LOUIS XIII. (1601-1643), king of France, was the son of Henry IV. and of Marie de' Medici. He became king on his father's assassination in 1610 ; but his mother at once seized the full powers of regent. She determined to bring France into alliance with Spain and the Austrian house. Louis was to marry Anne of Austria, daughter of the Spanish king, Philip III., and the Spanish prince, afterwards Philip IV., himself was to marry the Princess Elizabeth, the king's sister. The marriages were concluded in 1615. The next years were full of civil war and political intrigue, during which the queen relied upon the Marshal d'Ancre. Louis XIII. was attached to Charles d'Albert, sieur de Luynes; and with his help he arrested Marshal d'Ancre, and on his resistance had him assassinated. From this time to her death the relation between the king and his mother was one of concealed or open hostility. The article on FRANCE must be consulted for the intricate events of the following years.
The decisive incident for his private life as well as for his reign was the entrance of Cardinal Richelieu (q.v.) hitherto the queen's chief adviser, into the king's council in 1624. Henceforth the policy of France was directed by Richelieu, who returned to the policy of Henry IV. abroad, and asserted the power of the crown against all rivals at home. This policy brought Louis into unremitting conflict with the Protestants and the nobles of France, but also made him the enemy of his mother, of his brother Gaston of Orleans, who made himself the champion of the cause of the nobles, and sometimes even of his wife. It is not easy to define his relations to Richelieu. He was convinced of his loyalty and of his genius, and in the end always supported his policy. But he disliked the friction with his family circle which this policy pro duced. For the most part his share in the great events of the reign was a passive one. There were certain occasions when it seemed as if he would oppose Richelieu. The chief of these was what is known as the "Day of Dupes" (1630). Then the queen-mother and the king's brother passionately attacked the minister, and for a moment it was believed that Richelieu was dismissed and that the queen-mother and a Spanish policy had triumphed. But the min
ister regained his ascendancy over the king, punished his enemies and forced Marie de' Medici and Gaston of Orleans to sue for pardon. In 1631 Gaston fled to Lorraine and the queen-mother to Brussels. Gaston soon returned, to plot, to fail and to sue for pardon again and again; but Marie de' Medici ended her life in exile.
But the last great effort to overthrow Richelieu was the con spiracy of Cinq-Mars (q.v.), one of the king's personal favourites. Cinq-Mars believed himself secure of the king's favour. But Richelieu discovered his treasonous relations with Spain, and de feated his plot. Louis was reconciled to his minister. "We have lived too long together to be separated" he is reported to have said (September 1642). Yet when Richelieu died in December of the same year he allowed himself to speak of him in a jealous and satirical tone. He died himself a few months later (May (See also RICHELIEU.) The chief source of information on Louis XIII.'s life is to be found in the contemporary memoirs, of which the chief are: Bassompierre, Fontenay-Mareuil, Gaston d'Orleans, Montresor, Omer Talon. Riche lieu's own Memoirs are chiefly concerned with politics and diplomacy. Of modern works those most directly bearing on the king's personal life are R. de Beauchamp, Louis XIII. d'apres sa correspondance avec le cardinal de Richelieu; G. Hanotaux, Histoire du cardinal de Richelieu ; Rossignol, Louis XIII. avant Richelieu; M. Topin, Louis XIII. et Richelieu (1876). See too Professor R. Lodge, Richelieu; J. B. H. R. Capefigue, Richelieu, Mazarin et la Fronde (1835-36) ; • and Dr. J. H. Bridges, Richelieu, Mazarin and Colbert (1866) ; Aymes, La France sous Louis XIII. (1909) ; Lettres de la main de Louis XIII. (2 pt. 1914).
For full bibliography see G. Monod, Bibliographie de l'histoire de France; Cambridge Modern History, vol. iv. ("The Thirty Years' War") ; Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire generale, vol. v. ("Guerres de religion").