Louis XIV, the Sun King (1638-1715)


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Quote:
Originally Posted by Furienna
Wowie! Was her mother Louis XIV:s father's sister?


No, Marie-Therese's father, Philip IV of Spain, was Anne of Austria's (the mother of Louis XIV) brother. So Marie-Therese was niece to Anne of Austria, not Louis XIII.
Click to expand...

In fact, Marie-Thérèse was also Louis XIII's niece, because her mother was Elisabeth of France, one of Louis XIII' sisters. But monarchs were (and some still are) cousins by almost every side!!!! It's easy to get lost in their genealogies!!!:mrgreen:

Two more facts about Marie-Thérèse (my sources are from the book Les Femmes du Roi Soleil, by Simone Bertière):
-On their honeymoon, Marie-Thérèse asked Louis XIV to sleep in the same bed than her, every night of their married life. And he did. He could spent the night with some of his various mistresses, but in the early morning, he would always come to her bedroom and spend a bit of time with her. Only Marie-Thérèse's death stopped it.
-Marie-Thérèse last words were :" Since I'm a Queen, I only had one day of happiness." Which one? Nobody knows. Maybe her first day as a married woman... When Louis XIV learned her wife's death, he said :"This is the first pain she ever gave me".:sad:
 
ladybelline said:
Two more facts about Marie-Thérèse...
Click to expand...
That's a very touching story, isn't it?

Marie-Therese has always been one of my favourite Queens of France, though she is certainly not very well known. But her spirit, her kindness and her ability to love the man, who had so many mistresses (!) and managing to become the best friend of her husband's mistress (Madame de Maintenon) are certainly marks of a character, imo.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Im Reading "Love and Louis XIV" By Antonia Fraser
 
I'm planning to read the Fraser book as well, once I get a few others done first. Louis XIV is one of those monarchs I find so fascinating.

His reign remains the longest by a European king, and he has to be one of the most influential people in European history. Every nation from Great Britain to Peter the Great's Russia were either in awe or fear of him, and his court is the main reason for the widespread use of French across diplomacy and Western culture. While his wars decimated the royal treasury, his armies were the most powerful of his day and he was able to put a grandson on the throne of Spain.

He outlasted seven rulers of Great Britain, three Holy Roman Emperors, and eight Popes. Two kings before him was the end of the French Wars of Religion, two kings after him was the Revolution, events two centuries apart. For a full third of those two hundred years, Louis le Grand was King. The words Sun King conjure images of gilded halls, pampered servants, decadent luxuries, and mistresses. Very many mistresses.

Vain, proud, a man of enormous appetites for food and women, with the cunning to subdue the numerous French nobility through etiquette and culture and the nations of Europe through might and reputation, an administrator who organized with his ministers one of the first centralized bureaucracies, a king who dominated his century and his nation for better and for worse, that was Louis XIV.
 
The child King
Louis_XIV_as_a_Young_Child.jpg


Louis in 1661, Charles Le Brun
louis-xiv-lebrunl.jpg



The famous Hyacinthe Rigaud portrait, 1701
Louis-XIV-of-France.jpg








His father, the sickly King Louis XIII
(painting by Philippe de Champagne)
12747.jpg



His mother, Anne of Austria





Anne-of-Austria.jpg
 
I wonder why he called himdelf the Sun King.He was described as full of himself.
 
Yes,he was very self-proud of himself and regarded his right to the throne as a divine one.He had a lot of mistresses and many illegitimate children,like the English king Charles II.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Never know before,but it's interesting to observe that the actual royals are descendants via illegitimate line of king Louis XIV and his mistress Francoise-Athenais,Marquess de Montespan.Through three of her illegitimate kids she became an ancestor of the modern House of Orleans and its present head,Count of Paris.She is the ancestor of current Portuguese and Brasilian Royal House,of the King of Belgium-Albert II,the Grand Duke of Luxembourg Henri ,of the current pretender to the Bulgarian throne Simeon II and even of the King Juan Carlos of Spain.
Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
His mother,Anne of Austria is one of my alltime favourite Royal historical figures,along with her son Louis XIV!
 
