His uncle, the future. He thus offered the entire empire to the Dauphin's second son Philip, Duke of Anjou, provided it remained undivided. Emblems also circulated among elite members of the Académie française, the council that made rulings on all matters pertaining to the French language. His elder son and successor, Joseph I, followed him in 1711. Moreover, a mob of angry Parisians broke into the royal palace and demanded to see their king. Louis XIV was one of the strongest and longest-reigning monarchs in French history. [28] The Code Louis played an important part in French legal history as the basis for the Napoleonic code, from which many modern legal codes are, in turn, derived. asked Apr 22, 2017 in Art & Culture by Armenian. The strategy failed, as Namur fell three weeks later, but harmed Louis XIV's reputation: a century later, Napoleon deemed the bombardment "as barbarous as it was useless. Contemporary treaties were intentionally phrased ambiguously. Sixteenth-century rulers had often issued medals in small numbers to commemorate the major events of their reigns. He saw the persistence of Protestantism as a disgraceful reminder of royal powerlessness. French became the universal language of the European elite. France established contact with Francis II Rákóczi and promised support if he took up the cause of Hungarian independence. This is the currently selected item. Young Louis XIV liked to dance and to play in different court performances. The threat to the royal family prompted Anne to flee Paris with the king and his courtiers. [12] She left the direction of the daily administration of policy to Cardinal Mazarin. Composers and musicians such as Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, and François Couperin thrived. [15], The Frondeurs, political heirs of the disaffected feudal aristocracy, sought to protect their traditional feudal privileges from the increasingly centralized royal government. Additionally, in the colonies, only Roman Catholics could own slaves, and these had to be baptised. William and Mary were recognised as joint sovereigns of the British Isles, and Louis withdrew support for James II. It was Condé's sister who pushed him to turn against the queen. e. All of the above. [69], French armies were generally victorious throughout the war because of Imperial commitments in the Balkans, French logistical superiority, and the quality of French generals such as Condé's famous pupil, François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg. [4] By his edict, Louis no longer tolerated the existence of Protestant groups, pastors, or churches in France. Furthermore, they believed their traditional influence and authority was being usurped by the recently ennobled bureaucrats (the Noblesse de Robe, or "nobility of the robe"), who administered the kingdom and on whom the monarchy increasingly began to rely. He integrated ballet deeply in court social functions and fixated his nobles' attention on upholding standards in ballet dancing, effectively distracting them from political activities. He had many ailments: for example, symptoms of diabetes, as confirmed in reports of suppurating periostitis in 1678, dental abscesses in 1696, along with recurring boils, fainting spells, gout, dizziness, hot flushes, and headaches. Louis foresaw an underaged heir and sought to restrict the power of his nephew Philip II, Duke of Orléans, who, as his closest surviving legitimate relative in France, would likely become regent to the prospective Louis XV. Louis1667.jpg 414 × 420; 35 KB. On the other hand, there are historians who view this as an exaggeration. Most European rulers accepted Philip as king, some reluctantly. Anonymous loan. See more ideas about louis xiv, portrait… Another leaf from Devices for the Tapestries of the King contains an allegory of French dominance over Spain and the Spanish Netherlands. Among other things, it prescribed baptismal, marriage and death records in the state's registers, not the church's, and it strictly regulated the right of the Parlements to remonstrate. Sep 6, 2018 - Explore Marijana Mijić Komparić's board "Louis XIV" on Pinterest. This victory over the nobility may thus have ensured the end of major civil wars in France until the French Revolution about a century later. Anne kept the direction of religious policy strongly in her hand until 1661; her most important political decisions were to nominate Cardinal Mazarin as her chief minister and the continuation of her late husband's and Cardinal Richelieu's policy, despite their persecution of her, for the sake of her son. On the other hand, petitions addressed either directly to Louis or to his ministers exploited the traditional imagery and language of monarchy. