short biography of louis xiv

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Louis XIV, the Sun King: A Short Biography

Last Updated:  21 August 2024

More than three hundred years ago, Louis XIV died in the Palace of Versailles at the end of a reign of 72 years and 110 days, the longest of any monarch in France.

Louis XIV incarnates the absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.

The French King is famous for having built the Palace of Versailles.

A short bio of Louis XIV, the Sun King

Birth and childhood.

Louis XIV , born Louis-Dieudonné, was born on September 5, 1638, at the Château-Neuf of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in France (now the Henri IV Pavilion near the “Château-Vieux”).

He was the son of King Louis XIII and Queen Anne of Austria.

His admirers knew him as the Sun King ( le Roi-Soleil ).

A miraculous birth

In a pivotal moment for the French monarchy, Queen Anne of Austria, after enduring a series of tragic stillbirths, took an extraordinary step to secure an heir to the throne.

Deeply devoted and determined, she sought divine intervention by requesting a sacred relic of Saint Anne from the clergy in Apt  in Provence.

The relic, believed to hold miraculous powers, was sent to her, hoping it would bring about the long-desired birth of a son.

After years of prayers and perseverance, Anne’s faith was rewarded when she gave birth to Louis XIV in 1638.

This event not only ensured the continuation of the Bourbon line but also reinforced Anne’s spiritual connection to the Apt Cathedral , a bond that she honoured later in life with a pilgrimage of gratitude.

This episode highlights the deep intertwining of faith and monarchy in the story of Louis XIV’s rise to power.

Early Reign

Louis XIV ascended to the throne at four in 1643 upon his father’s death.

Due to his youth, his mother, Anne of Austria, acted as regent until he reached adulthood.

During this time, royal power was weakened by court intrigues and rivalries.

Consolidation of Power

When Louis XIV became king in 1661 at age 22, he immediately began consolidating his authority.

He appointed Jean-Baptiste Colbert as Controller-General of Finances and undertook economic reforms to strengthen France’s economy.

He also reorganized the kingdom’s administration and bolstered the military.

Absolutism and “L’État, C’est Moi”

Louis XIV is famous for his absolutist policy, symbolized by his declaration, “L’État, c’est moi” (I am the state).

He significantly strengthened royal power, asserting that the king was God’s representative on Earth and held absolute authority over the government and subjects of France.

As a monarch of the House of Bourbon, he ruled as King of France from 1643 until his death.

Many considered his reign as ‘ the fullest of splendour and misery ’.

Indeed, in the 17th century, France was the leading European power.

“ Like many another great man endowed with exceptional qualities, Louis XIV could have achieved tremendous and lasting benefits for his country and his people, but he allowed his great gifts to be subordinated to a selfish pride and vainglory which undermined his success, and which, after he had brought France to a high pitch of ascendancy, brought her to the verge of ruin, paved the way for the Revolution, and sealed the fate of her royalty. “ (P.E. Smythe in ‘A study of France and the French people’).

The great men of the king

Prominent men distinguished the reign of Louis XIV. They played military, financial and cultural roles, for instance:

• La Fontaine,
• Charles, and
• Claude Perrault…

A great architectural legacy

His architectural legacy is best seen at the Palace of Versailles .

Louis XIV transformed the small hunting lodge at Versailles into the magnificent Palace of Versailles, which became the centre of royal power.

He established his court there, surrounding the French nobility and court members in a way that allowed him to exert tight control over them.

The construction and upkeep of Versailles cost a fortune, but it also symbolized the greatness of France and the king.

Louis commissioned other grand monuments such as:

• the Hôtel des Invalides and its golden dome (1679),
• the East wing of the Louvre , 
• and the Canal du Midi (1681) between the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea.

Port cities and formidable fortified towns

With Vauban’s help, the king developed the ports of Brest and Toulon and fortified the cities of  Belfort , Besançon,  Briançon , and  Lille .

When he gained territories over his enemies, he commissioned the creation of new towns, such as Neuf-Brisach in Alsace .

