Louis xiv accomplishments

Louis xiv spouse
Why was louis xiv called the sun king
How did louis xiv died

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Louis XIV (1638-1715)

Louis XIV, c.1701 ©Louis XIV, the 'Sun King', was king of France from 1643 to 1715 and widely held to be the greatest monarch of his age.

Louis was born on 5 September 1638 at St Germain-en-Laye. He became king at the age of four on the death of his father, Louis XIII. While Louis was a child, his mother, Anne of Austria, served as regent, assisted by Louis XIII's chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin.

Louis's early years were marked by a series of rebellions against his mother and Mazarin, which were known as the 'Fronde'. These created in him a lifelong fear of rebellion, and a dislike of Paris, prompting him to spend more and more time in Versailles, southwest of Paris. In 1660, he married Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip IV of Spain.

When Mazarin died in 1661, the 23-year-old Louis decided to rule without a chief minister. He regarded himself as an absolute monarch, with his power coming directly from God. He carefully cultivated his image and took the sun as his emblem. Between 1661 and 1689, he built a magnificent palace at Versailles and moved

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Versailles and the Royal Court

Louis XIV, King of France, is shown here in his coronation finery in a portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud:

The reign of Louis XIV

On 10 March 1661, the day after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, the 23-year-old Louis XIV announced that he would henceforth govern alone, with no first minister. He surrounded himself with men selected not for their high birth, but instead for their abilities and loyalty, men such as the Marquis de Louvois and Jean-Baptiste Colbert.

Louis XIV fashioned a new style of government, much more centralised than that of his predecessors.

The scene shown above depicts Louis XIV surrounded by his Counsellors of State: the king sits at one end of the rectangular table; across from him is the Grand Audiencier, whose role was to present the king with orders for his signature and letters requiring a response.

Louis XIV’s centralisation of power saw the creation of a new category of royal officer, the intendants, who were dispatched to the provinces with the task of steering the kingdom’s economic development. From the Palace of Ve

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Louis XVI (1754-1793)

Louis XVI, 1781 ©Louis was king of France when the monarchy was overthrown during the French Revolution. He was guillotined in 1793.

Louis was born at Versailles on 23 August 1754. In 1770, he married Marie Antoinette, daughter of the emperor and empress of Austria, a match intended to consolidate an alliance between France and Austria. In 1774, Louis succeeded his grandfather Louis XV as king of France.

Louis initially supported attempts by his ministers Jacques Turgot and later Jacques Necker to relieve France's financial problems. French support for the colonists in the American War of Independence had brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy. Meanwhile, accusations of frivolity, extravagance and scandalous behaviour against the queen, Marie Antoinette, further discredited the monarchy.

In 1789, to avert the deepening crisis, Louis agreed to summon the 'estates-general' (a form of parliament, but without real power) in order to try and raise taxes. This was the first time the body had met since 1614. Angered by Louis' refusal to allow th