LOUIS XV, king of France: b. Versailles, France; 15 Feb. 1710; d. there, 10 May 1774. He was the great-grandson and successor of Louis XIV, and coming to the throne when only five years old, Philip, Duke of Orleans, was made regent. Louis was declared of age in 1723 and married Marie Leczinska, daughter of the king of Poland. The Duke of Orleans died that year and was succeeded as Prime Minister by the Duke of Bourbon, who was removed in 1725 to make way for Cardinal Fleury, who died in 1743. After the cardinal's death the king's mistresses, Pompadour and Du Barry, controlled the election of the prime min ister and other officers. In 1741 France be came entangled in the war of the Austrian Succession against Austria, which was ended by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. In 1756 she was involved in the Seven Years' War, in which Austria was the ally of France. This
was ended by the Peace of Paris in 1763. By this treaty Louisiana and Canada, as well as her Indian possessions, were lost to France. In 1764 the Jesuit order was suppressed. The kingdom was left impoverished at the death of Louis, partly by war and partly through the enormous sums squandered upon the royal mis tresses. Consult Broglie, 'Le secret duroi' (Paris 1878) ; Carr& H., 'La France sous Louis (Paris 1891) ; De Tocqueville, 'Histoire philosophique du regne de Louis XV' (Paris 1846) ; Fleury. 'Louis XV intime et les petites maitresses) (Paris 1909) ; Gon court, 'Le waitresses de Louis XV' (ib. 1860); Haggard, 'The Real Louis XV' (2 vols., Lon don 1906) ; Pajot, 'Les guerres sous Louis XV' (Paris 1881-92) ; Cambridge, 'Modern History' (Vol. VI, Cambridge 1908).