Foreign Policy

Louis XIV pursued an ambitious foreign policy involving France in numerous wars, including:

• the War of Devolution (1667-1668),
• the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678),
• and the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714).

These conflicts enhanced France’s position in Europe but also drained its resources.

It was during Louis XIV’s reign that La Salle followed the Mississippi from source to mouth, and Louisiana was added to France’s possessions.

The SUN king

Louis XIV chose the sun as his emblem; you’ll see it in many places in Versailles.

In Ancient Times, the sun was associated with Apollo , the god of music, poetry, art, light and knowledge.

The king’s wife and… mistresses

In 1660, Louis XIV married Maria Theresa (1638-1683), the eldest daughter of the king of Spain and had six children.

His famous mistresses were Louise de La Vallière and Françoise-Athénaïs de Montespan.

After the death of Maria Theresa, Louis secretly  remarried to Françoise d’Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon (1635-1719).

The King’s death

Louis XIV passed away on September 1, 1715, at 76, four days before his 77th birthday.

His reign was the longest of any monarch (72 years and 110 days), ahead of Queen Elizabeth II (70 years and 214 days).

The Sun King died of gangrene.

After his death, his body was buried in Saint-Denis Basilica , the necropolis of the kings and queens of France.

Louis XV succeeded his great-grandfather at age 5.

On the 14th of October 1793 , the Revolutionaries desecrated Louis XIV’s coffin and threw his corpse in a common grave to the North of the basilica.

In 1841, Louis-Philippe commissioned a cenotaph (an empty funeral monument) in the Bourbons’ commemorative chapel inside the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

Legacy of Louis XIV

Louis XIV’s rule as the “Sun King” left an indelible mark on France and Europe.

He embodied absolute monarchy and helped establish France as a major European power.

His court at Versailles remained a model of sophistication and splendour for decades, and his reign continues to influence political and cultural thought.

In 1938, exhibitions and cultural events were organised in France to mark the 300th anniversary of Louis XIV’s birth.

In 2015, 77 years later, a few towns marked the 300th anniversary of the monarch’s death, for instance:

• Saint-Germain-en-Laye ,
• Maisons-Laffitte ,
• Marly-le-Roi,
• Port-Marly, and
• Versailles.

Buy your online ticket to the Palace of Versailles and its stunning domain (Park, Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon, Hameau de la Reine).

Check out our curated magazine on Flipboard for exclusive stories & insights on France!

About the author

Pierre is a French/Australian who is passionate about France and its culture. He grew up in France and Germany and has also lived in Australia and England. He has a background teaching French, Economics and Current Affairs, and holds a Master of Translating and Interpreting English-French with the degree of Master of International Relations, and a degree of Economics and Management. Pierre is the author of Discovery Courses and books about France.

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(1638-1715)

Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638, in Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, France. He became king in 1643. As of 1661, he started reforming France. In 1667 he invaded the Spanish Netherlands. From 1672–1678 he engaged France in the Franco-Dutch War. In 1688, he led a war between France and the Grand Alliance. By the 1680s, Louis XIV generated public hostility. He died in Versailles, France, on September 1, 1715.

Childhood and Early Reign

Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638, in Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, France, and christened Louis-Dieudonné—French for "Gift of God." His mother was the Hapsburg Spanish queen Anne of Austria, and his father was Louis XIII, king of France. Louis XIV had a brother named Philippe, who was two years younger.

On May 14, 1643, when Louis XIV was just 4 and a half years old, his father passed away. Not much more than a toddler, Louis XIV succeeded his father to the throne, becoming the leader of 19 million French subjects and a highly unstable government. Over the course of his childhood, Louis XIV was primed as a leader, receiving a practical education rather than a scholarly one. Louis XIV's godfather, Italian-born Chief Minister Cardinal Jules Mazarin, was responsible for tutoring the boy in history, politics and the arts. Louis XIV's governor, Nicolas de Neufville, was appointed to keep watch over the lad, but incidents like young Louis XIV’s near drowning indicate that the monarch was overlooked as a child, if not as a ruler in the making.

