• King of France and Navarre Louis XIV, 1638
• Controller - General of Finances Jean - Baptiste Colbert, 1619

   

Louis began his personal rule of France in 1661 after the death of his chief minister, the Italian Cardinal Mazarin. An adherent of the theory of the divine right of kings, which advocates the divine origin and lack of temporal restraint of monarchical rule, Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating a centralized state governed from the capital. He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism persisting in parts of France and, by compelling the nobility to inhabit his lavish Palace of Versailles, succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy, many members of which had participated in the Fronde rebellion during Louis's minority. By these means he consolidated a system of absolute monarchical rule in France that endured until the French Revolution.

During Louis's reign France was the leading European power and fought three major wars: the Franco - Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession, as well as two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions. Louis encouraged and benefited from the work of prominent political, military and cultural figures such as Mazarin, Colbert, Turenne and Vauban, as well as Molière, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Lully, Le Brun, Rigaud, Bossuet, Le Vau, Mansart, Charles and Claude Perrault, and Le Nôtre.

Upon his death just days before his seventy - seventh birthday, Louis was succeeded by his five year old great - grandson, Louis XV. All his intermediate heirs — his son Louis, le Grand Dauphin; the Dauphin's eldest son Louis, duc de Bourgogne; and Bourgogne's eldest son and his second eldest son, Louis, duc de Bretagne (the older brothers of the future Louis XV) — predeceased him.

Louis XIV was born on September 5th, 1638 in the Château de Saint - Germain - en - Laye to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. At the time of his birth, his parents had been married for 23 years without surviving issue (his mother experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631). Leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift, and his birth, a miracle of God. He was often referred to as "Louis - Dieudonné" (Louis - God - given) and also bore the traditional title of French heirs apparent: Dauphin.

Recognizing that his death was imminent, Louis XIII, in 1643, prepared for his son's impending minority rule. He decreed that a regency council should rule on Louis's behalf for the duration of the minority. Contrary to custom, he did not make Anne the sole regent even if she gave birth to Louis and his brother Philippe because he was unsure of her political abilities. He, however, made her the head of the Council. When Louis XIII lay on his deathbed the queen brought Louis (who was not yet five years old) to see the king. The young Louis could already grasp the reality of the situation because when his father asked his son if he knew who he was, the young Louis answered, "Louis the Fourteenth, Father." To which his father responded, "You are not Louis the Fourteenth, yet."

Louis XIV shared a very affectionate relationship with his mother, Anne, which was uncommon at the time. Sources, such as contemporaries and the Queen's attendants, stated that the Queen would spend almost all of her time with her son. Their shared interests revolved around food and theater. The Queen was a food lover and passed that love on to Louis. Theater was something Louis was immersed in because his mother held such a passion for it. Their loving relationship was long lasting and can be seen in excerpts of journal entries kept by Louis XIV: "Nature was responsible for the first knots which tied me to my mother. But attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood."

On 14 May 1643, with Louis XIII dead, Anne had her husband's will annulled by the Parlement de Paris (a judicial body comprising mostly nobles and high clergymen), abolished the regency council, and became the sole regent. She then entrusted power to Cardinal Mazarin.

Subsequently, in 1648, Mazarin successfully negotiated the Peace of Westphalia. Although war continued between France and Spain until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War in Germany. Its terms ensured Dutch independence from Spain, awarded some autonomy to the various German princes, and granted Sweden seats on the Imperial Diet and territories to control the mouths of the Oder, Elbe and Weser. France, however, profited most from the settlement. Austria ceded to France all Habsburg lands and claims in Alsace and acknowledged her de facto sovereignty over the Three Bishoprics. Moreover, eager to emancipate themselves from Habsburg domination, petty German states sought French protection. This anticipated the formation of the 1658 League of the Rhine, leading to the further diminution of Imperial power. As the Thirty Years' War came to an end, a civil war — the Fronde — erupted in France. It effectively checked France's ability to exploit the Peace of Westphalia. Mazarin had largely pursued the policies of his predecessor, Cardinal Richelieu, augmenting the Crown's power at the expense of the nobility and the Parlements. The Frondeurs, political heirs of a dissatisfied feudal aristocracy, sought to protect their traditional feudal privileges from an increasingly centralized royal government. Furthermore, they believed their traditional influence and authority was being usurped by the recently ennobled bureaucrats (the Noblesse de Robe) who administered the Kingdom and on whom the Monarchy increasingly began to rely. This belief intensified their resentment.

In 1648 Mazarin attempted to tax members of the Parlement de Paris. The members not only refused to comply, but also ordered all his earlier financial edicts burned. Buoyed by the victory of Louis, duc d’Enghien (later le Grand Condé) at Lens, Mazarin arrested certain members in a show of force. Paris erupted in rioting. A mob of angry Parisians broke into the royal palace and demanded to see their king. Led into the royal bedchamber, they gazed upon Louis, who was feigning sleep, were appeased, and quietly departed. The threat to the royal family prompted Anne to flee Paris with the king and his courtiers. Shortly thereafter, the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia allowed Condé's army to return to aid Louis and his court.

