Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

LOUIS XIV

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 43 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

LOUIS XIV . (1638-17x5), See also:king of See also:France, was See also:born at See also:Saint-Germain-en-Laye on the 5th of See also:September 1638. His See also:father, Louis XIII., had married See also:Anne of See also:Austria, daughter of See also:Philip III., king of See also:Spain, in 1615, but for twenty years the See also:marriage had remained without issue. The childlessness of the king was a See also:constant See also:threat to the policy of his See also:great See also:minister See also:Richelieu; for. the king's See also:brother and See also:heir, Gaston of See also:Orleans, was a deter-See also:mined opponent of that policy. The See also:birth of the See also:prince who was destined to reign as Louis XIV. was therefore hailed as a See also:triumph, not less important than any of those won by See also:diplomacy or arms. The See also:death of his father made Louis XIV. king on the 14th of May 1643, but he had to wait sixteen years before he began to See also:rule. See also:Power See also:lay for some See also:time in the hands of the See also:queen-See also:mother and in those of her minister, See also:Cardinal See also:Mazarin, who found it difficult to maintain the power of the See also:throne and the integrity of See also:French territory during, the domestic troubles of the See also:Fronde and the last stages of the See also:Thirty See also:Year's See also:War. The minister was hated as a foreigner, and the childhood of the king See also:Paris; once when there was a rumour of intended See also:flight the populace was admitted to see the king in his See also:bed. The memory of these humiliations played their See also:part in developing later the autocratic ideas of Louis. Mazarin, in spite of all disadvantages, triumphed alike over his domestic and his See also:foreign opponents. The Fronde was at an end by 1653; the See also:peace of See also:Westphalia (1648) and the peace of the See also:Pyrenees (1659) marked the success of the arms and of the diplomacy of France. Louis XIV. was now twenty-one years of See also:age and was anxious to rule as well as to reign.

The peace of the Pyrenees was a decisive event in his See also:

personal See also:history as well as in that of France, for one of its most important stipulations referred to his marriage. He had already been strongly attracted to one of the nieces of Mazarin, but reasons of See also:state triumphed over personal impulse; and it was agreed that the new friendship with Spain should be cemented by the marriage of Louis to his See also:cousin, the Infanta Maria See also:Theresa. A large See also:dowry was stipulated for; and in See also:consideration of this the king promised to forgo all claims that his wife might otherwise possess to the See also:Spanish See also:crown or any part of its territories. The dowry was never paid, and the king held himself See also:free of his promise. The marriage took See also:place at once, and the king entered Paris in triumph in s66o. Mazarin died in the next year; but so strong was the feeling that the See also:kings of France could only rule through a first minister that it was generally expected that Mazarin would soon have a successor. The king, however, at once announced his intention of being his own first minister; and from this See also:resolution he never swerved. Whatever great qualities he may have lacked he certainly possessed See also:industry and See also:patience in the highest degree. He built up a thoroughly personal See also:system of See also:government, and presided constantly over the See also:council and many of its committees. He was fond of gaiety and of See also:sport; but neither ever turned him away from the punctual and laborious See also:discharge of his royal duties. Even the greatest of his ministers found themselves controlled by the king. See also:Fouquet, the See also:finance minister, had accumulated enormous See also:wealth during the See also:late disturbances, and seemed to possess power and ambition too great for a subject.

Louis XIV. found it necessary almost to conspire against him; he was overthrown and condemned to perpetual imprisonment. Those who had most of the king's confidence afterwards were See also:

Colbert for See also:home affairs; See also:Lionne for diplomacy; See also:Louvois for war; but as his reign proceeded he became more self-confident and more intolerant of See also:independence of See also:judgment in his ministers. His See also:court was from the first one of great brilliance. In See also:art and in literature, the great See also:period, which is usually called by the king's name, had in some respects passed its See also:zenith when he began to reign. But France was unquestionably the first state in See also:Europe both in arms and arts, and within France the authority of the king was practically undisputed. The nation, proud of its pre-See also:eminence and weary of See also:civil war, saw in the king its true representative and the See also:guarantee of its unity and success. Louis was singularly well fitted by his See also:physical and intellectual gifts for the role of See also:Grand Monarque and he played it to perfection. His wife Maria Theresa See also:bore him See also:children but there was no community of tastes between them, and the See also:chief See also:influence at court is to be found not in the queen but in the See also:succession of avowed mistresses. Mademoiselle de la Valliere held the position from 1662 to 167o; she was then ousted by Madame de See also:Montespan, who had fiercely intrigued for it, and whose proud and ambitious See also:temper offered a great contrast to her See also:rival. She held her position from 167o to 1679 and then gave place to the still more famous Madame de See also:Maintenon, who ruled, however, not as See also:mistress but as wife. The events that brought about this incident See also:form the strangest See also:episode in the king's private See also:life. Madame de Maintenon was the widow of the dramatist See also:Scarron, and first came into relationship with the king as governess to his illegitimate children.