In 1648, when Louis XIV was still shy of 10 years old, the Parlement of Paris rebelled against his chief minister, Mazarin. In an attempt to overthrow the crown, they waged a civil war, called the Fronde, against its supporters. Throughout the long war, Louis XIV suffered many hardships, including poverty and starvation. To Louis XIV's relief, Mazarin finally achieved victory over the rebels in 1653. After the civil war ended, Mazarin began to build an elaborate administration as Louis XIV stood by and observed his mentor. By then, Louis XIV had come of age, but he was still afraid to question Mazarin's authority.

A few years later, Louis XIV fell in love with Marie Mancini, Mazarin's niece. Ultimately choosing duty over love, in 1660 he married the daughter of the king of Spain, Marie-Thérèse of Austria, instead. The marriage ensured ratification of the peace treaty that Mazarin had sought to establish with Hapsburg Spain.

Reforming France

Although Louis XIV’s mother, Anne, had become his regent when he took the throne as a child, Chief Minister Cardinal Jules Mazarin held the true power throughout Louis XIV's early reign. It wasn't until Mazarin died in 1661, when Louis XIV was in his 20s, that the young king finally took control of the French government. Upon assuming full responsibility for the kingdom, Louis XIV quickly set about reforming France according to his own vision.

His first goal as absolute monarch was to centralize and rein in control of France. With the help of his finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV established reforms that cut France's deficit and promoted industrial growth. During his reign, Louis XIV managed to improve France's disorganized system of taxation and limit formerly haphazard borrowing practices. He also conveniently declared members of nobility exempt from paying taxes, causing them to become even more fiscally dependent on the crown.

In implementing administrative reforms toward a more orderly and stable French government, Louis XIV forced provincial nobles to relinquish their former political influence. In so doing, he constructed a more centralized administration with the bourgeoisie, or middle class, as its foundation.

Along with his changes to the government, Louis XIV created a number of programs and institutes to infuse more of the arts into French culture. In this vein, the Academy of Inscriptions and Belle-Lettres was founded in 1663, followed by the Royal Academy of Music in 1666. Louis XIV also had Colbert oversee the construction of the Paris Observatory from 1667 to 1672.

Foreign Relations

Louis XIV is notorious for his overbearing approach to foreign policy. In 1667, he launched the invasion of the Spanish Netherlands, deeming it his wife's rightful inheritance. The War of Devolution, as the conflict was named, lasted a year and ended when the French surrendered and gave the land back to Spain. France's only conquest was to occupy a few towns in Flanders.

Dissatisfied with the outcome, Louis XIV engaged his country in the Franco-Dutch War from 1672 to 1678, during which France managed to acquire more land in Flanders and the Franche-Compté. The victory promoted France to the status of a dominant power. This status, coupled with Louis XIV's campaigns to continually expand territorial claims through the use of military force, positioned France as a threat to other European nations.

Near the end of the 1680s, those nations, including Spain, England and the Holy Roman Empire, responded by banding together to form the Grand Alliance. A war between France and the Grand Alliance broke out in 1688 and waged on for nearly a decade, leading to its becoming known as the Nine Years' War.

Decline and Death

By the 1680s, Louis XIV had begun to generate public hostility, due, in part, to his efforts to establish religious uniformity throughout France. The king was a devout Catholic, and his persecution of the Huguenots came to a head with his 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had formerly granted the Huguenots rights as a religious majority. Under the Edict of Fontainebleau, Louis XIV orchestrated the destruction of Protestant churches and schools throughout France and forced all children to be educated and baptized as Catholics. The revocation and the new edict served to alienate Protestants, prompting many to leave France and seek religious freedom elsewhere.

After the war against the Grand Alliance, France still held most of its original territory, but the country's resources were significantly drained. The War of the Spanish Succession, from 1701 to 1714, further hastened Louis XIV's decline as a leader. In this conflict, Louis XIV appeared to many of his subjects to place his personal interests above his country's, as his goal was to defend the right of his grandson, Philip V, to inherit the Spanish Empire. The long war was so costly for France that it prompted famine and placed the country deep in debt. The public went from hailing Louis XIV as a hero to blaming him for France's financial devastation.

