Kings and Queens of France. Bourbon dynasty. Louis XIV. Louis XIV (Sun King). Biography. Personal life

16.10.2019

"The state is me"

Louis XIV (1638-1715)
born at birth the name of Louis-Dieudonné ("God-given", fr. Louis-Dieudonné), also known as the "sun king" (fr. Louis XIV Le Roi Soleil), also Louis the Great (fr. Louis le Grand) - King of France and Navarre King of France from the Bourbon dynasty, reign (1643-1715)

Louis, who survived the wars of the Fronde in his childhood, became a staunch supporter of the principle of absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings (he is credited with the expression “The State is me!”), He combined the strengthening of his power with the successful selection of statesmen for key political posts. The reign of Louis - a time of significant consolidation of the unity of France, its military power, political weight and intellectual prestige, the flowering of culture, went down in history as the Great Age.

Louis XIV ascended the throne in May 1643, when he was not yet five years old, therefore, according to his father's will, the regency was transferred to Anna of Austria, but in fact, her favorite, Cardinal Mazarin, handled all the affairs.

Giulio Raimondo Maz(z)arino

Signing of the Peace of the Pyrenees

In November 1659, the Peace of the Pyrenees was signed with Spain, ending twenty-four years of hostilities between the two kingdoms. The treaty was sealed by the marriage of the French king with his cousin, the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa. This marriage was the last act of the all-powerful Mazarin.

Marriage of King Louis IV and Maria Theresa of Austria

In March 1661 he died. Until his death, despite the fact that the king had long been considered an adult, the cardinal remained the full ruler of the state, and Louis obediently followed his instructions in everything.

But as soon as Mazarin was gone, the king hastened to free himself from all guardianship. He abolished the position of First Minister and, having convened the Council of State, announced in an imperious tone that he decided from now on to be his own First Minister and did not want anyone to sign even the most insignificant ordinance on his behalf.

He was tall and very handsome. There was something masculine or heroic in all his movements. He possessed the ability, very important for a king, to express himself concisely but clearly, and to say no more and no less than what was necessary.

All his life he was diligently engaged in state affairs, from which neither entertainment nor old age could tear him away. “They reign by labor and for labor,” Louis liked to repeat, “and to desire one without the other would be ingratitude and disrespect towards the Lord.” Unfortunately, his innate greatness and hard work served as a cover for the most unabashed selfishness. Not a single French king before was distinguished by such monstrous pride and selfishness, not a single European monarch so obviously exalted himself above those around him and smoked incense to his own greatness with such pleasure. This is clearly seen in everything that concerned Louis: in his court and public life, in his domestic and foreign policy, in his love interests and in his buildings.

All former royal residences seemed to Louis unworthy of his person. From the first days of his reign, he was preoccupied with thoughts of building a new palace, more in line with his greatness. For a long time he did not know which of the royal castles to turn into a palace. Finally, in 1662, his choice fell on Versailles (under Louis XIII it was a small hunting castle). However, more than fifty years passed before the new magnificent palace was ready in its main parts. The construction of the ensemble cost about 400 million francs and annually absorbed 12-14% of all government spending. For two decades, while construction was in progress, the royal court did not have a permanent seat: until 1666 it was located mainly in the Louvre, then, in 1666-1671, in the Tuileries, over the next ten years, alternately in Saint-Germain-o -Le and Versailles under construction. Finally, in 1682, Versailles became the permanent seat of the court and government. After that, until his death, Louis visited Paris only 16 times with short visits.

When Louis finally settled in Versailles, he ordered the minting of a medal with the following inscription: "The Royal Palace is open to public entertainment."

Réception du Grand Condé à Versailles - The Grand Condé greets Louis XIV on the Staircase at Versailles

Maria Theresa of Spain (1638-1683)

Two Queens of France Anne d "Autriche with her niece and daughter-in-law, Marie-Thérèse d" Espagne

Louis the Great Dauphin (1661-1711) - the only surviving legitimate child of Louis XIV from Maria Theresa of Spain, his heir (the Dauphin of France). He died four years before the death of his father and did not reign.

Louis le Grand Dauphin (1661-1711)

The Family of the Grand Dauphin

Portrait of Ludwig des XIV. und seiner Erben

The king also had many extramarital affairs and illegitimate children.

Louise-Francoise de La Baume Le Blanc(French Louise-Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc, duchesse de la Vallière et de Vaujours (1644-1710)) - Duchess de La Vallière and de Vaujour, mistress of Louis XIV.

Louise-Francoise de la Baume le Blanc, Duchesse de la Valliere and de Vaujours (1644-1710)

From the king, Louise de Lavalier gave birth to four children, of whom two survived to adulthood.

Maria Anna de Bourbon (1666 - 1739) - Mademoiselle de Blois.
Louis de Bourbon (1667-1683), Comte de Vermandois.

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The new hobby of the king was the Marquise de Montespan. With a clear and practical mind, she knew well what she needed, and was preparing to sell her caresses very expensively. Françoise Athenais de Rochechouart de Mortemart(French Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart (1640-1707), known as Marquise de Montespan(Fr. Marquise de Montespan) - the official mistress of the King of France, Louis XIV.

The connection of the king with the Marquise de Montespan lasted sixteen years. During this time, Louis had many other novels, more or less serious ... While the king indulged in sensual pleasures, the Marquise of Montespan remained for many years the uncrowned Queen of France.

In fact, King Louis and the Marquise de Montespan had seven children. Four reached adulthood (the king gave the surname Bourbon to all):

Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, Duke of Maine (1670-1736)

Louise-Francoise de Bourbon (1673-1743), Mademoiselle de Nantes

Françoise-Marie de Bourbon (1677-1749), Mademoiselle de Blois

Louise-Françoise de Bourbon and Francoise-Marie de Bourbon

Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse (1678-1737)

Louise-Marie-Anne de Bourbon (1674-1681), Mademoiselle de Tour died at the age of 7

Marie-Angelique de Scorey de Roussil, Duchess de Fontanges(French Marie Angélique de Scorailles de Roussille, duchesse de Fontanges (1661 - 1681) one of the many lovers of the French King Louis XIV.

Duchesse de Fontanges

When Louis began to grow cold towards love adventures, a woman of a completely different warehouse took possession of his heart. Françoise d'Aubigné (1635—1719), Marquise de Maintenon-she is for a long time was a governess with his by-children, then the official favorite of the king.

Marquise de Maintenon

Since 1683, after the removal of the Marquise de Montespan and the death of Queen Maria Theresa, Madame de Maintenon gained unlimited influence over the king. Their rapprochement ended secret marriage in January 1684. Approving all the orders of Louis, Madame de Maintenon, on occasion, gave him advice and guided him. The king had the deepest respect and confidence in the marquise; under her influence, he became very religious, renounced all love affairs and began to lead a more moral lifestyle.

Family tragedy and the question of a successor

The family life of the elderly king at the end of his life was not at all a rosy picture. On April 13, 1711, Louis the Great Dauphin died (French Louis le Grand Dauphin, November 1, 1661 - April 14, 1711) - the only surviving legitimate child of Louis XIV from Maria Theresa of Spain, his heir (Dauphin of France). He died four years before the death of his father and did not reign.

In February 1712 he was followed by the eldest son of the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, and on March 8 of the same year, the eldest son of the latter, the infant Duke of Brittany. On March 4, 1714, the younger brother of the Duke of Burgundy, the Duke of Berry, died a few days later, so that, in addition to Philip V of Spain, the Bourbons had only one heir - the four-year-old great-grandson of the king, the second son of the Duke of Burgundy (later Louis XV).

The history of the nickname Sun King

In France, the sun acted as a symbol of royal power and the king personally even before Louis XIV. The luminary became the personification of the monarch in poetry, solemn odes and court ballets. The first mention of solar emblems dates back to the reign of Henry III, it was used by the grandfather and father of Louis XIV, but only under him did solar symbolism become truly widespread.

At the age of twelve (1651), Louis XIV made his debut in the so-called "ballets de cour" - court ballets, which were staged annually during the carnival.

The carnival of the Baroque era is not just a holiday and entertainment, but an opportunity to play in the “inverted world”. For example, the king for several hours became a jester, an artist or a buffoon, at the same time, the jester could well afford to appear in the form of a king. In one of the ballet performances, which was called the "Ballet of the Night", young Louis had the opportunity to appear for the first time before his subjects in the form of the Rising Sun (1653), and then Apollo - the Sun God (1654).

When Louis XIV began to rule independently (1661), the court ballet genre was put at the service of state interests, helping the king not only create his representative image, but also manage the court society (however, like other arts). The roles in these productions were distributed only by the king and his friend, the Comte de Saint-Aignan. Princes of the blood and courtiers, dancing next to their sovereign, depicted various elements, planets and other beings and phenomena subject to the Sun. Louis himself continues to appear before his subjects in the form of the Sun, Apollo and other gods and heroes of Antiquity. The king left the stage only in 1670.

But the emergence of the nickname of the Sun King was preceded by another important cultural event of the Baroque era - the Tuileries Carousel of 1662. This is a festive carnival cavalcade, which is a cross between a sports festival (in the Middle Ages, these were tournaments) and a masquerade. In the 17th century, the Carousel was called "equestrian ballet", since this action was more like a performance with music, rich costumes and a fairly consistent script. On the Carousel of 1662, given in honor of the birth of the first-born of the royal couple, Louis XIV pranced in front of the audience on a horse dressed as a Roman emperor. In the hand of the king was a golden shield with the image of the Sun. This symbolized that this luminary protects the king and, with him, all of France.

According to the historian of the French Baroque F. Bossan, “it was on the Great Carousel of 1662 that, in a way, the Sun King was born. He was given his name not by politics and not by the victories of his armies, but by equestrian ballet.

The reign of Louis XIV lasted 72 years and 110 days.

In 1695 Madame de Maintenon triumphed. Thanks to an extremely fortunate combination of circumstances, the poor widow Scarron became the governess of the illegitimate children of Madame de Montespan and Louis XIV. Madame de Maintenon, modest, inconspicuous - and also cunning - managed to attract the attention of the Sun King 2, and he, having made her his mistress, finally secretly betrothed her! To which Saint-Simon 3 once remarked: "History will not believe this." Be that as it may, but Stories, albeit with great difficulty, still had to believe it.

Madame de Maintenon was a born educator. When she became queen in partibus, her penchant for education grew into a real passion. The Duke of Saint-Simon, already familiar to us, accused her of a morbid addiction to controlling others, arguing that "this craving deprived her of freedom, which she could fully enjoy." He reproached her for spending a lot of time in the care of a good thousand monasteries. “She took upon herself the burden of worthless, illusory, difficult worries,” he wrote, “every now she sent letters and received answers, compiled instructions for the elite - in a word, she was engaged in all sorts of nonsense, which, as a rule, leads to nothing, but if it does, then it leads to some out of the ordinary consequences, bitter oversights in decision-making, miscalculations in managing the course of events and the wrong choice. Not a very kind judgment about a noble lady, although, in general, a fair one.