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 82.DA.109.1-2. On the cabinet, the medallion with the lions is even set within a temple-like space atop a porphyry vase. Only the "unprivileged" classes paid direct taxes, and this term came to mean the peasants only, since many bourgeois, in one way or another, obtained exemptions. The final phases of the War of the Spanish Succession demonstrated that the Allies could not maintain the Archduke Charles in Spain just as surely as France could not retain the entire Spanish inheritance for Philip V. The Allies were definitively expelled from central Spain by the Franco-Spanish victories at the Battles of Villaviciosa and Brihuega in 1710. William III consented to permitting the Dauphin's new territories to become part of France when the latter succeeded to his father's throne. Witnessing numerous desertions and defections, even among those closest to him, James II fled England. Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, France's leading military strategist, warned Louis in 1689 that a hostile "Alliance" was too powerful at sea. The art of manuscript illumination is often associated with the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but the practice of producing hand-written and embellished books continued even after the invention of the printing press. Philip, Duke of Anjou, thus became Philip V, King of Spain. Bailly painted a masterful cockerel, symbol of France, atop an escutcheon enclosing a landscape. Louis generously supported the royal court of France and those who worked under him. This is in part because he lived to an advanced age, surviving both his sons and his grandson, to be succeeded by his great-grandson. Her rationales for choosing Mazarin were mainly his ability and his total dependence on her, at least until 1653 when she was no longer regent. Thus, his generosity to Spain with regard to Catalonia has been read as a concession to foster pro-French sentiment and may ultimately have induced King Charles II to name Louis's grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou, heir to the Spanish throne. In Brabant (the location of the land in dispute), children of first marriages traditionally were not disadvantaged by their parents' remarriages and still inherited property. It is notable as the first decoration that could be granted to non-nobles and is roughly the forerunner of the Légion d'honneur, with which it shares the red ribbon (though the Légion d'honneur is awarded to military personnel and civilians alike). See more ideas about Louis xiv, Louis, French royalty. [95] Louis established the Paris Foreign Missions Society, but his informal alliance with the Ottoman Empire was criticised for undermining Christendom.[96]. The depiction of the king in this manner focused on allegorical or mythological attributes, instead of attempting to produce a true likeness. Another page from the set (not currently in the galleries, but viewable online) features a powerful, reclining figure of the mythical hero Herakles, who also appears holding up the right side of the cabinet. The archbishopric had traditionally been held by the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria, but the Bavarian claimant to replace Maximilian Henry, Prince Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, was at that time not more than 17 years old and not even ordained. Students also analyze a portrait of Louis XIV for the symbols used. During his visit from Rome, Bernini also executed a renowned portrait bust of the king. The main weakness arose from an old bargain between the French crown and nobility: the king might raise taxes without consent if only he refrained from taxing the nobles. Nicolas Poussin, Et in Arcadia Ego. Essay by Tessa Fleming. His revocation of the Edict of Nantes abolished the rights of the Huguenot Protestant minority and subjected them to a wave of dragonnades, effectively forcing Huguenots to emigrate or convert, and virtually destroying the French Protestant community. An additional factor in Louis' thinking was the prevailing contemporary European principle to assure socio-political stability, cuius regio, eius religio ("whose realm, his religion"), the idea that the religion of the ruler should be the religion of the realm (as originally confirmed in central Europe in the Peace of Augsburg of 1555).