On September 1, 1715, a few days before what would have been his 77th birthday, Louis XIV died of gangrene in Versailles, France. Following Louis XIV’s death, his 5-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV, who was the last male heir of the Duc de Bourgogne, inherited the throne.

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Quick facts.

• Name: Louis
• Birth Year: 1638
• Birth date: September 5, 1638
• Birth City: Saint-Germain-en-Laye
• Birth Country: France
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: King Louis XIV of France led an absolute monarchy during France’s classical age. He revoked the Edict of Nantes and is known for his aggressive foreign policy.
• World Politics
• Astrological Sign: Virgo
• Nacionalities
• Occupations
• Death Year: 1715
• Death date: September 1, 1715
• Death City: Versailles
• Death Country: France

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Louis XIV Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/royalty/louis-xiv
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: September 15, 2022
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
• I am the state.
• I have loved war too much.

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Biography of King Louis XIV, France’s Sun King

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Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, was the longest-reigning monarch in European history, ruling France for 72 years and 110 days. He was responsible for moving the center of French government to the Palace of Versailles in 1682. 

Fast Facts: Louis XIV

• Known For: King of France, 1643-1715
• Born: 5 September 1638
• Died: 1 September 1715
• Parents: Louis XVIII; Anne of Austria
• Spouses: Maria Theresa of Spain (m. 1660; d. 1683); Francoise d’Aubigne, Marquise de Maintenon (m. 1683)
• Children: Louis, Dauphin of France

Louis XIV assumed the throne at the age of five, and he was raised to believe in his divine right to rule. His experience with civil unrest during his childhood simultaneously fostered his desire for a strong France as well as his distaste for the French peasantry. He built a strong central government and expanded France’s borders, but his lavish lifestyle laid the foundation for the French Revolution. 

Birth and Early Life

Louis XIV’s birth was a surprise. His parents, Louis XIII of France and Anne of Austria , were married when they were both 14, and they strongly disliked each other. Their marriage had produced a series of miscarriages and stillbirths, for which Louis blamed Anne. At the age of 37, Anne gave birth to a son, christened Louis-Dieudonne or Louis, the Gift of God. Two years later, she had a second son, Louis’ brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orleans.

Louis was doted on by his mother, and the two built a strong bond. He was raised from birth to believe that he was a gift from God, and it was his divine right to rule France as an absolute monarch . Even in his early years, Louis was charismatic, and he had an aptitude for languages and the arts. 

The Sun King

Louis’ father died when he was only four, making him Louis XIV, king of France . His mother served as regent with the help of Cardinal Mazarin, but the years were marked by civil unrest. When Louis was 9 years old, members of the parliament in Paris rebelled against the crown, and the royal family was forced to flee to the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The rebellion and subsequent civil war, known as the Fronde , sparked Louis’ dislike for Paris and his fear of rebellions, impacting his future political decisions.

In 1661, Cardinal Mazarin died, and Louis declared himself as the Absolute Monarch to the French parliament, breaking with past French kings. In Louis’ view, treason wasn’t a crime under the law, but rather a sin against God. He adopted the Sun as the symbol of his monarchy, and he immediately began to centralize control of the government. He developed strict foreign policy while expanding the navy and army, and in 1667 he invaded Holland to claim what he believed to be his wife’s inheritance.

Under pressure from the Dutch and the English, he was forced to retreat, though in 1672, he was able to ally with a new English king, Charles II, to conquer territory from the Dutch and expand the size of France.

Louis appointed those loyal to the crown to government offices to carry out legal and financial matters in the different regions of France. In 1682, he formally moved the center of government from Paris to his palace in Versailles.

A staunch Catholic, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which had provided legal protection for French Protestants, causing a mass exodus of Protestants to the Netherlands and England.

Marriage and Children

Louis’ first significant relationship was with Marie Mancini, the niece of Cardinal Mazarin, but his first marriage was a political union with his first cousin, Maria Theresa of Spain. Though the pair produced six children together, only one survived to adulthood. The relationship was said to have been friendly but never passionate, and Louis took numerous mistresses.