So, on September 30, 1695, Madame Maintenon informed the superior abbess of Saint-Cyr - at that time it was a boarding school for noble maidens, and not military school, as in our days, about the following:

“In the near future I intend to tonsure a Moorish woman as a nun, who expressed her desire that the whole Court be present at the ceremony; I proposed to hold a ceremony at closed doors, but we were informed that in this case the solemn vow would be declared invalid - it is necessary to give the people the opportunity to amuse themselves.

Moorish? What else Mauritanian?

It should be noted that in those days, "Moors" and "Moorish" were called people with dark color skin. So Madame de Maintenon was writing about a young negro woman.

About the one who, on October 15, 1695, the king appointed a board of 300 livres as a reward for her " good intention dedicate his life to the service of the Lord in the Benedictine monastery in Moret. Now it remains for us to find out who she is, this Mauritanian from Moret.

On the road from Fontainebleau to Pont-sur-Yonne lies the small town of Moret, a delightful architectural ensemble surrounded by ancient walls, consisting of ancient buildings and streets completely unsuitable for automobile traffic. Over time, the appearance of the town has changed a lot. At the end of the 17th century, there was a Benedictine monastery there, no different from hundreds of others scattered throughout the French kingdom. No one would have ever remembered this holy monastery if one fine day a black nun, whose existence so amazed contemporaries, had not been found among its inhabitants.

The most surprising, however, was not that some Moorish woman took root among the Benedictines, but the care and attention that high-ranking persons at the Court showed her. According to Saint-Simon, Madame de Maintenon, for example, "had been visiting her from Fontainebleau every now and then, and, in the end, they got used to her visits." True, she saw the Mauritanian infrequently, but not so very rarely. During such visits, she "compassionately inquired about her life, health, and how the abbess felt about her." When Princess Marie Adelaide of Savoy arrived in France to be engaged to the heir to the throne, the Duke of Burgundy, Madame de Maintenon took her to Moret so that she could see the Moor with her own eyes. The Dauphin, son of Louis XIV, saw her more than once, and the princes, his children, once or twice, "and they all treated her kindly."

In fact, the Mauritanian was treated like no one else. “She was treated with much more attention than any famous, outstanding person, and she was proud of the fact that she was shown so much care, as well as the mystery that surrounded her; although she lived modestly, it was felt that powerful patrons stood behind her.

Yes, what you can’t refuse Saint-Simon is the ability to capture the interest of readers. His skill is especially pronounced when, talking about a Moorish woman, he reports, for example, that “one day, having heard the sound of a hunting horn - Monseigneur (the son of Louis XIV) was hunting in the forest nearby - she, as if by the way, dropped: “This is my brother hunting ".

So the noble duke raised the question. But does he give an answer? Gives, though not entirely clear.

“It was rumored that she was the daughter of the king and queen ... they even wrote that the queen had a miscarriage, which many courtiers were sure of. But be that as it may, it remains a mystery.

Frankly speaking, Saint-Simon was ignorant of the basics of genetics - can not he be condemned for this? Today, any medical student will tell you that a husband and wife, if they are both white, simply cannot give birth to a black child.

For Voltaire, who wrote so much about the secret of the Iron Mask, everything was clear as daylight if he decided to write this: “She was extremely dark and, moreover, looked like him (the king). When the king sent her to a monastery, he gave her a gift, assigning a maintenance of twenty thousand crowns. There was an opinion that she was his daughter, which made her feel proud, but the abbesses expressed obvious dissatisfaction about this. During another trip to Fontainebleau, Madame de Maintenon visited the Moray monastery, she called on the black nun for greater restraint and did everything to rid the girl of the thought that flattered her pride.

“Madame,” the nun answered her, “the zeal with which such a noble person as you tries to convince me that I am not the daughter of a king convinces me of just the opposite.”

The authenticity of Voltaire's testimony is difficult to doubt, since he drew his information from a source that is trustworthy. Once he himself went to the Morea monastery and personally saw a Moorish woman. Voltaire's friend Comartin, who enjoyed the right to freely visit the monastery, obtained the same permission for the author of The Age of Louis XIV.

And here is another detail that deserves the attention of the reader. In the boarding letter that King Louis XIV handed over to the Mauritanian, her name appears. It was double and consisted of the names of the king and queen ... The Mauritanian was called Louis-Maria-Teresa!

If, thanks to his mania for erecting monumental structures, Louis XIV was similar to the Egyptian pharaohs, then his passion for love pleasures made him related to the Arab sultans. So, Saint-Germain, Fontainebleau and Versailles were turned into real seraglios. The Sun King used to casually drop his handkerchief - and every time there were a dozen ladies and maidens, moreover, from the most noble families of France, who immediately rushed to pick it up. In love, Louis was more of a "glutton" than a "gourmet". The most frank woman in Versailles, the Princess of the Palatinate, the king's daughter-in-law, said that “Louis XIV was gallant, but often his gallantry grew into sheer debauchery. He loved everyone indiscriminately: noble ladies, peasant women, gardener's daughters, maids - the main thing for a woman was to pretend that she was in love with him. The king began to show promiscuity in love from his very first heartfelt passion: the woman who introduced him to love pleasures was thirty years older than him, besides, she did not have an eye.

However, in the future, it must be admitted, he achieved more significant success: his mistresses were the charming Louise de La Vallière and Athenais de Montespan, a delightful beauty, although, judging by current concepts, and somewhat plump - nothing can be done, over time, fashion changes as to women as well as clothes.

What tricks did the court ladies resort to in order to "get the king"! For the sake of this, young girls were even ready for blasphemy: it was often possible to see how in the chapel, during mass, they turned their backs to the altar without any shame in order to better see the king, or rather, to make it easier for the king to see them. Well well! Meanwhile, "The Greatest of Kings" was just a short man - his height barely reached 1 meter 62 centimeters. So, since he always tried to look handsome, he had to wear shoes with a sole 11 centimeters thick and a wig high 15 centimeters. However, this is still nothing: you can be small, but beautiful. Louis XIV, on the other hand, underwent a severe operation on the jaw, after which a hole was left in the upper cavity of the mouth, and when he ate, food came out through his nose. Worse, the king always smelled bad. He knew this - and when he entered the room, he immediately opened the windows, even if it was frosty outside. To fight off the unpleasant smell, Madame de Montespan always clutched a handkerchief soaked in harsh perfume in her hand. However, in spite of everything, for most of the ladies of Versailles, the “moment” spent in the company of the king seemed truly heavenly. Perhaps the reason for this is female vanity?

Queen Maria Theresa loved Louis no less than other women who at various times shared his bed with the king. As soon as Maria Teresa, upon arrival from Spain, set foot on the island of Bidassoa, where the young Louis XIV was waiting for her, she fell in love with him at first sight. She admired him, for he seemed to her handsome, and every time she froze in delight before him and before his genius. Well, what about the king? And the king was much less blinded. He saw her as she was—fat, small, with ugly teeth, “spoiled and blackened.” “They say that her teeth became so because she ate a lot of chocolate,” explains the Princess of Palatinate and adds: “Besides, she ate garlic in exorbitant quantities.” Thus, it turned out that one unpleasant smell beat off another.

The Sun King was finally imbued with a sense of conjugal duty. Whenever he appeared before the queen, her mood became festive: “As soon as the king gave her a friendly look, she felt happy all day long. She rejoiced that the king shared her marriage bed, for she, a Spaniard by blood, brought real pleasure to love pleasures, and the courtiers could not help but notice her joy. She never got angry at those who made fun of her for this - she herself laughed, winked at the scoffers, and at the same time rubbed her little hands with pleasure.

Their union lasted twenty-three years and brought them six children - three sons and three daughters, but all the girls died in infancy.

The question related to the mystery of the Moorish woman from Moret is divided, in turn, into four sub-questions: could it be that the black nun was at the same time the daughter of the king and queen? — and we have already given a negative answer to this question; could she be the daughter of a king and a black mistress? - or, in other words, the daughter of a queen and a negro lover? And finally, could it be that the black nun, having nothing to do with the royal couple, was simply mistaken in calling the Dauphin “her brother”?

There are two figures in History whose love affairs have been the subject of careful study - Napoleon and Louis XIV. Other historians have spent their entire lives trying to figure out how many mistresses they had. So, with regard to Louis XIV, no one has been able to establish - although scientists have thoroughly studied all the documents, testimonies and memoirs of that time - that he at least once had a “colored” mistress. What is true is true, at that time in France, colored women were a curiosity, and if the king had accidentally looked after himself one, rumors of his passion would have spread throughout the kingdom in no time. Especially when you consider that every single day the sun king tried to stay in front of everyone. None of his gestures or words simply could not be missed by the curious courtiers: still, after all, the Court of Louis XIV was known as the most slanderous in the world. Can you imagine what would happen if there was a rumor that the king had a black passion?

However, there was nothing of the sort. In that case, how could a Moorish woman be the daughter of Louis XIV? However, not all historians adhered to this assumption. But many of them, including Voltaire, quite seriously believed that the black nun was the daughter of Marie-Therese.

Here the reader may wonder: how is this so? Such a chaste woman? The queen, who, as you know, literally adored her husband the king! What's right is right. However, with all that, one should not forget that this dearest woman was extremely stupid and extremely simple-hearted. Here is what, for example, the Princess of Palatinate, whom we know, writes about her: “She was too stupid and believed everything she was told, good and bad.”

The version put forward by such writers as Voltaire and Touchard-Lafosse, the author of the famous "Chronicles of the Bull's Eye", as well as the well-known historian Gosselin Le Nôtre, boils down, with a slight difference, approximately to the following: the envoys of an African king gave Maria Theresa a little Moor of ten or twelve years of age not taller than twenty-seven inches. Touchar-Lafos allegedly even knew his name - Nabo.

And Le Nôtre claims that since that time it has become fashionable - the founders of which were Pierre Mignard and others like him - "to draw Negroes in all large portraits." In the Palace of Versailles, for example, there is a portrait of Mademoiselle de Blois and Mademoiselle de Nantes, the king's illegitimate daughters: just in the middle, the canvas is decorated with the image of a black child, an indispensable attribute of the era. However, soon after the “shameful story connected with the queen and the Moor” became known, this fashion gradually faded away.

So, after a while, Her Majesty discovered that they were soon to become a mother - the same was confirmed by the court doctors. The king rejoiced, waiting for the birth of an heir. What recklessness! The black man has grown. He was taught to speak French. It seemed to everyone that "the innocent amusements of the Moor came from his innocence and liveliness of nature." In the end, as they say, the queen fell in love with him with all her heart, so deeply that no chastity could protect her from weakness, which even the most exquisite handsome man from the Christian world could hardly inspire in her.

As for Nabo, he probably died, and "rather suddenly" - immediately after it was publicly announced that the Queen was on demolitions.

