biography
| name: |
Louis XIV
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known as le Roi soleil (‘the Sun King’)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1638–1715)
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| biography:
| King of France (1643–1715), born in St Germain-en-Laye, NC France, the son of Louis XIII, whom he succeeded at the age of five. During his minority (1643–51) France was ruled by his mother, Anne of Austria, and her chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin. In 1660 Louis married the Infanta Maria Theresa, the elder daughter of Philip IV of Spain, through whom he was later to claim the Spanish succession for his second grandson. In 1661 he assumed sole responsibility for government, advised by various royal councils. His obsession with France's greatness led him into aggressive foreign and commercial policies, particularly against the Dutch. His patronage of the Catholic Stuarts also led to the hostility of England after 1689; but his major political rivals were the Austrian Habsburgs, particularly Leopold I. From 1665 Louis tried to take possession of the Spanish Netherlands, but later became obsessed with the acquisition of the whole Spanish inheritance. His attempt to create a Franco–Spanish Bourbon bloc led to the formation of the Grand Alliance of England, the United Provinces, and the Habsburg empire, and resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–13). In later years Louis was beset by other problems. His determination to preserve the unity of the French state and the independence of the French Church led him into conflict with the Jansenists, the Huguenots, and the papacy, with damaging repercussions. His old age was overshadowed by military disaster and the financial ravages of prolonged warfare. Yet Louis was the greatest monarch of his age, who established the parameters of successful absolutism. In addition, his long reign marked the cultural ascendancy of France within Europe, symbolized by the Palace of Versailles. He was succeeded by his great-grandson as Louis XV. |
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