Louis’ second wife was Francoise d’Aubigne, a devout Catholic and once governess of Louis’ illegitimate children.

Maria Theresa of Spain

In 1660, Louis married Maria Theresa, the daughter of Philip IV of Spain. She was his first cousin on his mother’s side, a Spanish princess of the House of Habsburg. The marriage was a political arrangement intended to foster peace and unity between the neighboring countries. Of their six children, only one, Louis le Grand Dauphin, also known as Monseigneur, survived to adulthood. Though Monseigneur was heir to the throne, Louis XIV outlived both his son and his grandson, passing the throne to his great-grandson at the time of his death.

Francoise d’Aubigne, Marquise de Maintenon

As the governess to Louis’ illegitimate children, d’Aubigne came into contact with Louis on numerous occasions. She was a widow, known for her piety. The pair was secretly married at Versailles in 1683, never announcing the marriage to the public, though it was a matter of common knowledge.

Mistresses and Illegitimate Children

Throughout his marriage to his first wife, Maria Theresa, Louis took both official and unofficial mistresses, producing more than a dozen children. He was more faithful to his second wife, Francoise d’Aubigne, likely due to her piety, though the two never had children.

The Palace of Versailles

As a result of the rebellions he saw in his youth and the subsequent civil war, Louis developed a strong dislike for Paris, and he spent long stretches of time at his father’s hunting lodge in Versailles. During his lifetime, Versailles became Louis’ refuge.

In 1661, after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, Louis began a massive construction project on Versailles, transforming the lodge into a palace suitable to host the Parisian court. He included the symbol of his monarchy, the sun with his face stamped into its center, as a design element in almost every part of the palace.

Louis formally relocated the French seat of government from Paris to Versailles in 1682, though construction continued on the palace until 1689. By isolating political leaders in rural Versailles, Louis strengthened his control over France.

Decline and Death

Toward the end of his life, Louis faced a series of personal and political disappointments in addition to failing health. The House of Stuart fell in England, and the Protestant William of Orange took the throne, eliminating any chance of continued political association between the countries. Louis XIV also lost a series of battles during the War of Spanish Succession , though he did manage to maintain the territory he had gained in previous decades.

Medical journals from the 18th century indicate that Louis faced a myriad of health complications towards the end of his life, including dental abscesses, boils, and gout, and he likely suffered from diabetes. In 1711, Louis XIV’s son, le Grand Dauphin, died, followed by his grandson, le Petit Dauphin in 1712.

Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715, from gangrene, passing the crown to his five-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV .

During his lifetime, Louis XIV built an empire, reconstructing the government of France and transforming the country into the dominant European power. He is the most significant example of an absolute monarch during the 17th and 18th centuries, and he built the Palace of Versailles, one of the most famous contemporary historical landmarks in the world.

However strong Louis XIV made France to foreign adversaries, he created a stark divide between the nobility and the working classes, isolating the political elite in Versailles and separating the nobility from the common people in Paris. While Louis created a France that was stronger than it had ever been, he unknowingly laid the foundation for the revolution that was to come, a revolution that would see the permanent end to the French monarchy.

• Berger, Robert W.  Versailles: The Château of Louis XIV. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1985.
• Bernier, Olivier. Louis XIV . New World City, Inc., 2018.
• Cronin, Vincent.  Louis XIV . The Harvill Press, 1990.
• Horne, Alistair. Seven Ages of Paris: Portrait of a City . Macmillian, 2002.
• Mitford, Nancy.  The Sun King: Louis XIV at Versailles . New York Review Books, 2012.
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Louis XIV rose to power when he was only five years old. His mother served as regent until he was educated enough to become ruling king. Louis XIV was politically educated by Cardinal Mazarin, he chose the sun for his emblem. He is frequently referred to as “The Sun King” to this day.

