The reign of the French king Louis 14. Louis XIV: the king who missed his wife

The French king Louis XIV (1638-1715) remained in history as the author of the dictum "The state is me." The system of state power in which the monarch (king, king, emperor) can make decisions only of his own free will, without any representatives of the people or nobility, is called absolutism. In France, absolutism was formed during the reign of Louis XIV's father, Louis XIII (his time is described in the famous novel by A. Dumas "The Three Musketeers"). But Louis Pope himself did not rule the country, he was more interested in hunting. All matters were decided by the first minister, Cardinal Richelieu. Little Louis was left without a father early, and until he came of age the country was ruled by another first minister, also a cardinal, Mazarin. The Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, had a great influence on state affairs. The young king, it seemed, was only interested in dancing, balls and music.

But after Mazarin's death, he grew up sharply, did not appoint the first minister, and he himself was busy every day for a long time. His main concern was public finances. Together with the State Comptroller of Finance J. Colbert, the king sought to increase government revenues. For this, the development of manufactories was encouraged, the history of the famous Lyons silk, tapestries began. It was during the era of Louis XIV that France began to rapidly turn into the trendsetter of the whole world. Even the British enemies tried to copy the Parisian styles of clothing and hairstyles (and this was an era of very bizarre fashions). Wanting to add splendor to his reign, Louis made his court dazzlingly luxurious and surrounded himself with all the arts, like the outstanding rulers of antiquity.

His court playwrights were Molière, Racine and Cornel, his favorite composer was Lully, and artists, furniture makers, and jewelers created products of unprecedented elegance.

As a child, Louis suffered many unpleasant moments during the uprising of the Parisian townspeople Fronde ("Slingshot"). Therefore, he decided to build for himself a new luxurious residence of Versailles outside Paris. All of this was costly. Louis XIV introduced several new taxes, which put a heavy burden on the peasants.

The rapid industrial development of France came into clear conflict with its medieval way of life, but Louis did not touch the privileges of the nobility and left the class division of society. However, he made great efforts to organize overseas colonies, especially in America. The territories here were named Louisiana after the king.

The Sun King - so the flattering courtiers called the king. However, Louis overestimated his greatness. He canceled the decree on religious tolerance of his grandfather, Henry IV, so hundreds of thousands of Protestants left the country, many of whom were wonderful artisans. Having moved to England and Germany, they created a textile industry there, which subsequently successfully competed with the French. He even quarreled with the Pope, making the French Church independent from Rome. And he fought with all his neighbors. And these wars ended unsuccessfully for France as a whole.

Some of the territorial acquisitions were too expensive. By the end of the reign of Louis, France entered a period of economic recession, only memories of the former prosperity of the peasants remained. The heir to Louis XIV was his great-grandson Louis XV, who became famous, in turn, with the phrase: "After us, even a flood." The magnificent façade of the Sun King State hid rotten pillars, but only the French Revolution showed how rotten they were. However, the country's cultural influence confirmed its European primacy for many centuries.

Louis XIV

short biography

Louis XIV de Bourbon, who received at birth the name Louis-Dieudonné ("God-given", French Louis-Dieudonné), also known as "Sun king"(fr. Louis XIV Le Roi Soleil), also Louis Great(fr. Louis le Grand), (September 5, 1638, Saint-Germain-en-Le - September 1, 1715, Versailles) - King of France and Navarre from May 14, 1643 Reigned 72 years - longer than any other European a king in history (of the monarchs of Europe, only some of the rulers of the small states of the Holy Roman Empire were in power longer, for example, Bernard VII of Lippsky or Karl Friedrich of Baden).

Louis, who survived the wars of the Fronde in his childhood, became a staunch supporter of the principle of absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings (he is credited with the expression "The State is me!"), He combined the strengthening of his power with the successful selection of statesmen for key political posts. The reign of Louis - a time of significant consolidation of the unity of France, its military power, political weight and intellectual prestige, the flourishing of culture, went down in history as the Great Age. At the same time, the long-term military conflicts in which France participated during the reign of Louis the Great led to tax increases, which fell heavily on the shoulders of the population and caused popular uprisings, and as a result of the adoption of the edict of Fontainebleau, which canceled the Edict of Nantes on tolerance within the kingdom, about 200 thousand Huguenots emigrated from France.

Childhood and early years

Louis XIV came to the throne in May 1643, when he was not even five years old, therefore, according to his father's will, the regency was transferred to Anne of Austria, who ruled in close tandem with the first minister, Cardinal Mazarin. Even before the end of the war with Spain and the Austrian house, the princes and the upper aristocracy, supported by Spain and in alliance with the Paris Parliament, began unrest, which received the general name Fronde (1648-1652) and ended only with the submission of the Prince de Condé and the signing of the Iberian Peace (7 November 1659).

In 1660, Louis married the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa of Austria. At this time, the young king, who had grown up without sufficient upbringing and education, did not yet show much hope. However, as soon as Cardinal Mazarin died (1661), the next day Louis XIV convened the Council of State, at which he announced that he henceforth intended to rule independently, without appointing a first minister.

So Louis began to independently govern the state, this course the king followed until his death. Louis XIV had a gift for selecting talented and capable employees (for example, Colbert, Vauban, Letelier, Lyonne, Louvois). You can even say that Louis elevated the doctrine of royal rights to a semi-religious dogma. Thanks to the works of the talented economist and financier J. B. Colbert, much has been done to strengthen state unity, the welfare of the third estate, encourage trade, and develop industry and the fleet. At the same time, the Marquis de Louvois reformed the army, unified its organization and increased its combat strength.

After the death of King Philip IV of Spain (1665), Louis XIV declared France's claims to a part of the Spanish Netherlands and kept it in the so-called Devolutionary War. The Peace of Aachen, concluded on May 2, 1668, handed over French Flanders and a number of border areas into his hands.