As this first Fronde (Fronde parlementaire, 1648 – 1649) ended, a second (Fronde des princes, 1650 – 1653) began. Unlike that which preceded it, tales of sordid intrigue and half - hearted warfare characterized this second phase of upper class insurrection. To the aristocracy, this rebellion represented a protest against and a reversal of their political demotion from vassals to courtiers. It was headed by the highest ranking French nobles, among them Louis's uncle, Gaston, duc d'Orléans, and first cousin, la Grande Mademoiselle; more distantly related Princes of the Blood, like Condé, his brother, Conti, and their sister the duchesse de Longueville; dukes of legitimized royal descent, such as Henri, duc de Longueville, and François, duc de Beaufort; and princes étrangers, such as Frédéric Maurice, duc de Bouillon, his brother, the famous Marshal of France, Turenne, and Marie de Rohan, duchesse de Chevreuse; and scions of France's oldest families, such as François, duc de La Rochefoucauld.

The Frondeurs claimed to act on Louis's behalf and in his real interest against his mother and Mazarin. However, Louis's coming - of - age and subsequent coronation deprived them of their pretext for revolt. Thus, the Fronde gradually lost steam and ended in 1653, when Mazarin returned triumphantly after having fled into exile on several occasions.

On Mazarin's death in 1661, Louis assumed personal control of the reins of government. He was able to utilize the widespread public yearning for law and order resulting from prolonged foreign war and domestic civil strife to further consolidate central political authority and reform at the expense of the feudal aristocracy. Praising his ability to choose and encourage men of talent, Chateaubriand noted that "it is the voice of genius of all kinds which sounds from the tomb of Louis".

Louis began his personal reign with administrative and fiscal reforms. In 1661, the treasury verged on bankruptcy. To rectify the situation, Louis chose Jean - Baptiste Colbert as Contrôleur général des Finances in 1665. However, Louis first had to eliminate Nicolas Fouquet, the Surintendant des Finances. Fouquet was charged with Embezzlement. The Parlement found him guilty and sentenced him to exile. However, Louis commuted the sentence to life imprisonment and also abolished Fouquet's post. Although Fouquet's financial indiscretions were not really very different from Mazarin before or Colbert after him, his ambition was worrying to Louis. He had, for example, built an opulent château at Vaux - le - Vicomte where he lavishly entertained a comparatively poorer Louis. He appeared eager to succeed Mazarin and Richelieu in assuming power and indiscreetly purchased and privately fortified Belle Île. These acts sealed his doom.

Divested of Fouquet, Colbert reduced the national debt through more efficient taxation. The principal taxes included the aides and douanes (both customs duties), the gabelle (a tax on salt), and the taille (a tax on land). Louis and Colbert also had wide ranging plans to bolster French commerce and trade. Colbert's mercantilist administration established new industries and encouraged manufacturers and inventors, such as the Lyon silk manufacturers and the Manufacture des Gobelins, a producer of tapestries. He invited manufacturers and artisans from all over Europe to France, such as Murano glassmakers, Swedish ironworkers, and Dutch shipbuilders. In this way, he aimed to decrease foreign imports while increasing French exports, hence reducing the net outflow of precious metals from France.

Louis instituted reforms in military administration through Le Tellier and his son Louvois. They helped to curb the independent spirit of the nobility, imposing order on them at court and in the army. Gone were the days when generals protracted war at the frontiers while bickering over precedence and ignoring orders from the capital and the larger politico - diplomatic picture. The old military aristocracy (the Noblesse d'épée) ceased to have a monopoly over senior military positions and rank. Louvois in particular pledged himself to modernizing the army, re-organizing it into a professional, disciplined and well trained force. He was devoted to the soldiers' material well being and morale, and even tried to direct campaigns.

Legal matters did not escape Louis's attention, as is reflected in the numerous Grandes Ordonnances he enacted. Pre - revolutionary France was a patchwork of legal systems, with as many coutumes as there were provinces, and two co-existing legal traditions — customary law in the northern pays de droit coutumier and Roman civil law in the southern pays de droit écrit. The 'Grande Ordonnance de Procédure Civile' of 1667, also known as Code Louis, was a comprehensive legal code attempting a uniform regulation of civil procedure throughout legally irregular France. It prescribed inter alia baptismal, marriage and death records in the state's registers, not the church's, and also strictly regulated the right of the Parlements to remonstrate. The Code Louis played an important part in French legal history as the basis for the Code Napoléon, itself the origin of many modern legal codes.

One of Louis's more infamous decrees was the Grande Ordonnance sur les Colonies of 1685, also known as Code Noir. Although it sanctioned slavery, it did attempt to humanize the practice by prohibiting the separation of families. Additionally, in the colonies, only Roman Catholics could own slaves, and these had to be baptized.

The Sun King generously supported the royal court and those who worked under him. He brought the Académie Française under his patronage, and became its "Protector". He allowed Classical French literature to flourish by protecting such writers as Molière, Racine and La Fontaine, whose works remain greatly influential to this day. Louis also patronized the visual arts by funding and commissioning various artists, such as Charles Le Brun, Pierre Mignard, Antoine Coysevox and Hyacinthe Rigaud whose works became famous throughout Europe. In music, composers and musicians such as Lully, Chambonnières and François Couperin thrived.

Over the course of four building campaigns, Louis converted a hunting lodge built by Louis XIII into the spectacular Palace of Versailles. With the exception of the current Royal Chapel (built near the end of Louis's reign), the palace achieved much of its current appearance after the third building campaign, which was followed by an official move of the royal court to Versailles on 6 May 1682.

