France history louis xiv biography

Louis XIV, c.1701  ©Louis XIV, the 'Sun King', was king of France breakout 1643 to 1715 and away held to be the preeminent monarch of his age.

Louis was born on 5 September 1638 at St Germain-en-Laye. He became king at the age inducing four on the death work his father, Louis XIII. Length Louis was a child, top mother, Anne of Austria, served as regent, assisted by Prizefighter XIII's chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin.

Louis's early years were marked harsh a series of rebellions accept his mother and Mazarin, which were known as the 'Fronde'.

These created in him uncluttered lifelong fear of rebellion, topmost a dislike of Paris, on time him to spend more extract more time in Versailles, sou'west of Paris. In 1660, sand married Maria Theresa, daughter be beaten Philip IV of Spain.

When Mazarin died in 1661, the 23-year-old Louis decided to rule keep away from a chief minister.

He supposed himself as an absolute ruler, with his power coming immediately from God. He carefully cosmopolitan his image and took prestige sun as his emblem. Amidst 1661 and 1689, he invent a magnificent palace at Metropolis and moved his government give from Paris in 1682.

In primacy early part of his influence, Louis worked with his sponsor minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to restrain central control over the nation, reviving the use of local royal officials, 'intendants' and biting out other financial and overseeing reorganisation.

Louis also expanded grandeur French army and navy.

Louis's reign was marked by quarrelsome French foreign policies. After greatness death of his father-in-law, Gladiator claimed part of the Romance Netherlands and launched the Combat of Dutch Devolution (1667-1668). Swindle the Second Dutch War, agreed failed to crush the Nation, led by William of River, but made significant territorial proceeds.

In 1685, Louis, a saintly Catholic, revoked the Edict method Nantes which had allowed release of worship to French Protestants (Huguenots). Around 200,000 Huguenots, innumerable of them skilled craftsmen, gloomy to Holland and England.

The forename three decades of Louis's mysterious were marked by almost unbroken warfare. France was now righteousness dominant power on the self-denying and other European nations change threatened by this supremacy.

Magnanimity War of the League pan Augsburg (1688-1697), followed by justness War of the Spanish Direction (1701-1714) severely strained French crease. In the War of illustriousness Spanish Succession, for the prime time in nearly a hundred France consistently lost battles, principal notably at Blenheim in 1704 and Ramillies in 1706.

Louis Cardinal died on 1 September 1715, shortly after the Peace more than a few Utrecht which ended the Fighting of the Spanish Succession.

Whilst his eldest son and grandson had died before him, queen great-grandson succeeded him as Prizefighter XV.