War with the Netherlands

From that time on, the United Provinces had a passionate enemy in the person of Louis. Contrasts in foreign policy, state views, trade interests, religion led both states to constant clashes. Louis in 1668-1671 skillfully managed to isolate the republic. By means of bribery, he managed to distract England and Sweden from the Triple Alliance, to attract Cologne and Munster to the side of France. Having brought his army to 120,000 people, Louis in 1670 occupied the possessions of an ally of the States General, Duke Charles IV of Lorraine, and in 1672 he crossed the Rhine, within six weeks he conquered half of the provinces and returned to Paris in triumph. The breakthrough of the dam, the emergence of William III of Orange in power, the intervention of the European powers stopped the success of the French arms. The states-general allied with Spain, Brandenburg and Austria; they were joined by the Empire after the French army attacked the Archbishopric of Trier and occupied the 10 imperial cities of Alsace already connected to France by half. In 1674, Louis confronted his enemies with 3 large armies: from one of them he personally occupied Franche-Comté; the other, under Condé, fought in the Netherlands and won at Senef; the third, led by Turenne, devastated the Palatinate and successfully fought the troops of the emperor and the great elector in Alsace. After a short break due to the death of Turenne and the removal of Condé, Louis arrived in the Netherlands with renewed strength in early 1676 and conquered a number of cities, while Luxembourg devastated Breisgau. The whole country between the Saar, Moselle and Rhine was turned into a desert by the order of the king. In the Mediterranean, Duquesne prevailed over Reuters; Brandenburg's forces were diverted by the attack of the Swedes. Only as a result of hostile actions on the part of England, Louis concluded the Treaty of Nimwegen in 1678, which gave him large acquisitions from the Netherlands and the entire Franche-Comté from Spain. He gave Philippsburg to the emperor, but received Freiburg and kept all the conquests in Alsace.

Louis at the height of power

This moment marks the apogee of Louis' power. His army was the most numerous, the best organized and led. His diplomacy dominated all European courts. The French nation has reached unprecedented heights with its achievements in the arts and sciences, in industry and commerce. The Versailles court (Louis transferred the royal residence to Versailles) became the envy and surprise of almost all modern sovereigns who tried to imitate the great king even in his weaknesses. A strict etiquette was introduced at the court, regulating the entire court life. Versailles became the center of all high society life, in which the tastes of Louis himself and his many favorites (Lavalier, Montespan, Fontange) reigned. All the highest aristocracy coveted court positions, since living away from the court for a nobleman was a sign of friction or royal disgrace. "Absolute no objection," according to Saint-Simon, "Louis destroyed and eradicated every other force or authority in France, except those that emanated from him: the reference to the law, to the right was considered a crime." This cult of the Sun King, in which capable people were increasingly pushed aside by courtesans and intriguers, would inevitably lead to the gradual decline of the entire building of the monarchy.

The king held back his desires less and less. In Metz, Breisach and Besançon, he established chambers of reunification (chambres de réunions) to investigate the rights of the French crown to certain areas (September 30, 1681). The imperial city of Strasbourg was suddenly occupied by French troops in peacetime. Louis did the same with respect to the Dutch borders. In 1681, his fleet bombarded Tripoli, in 1684 - Algeria and Genoa. Finally, an alliance of Holland, Spain and the emperor was formed, forcing Louis in 1684 to conclude a 20-year truce in Regensburg and to refuse further "reunions".

Religious politics

The political dependence of the clergy on Pope Louis XIV tried to destroy. He even intended to form a French patriarchy independent of Rome. But, thanks to the influence of Bossuet, the famous Bishop of Moss, the French bishops refrained from breaking with Rome, and the views of the French hierarchy were officially expressed in the so-called. declaration du clarge gallicane of 1682

In matters of faith, the confessors of Louis XIV (Jesuits) made him an obedient instrument of the most ardent Catholic reaction, which resulted in the merciless persecution of all individualistic movements in the church.

A number of harsh measures were taken against the Huguenots: churches were taken away from them, priests were deprived of the opportunity to baptize children according to the rules of their church, to marry and burial, and to conduct worship. Even mixed marriages between Catholics and Protestants were prohibited.

The Protestant aristocracy was forced to convert to Catholicism, so as not to lose their social advantages, and against the Protestants from among other estates, shy decrees were put into action, culminating in the dragonads of 1683 and the abolition of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. These measures, despite severe punishments for emigration, forced more than 200 thousand Protestants to move to England, Holland and Germany. A rebellion even broke out in the Cévennes. The king's growing piety was supported by Madame de Maintenon, who, after the queen's death (1683), was secretly married to him.

War for the Palatinate

In 1688 broke out new war, the reason for which was the claims to the Palatinate, presented by Louis XIV on behalf of his daughter-in-law, Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans, who was related to the deceased shortly before that Elector Karl-Ludwig. Having concluded an alliance with the Elector of Cologne, Karl-Egon Fürstemberg, Louis ordered his troops to occupy Bonn and attack the Palatinate, Baden, Württemberg and Trier.

In early 1689, the entire Lower Palatinate was devastated by French forces. An alliance was formed against France from England (which had just overthrown the Stuarts), the Netherlands, Spain, Austria and the German Protestant states.

Marshal of France, Duke of Luxembourg, defeated the Allies on July 1, 1690 at Fleurus; Marshal Katina conquered Savoy, Vice-Admiral Tourville defeated the British-Dutch fleet at the Battle of Beachy Head, so that the French for a short time had an advantage even at sea.

In 1692 the French laid siege to Namur, Luxembourg prevailed at the Battle of Stenkerken; but on May 28, the French fleet was defeated at Cape La Hue.

In 1693-1695, the preponderance began to lean towards the Allies; in 1695, the Duke de Luxembourg, a student of Turenne, died; in the same year a huge war tax was needed, and peace was a necessity for Louis. It took place in Riswick, in 1697, and for the first time Louis XIV had to confine himself to the status quo.

War of Spanish Succession

France was completely exhausted when, a few years later, the death of Charles II of Spain led Louis to war with the European coalition. The War of the Spanish Succession, in which Louis wanted to reclaim the entire Spanish monarchy for his grandson Philip of Anjou, inflicted incurable wounds on Louis' power. The old king, who personally directed the struggle, stood in the most difficult circumstances with dignity and firmness. According to the peace concluded in Utrecht and Rastatt in 1713 and 1714, he kept Spain proper for his grandson, but her Italian and Dutch possessions were lost, and England laid the foundation for her maritime rule by the destruction of the Franco-Spanish fleets and the conquest of a number of colonies. Until the revolution itself, the French monarchy no longer had to recover from the defeats at Hochstedt and Turin, Ramilia and Malplac. She languished under the weight of debts (up to 2 billion) and taxes, which caused local outbreaks of discontent.