[56]. Here they hang amid tapestries, cabinets, clocks, porcelain vases, and a range of other decorative objects created during Louis’s illustrious reign. The Frondeurs claimed to act on Louis' behalf, and in his real interest against his mother and Mazarin. With his support, Colbert established from the beginning of Louis' personal reign a centralised and institutionalised system for creating and perpetuating the royal image. "[131][132] Louis is recorded by numerous eyewitnesses as having said on his deathbed: "Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours." Louis XIV of Bourbon (1638-1715) was the King of France from 1643 till 1715 (he became King when he was 5 years old!). Over his lifetime, Louis commissioned numerous works of art to portray himself, among them over 300 formal portraits. From that time until his death, Mazarin was in charge of foreign and financial policy without the daily supervision of Anne, who was no longer regent. [121] Leibniz, the German Protestant philosopher, commended him as "one of the greatest kings that ever was". This restored to non-Catholics their civil rights and the freedom to worship openly. Louis and Colbert also had wide-ranging plans to bolster French commerce and trade. Patrilineal descent is the principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced back through the generations - which means that if King Louis were to choose an historically accurate house name it would be Robertian, as all his male-line ancestors have been of that house. ("I depart, but the State shall always remain.")[133]. In 1910, the American historical novelist, Louis is a major character in the 1959 historical novel, A character based on Louis plays an important role in, The 15-year-old Louis XIV, as played by the Irish actor, Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, 1638–1715, Gabrielle Angelique, Duchess of La Valette and Epernon, This page was last edited on 13 January 2021, at 20:50. Queen Anne had a very close relationship with the Cardinal, and many observers believed that Mazarin became Louis XIV's stepfather by a secret marriage to Queen Anne. The imposing monumental cabinet also communicates French dominance, embodied by a carefully designed marquetry (wood mosaic) cockerel. Shortly thereafter, the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia allowed Condé's army to return to aid Louis and his court. There is a picture of Louis XIV where he is being Crowned by God and has Symbols for the nobles as children and other greek gods? Also in favor were personal devices, a simplified emblem that represents the heraldry of an exalted person or family. Known as the Sun King, Louis reigned as King of France for a historic run of over 70 years, becoming one of the most powerful monarchs in French history. Emblems—symbolic images usually combined with a motto or set of verses—have a long tradition in manuscripts and were particularly important in the cultural life of seventeenth-century France. [124] Voltaire's history, The Age of Louis XIV, named Louis' reign as not only one of the four great ages in which reason and culture flourished, but the greatest ever. The book I am reading is Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King by Antonia Fraser. [45] Louis also received a Chinese Jesuit, Michael Shen Fu-Tsung, at Versailles in 1684. The members refused to comply and ordered all of the king's earlier financial edicts burned. Louis initially supported traditional Gallicanism, which limited papal authority in France, and convened an Assembly of the French clergy in November 1681. [22], During this period, Louis fell in love with Mazarin's niece Marie Mancini, but Anne and Mazarin ended the king's infatuation by sending Mancini away from court to be married in Italy. They were among the most significant means to spread royal propaganda prior to the construction of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. He did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Rigaud, Louis XIV. The sheer number of performances he gave as well as the diversity of roles he played may serve to indicate a deeper understanding and interest in the art form. Among the better documented are Louise de La Vallière (with whom he had five children; 1661–67), Bonne de Pons d'Heudicourt (1665), Catherine Charlotte de Gramont (1665), Françoise-Athénaïs, Marquise de Montespan (with whom he had seven children; 1667–80), Anne de Rohan-Chabot (1669–75), Claude de Vin des Œillets (one child born in 1676), Isabelle de Ludres (1675–78), and Marie Angélique de Scorailles (1679–81), who died at age 19 in childbirth. Mar 14, 2012 - I've started finally reading up on Louis XIV and this is where I'll be keeping track of all those seventeenth century and early eighteenth people. The interest on the debt was reduced from 52 million to 24 million livres. Domestically, he successfully increased the influence of the crown and its authority over the church and aristocracy, thus consolidating absolute monarchy in France. These actions enraged Britain and the Dutch Republic. There were also two lesser conflicts: the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions. Marlborough and Eugene met again at the Battle of Oudenarde, which enabled them to invade France. However, Louis first had to neutralize Nicolas Fouquet, the Superintendent of Finances, in order to give Colbert a free