His influential years were marked by revolutionary actions against his mother and political adviser. These actions were referred to as “La Fronde.” Louis XIV disliked Paris immensely and had a great fear and distaste for revolutionaries and those working against the monarchy. This contributed to his decision to later move to Versailles permanently. He married Marie Therese, an Infanta from Spain, solidifying the relationship between France and Spain.

The Death of Cardinal Mazarin

When Louis XIV was 23 years old, Cardinal Mazarin died. Louis XIV shocked the country of France by becoming his own chief minister. This had several implications. First, the “reign of the cardinal ministers,” in which a religious minister had the ear of the king, was effectively over. After a difficult few years, Louis XIV started to manage all of the state’s affair through the help of ministers whom were not employed by government, but rather called and dismissed by the king when necessary. Unlike monarchs before him, he excluded family members and old nobility.

He worked with his finance minister Jean-Baptise Colbert during the early years. He reorganized several financial and administration aspects of the government at the time and expanded urban law enforcement to create a police force in Paris. He also expanded the French navy and the French army.

An Aggressive King

In light of these wars, the growing size and might of the French army and other rising political tensions in Europe, many countries stopped being allies with France during this time. This led to the country becoming isolated.

Louis XIV and The Arts

The idea of glorifying the monarchy and himself through the arts was incredibly appealing to King Louis XIV and his finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Under him, French literature and art flourished. The government developed several academies which specialized in writing, music and architecture.

Louis XIV believed in propaganda and hired many artist to paint several different works of him. He did this so that his face would be preserved and he would be seen everywhere. Artists were also commissioned to paint important moments during the king’s ruling such as his many victories in war. Artists also depicted the king, like monarchs before him, in mythological situations which showed him as having great power physically and mentally.

The Palace of Versailles

Versailles was a country suburb about 20 kilometers from the capital of France. At the time it was the perfect place for the monarch to get away from Paris. It was built in four building campaigns that took around 50 years altogether. The construction of the palace ended with The Hall of Mirrors, the biggest room in the palace. It is named this way because there are seventeen mirror arches in it that face seventeen windows that over look the park.

The Palace of Versailles housed approximately twenty thousand noblemen and women at one time. There were many parties and events at Versailles. This was a way for Louis XIV to keep an eye on the monarchy. Although the monarch lived in the palace, he never saw it completed. This was largely due to the fact that he always had new ideas about ways to expand the palace.

The Palace of Versailles was King Louis XIV’s main residence until his death. It continued to be the court’s location until the monarchs were forced to flee nearly a hundred years later during the French revolution. It still stands as a museum for visitors because of its beautiful and lavish architecture.

Fashion in His Reign

The king required a different dress code for every event, depending on what time of the day it was and depending on the season. He used fashion as a way to control the nobility and to keep an eye on them as another part of his social strategy.

The Decline of Louis XIV: Religious Persecution

Things were deteriorating in France by the end of the seventeenth century. A “Grand Alliance” between Spain, England and the Roman Empire attacked France. This war went on for almost an entire decade and is known as The Nine Years’ War.

In 1685, the devoutly Catholic King Louis XIV attempted to establish religious uniformity throughout France by revoking the right of the protestants, called Huguenots, to worship. This was referred to as the revocation of the Edicts of Nante. He disallowed Catholics from marrying Protestants and encouraged protestants to convert to Catholicism.

Many Huguenots fled the country to seek more religious freedom, moving to Holland and Great Britain. Many of these protestants were highly skilled and had money, which they took with them when they emigrated from the country. Louis XIV’s religious intolerance reached a boiling point when he banned emigration and started persecuting protestants. This caused considerable strain in France and heightened tensions with other European countries.

The Fall of Louis XIV’s Foreign Policy

The Spanish Succession was the next war that was fought. Spain and several adjoining territories had a ruling king with issues complicating who would be next heir to the throne. Louis XIV’s main goal was to defend the right of his grandson Philip V to take the crown. This was a long war that lasted nearly fifteen years.