Last years. Family tragedy and the question of a successor

Thus, the result of the entire system of Louis was the economic ruin, poverty of France. Another consequence was the growth of opposition literature, especially developed under the successor of the “great Louis”.

The family life of the aged king at the end of his life was not at all a rosy picture. On April 13, 1711, his son, the Great Dauphin Louis (born in 1661), died; in February 1712, he was followed by the eldest son of the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, and on March 8 of the same year, the eldest son of the latter, the juvenile Duke of Breton. On March 4, 1714, he fell from his horse and a few days later the younger brother of the Duke of Burgundy, Duke of Berry, died, so that, in addition to Philip V of Spain, the Bourbons had only one heir - the king's four-year-old great-grandson, the third son of the Duke of Burgundy (later Louis XV).

Even earlier, Louis legitimized his two sons from Madame de Montespan - Duke of Manx and Count of Toulouse, and gave them the surname Bourbons. Now, in his will, he appointed them members of the council of the regency and declared them the eventual right to succession to the throne. Louis himself remained active until the end of his life, firmly supporting court etiquette and the decor of his "great century", which was already beginning to fade.

Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715 at 8 hours 15 minutes in the morning, surrounded by courtiers. Death came after several days of agony, from gangrene of the leg, which the king injured when falling from a horse while hunting (he considered amputation unacceptable for royal dignity). The reign of Louis XIV lasted 72 years and 110 days.

The body of the king for 8 days was exhibited for farewell at the Salon of Hercules in Versailles. On the night of the ninth day, the body was transported (taking the necessary measures to prevent the population from organizing holidays along the funeral procession) to the basilica of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, where Louis was buried in compliance with all the rites of the Catholic Church prescribed for the monarch.

In 1822, an equestrian statue was erected to him (after the model of Bosio) in Paris, on the Place de la Victory.

Marriages and children

• (from June 9, 1660, Saint-Jean de Luz) Maria Theresa (1638-1683), Infanta of Spain, cousin of Louis XIV on two lines - both maternal and paternal:
  • Louis the Great Dauphin (1661-1711)
  • Anna-Elizabeth (1662-1662)
  • Maria Anna (1664-1664)
  • Maria Teresa (1667-1672)
  • Philip (1668-1671)
  • Louis-François (1672-1672).

Louis

Anna-Elizabeth and Maria-Anna

Maria Teresa

Philip

• (from June 12, 1684, Versailles) Françoise d'Aubigne (1635-1719), Marquis de Maintenon.
• Offbr. connection Louise de La Baume Le Blanc (1644-1710), Duchess de Lavalier:
  • Charles de La Baume Le Blanc (1663-1665)
  • Philippe de La Baume Le Blanc (1665-1666)
  • Maria-Anne de Bourbon (1666-1739), Mademoiselle de Blois
  • Louis de Bourbon (1667-1683), Comte de Vermandois.
• Offbr. connection Françoise-Athenais de Rochechouard de Mortemar (1641-1707), Marquis de Montespan:
  • Louise-Françoise de Bourbon (1669-1672)
  • Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, Duke of Manx (1670-1736)
  • Louis-Cesar de Bourbon (1672-1683)
  • Louise-Françoise de Bourbon (1673-1743), Mademoiselle de Nantes
  • Louise-Maria-Anne de Bourbon (1674-1681), Mademoiselle de Tour
  • Françoise-Maria de Bourbon (1677-1749), Mademoiselle de Blois
  • Louis-Alexander de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse (1678-1737).
• Offbr. connection(1678-1680) Maria-Angelica de Scorail de Roussilles (1661-1681), Duchess of Fontanges:
  • N (1679-1679), the child was born dead.
• Offbr. connection Claude de Ven (about 1638 - September 8, 1686), Mademoiselle des Hoye:
  • Louise de Maison Blanche (1676-1718).

The history of the nickname Sun King

In France, the sun was a symbol of royal power and personally of the king and before Louis XIV. The luminary became the personification of the monarch in poetry, solemn odes and court ballets. The first mentions of solar emblems go back to the reign of Henry III, the grandfather and father of Louis XIV used it, but only with him did solar symbolism become truly widespread.

At the age of twelve (1651), Louis XIV made his debut in the so-called "ballets de cour" - court ballets, which were staged annually during the carnival.

Carnival of the Baroque era is not just a holiday and entertainment, but an opportunity to play in the "upside down world". For example, the king for several hours became a jester, an artist or a buffoon, at the same time the jester could well afford to appear in the image of a king. In one of the ballet productions ("Ballet of the Night" by Jean-Baptiste Lully), young Louis first appeared before his subjects in the form of the Rising Sun (1653), and then Apollo - the Sun God (1654).

When Louis XIV began to rule independently (1661), the genre of court ballet was placed at the service of the state interests, helping the king not only to create his representative image, but also to govern the court society (as well as other arts). The roles in these productions were assigned only by the king and his friend, the Comte de Saint-Aignan. Princes of blood and courtiers, dancing alongside their sovereign, depicted various elements, planets and other beings and phenomena subject to the Sun. Louis himself continues to appear before his subjects in the form of the Sun, Apollo and other gods and heroes of Antiquity. The king left the scene only in 1670.

But the emergence of the nickname of the Sun King was preceded by another important cultural event of the Baroque era - the Tuileries Carousel of 1662. This is a festive carnival cavalcade, which is a cross between a sports festival (in the Middle Ages there were tournaments) and a masquerade. In the 17th century, the Carousel was called "equestrian ballet" because this action was more like a performance with music, rich costumes and a fairly consistent script. At the Carousel of 1662, given in honor of the birth of the firstborn of the royal couple, Louis XIV pranced in front of the audience on a horse in the costume of the Roman emperor. In the king's hand was a golden shield with the image of the Sun. This symbolized the fact that this luminary protects the king and, together with him, the whole of France.

