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LOUIS XV

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 44 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LOUIS XV . (1710-1774), See also:king of See also:France, was the See also:great-See also:grandson of Louis XIV. and the third son of Louis, See also:duke of See also:Burgundy, and See also:Marie See also:Adelaide, princess of See also:Savoy. The first son had died in 1705, and in 1712 the second son, the duke of See also:Brittany, as well as his See also:father and See also:mother, was carried off by a mysterious disease. Louis was thus unexpectedly brought into the See also:line of the See also:succession, and was only five years old .when Louis XIV. died. The dead king had endeavoured by his will to See also:control the See also:administration even after his See also:death by a carefully selected See also:council of regency, in which the duke of See also:Orleans should have only the nominal See also:presidency; but with the help of the See also:parlement of See also:Paris the arrangement was at once set aside, and the duke was declared See also:regent with full traditional See also:powers. The duke had capacity, but his See also:life was so licentious that what See also:influence he had upon the king was for evil. See also:Fleury, See also:bishop of See also:Frejus, was appointed his See also:tutor, and the little king was sincerely attached to him. The king attained his legal See also:majority at the See also:age of thirteen, shortly before the death of the duke of Orleans. His first See also:minister was the incapable duke of See also:Bourbon, who in 1725 procured the repudiation of the See also:Spanish princess, to whom the king had been betrothed, and his See also:marriage to Maria Leszczynska, daughter of the exiled king of See also:Poland, then See also:resident in See also:Alsace. In 1726 the duke of Bourbon was displaced by the king's tutor, Bishop (afterwards See also:Cardinal) Fleury, who exercised almost See also:absolute See also:power, for the king took little See also:interest in affairs of See also:state. His administration was successful and peaceful until the See also:year 1734, when a disputed succession in Poland brought about the interference of France on behalf of the See also:queen's father. France was unsuccess`ul in her immediate See also:object, but at the See also:peace of See also:Vienna (1735) secured the See also:possession of See also:Lorraine.

Up to this point the reign had been prosperous; but from this See also:

time on it is a See also:record of declining See also:national strength, which was not compensated by some days of military See also:glory. Fleury's great age (he died still in See also:office at the age of ninety) prevented him from really controlling the policy of France and of See also:Europe. In 1740 the See also:war of the See also:Austrian Succession See also:broke out and France drifted into it as an ally of See also:Frederick of See also:Prussia and the enemy of See also:England, and of Maria See also:Theresa of See also:Austria. On Fleury's death in 1743 no one took his See also:place, and the ~See also:ing professed to adopt the example of Louis XIV. and to establish a See also:personal See also:autocracy. But he was not strong enough .in will or See also:intellect to give unity to the administration. The See also:marquis d'See also:Argenson writes that at the council table Louis " opened his mouth, said little and thought not at all," and again that " under the See also:appearance of personal See also:monarchy it was really anarchy that reigned." He had followed too in his domestic life the example of his predecessors. The queen for some time seems to have secured his affections, and she See also:bore him seven See also:children. But soon we hear of the royal mistresses. The first to acquire notoriety was the duchess of See also:Chateauroux, the third See also:sister of one See also:family who held this position. She was at least in See also:part the cause of the only moment of popularity which the king enjoyed. She urged him to take part personally in the war. France had just received a humiliating check at See also:Dettingen, and the invasion of the See also:north-eastern frontier was feared.

The king went to See also:

Metz in 1744, and his presence there did something to See also:ward off the danger. While the nation See also:felt genuine gratitude for his See also:energy and its success, he was reported to have fallen dangerously See also:ill. The king, of whom it was said that the fear of See also:hell was the only part of See also:religion which had any reality for him, now dismissed the duchess of Chateauroux and promised See also:amendment. Prayers were offered everywhere for his recovery, and the See also:country was swept by a See also:delirium of loyal See also:enthusiasm, which conferred on him the See also:title of Louis le biers aime. But his future life disappointed all these hopes. The duchess of Chateauroux died in the same year, but her place was taken in 1745 by Madame de See also:Pompadour. This woman had philanthropic impulses and some real interest in See also:art and letters; but her influence on public affairs was a fatal one. She had many rivals during her lifetime and on her death in 1764 she was succeeded by Madame du See also:Barry (q.v.). But the mention of these three See also:women gives no See also:idea of the degradation of the king's life. There has doubtless been exaggeration as to certain details, and the See also:story of his seraglio at the Parc aux cerfs is largely apocryphal. But it would be difficult to mention the name of any See also:European king whose private life shows such a record of vulgar See also:vice unredeemed by higher aims of any See also:kind. He was not without ambition, but without sufficient tenacity of purpose to come near to realizing it.

To the last he maintained the pretence of personal See also:

rule, but the machinery of See also:government See also:fell out of See also:gear, and the disorder of the finances was never remedied before the revolution of 1789. The peace of See also:Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), which ended the war of the Austrian Succession, brought no gains to France in spite of her victories at See also:Fontenoy and Raucoux; and the king was blamed for the See also:diplomatic failure. The See also:interval between this war and the Seven Years' War (1756) saw that great reversal of affiances which is sometimes called the " Diplomatic Revolution "; whereby France repudiated the See also:alliance of Frederick the Great and joined hands with her old enemy Austria. The intrigues of Madame de Pompadour played in this See also:change an important though not a decisive part. It was the cause of immense disasters to France; for after a promising beginning, both by See also:land and See also:sea, France suffered reverses which lost her both See also:India and See also:Canada and deprived her of the leading position which she had so See also:long held in Europe. Her humiliation was declared by the peace of Paris (1763). The See also:article on the See also:history of France (q.v.) shows how there arose during the last years of Louis XV.'s reign a strong reaction against the monarchy and its methods. Military success had given it its strength; and its See also:prestige was ruined by military failure. In the parlements, provincial and Parisian; in religion, and in literature, a See also:note of opposition is struck which was never to See also:die until the monarchy was overthrown. France annexed See also:Corsica in 1768, but this was felt to be the See also:work of the minister See also:Chauvelin, and reflected no See also:credit on the king. He died in 1774 of smallpox. If the reign of his predecessor shows us almost the ideal of personal monarchy we may see in that of Louis XV. all the vices and errors exemplified which See also:lie in wait for absolute hereditary rule which has survived the See also:period of its usefulness, For the king's life generally see the See also:memoirs of See also:Saint-See also:Simon, d'Argenson, See also:Villars and See also:Barbier, and for the details of his private life E.