Poor Marie-Therese was about to give birth. But the king could not understand why she was so nervous. And the queen, you know, sighed and, as if in bitter foreboding, said:
“I don’t recognize myself: why this nausea, disgust, whims, because nothing like this has ever happened to me before?” If I did not have to restrain myself, as decency requires, I would happily fiddle on the carpet, as we often did with my Mauritanian.

— Ah, madame! Ludovic was perplexed. “Your condition makes me tremble. You can’t think about the past all the time - otherwise, God forbid, you still give birth to a scarecrow, contrary to nature.

The king looked into the water! When the baby was born, the doctors saw that it was “a black girl, black as ink, from head to toe”, and were amazed.

The court physician Felix swore to Louis XIV that "one glance of the Moor was enough to turn the baby into a similar one even in the mother's womb." To which, according to Touchar-Lafos, His Majesty remarked:
- Hm, one look! So his gaze was too penetrating!

And Le Nôtre reports that only much later “the queen confessed that one day a young black slave, hiding somewhere behind a closet, suddenly rushed towards her with a wild cry - apparently he wanted to frighten, and he succeeded.”

Thus, the pretentious words of the Moorish woman from Moret are confirmed by the following: since the queen gave birth to her, being at that time married to Louis XIV, she was legally entitled to call herself the daughter of the sun king, although in fact her father was a Moor who grew up from an unintelligent Negro slave!

But, frankly, this is only a legend, and it was put on paper much later. Watu wrote around 1840: Bull's Eye Chronicles appeared in 1829. And G. Lenotre's story, published in 1898 in the Monde Illustre magazine, ends on such a sad note: everyone was talking at the end of the last century.”

The authenticity of the portrait is indeed beyond doubt, which, however, cannot be said about the legend itself.

But still! The history of the Moorish woman from Moret, obviously, began with a completely reliable event. We have evidence, which is the written evidence of contemporaries, that the Queen of France really gave birth to a black girl. Let's follow now chronological order Let's give the floor to the witnesses.

So, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, or Grand Mademoiselle, a close relative of the king, wrote:
“For three days in a row, the queen was tormented by severe attacks of fever, and she gave birth ahead of time— at eight months. After the birth, the fever did not stop, and the queen was already preparing for communion. Her condition plunged the courtiers into bitter sadness... By Christmas, I remember, the queen no longer saw or heard those who were talking in an undertone in her chambers...

His Majesty also told me what suffering the Queen’s illness caused, how many people gathered at her before communion, how at the sight of her the priest almost fainted from grief, how His Majesty the Prince laughed at this, and after him all the others, what an expression the queen had a face ... and that the newborn was like two drops of water like a charming Moorish child, which M. Beaufort brought with him and from whom the queen never parted; when everyone realized that the newborn could only look like him, the unfortunate Moor was taken away. The king also said that the girl was terrible, that she would not live, and that I should not tell the queen anything, because this could lead her to the grave ... And the queen shared with me the sadness that took possession of her after the courtiers laughed when her already gathered to take communion."

So in the year when this event happened - it was established that the birth took place on November 16, 1664 - the king's cousin mentions the resemblance of a black girl born to the queen with a Moor.

The fact of the birth of a black girl is also confirmed by Madame de Mottville, the maid of Anna of Austria. And in 1675, eleven years after the incident, Bussy-Rabutin told a story, in his opinion, quite reliable:
“Marie-Therese was talking with Madame de Montosier about the king’s favorite (Mademoiselle de Lavaliere), when His Majesty unexpectedly entered them - he overheard their conversation. His appearance so impressed the queen that she blushed all over and, lowering her eyes in shame, hurriedly left. And after three days, she gave birth to a black girl who, as she thought, would not survive. According to official reports, the newborn really died soon - more precisely, it happened on December 26, 1664, when she was a little over a month old, about which Louis XIV did not fail to inform his father-in-law, the Spanish king: “Last evening my daughter died. .. Although we were ready for misfortune, I did not experience much grief.” And in the "Letters" of Guy Patin, one can read the following lines: "This morning the little lady had convulsions and she died, because she had neither strength nor health." Later, the Princess of Palatinate also wrote about the death of the “ugly baby”, although in 1664 she was not in France: “All the courtiers saw how she died.” But was it really like that? If the newborn really turned out to be black, it was quite logical to announce that she had died, but in fact to take and hide her somewhere in the wilderness. And if so, then a better place than a monastery cannot be found ...

In 1719, the Princess of the Palatinate wrote that "the people did not believe that the girl had died, for everyone knew that she was in a monastery in Moret, near Fontainebleau."

The last, later, evidence related to this event was the message of the Princess of Conti. In December 1756, the Duke de Luynes briefly outlined in his diary a conversation that he had with Queen Maria Leszczynska, wife of Louis XV, where it was just about a Moorish woman from Moret: “For a long time there was only talk that about some black a nun from a monastery in Moret, near Fontainebleau, who called herself the daughter of a French queen. Someone convinced her that she was the daughter of a queen, but because of the unusual color of her skin, she was hidden in a monastery. The Queen did me the honor of telling me that she had a conversation about this with the Princess of Conti, legitimized illegitimate daughter Louis XIV, and Princess Conti told her that Queen Maria Theresa really gave birth to a girl who had a purple, even black, face - obviously because she suffered greatly when she was born, but a little later the newborn died.

Thirty-one years later, in 1695, Madame de Maintenon intended to take the vows of a Moorish woman, who, a month later, Louis XIV appoints a boarding school. This Mauritanian is called Louis Maria Theresa.

When she enters the Morea monastery, she is surrounded by all sorts of worries. Madame de Maintenon often visits the Mauritanian - she demands to be treated with respect, and even introduces her to the Princess of Savoy, as soon as she has time to be engaged to the heir to the throne. The Mauritanian is firmly convinced that she herself is the daughter of the queen. All the Morai nuns seem to think the same way. Their opinion is shared by the people, because, as we already know, "the people did not believe that the girl had died, because everyone knew that she was in a monastery in Moret." Yes, as they say, there is something to think about here ...

It is possible, however, that there was a simple and at the same time amazing coincidence. Now is the time to cite one curious explanation that Queen Marie Leszczynska gave to the Duc de Luynes: “A certain Laroche, the porter in the Zoological Garden, at that time served a Moor and a Moorish woman. A daughter was born to a Moorish woman, and the father and mother, unable to raise the child, shared their grief with Madame de Maintenon, who took pity on them and promised to take care of their daughter. She provided her with weighty recommendations and escorted her to a monastery. This is how a legend appeared, which turned out to be a fiction from beginning to end.

But how, then, did the daughter of the Moors, the servants of the Zoo, imagine that royal blood flows in her veins? And why was she surrounded by such attention?

I think one should not rush to conclusions, decisively rejecting the hypothesis that the Mauritanian from Moret somehow has nothing to do with the royal family. I would very much like the reader to understand me correctly: I am not saying that this fact is indisputable, I just think that we have no right to categorically deny it without examining it from all sides. When we consider it comprehensively, we will certainly return to the conclusion of Saint-Simon: "Be that as it may, this remains a mystery."

And the last. In 1779, a portrait of a Moorish woman still adorned the office of the chief abbess of the Morea monastery. Later, he added to the collection of Sainte-Genevieve Abbey. Now the canvas is stored in the library of the same name. At one time, a whole “case” was attached to the portrait - correspondence concerning the Mauritanian. This file is in the archives of the Saint-Genevieve Library. However, now there is nothing in it. From him there was only one cover with an inscription that suggests: "Paper related to the Mauritanian, daughter of Louis XIV."

Alain Decaux, French historian
Translated from French by I. Alcheev

Birth and early years

Louis was born on Sunday, September 5, 1638 in the new palace of Saint-Germain-aux-Laye. Prior to this, for twenty-two years, his parents' marriage had been fruitless and seemed to remain so in the future. Therefore, contemporaries greeted the news of the birth of the long-awaited heir with expressions of lively joy. The common people saw this as a sign of God's mercy and called the newborn Dauphin God-given. Very little is known of his early childhood. He hardly remembered his father well, who died in 1643, when Louis was only five years old. Queen Anne soon after left the Louvre and moved into the former Palais de Richelieu, renamed the Palais Royal. Here, in a very simple and even wretched environment, the young king spent his childhood. Queen Dowager Anna was considered the ruler of France, but in fact, her favorite, Cardinal Mazarin, handled all the affairs. He was very stingy and almost did not care at all about giving pleasure to the child-king, depriving him not only of games and fun, but even of basic necessities: the boy received only two pairs of dresses a year and was forced to walk in patches, and he was noticed on the sheets huge holes.

The turbulent events of the civil war, known in history as the Fronde, fell on the childhood and adolescence of Louis. In January 1649, the royal family, accompanied by several courtiers and ministers, fled to Saint-Germain from an uprising in Paris. Mazarin, against whom the discontent was mainly directed, had to seek refuge even further - in Brussels. Only in 1652, with great difficulty, was it possible to establish inner peace. But on the other hand, in subsequent years, until his death, Mazarin firmly held the reins of government in his hands. In foreign policy, he also achieved important successes. In November 1659, the Peace of the Pyrenees was signed with Spain, which put an end to many years of war between the two kingdoms. The treaty was sealed by the marriage of the French king with his cousin, the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa. This marriage was the last act of the all-powerful Mazarin. In March 1661 he died. Until his death, despite the fact that the king had long been considered an adult, the cardinal remained the full ruler of the state, and Louis obediently followed his instructions in everything. But as soon as Mazarin was gone, the king hastened to free himself from all guardianship. He abolished the position of First Minister and, having convened the Council of State, announced in an imperious tone that he decided from now on to be his own First Minister and did not want anyone to sign even the most insignificant ordinance on his behalf.

Very few at this time were familiar with the real character of Louis. This young king, who was only 22 years old, until then attracted attention only by his penchant for panache and love affairs. It seemed to be created solely for idleness and pleasure. But it didn't take long to find out otherwise. As a child, Louis received a very poor upbringing - he was barely taught to read and write. However, he was naturally gifted with common sense, a remarkable ability to understand the essence of things and a firm determination to maintain his royal dignity. According to the Venetian envoy, "nature itself tried to make Louis XIV such a person who is destined by his personal qualities to become the king of the nation." He was tall and very handsome. There was something masculine or heroic in all his movements. He possessed the ability, very important for a king, to express himself concisely but clearly, and to say no more and no less than what was necessary. All his life he was diligently engaged in state affairs, from which neither entertainment nor old age could tear him away. “They reign by labor and for labor,” Louis liked to repeat, “and to desire one without the other would be ingratitude and disrespect for the Lord.” Unfortunately, his innate greatness and hard work served as a cover for the most unabashed selfishness. Not a single French king before was distinguished by such monstrous pride and selfishness, not a single European monarch so obviously exalted himself above those around him and smoked incense to his own greatness with such pleasure. This is clearly seen in everything that concerned Louis: in his court and public life, in his domestic and foreign policy, in his love interests and in his buildings.

