 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Timeline |
|
 |
|
Louis XIV, The Sun King |
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
Louis XIV, The Sun King > Website 
Louis XIV reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from 1643 until his death at 77 years old. He inherited the Crown at the age of four, but he did not actually assume personal control of the government until the death of his chief minister, Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661. Louis XIV, known as The Sun King (Le Roi Soleil) and as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand), ruled France for seventy-two years — the longest reign of any French or other major European monarch. Louis attempted to increase the power of France in Europe, fighting four major wars: the War of Devolution, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the Grand Alliance, and the War of the Spanish Succession. He worked successfully to create an absolutist and centralized state; historians and political scientists often cite him as an example of an enlightened despot. Louis XIV became the archetype of an absolute monarch. He is frequently claimed to have said "L'État, c'est moi" ("I am the state"), though this is considered by historians to be a historical inaccuracy and is more likely to have been attributed to him by political opponents as a way to confirm a stereotypical view of the absolutism he represented. Quite contrary to that spurious quote, Louis XIV is actually reported by Saint-Simon to have said on his death bed: "Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours." ("I am going, but the State shall always remain").
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Henry IV, 1st Bourbon King of France
Henry IV of France was the first of the Bourbon kings of France, reigning from 1589 until his death. As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the Wars of Religion before acceding to the throne; to become king he converted to Catholicism and promulgated t... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Cardinal Richelieu, Premier of France
Cardinal Richelieu was extremely intelligent and at the age of nine was sent to College de Navarre in Paris. In 1602, at age seventeen he began studying theology seriously. In 1606 he was appointed Bishop of Luçon, and in 1622 Pope Gregory made Riche... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
ENLIGHTENMENT
The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual movement in 18th-century Europe. The goal of the Enlightenment was to establish an authoritative ethics, aesthetics, and knowledge based on an "enlightened" rationality. The movement's leaders viewed thems... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII, king of France (1610–43). He succeeded his father, Henry IV, under the regency of his mother, Marie de' Medici. He married Anne of Austria in 1615. Even after being declared of age in 1614, he was excluded from affairs of state by his dom... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Anne of Austria, Queen of France
Anne of Austria, queen of France, daughter of King Philip III of Spain. Married to the French king Louis XIII (1615), she was neglected by her husband and sought the society of the court intriguer, Mme de Chevreuse. Anne's indiscretion, especially he... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Pope Innocent XI
Pope Innocent XI, born Benedetto Odescalchi, was Pope from 1676 to 1689. Odescalchi was a strong papal candidate after the death of Pope Clement IX (1667–69) in 1669, but the French government rejected him. After Pope Clement X (1670–76) died, Louis... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
The Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War, series of European conflicts lasting from 1618 to 1648, involving most of the countries of western Europe, and fought mainly in Germany. At first the struggle was primarily based on the profound religious antagonism engendered amon... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Palace of Versailles
Back in 1623, Louis XIII - father of Louis XIV - built a 'hunting lodge, a little gentleman's chateau' of brick, stone, and slate at Versailles. The king liked it so much that he soon had it enlarged by his 'royal engineer and architect', Philibert L... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Italian-born French composer. He was court composer to Louis XIV, founding the national French opera and producing court ballets for Molière's plays. Clearly the most successful musician of his time, in terms of power and financi... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Marie Thérèse of Austria, Queen of France
Marie Thérèse of Austria, Queen of France. Infanta of Spain, daughter of Felipe IV, King of Spain 1621-1665 and Princess Elisabeth de France, Born 20 September 1638 Madrid Louis married her in order to make peace with Spain and, as you could read it... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Jean Racine, French Dramatist
Jean Racine was a French dramatist, one of the "big three" of 17th century France (along with Molière and Corneille), and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition. Racine was primarily a tragedian, though he did write one c... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold I, Holy Roman emperor, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, was the second son of the emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria. He was also a first c... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
William III of Orange, King of England
William III (Dutch: Willem III) was a sovereign Prince of Orange by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange (Dutch: Willem III van Oranje) over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Philip V, 1st Bourbon King of Spain
Philip V (Spanish: Felipe V; French: Philippe de France;), fils de France and Duke of Anjou, was King of Spain from 1700 to 14 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son, Louis I of Spain, and from 31 August 1724 to 1746, assuming the throne... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Montesquieu, Political Thinker
Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Era of the Enlightenment. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, taken for gr... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, principally the Holy Roman Empire, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Portugal, and the Duchy of Savoy, against the Kingdoms of France and Spain and the Electorate of Bavaria... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Louis XV of France
King of France (1715 – 74). An orphan from age three, Louis succeeded to the throne on the death of his great-grandfather Louis XIV (1715), under the regency of Philippe II, duke d'Orléans (1674 – 1723). His marriage to Princess Marie Leszczynska of... |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Who • What • When • Where • Which |
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
|