hand. Louis XIV became friends with Villeroy's young children, particularly François de Villeroy, and divided his time between the Palais-Royal and the nearby Hotel de Villeroy. Anne wanted to give her son absolute authority and a victorious kingdom. He brought the Académie Française under his patronage and became its "Protector". After striking a deal with her old friend Marie de Rohan, who was able to impose the nomination of Charles de l'Aubespine, marquis de Châteauneuf as minister of justice, Anne arrested Condé, his brother Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, and the husband of their sister Anne Genevieve de Bourbon, duchess of Longueville. He agreed that the entire Spanish empire should be surrendered to the Archduke Charles, and also consented to return to the frontiers of the Peace of Westphalia, giving up all the territories he had acquired over 60 years. Secondly, following the proposal of René de Marillac and the Marquis of Louvois, he began quartering dragoons in Protestant homes. [108], Besides the official depiction and image of Louis, his subjects also followed a non-official discourse consisting mainly of clandestine publications, popular songs, and rumors that provided an alternative interpretation of Louis and his government. In May 1672, France invaded the Republic, supported by Münster and the Electorate of Cologne. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 11, leaf 2. To the aristocracy, this rebellion represented a protest against and a reversal of their political demotion from vassals to courtiers. Mazarin soon supported the Queen's position because he knew that her support for his power and his foreign policy depended on making peace with Spain from a strong position and on the Spanish marriage. With the relocation of the court to Versailles, the Louvre was given over to the arts and the public. Later, the Battle of Ramillies delivered the Low Countries to the Allies, and the Battle of Turin forced Louis to evacuate Italy, leaving it open to Allied forces. [89] It is believed that they were married secretly at Versailles on or around 10 October 1683[90] or January 1684. By keeping him in his post, Anne was giving a sign that the interests of France and her son Louis were the guiding spirit of all her political and legal actions. European apprehension at growing French might and the realisation of the extent of the dragonnades' effect (discussed below) led many states to abandon their alliance with France. The principle of cuius regio, eius religio generally had also meant that subjects who refused to convert could emigrate, but Louis banned emigration and effectively insisted that all Protestants must be converted. Reform proved difficult because the taille was levied by officers of the Crown who had purchased their post at a high price: punishment of abuses necessarily lowered the value of the post. By the Truce of Ratisbon, in 1684, Spain was forced to acquiesce in the French occupation of most of the conquered territories, for 20 years.[39]. "[71], Peace was broached by Sweden in 1690. Its weaknesses included an inefficient financial system that was hard-pressed to pay for its military adventures, and the tendency of most other powers to gang up against it. The principal taxes included the aides and douanes (both customs duties), the gabelle (a tax on salt), and the taille (a tax on land). This seemed to herald an era of Catholic monarchs in England. “The calligraphy was likely penned by the celebrated scribe Nicolas Jarry.” – [89] As governess, she was one of very few people permitted to speak to him as an equal, without limits. The lion was also a symbol of strength and majesty in the Baroque. A traditional symbol of France, this feisty rooster stands triumphant over the Spanish lion and the eagle of the Holy Roman Empire. [104] At other times, he would adopt mundane roles before appearing at the end in the lead role. They helped to curb the independent spirit of the nobility, imposing order on them at court and in the army. Another portrait of Louis XIV is part of this painting - the shield clearly depicts the King. It is one of the oldest in Europe. This poor public opinion was compounded by French actions off the Barbary Coast and at Genoa. Louis ruled through a number of councils: The death of his maternal uncle King Philip IV of Spain, in 1665, precipitated the War of Devolution. The old military aristocracy (the Noblesse d'épée, or "nobility of the sword") ceased to have a monopoly over senior military positions and rank. This repoussé leather portrait probably derives from the circular medallion by François Girardon (1628-1715) that featured amongst the bas-relief compositions presented by the sculptor to his native city of Troyes in 1687. He could agree to a partition of the Spanish possessions and avoid