"Sun King" and "Le Roi Soleil" redirect here. For the French musical about Louis XIV, see Le Roi Soleil (musical). For other uses, see Sun King (disambiguation) and Louis XIV (disambiguation).
Louis XIV
Portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud , 1701
Reign
14 May 1643 – 1 September 1715
Coronation
7 June 1654 Reims Cathedral
Predecessor
Louis XIII
Successor
Louis XV
Regent
Anne of Austria (1643–1651)
Chief ministers
Born
(1638-09-05)5 September 1638 Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Died
1 September 1715(1715-09-01) (aged 76) Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France
Louis was born on 5 September 1638 at St Germain-en-Laye. He became king at the age of four on the death of his father, Louis XIII. While Louis was a child, his mother, Anne of Austria, served as regent, assisted by Louis XIII's chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin.
Louis's early years were marked by a series of rebellions against his mother and Mazarin, which were known as the 'Fronde'. These created in him a lifelong fear of rebellion, and a dislike of Paris, prompting him to spend more and more time in Versailles, southwest of Paris. In 1660, he married Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip IV of Spain.
When Mazarin died in 1661, the 23-year-old Louis decided to rule without a chief minister. He regarded himself as an absolute monarch, with his power coming directly from God. He carefully cultivated his image and took the sun as his emblem. Between 1661 and 1689, he built a magnificent palace at Versailles and moved
•
Biography
Louis XIV, France's Sun King, had the longest reign in European history (1643-1715). During this time he brought absolute monarchy to its height, established a glittering court at Versailles, and fought most of the other European countries in four wars. The early part of his reign (1643-61), while Louis was young, was dominated by the chief minister Cardinal Mazarin. In the middle period (1661-85) Louis reigned personally and innovatively, but the last years of his personal rule (1685-1715) were beset by problems.
Born on Sept. 5, 1638, Louis was the first, regarded as "god-given," child of the long-married Louis XIII and his Habsburg wife, Anne of Austria. He succeeded his father on the throne at the age of four. However, he was also a neglected child, cared for by servants. Once he almost drowned in a pond because no one was watching him. However, his mother, Anne of Austria who caused the neglect, instilled in him a lasting fear of "crimes committed against God". While his mother was regent the great nobles and the judges of