Versailles became a dazzling, awe - inspiring setting for state affairs and the reception of foreign dignitaries. At Versailles, the king alone commanded attention. Several reasons have been suggested for the creation of the extravagant and stately palace, as well as the relocation of the monarchy's seat. For example, Saint - Simon speculated that Louis viewed Versailles as an isolated power center where treasonous cabals could be more readily discovered and foiled. Alternatively, the Fronde allegedly caused Louis to hate Paris, which he abandoned for a country retreat. However, his many improvements, embellishments and developments of Paris, such as the establishment of a police and street lighting, lend little credence to this theory. As further examples of his continued care for the capital, Louis constructed the Hôtel des Invalides — a military complex and home to this day for officers and soldiers rendered infirm either by injury or age. While pharmacology was still quite rudimentary in his day, les Invalides pioneered new treatments and set new standards for hospice treatment. The conclusion of the Treaty of Aix - la - Chapelle in 1668 also induced Louis to demolish the northern walls of Paris in 1670 and replace them with wide tree - lined boulevards.

Louis also renovated and improved the Louvre and many other royal residences. Bernini was originally to plan additions to the Louvre. However, his plans would have meant the destruction of much of the existing structure, replacing it with an Italian summer villa in the center of Paris. Bernini's plans were eventually shelved in favor of Perrault's elegant colonnade. With the relocation of the court to Versailles, the Louvre was given over to the arts and the public. During his visit from Rome, Bernini also executed a portrait bust of the king.

The death of Philip IV of Spain in 1665 precipitated the War of Devolution. In 1660 Louis had married Philip IV's eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, as part of the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees. The marriage treaty specified that Maria Theresa was to renounce all claims to Spanish territory for herself and all her descendants. However, Mazarin and Lionne made the renunciation conditional on the full payment of a Spanish dowry of 500,000 écus. The dowry was never paid and would later play a part persuading Charles II of Spain to leave his empire to Philippe d'Anjou (later Philip V of Spain) — the grandson of Louis and Maria Theresa.

The War of Devolution did not focus on the payment of the dowry. Rather, Louis's pretext for war was the "devolution" of land. In Brabant, children of the first marriage traditionally were not disadvantaged by their parents’ remarriages, and still inherited property. Louis's wife was Philip IV's daughter by his first marriage, while the new King of Spain, Charles II, was his son by a subsequent marriage. Thus, Brabant allegedly "devolved" on Maria Theresa. This excuse led to France's attack on the Spanish Netherlands.

Internal problems in the Dutch Republic aided Louis's designs. The most prominent politician in the United Provinces at the time, Johan de Witt, Grand Pensionary, feared the ambition of the young William III, Prince of Orange, specifically dispossession of his supreme power and the restoration of the House of Orange to the influence it had enjoyed before the death of William II, Prince of Orange. The Dutch were thus initially more preoccupied with domestic affairs than the French advance into Spanish territory. Moreover, the French were nominally their allies against the English in the ongoing Second Anglo - Dutch War. Shocked by the rapidity of French successes and fearful of the future, the Dutch nonetheless turned on their nominal allies and made peace with England. Joined by Sweden, the English and Dutch formed a Triple Alliance in 1668. The threat of an escalation of the conflict and a secret treaty partitioning the Spanish succession with Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, the other major claimant to the throne of Spain, induced Louis to make peace.

The Triple Alliance did not last very long. In 1670 French gold bought the adherence of Charles II of England to the secret Treaty of Dover. France and England, along with certain Rhineland princes, declared war on the United Provinces in 1672, sparking off the Franco - Dutch War. The rapid invasion and occupation of most of the Netherlands precipitated a coup that toppled De Witt and brought William III to power.

In 1674, when France lost the assistance of England, which sued for peace by the Treaty of Westminster, William III received the help of Spain, the Emperor Leopold I, and the rest of the Empire. Despite these diplomatic reverses, the French continued to triumph against overwhelming opposing forces. Within a few weeks, French forces led by Louis captured all of Spanish held Franche - Comté in 1674. Despite being greatly outnumbered, Condé trounced William III's coalition army of Austrians, Spaniards and Dutchmen at the Battle of Seneffe, and prevented him from descending on Paris. Another outnumbered general, Turenne, conducted a daring and brilliant campaign in the winter of 1674 – 1675 against the Imperial armies under Raimondo Montecuccoli, driving them back across the Rhine out of Alsace, which had been invaded. Through a series of feints, marches and counter marches in 1678, Louis besieged and captured Ghent. By placing Louis in a military position far superior to his enemies, these victories brought the war to a speedy end. Six years of war had exhausted Europe, and peace negotiations were soon concluded in 1678 with the Treaty of Nijmegen. Although Louis returned all Dutch territory he captured, he retained Franche - Comté and gained more land in the Spanish Netherlands.

The conclusion of a general peace permitted Louis to intervene in the Scanian War in 1679 on behalf of his ally Sweden. He forced Brandenburg - Prussia to the peace table at the Treaty of Saint - Germain - en - Laye and imposed peace on Denmark - Norway by the Treaty of Fontainebleau and the Peace of Lund.