a general war, or accept Charles II's will and alienate much of Europe. This captured Franche-Comté and much of the Spanish Netherlands; French expansion in this area was a direct threat to Dutch economic interests. Burgundy's elder son, Louis, Duke of Brittany, joined them a few weeks later. Louis also patronised the visual arts by funding and commissioning artists such as Charles Le Brun, Pierre Mignard, Antoine Coysevox, and Hyacinthe Rigaud, whose works became famous throughout Europe. In contrast, no renunciations tainted the claims of the Emperor Leopold I's son Charles, Archduke of Austria, who was a grandson of Philip III's youngest daughter Maria Anna. Jarry was also the scribe of La Fontaine’s poem ‘Adonis’, Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, a campus-wide commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the monarch’s death, A Kingdom of Images: French Prints in the Age of Louis XIV, 1660–1715, A Mind-Opening Journey Through African Histories, Getty Artworks Recreated with Household Items by Creative Geniuses the World Over, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. In the general settlement, Philip V retained Spain and its colonies, while Austria received the Spanish Netherlands and divided Spanish Italy with Savoy. It follows the Bourbon, Kings of France, and the Counts of Paris and Worms. Six months later, Joseph Ferdinand died. This led to the formation of the 1686 League of Augsburg by the Holy Roman Emperor, Spain, Sweden, Saxony, and Bavaria. However, their renunciation of succession rights complicated matters. He had, for example, built an opulent château at Vaux-le-Vicomte where he entertained Louis and his court ostentatiously, as if he were wealthier than the king himself. In 1648, Anne and Mazarin attempted to tax members of the Parlement de Paris. Conseil royal des finances ("Royal Council of Finances") who was headed by the "chef du conseil des finances" (an honorary post in most cases)—this was one of the few posts in the council that was opened to the high aristocracy. The taille was reduced at first; financial officials were forced to keep regular accounts, auctioning certain taxes instead of selling them privately to a favored few, revising inventories and removing unauthorized exemptions (for example, in 1661 only 10 per cent from the royal domain reached the King). Escutcheon with a Landscape (detail) from Emblems for Louis XIV, text in French and Latin by Charles Perrault, illuminations by Jacques Bailly, about 1663–68. In 1646, Nicolas V de Villeroy became the young king's tutor. People in France were complaining about the expansion of royal authority, the high rate of taxation, and the reduction of the authority of the Parlement de Paris and other regional representative entities. Please e-mail web@getty.edu with comments or questions. Anjou was not in the direct line of French succession, thus his accession would not cause a Franco-Spanish union. Louis XIV kept it hanging at Versailles. Louis was willing enough to tax the nobles but was unwilling to fall under their control, and only towards the close of his reign, under extreme stress of war, was he able, for the first time in French history, to impose direct taxes on the aristocratic elements of the population. Next, in 1684, a punitive mission was launched against Genoa in retaliation for its support for Spain in previous wars. [46] Furthermore, Louis' librarian and translator Arcadio Huang was Chinese.[47][48]. Between 1693 and 1710, over two million people died in two famines, made worse as foraging armies seized food supplies from the villages. Credit: Pinterest - Right: Portrait of King Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701. Credit: Public Domain. I need this picture and am not able to find it and don't know the name of it. In this way, he aimed to decrease foreign imports while increasing French exports, hence reducing the net outflow of precious metals from France. [30] The marriage treaty specified that Maria Theresa was to renounce all claims to Spanish territory for herself and all her descendants. French military successes near the end of the war took place against the background of a changed political situation in Austria. Enduring much pain in his last days, he finally "yielded up his soul without any effort, like a candle going out", while reciting the psalm Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina (O Lord, make haste to help me). He took delivery of an African elephant as a gift from the king of Portugal. Throughout these regions Louis and Colbert embarked on an extensive program of architecture and urbanism meant to reflect the styles of Versailles and Paris and the 'gloire' of the realm.