Louis XIV (5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), known as the Sun King (French: le Roi Soleil), was King of France The monarchs of France ruled, first as kings and later as emperors , from the Middle Ages to 1870. There is some disagreement as to when France came into existence. The earliest possible date would be the establishment of the Merovingian Frankish kingdom by Clovis I in 486 with the defeat of Syagrius, the last Roman official in Gaul. That kingdom' and of Navarre The Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean.[1] His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch.[2]
Louis began personally governing France in 1661 after the death of his prime minister A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the Government. In (premier ministre), the Italian Italy /ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia, [iˈtalja]), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica Italiana), is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin, born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician, who served as the chief minister of France from 1642 until his death. Mazarin succeeded his mentor, Cardinal Richelieu. He was a noted collector of art and jewels, particularly diamonds, and he bequeathed the "Mazarin diamonds" to Louis XIV in.[3] An adherent of the theory of the divine right of kings The divine right of kings is a political and religious doctrine of royal absolutism. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God. The king is thus not subject to the will of his people, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm, including the church. The doctrine, which advocates the divine origin and lack of temporal restraint of monarchical rule, Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating a centralised state A centralized, or centralised , government is the form of government in which power is concentrated in a central authority to which local governments are subject. Centralization occurs both geographically and politically governed from the capital. He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism Feudalism is a decentralized sociopolitical structure in which a weak monarchy attempts to control the lands of the realm through reciprocal agreements with regional leaders. In its most classic sense, feudalism refers to the Medieval European political system composed of a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations among the warrior persisting in parts of France and, by compelling the noble elite to inhabit his lavish Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles, the Île-de-France region of France. In French, it is known as the Château de Versailles or "La crotte de pain", succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy, many members of which had participated in the Fronde The Fronde was a civil war in France, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The word fronde means sling, which Parisian mobs used to smash the windows of supporters of Cardinal Mazarin rebellion during Louis' minority.
For much of Louis's reign, France stood as the leading European power, engaging in three major wars War is a reciprocated, armed conflict between two or more non-congruous entities, aimed at reorganising a subjectively designed, geo-politically desired result. In 2003, Nobel Laureate Richard E. Smalley identified war as the sixth biggest problems facing humanity for the next fifty years. In his book On War, Prussian military theoretician Carl—the Franco-Dutch War The Franco-Dutch War, often called simply the Dutch War (1672–1678) was a war fought by the Kingdom of France, the Swedish Empire, the Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Cologne and the Kingdom of England against the Dutch Republic, which was later joined by Holy Roman Emperor, Brandenburg and Spain to form a quadruple alliance. The war, the War of the League of Augsburg The Nine Years' War , also known as the War of the Grand Alliance, the War of the League of Augsburg, formerly the War of the Palatine Succession or the War of the English Succession, and also the Williamite War (Ireland) and King William's War (North America) – was fought in the late 17th century primarily on mainland Europe but also in Ireland, and the War of the Spanish Succession War of the Spanish Succession was a war fought from 1701-1714, in which several European powers combined to stop a possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under a single Bourbon monarch, upsetting the European balance of power. It was fought mostly in Europe, but it included Queen Anne's War in North America. The war was marked by—and two minor conflicts—the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions. He encouraged and benefited from the work of prominent political, military and cultural figures such as Mazarin Jules Mazarin, born Giulio Raimondo Mazarino was an Italian cardinal, diplomat, and politician, who served as the chief minister of France from 1642 until his death. Mazarin succeeded his mentor, Cardinal Richelieu. He was a noted collector of art and jewels, particularly diamonds, and he bequeathed the "Mazarin diamonds" to Louis XIV in, Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert served as the French minister of finance from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. He was described by Mme de Sévigné as "Le Nord" (the north), because he was cold and unemotional. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister. He achieved a reputation for his work of improving the, Turenne Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, often called simply Turenne was the most illustrious member of the La Tour d'Auvergne family. He achieved military fame and became a Marshal of France. He was one of six marshals who have been made Marshal General of France and Vauban Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and in breaking through them. He also advised Louis XIV on how to consolidate France's borders, to make them more, as well as Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, mostly known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature. Among Molière's best-known dramas are Le Misanthrope (The Misanthrope), L'École des femmes (The School for Wives), Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur, (Tartuffe or the Hypocrite),, Racine Jean Racine (December 22, 1639 – April 21, 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th century France (along with Molière and Corneille), and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition. Racine was primarily a tragedian, though he did write one comedy, Boileau Boileau was born in the rue de Jérusalem, in Paris, France. He was brought up to the law, but devoted to letters, associating himself with La Fontaine, Racine, and Molière. He is the author of Satires and Epistles, L'Art poétique and Le Lutrin, in which he attacked and employed his wit against what he perceived to be the bad taste of his time, La Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century, Lully Jean-Baptiste de Lully (November 28, 1632 – March 22, 1687), was a French composer of Italian birth, who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He became a French subject in 1661, Le Brun Charles Le Brun was a French painter and art theorist, one of the dominant artists in 17th century France, Rigaud Hyacinthe Rigaud (18 July 1659, Perpignan –29 December 1743, Paris) was a French baroque painter of Catalan origin whose career was based in Paris. He is renowned for his portrait paintings of Louis XIV, the royalty and nobility of Europe, and members of their courts, Le Vau Louis Le Vau was a French Classical architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was born and died in Paris, Mansart Jules Hardouin-Mansart was a French architect whose work is generally considered to be the apex of French Baroque architecture, representing the power and grandeur of Louis XIV. Mansart, as he is generally known, was one of the most important European architects of the seventeenth century, Perrault Though Claude Perrault is best known as the architect of the eastern range of the Louvre Palace in Paris (see Perrault’s Colonnade), he also achieved success as physician and anatomist, and as an author, who wrote treatises on physics and natural history and Le Nôtre André Le Nôtre was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. Most notably, he was responsible for the design and construction of the park of the Palace of Versailles, and his work represents the height of the French formal garden style, or jardin à la française.
Upon his death at just days before his seventy-seventh birthday, Louis was succeeded by his five-year-old great-grandson, Louis de France Louis XV ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death on 10 May 1774. Coming to the throne at the age of five, Louis reigned until 15 February 1723, the date of his thirteenth birthday, with the aid of the Régent, Philippe, duc d'Orléans, his great-uncle, thereafter taking formal personal control of government. All his intermediate heirs—his son Louis, le Grand Dauphin, the Dauphin's eldest son Louis, duc de Bourgogne Louis was born in the Château de Versailles, the eldest son of Louis, le Grand Dauphin, and his wife Maria Anna of Bavaria. At birth, he received the title "duc de Bourgogne". As the son of the Dauphin, he was second in the line of succession to his grandfather, King Louis XIV of France, and Bourgogne's eldest son Louis, duc de Bretagne—predeceased Louis.
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Louis XIV of France reigned from early manhood to decrepit age, demi-god of the world's greatest nation at the time, surrounded by every pomp and ...
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Louis XIV en majeste
Lisa
Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:18:21 GM
Louis XIV. (1638-1715, known as the Sun King , ruled . France. f0r seventy two years starting at the young age of 4. During his time of rule from the awe-inspiring Palace of Versailles, . Louis XIV. was able to expand French influence in ...
