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| 1638 births | |
| 1715 deaths | |
For the Beatles' song, see Sun King (song) Louis XIV (''Louis-Dieudonné'') ( September 5 , 1638 – September 1 , 1715 ), reigned as King Of France and of Navarre from May 14 1643 until his death at the age of 77. He succeeded to the throne a few months before his fifth birthday, but did not assume actual personal control of the government until the death of his First Minister ("''Premier Ministre''"), Jules Cardinal Mazarin , in 1661 . Louis XIV, known as '''The Sun King''' (in French ''Le Roi Soleil'') or as '''Louis the Great''' (in French ''Louis le Grand'', or simply ''Le Grand Monarque'' 'the Great Monarch'), ruled France for seventy-two years—the longest reign of any French or other major European monarch. Louis XIV increased the power and influence of France in Europe, fighting three major wars—the Franco-Dutch War , the War Of The League Of Augsburg , and the War Of The Spanish Succession —and two minor ones—the War Of Devolution , and the War Of The Reunions . Under his reign, France achieved not only political and military pre-eminence, but also cultural pre-dominance with various figures such as Molière , Racine , Boileau , La Fontaine , Lully , Rigaud , Le Brun and Le Nôtre . These cultural achievements contributed to the prestige of France, her people, her language and her king. One of France's greatest kings, Louis XIV worked successfully to create an Absolutist and centralized state. Louis XIV became the archetype of an Absolute Monarch . The phrase "''L'État, c'est moi''" ("I am the state") is frequently attributed to him, though this is considered by historians to be a historical inaccuracy and is more likely to have been conceived by political opponents as a way of confirming the stereotypical view of the Absolutism he represented. Quite contrary to that apocryphal quote, Louis XIV is actually reported 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"). EARLY YEARS, REGENCY AND WAR On his birth at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1638 his parents Louis XIII Of France and Anne Of Austria , who had been childless for twenty-three years, regarded him as a divine gift; hence he was christened "Louis-Dieudonné" (the latter word meaning "God-given"); he also received the titles ''premier fils de France'' ("First Son of France") as well as the more traditional title ''Dauphin De Viennois'' . Louis XIV came from a multicultural background since his paternal grandparents were Henry IV Of France and Marie De' Medici , who were French and Italian respectively. His maternal grandparents were Philip III Of Spain and Margaret Of Austria , both Habsburgs . Louis XIII and Anne had a second child, Philippe d'Anjou (soon to be Philippe I, Duc D'Orléans ) in 1640 . Louis XIII, however, did not trust in his wife's ability to govern France upon his demise. Thus he decreed that a regency council, of which Anne was head, should rule in his son's name during his minority; this would have diminished the Queen Mother's power. Nevertheless, when Louis XIII died, and the five-year-old Louis XIV ascended the throne on May 14 , 1643 , Anne annulled Louis XIII's will in Parlement, did away with the council and became sole Regent . She entrusted power to her chief minister, the Italian -born Cardinal Mazarin , whom most French political circles despised because of his non-French background (although he had already become a naturalised French subject). As the Thirty Years' War ended, in 1648, a French civil war, known as the Fronde , commenced. Cardinal Mazarin continued the policies of centralization pursued by his predecessor, Armand Jean Du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu , seeking to augment the power of the Crown at the expense of the nobility. In 1648 , he sought to levy a tax on the members of the Parlement , a court whose judges comprised mostly nobles or high clergymen. The members of the Parlement not only refused to comply, but also ordered all of Cardinal Mazarin's earlier financial edicts burned. When Cardinal Mazarin arrested certain members of the Parlement, Paris erupted in rioting and insurrection. A mob of angry Parisians broke into the royal palace and demanded to see their king. Led into the royal bedchamber, they gazed upon Louis XIV, who was feigning sleep, and quietly departed. Prompted by the possible danger to the royal family and the monarchy, Anne fled Paris with the king and his courtiers. Shortly thereafter, the signing of the Peace Of Westphalia released the French army under to return to the aid of Louis XIV and of his royal court. By January 1649 , the Prince de Condé had started besieging rebellious Paris; the subsequent Peace Of Rueil temporarily ended the conflict. After the first Fronde (''Fronde Parlementaire'') ended, the second Fronde, that of the princes, began in 1650. Nobles of all ranks, from princes of the Blood Royal and cousins of the king, like Gaston Jean-Baptiste, Duc D'Orléans , his daughter, Anne-Marie-Louise D'Orléans, Duchesse De Montpensier , Louis II De Bourbon, Prince De Condé , Armand De Bourbon-Condé, Prince De Conti , and Anne-Geneviève De Bourbon-Condé, Duchesse De Longueville , to nobles of ancient families, like François VI, Duc De La Rochefoucauld , Frédéric-Maurice De La Tour D'Auvergne, Duc De Bouillon , his brother, Henri De La Tour D'Auvergne, Vicomte De Turenne , and Marie De Rohan-Montbazon, Duchesse De Chevreuse , and nobles of legitimated royal descent, like Henri II D'Orléans, Duc De Longueville , and François De Vendôme, Duc De Beaufort , participated in the rebellion against royal rule. Even the clergy was represented by Jean François Paul De Gondi, Cardinal De Retz . The result of these tumultuous times, when the Queen Mother reputedly sold her jewels to feed her children, was a king filled with a permanent distrust for the nobility and the mob. END OF WAR AND PERSONAL REIGN War with Spain , however, continued. The French received aid in this military effort from England , then governed by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell . The Anglo-French alliance achieved victory in 1658 with the Battle Of The Dunes . The subsequent Treaty Of The Pyrenees ( 1659 ) fixed the border between France and Spain at the Pyrenees , ceded various provinces and towns to France in the Spanish Netherlands, and signalled a change in the Balance of Power with the decline of Spain and the rise of France. By the same treaty, Louis XIV became engaged to marry the daughter of Philip IV Of Spain (1621–65), Maria Theresa (''Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche''). They were married on June 9 , 1660 ; under the terms of the marriage contract, upon the full payment of a large Dowry (50,000 gold écu s), to be paid in three instalments, Maria Theresa would agree to renounce all claims to the Spanish Monarchy and its territories. The dowry, however, was left unpaid since Spain was bankrupt, thus theoretically rendering the renunciation null and void. The French treasury, after a long war, stood close to bankruptcy when Louis XIV assumed, upon the death of his ''Premier Ministre'', personal control of the reins of government in 1661. Louis XIV appointed Jean-Baptiste Colbert as ''Contrôleur-Général des Finances'' in 1665 . Colbert reduced the national debt through more efficient taxation. His principal means of taxation included the '' Aides '', the '' Douane s'', the '' Gabelle '', and the '' Taille ''. The ''aides'' and ''douanes'' were customs duties, the ''gabelle'' a tax on salt, and the ''taille'' a tax on land. While Colbert did not abolish the historic tax exemption enjoyed by the nobility and clergy, he did improve the methods of tax collection then in use.
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