Louis XIV (

Name: Louis Dieudonné de Bourbon
Dates : 1638-1715
Positions held: King of France (1643-1715)
Aliases: the Sun King, Louis the Great
Customary name: Louis XIV
Distinguishing characteristics : Louis XIV is the longest reigning European sovereign

Louis XIV in four seasons

Spring: Louis Dieudonné tested by the Fronde
The son of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria was only five years old when his father died. His mother, who was then appointed Regent of the kingdom, would reign until he came of age, advised by Cardinal Mazarin. After an education in which art and physical games were very important, the Fronde (1648-1652) forced him to flee Paris, which was to profoundly mark the child’s thinking. The future king would not forget this test and this lesson: they would shape his desire to build an absolute monarchy.
In 1651, Louis was 13 and came of age. He married his cousin, Maria-Theresa of Austria, in 1660. Mazarin died the following year and so began a very personal reign, marked by restoration of the king’s authority and the consolidation and invention of a new royalty.

Summer: the height of Absolutism
The king restored the apparatus of state: he established an administrative monarchy, run by elite clerks, notably embodied by his prime minister Colbert. Together, they remodelled a society which still displayed accumulated peculiarities, disparate languages and customs, in which power was diluted by the administrative and judicial labyrinth.
They constructed and defended a centralized state, founded on absolute authority and a new order: the Louis Code (1667), the Criminal Code (1670), the maritime edict (1669), trade ordinance (1670), creation of factories, development of the colonies and the ambitious cultural policy based on the Academies. Within this strong, united, coherent state ("one king, one faith, one law"), the revocation of the Edict of Nantes caused a serious crisis in French society, of which French Protestants would be the tragic victims.

Autumn: great ambitions
Louis XIV passionately loved war, “too much”, as he would admit himself at the end of his life. He spent 32 years of his reign and a large proportion of his kingdom’s resources on this inclination. From suffering, these wars nevertheless drew the outline of France we know today, within its natural borders. These wars also set Europe against France, led the state to the point of bankruptcy and subjected its people to taxation pressure which was to sow the seeds of future revolts.
In 1682, the court moved to Versailles, a showcase of arts and French taste which, like the Sun King and through his massive royal factories, were henceforth to influence all the courts of Europe, in a more long-lasting way than his armies.

The interminable winter
The king enjoyed, and abused, very good health. He outlived all those close to him. Following a regency, his great grandson would succeed him, under the name Louis XV. The Royal Family was decimated by smallpox and doctors … His sword was no longer any help to him. He considered for a time defending the Loire region and so ending his life there, as a hero, with Madame de Maintenon in the wings.
In 1715, the death of Louis XIV was not greatly mourned. It was the end of a 72-year reign (counting the Regency). His fame and influence was so strong that when, anywhere in Europe his death was announced, it was enough to say: "the king is dead".

Profile

Talents: an indefatigable instinct in relation to the Arts, a decision-maker, unassailable health, a sense of state
Passions: exercising power, the grandeur of France and of the monarchy, all forms of outdoor life, hunting and gardening, Versailles, the Arts, war, women
Symbol: the sun
Friends: none, only subjects
Selected associates: leading artists, Molière, Racine, Boileau, Lully, Le Brun, Le Nôtre, etc.
Enemies: Europe, the Huguenots and the Jansenists, mercenary and outlandish administration, the shortage of water in the gardens at Versailles, old age
Favourite place: the Grand Trianon, first thing in the morning