He brought France to its highest splendor
and made it a beacon of science, culture,
and arts.
It is under his reign, the longest reign in
history, that France became the greatest power
in Europe and would come to dominate the continent
for the whole century, a century Voltaire
would describe as “Le Grand Siècle” – the
Great Century.
The face even of Absolutism, builder of Versailles,
it is no surprise that you are known as The
Sun King, Louis XIV.
This video is part of a multi-channel collaboration
known as Project France, which yours truly
hosts, you know, being France.
If you’re interested in learning more about
the fascinating history of my country, make
sure to check out the playlist in the description.
Preferably, at the end of this video.
Louis XIV was born on the 5th of September
1638, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria.
At his birth, he was named Louis Dieudonné,
“the God-Given”, as his mother was close
to 40 years old and had already suffered four
stillbirths.
This led to contemporaries believing that
he was a miracle, a divine gift, a fact that
his mother often brought up, and which would
largely affect Louis’ opinion of his divine
right to rule.
At only 5 years old, his father died of tuberculosis,
making little Louis the new King of France,
under the regency of his mother.
His father’s will had asked for a regency
council to govern the country until Louis
came of age, as he believed his wife incapable
of doing so.
Ouch.
Nevertheless, she got the will annulled by
the Parlement de Paris and became sole regent.
Although, to be fair, she did entrust most
of the ruling to the chief minister, Cardinal
Mazarin, preferring instead to spend an unusual
amount of time with her child, fostering in
him a love of theater and food, but also the
belief in absolute and divine power of the
King.
Louis was definitely a mama’s boy.
Meanwhile, Mazarin had negotiated the Peace
of Westphalia in 1648 which ended the 30 Years
War and granted independence to the Dutch
after more than 80 years of revolt at the
mere cost of 20% of the German population.
The peace largely benefitted France as the
imperial power of the Holy Roman Emperor was
significantly diminished while Austria relinquished
all claims and territories it had in Alsace
to the Kingdom of France, which had now become
the new leading power in Europe.
However, France was unable to use this great
opportunity for expansion as that same year
it was struck by a series of civil wars.
It started with the fucking Parisians who
were upset following tax increases, of course,
and the arrest of prominent members of the
Parlement de Paris.
As a result, being France, they raised barricades
and used slings to break the windows of any
store that supported Mazarin, hence why these
civil wars are known as “La Fronde”, or
the sling.
The revolt did not last long as Le Grand Condé
came back from fighting the Austrians and
swiftly put it down!
Before immediately changing side and starting
a new revolt known as the Fronde of the Princes
in response to Mazarin and the Queen’s desire
to continue the policies of Cardinal Richelieu,
one of France’s greatest chief minister
and a certified bad-ass, policies that aimed
at further centralizing the French government
and weakening the power and influence of the
nobility.
And thus followed a few unpleasant years as
the country endured a series of half-assed
revolts and battles, the invasion of both
the Holy Roman Emperor and Spain, the latter
of which was halted by the sheer will of angry
peasants, and constant backstabbing and jealousy,
while Mazarin was forced into exile and Louis
XIV and his mother were put under house arrest
after being forced to flee Paris.
The Fronde marked Louis’ teenage years and
largely forged his distrust of the nobility
as well as his rightful distaste of Paris,
possibly encouraging his later move of the
court to Versailles.
But eventually, as Louis XIV reached his majority,
thus ending the regency of Queen Anne, the
Fronde gradually lost steam and ended in 1653
with the triumphant return of Cardinal Mazarin.
Ironically, the Fronde had done nothing but
increase the absolute power of the King as
Louis XIV stressed in a letter addressed to
the Parlement de Paris, where he referred
to himself in the third person, “All authority
belongs to Us.
We hold it from God alone, and no person of
whatever quality he may be, can pretend to
any part of it.”
Nevertheless, despite asserting his absolute
power, the young King did little ruling and
still largely relied on Mazarin to take care
of most of his affairs.
As such, he was forced to marry Maria-Theresa
of Austria as part of the Treaty of the Pyrénées
signed in 1659, which ended the 14 years long
Franco-Spanish war, an extension of the 30
years’ war, and cemented France’s borders
with Spain.
