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From his base in Versailles, Louis XIV ruled over a centralised, absolutist state which revolved entirely around him. The King lived in the main wing of the palace, on the first floor, in a suite of three apartments reserved for his use.
- Louis XIII
The son of Henry IV and Marie de' Medici, Louis XIII...
- Discover
Louis XIV had a real eye for the ladies. His first love,...
- Louis XV
Acceding to the throne in 1715, Louis XV came to be known as...
- The Grand Dauphin
Maria Theresa of Austria, wife of Louis XIV, gave birth to...
- Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
Philippe de France was initially known as “Petit Monsieur”,...
- Saint-Simon
The works of Saint-Simon provide one of the most complete...
- Hyacinthe Rigaud
Louis XIV commissioned his portrait in armour from him,...
- Princess Palatine
Second wife of Monsieur, brother of Louis XIV, the Princess...
- Louis XIII
Although the location existed for centuries before the sovereign, Louis XIV developed a genuine liking for Versailles early on, and decided to extend it beyond the chateau that had grown out of the hunting lodge of brick and stone first built by his father.
- Early Life of Louis XIV
- The Fronde
- Sun King
- The Arts and The Royal Court Under Louis XIV
- Versailles
- Louis XIV and Foreign Policy
- War of The Spanish Succession
- Louis XIV and Religion
- Death of Louis XIV
- Sources
Born on September 5, 1638, to King Louis XIII of France and his Habsburg queen, Anne of Austria, the future Louis XIV was his parents’ first child after 23 years of marriage; in recognition of this apparent miracle, he was christened Louis-Dieudonné, meaning “gift of God.” A younger brother, Philippe, followed two years later. When his father died ...
During the early years of Louis XIV’s reign, Anne and Mazarin introduced policies that further consolidated the monarchy’s power, angering nobles and members of the legal aristocracy. Beginning in 1648, their discontent erupted into a civil war known as the Fronde, which forced the royal family to flee Paris and instilled a lifelong fear of rebelli...
After Mazarin’s death in 1661, Louis XIV broke with tradition and astonished his court by declaring that he would rule without a chief minister. He viewed himself as the direct representative of God, endowed with a divine right to wield the absolute power of the monarchy. To illustrate his status, he chose the sun as his emblem and cultivated the i...
A hard-working and meticulous administrator who oversaw his programs down to the last detail, Louis XIV nevertheless appreciated art, literature, music, theater and sports. He surrounded himself with some of the greatest artistic and intellectual figures of his time, including the playwright Molière, the painter Charles Le Brun and the composer Jea...
Most famously, he transformed a royal hunting lodge in Versailles, a village 25 miles southwest of the capital, into one of the largest and most extravagant palacesin the world, officially moving his court and government there in 1682. It was against this awe-inspiring backdrop that Louis tamed the nobility and impressed foreign dignitaries, using ...
In 1667 Louis XIV launched the War of Devolution—the first in a series of military conflicts that characterized his aggressive approach to foreign policy—by invading the Spanish Netherlands, which he claimed as his wife’s inheritance. Under pressure from the English, the Swedes and especially the Dutch, France retreated and returned the region to S...
In the late 1680s, responding to yet another spate of expansionist campaigns by Louis’ armies, several powerful countries formed a coalition known as the Grand Alliance. The ensuing war, fought on both hemispheres, lasted from 1688 to 1697; France emerged with most of its territory intact but its resources severely strained. More disastrous for Lou...
It was not only decades of warfare that weakened both France and its monarch during the latter half of Louis XIV’s reign. In 1685, the devoutly Catholic king revoked the Edict of Nantes, issued by his grandfather Henry IV in 1598, which had granted freedom of worship and other rights to French Protestants, known as Huguenots. With the 1685 Edict of...
On September 1, 1715, four days before his 77th birthday, Louis XIV died of gangrene at Versailles. His reign had lasted 72 years, longer than that of any other known European monarch, and left an indelible mark on the culture, history and destiny of France. His five-year-old great-grandson succeeded him as Louis XV.
The Edict of Nantes, 1598. Columbia University Core Curriculum. History. Chateau de Versailles. The Reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715): An Overview. University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences. History: Louis XIV (1638-1715). BBC.
5 days ago · Under the guidance of Louis XIV (reigned 1643–1715), the residence was transformed (1661–1710) into an immense and extravagant complex surrounded by stylized French and English gardens. Every detail of its construction was intended to glorify the king.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Why did Louis XIV build the Palace of Versailles? Following Mazarin’s death in 1661, Louis XIV caused a shock by announcing he would rule without a chief minister, taking absolute control of government. He was of the belief that the divine right of kings made him answerable only to God.
Louis XIII built a hunting lodge at Versailles in 1623. His successor, Louis XIV expanded the château into a palace that went through several expansions in phases from 1661 to 1715.
With the objective revetting the entrance of the palace with classical façades, Louis XV began a project that was continued during the reign of Louis XVI, but which did not see completion until the 20th century.