The successful conclusion of the Treaty of Nijmegen enhanced French influence in Europe, but Louis was still not satisfied. In 1679 he dismissed his foreign minister Simon Arnauld, marquis de Pomponne, because he was seen as having compromised too much with the allies. Louis maintained the strength of his army, but in his next series of territorial claims, Louis avoided using military force alone. Rather, he combined it with legal pretexts in his efforts to augment the boundaries of his kingdom. Contemporary treaties were intentionally phrased ambiguously. Louis established the Chambres des Réunions to determine the full extent of his rights and obligations under those treaties.

Cities and territories such as Luxembourg and Casale were prized for their strategic position on the frontier and access to important waterways. Louis also sought Strasbourg, an important strategic crossing on the Rhine through which various Imperial armies had invaded France. Although a part of Alsace, Strasbourg was not part of Habsburg ruled Alsace and was thus not ceded to France in the Peace of Westphalia. Following the determinations of the Chambres des Réunions, Louis seized these and other territories. Infuriated by his annexations, Spain declared war, precipitating the War of the Reunions. However, the Spanish were rapidly defeated because the Emperor (distracted by the Great Turkish War) abandoned them, and the Dutch only supported them minimally. By the Truce of Ratisbon in 1684, Spain was forced to acquiesce in French occupation of most of the conquered territories for 20 years. Louis's policy of the Réunions may have raised France to its greatest size and power during his reign, but it alienated much of Europe. This poor public opinion was compounded by French actions off the Barbary Coast and at Genoa. First, Louis had Algiers and Tripoli, two Barbary pirate strongholds, bombarded to obtain a favorable treaty and the liberation of Christian slaves. Next, in 1684, a punitive mission was launched against Genoa in retaliation for its support for Spain in previous wars. Although the Genoese submitted and the Doge led an official mission of apology to Versailles, France gained reputation for brutality and arrogance. European apprehension at growing French might and the realization of the extent of the dragonnades' effect (discussed below) led many states to abandon their alliance with France. Accordingly, by the late 1680s, France became increasingly isolated in Europe.

French colonies multiplied in the Americas, Asia and Africa during Louis's reign, and French explorers made important discoveries in North America. Jolliet and Marquette discovered the Mississippi River in 1673. In 1682, Cavelier de La Salle followed the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico and claimed the vast Mississippi basin in Louis's name, calling it Louisiane. French trading posts were also established in India at Chandernagore and Pondicherry, and in the Indian Ocean at Île Bourbon.

Meanwhile, diplomatic relations were initiated with distant countries. In 1669, Suleiman Aga led an Ottoman embassy, reviving the old Franco - Ottoman alliance. Then, in 1682, after the reception of the embassy of Mohammed Tenim in France, Moulay Ismail, Sultan of Morocco, allowed French consular and commercial establishments in his country. Louis once again received a Moroccan ambassador in 1699. He also received a Persian embassy led by Mohammed Reza Beg in 1715.

From further afield, Siam dispatched an embassy in 1684, reciprocated by the French magnificently the next year under Alexandre, Chevalier de Chaumont. This, in turn, was succeeded by another Siamese embassy under Kosa Pan superbly received at Versailles in 1686. Louis then sent another embassy in 1687 under Simon de la Loubère, and French influence grew at the Siamese court, which granted Mergui as a naval base to France. However, the death of Narai, King of Ayutthaya, the execution of his pro - French minister Phaulkon and the Siege of Bangkok in 1688 ended this era of French influence.

France also attempted to actively participate in Jesuit missions to China. To break the Portuguese dominance there, Louis sent five Jesuit "mathematicians" (Fontaney, Bouvet, Gerbillon, Le Comte and Visdelou) to the court of the Kangxi Emperor in 1685. Louis also received the visit of a Chinese Jesuit, Michael Shen Fu-Tsung. Furthermore, he had at his court a Chinese librarian and translator — Arcadio Huang.

By the early 1680s Louis had greatly augmented French influence in the world. Domestically, he successfully increased the Crown's influence and authority over the Church and aristocracy, thus consolidating absolute monarchy in France.

Louis initially supported traditional Gallicanism, which limited papal authority in France, and convened an Assemblée du Clergé in November 1681. Before its dissolution eight months later, the Assembly had accepted the Declaration of the Clergy of France, which increased royal authority at the expense of papal power. Without royal approval, bishops could not leave France and appeals could not be made to the Pope. Additionally, government officials could not be excommunicated for acts committed in pursuance of their duties. Although the King could make ecclesiastical law, all papal regulations without royal assent were invalid in France. Unsurprisingly, the pope repudiated the Declaration.