The ruling monarch of Spain, Charles II, suddenly changed his will while in his deathbed. He was convinced by his advisers, due to France’s political might, that he should give the empire to Philip V, Duke of Anjou. Louis XIV had to choose between dividing the territories of Spain, and thus avoiding war, or accepting Charles II’s offer and risking war. Although Philip V was generally accepted by European nations as the legitimate king, tensions rose because of the perceived alliance between Spain and France. A treaty resulted in a division of land with France managing to retain most of its territory.

The Results of The Spanish Succession War

The war was very expensive and although France did not lose any land, it did lose a lot of money. The economy of France kept declining and the populace grew hungry and tired. Another effect of the war the overexertion of France which may have led to the Anglo-Saxon world domination that followed.

Louis XIV and His Women

Before the king was married to the Infanta of Spain, he had a relationship with Cardinal Mazarin’s daughter. She was several years older than him. He wanted her to be his wife, but instead he went on to marry Marie Therese of Austria. The King was never in love with her, but they respected each other and had many children together. Marie Therese was widely known as simple-minded. She enjoyed playing cards and never learned French. A year after Louis XIV became religious again, and vouched to be faithful to his wife, she became ill and died at the age of 45.

Louise Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière, Henrietta of England’s sister-in-law, was Louis XIV’s mistress for around five years. He had four children with her. Both children were legitimized and his mistress was made a duchess. She retired to a convent a few years later. Françoise Athénaïs marquise de Montespan replaced Louise Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière as the king’s mistress and had seven children with him, all of whom were highly educated. Their affair was discreet and she also went to a convent to spend the last years of her life.

Françoise d’Aubigné marquise de Maintenon was the Louis XIV’s second wife. She was the most highly educated woman in court and 32 years old when she married Louis XIV. She was a great influence on the King. She was a remarkable woman that spent the later parts of her years dealing with education by devoting her time to academies and writing essays about education.

King XIV’s Later Years and Death

Louis XIV had lost all direct decedents but two of his illegitimate sons and granted both of them Prince of Blood titles in his will, but they were stripped of this power by his successor. He died in 1715 after ruling as king for 72 years. He was buried at the Basilica of St. Dennis.

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Louis XIV (1638-1715)

Louis was born on 5 September 1638 at St Germain-en-Laye. He became king at the age of four on the death of his father, Louis XIII. While Louis was a child, his mother, Anne of Austria, served as regent, assisted by Louis XIII's chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin.

Louis's early years were marked by a series of rebellions against his mother and Mazarin, which were known as the 'Fronde'. These created in him a lifelong fear of rebellion, and a dislike of Paris, prompting him to spend more and more time in Versailles, southwest of Paris. In 1660, he married Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip IV of Spain.

When Mazarin died in 1661, the 23-year-old Louis decided to rule without a chief minister. He regarded himself as an absolute monarch, with his power coming directly from God. He carefully cultivated his image and took the sun as his emblem. Between 1661 and 1689, he built a magnificent palace at Versailles and moved his government there from Paris in 1682.

In the early part of his reign, Louis worked with his finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to tighten central control over the country, reviving the use of regional royal officials, 'intendants' and carrying out other financial and administrative reorganisation. Louis also expanded the French army and navy.

Louis's reign was marked by aggressive French foreign policies. After the death of his father-in-law, Louis claimed part of the Spanish Netherlands and launched the War of Dutch Devolution (1667-1668). In the Second Dutch War, he failed to crush the Dutch, led by William of Orange, but made significant territorial gains.

In 1685, Louis, a devout Catholic, revoked the Edict of Nantes which had allowed freedom of worship to French Protestants (Huguenots). Around 200,000 Huguenots, many of them skilled craftsmen, fled to Holland and England.

The last three decades of Louis's reign were marked by almost constant warfare. France was now the dominant power on the continent and other European nations felt threatened by this supremacy. The War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697), followed by the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) severely strained French resources. In the War of the Spanish Succession, for the first time in nearly a century France consistently lost battles, most notably at Blenheim in 1704 and Ramillies in 1706.

Louis XIV died on 1 September 1715, shortly after the Peace of Utrecht which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. As his eldest son and grandson had died before him, his great-grandson succeeded him as Louis XV.

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