LOUIS XIV OF FRANCE: BIOGRAPHY - HISTORY - 2024

Louis XIV of France (1638–1715) was a prominent French king who ruled the country for 72 years, from 1643 until his death in 1715. He is recognized today as the symbol of absolute monarchy in Europe.

During his reign, a series of internal and external wars were developed in France, which spanned from 1667 to the 1700s. Among these conflicts are: The War in the Netherlands, the League of Augsburg and the War of the Spanish Succession.

Workshop of Claude Lefèbvre

Its power was increasing progressively with the passage of time, to the point of wanting to appropriate large areas of territory in Europe. Despite brewing several wars over the years, King Louis XIV was able to lead and maintain France as one of the main powers of the Old Continent.

However, the War of the Spanish Succession brought many problems for France. Louis XIV acted selfishly to try to fulfill his personal goals, which generated a destabilization in the country.

Biography

Early years

Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a city located west of Paris, France. He was baptized with the name Louis Dieudonné (Louis the Given God) and was the son of the Spanish Queen, Anne of Austria, and of Louis XIII, King of France.

Before the birth of Louis XIV, his mother had suffered four spontaneous abortions; the birth of the heir to the throne was seen as a divine miracle. Two years later, the queen gave birth to Philip, Louis XIV's little brother.

King Louis XIII felt his death near, so he decided to make preparations for the succession of his first-born. The king decreed a regency council that would govern in the name of his son, as he did not trust the political abilities of Queen Anne.

On May 14, 1643, when Louis XIV was only 4 years old, his father died. He had to take the throne of France with less than a decade of life. Little Louis XIV went on to rule over 18 million subjects and to control a critically unstable economy.

Relationship with his mother and early studies

According to several witnesses of the time, Luis's relationship with his mother was very loving. According to some historians, the queen spent a lot of time with her son, and had even inherited a taste for food and the theater from her mother.

However, it is thought that little Louis came to the brink of death due to an accidental oversight by Queen Anne. Furthermore, they left the little prince alone and overlooked his actions within the royal house. Many of these problems are attributed to the carelessness of the palace servants.

His baptism godfather, the Italian Cardinal Jules Mazarino, was responsible for giving Luis the first classes in history, politics and the arts. Nicolas de Neufville was assigned to watch over the young man and protect him from any danger that might arise.

Actions of Queen Anne of Austria

With the death of King Louis XIII, Queen Anne of Austria did not respect the will of her late husband and managed to undo the regency council through the Parliament of Paris, with the intention of becoming the sole regent of France.

The queen argued that she carried out these actions to protect her son and ensure the stability of the throne by the time he came of age.

On May 18, 1643, she was declared Regent of France. One of the first actions she carried out was to send several politicians into exile who sought to dethrone the queen and refused to allow Anne to sit on the French throne.

On the other hand, he appointed the Italian Cardinal Jules Mazarino as Prime Minister of France for his high political capacities. Many members of the Gallic political circle despised the idea of ​​placing a foreign politician in a French ministerial position.

Influence of the Civil War on Louis XIV

When Luis XIV was 9 years old and during the regency of his mother, a revolt began on the part of some nobles. With Queen Anne of Austria in power along with Mazarin, the authority of the French crown grew, generating a rejection of many nobles and parliamentarians in the country.

The Thirty Years' War had complicated France's financial situation and Queen Anne began to make radical decisions; Mazarino had to intercede before the requests of the town.

The queen was able to imprison aristocrats who defied her will, as her main objective was to leave her son all the power and authority to rule France. The parliamentarians did not agree with her actions: they sought to start a civil war against the French crown.

Meanwhile, Louis XIV grew up watching the development of the Civil War in France, so little by little he began to distrust the upper aristocracy.

In addition, the troubled state of France made going outside dangerous for him. He lived a good part of his youth locked up in his home.

Marriage and religion

In 1658, Luis faced a love dilemma. For two years he struggled with himself to put aside the love he felt for Marie Mancini, the niece of the Mazarin.

Louis XIV understood the responsibility that came with being king, and gave priority to the resolution of other conflicts before his love life. In 1660, Louis XIV married Maria Teresa of Spain, born Infanta of Spain and Portugal who was also a member of the House of Habsburg.

The union between Louis XIV and Maria Teresa was intended to end the long war between Spain and France. Although Luis showed some affection for the young woman early in their marriage, he was never faithful to her. Otherwise, he began to have a large number of lovers behind his back.

Luis was characterized as a devout king and saw himself as the protector of the Catholic Church. He made his devotions daily regardless of where he was; he adhered to the liturgical calendar in its entirety. The Protestant Church disgusted him.

Beginning of his reign

When Prime Minister Mazarin passed away, Louis XIV had come of age. For this reason, he assumed the personal role of the government without the presence of a prime minister, an issue that astonished many French politicians because it went against the political customs of the country.

Luis assumed his mandate with a dominant attitude, to the point of believing himself the "God on Earth." In fact, he adopted the emblem of the sun and called himself "Sun King." The king began to exercise absolute monarchical power, considering that all disobedience against his person was synonymous with sin.