All former royal residences seemed to Louis unworthy of his person. From the first days of his reign, he was preoccupied with the idea of building a new palace, more in line with his greatness. For a long time he did not know which of the royal castles to turn into a palace. Finally, in 1662, his choice fell on Versailles (under Louis XIII it was a small hunting castle). However, more than fifty years passed before the new magnificent palace was ready in its main parts. The construction of the ensemble cost about 400 million francs and annually absorbed 12-14% of all government spending. For two decades, while construction was going on, the royal court did not have a permanent seat: until 1666 it was located mainly in the Louvre, then, in 1666-1671. - in the Tuileries, over the next ten years - alternately in Saint-Germain-au-Laye and Versailles under construction. Finally, in 1682, Versailles became the permanent seat of the court and government. After that, until his death, Louis visited Paris only 16 times with short visits.

The unusual splendor of the new apartments corresponded to the complex rules of etiquette established by the king. Everything here was thought out to the smallest detail. So, if the king wanted to quench his thirst, then it took "five people and four bows" to bring him a glass of water or wine. Usually, after leaving his bedroom, Louis went to church (the king regularly observed church rites: every day he went to mass, and when he took medicine or was unwell, he ordered mass to be served in his room; he took communion on major holidays at least four times a year and strictly observed the fasts). From the church, the king went to the Council, whose meetings continued until lunchtime. On Thursdays he gave an audience to anyone who wished to speak with him, and always listened to petitioners with patience and courtesy. At one o'clock the king was served dinner. It was always plentiful and consisted of three excellent courses. Louis ate them alone in the presence of the courtiers. Moreover, even the princes of the blood and the dauphin were not supposed to have a chair at this time. Only the king's brother, the Duke of Orleans, was served a stool on which he could sit behind Louis. The meal was usually followed by a general silence. After dinner, Louis retired to his study and fed the hunting dogs with his own hands. Then came the walk. At this time, the king hunted a deer, shot at a menagerie, or visited work. Sometimes he arranged walks with the ladies and picnics in the woods. In the afternoon, Louis worked alone with secretaries of state or ministers. If he was ill, the Council met in the king's bedroom, and he presided over it while lying in bed.

The evening was devoted to pleasure. By the appointed hour, a large court society gathered at Versailles. When Louis finally settled in Versailles, he ordered the minting of a medal with the following inscription: "The Royal Palace is open to public entertainment." Indeed, life at court was distinguished by festivities and outward splendor. The so-called "large apartments", that is, the salons of Abundance, Venus, Mars, Diana, Mercury and Apollo, served as a kind of hallways for the large Mirror Gallery, which was 72 meters long, 10 meters wide, 13 meters high and, according to Madame Sevigne, it was distinguished by the only royal splendor in the world. On the one hand, the salon of War served as a continuation for it, on the other hand, the salon of the World. All this presented a splendid spectacle when ornaments of colored marble, trophies of gilded copper, large mirrors, paintings by Le Brun, furniture of solid silver, toilets of ladies and courtiers were lit by thousands of candelabra, girandoles and torches. In the entertainment of the court, unchanging rules were established.

In winter, three times a week, there was a meeting of the whole court in large apartments, lasting from seven to ten o'clock. Luxurious buffets were arranged in the halls of Abundance and Venus. There was a game of billiards in Diana's hall. In the salons of Mars, Mercury, and Apollo, there were tables for playing landsknecht, riversy, ombre, pharaoh, portico, and so on. The game became an indomitable passion both at court and in the city. “Thousands of louis were scattered on the green table,” Madame Sevigne wrote, “the stakes were not less than five, six or seven hundred louis.” Louis himself abandoned the big game after losing 600,000 livres in six months in 1676, but in order to please him, huge sums had to be risked per game. Comedies were presented on the other three days. At first, Italian comedies alternated with French ones, but the Italians allowed themselves such obscenities that they were removed from the court, and in 1697, when the king began to obey the rules of piety, they were expelled from the kingdom. The French comedy performed on the stage the plays of Corneille, Racine, and especially Moliere, who was always the royal playwright's favorite playwright. Ludovic was very fond of dancing and many times performed roles in the ballets of Benserade, Cinema and Molière. He gave up this pleasure in 1670, but at court they did not stop dancing. Maslenitsa was the season for masquerades.

There was no entertainment on Sundays. AT summer months pleasure trips were often arranged to Trianon, where the king dined with the ladies and rode in gondolas along the canal. Sometimes Marly, Compiègne or Fontainebleau were chosen as the final destination of the journey. Dinner was served at 10 o'clock. This ceremony was less prim. Children and grandchildren usually shared a meal with the king, sitting at the same table. Then, accompanied by bodyguards and courtiers, Louis went to his office. He spent the evening with his family, but only princesses and the Prince of Orleans could sit with him. Around 12 o'clock the king fed the dogs, wished good night and retired to his bedroom, where he went to bed with many ceremonies. On the table beside him, sleeping food and drink were left for the night.

Personal life and wife of Louis XIV

In his youth, Louis was distinguished by an ardent disposition and was very not indifferent to pretty women. Despite the beauty of the young queen, he was not in love with his wife for a single minute and was constantly looking for love entertainment on the side. In March 1661, Louis' brother, the Duke of Orleans, married the daughter of the English King Charles 1, Henriette. At first, the king showed a lively interest in his daughter-in-law and began to visit her often in Saint-Germain, but then he became interested in her maid of honor, seventeen-year-old Louise de la Vallière. According to contemporaries, this girl, gifted with a lively and tender heart, was very sweet, but could hardly be considered an exemplary beauty. She limped a little and was a little pockmarked, but she had beautiful blue eyes and blond hair. Her love for the king was sincere and deep. According to Voltaire, she gave Louis that rare happiness that he was loved only for his own sake. However, the feelings that the king had for de la Vallière also had all the properties of true love. In support of this, many cases are cited. Some of them seem so extraordinary that it is hard to believe in them. So one day a thunderstorm broke out during a walk, and the king, hiding with de la Vallière under the protection of a branchy tree, stood in the rain for two hours, covering it with his hat. Louis bought the Biron Palace for La Vallière and visited her there daily. Communication with her continued from 1661 to 1667. During this time, the favorite gave birth to the king of four children, of whom two survived. Louis legitimized them under the names of the Count of Vermandois and the maiden de Blois. In 1667, he granted his mistress the title of duke, and since then began to gradually move away from her.

The new hobby of the king was the Marquise de Montespan. Both in appearance and in character, the marquise was the complete opposite of la Vallière: ardent, black-haired, she was very beautiful, but completely devoid of the languor and tenderness that were characteristic of her rival. With a clear and practical mind, she knew well what she needed, and was preparing to sell her caresses very expensively. For a long time the king, blinded by his love for la Vallière, did not notice the virtues of her rival. But when the former feelings lost their sharpness, the beauty of the marquise and her lively mind made a proper impression on Louis. The military campaign of 1667 in Belgium, which turned into a pleasure tour of the court through the places of hostilities, especially brought them closer. Noticing the indifference of the king, the unfortunate la Vallière once dared to reproach Louis. The enraged king threw a small dog into her lap and, saying: “Take it, madam, this is enough for you!” - went to Madame de Montespan's room, which was nearby. Convinced that the king had completely fallen out of love with her, la Vallière did not interfere with the new favorite, retired to the Carmelite monastery and got her hair cut there in 1675. The Marquise de Montespan, as a smart and highly educated woman, patronized all the writers who glorified the reign of Louis XIV, but at the same time she she never forgot about her interests for a minute: the rapprochement of the marquise with the king began with the fact that Louis gave her family 800 thousand livres to pay off debts, and in addition 600 thousand to the Duke of Vivonne at his marriage. This golden rain did not fail in the future.

The connection of the king with the Marquise de Montespan lasted sixteen years. During this time, Louis had many other novels, more or less serious. In 1674, Princess Soubise gave birth to a son who looked very much like the king. Then Madame de Ludre, the Countess of Grammont and the maiden Guesdam enjoyed the attention of Louis. But these were all fleeting hobbies. The Marquise met a more serious rival in the person of the maiden Fontange (Louis granted her as a duchess), who, according to the abbe Choisely, "was good as an angel, but extremely stupid." The king was very much in love with her in 1679. But the poor thing burned her ships too quickly - she did not know how to keep the fire in the heart of the sovereign, already satiated with voluptuousness. An early pregnancy disfigured her beauty, the birth was unhappy, and in the summer of 1681 Madame Fontange died suddenly. She was like a meteor flashing across the court sky. The Marquise Montespan did not hide her malicious joy, but the time of her favor also came to an end.

While the king indulged in sensual pleasures, the Marchioness of Montespan remained for many years the uncrowned queen of France. But when Louis began to grow cold towards love adventures, a woman of a completely different warehouse took possession of his heart. It was Madame d'Aubigné, daughter of the famous Agrippa d'Aubigné and the widow of the poet Scarron, known in history as the Marquise de Maintenon. Before becoming the favorite of the king, she was a governess for a long time with his side children (from 1667 to 1681, the Marquise de Montespan gave birth to eight children to Louis, of whom four reached adulthood). All of them were given to the education of Mrs. Scarron. The king, who loved his children very much, did not pay attention to their teacher for a long time, but one day, talking with the little Duke of Maine, he was very pleased with his well-aimed answers. “Sir,” the boy answered him, “do not be surprised at my reasonable words: I am being brought up by a lady who can be called the incarnate mind.”

This review made Louis take a closer look at his son's governess. Conversing with her, he often had the opportunity to convince himself of the truth of the words of the Duke of Maine. Appreciating Madame Scarron on merit, the king in 1674 granted her the estate of Maintenon with the right to bear this name and the title of marquise. Since then, Madame Maintenon began to fight for the heart of the king and every year she took Louis more and more into her hands. The king talked for hours with the marquise about the future of her pupils, visited her when she was ill, and soon became almost inseparable from her. From 1683, after the removal of the Marquise de Montespan and the death of Queen Maria Theresa, Madame de Maintenon gained unlimited influence over the king. Their rapprochement ended in a secret marriage in January 1684. Approving all the orders of Louis, Madame de Maintenon, on occasion, gave him advice and guided him. The king had the deepest respect and confidence in the marquise; under her influence, he became very religious, renounced all love affairs and began to lead a more moral lifestyle. However, most of his contemporaries believed that Louis went from one extreme to another and turned from debauchery to hypocrisy. Be that as it may, in old age the king completely abandoned noisy gatherings, holidays and performances. They were replaced by sermons, reading moral books and soul-saving conversations with the Jesuits. Through this influence of Madame Maintenon on the affairs of state and especially religious was enormous, but not always beneficial.