By attaching nobles to his court at Versailles, Louis achieved increased control over the French aristocracy. Apartments were built to house those willing to pay court to the king. However, the pensions and privileges necessary to live in a style appropriate to their rank were only possible by waiting constantly on Louis. For this purpose, an elaborate court ritual was created where the king became the center of attention and was observed throughout the day by the public. With his excellent memory, Louis could then see who attended him at court and who was absent, facilitating the subsequent distribution of favors and positions. Another tool Louis used to control his nobility was censorship which often involved the opening of letters to discern their author's opinion of the government and king. Moreover, by entertaining, impressing and domesticating them with extravagant luxury and other distractions, Louis not only cultivated public opinion of him, but also ensured the aristocracy remained under his scrutiny. This, along with the prohibition of private armies, prevented them from passing time on their own estates and in their regional power bases, from which they historically waged local wars and plotted resistance to royal authority. Louis thus compelled and seduced the old military aristocracy (the noblesse d'épée) into becoming his ceremonial courtiers, further weakening their power. In their place, Louis raised commoners or the more recently ennobled bureaucratic aristocracy (the noblesse de robe). He judged that royal authority thrived more surely by filling high executive and administrative positions with these men because they could be more easily dismissed than a grandee of ancient lineage with an entrenched influence. Explaining Louis's actions were his experiences during the Fronde, when men of high birth readily took up the rebel cause against their king and even, for some, kinsman. This victory over the nobility may have then in fact ensured the end of major civil wars in France till the Revolution about a century later.

Having been married in 1660, Louis and Maria Theresa of Spain had six children. However, only one child, the eldest, survived to adulthood: Louis, le Grand Dauphin, known as Monseigneur. Maria Theresa died in 1683, whereupon Louis remarked that she had caused him unease on no other occasion.

Despite evidence of affection early on in their marriage, Louis did not remain faithful to Maria Theresa for long. He took a series of mistresses, both official and unofficial, among them Mademoiselle de La Vallière, Madame de Montespan, and Mademoiselle de Fontanges. Through these liaisons, he produced numerous illegitimate children, most of whom he married to members of cadet branches of the royal family.

Louis proved more faithful to his second wife, Madame de Maintenon. It is believed that they were married secretly on or around 10 October 1683 at Versailles. This marriage, though never announced or publicly discussed, was an open secret and lasted until his death.

It has traditionally been suggested that Madame de Maintenon pushed Louis to persecute Protestants and revoke the Edict of Nantes, which had awarded Huguenots political and religious freedom, but this is now being questioned. Louis himself saw the persistence of Protestantism as a disgraceful reminder of royal powerlessness. After all, the Edict was Henry IV's pragmatic concession to end the longstanding Wars of Religion. Moreover, since the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, the prevailing contemporary European principle to assure socio - political stability was cuius regio, eius religio — the religion of the ruler should be the religion of the realm.

Responding to petitions, Louis initially excluded Protestants from office, constrained the meeting of synods, closed churches outside Edict - stipulated areas, banned Protestant outdoor preachers, and prohibited domestic Protestant migration. He also disallowed Protestant - Catholic intermarriages where third parties objected, encouraged missions to the Protestants and rewarded converts to Catholicism. This discrimination did not encounter much Protestant resistance; and a steady conversion of Protestants occurred, especially among the noble elites.

In 1681, Louis dramatically increased his persecution of Protestants. The principle of cuius regio, euis religio generally had also meant that subjects who refused to convert could emigrate, but Louis banned emigration and effectively insisted that all Protestants must be converted. Secondly, following René de Marillac and Louvois's proposal, he began quartering dragoons in Protestant homes. Although this was within his legal rights, the dragonnades inflicted severe financial strain on Protestants and atrocious abuse. Between 300,000 and 400,000 Huguenots converted, as this entailed financial rewards and exemption from the dragonnades.

On 15 October 1685, Louis issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, citing the redundancy of privileges for Protestants given their scarcity after the extensive conversions. The Edict of Fontainebleau revoked that of Nantes, and repealed all the privileges that arose therefrom. By his edict, therefore, Louis no longer suffered Protestant groups, pastors or churches to exist in France. No further churches were to be constructed, and those already existing were to be demolished. Pastors could choose either exile or a secular life. And those Protestants who had resisted conversion were now forcibly baptized into the established Church.

Writers have debated Louis's reasons for the Edict of Fontainebleau. He may have been seeking to placate the Pope, with whom relations were tense and whose aid was necessary to determine the succession crisis in Cologne. Or he may have acted to upstage Leopold I and regain international prestige after the latter defeated the Turks without Louis's help. Or he may simply have desired to end the remaining divisions in French society dating to the Wars of Religion by fulfilling his coronation oath to eradicate heresy.

All the same, some have condemned the Edict as gravely harmful to France. In support, they cite the approximately 200,000 Huguenots (roughly one - fourth of the Protestant population, or 1% of the French population) who defied royal decrees and fled France for various Protestant states, taking their skills with them. On the other hand, there are others who see this as an exaggeration. They argued that, notwithstanding the departure of many, most of France's preeminent Protestant businessmen and industrialists converted and remained. What is certain is that reaction to the Edict was mixed. Even while French Catholic leaders exulted, the Pope, still arguing with Louis over Gallicanism, criticized the use of violence. Protestants across Europe were horrified at the treatment of their coreligionists, but most Catholics in France applauded the move. Nonetheless, what is sure is that Louis's public image in most of Europe, especially in Protestant regions, was dealt a severe blow.

In the end, however, despite renewed tensions at the end of his reign, Louis may have helped ensure his successor would experience fewer instances of the religion - based disturbances that had plagued his forebears. French society would sufficiently change by the time of his descendant, Louis XVI, to welcome toleration in the form of the 1787 Edict of Versailles, also known as the Edict of Tolerance. This restored to non - Catholics their civil rights and the freedom to openly worship.

