LOUIS XIV. (163S-1715). King of France from 1643 to 1715. called 'the Great.' He was the son of Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria, and was horn at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, September 15 (16?), 1638. He became King, of France at the age of five by the death of his father, Slav 14, 1643. The Queen mother, Anne of Austria, held the regency, but the virtual control of affairs was in the hand; of Slazarin. the chief minister, who was more solicitous for the continuance of his own power than for the education of the young King. The discontent of the nobles under the administration of Alazarin brought on the civil wars of the Fronde (q.v.) fomented by Spain, hut the rebellion was put down in 1652. The war with Spain, a legacy from the preceding reign, was terminated by the Peace of the Pyre nees in 1659, which gave France part of the Spanish Netherlands and confirmed her in the possession of Roussillon. In 1660 Louis married the Infanta
Theresa of Spain. a princess lacking attractive qualities of mind or person. Mazarin died March 9, 1601, and at once the young King showed to what purpose he had studied the example of his father's subserviency to Richelieu and the experience of his own tute lage under Mazarin. Ile surprised the Court by his prompt assertion of the intention to be his own chief minister. Richelieu and Mazarin had established firmly the foundations of royal power by putting, down the nobles and Hmmenots and by the foreign policy which had made France the greatest power in Europe. Louis XIV. built on this foundation a structure of the most complete despotism. The young King brought to the task a zest for work which
been destroyed by a neglected education or the pleasures of a frivolous Court. Lacking in surpassing intel lectual qualities himself. lie had the gift of recog nizing talents in others, and he gathered around him a group of advisers of exceptional ability. whose activity he knew how to subordinate to hi; own purposes. The brilliant services which they rendered France, far from eclipsing the reputa tion of the King, redounded only to his own glory. From the Grand Ifonarque alone emanated that vivifying power under the influence of which the national life of France. its industry and com merce, its military strength. its political influence in Europe, attained an unprecedented develop. meat. The Court of Louis XIV. was the most magnificent in Europe. and it. became the model for European sovereigns. Ilandsome in person and stately in bearing. with just enough kindliness in his manner to make condescension seem gra cious, the monareh moved among a brilliant crowd of soldiers. politicians, prelates, and men of letter,, whose unrestrained adulation was prob ably a, sin•ere as any
praise, in history. His most influential adviser was Colbert (q.v.), his botirvtois „Minister of Fi (1661-S3), man of reasonable ambitions and great business ability, and in touch with the people. Ile re stored the finances of the Kingdom. which had been impoverished by Alazarin and pilfered by the pleasure-loving Fouquet (q.v.), fostered indus tries, and by a drastic application of the pro tective principle of State en•onragement. made France a self-supporting and highly productive country. Lou‘ois. Who succeeded his father, Le T ellier, as Minister of War, brought the army to a pitch of efficiency which made it the first in Europe. Thus the me
by the Edict of Nantes, were living peacefully in the Kingdom. Arrogant and obstinate as lie was. Louis was restrained in ninny things by the coun sel of Colbert while that minister lived. But Col bert died in September, 1683; Ids death had been preceded by that of the Queen, and in 1684 Louis privately married Madame de Maintenon (q.v.), who for a long time had been his spiritual guide. The lIuguenots were gradimlly subjected to more and more pressure (see DRA co N ADES ) . and in 1685 the King filially revoked the Edict of Nantes. The exercise of the Reformed religion in France was prohildted, and children were to be educated in the Catholic faith. (Sec IluurENors.) On the death of the Elector I'ahitine, in 1685, Louis claimed the territory of the Palatinate in right of the Elector's sister, the Duchess of Orleans. In 1688 he invaded the Palatinate and the neigh boring regions. Early in 1689 the Minister of War, Lnuvois, doubting the possibility of defend ing the Palatinate against the Imperial Forces, ordered the devastation of that region an act of inexcusable cruelty, Nvh jell reduced half a million of people to utter misery. A new coalition was now formed against France, guided by the energy and wisdom of William of Orange, just called to the throne of England. This league, the Grand Alliance, ultimately included England, Holland. Savoy, the Emperor, Brandenburg, Sweden. Spain. Saxony, Ilavaria, and the l'alatinate. The sneeeeding campaigns were largely Waged in the Netherlands, while Marshal Catinat reduced Savoy. On July 1, 1600. Marshal Luxembourg defeated the Prince of Waldeck at Fleurus; on August 3, 1692, he gained a decisive victory over William III. at Steenkerke, and on July 29.1693, von