The restrictions to which the Huguenots were subjected from the very beginning of the reign of Louis were crowned in October 1685 with the repeal of the Edict of Nantes. Protestants were allowed to remain in France, but were forbidden to publicly hold their services and raise their children in the Calvinist faith. Four hundred thousand Huguenots preferred exile to this humiliating condition. Many of them fled military service. In the course of mass emigration, 60 million livres were taken out of France. Trade fell into decline, and thousands of the best French sailors entered the service of the enemy fleets. The political and economic situation of France, which at the end of the 17th century was already far from brilliant, worsened even more.

The brilliant atmosphere of the Versailles court often made us forget how difficult the regime of that time was for the common people, and especially for the peasants, who were burdened by state duties. Under no previous sovereign did France wage such a large-scale war of conquest as under Louis XIV. They started with the so-called Devolutionary War. After the death of the Spanish king Philip IV, Louis, on behalf of his wife, declared claims to part of the Spanish inheritance and tried to conquer Belgium. In 1667, the French army captured Armantières, Charleroi, Berg, Fürn, and the entire southern part of coastal Flanders. The besieged Lille surrendered in August. Louis showed personal courage there and inspired everyone with his presence. To stop the offensive movement of the French, Holland in 1668 united with Sweden and England. In response, Louis moved troops into Burgundy and Franche-Comté. Besançon, Salin and Grey were taken. In May, under the terms of the Treaty of Aachen, the king returned Franche-Comte to the Spaniards, but kept the conquests made in Flanders.

Louis XIV from the age of 12 danced in the so-called "ballets of the theater of the Palais Royal". These events were quite in the spirit of the time, for they were held during the carnival.

Baroque carnival is not just a holiday, it is an upside down world. The king for several hours became a jester, an artist, a buffoon (just as the jester could well afford to appear in the role of king). In these ballets, young Louis had a chance to play the roles of the Rising Sun (1653) and Apollo - the Sun God (1654).

Later, court ballets were staged. The roles in these ballets were distributed by the king himself or by his friend de Saint-Aignan. In these court ballets, Louis also dances the parts of the Sun. For the emergence of the nickname, another cultural event of the Baroque era is also important - the so-called Carousel. This is a festive carnival cavalcade, something between a sports festival and a masquerade. In those days, the Carousel was simply called "horse ballet". On the Carousel of 1662, Louis XIV appeared before the people in the role of the Roman Emperor with a huge shield in the shape of the Sun. This symbolized that the Sun protects the king and with him all of France.

The princes of the blood were "forced" to depict different elements, planets and other beings and phenomena subject to the Sun.

The attention of any tourist who stepped under the arches of the royal residence near Paris, Versailles, in the very first minutes will be drawn to the numerous emblems on the walls, tapestries and other furnishings of this beautiful palace ensemble. The emblems represent a human face framed by the sun's rays illuminating the globe.

Source: Ivonin Yu. E., Ivonina L. I. Rulers of the destinies of Europe: emperors, kings, ministers of the 16th - 18th centuries. - Smolensk: Rusich, 2004. P. 404-426.

This face, executed in the best classical traditions, belongs to the most famous of all the French kings of the Bourbon dynasty, Louis XIV. The personal reign of this monarch, which had no precedents in Europe in its duration - 54 years (1661-1715) - went down in history as a classic example of absolute power, as an era of unprecedented prosperity in all areas of culture and spiritual life, which paved the way for the emergence of the French Enlightenment and, finally, as the era of French hegemony in Europe. Therefore, it is not surprising that the second half of the 17th - early 18th centuries. in France it was called the "Golden Age", the monarch himself was called the "Sun King".

A huge number of scientific and popular books have been written about Louis XIV and his time abroad.

Authors of a number of well-known to the general public works of art and to this day attract the personality of this king and his era, so full of a wide variety of events that left an indelible mark on the history of France and Europe. Domestic scientists and writers, in comparison with their foreign counterparts, paid relatively little attention to both Louis himself and his time. Nevertheless, everyone in our country has at least an approximate idea of \u200b\u200bthis king. But the problem is how accurate this representation is to reality. Despite the wide range of the most controversial assessments of the life and work of Louis XIV, all of them can be reduced to the following: he was a great king, although he made many mistakes throughout his long reign, he elevated France to the rank of major European powers, although in the end he diplomacy and endless wars led to the elimination of French hegemony in Europe. Many historians note the inconsistency of the policy of this king, as well as the ambiguity of the results of his reign. As a rule, they look for the origins of contradictions in the previous development of France, the childhood and youth of the future absolute ruler. The psychological characteristics of Louis XIV are very popular, although they practically remain behind the scenes knowledge of the depth of the king's political thinking and his mental abilities. The latter, I think, is extremely important for assessing the life and activities of a person within the framework of her era, understanding her needs of her time, as well as her ability to foresee the future. Here we will immediately take revenge, so as not to refer to this in the future, that the versions about the “iron mask” as the twin brother of Louis XIV have long been swept aside by historical science.

"Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre" - such was the title of the French monarchs in the middle of the 17th century. It represented a certain contrast with the contemporary long titles of Spanish kings, Holy Roman Emperors or Russian tsars. But its apparent simplicity in fact meant the unity of the country and the presence of a strong central government. To a large extent, the strength of the French monarchy was based on the fact that the king simultaneously combined various roles in French politics. We will only mention the most important ones. The king was the first judge and, undoubtedly, the personification of justice for all the inhabitants of the kingdom. Being responsible (p. 406) before God for the well-being of his state, he led its internal and foreign policy and was the source of all legitimate political power in the country. As the first overlord, he had the largest lands in France. He was the first nobleman of the kingdom, protector and head catholic church in France. Thus, wide legally justified powers in the event of successful circumstances gave the king of France rich opportunities for effective management and the exercise of his power, of course, provided that he had certain qualities for this.

In practice, of course, no king of France could simultaneously combine all these functions on a full scale. The existing social order, the presence of government and local authorities, as well as the energy, talents, personal psychological features monarchs limited the scope of their activities. In addition, the king, in order to successfully rule, had to be a good actor. As for Louis XIV, in this case, the circumstances were for him in the most favorable way.

Actually, the reign of Louis XIV began much earlier than his immediate reign. In 1643, after the death of his father Louis XIII, he became king of France at the age of five. But only in 1661, after the death of the first minister, Cardinal Giulio Mazarin, Louis XIV took full power into his own hands, proclaiming the principle "The State is me." Realizing the comprehensive and unconditional significance of his power and power, the king repeated this phrase very often.

... For the deployment of the stormy activities of the new king, solid ground had already been prepared. He had to consolidate all the achievements and outline the further path for the development of French statehood. The outstanding ministers of France, Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, who had advanced political thinking for that era, were the creators of theoretical foundations French (p. 407) absolutism, laid its foundation and strengthened it in a successful struggle against opponents of absolute power. The crisis in the era of the Fronde was overcome, the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ensured the hegemony of France on the continent and made it the guarantor of European balance. The Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 consolidated this success. This magnificent political legacy was to be used by the young king.

If we try to give a psychological characterization of Louis XIV, then we can somewhat correct the widespread idea of this king as a selfish and thoughtless person. According to his own explanations, he chose the emblem of the "sun king" for himself, since the sun is the giver of all blessings, a tireless worker and a source of justice, it is a symbol of a calm and balanced government. The late birth of the future monarch, which contemporaries called miraculous, the foundations of his upbringing laid by Anna of Austria and Giulio Mazarin, the horrors of the Fronde experienced - all this made young man manage in this way and show himself as a real, powerful sovereign. As a child, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, he was "serious ... prudent enough to remain silent, fearing to say something inappropriate", and, starting to rule, Louis tried to fill in the gaps in his education, since his curriculum was too general and avoided special knowledge. Undoubtedly, the king was a man of duty and, contrary to the famous phrase, considered the state incomparably higher than himself as an individual. He performed the “royal craft” conscientiously: in his view, it was associated with constant work, with the need for ceremonial discipline, restraint in the public manifestation of feelings, and strict self-control. Even his entertainment was largely a matter of state, their splendor supported the prestige of the French monarchy in Europe.

Could Louis XIV do without political mistakes? Was the time of his reign really calm and balanced? (p.408)

Continuing, as he believed, the work of Richelieu and Mazarin, Louis XIV was most of all occupied with the improvement of royal absolutism, which corresponded to his personal inclinations and concepts of the duty of the monarch. His Majesty persistently pursued the idea that the source of any statehood is only the king, who is placed by God himself above other people and therefore more perfectly than they evaluate the surrounding circumstances. “One head,” he said, “belongs to the right to consider and resolve issues, the functions of the remaining members are only in the execution of orders transmitted to them.” He considered the absolute power of the sovereign and the complete subordination of his subjects to him as one of the main divine commandments. “In all Christian teaching there is no more clearly established principle than the unquestioning obedience of subjects to those who are placed over them.”

Each of his ministers, advisers or close associates could retain his position, provided that he managed to pretend that he was learning everything from the king and considered him alone the reason for the success of any business. A very illustrative example in this respect was the case of Nicolas Fouquet, surintendent of finance, whose name during the reign of Mazarin was associated with the stabilization of the financial situation in France. This case was also the most striking manifestation of the royal vindictiveness and vindictiveness brought up by the Fronde and was associated with the desire to remove everyone who does not obey the sovereign in due measure, who can be compared with him. Despite the fact that Fouquet during the years of the Fronde showed absolute loyalty to the Mazarin government and had considerable merits before the supreme power, the king eliminated him. In his behavior, Louis, most likely, saw something "Fronde" - counting on own forces, independent mind. The Surintendant also fortified the island of Belle Île that belonged to him, attracted clients from the military, lawyers, representatives of culture, maintained a magnificent courtyard and a whole staff of informants. His castle Vaux-le-Viscount was not inferior in beauty and splendor to the royal palace. In addition, according to a document that has survived (p. 409), though only in a copy, Fouquet tried to establish relations with the king's mistress, Louise de Lavaliere. In September, 1661, the Surintendant was arrested at the feast of Vaux-le-Viscount by the well-known captain of the royal musketeers, d'Artagnan, and spent the rest of his life in prison.

Louis XIV could not put up with the existence of political rights that remained after the death of Richelieu and Mazarin for some state and public institutions, because these rights to some extent contradicted the concept of royal omnipotence. Therefore, he destroyed them and introduced bureaucratic centralization, brought to perfection. The king, of course, listened to the opinions of ministers, members of his family, favorites and favorites. But he stood firmly at the top of the pyramid of power. In accordance with the orders and instructions of the monarch, secretaries of state acted, each of which, in addition to the main field of activity - financial, military, etc. - had several large administrative-territorial regions under his command. These areas (there were 25 of them) were called "generalite". Louis XIV reformed the Royal Council, increased the number of its members, turning it into a real government in his own person. Under him, the States General were not convened, provincial and city self-government was everywhere destroyed and replaced by the administration of royal officials, of whom the intendants were endowed with the broadest powers. The latter carried out the policy and activities of the government and its head - the king. The bureaucracy was omnipotent.