The War of the League of Augsburg lasted for nine years from 1688 to 1697. It had two immediate causes which pertained to French influence in the Rhineland. First, in 1685, the Elector Palatine died. All that remained of his immediate family was Louis's sister - in - law, Elizabeth Charlotte. Although ostensibly preventing her succession to the Palatinate, German law was notoriously obscure and arguments could be made in favor of Elizabeth Charlotte. In pressing her claims, Louis hoped for at least a division of the family's personal property to which the princess did have a right. Additionally, in 1688, Max Henry, Archbishop of Cologne died. The Archbishopric had traditionally been held by the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria. However, the Bavarian claimant was at that time not more than 17 years old and not even ordained. Louis sought to install in the meantime his own candidate to ensure the fidelity of this key Rhenish state.

Louis's actions during the early 1680s and his subsequent behavior regarding the succession crises bred growing concern about France. This led to the formation of the 1686 League of Augsburg by the Emperor, Spain, Sweden, Saxony, and Bavaria. The stated intention was to return France to at least the borders agreed to in the Treaty of Nijmegen. For his part, increased isolation and the Emperor's refusal to convert Ratisbon into a permanent treaty amplified Louis's fears that the Emperor would turn on France and attack the Reunions after settling his affairs in the Balkans.

Another event which Louis found threatening was the Glorious Revolution. Although James II was Catholic, his two Anglican daughters ensured the English people a Protestant succession. However, when James II's son, James Stuart, was born, he took precedence in the succession over his elder sisters. This seemed to herald an era of Catholic monarchs. Protestants lords took up arms and called on the Dutch William III of Orange, grandson of Charles I, to come to their aid. He sailed for England with troops despite Louis's warning that France would regard it as a casus belli. Witnessing numerous desertions and defections, even amongst his closest, James II fled England. Parliament declared the throne vacate. It was taken up by James's daughter Mary II and his son - in - law and nephew William III (now also of England). Vehemently anti - French, William III pushed his new kingdoms into war, thus transforming the League of Augsburg into the Grand Alliance. In 1688, however, this was as yet unsettled. Expecting the expedition to absorb William III and his allies, Louis dispatched troops to the Rhineland after his ultimatum to the German princes requiring confirmation of Ratison and acceptance of his demands about the succession crises lapsed. This military maneuver was also intended to protect his eastern provinces from Imperial invasion by depriving the enemy army of sustenance, thus explaining the pre - emptive devastation of much of southwestern Germany (the "Devastation of the Palatinate").

French armies were generally victorious throughout the war because of Imperial commitments in the Balkans, French logistical superiority, and the quality of French generals such as Condé's famous pupil, François Henri de Montmorency - Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg. His triumphs at Fleurus, Steenkerque and Neerwinden preserved northern France from invasion and earned him the nickname le tapissier de Notre - Dame for the numerous captured enemy standards he sent to decorate the Cathedral.

Although the attempt to restore James II failed at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, France accumulated a string of victories from Flanders in the north, Germany in the east, and Italy and Spain in the south, to the high seas and the colonies. Louis personally supervised the captures of Mons and of the reputedly impregnable fortress of Namur. Luxembourg gave France the defensive line of the Sambre by capturing Charleroi. France also overran most of the Duchy of Savoy after the battles of Marsaglia and Staffarde. While naval stalemate ensued after the French victory at Beachy Head and the Allied victory at Barfleur - La Hougue, the Battle of Torroella exposed Catalonia to French invasion, culminating in the capture of Barcelona. Although the Dutch captured Pondicherry, a French raid on the Spanish treasure port of Cartagena (in present day Colombia) yielded a fortune of 10 000 000 livres.

Peace was broached by Sweden in 1690. And, by 1692, both sides evidently wanted peace, and secret bilateral talks began, but to no avail. Louis tried to break up the alliance against him by dealing with individual opponents, but this did not achieve its aim till 1696 when the Savoyards agreed to the Treaty of Turin and switched sides. Thereafter, members of the League of Augsburg rushed to the peace table, and negotiations for a general peace began in earnest, culminating in the Treaty of Ryswick.

The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 ended the War of the League of Augsburg and disbanded the Grand Alliance. By manipulating their rivalries and suspicions, Louis divided his enemies and broke their power.

Louis secured permanent French sovereignty over all of Alsace, including Strasbourg, and established the Rhine as the Franco - German border to this day. Moreover, France was returned Pondicherry and Acadia, and Louis's de facto possession of Saint - Domingue was recognized as lawful. However, he had to return Catalonia and most of the Reunions. French military superiority and gains might have allowed him to press for more advantageous terms. Thus, his generosity to Spain has been read as a concession to foster pro-French sentiment and may ultimately have induced Charles II to name Louis's grandson, Philippe, duc d'Anjou, as heir. In exchange for financial compensation, France renounced its interests in the Electorate of Cologne and the Palatinate. Lorraine was returned to its duke, albeit with a right of way to the French military. William and Mary were recognized as joint sovereigns of the British Isles, and Louis withdrew support for James II. Lastly, the Dutch were given the right to garrison forts in the Spanish Netherlands which acted as a protective barrier against possible French aggression. Though the final peace may appear a diplomatic defeat for Louis, he in fact fulfilled many of the aims laid down in his 1688 ultimatum. In any case, to him, peace in 1697 was victory.