According to the historian of French Baroque F. Bossan, “it was on the Great Carousel of 1662, in some way, that the Sun King was born. The name was given to him not by the politician and not by the victories of his armies, but by the equestrian ballet. "

The image of Louis XIV in popular culture

Fiction

• Louis XIV is one of the main historical characters in the trilogy about the Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.
• Michael Bulgakov. Cabal sanctimonious.
• The hero of the series of novels "Angelica" by Anna and Serge Gallon.
• The hero of the novel by Françoise Chandernagor "Royal Alley: Memoirs of Francoise d'Aubigne, Marquise de Maintenon, wife of the King of France"
• A.A. Gurshtein"Stars of Paris" 2016. (Novel-chronicle from the life of astronomers during the time of Louis XIV).

Cinema

• The Iron Mask (USA; 1929) directed by Allan Duon as Louis William Bakewell.
• The Man in the Iron Mask (USA; 1939) directed by James Weill as Louis Louis Hayward.
• Iron Mask / Le masque de fer (Italy, France; 1962) directed by Henri Decuen, in the role of Louis Jean-Francois Poron.
• The seizure of power by Louis XIV / La prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV (France; 1966) directed by Roberto Rossellini, as Louis Jean-Marie Patt.
• The Man in the Iron Mask (UK, USA; 1977) directed by Mike Newell as Louis Richard Chamberlain.
• The King's Way / L "allée du roi (France; 1996) directed by Nina Kompaneets, as King Louis XIV Didier Sandre.
• In 1993 Roger Planchon directed the biographical film Louis, the Child King, about the childhood and youth of Louis XIV.
• In the 1998 film The Man in the Iron Mask, Louis XIV is portrayed as a cruel, selfish, entertaining and weak politician. According to the plot of the film, Louis has a twin brother, who later takes the place of the king and leads France to the "Golden Age". Played Louis XIV by Leonardo DiCaprio.
• A film directed by Gerard Corbieu is also dedicated to him. "The King Dances", which reveals the theme of the relationship between power and art.
• Louis XIV is one of the main characters in Roland Joffe's drama Vatel. In the film, the Prince of Condé invites the king to his castle of Chantilly and tries to impress him in order to take the post of commander-in-chief in the upcoming war with Holland. Louis XIV is played by Julian Sands.
• Louis XIV appears as a beautiful seducer in the film Angelica and the King, where he was played by Jacques Toja, and also appears in the first two films of the epic Angelica - Marquis of Angels and Magnificent Angelica.
• In Oleg Ryaskov's film "The Servant of the Sovereigns", the role of King Louis XIV was played by the actor of the Moscow New Drama Theater Dmitry Shilyaev.
• Dmitry Kharatyan played in the films of George Jungwald-Khilkevich “The Secret of Queen Anne, or The Musketeers Thirty Years Later” (1993) and “The Return of the Musketeers or the Treasure of Cardinal Mazarin” (2008).
• Alan Rickman portrays King Louis XIV in Alan Rickman's novel The Versailles Romance (2014).
• The series "Versailles" (France-Canada, 2015-). The role of King Louis XIV is played by George Blagden.
• Death of Louis XIV / La mort de Louis XIV (Portugal, France, Spain; 2016) directed by Albert Serra, as Louis Jean-Pierre Leo.

Musical

• The musical "The Sun King" has been staged in France about Louis XIV.

Documentaries

• 2015 - Death of the Sun King / 1715. The Sun King is Dead! / La mort de Louis XIV (directed by Sylvie Faiveley)

Categories:

Name: Louis XIV de Bourbon

State: France

Field of activity: King of france

Greatest achievement: Years of government: from May 14, 1643 to September 1, 1715. He reigned for 72 years, which is an absolute record in Europe.

In every country there is a representative of the royal family who has left the most striking mark in history. Some are famous for their foreign policy, others for longevity, and still others for simply their eccentric actions. And only a few combine all these qualities. One of these kings is the leader of France in the 17-18th century, Louis XIV.

early years

The future king of France was born on September 5, 1638 in the city of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the family of the ruler of the kingdom Louis XIII and his wife, the Spanish Infanta Anna of Austria. At birth, he received the nickname "Dieudonné", which means "God-given." And it really was true - his parents got married in 1615, while still teenagers (both were 14 years old, which in those days was not considered something terrible - the marriageable age was early).

Louis was the firstborn in the family, that is, you can count - if the parents got married in 1615, and he was born only in 1638, then for 23 years Queen Anne could not get pregnant. This is really a gift from God! After 2 years, the second son of the crowned couple was born - Prince Philip, the younger brother of Louis.

Louis could have had a completely happy childhood, like any prince of the blood of that time, if not for the sad circumstance - the death of his father. Louis died in 1643, leaving the throne to his 5-year-old son. How can a small child rule a huge kingdom? During this period, mother, Anna of Austria, became the regent, striving to carry out her policy, to put her people in key posts.

One of the bottom was Cardinal Giulio Mazarin, who replaced Richelieu. He taught Louis history, politics, philosophy, but did not spend much on a child - the king had modest clothes, no money was allocated for entertainment. This was explained by the lack of funds - after all, at that time there was a war with the Fronde (in fact, the Civil War within the country).

In 1648, when Louis was 10 years old, the Parisian population, predominantly aristocracy, rebelled against Mazarin. In an attempt to overthrow the cardinal, they unleashed a civil war against his supporters - this was called the Fronda. Throughout the long war, Louis XIV suffered from many hardships, including poverty and hunger.) An ascetic lifestyle, deprivation and the lack of necessary and interesting things for him will subsequently form in Louis a passion for exorbitant spending, a luxurious lifestyle.

During his growing up, he first learned what love is - his first lover was Mazarin's niece, Maria Mancini. But, as the famous song says - "no king can marry for love." First of all, when marrying a prince of the blood (and even more so, a king), the government thinks about political gain. And Louis in 1660 marries the Spanish Infanta Maria - Theresa of Austria. And then the story of the parents repeated itself - the first years of marriage were full of love and trust, then the young husband lost interest in his second half.

