Unraveling the Splendid Life of Louis XIV of France.

The king was waiting for it, the queen finally gave it to him. After twenty-three years of sterile union between Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, “Louis-Dieudonné”, the future Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Two years later his brother, Philippe, was born, who would be called “Monsieur”.  It is therefore his mother who ensures the regency with her main minister, the Italian cardinal Jules Mazarin.

Life of Louis XIV of France:

Although he was very young , Louis will be remembered for a long time.

Raised by tutors, Louis XIV received an excellent education. But he doesn’t have time to learn his lessons because he is always performing. Even during the regency, Louis XIV, who remained the king of France, must be present during the Te Deum , the reception of ambassadors or members of Parliament.

On June 7, 1654, he was crowned at the age of fifteen in the cathedral of Reims. In 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees ended the war with Spain. To seal this peace, Louis XIV married his double first cousin, the Infanta Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Philip IV of Spain. The marriage was celebrated in 1660 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

The beginning of the rule of Louis XIV

In March 1661, upon the death of Mazarin, Louis XIV began his personal reign. He brings together the High Council to announce his wish to govern alone. “Sir,” he said, addressing the chancellor (the minister of justice), “I have assembled you with my ministers and secretaries of state to tell you that, until now, I have been willing let my affairs be governed by the late Cardinal; it is time that I govern them myself. You will help me with your advice when I ask you for it…”

Nicolas Fouquet:

First founding act of this new stage of his reign: the arrest of Nicolas Fouquet. On his 23rd birthday, September 5, 1661, Louis XIV had the superintendent of finances arrested by d’Artagnan. At the height of his glory, Fouquet dared to overshadow the Sun King by organizing sumptuous parties in his castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte . Accused, among other things, of squandering the kingdom’s fortune, he was imprisoned for life. His enemy, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, replaced him at the head of the kingdom’s finances by exercising the new function of general controller of finances from 1665.

Colbert applies an interventionist economic policy and imports flour to remedy shortages. He favored the development of commerce and industry within the framework of a mercantilist policy that would later be called “Colbertism”.

Louis XIV therefore surrounded himself with ministers and appointed intendants in the Province while reducing the role of intermediary bodies: nobility and parliaments. He concentrates power in his hands. Life of Louis XIV of France .

Louis XIV, a king who loves war too much:

“I love war so much” Louis XIV confessed on his deathbed. The Sun King received solid military training from Turenne, whom he named general marshal of the king’s armies after the victory against the Spaniards at the Battle of the Dunes on June 14, 1658. Five great wars marked his reign:

• the War of Devolution (1667-1668),
• the Dutch War (1672-1678),
• the War of the Reunions (1683-1684),
• the war of Augsburg (1688-1697),
• the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1703).

They make it possible to considerably expand the territory in the North and East (Alsace, Franche-Comté, Flanders, etc.). With his qualities as a war leader and his numerous victories, Louis XIV established French hegemony in continental Europe, although he failed to bring Spain into the kingdom of France.

Battlefield:

In addition to the wars, Louis XIV reorganized the army and created the Hôtel des Invalides to house invalids returning from the battlefields. He surrounded himself with the engineer Sébastien le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban, an expert in poliorcetics who developed siege techniques and constituted an iron belt to protect the kingdom of France. Colbert, Secretary of State for the Navy, constituted a fleet capable of rivaling the English fleet.

But war is expensive. And under the reign of Louis XIV, periods of peace did not last long. The king is therefore obliged to increase the fiscal pressure by creating new taxes. The anger of the people led to revolts which were severely repressed.

The Sun King’s health is declining

Although Louis In the 1670s, the king had severe teething problems. His teeth are extracted but during the operation, a piece of his palate is inadvertently torn off. So here he is with a hole inside his mouth that prevents him from chewing his food properly. He digests very poorly and lives with constant intestinal disorders which cause him, with the incessant bleeding and enemas, an anal fistula which agitates the Court .

Anesthesia:

In 1686, he was operated on for this abscess without anesthesia, by the surgeon Félix de Tassy who designed a special instrument for the occasion, a “royal-curved” scalpel. The operation was a success, the king was back on his feet and riding his horse that same afternoon.

Death of Louis XIV after a slow agony

In 1715, after a hunting trip, Louis XIV complained of pain in his leg. His personal doctor, Fagon (who succeeded Vautier, Vallot and Daquin) diagnosed him with sciatica. Except that his foot quickly turns black. You have to make up your mind: it’s gangrene. After a terrible agony, the king breathed his last on September 1, 1715, a few days before his 77th birthday.

“The king is dead, long live the king”, Louis XIV leaves the crown in the hands of his great-grandson, Louis XV. Aged five, the latter cannot reign and it is therefore Duke Philippe d’Orléans , who ensures the regency.

“I hope you will remember me sometimes,” said the Sun King a few days before his death. A wish amply granted.