Louis XIV

Louis XIV 1638-1715, king of France (1643-1715), son and successor of King Louis XIII.

Early Reign

After his father's death his mother, Anne of Austria , was regent for Louis, but the real power was wielded by Anne's adviser, Cardinal Mazarin . Louis did not take over the government until Mazarin's death (1661). By then France was economically exhausted by the Thirty Years War, by the Fronde , and by fiscal abuses. But the centralizing policies of Richelieu and Mazarin had prepared the ground for Louis, under whom absolute monarchy, based on the theory of divine right, reached its height.

Domestic Policy

Louis's reign can be characterized by the remark attributed to him, "L'état, c'est moi" [I am the state]. Louis continued the nobility's exemption from taxes but forced its members into financial dependence on the crown, thus creating a court nobility occupied with ceremonial etiquette and petty intrigues. The provincial nobles also lost political power. Louis used the bourgeoisie to build his centralized bureaucracy. He curtailed local authorities and created specialized ministries, filled by professionals responsible to him. Under his minister Jean Baptiste Colbert industry and commerce expanded on mercantilist principles and a navy was developed. The war minister, the marquis de Louvois , established the foundations of French military greatness.

Religious Affairs

Louis increasingly imposed religious uniformity. His persecution of the Huguenots in the 1680s culminated (1685) in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (see Nantes, Edict of ). The resultant exodus of Protestants, many of whom were merchants and skilled artisans, intensified the kingdom's economic decline and further alienated the Protestant powers. Louis also suppressed Jansenism (see under Jansen, Cornelis ). Despite this concern with religious orthodoxy, he favored Gallicanism , and controversy with the popes approached schism (1673-93) before Louis abandoned this position.

Foreign Policy

Louis strove vigorously for supremacy in foreign affairs. His marriage (1660) to the Spanish princess Marie Thérèse served as a pretext for the War of Devolution (1667-68), which netted him part of Flanders, although the Dutch then moved against him with the Triple Alliance of 1668. Relations with the Dutch were exacerbated by commercial rivalry and in 1672 Louis, determined to crush Holland, began the third of the Dutch Wars , which depleted his treasury.

For the next ten years the king limited his policies to diplomacy. He set up "chambers of reunion" to unearth legal grounds for claims on a number of cities, which Louis promptly annexed. Fear of Louis's rapacity resulted in a European coalition (see Augsburg, League of ; Grand Alliance, War of the ), which confronted him when he attacked the Holy Roman Empire in 1688. This war ended with the Treaty of Ryswick (1697), through which Louis lost minor territories. Louis's last war, the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14), left France in debt and greatly weakened militarily; nevertheless, Louis's grandson retained the Spanish throne.

The Court

Although he had a series of mistresses, Louis XIV finally came under the influence of Mme de Maintenon , whom he married morganatically (1684) after the queen's death. A great supporter of the arts, Louis patronized the foremost writers and artists of his time, including Molière , Jean Racine , Jean de La Fontaine , and Charles Le Brun . The architect Jules Mansart supervised the building of the lavish palace of Versailles . Because of the brilliance of his court, Louis was called "Le Roi Soleil" [the Sun King] and "Le Grand Monarque." He was succeeded by his great-grandson, Louis XV .

Bibliography

For contemporary sources see the incisive memoirs of the Cardinal de Retz; the extremely prejudiced but indispensable memoirs of the duc de Saint-Simon; and the letters of Mme de Sévigné, which brilliantly portray the social life of the time. See also biographies by J. B. Wolf (1968) and P. Erlanger (tr. 1970); studies by P. Goubert (1972), O. Bernier (1987), and P. Sonnino, ed. (1990).

Louis XIV (1638–1715) King of France (1643–1715). Cardinal Mazarin dominated the early part of his reign. From 1661, Louis ruled as the epitome of absolute monarchy and became known as the ‘Sun King’ for the luxury of his court. As ministers, he chose men of low rank or the junior nobility, such as the able Colbert. Louis' wars of aggrandisement in the Low Countries and elsewhere drained the treasury. His revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove Huguenots abroad, weakening the economy. In the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), a European coalition decisively defeated the French armies.

Louis XIV (1638–1715) King of France (1643–1715). On his father's death in 1643, his mother ANNE OF AUSTRIA became regent and MAZARIN chief minister. Louis survived the FRONDE, was proclaimed of age in 1651, and married the Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain in 1660. He took over the government on Mazarin's death in 1661 and embarked on a long period of personal rule.

Domestic policy was aimed at creating and maintaining a system of absolute rule: the king ruled unhampered by challenges from representative institutions but with the aid of ministers and councils subject to his will. The States-General was not summoned, the Parlement largely ignored, the great nobles were generally excluded from political office, and loyal bourgeois office-holders were promoted. Jean-Baptiste COLBERT expanded the merchant marine and the navy, and encouraged manufacturing industries and trade, though he largely failed in his attempts to improve the tax system. In the provinces the INTENDANTS established much firmer royal control. The French army became larger and more efficient; in his later years Louis was able to put between 300,000 and 400,000 men into the field. The greatest victories came in the earlier years, when the generals TURENNE and CONDÉ were available to take command. Victories were won in the War of DEVOLUTION and the Dutch War, with the French frontiers strengthened by a series of strategic territorial gains, reinforced by the fortifications of Vauban. The NINE YEARS WAR and the War of the Spanish Succession saw France hard-pressed as Europe united to curb Louis's aggressive policies; after 1700 France suffered a series of crushing defeats. The country was seriously impoverished by the burden of taxation.

Religious orthodoxy was strictly imposed, particularly after the Revocation of the Edict of NANTES (1685) and the forced conversion of the HUGUENOTS, at least 200,000 of whom illegally fled the country. Within the Catholic church Jansenists, Quietists, and other deviants were also persecuted. On the positive side, the achievements of the reign in literature and the arts based on the court at VERSAILLES have given it the name Le Grand Siècle. There was, however, a marked decline in these fields during the later part of the reign, and at his death Louis XIV left a series of political, economic, and religious problems of his great-grandson, LOUIS XV.