The peace was actually signed on Pheasant
Island, which has since been co-ruled by Spain
and France in six months intervals.
A fact that must be shared by all respectable
trivia or geography YouTube channel.
Funny how I covered this in 10 seconds, and
not 5 minutes.
In pure royal tradition, the wedding was the
result of inbreeding as Louis XIV and Maria-Theresa
were cousins, twice cousins in fact.
Louis XIV’s mother was sister with the King
of Spain while Maria-Theresa’s mother was
the sister of Louis XIII.
The marriage was a true heartbreak for Little
Louis who had fallen deeply in love with one
of the nieces of Mazarin, but his tears and
pleas changed nothing, and the King married
his cousin.
An important marriage that became the basis
for the claims and objectives of Louis’
foreign policy in the fifty years to come.
Despite having been coronated in 1654, at
the age of 15, Louis XIV only truly gained
power following the death of Cardinal Mazarin
in 1661.
One of the first things he did with said power
was to delete the role of chief minister,
making the following statement to his ministers
of state and secretaries, “Up to this moment
I have been pleased to entrust the government
of my affairs to the late Cardinal.
It is now time that I govern them myself.
You will assist me with your counsels when
I ask for them.
I request and order you to seal no orders
except by my command . . . I order you not
to sign anything, not even a passport . . . without
my command; to render account to me personally
each day and to favor no one".
The Sun King had finally risen.
That same year, his son was born, also named
Louis but better known as “Le Grand Dauphin”
as he died without ever being king.
Le Grand Dauphin was the first of six legitimate
children, although all his siblings died in
their childhood.
In the end, Louis XIV would end up having
an additional sixteen illegitimate children
with 5 different women, ranging from a mere
gardener to his famous mistress, Madame de
Montespan.
But I digress.
Louis XIV started his personal reign with
administrative and fiscal reform as his treasury
was on the verge of bankruptcy.
A common theme in French history.
He started by imprisoning the current minister
of finance, whose main crime was to appear
wealthier than the king himself, and replaced
him with a much more efficient minister who
successfully improved the country’s finances
as well as greatly invested in domestic industries.
In only four years, the crown’s deficit
had turned into a surplus and the debt was
halved.
But despite all this, Louis XIV’s reign
marks a period of French history where the
Kingdom always tethered on the brink of bankruptcy.
Among the culprits were Louis XIV’s numerous
grand works, most famous of which are the
Palais des Invalides, a hospital in Paris
for aged and unwell soldiers, and where Napoléon’s
remains now rest, and above all, a small hunting
lodge that Louis’ father had built and which
he would greatly expand into what would become
the ultimate symbol of his absolutism, the
center of European culture and politics, and
the French court, Versailles!
But Louis XIV also suffered from another addiction
that was prejudicial to France’s financial
health, war.
In fact, most of his peace time was spent
preparing for the next war and Louis had instructed
his diplomats to focus on creating tactical
and strategic advantages for the French military.
Advantages that would come in handy during
his first major conflict, the War of the Devolution.
Following the death in 1655 of King Philip
the Fourth of Spain, whose only redeemable
feature was not being nearly as hideous as
his son, Louis XIV felt entitled to Spanish
territory in Belgium through his wife’s
claims.
Now, the treaty of the Pyrénées had stipulated
that Maria Theresa would renounce any claim
to Spanish territories, but it also promised
that Spain would give France 500,000 gold
coins.
Thing that Spain never did!
And so, Louis XIV felt perfectly entitled
to declare war once more.
As the English were busy fighting the Dutch
and the Spanish were ruled by, well, this guy,
Louis’ advance was swift, and he soon
captured most of the Spanish-Netherlands as
well as la Franche-Comté.
However, the ungrateful Dutch Republic, who
were all too happy to gain independence with
French support, now
felt threatened by the fact that France was
in its sphere of influence.
As such, it formed a triple alliance with
Sweden and the United Kingdom against France,
which forced Louis XIV to relinquish most
of his conquests.