The beginning of the reign

While Cardinal Mazarin ruled France, Louis did not show much hope - he was afraid of the wrath of his mentor. But in 1661, the cardinal dies, and Louis comes to the conclusion that now is his time to rule France. He convenes the Council of State, where he announces that from now on he is the sovereign king. He also pronounces the now catch phrase: “Do you think, gentlemen, that the state is you? No, the state is me ”. We must salute him - Louis could accurately choose the right people who helped raise France out of the economic hole.

His first goal as an absolute monarch was to centralize power and control over France. With the help of his finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV instituted reforms that were designed to reduce the treasury deficit and boost industry. During his reign, Louis XIV managed to improve the country's taxation system and limit the previously haphazard practice of borrowing. He also declared members of the nobility tax exempt.

The king did not forget about culture either. Along with the changes in government, Louis XIV created a number of programs and institutions to bring more art to French culture. So, in 1663, the Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Letters (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres) was founded, and in 1666, the Royal Academy of Music. Louis XIV also commissioned Colbert to lead the construction of the Paris Observatory from 1667 to 1672.

Louis devoted all his free time to state affairs. Brought up at court, a late beloved child, he considered himself the anointed of God in the literal sense of the word. Even royal residences seemed to him unworthy of his greatness. He decided to build a new one - for himself. His gaze turned to the small village of Versailles near Paris, where he transformed a modest hunting lodge into a palace of unprecedented luxury and beauty.

The palace at Versailles became his permanent residence in 1682. It was the setting of the new home that pushed the king to create the rules of court etiquette, which all courtiers must strictly adhere to. The king was especially favored by writers, poets, and artists. Various performances were often staged at Versailles.

Foreign policy

During his entire reign (meaning from 1661, of course) Louis fought many wars with neighboring and distant European countries. Moreover, the king fought successfully. In 1667, he launched an invasion of the Spanish Netherlands, considering this to be his wife's legal legacy. A year later, the Peace of Aachen was concluded, according to which some lands retreated to France - Binsch, Charleroi, Berg, French Flanders. However, Louis had to make some concessions for this, which was contrary to his domineering nature. A few years later, he again dragged the country into a war with Holland - ending in the complete victory of the kingdom. It gave France a reputation as a formidable adversary in Europe.

Since the 1680s, military victories have become less and less - Spain, Holland, Austria and Sweden are uniting in an alliance against France. Louis's army was strong, organized, but other countries also trained their soldiers, created new weapons. And the war demanded money - taxes had to be raised. The French began to murmur. The king ordered all the silver from Versailles to be sent for melting. But the time for victories is over. Under the terms of the peace treaties, France transferred Luxembourg, Lorraine, Savoy.

One of the last big battles was the War of the Spanish Succession, which began in 1701. England, Holland and Austria opposed France. For the conduct of the war, gold from Versailles has now gone for smelting. Taxes were raised and famine broke out in the country. France retained Spain, but this was the only acquisition in the war. The debt to the countries was huge, the whole burden of payments fell on the shoulders of ordinary people. Throughout the 18th century, dissatisfaction with the royal family will accumulate, until one day it spills over into a revolution.

Another pain was the question of a successor. In 1711, his son and heir Louis Dauphin died, then the eldest grandson of King Louis (the son of the heir) died. Apart from the daughters, only one heir remained - the youngest son of Louis Dauphin, Louis (the future King Louis XV).

In addition to legitimate children from his wife, the king had sons from his favorite, Madame de Montespan, whom he gave his surname and appointed to the Council of State.

The Sun King Louis XIV died of gangrene on September 1, 1715 at Versailles, becoming the longest reigning monarch in European history - 72 years. His record has not been broken so far. The king was buried in the Abbey of Saint-Denis.

Louis XIV reigned for 72 years, longer than any other monarch in Europe. He became king at the age of four, took full power into his own hands at 23 and ruled for 54 years. "The state is me!" - Louis XIV did not say these words, but the state has always been associated with the personality of the ruler. Therefore, if we talk about the blunders and mistakes of Louis XIV (the war with Holland, the abolition of the Edict of Nantes, etc.), then the asset of the reign should be recorded at his expense.

The development of trade and manufacturing, the emergence colonial empire France, the reform of the army and the creation of the navy, the development of arts and sciences, the construction of Versailles and, finally, the transformation of France into a modern state. These are not all the achievements of the Age of Louis XIV. So what was this ruler who gave the name to his time?

Louis XIV de Bourbon, who received the name Louis-Dieudonne ("God-given") at birth, was born on September 5, 1638. The name "God-given" appeared for a reason. Queen Anne of Austria gave birth to an heir at the age of 37.

For 22 years, the marriage of Louis's parents was fruitless, and therefore the birth of an heir was perceived by the people as a miracle. After the death of his father, young Louis with his mother moved to the Palais Royal, the former palace of Cardinal Richelieu. Here the little king was brought up in a very simple and sometimes squalid environment.

Louis XIV de Bourbon.

His mother was considered the regent of France, but the real power was in the hands of her favorite, Cardinal Mazarin. He was very stingy and did not care at all not only about giving pleasure to the child-king, but even about having basic necessities.

The early years of Louis' formal rule saw the events of the civil war known as the Fronde. In January 1649, an uprising broke out in Paris against Mazarin. The king and the ministers had to flee to Saint-Germain, and Mazarin - generally to Brussels. Peace was restored only in 1652, and power returned to the hands of the cardinal. Despite the fact that the king was already considered an adult, Mazarin ruled France until his death.

Giulio Mazarin was a church and political leader and first minister of France in 1643-1651 and 1653-1661. He took up the post under the patronage of Queen Anne of Austria.

In 1659, peace was signed with Spain. The contract was sealed marriage union Louis with Maria Theresa, who was his cousin. When Mazarin died in 1661, Louis, having received freedom, hastened to get rid of any guardianship over himself.

He abolished the post of first minister, announcing to the Council of State that from now on he would be the first minister himself, and no even the most insignificant decree should be signed by anyone on his behalf.

Louis was poorly educated, barely able to read and write, but he possessed common sense and a strong determination to maintain his royal dignity. He was tall, handsome, had a noble bearing, and strove to express himself briefly and clearly. Unfortunately, he was overly selfish, like no other European monarch was distinguished by monstrous pride and selfishness. All the former royal residences seemed to Louis unworthy of his greatness.