He had developed a confident personality for choosing and encouraging talented workers, a skill he had possibly acquired from his mother.

His reign began with administrative and fiscal reforms, as the French treasury had fallen into bankruptcy after the war. To solve the situation, he elected the politician Jean-Baptiste Colbert as Minister of Finance.

Colbert significantly reduced the economic deficit, drastically turning it into a surplus. In addition, it managed to stabilize the national debt through efficient taxes.

Although finances had been the weakest point of the French monarchy, the state could be sustained with the application of reforms.

Construction of the Palace of Versailles

King Louis XIV always had a fascination for the castle of Versailles; however, after his marriage to Maria Teresa, he began to visit him more often until he made the decision to rebuild it to make it his home.

He brought in a large number of workers to rebuild the palace. The new building was used by kings for more than a century and became a cultural heritage of France.

Louis XIV took care that freshwater rivers and canals were diverted to accommodate the construction of the structure. The Palace of Versailles became the quintessential symbol of the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV. The king moved the capital of France to Versailles to rule from his great palace.

War in the Netherlands

Louis XIV was known to be dominant in foreign policy decisions. After the death of King Felipe IV of Spain, the father of his wife María Teresa, Luis unleashed the War of Return.

In one of the marriage contracts with María Teresa it was specified that she should renounce her claims to Spanish territories. However, with the death of her father, the French king took advantage of annulling this contract and taking possession of the territories belonging to her wife.

Brabant, part of the Spanish Netherlands, was one of the territories that was returned to his wife Maria Teresa. The king decided to invade this part of Holland from France to conquer the territories on behalf of his country.

Following pressure from the English, the Dutch themselves, and other European nations, France decided to withdraw its forces from the Netherlands and hand over the region back to Spain. Even so, France maintained dominance of several border cities in Flanders.

Despite this, King Louis XIV had remained unsatisfied with the results of the War of Devolution, which led to the Franco-Dutch War. After the conflict, France annexed part of the Flanders territories.

Augsburg League

As a consequence of the expansionist policies of Louis XIV in many areas of the European continent, Germany sought to stop the French claims. An alliance was created between Germany, Spain, Portugal, and the United Provinces, called the Augsburg League.

The main reason for the union was to defend the Rhine region from possible French intervention. By that time, Louis XIV had formed one of the most powerful nations in the world; many European nations felt threatened by French power.

The monarch hoped that England would remain neutral by the agreements that it had reached with King James Stuart, but the deposition of James by William of Orange caused England to join the league. The incorporation of England finished forming the recognized Great Alliance.

After facing a series of conflicts between the countries involved, a peace agreement was finally reached. Under the terms, Louis XIV was left alone with Strasbourg. The King of the Sun was in charge of returning to Spain the fortifications of Luxembourg, Mons and Kortrick.

War of the Spanish Succession

At the beginning of the 18th century, the Spanish monarch Carlos II died without having left an heir to succeed him on the throne. Louis XIV thought of installing his grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou, on the throne of Spain.

According to the testament of Carlos II, Felipe indeed had to be the heir to the Spanish throne. He wanted the Spanish and French crown to be unified, and for Felipe (a member of the Bourbon house) to take all the Spanish possessions that belonged to him.

On the other hand, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Leopold I, also yearned for the throne of Spain. This triggered a series of conflicts to determine the successor to the throne, which became known as The War of the Spanish Succession.

England decided to renounce the conflict and propose a peace treaty, which started the negotiations. These culminated in the Utrecht Treaty between all the powers involved, which redefined the political map of Europe and ended the war.

Last years

In his last years of life, King Louis XIV began to generate hostility in the French population, due to his determination to establish religious uniformity throughout France. The king became an increasingly radical Catholic, even hating the French Protestants.

He destroyed Protestant schools, churches and congregations throughout France, forcing young children to become Catholics. This made large groups of Protestants leave the country, in search of inhabiting regions where they were accepted.

After the War of the Spanish Succession, the leadership capacity of Louis XIV had diminished significantly. The war caused the country's resources to be almost entirely depleted. This left France headed for devastation, famine, and debt.

In short, Louis XIV had completely forgotten France in search of a personal goal: the defense of the Spanish throne from his grandson Felipe V.

On September 1, 1715, a few days after his birthday, Louis XIV died of gangrene at Versailles. His great-grandson, Louis XV, just 5 years old, took the throne of France.

References

1. Louis XIV of France, Wikipedia in English, (nd). Taken from Wikipedia.org
2. Louis XIV Biography, Biography editors, (nd). Taken from biography.com
3. Louis XIV, editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, (nd). Taken from britannica.com
4. League of Augsburg, Portal The Columbia Encyclopedia, (nd). Taken from encyclopedia.com
5. War of the Spanish Succesion, editors of Canadian Encyclopedia, (nd). Taken from thecanadianencyclopedia.ca