But in those days, alliances were formed and
broken as frequently as France revolted, and
it didn’t take much to get Sweden to remain
neutral and England to ally with France against
the Dutch.
And so, in 1672, a year the Dutch would later
name the “Disaster Year”, Louis XIV invaded
the Netherlands.
Recent reforms by the Secretary of State for
War had drastically improved French logistics
and created standing armies, a rare feat in
those times, which allowed France to quickly
raise an army 250,000 strong of professional
soldiers, led by talented generals like le
Grand Condé and Turenne.
As a result, France quickly took over the
low countries, and consequently, the leader
of the Dutch Republic was deposed and then
lynched by a mob in favor of William of Orange.
Thankfully for the Dutch, seeing France’s
growing importance in the region and the (seizing)
of the Duchy of Lorraine, Prussia formed an
anti-French coalition along with Spain and
the Holy Roman Emperor while England, who
could only tolerate an alliance with France
for so long, decided to sue for peace with
the Netherlands.
France was therefore forced to retreat once
more but still held a strong position and
was able to secure a favorable peace in 1678.
Just in time for Louis XIV to enter yet another
war with its ally Sweden against the Danes.
But while Louis XIV was warring all over Europe,
he also sought to expand France’s influence
in the rest of the world.
As such, he expanded his colonial interests
in North America by claiming the entire Mississippi
basin in 1862, which was named La Louisiane
in his honor.
He then further encouraged French colonial
development in the Americas by sponsoring
the “King’s Daughters”, a series of
voyages that brought more than 800 women to
Québec in order to help populate the local
area and add a feminine touch to the cold,
brutal place that is the great north.
It is often believed that these women were
prostitutes, but that is a myth.
A myth Montreal more than made up for by becoming
America’s strip club.
Louis’ reach was truly international – he
received diplomats from the Ottomans, reviving
the long-standing French-Ottoman alliance,
but also Persia, China and even Siam, or current
day Thailand.
In fact, one of Louis’ own librarian and
linguist was Chinese, which I think is pretty
cool.
But in the end, what mattered to him was the
glory of France and to that end, he found
a new way to expand his kingdom, legalese.
In those times, treaties were purposefully
kept vague, likely to create reasons for future
wars and so Louis established the Chambers
of Reunions, whose sole goal was to decipher
these treaties to find the full extents of
Louis’ rights and claims.
With this method, Louis XIV was able to gain
claims for a few major cities including the
important free City of Strasbourg, which he
annexed in 1681 allowing France to take control
over the rest of Alsace, and Luxembourg.
However, Louis was forced to stop the siege
of Luxembourg as the Ottomans had launched
their largest assault on the Austrians yet
and it would have been political suicide to
attack a Christian nation while it was under threat of
Turkish infidels.
Nevertheless, the Turks were eventually defeated
in 1683 by the famous Winged Hussars at the
Battle of Vienna, and so Louis promptly started
his annexations once more.
Spain did not take that kindly and, allied
with the Holy Roman Emperor and the ungrateful
Dutch, declared war once more, and was promptly
defeated in the War of the Reunions.
Following that, Louis XIV went on a few more
wars where he bombed Algiers and Tripoli to
stop barbary pirate attacks and to free some
Christian slaves, and then swiftly carried
out a punitive attack against Genoa as it
had dared support the Spaniards during the
War of the Reunions!
Of course, France won, and the Doge of Genoa
was forced to travel to Versailles to say
sorry.
Louis’ constant warmongering had made France
increasingly powerful, but at the cost of
uniting his opponents.
A union that only grew along with his expansions.
But he did not mind antagonizing his neighbors,
in fact, he had recently fired his foreign
minister for being too lenient with his foes
during peace negotiations.
The King was quite vain after all, as Voltaire
wrote, “It is certain that he passionately
wanted glory, rather than the conquests themselves.
In the acquisition of Alsace and half of Flanders,
and of all of Franche-Comté, what he really
liked was the name he made for himself.”
And while this vanity had helped France reach
the height of its power and to extend itself
like it has never extended before, it had
also given France a reputation as a brutal
and arrogant state, which to be fair, it still
upholds to this day.