But it cannot be said that Louis XIV was not surrounded by sensible officials or did not heed their advice. In the first half of the king's reign, the comptroller general of finances Colbert, the minister of war Louvois, the military engineer Vauban, talented generals - Condé, Turenne, Tesse, Vendome and many others contributed to the splendor of his reign. (p. 410)

Jean-Baptiste Colbert came from the bourgeois strata and in his youth managed the private property of Mazarin, who was able to appreciate his outstanding mind, honesty and hard work, and recommended him to the king before his death. Louis was won over by Colbert's relative modesty compared to the rest of his employees, and he appointed him comptroller-general of the finances. All the measures taken by Colbert to raise French industry and trade received a special name in history - Colbertism. First of all, the Comptroller General of Finance streamlined the system of financial management. Strict accountability was introduced in the receipt and expenditure of state revenues, all those who illegally evaded it were brought to pay land tax, taxes on luxury goods were increased, etc. True, in accordance with the policy of Louis XIV, the nobility of the sword (hereditary military nobility). Yet this Colbert reform improved financial position France, (p. 411), however, not enough to satisfy all state needs (especially military ones) and the insatiable demands of the king.

Colbert also undertook a series of measures known as the policy of mercantilism, i.e., encouraging the productive forces of the state. In order to improve French agriculture, he reduced or completely abolished taxes for large peasants, gave benefits to those with shortfalls, and expanded the area of cultivated land with the help of land reclamation measures. But most of all the minister was interested in the development of industry and trade. Colbert imposed a high tariff on all imported goods and encouraged their domestic production. He invited the best craftsmen from abroad, encouraged the bourgeoisie to invest in the development of manufactories, moreover, provided them with benefits and issued loans from the state treasury. Under him, several state manufactories were founded. As a result, the French market was filled with domestic goods, and a number of French products (Lyon velvet, Valenciennes lace, luxury items) were popular throughout Europe. Mercantilist measures of Colbert created a number of economic and political difficulties for neighboring states. In particular, in English Parliament angry speeches were often made against the policy of Colbertism and the penetration of French goods into the English market, and Colbert's brother Charles, who was the French ambassador in London, was not loved throughout the country.

In order to intensify French internal trade, Colbert ordered the construction of roads that stretched from Paris in all directions, destroyed internal customs between individual provinces. He contributed to the creation of a large merchant and navy that could compete with English and Dutch ships, founded the East India and West India trading companies, and encouraged the colonization of America and India. Under him, a French colony was founded in the lower reaches of the Mississippi, named Louisiana in honor of the king.

All these measures gave the state treasury huge revenues. But the maintenance of the most luxurious court in Europe and the continuous wars of Louis XIV (even in peacetime, 200 thousand people were constantly under arms) absorbed such colossal sums that they were not enough to cover all costs. At the request of the king, in order to find money, Colbert had to raise taxes even on basic necessities, which caused discontent against him throughout the kingdom. It should be noted that Colbert was by no means an opponent of French hegemony in Europe, but was against the military expansion of his overlord, preferring economic expansion to it. Finally, in 1683, the comptroller-general of the treasury fell out of favor with Louis XIV, which subsequently led to a gradual decline in the proportion of French industry and trade on the Continent compared with England. The factor holding the king back was eliminated.

The Minister of War Louvois, the reformer of the French army, contributed a lot to the prestige of the French kingdom in the international arena. With the approval (p. 413) of the king, he introduced recruiting kits for soldiers and thus created a standing army. In wartime, its number reached 500 thousand people - an unsurpassed figure for those times in Europe. Exemplary discipline was maintained in the army, recruits were systematically trained, and each regiment was given special uniforms. Luvois also improved weaponry; the pike was replaced by a bayonet screwed to a gun, barracks, food stores and hospitals were built. On the initiative of the Minister of War, a corps of engineers and several artillery schools were established. Louis highly valued Louvois and in frequent quarrels between him and Colbert, by virtue of his inclination, took the side of the Minister of War.

According to the projects of the talented engineer Vauban, more than 300 land and sea fortresses were erected, channels were broken through, dams were built. He also invented some weapons for the army. After reviewing the state of the French kingdom for 20 years of continuous work, Vauban submitted a memorandum to the king proposing reforms that could improve the situation of the lower strata of France. Louis, who did not take any instructions and did not want to spend his royal time, and especially finances, for new reforms, disgraced the engineer.

The French commanders Prince Condé, Marshals Turenne, Tesse, who left valuable memoirs to the world, Vandom and a number of other capable military leaders greatly increased the military prestige and asserted the hegemony of France in Europe. They saved the day even when their king started and fought wars rashly and imprudently.

During the reign of Louis XIV, France was in a state of war almost continuously. The wars for the Spanish Netherlands (60s - early 80s of the XVII century), the war of the Augsburg League, or the Nine Years' War (1689-1697) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), absorbing huge financial resources, eventually led to a significant decrease in French influence (p. 414) in Europe. Although France still remained among the states that determined European policy, a new alignment of forces took shape on the continent, and irreconcilable Anglo-French contradictions arose.

The religious measures of his reign were closely connected with the international policy of the French king. Louis XIV made many political mistakes that Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin could not afford. But the miscalculation that became fatal for France and later called the “mistake of the century” was the repeal of the Edict of Nantes in October 1685. The king, who assessed his kingdom as the strongest in economic and political relations in Europe, claimed not only (p. 415) territorial and political, but also the spiritual hegemony of France on the continent. Like the Habsburgs in the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, he aspired to play the role of defender of the Catholic faith in Europe, in connection with which his disagreements with the See of St. Peter aggravated. Louis XIV banned the Calvinist religion in France, continued the persecution of French Protestants, which began in the 70s. and are now violent. Huguenots rushed abroad in masses, in connection with which the government banned emigration. But, despite severe punishments and cordons placed along the border, up to 400 thousand people moved to England, Holland, Prussia, Poland. The governments of these countries willingly received Huguenot emigrants, mostly of bourgeois origin, who noticeably revived the industry and trade of the host states. As a result, the economic development of France suffered considerable damage; the Huguenot nobles most often entered the service of officers in the army of states that were opponents of France.

It must be said that not everyone in the king's entourage supported the abolition of the Edict of Nantes. As Marshal Tesse very aptly remarked, "her results were quite consistent with this apolitical measure." The "mistake of the century" dramatically damaged the plans of Louis XIV in the field of foreign policy. The mass exodus of the Huguenots from France revolutionized Calvinist doctrine. In the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689. more than 2,000 Huguenot officers participated in England. The outstanding Huguenot theologians and publicists of that time, Pierre Ury and Jean Le Clerc, created the basis of a new Huguenot political thinking, and the Glorious Revolution itself became for them a theoretical and practical model for the reorganization of society. The new revolutionary outlook was that France needed a "parallel revolution", the overthrow of the absolutist tyranny of Louis XIV. At the same time, the destruction of the Bourbon monarchy as such was not proposed, but only constitutional changes that turned it into a parliamentary monarchy. As a result, the religious policy of Louis XIV (p. 416) prepared the transformation of political ideas, which were finally developed and strengthened in the concepts of the French Enlightenment of the 18th century. The Catholic Bishop Bossuet, who enjoys influence at the court of the king, noted that "free-thinking people did not neglect the opportunity to criticize the policies of Louis XIV." The concept of a tyrant king was formed.

So, for France, the repeal of the Edict of Nantes was a truly disastrous act. Called to strengthen the royal power within the country and achieve not only the territorial and political, but also the spiritual hegemony of France in Europe, in fact, he put the cards in the hands of the future the English king William III of Orange and contributed to the accomplishment of the Glorious Revolution, pushed almost all of her few allies away from France. The violation of the principle of freedom of conscience, in parallel with the violation of the balance of power in Europe, turned into serious defeats for France, both in domestic and foreign policy. The second half of the reign of Louis XIV no longer looked so brilliant. And for Europe, in fact, his actions turned out to be quite favorable. In England, the Glorious Revolution was carried out, neighboring states rallied into an anti-French coalition, through the efforts of which, as a result of bloody wars, France lost its absolute primacy in Europe, retaining it only in the cultural field.

It was in this area that France's hegemony remained unshakable, and in some aspects it remains to this day. At the same time, the very personality of the king and his activities laid the foundation for the unprecedented cultural elevation of France. In general, there is an opinion among historians that it is possible to speak of the "golden age" of the reign of Louis XIV only in relation to the sphere of culture. This is where the "sun king" was really great. In the process of education, Ludovik did not receive the skills of independent work with books; he preferred questions and a lively conversation to the search for truth from authors who contradicted each other. Perhaps that is why the king paid great attention to the cultural framing of his reign (p. 417), and brought up his son Louis, born in 1661, in a different way: the heir to the throne was introduced to jurisprudence, philosophy, taught Latin and mathematics.

Among the various measures that were supposed to contribute to the growth of royal prestige, Louis XIV attached particular importance to attracting attention to his own person. He devoted as much time to worrying about this as to the most important affairs of state. After all, the face of the kingdom was primarily the king himself. Louis, as it were, made his life a work of art of classicism. He did not have a "hobby", he could not be imagined as an enthusiastic business that did not coincide with the "profession" of the monarch. All his sports hobbies are purely royal pursuits that created the traditional image of the king-knight. Louis was too solid to be talented: a bright talent would have broken through at least somewhere the boundaries of the circle of interests assigned to him. However, this rationalistic focus on one's specialty was a phenomenon of the early modern period, which in the field of culture was characterized by encyclopedism, dispersion and disorganized curiosity.

By awarding ranks, awards, pensions, estates, profitable positions, and other signs of attention, for which Louis XIV was inventive to the point of virtuosity, he managed to attract representatives of the best families to his court and turn them into his obedient servants. The most well-born aristocrats considered it their greatest happiness and honor to serve the king when dressing and undressing, at the table, during walks, etc. The staff of courtiers and servants numbered 5-6 thousand people.

Strict etiquette was adopted at court. Everything was distributed with petty punctuality, every, even the most ordinary act of life royal family was extremely solemn. When dressing the king, the whole court was present, a large staff of employees was required to serve the king a dish or drink. During the royal dinner, all those admitted to it, including (p. 418) and members of the royal family, stood, it was possible to talk with the king only when he himself wished it. Louis XIV considered it necessary for himself to strictly observe all the details of complex etiquette and demanded the same from the courtiers.

The king gave an unprecedented splendor to the external life of the court. His favorite residence was Versailles, which turned under him into a large luxurious city. Especially magnificent was the grandiose palace in a strictly sustained style, richly decorated both outside and inside by the best French artists of that time. During the construction of the palace, an architectural innovation was introduced, which later became fashionable in Europe: not wanting to demolish his father’s hunting lodge, which became an element of the central part of the palace ensemble, the king forced the architects to come up with a mirror hall, when the windows of one wall were reflected in the mirrors on the other wall, creating there the illusion of the presence of window openings. The large palace was surrounded by several small ones, for members of the royal family, many royal services, rooms for the royal guard and courtiers. The palace buildings were surrounded by a vast garden, kept according to the laws of strict symmetry, with decoratively trimmed trees, many flower beds, fountains, and statues. It was Versailles that inspired Peter the Great, who visited there, to build Peterhof with its famous fountains. True, Peter spoke of Versailles as follows: the palace is beautiful, but there is little water in the fountains. In addition to Versailles, under Louis, other beautiful architectural structures were built - the Grand Trianon, Les Invalides, the Louvre colonnade, the gates of Saint-Denis and Saint-Martin. On all these creations, encouraged by the king, the architect Hardouin-Monsart, the artists and sculptors Lebrun, Girardon, Leclerc, Latour, Rigaud and others worked.