After some deliberation, in 1662 he decided to convert the small hunting castle of Versailles into Royal Palace... It took 50 years and 400 million francs. Until 1666, the king had to live in the Louvre, from 1666 to 1671. in the Tuileries, from 1671 to 1681, alternately in the under construction Versailles and Saint-Germain-O-l "E. Finally, in 1682, Versailles became the permanent residence of the royal court and government. From now on, Louis was only in Paris.

The king's new palace was remarkable for its extraordinary splendor. The so-called (large apartments) - six salons named after ancient deities - served as hallways for the Mirror Gallery 72 meters long, 10 meters wide and 16 meters high. Buffets were arranged in the salons, guests played billiards and cards.

The Great Condé greets Louis XIV on the Staircase at Versailles.

Generally card game became an indomitable passion at court. The stakes reached several thousand livres at stake, and Louis himself stopped playing only after he had lost 600 thousand livres in six months in 1676.

Also in the palace comedies were staged, first by Italian and then by French authors: Corneille, Racine, and especially often Moliere. In addition, Louis loved to dance, and repeatedly took part in ballet performances at the court.

The complex rules of etiquette established by Louis also corresponded to the splendor of the palace. Any performance was accompanied by a whole set of elaborate ceremonies. Meals, going to bed, even the elementary quenching of thirst during the day - everything was turned into complex rituals.

War against all

If the king was only engaged in the construction of Versailles, the recovery of the economy and the development of the arts, then, probably, the respect and love of his subjects for the Sun King would be boundless. However, Louis XIV's ambitions extended far beyond the borders of his state.

By the early 1680s, Louis XIV had the most powerful army in Europe, which only whetted his appetites. In 1681, he established the chambers of reunification to find out the rights of the French crown to certain areas, seizing more and more lands in Europe and Africa.

In 1688, the claims of Louis XIV to the Palatinate led to the fact that all of Europe took up arms against him. The so-called War of the Augsburg League stretched out for nine years and led to the fact that the parties retained the status quo. But the huge costs and losses incurred by France led to a new economic decline in the country and a depletion of funds.

But already in 1701, France was drawn into a long conflict, called the War of the Spanish Succession. Louis XIV hoped to defend the rights to the Spanish throne for his grandson, who was to become the head of two states. However, the war, which engulfed not only Europe, but also North America, ended unsuccessfully for France.

According to the peace concluded in 1713 and 1714, the grandson of Louis XIV retained the Spanish crown, but its Italian and Dutch possessions were lost, and England, with the destruction of the Franco-Spanish fleets and the conquest of a number of colonies, laid the foundation for its maritime dominion. In addition, the French monarch had to abandon the project of uniting France and Spain at the hand of the French monarch.

Sale of positions and expulsion of the Huguenots

This last military campaign of Louis XIV returned him to where he started - the country was mired in debt and groaned from the severity of taxes, and here and there uprisings broke out, the suppression of which required more and more resources.

The need to replenish the budget led to non-trivial decisions. Under Louis XIV, trade in government offices was put on stream, which reached its maximum scope in the last years of his life. To replenish the treasury, more and more new positions were created, which, of course, introduced chaos and discord in the activities of state institutions.

Louis XIV on coins.

French Protestants joined the ranks of Louis XIV's opponents after the Edict of Fontainebleau was signed in 1685, repealing the Edict of Nantes by Henry IV, which guaranteed the Huguenots freedom of religion.

Since then, over 200,000 French Protestants have emigrated from the country, despite severe penalties for emigration. The exodus of tens of thousands of economically active citizens dealt another painful blow to the power of France.

Unloved queen and meek lame

At all times and eras, the personal life of monarchs has influenced politics. Louis XIV is no exception in this sense. Once the monarch remarked: "It would be easier for me to reconcile the whole of Europe than a few women."

His official wife in 1660 was a contemporary, the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa, who was Louis's cousin on both his father and mother.

The problem with this marriage, however, was not the spouses' close family ties. Louis simply did not like Maria Theresa, but humbly agreed to a marriage, which was of great political importance. The wife gave birth to six children to the king, but five of them died in childhood. Only the firstborn survived, named, like his father, Louis and who went down in history under the name of the Great Dauphin.

The marriage of Louis XIV was concluded in 1660.

For the sake of marriage, Louis broke off relations with the woman he really loved - the niece of Cardinal Mazarin. Perhaps parting with his beloved influenced the king's attitude to his legal wife. Maria Theresia resigned herself to her fate. Unlike other French queens, she did not intrigue or get involved in politics, playing the prescribed role. When the queen died in 1683, Louis uttered: “ This is the only trouble in my life that she caused me».

The king compensated for the lack of feelings in marriage by relations with his favorites. For nine years, Louise-Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc, Duchess de Lavaliere, became the lady of the heart of Louis. Louise did not differ in dazzling beauty, moreover, due to an unsuccessful fall from a horse, she remained lame for the rest of her life. But the meekness, affability and sharp mind of the Chromopods attracted the attention of the king.

Louise gave birth to four children to Louis, two of whom survived to adulthood. The king treated Louise quite cruelly. Becoming cold to her, he settled the rejected mistress next to the new favorite - the Marquise Françoise Athenais de Montespan. The Duchess de Lavaliere was forced to endure the bullying of her rival. She endured everything with her usual meekness, and in 1675 she was tonsured a nun and lived for many years in a monastery, where she was called the Merciful Louise.

Before Montespan there was not even a shadow of her predecessor's meekness in her mistress. Representative of one of the most ancient noble families of France, Françoise not only became an official favorite, but for 10 years turned into “the true queen of France”.

Marquise de Montespan with four legalized children. 1677 year. Palace of Versailles.

Françoise loved luxury and did not like counting money. It was the Marquis de Montespan who turned the reign of Louis XIV from deliberate budgeting to unrestrained and unlimited spending. Capricious, envious, domineering and ambitious Françoise knew how to subordinate the king to her will. New apartments were built for her in Versailles, she managed to arrange all her close relatives for significant government posts.

Françoise de Montespan gave birth to seven children to Louis, four of whom survived to adulthood. But the relationship between Françoise and the king was not as true as with Louise. Louis indulged in hobbies and in addition to the official favorite, which infuriated Madame de Montespan.