Boutaric, Correspondance secrete de Louis X V.; Madame de Pompadour's Correspondance published by P. Malassi; Dietric, See also:

Les Mattresses de Louis X V. ; and Fleury, Louis X V. intimes et les petites mattresses (1909). For the See also:system of See also:secret See also:diplomacy and organized espionage, known as the Secret du roi, carried on under the auspices of Louis XV., see See also:Albert duc de See also:Broglie, Le Secret du roi. Correspondance secrete de Louis XV. avec ses agents diplomatiques 1752–1774 (Paris, 1878); and for a See also:general See also:account of the reign, H. Carr6, La France sous Louis XV. (Paris, 1891). For other See also:works, general and See also:special, see G. See also:Monod, Bibliographie de la France, and the bibliography in the Histoire generate of See also:Lavisse and See also:Rambaud, vol. vii., and the See also:Cambridge See also:Modern History, vol. vi. (A. J. G.*)the extravagance of the See also:ministry of See also:Calonne, and brought on the Revolution by the resulting See also:financial embarrassment.' The third part of his reign began with the See also:meeting of the states-general on the 4th of May 1789, which marked the opening of the Revolution.

The revolt of Paris and the taking of the See also:

Bastille on the 14th of See also:July were its results. The suspicion, not without See also:justification, of a second See also:attempt at a coup d'etat led on the 6th of See also:October to the " See also:capture " of the king and royal family at See also:Versailles by a See also:mob from Paris, and their transference to the Tuileries. In spite of the growing radicalism of the clubs, however, See also:loyalty to the king remained surprisingly strong. When he swore to maintain the constitution, then in progress of construction, at the festival of the federation on the 14th of July 1790, he was at the height of his popularity. Even his attempted See also:flight on the loth of See also:June 1791 did not entirely turn the nation against him, although he See also:left documents which proved his opposition to the whole Revolution. Arrested at Varennes, and brought back to Paris, he was maintained as a constitutional king, and took his See also:oath on the 13th of See also:September 1791. But already a party was forming in Paris which demanded his deposition. This first became noticeable in connexion with the affair of the Champ de See also:Mars on the 17th of July 1791. Crushed for a time the party gained strength through the See also:winter of 1791-1792. The See also:declaration of war against the See also:emperor See also:Francis II., See also:nephew of Marie Antoinette, was forced upon the king by those who wished to discredit him by failure, or to compel him to declare himself openly an enemy to the Revolution. Their policy proved effective. The failure of the war, which intensified popular hatred of the Austrian queen, involved the king; and the invasion of the Tuileries on the loth of June 1792 was but the prelude to the See also:conspiracy which resulted, on the loth of See also:August, in the capture of the See also:palace and the " suspension " of See also:royalty by the Legislative See also:Assembly until the See also:convocation of a national See also:convention in September.

On the 21St of September 1792 the Convention declared royalty abolished, and in See also:

January it tried the king for his See also:treason against the nation, and condemned him to death. He was executed on the 21st of January 1793. Louis XVI. was weak in See also:character and mentally dull. His courage and dignity during his trial and on the See also:scaffold has left him a better reputation than he deserves. His See also:diary shows how little he understood, or cared for, the business of a king. Days on which he had not shot anything at the See also:hunt were See also:blank days for him. The entry on the 14th of July 1789 was " nothing "! The greater part of his time was spent See also:hunting. He also amused himself making locks, and a little at See also:masonry. Awkward and uncourtly, at See also:heart shy, he was but a poor figure-See also:head for the stately See also:court of France. At first he did not care for Marie Antoinette, but after he came under her influence, her thoughtless conduct compromised him, and it was largely she who encouraged him in underhand opposition to the Revolution while he pretended to accept it. The only point on which he had of his own initiative shown a strong objection to revolutionary See also:measures was in the See also:matter of the See also:civil constitution of the See also:clergy.

A devoted and sincere See also:

Roman See also:Catholic, he refused at first to See also:sanction a constitution for the See also:church in France without the See also:pope's approval, and after he had been compelled to allow the constitution to become See also:law he resolved to oppose the Revolution definitely by intrigues. His policy was both feeble and false. He was singularly unfortunate even when he gave in, delaying his acquiescence until it had the See also:air of a surrender. It is often said that Louis XVI. was the victim of the faults of his predecessors. He was also the victim of his own. Having lost his See also:elder son in 1789 Louis left two children, Louis See also:Charles, usually known as Louis XVII., and Marie Therese See also:Charlotte (1778-1851), who married her See also:cousin, Louis, duke of See also:Angouleme, son of Charles X., in 1799. The " See also:orphan of the See also:Temple," as the princess was called, was in See also:prison for three years, ' The responsibility of Marie Antoinette for the policy of the king before and during the Revolution has been the subject of much controversy. In general it may be said that her influence on politics has been much exaggerated.

End of Article: LOUIS XV

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