She was a woman of unstained life and strongly religious temperament; and it was by this that she gained so great an influence over the king. Through her influence the king was reconciled to his wife, and, when Maria Theresa died in 1683, Madame de Maintenon shortly afterwards (in 1684) became the king's wife, though this was never officially declared. Under her influence the court lost most of its gaiety, and See also:

religion came to exercise much See also:control over the life and the policy of the king. The first years of the king's rule were marked by the great schemes of Colbert for the See also:financial, commercial, See also:industrial and See also:naval reorganization of France, and in these schemes Louis took a deep See also:interest. But in 1667 began the See also:long See also:series of See also:wars, which lasted with little real intermission to the end of the reign (see FRANCE). In the steps that led to these wars and in their conduct the egotistic ambition and the vanity of the king played an important part; though he never showed real military skill and took no See also:share in any military operations except in certain sieges. The War of See also:Devolution (cr the Queen's War) in 1667—68 to enforce the queen's claim to certain districts in the Spanish See also:Netherlands, led to the Dutch War (1672—73), and in both these wars the supremacy of the French armies was clearly apparent. The next See also:decade (1678—1688) was the real turning-point in the history of the reign, and the strength of France was seriously diminished. The chief cause of this is to be found in the revocation of the See also:Edict of See also:Nantes. The See also:church had always opposed this See also:settlement and had succeeded in altering it in many points. Now the new religious zeal and the autocratic temper of Louis XIV. came to the support of the church. The French See also:Huguenots found their privileges decreased, and then, in 1685, the edict was altogether withdrawn.

The results were ruinous to France. It was not only that she lost many thousands of her best citizens, but this See also:

blow against Protestantism deprived her of those See also:Protestant alliances in Europe which had been in the past her great See also:diplomatic support. Then the See also:English Revolution came in 1688 and changed See also:England from a wavering ally into the most determined of the enemies of France. The war with the Grand See also:Alliance, of which King See also:William III. was the See also:heart and soul, lasted from 1688 to 1697; and the treaty of See also:Ryswick, which brought it to an end, deprived France of certain territories on her frontier. But Louis saw in the Spanish question a See also:chance of more than making up for this loss. The Spanish king See also:Charles II. was dying, and the future of the possessions of Spain was doubtful. The astute diplomacy of Louis succeeded in winning the See also:inheritance for his See also:grandson Philip. But this involved France and Europe in an immense war (1700) and by the peace of See also:Utrecht (1713), though the French prince retained the Spanish crown, France had again to make concessions of territory. Louis XIV. had shown wonderful tenacity of purpose during this disastrous war, and sometimes a nobler and more See also:national spirit than during the years of his triumphs. But the See also:condition of France was terrible. She was burdened with See also:debt; the reforms of Colbert were ruined; and opposition to the king's regime began to make itself See also:felt. Peace brought some See also:relief to France, but the last years of the king's life were gloomy in the extreme.

His numerous descendants seemed at . one time to place the succession beyong all difficulty. But his eldest son, the dauphin, died in See also:

April 1711; his eldest grandson the See also:duke of See also:Burgundy in See also:February 1712; and his great-grandson the duke of See also:Brittany in See also:March 1712. The heir to the throne was now the duke of Burgundy's son, the duke of See also:Anjou, afterwards Louis XV. The king died on the 1st of September 1715, after the longest recorded reign in See also:European history. The judgment of posterity has not repeated the flattering See also:verdict of his contemporaries; but he remains the See also:model of a great king in all that concerns the externals of kingship. The reign of Louis XIV. particularly See also:rich in See also:memoirs describing the life of the court. The chief are Madame de See also:Motteville's memoirs for the period of the Fronde, and the letters of Madame de See also:Sevigne and the memoirs of Saint-See also:Simon for the later period. The king's ideas are best seen in the Memoires de Louis XIV. pour l'instruction du dauphin (edited by Dreyss, 2 vols.). His private life is revealed in the letters of Madame de Maintenon and in those of Madame, Duchesse d'Orleans. Of the See also:ordinary historians of France See also:Michelet is fullest on the private life of the king. Mention may also be made of See also:Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV. ; P.

See also:

Clement, Histoire de la See also:vie et de l'See also:administration de Colbert; Sainte-Beuve, Causeries de lundi. Full See also:bibliographies of the reign will be found in G. See also:Monod's $ibliographie de l'histoire de France; vol. v. (" The Age of Louis XIV.") of the See also:Cambridge See also:Modern History; and vol. vi. (" Louis XIV.") of the Histoire generale of See also:Lavisse and See also:Rambaud. (A. J.

End of Article: LOUIS XIV

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
LOUIS XIII 		[next]
LOUIS XV

Site © 2006 - Net Industries