louis
   XIV had so tirelessly abolished. The Duc du Maine was stripped of the
   title Prince du Sang Royal (Prince of the Blood Royal), which had been
   given him and his brother, Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de
   Toulouse, by the king (This act has been viewed by some as the king's
   attempt to break the constitution of ancien régime France, that is to
   say, the customary laws of the kingdom. On the other hand, it is also
   possible that this was simply the case of a dying man giving in to his
   wife and son), and of the command of the Royal Guards, but retained his
   position as superintendent, while the Duc d'Orléans ruled as sole
   Regent. Toulouse, by remaining aloof from these court intrigues,
   managed to retain his privileges, unlike his brother.

Conclusion

   Louis XIV placed a member of the House of France on the throne of
   Spain, effectively ending the centuries-old threat and menace that had
   arisen from that quarter of Europe since the days of Charles V. The
   House of Bourbon retained the Crown of Spain for the remainder of the
   eighteenth century, but experienced overthrow and restoration several
   times after 1808. None the less, to this day, the Spanish monarch is
   descended from Louis XIV.

   His numerous wars and extravagant palaces and châteaux effectively
   bankrupted the State (though it must also be said that France was able
   to recover in a matter of years), forcing him to levy higher taxes on
   the peasants and incurring large State debts from various financiers as
   the nobility and clergy had exemption from paying these taxes and
   contributing to public funds. Yet, it must be emphasized that it was
   the State and not the country which was impoverished. The wealth and
   prosperity of France, as a whole, could be noted in the writings of the
   social and political thinker and commentator Montesquieu in his
   satirical epistolary novel, Lettres Persans. While the work mocks and
   ridicules French political, cultural and social life, it also portrays
   and describes the wealth, elegance and opulence of France between the
   end of the War of the Spanish Succession and Louis XIV's death.
   Growth of France under Louis XIV (1643–1715)
   Enlarge
   Growth of France under Louis XIV (1643–1715)

   On the whole, nevertheless, Louis XIV placed France in the predominant
   and preeminent position in Europe, giving her ten new provinces and an
   overseas empire, as well as cultural and linguistic influence all over
   Europe. Even with several great European alliances opposing him, he
   continued to triumph and to increase French territory, power and
   influence. As a result of these military victories as well as cultural
   accomplishments, Europe would admire France and her culture, food,
   way-of-life, etc.; the French language would become the lingua franca
   for the entire European elite as faraway as Romanov Russia; various
   German princelings would seek to copy his mode of life and living to
   their great expense. Europe of the Enlightenment would look to Louis
   XIV's reign as an example of enlightened rule and strive to emulate him
   in all things as much as possible. However, the Duc de Saint-Simon, who
   did not like Louis XIV as he had not been given what he thought was his
   due, offered the following assessment: "There was nothing he liked so
   much as flattery, or, to put it more plainly, adulation; the coarser
   and clumsier it was, the more he relished it ... His vanity, which was
   perpetually nourished–for even preachers used to praise him to his face
   from the pulpit–was the cause of the aggrandisement of his Ministers."
   None the less, even the German philosopher Leibniz, who was a
   Protestant, could call him "one of the greatest kings that ever was".
   For his vigorous promotion of French national greatness, Louis XIV
   became known as the "Sun King" or "The Great Monarch". Voltaire, the
   apostle of the Enlightenment, compared him to Augustus and called his
   reign an "eternally memorable age", dubbing "the Age of Louis XIV" "Le
   Grand Siècle" (the "Great Century").

Depictions of Louis XIV in fiction

   Louis XIV features in the d'Artagnan Romances by Alexandre Dumas. The
   plot of the last of the three Romances, The Vicomte de Bragelonne,
   involves a fictional twin brother of Louis XIV who tries to displace
   the King. In The Man in the Iron Mask, a 1929 movie based on The
   Vicomte de Bragelonne, William Blakewell portrayed Louis XIV and his
   twin. Louis Hayward played the twins in a 1939 remake, Richard
   Chamberlain portrayed them in 1977, and Leonardo DiCaprio did the same
   in a 1998 remake.

   The Moon and the Sun, a 1997 Nebula Award-winning science fiction novel
   by Vonda N. McIntyre, is set in the court of Louis XIV in the late 17th
   century.

   Louis XIV is a relatively major character in the Baroque Cycle trilogy
   by Neal Stephenson.

Style and arms

   Louis XIV had the formal style: "Louis XIV, par la grâce de Dieu, roi
   de France et de Navarre", or "Louis XIV, by the Grace of God, King of
   France and of Navarre". He bore the arms Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or
   (for France) impaling Gules on a chain in cross saltire and orle Or an
   emerald Proper (for Navarre).

Depictions in entertainment

     * The Beatles song Sun King represents Louis XIV.
     * Louis XIV is also the name of a rock band.
     * Portrayed by Richard Chamberlain in the 1977 television movie The
       Man in the Iron Mask.
     * David Stewart of the Eurythmics dressed as Louis XIV in the video
       to There Must Be an Angel in 1985.
     * " Le Roi Soleil", a musical about the life of Louis XIV starring
       Emmanuel Moire, debuted in 2005.
     * Louis XIV is also a board game (source:
       http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/13642).

Ancestry

   CAPTION: Louis' ancestors to the third generation

   Louis XIV,
   King of France and of Navarre Father:
   Louis XIII,
   King of France and of Navarre Paternal Grandfather:
   Henri IV,
   King of France and of Navarre Paternal Great-Grandfather:
   Antoine de Bourbon,
   duc de Vendôme,
   King of Navarre
   Paternal Great-Grandmother:
   Jeanne III d'Albret,
   Queen of Navarre
   Paternal Grandmother:
   Marie de' Medici,
   Queen of France and of Navarre Paternal Great-Grandfather:
   Francesco I de' Medici,
   Grand Duke of Tuscany
   Paternal Great-Grandmother:
   Johanna of Austria,
   Archduchess of Austria
   Grand Duchess of Tuscany
   Mother:
   Anne of Austria,
   Infanta of Spain and of Portugal,
   Queen of France and of Navarre Maternal Grandfather:
   Philip III/II,
   King of Spain and of Portugal Maternal Great-Grandfather:
   Philip II/I,
   King of Spain and of Portugal
   Maternal Great-Grandmother:
   Anna of Austria,
   Archduchess of Austria
   Queen of Spain and of Portugal
   Maternal Grandmother:
   Margarita of Austria,
   Archduchess of Austria
   Queen of Spain and of Portugal Maternal Great-Grandfather:
   Charles II,
   Archduke of Austria,
   Archduke of Inner Austria
   Maternal Great-Grandmother:
   Maria Anna of Bavaria,
   Archduchess of Inner Austria

Legitimate Issue

   Name Birth Death
   Louis de France, Fils de France, le Grand Dauphin 1 November 1661 14
   April 1711
   Anne-Élisabeth de France, Fille de France November 18, 1662 December
   30, 1662
   Marie-Anne de France, Fille de France November 16, 1664 December 26,
   1664
   Marie-Thérèse de France, Fille de France, la Petite Madame January 2,
   1667 March 1, 1672
   Philippe-Charles de France, Fils de France, Duc d'Anjou August 5, 1668
   July 10, 1671
   Louis-François de France, Fils de France, Duc d'Anjou June 14, 1672
   November 4, 1672

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