As a result of the marriage of Louis XIV and Maria Teresa of Austria, King Louis XIV acquired rights over the Low Countries.
​

King Louis XIV was fond of his brother Philippe, Duc d'Orleans.
However Louis did not consider Philippe competent enough to be involved in state business.
King Louis excluded Philippe from councils with his ministers.
​

Louis XIV brought street lighting and a police force to Paris.
In 1686, he founded the Institut de Saint-Cyr, an academy for impoverished aristocratic girls.
​

King Louis XIV ordered that table knives have rounded, not pointed ends, to stop them being used as daggers during mealtime arguments.
​
 
Last edited by a moderator:
susan alicia said:
yes, and I loved the final scene when she is walking on the allee du roi and he is waiting for her by the gate and they are still in the prime of their life :)
Click to expand...

Maybe it was to symbolise their meeting in heaven?:hug:
 
:previous:
Thanks for sharing the article!:flowers::flowers:

It is great that some of Louis' XVI tapestries have been preserved and displayed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've always liked Louis XIV and admired the man despite him being the poster child for absolute monarchy. There is a wonderful docudrama on YouTube called Rise and Fall of Versailles dealing with Louis XIV-XVI.
 
XeniaCasaraghi said:
I've always liked Louis XIV and admired the man despite him being the poster child for absolute monarchy. There is a wonderful docudrama on YouTube called Rise and Fall of Versailles dealing with Louis XIV-XVI.
Click to expand...




You might be interested in a very bad Franco-Canadian TV series called Versailles, which focuses on the life of the young King Louis XIV. I say the series is bad because, like in ITV's Victoria, there is a lot of frivolous fiction with no historic accuracy, including unnecessary fictional characters. However, it is interesting that the series also features real historic characters like: Louis XIV's wife, Maria Teresa de Austria, Infanta of Spain and Portugal; Philippe I, duke of Orléans (forefather of the current pretenders to the French throne and Louis XIV's younger brother); Philippe's wives, Henrietta of England (ancestor of the current Jacobite pretenders) and Elizabeth Charlotte, Countess Palatine (also a descendant of James I) ; Charles II of England and Scotland; William of Orange (the future King William III & II of England and Scotland), etc. etc.



Especially for an American audience, who might never have heard anything about the aforementioned persons, it is quite instructive. Just take it as fictional drama, and not as a documentary (again, like Victoria).
 
Last edited:
I've seen and heard about the series. My fav people when it comes to Louis are Madame Maintenon and Philippe; I love Philippe on the show but am not happy about how they are handling Maintenon.
 
King Louis XIV of France and Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain - 1660

Maria Theresa of Spain was the daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and Elisabeth of France.
King Louis XIV married Maria Theresa at the Church of Saint Jean the Baptist on June 9, 1660. The wedding took place in Sain-Jean-de-Luz because of its ideal location on the border of France and Spain.
The wedding was celebrated by the Bishop of Bayonne.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Louis_XIV_wedding.jpg
 
Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche acted as Regent of France in 1672 during the Franco-Dutch war and was the last French queen to act as Regent of the kingdom.

340px-Detail_of_Marie_Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_d%27Autriche_by_Nocret.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Blog Real
King Louis XVIII of France and Marie Joséphine of Savoy
Replies
5
Views
1K
An Ard Ri
An Ard Ri
Blog Real
King Hugh Capet and Queen Adelaide of Aquitaine
Replies
2
Views
855
An Ard Ri
An Ard Ri
Blog Real
King Lodovico I, King Lodovico II and Kingdom of Etruria
Replies
3
Views
1K
Blog Real
Blog Real
An Ard Ri
The French Crown and Coronation Jewels
Replies
11
Views
1K
An Ard Ri
An Ard Ri
Blog Real
King Louis X/I of France and Navarre and Wives (Margarita of Borgoña and Clemencia)
Replies
4
Views
755
An Ard Ri
An Ard Ri

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom