The Reign of Louis XIV

Louis XIV, also known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, ruled France from 1643 to He was made king at the age of 5 due to the passing of Louis XIII. While he was a child, the nobles of the country launched a revolt against the throne, which lead to many years of civil unrest and is now known as the Fronde. During this period, Louis was often forced to stay inside his house and thus grew up with a distrust of the nobility, feeling they had too much power.

When he grew older, he assuaged his childhood fears in many ways. He moved away from Paris to Versailles, as he could not bear to live where he was so oppressed as a child. He did the domestication of the nobles, which turned the nobility into a harmless group that was concerned about social position much more than any real power. He also calmed them using the Arts, of which he was a great patron and actor himself, as well as revoking the Edict of Nantes.

Louis was a Catholic and decided not to give Huguenots toleration anymore. Louis worked with Colbert, who was his financial officer and helped save an economy going into a recession when Louis took the throne, but he did not have a Cardinal who ran most matters as Louis XIII had with Richelieu. Louis gave most official orders himself and was also involved in a lot of wars. In the War of Devolution, although many countries allied against France, it was able to buy an alliance with England and thus was able to triumph also due to France’s superior army.

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Then the War of the League of Augsburg happened, where many major powers strove to stop the expansionary efforts of Louis XIV, which he had started in previous wars. France was able to isolate the Grand Alliance but was unable to press for an advantage or even restore the English throne after the Glorious Revolution. Still, the war ended favorably for Louis, but the War of Spanish Succession did not. Again the HRE opposed French efforts, and the English also joined with them now, along with the Great Alliance from the War of the League of Augsburg. This proved too much for Louis and the Treaty of Utrecht was made. Louis faced much opposition thus from the HRE consistently, whose ruler was Leopold I, which could just have been returning the favor from the Thirty Years’ War. Als,o William III of Orange, who opposed him when he tried to invade the Netherlands and later when he became King of England.