While Louis XIV was young, life in Versailles proceeded like a continuous holiday. Balls, masquerades, concerts, theatrical performances, and pleasure walks followed in a continuous succession. Only in his old age (p. 419) did the king, who was already continuously ill, begin to lead a more relaxed lifestyle, unlike the English king Charles II (1660–1685). He even on the day that turned out to be the last in his life, arranged a celebration in which he took an active part.

Louis XIV constantly attracted famous writers to his side, giving them monetary rewards and pensions, and for these favors he expected glorification of himself and his reign. The literary celebrities of that era were the playwrights Corneille, Racine and Moliere, the poet Boileau, the fabulist La Fontaine and others. Almost all of them, with the exception of Lafontaine, created a cult of the sovereign. For example, Corneille, in his tragedies from the history of the Greco-Roman world, emphasized the advantages of absolutism, extending benefits to its subjects. In the comedies of Molière, the weaknesses and shortcomings of modern society were skillfully ridiculed. However, their author tried to avoid everything that might not please Louis XIV. Boileau wrote laudatory odes in honor of the monarch, and in his satires he ridiculed medieval orders and opposition aristocrats.

Under Louis XIV, a number of academies arose - sciences, music, architecture, the French Academy in Rome. Of course, not only the high ideals of serving the beautiful inspired His Majesty. The political nature of the French monarch's concern for cultural figures is obvious. But did this work, created by the masters of his era, become less beautiful?

As we have already seen, Louis XIV made his private life the property of the entire kingdom. Let's note one more aspect. Under the influence of his mother, Louis grew up to be a very religious person, at least outwardly. But, as researchers note, his faith was faith common man. Cardinal Fleury, in a conversation with Voltaire, recalled that the king "believed like a collier". Other contemporaries noted that "he never read the Bible in his life and believes everything that the priests and bigots tell him." But perhaps this was consistent with the religious policy of the king. Louis listened to Mass every day (p. 420), every year on Holy Thursday he washed the feet of 12 beggars, every day he read the simplest prayers, and on holidays he listened to long sermons. However, such ostentatious religiosity was not a hindrance luxurious life king, his wars and relationships with women.

Like his grandfather, Henry IV of Bourbon, Louis XIV was very amorous by temperament and did not consider it necessary to observe marital fidelity. As we already know, at the insistence of Mazarin and his mother, he had to give up his love for Maria Mancini. Marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain was a purely political affair. Not being faithful, the king nevertheless conscientiously performed marital debt: from 1661 to 1672 the queen gave birth to six children, of whom only the eldest son survived. Louis was always present at childbirth and, together with the queen, experienced her torment, as, indeed, other courtiers. Maria Theresa, of course, was jealous, but very unobtrusively. When the queen died in 1683, her husband honored her memory with the following words: "This is the only trouble she gave me."

In France, it was considered quite natural that the king, if he is a healthy and normal man, has mistresses, as long as decency is observed. It should also be noted here that Louis never confused love affairs with state affairs. He did not allow women to interfere in politics, prudently measuring the boundaries of the influence of his favorites. In the "Memoirs" addressed to his son, His Majesty wrote: "Let the beauty that gives us pleasure, do not dare to talk to us about our affairs, or about our ministers."

Among the numerous lovers of the king, three figures are usually distinguished. Former favorite in 1661-1667. the quiet and modest lady-in-waiting Louise de Lavalière, who gave birth four times to Louis, was perhaps the most devoted and most humiliated of all his mistresses. When she was no longer needed by the king, she retired to a monastery, where she spent the rest of her life.

In some way, the contrast in comparison with her was represented by Françoise-Athenais de Montespan, who "reigned" (p. 422) in 1667-1679. and bore the king six children. She was a beautiful and proud woman, already married. So that her husband could not take her away from the court, Louis gave her the high court rank of sirintendante of the queen's court. Unlike Lavaliere, Montespan was not loved by the king's entourage: one of the highest church authorities in France, Bishop Bossuet, even demanded the removal of the favorite from the court. Montespan adored luxury and liked to give orders, but she also knew her place. The king's beloved preferred to avoid asking Louis for private individuals, talking with him only about the needs of the monasteries she patronized.

Unlike Henry IV, who went crazy at the age of 56 for the 17-year-old Charlotte de Montmorency, widowed at 45, Louis XIV suddenly began to strive for quiet family happiness. In the person of his third favorite, Francoise de Maintenon, who was three years older than him, the king found what he was looking for. Despite the fact that in 1683 Louis entered into a secret marriage with Françoise, his love was already the calm feeling of a man who foresaw old age. The beautiful, intelligent and pious widow of the famous poet Paul Scarron was apparently the only woman capable of influencing him. French enlighteners attributed the repeal of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 to its decisive influence. However, there is no doubt that this act was in the best possible way consistent with the aspirations of the king himself in the field of domestic and foreign policy, although it is impossible not to notice that the “Maintenon era” coincided with the second, worst half of his reign. In the secluded rooms of his secret wife, His Majesty "shed tears that he could not hold back." Nevertheless, in relation to her subjects, the traditions of court etiquette were observed: two days before the death of the king, his 80-year-old wife left the palace and lived out her days in Saint-Cyr, an educational institution for noble maidens she founded.

Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715 at the age of 77. Judging by his physical data, the king could have lived much longer. Despite his small stature, forcing him to wear high heels, Louis would be stately and proportionately complex, had a representative appearance. Natural grace was combined in him with a majestic posture, a calm look, unshakable self-confidence. The king had enviable health, rare in those difficult times. Ludovic's conspicuous tendency was bulimia - an insatiable feeling of hunger that caused an incredible appetite. The king ate mountains of food day and night, while eating food in large chunks. What body can handle it? The inability to cope with bulimia was the main cause of his many illnesses, combined with the dangerous experiments of the doctors of that era - endless bloodletting, laxatives, drugs with the most incredible ingredients. The court physician Vallo rightly wrote about the "heroic health" of the king. But it was gradually shattered, in addition to illnesses, also by countless entertainments, balls, hunting, wars and related to the latter. nervous tension. No wonder therefore, on the eve of his death, Louis XIV uttered these words: "I loved the war too much." But this phrase, most likely, was uttered for a completely different reason: on his deathbed, the "sun king" may have realized what result his country's policy had led to.

So, now it remains for us to utter the sacramental phrase, so often repeated in studies about Louis XIV: did a man or a messenger of God on earth die? Undoubtedly, this king, like many others, was a man with all his weaknesses and contradictions. But to appreciate the personality and rule of this monarch is still not easy. Great Emperor and the unsurpassed commander Napoleon Bonaparte noted: “Louis XIV was a great king: it was he who elevated France to the rank of the first nations in Europe, it was he who for the first time had 400 thousand people under arms and 100 ships at sea, he annexed Franche-Comté, Roussillon to France, Flanders, he put one of his children on the throne of Spain... What king since Charlemagne can compare to Louis in every way?” Napoleon is right - Louis XIV was indeed a great king. But was he a great man? It seems that here the assessment of the king by his contemporary Duke Saint-Simon suggests itself: "The king's mind was below average and did not have a great ability to improve." The statement is too categorical, but its author did not sin much against the truth.

Louis XIV was, without a doubt, a strong personality. It was he who contributed to bringing absolute power to its apogee: the system of rigid centralization of government, cultivated by him, was an example for many political regimes both that era and modern world. It was under him that the national and territorial integrity of the kingdom was strengthened, a single internal market functioned, and the quantity and quality of French industrial products increased. Under him, France dominated Europe, having the strongest and most efficient army on the continent. And, finally, he contributed to the creation of immortal creations that spiritually enriched the French nation and all of humanity.

But nevertheless, it was during the reign of this king that the “old order” in France cracked, absolutism began to decline, and the first prerequisites arose french revolution late 18th century Why did it happen? Louis XIV was neither a great thinker, nor a significant commander, nor a capable diplomat. He did not have the broad outlook that his predecessors Henry IV, Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, could boast of. The latter created the foundation for the flourishing of the absolute monarchy and defeated its internal and external enemies. And Louis XIV, with his devastating wars, religious persecution and extremely rigid centralization, built obstacles to the further dynamic development of France. Indeed, in order to choose the right strategic course for his state, the monarch required extraordinary political thinking. But the "king-sun" did not possess such. Therefore, it is not surprising that on the day of the funeral of Louis XIV, Bishop Bossuet, in his funeral speech, summed up the results of a stormy and unheard of long reign with one phrase: “Only God is great!”

France did not mourn the monarch, who reigned for 72 years. Did the country already then foresee the destruction and horrors of the Great Revolution? And was it really impossible to avoid them during such a long reign?

Louis XIV reigned for 72 years, longer than any other European monarch. He became king at the age of four, took full power into his own hands at 23 and ruled for 54 years. "The state is me!" - Louis XIV did not say these words, but the state has always been associated with the personality of the ruler. Therefore, if we talk about the mistakes and mistakes of Louis XIV (the war with Holland, the abolition of the Edict of Nantes, etc.), then the asset of the reign should also be recorded on his account.

The development of trade and manufacturing, the birth of the colonial empire of France, the reform of the army and the creation of the navy, the development of art and science, the construction of Versailles and, finally, the transformation of France into a modern state. These are not all the achievements of the Louis XIV Century. So what was this ruler who gave a name to his time?

Louis XIV de Bourbon.

Louis XIV de Bourbon, who received the name Louis-Dieudonnet ("God-given") at birth, was born on September 5, 1638. The name "God-given" appeared for a reason. Queen Anne of Austria produced an heir at the age of 37.

For 22 years, the marriage of Louis' parents was fruitless, and therefore the birth of an heir was perceived by the people as a miracle. After the death of his father, the young Louis and his mother moved to the Palais Royal, the former palace of Cardinal Richelieu. Here the little king was brought up in a very simple and sometimes wretched environment.

His mother was considered the regent of France, but the real power was in the hands of her favorite, Cardinal Mazarin. He was very stingy and did not care at all not only about pleasing the child-king, but even about the availability of basic necessities for him.

The first years of Louis's formal reign saw the events of the civil war known as the Fronde. In January 1649, an uprising broke out in Paris against Mazarin. The king and ministers had to flee to Saint-Germain, and Mazarin to Brussels in general. Peace was restored only in 1652, and power returned to the hands of the cardinal. Despite the fact that the king was already considered an adult, Mazarin ruled France until his death.