By the time of the Treaty of Ryswick, the Spanish succession had lurked on the minds of European leaders for well over forty years. Charles II ruled a vast, much prized empire, comprising Spain, Naples, Sicily, Milan, the Spanish Netherlands and numerous colonies. But the ever sickly man could produce no children and consequently, had no direct heirs.

The main claimants to the throne of Spain were French and Austrian and closely linked to Charles II. The French claim was derived from Anne of Austria (Philip III of Spain's eldest daughter) and Marie - Thérèse (Philip IV's eldest daughter). Based on the laws of primogeniture, France had the better claim as it originated from eldest daughters in each generation. However, the princesses’ renunciations to the throne complicated matters; nevertheless, Marie - Thérèse's renunciation was considered null and void owing to Spain's breach of the marriage agreement. In contrast, no renunciation tainted the claims of Charles, Archduke of Austria. However, he was only descended from Philip III's youngest daughter, Maria Anna, and so, had an inferior claim if judged solely on traditional rules. The English and Dutch feared that a French or Austrian born Spanish king would threaten the balance of power and thus preferred the Bavarian Joseph Ferdinand. He was Leopold I's grandson through his first wife Margaret Theresa of Spain (Philip IV's younger daughter).

In an attempt to avoid war, Louis signed the First Partition Treaty of 1698 with William III. This divided Spain's Italian territories between le Grand Dauphin and the Archduke, awarding the rest of the empire to Joseph Ferdinand. William III consented to the Dauphin's new territories becoming part of France when the latter succeeded to his father's throne. The signatories, however, omitted to consult the ruler of these lands, and Charles II was passionately against his empire's dismemberment. In 1699, he reiterated his 1693 will which named Joseph Ferdinand as his sole successor.

Six months later, Joseph Ferdinand died. Therefore, in 1700, Louis and William III again concluded a Partition Treaty. This allocated Spain, the Low Countries and colonies to the Archduke. The Dauphin would receive all Spain's Italian territories. Charles II acknowledged that his empire could only remain undivided by bequeathing it entirely to a Frenchman or an Austrian. Under pressure from his German wife, Maria Anna of Neuburg, Charles II then named the Archduke Charles as sole heir.

On his deathbed in 1700, Charles II unexpectedly changed his will. Past French military superiority, the pro - French faction and even Pope Innocent XII convinced him that France was more likely to preserve his empire intact. He thus offered the Dauphin's second son, Philip, Duke of Anjou, the entire empire, provided it remained undivided. Anjou was not in the direct line of French succession, thus his accession would not cause a Franco - Spanish union. If Anjou refused, the throne would be offered to his younger brother, Charles de France, after which, to the Archduke Charles, and lastly, to the distantly related House of Savoy.

Louis was confronted with a difficult choice. He could agree to the partition and hopefully avoid a general war, or accept Charles II's will and alienate much of Europe. Initially, Louis may have inclined towards abiding by the partition treaties. However, the Dauphin's insistence persuaded Louis otherwise. Moreover, Jean - Baptiste Colbert, marquis de Torcy pointed out that war with the Emperor would almost certainly ensue even if Louis only accepted part of the Spanish inheritance. He emphasized William III's reluctance to assist France in war because he "made a treaty to avoid war and did not intend to go to war to implement the treaty". If war was bound to happen, it might be preferable to be in control of the disputed lands. Eventually, therefore, Louis decided to accept Charles II's will. Philippe, duc d'Anjou, thus became Philip V, king of Spain.

Most European rulers accepted Philip as King of Spain, though some only reluctantly. Depending on one's views of the war as inevitable or not, Louis acted reasonably or arrogantly. He confirmed that Philip V retained his French rights despite his new Spanish position. Admittedly, he may only have been hypothesizing a theoretical eventuality and not attempting a Franco - Spanish union. But his actions were certainly not read as being innocent. Moreover, Louis also sent troops to the Spanish Netherlands, evicting Dutch garrisons and securing Dutch recognition of Philip V. In 1701, he transferred the asiento to France, alienating English traders. As tensions mounted, Louis decided to acknowledge James Stuart, James II's son, as king on the latter's death, infuriating William III. These actions enraged Britain and the United Provinces. Consequently, with the Emperor and the petty German states, they formed another Grand Alliance, declaring war on France in 1702. French diplomacy, however, secured Bavaria, Portugal and Savoy as Franco - Spanish allies.

Even before war was officially declared, hostilities had commenced with Imperial aggression in Italy. When finally declared, the War of the Spanish Succession would last almost till Louis's death, and proved costly for him and France.

It began with French successes, however, the joint talents of Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy checked these victories and broke the myth of French invincibility. The duo allowed the Palatinate and Austria to occupy Bavaria after their victory at Blenheim. Maximilian II Emanuel had to flee to the Spanish Netherlands. This victory also won the support of Portugal and Savoy. Later, the Battle of Ramillies delivered the Low Countries up to the Allies, and the Battle of Turin forced Louis to evacuate Italy, leaving it open to Allied forces. Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy met again at the Battle of Oudenarde which allowed them to commence an invasion of France.

