biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1601–43)
|
| biography:
| King of France (1610–43), born in Fontainebleau, C France, the eldest son of Henry IV and Marie de Médicis. He succeeded to the throne on the assassination of his father (1610), but was excluded from power, even after he came of age (1614), by the queen regent. She arranged Louis' marriage to Anne of Austria, the daughter of Philip III of Spain (1615). In 1617 Louis took over the reins of government, and exiled Marie de Médicis to Blois (1619–20). By 1624 he was entirely dependent upon the political acumen of Richelieu, who became his chief minister. Various plots to oust the Cardinal were foiled by the king's loyalty to his minister, whose domestic and foreign policies seemed to fulfil the royal ambition for great achievements. Louis' later years were enhanced by French military victories in the Thirty Years' War against the Habsburgs, and by the birth of two sons in 1638 and 1640, including the future Louis XIV. |
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