a second victory at Nee•winden. At sea the French under Tourville gained a great success over the English and Dutch off Dieppe (July, 1(i90), but this was counterbalanced by the erush ing defeat of the French at La Hogue in May, 1692. The Fabian tactics of William III. checked the advance of the French, who were now under the command of the incapable Villeroi; in 1695 the English King took Namur, and thus hastened the approach of peace, of which France, exhausted by the vast campaigns, stood in great need. In 1697 the Peace of flyswick provided for a mutual restoration of conquests and the garrisoning of the forts in the Spanish Netherlands by Dutch' troops as a barrier between France and Holland. Louis was forced to recognize William 111. as lawful King of Great Britain and to abstain from lending aid to the exiled Stuarts. Meanwhile Louis was able to maintain his rule at home in the face of growing discontent only by a rigid police espionage. administered by Count d'Argenson. The national finances, restored by the somewhat artificial system of Colbert, were again in a deplorable condition, and the people were threatened with want. The last years of Louis were a period of misfortune as signal as his previous successes had been. The question of the succession to the throne of Spain, left vacant by the childless Charles II., led to the tremendous struggle of the War of the Spanish Succession. (See SUCCESSION WARS.) William revived the Grand Alliance in 1701 to combat the plans of Louis for placing his grandson. Philip of Anjou, upon the Spanish throne. The allies took the field under the able generalship of Marlborough and Prince Eugene and won the great battles of Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), and Onde narde (1708). After these French disasters ne gotiations for peace were entered upon, but though Louis was willing to eomply with all the demands of the allies in regard to the restora tion of his early conquests and to recognize the Austrian Archduke Charles as King of Spain, lie would not consent to join the allies in driv ing his grandson out of Spain. Hostilities were resumed and Marlborough and Prince Eugene inflicted a bloody defeat on the French at Malplaquet (1709), Fortune. however, favored the French King. The death of the Emperor Joseph 1. and the accession of the Archduke Charles (Charles VI.) in the Austrian domin ions and the German Empire created dissen sions in the ranks of the allies; the fall of Marlborough (1712) removed Louis's greatest enemy. The treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Ras tadt (1714) brought the war to a close. Philip of Anjou retained the Spanish crown, which, however, was shorn of its possessions in Italy and the Netherlands. France ceded Acadia to Eng land. The obstinate policy of aggrandizement by despotic methods and of the repression of the natural tendencies of the people had its re sult after a period of factitious glory in a de eline of the French power. The looseness and immorality of society, to which the King gave the tone, was another cause of decay. Domes tic misfo•limes embittered the last years of the King's life. Within the space of a year (1711 12) death carried off the Dauphin Louis, the heir to the throne, together with his two sons, the Dukes of Burgundy and Berry, and the Duke of Burgundy's elder son, the Duke of Brittany. Upon Louis. the second son of the Duke of Burgundy, a sickly child whose life was for a time despaired of, fell the succession to the crown. By his mistress, Madame de Montespan, Louis had two sons. who bore the titles of Duke of Maine and Count of Toulouse. On September 1. 1715. the aged King died at Versailles. His reign had lasted seventy-two years. The epi grammatic statement, LYtat c'est mot, attrib uted to him, well described his role in French history. He had been France. His life was identified with the zenith of the French power, and his reign witnessed an extraordinary devel opment in letters and arts. Among those whose names adorn this so-called Augustan Age are Corneille, Racine, MoHere. Pascal, Boileau, lios suet,
La Fontaine. La Roehefoneauld, Pous-.in, Claude Lorrain, Mansart, and ( lande Perrault. The glory of the French monarchy passed away with Louis X1V.'s death.
Consult: (Enures de Louis (6 vols., Paris, 1806) , annotated edition of historical, polit ical, and military papers and letters of Louis XIV., prepared during the reign of Louis XVI.; Saint-Simon, .1/6nOires. 22 vols.. ed. by Ch•rnel and Ref.,mier, and a useful abridged English trans. by Saint-John in 3 vols. (London, 1876 and 1883) ; in connection with the foregoing, C1V2ruel, minute historic?! (le Louis .,VIF. (Paris. 1865), and Boissier, 8aint-Simon (Paris, 1892) ; Elistoin du reline de Louis Sir- (Paris. 1871-751; Voltaire, siicle de Louis Bourgeois, Franey Under Louis ATV.. trans. from the French (New York, 1897) ; Hassa11, Louis and the Zenith of the Pr, nch Monarchy (Ne• York, 1805) ; Philippson, This Zeitaller Ludleigs des fie•zehnten, in the —(me ken Series" (Berlin, 1870) ; Ot"•rin, Louis et he (Paris, 1894) ; for bibliography, Lavisse and Rambauld, Ilistoire gew'rale, vol. vi,