[41]. The anti-Bourbon Napoleon described him not only as "a great king", but also as "the only King of France worthy of the name". Led into the royal bedchamber, they gazed upon Louis, who was feigning sleep, were appeased, and then quietly departed. This belief intensified the nobles' resentment. In an attempt to avoid war, Louis signed the Treaty of the Hague with William III of England in 1698. From farther afield, Siam dispatched an embassy in 1684, reciprocated by the French magnificently the next year under Alexandre, Chevalier de Chaumont. Arguably, Louis also applied himself indirectly to "the alleviation of the burdens of [his] subjects." Numerous quotes have been attributed to Louis XIV by legend. He danced four parts in three of Molière's comédies-ballets, which are plays accompanied by music and dance. Emblems and devices were so important, in fact, that in 1663 Louis XIV’s superintendent of buildings (and later minister of finance), Jean-Baptiste Colbert, founded the Académie des devises et inscriptions, the Academy of Devices and Inscriptions. All these events were witnessed by Louis and largely explained his later distrust of Paris and the higher aristocracy. Two of the leaves are included in the exhibition A Kingdom of Images: French Prints in the Age of Louis XIV, 1660–1715 at the Getty Research Institute, while the other two have a home at the Getty Museum’s South Pavilion in the installation Louis XIV at the Getty. Louis is a member of the House of Bourbon, a branch of the Capetian dynasty and of the Robertians. Once he had to play SUN in the Ballet de la Nuit. Thus they do not place much emphasis on Louis' deathbed declarations in assessing his accomplishments. The Parlement found him guilty and sentenced him to exile. You [he was talking to the secretaries and ministers of state] will assist me with your counsels when I ask for them. Although King James II was Catholic, his two Anglican daughters, Mary and Anne, ensured the English people a Protestant succession. Poussin, Landscape with St. John. Rigaud's original, now housed in the Louvre, was originally meant as a gift to Louis' grandson, Philip V of Spain. However, the Spanish were rapidly defeated because the Emperor (distracted by the Great Turkish War) abandoned them, and the Dutch only supported them minimally. Admittedly, he may only have been hypothesising a theoretical eventuality and not attempting a Franco-Spanish union. [135][136] He named it after Louis IX and intended it as a reward for outstanding officers. [35] Although Brandenburg was forced out of the war by the June 1673 Treaty of Vossem, in August an anti-French alliance was formed by the Dutch, Spain, Emperor Leopold and the Duke of Lorraine. Like Apollo, the warrior-king Louis XIV brought peace, was a patron of the arts, and dispensed his bounty. Louis began his personal reign with administrative and fiscal reforms. Louis' patriline is the line from which he is descended father to son. The prospect of Dutch defeat led Leopold to an alliance with Brandenburg-Prussia on 23 June, followed by another with the Republic on 25th. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in European history. Although a part of Alsace, Strasbourg was not part of Habsburg-ruled Alsace and was thus not ceded to France in the Peace of Westphalia. 37. [75] In any case, peace in 1697 was desirable to Louis, since France was exhausted from the costs of the war. Louvois, in particular, pledged to modernize the army and re-organize it into a professional, disciplined, well-trained force. Therefore, in 1700, Louis and William III concluded a fresh partitioning agreement, the Treaty of London. Held numerous offices, of which: In 1696 she married Bernard de Prez, Baron de La Queue. The Dutch captured Pondichéry in 1693, but a 1697 French raid on the Spanish treasure port of Cartagena, Spain, yielded a fortune of 10,000,000 livres. He wears the blue scarf of the Order of Saint Esprit across the shoulder. [117] Europe came to admire France for its military and cultural successes, power, and sophistication. [51] For this purpose, an elaborate court ritual was created wherein the king became the centre of attention and was observed throughout the day by the public. [3] The King surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures, such as Mazarin, Colbert, Louvois, the Grand Condé, Turenne, Vauban, Boulle, Molière, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Lully, Charpentier, Marais, Le Brun, Rigaud, Bossuet, Le Vau, Mansart, Charles Perrault, Claude Perrault, and Le Nôtre. The Spanish marriage would be very important both for its role in ending the war between France and Spain, because many of the claims and objectives of Louis' foreign policy for the next 50 years would be based upon this marriage, and because it was through this marriage that the Spanish throne would ultimately be delivered to the House of Bourbon (which holds it to this day).