Giulio Mazarin - church and political figure and first minister of France in 1643-1651 and 1653-1661. He took over the post under the patronage of Queen Anne of Austria.

In 1659 peace was signed with Spain. The treaty was sealed by the marriage of Louis with Maria Theresa, who was his cousin. When Mazarin died in 1661, Louis, having received his freedom, hastened to get rid of any guardianship over himself.

He abolished the post of First Minister by declaring State Council that from now on he will be the first minister himself, and no even the most insignificant decree should be signed by anyone on his behalf.

Louis was poorly educated, barely able to read and write, but possessed of common sense and a firm determination to uphold his royal dignity. He was tall, handsome, had a noble posture, strove to express himself briefly and clearly. Unfortunately, he was excessively selfish, as no European monarch was distinguished by monstrous pride and selfishness. All former royal residences seemed to Louis unworthy of his greatness.

After some deliberation, in 1662 he decided to turn the small hunting castle of Versailles into a royal palace. It took 50 years and 400 million francs. Until 1666, the king had to live in the Louvre, from 1666 to 1671. in the Tuileries, from 1671 to 1681, alternately in the construction of Versailles and Saint-Germain-O-l "E. Finally, from 1682, Versailles became the permanent residence of the royal court and government. From now on, Louis visited Paris only on short visits.

The new palace of the king was distinguished by extraordinary splendor. The so-called (large apartments) - six salons named after ancient deities - served as hallways for the Mirror Gallery 72 meters long, 10 meters wide and 16 meters high. Buffets were arranged in the salons, guests played billiards and cards.

The Great Condé greets Louis XIV on the Staircase at Versailles.

In general, the card game became an indomitable passion at court. The stakes reached several thousand livres per game, and Louis himself stopped playing only after he lost 600 thousand livres in six months in 1676.

Comedies were also staged in the palace, first by Italian and then by French authors: Corneille, Racine, and especially often Molière. In addition, Louis loved to dance, and repeatedly took part in ballet productions at court.

The splendor of the palace corresponded to the complex rules of etiquette established by Louis. Any action was accompanied by a whole set of carefully designed ceremonies. Meals, going to bed, even the simple quenching of thirst during the day - everything was turned into complex rituals.

War against everyone

If the king would only be engaged in the construction of Versailles, the rise of the economy and the development of the arts, then, probably, the respect and love of subjects for the Sun King would be limitless. However, the ambitions of Louis XIV extended much beyond the borders of his state.

By the early 1680s, Louis XIV had the most powerful army in Europe, which only whetted his appetites. In 1681, he established the chambers of reunification to seek the rights of the French crown to certain areas, capturing more and more lands in Europe and Africa.

In 1688, the claims of Louis XIV to the Palatinate led to the fact that all of Europe took up arms against him. The so-called War of the League of Augsburg dragged on for nine years and led to the parties maintaining the status quo. But the huge expenses and losses incurred by France led to a new economic decline in the country and the depletion of funds.

But already in 1701, France was embroiled in a long conflict, called the War of the Spanish Succession. Louis XIV expected to defend the rights to the Spanish throne for his grandson, who was to become the head of two states. However, the war that engulfed not only Europe, but also North America ended unsuccessfully for France.

According to the peace concluded in 1713 and 1714, the grandson of Louis XIV retained the Spanish crown, but its Italian and Dutch possessions were lost, and England, by destroying the Franco-Spanish fleets and conquering a number of colonies, laid the foundation for its maritime dominion. In addition, the project of uniting France and Spain under the hand of the French monarch had to be abandoned.

Sale of positions and expulsion of the Huguenots

This last military campaign of Louis XIV returned him to where he started - the country was mired in debt and groaning from the burden of taxes, and here and there rebellions broke out, the suppression of which required more and more new resources.

The need to replenish the budget led to non-trivial solutions. Under Louis XIV, trade in public offices was put on stream, reaching its maximum scope in the last years of his life. To replenish the treasury, more and more new positions were created, which, of course, brought chaos and discord into the activities of state institutions.

Louis XIV on coins.

French Protestants joined the ranks of Louis XIV's opponents after the Edict of Fontainebleau was signed in 1685, repealing the Edict of Nantes by Henry IV, which guaranteed the Huguenots freedom of religion.

After that, more than 200,000 French Protestants emigrated from the country, despite severe penalties for emigration. The exodus of tens of thousands of economically active citizens dealt another painful blow to the power of France.

The unloved queen and the meek lame

At all times and eras, the personal life of monarchs influenced politics. Louis XIV in this sense is no exception. Once the monarch remarked: "It would be easier for me to reconcile the whole of Europe than a few women."

His official wife in 1660 was a contemporary, the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa, who was Louis's cousin both by father and mother.

The problem of this marriage, however, was not in the close family ties of the spouses. Louis simply did not like Maria Theresa, but dutifully agreed to a marriage that was of great political importance. The wife bore the king six children, but five of them died in childhood. Only the first-born survived, named, like his father, Louis and went down in history under the name of the Great Dauphin.

The marriage of Louis XIV took place in 1660.

For the sake of marriage, Louis broke off relations with the woman he really loved - the niece of Cardinal Mazarin. Perhaps parting with his beloved also influenced the attitude of the king towards his lawful wife. Maria Theresa resigned herself to her fate. Unlike other French queens, she did not intrigue and did not get into politics, playing a prescribed role. When the queen died in 1683, Louis said: This is the only worry in life that she has caused me.».

The king compensated for the lack of feelings in marriage by relations with favorites. Louise-Francoise de La Baume Le Blanc, Duchess de La Vallière, became Louise-Francoise de La Baume Le Blanc, for nine years. Louise was not distinguished by dazzling beauty, besides, due to an unsuccessful fall from a horse, she remained lame for life. But the meekness, friendliness and sharp mind of Limps attracted the attention of the king.

Louise bore Louis four children, two of whom survived to adulthood. The king treated Louise quite cruelly. Becoming cool to her, he settled the rejected mistress next to the new favorite - the Marquise Francoise Athenais de Montespan. The heroine de Lavaliere was forced to endure the bullying of her rival. She endured everything with her usual meekness, and in 1675 she took the veil as a nun and lived for many years in a monastery, where she was called Louise the Merciful.

In the lady before Montespan there was not even a shadow of the meekness of her predecessor. A representative of one of the most ancient noble families of France, Francoise not only became an official favorite, but for 10 years she turned into a “true queen of France”.

Marquise de Montespan with four legitimized children. 1677. Palace of Versailles.

Françoise loved luxury and did not like to count money. It was the Marquise de Montespan who turned the reign of Louis XIV from deliberate budgeting to unbridled and unlimited spending. Capricious, envious, imperious and ambitious Francoise knew how to subordinate the king to her will. New apartments were built for her in Versailles, she managed to arrange all her close relatives for significant government posts.

Françoise de Montespan bore Louis seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood. But the relationship between Françoise and the king was not as faithful as with Louise. Louis allowed himself hobbies and, in addition to official favorite which infuriated Madame de Montespan.

To keep the king to herself, she became involved in black magic and even became involved in high-profile case about poisoning. The king did not punish her with death, but deprived her of the status of a favorite, which was much more terrible for her.

Like her predecessor, Louise le Lavaliere, the Marquise de Montespan changed her royal quarters to a convent.

Time for repentance

The new favorite of Louis was the Marquise de Maintenon, the widow of the poet Scarron, who was the governess of the king's children from Madame de Montespan.

This favorite of the king was called the same as her predecessor, Francoise, but the women differed from each other, like heaven and earth. The king had long conversations with the Marquise de Maintenon about the meaning of life, about religion, about responsibility before God. The royal court changed its luster to chastity and high morality.

Madame de Maintenon.

After the death of his official wife, Louis XIV was married in secret to the Marquise de Maintenon. Now the king was occupied not with balls and festivities, but with masses and reading the Bible. The only entertainment he allowed himself was hunting.

The Marquise de Maintenon founded and directed the first secular school for women in Europe, called the Royal House of Saint Louis. The school in Saint-Cyr has become an example for many such institutions, including Smolny Institute In Petersburg.

For her strict disposition and intolerance for secular entertainment, the Marquise de Maintenon was nicknamed the Black Queen. She survived Louis and after his death retired to Saint-Cyr, living the rest of her days in the circle of pupils of her school.

Illegitimate Bourbons

Louis XIV recognized his illegitimate children from both Louise de La Vallière and Francoise de Montespan. They all received their father's surname - de Bourbon, and dad tried to arrange their lives.

Louis, the son of Louise, was promoted to French admiral at the age of two, and when he grew up, he went on a military campaign with his father. There, at the age of 16, the young man died.

Louis-Auguste, the son of Francoise, received the title of Duke of Maine, became a French commander and, in this capacity, received Abram Petrovich Hannibal, godson of Peter I and great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, for military training.

Grand Dauphin Louis. The only surviving legitimate child of Louis XIV by Maria Theresa of Spain.

Françoise-Marie, the youngest daughter of Louis, was married to Philippe d'Orleans, becoming the Duchess of Orleans. Possessing the character of a mother, Françoise-Marie plunged headlong into political intrigues. Her husband became French regent under the infant king Louis XV, and the children of Francoise-Marie married offspring of other royal dynasties in Europe.

In a word, not many illegitimate children of ruling persons got such a fate, which fell to the lot of the sons and daughters of Louis XIV.

"Did you really think that I would live forever?"

Last years The king's life was a severe test for him. The man, who all his life defended the choice of God of the monarch and his right to autocratic rule, experienced not only the crisis of his state. His close people left one by one, and it turned out that there was simply no one to transfer power to.

On April 13, 1711, his son, the Grand Dauphin Louis, died. In February 1712, the eldest son of the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, died, and on March 8 of the same year, the eldest son of the latter, the young Duke of Brittany.

March 4, 1714 fell from a horse and a few days later died the younger brother of the Duke of Burgundy, the Duke of Berry. The only heir was the 4-year-old great-grandson of the king, the youngest son of the Duke of Burgundy. If this baby had died, the throne after the death of Louis would have remained vacant.

This forced the king to add even his illegitimate sons to the list of heirs, which promised internal strife in France in the future.

Louis XIV.

At the age of 76, Louis remained active, active and, as in his youth, regularly went hunting. During one of these trips, the king fell and injured his leg. Doctors found that the injury had provoked gangrene and suggested amputation. The Sun King refused: it is unacceptable for royal dignity. The disease progressed rapidly, and soon the agony began, stretching for several days.

At the moment of clearing his mind, Louis looked around those present and uttered his last aphorism:

- Why are you crying? Did you think that I would live forever?

On September 1, 1715, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, Louis XIV died in his palace at Versailles, four days before reaching the age of 77.

Compilation of material - Fox

Kings and Queens of France. Bourbon dynasty. Louis XIV. Louis XIV (Sun King). Biography. Personal life

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