To keep the king to herself, she began to engage in black magic and even became involved in high-profile case about poisoning. The king did not punish her with death, but deprived her of the status of a favorite, which was much more terrible for her.

Like her predecessor, Louise le Lavaliere, the Marquis de Montespan changed the royal chambers for a monastery.

Time for repentance

The new favorite of Louis was the Marquise de Maintenon, the widow of the poet Scarron, who was the governess of the king's children from Madame de Montespan.

This favorite of the king was called the same as her predecessor, Françoise, but the women were different from each other, like heaven and earth. The king had long conversations with the Marquise de Maintenon about the meaning of life, about religion, about responsibility before God. The royal court changed its splendor to chastity and morality.

Madame de Maintenon.

After the death of his official wife, Louis XIV had a secret marriage with the Marquise de Maintenon. Now the king was not occupied with balls and festivities, but with masses and reading the Bible. The only entertainment he allowed himself was hunting.

The Marquise de Maintenon founded and directed the first women's secular school, called the Royal House of St. Louis. The Saint-Cyr school became an example for many similar institutions, including the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg.

For her strict disposition and intolerance to secular entertainments, the Marquis de Maintenon was nicknamed the Black Queen. She outlived Louis and after his death withdrew to Saint-Cyr, living the rest of her days with the pupils of her school.

Illegitimate Bourbons

Louis XIV recognized his illegitimate children from both Louise de Lavaliere and Françoise de Montespan. All of them received their father's surname - de Bourbon, and dad tried to arrange their life.

Louis, the son of Louise, was promoted to French admiral at the age of two, and having matured, he went on a military campaign with his father. There, at the age of 16, the young man died.

Louis-Auguste, the son of Françoise, received the title of Duke of Manx, became a French commander and, in this capacity, accepted the godson of Peter I and great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, Abram Petrovich Hannibal, for military training.

Great Dauphin Louis. The only surviving legitimate child of Louis XIV from Maria Theresa of Spain.

Françoise-Marie, the youngest daughter of Louis, was married to Philippe Orleans, becoming Duchess of Orleans. Possessing the character of a mother, Françoise-Marie plunged headlong into political intrigue. Her husband became French regent under the young king Louis XV, and the children of Françoise-Marie married the offspring of other royal dynasties in Europe.

In a word, not many illegitimate children of ruling persons got the fate that fell to the lot of the sons and daughters of Louis XIV.

"Did you really think that I would live forever?"

The last years of the king's life turned out to be an ordeal for him. A man who throughout his life defended the chosenness of the monarch and his right to autocratic rule, was experiencing not only the crisis of his state. His close people left one by one, and it turned out that there was simply no one to transfer power.

On April 13, 1711, his son, the Great Dauphin Louis, died. In February 1712, the eldest son of the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, died, and on March 8 of the same year, the eldest son of the latter, the juvenile Duke of Breton, died.

On March 4, 1714, he fell from his horse and a few days later the younger brother of the Duke of Burgundy, Duke of Berry, died. The only heir was the 4-year-old great-grandson of the king, the youngest son of the Duke of Burgundy. If this baby had died, the throne would have remained vacant after the death of Louis.

This forced the king to add even his illegitimate sons to the list of heirs, which promised internal strife in France in the future.

Louis XIV.

At 76 years old, Louis remained active, active and, as in his youth, regularly went hunting. During one of these trips, the king fell and injured his leg. The doctors found that the trauma provoked gangrene and suggested amputation. The Sun King refused: this is unacceptable for royal dignity. The disease progressed rapidly, and soon the agony began, stretching for several days.

At the moment of clarification of consciousness, Louis looked around those present and uttered his last aphorism:

- Why are you crying? Did you really think that I would live forever?

On September 1, 1715, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, Louis XIV died in his palace at Versailles, four days before his 77th birthday.

and for 22 years, the marriage of Louis's parents was fruitless, and therefore the birth of an heir was perceived by the people as a miracle. After the death of his father, young Louis with his mother moved to the Palais Royal, the former palace of Cardinal Richelieu. Here the little king was brought up in a very simple and sometimes squalid environment. His mother was considered the regent of France, but the real power was in the hands of her favorite, Cardinal Mazarin. He was very stingy and did not care at all about not only pleasing the child-king, but even about having basic necessities.

The early years of Louis' formal rule saw the events of the civil war known as the Fronde. In January 1649, an uprising broke out in Paris against Mazarin. The king and the ministers had to flee to Saint-Germain, and Mazarin - generally to Brussels. Peace was restored only in 1652, and power returned to the hands of the cardinal. Despite the fact that the king was already considered an adult, Mazarin ruled France until his death. In 1659, peace was signed with. The contract was sealed by the marriage of Louis with Marie Theresa, who was his cousin.

When Mazarin died in 1661, Louis, having received freedom, hastened to get rid of all guardianship over himself. He abolished the post of first minister, announcing to the Council of State that from now on he would be the first minister himself, and no even the most insignificant decree should be signed by anyone on his behalf.

Sun King Emblem

Louis was poorly educated, barely able to read and write, but had common sense and a firm determination to maintain his royal dignity. He was tall, handsome, had a noble bearing, and strove to express himself briefly and clearly. Unfortunately, he was overly selfish, like no other European monarch was distinguished by monstrous pride and selfishness. All the former royal residences seemed to Louis unworthy of his greatness. After some deliberation, in 1662 he decided to transform the small hunting castle of Versailles into a royal palace. It took 50 years and 400 million francs. Until 1666, the king had to live in the Louvre, from 1666 to 1671 - in the Tuileries, from 1671 to 1681, alternately in the under construction Versailles and Saint-Germain-Aux-l'E. Finally, in 1682, Versailles became the permanent residence of the royal court and government From now on, Louis visited Paris only on visits. The new palace of the king was distinguished by extraordinary splendor. The so-called "large apartments" - six salons named after ancient deities - served as hallways for the Mirror Gallery 72 meters long, 10 meters wide and 16 meters high. In the salons, buffets were arranged, guests played billiards and cards.In general, the game of cards became an indomitable passion at court. Bets reached several thousand livres at stake, and Louis himself stopped playing only after in 1676 he lost 600 thousand livres in six months.

Also in the palace comedies were staged, first by Italian and then by French authors: Corneille, Racine, and especially often Moliere. In addition, Louis loved to dance, and repeatedly took part in ballet performances at the court. The complex rules of etiquette established by Louis also corresponded to the splendor of the palace. Any performance was accompanied by a whole set of elaborate ceremonies. Meals, going to bed, even the elementary quenching of thirst during the day - everything was turned into complex rituals.

From a young age, Louis was very passionate and partial to pretty women. Despite the fact that the young Queen Maria Theresa was beautiful, Louis was constantly looking for entertainment on the side. The first favorite of the king was 17-year-old Louise de La Vallière, the maid of honor of the wife of his brother Louis. Louise was not an impeccable beauty and limped a little, but she was very sweet and gentle. The feelings that Louis felt for her could be called true love. From 1661 to 1667, she gave birth to four children to the king and received the ducal title. After that, the king began to grow cold towards her, and in 1675 Louise was forced to leave for the Carmelite monastery.

The new hobby of the king was the Marquis de Montespan, who was the complete opposite of Louise de La Vallière. The bright and ardent marquise had a calculating mind. She knew perfectly well what she could get from the king in exchange for her love. In the first year of his acquaintance with the Marquis, Louis gave her family 800 thousand livres to pay off debts. The golden rain did not become scarce in the future. At the same time, Montespan actively patronized many writers and other people of art. The Marquise was the uncrowned queen of France for 15 years. However, since 1674 she had to fight for the heart of the king with Madame d "Aubigne, the widow of the poet Scarron, who was raising the children of Louis. Madame d" Aubigne was granted the Mantenon estate and the title of marquise. After the death of Queen Maria Theresa in 1683 and the removal of the Marquise de Montespan, she gained a very strong influence over Louis. The king appreciated her intelligence and listened to her advice. Under her influence, he became very religious, stopped organizing noisy festivals, replacing them with soul-saving conversations with the Jesuits.

Under no king has France fought so many large-scale wars of conquest as under Louis XIV. After death in 1667-1668 Flanders was captured. In 1672, war began with Holland and those who came to her aid, and. However, the coalition, called the Great Alliance, was defeated, and France acquired Alsace, Lorraine, Franche-Comté and several other lands in Belgium. The peace, however, did not last long. In 1681, Louis captured Strasbourg and Casale, and a little later Luxembourg, Kehl and a number of environs.

However, from 1688, Louis' affairs began to go worse. Through efforts, the anti-French Augsburg League was created, which included Holland, and several German principalities. At first, Louis managed to capture the Palatinate, Worms and a number of other German cities, but in 1689 he became king of England and directed the resources of this country against France. In 1692, the Anglo-Dutch fleet defeated the French in Cherbourg harbor and began to dominate the sea. On land, the successes of the French were more noticeable. was defeated near Steinkerke and on the Neerwinden Plain. In the meantime, Savoy, Girona and Barcelona were taken in the south. However, a war on several fronts demanded a huge amount of money from Louis. During the ten years of the war, 700 million livres were spent. In 1690, the royal solid silver furniture and various small utensils were melted down. At the same time, taxes increased, which hit peasant families especially hard. Louis asked for peace. In 1696 it was returned to the rightful duke. Then Louis was forced to recognize the king of England and refuse all support of the Stuarts. The lands beyond the Rhine were returned to the German emperor. returned Luxembourg and Catalonia. Lorraine regained its independence. Thus, the bloody war ended with the acquisition of Strasbourg alone.

However, the most terrible for Louis was the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1700, the childless king of Spain died, bequeathing the throne to Louis' grandson, with the condition, however, that the Spanish possessions never join the French crown. The condition was accepted, but the rights to the French throne were retained. In addition, the French army invaded Belgium. The Great Union was immediately restored, including Holland, and in 1701 the war began. The Austrian prince Eugene invaded, which belonged both to the king of Spain. At first, the French were doing well, but in 1702, due to the treachery of the Duke, the advantage went over to the side of the Austrians. At the same time, the English army of the Duke of Marlborough landed in Belgium. Taking advantage of the fact that they joined the coalition, another British army invaded. The French tried to counterstrike and moved on Vienna, but in 1704, at Hochstedt, troops under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy and Duke John Churchill of Marlborough defeated the Franco-Bavarian army under the command of the Bavarian elector and the French marshals Marsen and Tallard.

Soon Louis had to leave Belgium and Italy. In 1707, the 40,000-strong Allied army even crossed the Alps, invading France, and besieging Toulon, but to no avail. There was no end in sight to the war. The people of France were suffering from hunger and poverty. All the gold dishes were melted down, and even on Madame de Maintenon's table, black bread was served instead of white. However, the forces of the allies were not unlimited. In Spain, they managed to turn the tide of the war in their favor, after which the British began to lean towards peace. In 1713, a peace was signed in Utrecht, and a year later in Rishtadt - with. France lost practically nothing, but lost all of its European possessions outside the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, he was forced to abandon claims for the French crown.

Foreign policy problems of Louis were aggravated by family problems. In 1711, the king's son, the great Dauphin Louis, died of smallpox. A year later, the wife of the younger Dauphin, Maria-Adelaide, died from a measles epidemic. After her death, her correspondence with the heads of hostile states was opened, in which many state secrets of France were revealed. A few days after the death of his wife, the younger Dauphin Louis also died. Three more weeks passed, and five-year-old Louis of Breton, the son of the younger Dauphin and heir to the throne, died of the same illness. The title of heir passed to his younger brother, who was still an infant at that time. Soon he fell ill with some kind of rash. Doctors were waiting for his death from day to day, but a miracle happened and the child recovered. Finally, in 1714, Charles of Berry, the third grandson of Louis, suddenly died.

After the deaths of the heirs, Louis became sad and gloomy. He practically did not get out of bed. All attempts to stir him up did not lead to anything. Soon Louis XIV, dancing at the ball, stepped on a rusty nail. On August 24, 1715, the first signs of gangrene appeared on his leg, on August 27, he made his last suicide orders, and on September 1, he died. His 72-year reign has become one of the longest among all monarchs.