Louis XIV
Portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud , 1701
King of France (more...)
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 ministersSee list
Cardinal Mazarin
(1643–1661)
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
(1661–1683)
The Marquis of Louvois
(1683–1691)
Born 5 September 1638
Château de Saint-Germain-
en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-
Laye, France
Died 1 September 1715 (aged 76)
Palace of Versailles,
Versailles, France
Burial 9 September 1715
Basilica of Saint-Denis
Spouses Maria Theresa of Spain  (m. 1660; died 1683) 
Françoise d'Aubigné,Marquise de Maintenon(private)  (m. 1683) 
Louis XIV
Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), also
known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi Soleil),
was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72
years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign.[1][a] An emblematic
character of the Age of Absolutism in Europe,[3] Louis XIV's legacy is widely
characterized by French colonial expansion, the conclusion of Eighty Years'
War involving the Habsburgs, and his architectural bequest, marked by
commissioned works of art and buildings. His pageantry, opulent lifestyle and
ornate cultivated image earned him enduring admiration. Louis XIV raised
France to be the exemplar nation-state of the early modern period, and
established a cultural prestige which lasted through the subsequent centuries,
and continues today.
Louis began his personal rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief
minister Cardinal Mazarin, when the King famously declared that he would
take over the job himself.[4] An adherent of the divine right of kings, Louiscontinued his predecessors' work of creating a centralised state governed from
the capital. He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism persisting in parts
of France; by compelling many members of the nobility to reside at his lavish
Palace of Versailles, he succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy, many of whom
had participated in the Fronde rebellions during his minority. He thus became
one of the most powerful French monarchs and consolidated a system of
absolute monarchy in France that endured until the French Revolution. Louis
also enforced uniformity of religion under the Catholic Church. 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, virtually destroying the French Protestant community.
During Louis's long reign, France emerged as the leading European power and
regularly made war. A conflict with Spain marked his entire childhood, while
during his personal rule, Louis fought three major continental conflicts, each
against powerful foreign alliances: the Franco-Dutch War, the Nine Years' War,
and the War of the Spanish Succession. In addition, France contested shorter
wars such as the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions. Warfare
defined Louis's foreign policy, impelled by his personal ambition for glory and
power: "a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique".[5] His wars strained France's
resources to the utmost, while in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for
the next war. He taught his diplomats that their job was to create tactical and
strategic advantages for the French military.[6] Upon his death in 1715,
Louis XIV left his great-grandson and successor, Louis XV, a powerful but
war-weary kingdom, in major debt after the War of the Spanish Succession that
had raged on since 1701.
Some of his other notable achievements include the construction of the Canal
du Midi, the patronage of artists, and the founding of the French Academy of
Sciences.
Early years