Louis Xiv
Louis XIV of France ranks as one of the most remarkable monarchs in history. He reigned for 72 years, 54 of them he personally controlled French government. The 17th century is labeled as the age of Louis XIV. Since then his rule has been hailed as the supreme example of a type of government - absolutism. He epitomized the ideal of kingship. During his reign France stabilized and became one of the strongest powers in Europe.
Born on Sept. 5, 1638, Louis was the first, regarded as "god-given," child of the long-married Louis XIII and his Habsburg wife, Anne of Austria. He succeeded his father on the throne at the age of four. However, he was also a neglected child, cared for by servants. Once he almost drowned in a pond because no one was watching him. However, his mother, Anne of Austria who caused the neglect, instilled in him a lasting fear of "crimes committed against God". The royal family was twice driven out of Paris, and at one point Louis XIV and Anne were held under virtual arrest in the royal palace in Paris. This civil war brought Louis XIV poverty, misfortune, fear, humiliation, cold and hunger. This shaped his character and he would never forgive either Paris, the nobles, or the common people.
When Louis XIV came to the throne as a five-year-old boy on May 14, 1643, the Thirty Years' War was still in progress, and Cardinal Richelieu, the French eminent grise, had died the preceding year. The situation did not look good for France, but the young boy became one of the world's great monarchs and the embodiment of the divine-right, absolute monarch. Louis XIV (September 5, 1638- September 1, 1715) ruled France for seventy-two years, one of the longest reigns in recorded history, and dominated European cultural and political affairs.
Unlike his father, Louis enjoyed excellent health almost all his life. His appetites for food, and hunting; he had a passion, unusual in those days, for fresh air and walking. Though not tall, he was...
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