Biography of Louis XIV, the Sun King

Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638, in Saint Germain en Laye, near Paris. His
Parents were King Louis XIII and his wife Anne of Austria. Louis XIII passed away in 1643, due to
that the queen appointed as regent for the young dauphin, entrusting his education to the cardinal
Mazarino. He taught him the importance and meaning of royalty, in addition to
to advise him to make use of men so that they would not make use of him.

Between 1648 and 1653, the civil struggles of the Fronde occurred due to the
poor administration of Mazarin and the creation of new taxes. The protests were
in head nods by the parliamentarians of Paris. Mazarin ordered that one of the leaders,
Broussel was arrested, which caused the city to revolt and the royal family to have
that to flee.

The prime minister summoned the troops of the prince of Condé. Thanks to this, the
parliamentarians ceased in their efforts, but Condé took advantage of the success to ask for a
a great amount of honors. Mazarin then decided to arrest him in January 1650, which
angered the nobility. However, the lack of agreement among the rebels meant their
the end. The furious mob managed to enter the palace and reach the young prince's room,
who pretended to be asleep. Upon observing him, the spirits calmed down and decided to abandon the
place and pray for him.

All of this had a profound impact on the prince. It convinced him that he must distance himself from the
government of both the populace and the nobility. As for the prominent men, it included
to parliamentarians, lawyers, and judges, it was decided that it was best for them to be under the power
absolute of the corona.

In 1651 he was declared of legal age and in 1654 he was named King of France. Thanks to
his meetings with Mazarin, he understood that he should dedicate his life to politics and
government of the people. Therefore, he did not hesitate to marry María Teresa of
Austria, daughter of Philip IV, king of Spain, a union that could greatly benefit
France.

On March 9, 1661, Mazarin died, allowing Louis XIV to finally become an absolute king.
even eliminating the position of prime minister. Thus he founded absolute monarchy in
France. Not even the queen mother was invited to the meetings of the councils of State;
Only Jean-Baptiste Colbert, François-Michel Le Tellier, and Hugues de Lionne attended.

That same year, Louis XIV ordered the arrest of Mazarin's superintendent of finance,
Nicolas Fouquet, whom he considered too dangerous and capable of obtaining the position of
Mazarino. He sentenced him to life imprisonment in Pinerolo. This served as a warning for
those who wished to confront the real power. This made the king see himself
as a representative of God on earth.

He centralized all powers in himself, establishing the cult of the king, everything was under his control.
The nobility was the first affected, as it went from being an important factor in politics to
simply become a social class that tried to please the king in order to obtain
favors.

Wedding of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Austria

In foreign policy, he was convinced that he had to impose French supremacy.

He began by making reforms in the Treasury and applying protectionist measures in the
industry and commerce. All of this allowed him to organize a powerful army, which increased
up to almost half a million men.

When King Philip IV died in 1665, Louis began to reclaim the Spanish lands in
the Netherlands the name of his wife. On May 21, 1667 he invaded the territories
flamencos. England allied with Holland and Sweden, which caused the conflict to end.
with the Peace of Aachen in 1668, in which Spain recovered Besançon and France
it remained with Flanders.

Four years later, he decided to take revenge on Holland. To do this, he obtained the support of England.
and with an army led by the king himself, he invaded the country in just a few
weeks. However, Holland turned to France's main enemy, William of
Orange. He ordered the destruction of the dikes to stop the enemy. This resistance
made France isolated from its allies and had to give up its purpose. The
the confrontation ended in the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678, by which he renounced Flanders and
he obtained the Spanish Franche-Comté.

Having finished this, he returned to court and there imposed an atmosphere not as liberal as the previous one.
stepping away from the sexual scandals like those of Madame de Montespan, leaving a
on the side of fun and ostentation. However, a new woman ruled the court,
Madame de Maintenon. The king secretly married her in 1683 after the death of the
Queen María Teresa. This union ultimately meant that the king distanced himself from his lively life.
previous.

Marquise de Maintenon, second wife of the king

His influence was evident, as he convinced him to impose the Catholic religion.
charging Protestantism as an offense to the king. Because of this, they began to
conversions occur in more until the revocation of October 18, 1685 of the Edict of
Nantes in which Calvinism was authorized. Schools were closed, temples were destroyed.
and the shepherds were banished, in addition to the exodus of thousands of Protestants that
they fled to Holland.

Louis XIV had to face another confrontation that would mean a setback in the
French expansionism. England joined Germany and Austria in a war to halt
the king's purposes. It ended with the Peace of Ryswick, through which Lorraine was returned
Duke Leopoldo; Luxembourg was returned to Spain; and finally, William III was
coronated king of England.
But, however, there is an even more significant confrontation. Carlos II the Bewitched, king
from Spain, passed away in 1700 without leaving any heir. In his will, he named
imperial heir to Felipe de Anjou, the future Felipe V, who was the grandson of King Louis XIV. To
accepting the will, the dilemma between French hegemony or the
balance of the continent, which is why a war was declared.

Part of Europe felt hurt by imperialist politics, which led to opposition.

against that hegemony. Again, England, Austria, and Holland fought against France. Despite
From the nascent victories, defeats began to succeed one another from 1708 until the
the point at which the Gallic country was about to lose its conquests, which is why the king had
to ask for peace. Louis XIV accepted the Treaty of Utrecht, ceding Newfoundland, Acadia and the
Hudson Bay to England, but the Bourbons kept the crown.
Spanish.

This weakened the absolutist regime along with the social and economic crisis. They were
countless were the peasant uprisings and the common people who rose up against their
gentlemen and against the privileged. Many of them were executed and hanged, since
the uprisings were harshly repressed.

Louis XIV with the royal family

This was compounded by the succession problem, as over the years they would die.
both the great dolphin and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Only one heir remained, his third.
great-grandson, the Duke of Anjou, who would be the future Louis XV.

In the winter of 1709, the people marched in Paris and Versailles due to hunger, being
heard for the first time by the king. Louis XIV fell into a deep sadness
accompanied by numerous diseases that were gradually diminishing the king.
In 1715, he started to notice pain in his legs and black spots began to appear.
they; the doctors diagnosed him with gangrene.

After receiving the news with great fortitude, he put his affairs in order and finally met.
with his successor, advising him to care for the people, to listen to advice and to
he never forgot his duty of caring for his subjects. He died on September 1, 1715.
making his reign the longest in the history of the Old Continent.

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