Notes on Louis XIV

See my notes on Louis XIV on my Palace of Versailles site.

Louis XIV, king of France from 1643 to 1715, was the premier example of the absolute European monarch. As king, Louis concentrated as much power as possible in his hands at the expense of the French nobility, which he deeply mistrusted. (French nobles had revolted against, and threatened the life of, little Louis in 1648 in a movement known as le Fronde.) Louis XIV came to be known as the sun king: just as everything in the solar system revolved around the sun, so too did everything in France and Europe revolve around him; just as the sun was the source of life, so too was Louis the source of all power. Louis even had a picture of the rising sun painted on the back of his chair to symbolize the connection. To further weaken the French nobility, Louis constructed the palace of Versailles--the Disneyland of its day as a noble playland. Then he required the nobles to maintain a presence there, which helped to bankrupt them and also keep them away from their provincial power bases. (Read the excerpt from the Duc de Saint-Simon's Court of Louis XIV.)

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