Defeats, famine, and mounting debt greatly weakened France. In particular, two massive famines struck France between 1693 and 1710, killing over two million people. In both cases, the impact of harvest failure was exacerbated by wartime demands on the food supply. In his desperation, Louis XIV even ordered a disastrous invasion of Guernsey in the autumn of 1704 with the aim of raiding their successful harvest. By the winter of 1708 – 1709, Louis became willing to accept peace at nearly any cost. He agreed that the entire Spanish empire should be surrendered to the Archduke, and also consented to return to the frontiers of the Peace of Westphalia, giving up all he had worked for over sixty years of his reign. However, he could not speak for his grandson and could not promise that Philip V would accept these terms. Accordingly, the Allies demanded that Louis should single - handedly attack his own grandson to force these terms on him. This, Louis could not do, and the work continued.

The War had shown that, just as surely as France could not retain the entire Spanish inheritance, so the Allies could not maintain the Archduke in Spain. They were definitively expelled from central Spain by the Franco - Spanish victories at Almansa, Villaviciosa and Brihuega. Moreover, French forces remained obdurate despite their defeats. The Allies suffered a Pyrrhic victory at Malplaquet with 21,000 casualties, double that of the French. Eventually, France recovered its military pride with the decisive victory at Denain.

Furthermore, the position in Austria had changed. In 1705, Leopold I died. His elder son and successor, Joseph I, followed him in 1711. The Archduke Charles subsequently inherited his brother's Austrian lands. If the Spanish empire then fell to him, it would have resurrected a domain as vast as that of Charles V. To the Maritime Powers, this was as undesirable as the feared Franco - Spanish union.

Accordingly, Anglo - French talks began, culminating in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 between France, Spain, Britain, and the Dutch. In 1714, after losing Landau and Freiburg, the Emperor and Empire also made peace with France in the Treaty of Rastatt and that of Baden.

By the general settlement, Philip V retained Spain and the colonies, Austria received the Low Countries and divided Spanish Italy with Savoy, and Britain kept Gibraltar and Minorca. Louis agreed to withdraw his support for James Stuart, and ceded Newfoundland, Rupert's Land, and Acadia in the Americas to Britain. Admittedly, Britain gained the most from the Treaty, but the final terms were very much more favorable to France than those of 1709 and 1710. France retained Île - Saint - Jean and Île Royale, and notwithstanding Allied intransigence, was returned most of the captured Continental lands, largely preserving its antebellum frontiers. Louis even acquired additional territory, such as the Principality of Orange, and the Ubaye Valley, which covered transalpine passes into Italy. Moreover, thanks to Louis, his allies, the Electors of Bavaria and of Cologne, were rehabilitated to their pre-war status and returned their lands.

After a reign of 72 years, Louis died of gangrene at Versailles on 1 September 1715, four days before his 77th birthday. Reciting the psalm Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina (O Lord, make haste to help me), Louis "yielded up his soul without any effort, like a candle going out". His body lies in Saint - Denis Basilica, outside Paris.

The Dauphin had predeceased Louis in 1711, leaving three children: Louis, Duke of Burgundy; Philip V of Spain; and Charles, Duke of Berry. The eldest, Burgundy, followed in 1712, and was himself soon followed by his elder son, Louis, Duke of Brittany. Thus, on Louis XIV's deathbed, his heir was his five - year - old great - grandson, Louis, Duke of Anjou, Burgundy's youngest son, and Dauphin after the deaths in short succession of his grandfather, father and elder brother.

Louis foresaw a minority and sought to restrict the power of his nephew, Philippe d'Orléans, who as closest surviving legitimate relative in France would become the prospective Louis XV's regent. Accordingly, he created a regency council as Louis XIII did in anticipation of his own minority with some power vested in his illegitimate son, Louis Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine.

Orléans, however, had Louis's will annulled by the Parlement de Paris after his death and made himself sole regent. He stripped Maine and his brother, Louis - Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse, of the rank of "prince of the blood", which Louis had given them, and significantly reduced Maine's power and privileges.

According to Philippe de Dangeau's Journal, Louis on his deathbed advised his heir:

"Do not follow the bad example which I have set you; I have often undertaken war too lightly and have sustained it for vanity. Do not imitate me, but be a peaceful prince, and may you apply yourself principally to the alleviation of the burdens of your subjects".

Some historians point out that exaggerating one's sins was a customary demonstration of piety in those days. Accordingly, in assessing him, they do not place much emphasis on Louis's deathbed declarations. Rather, they focus on his success in placing a French prince on the Spanish throne. This, they contend, ended the threat of an aggressive Spain which historically interfered in domestic French politics. These historians also emphasise the effect of Louis's wars in expanding France and creating more defensible frontiers, preserving France from invasion until the Revolution. Arguably, Louis also indirectly applied himself to "the alleviation of the burdens of [his] subjects". For example, Louis patronised the arts, encouraged industry, fostered trade and commerce, and sponsored the founding of an overseas empire. Moreover, the significant reduction in civil wars and aristocratic rebellions are seen by these historians as the result of Louis's consolidation of royal authority over feudal elites. In their opinion, his early reforms centralized France and marked the birth of the modern State. They regard the political and military victories as well as numerous cultural achievements as the means by which Louis helped raise France to Europe's pre-eminent position. Such was the case that France served as an example of political organisation for much of Europe during the Enlightenment. Europe came to admire France for its successes, power and sophistication. And Europeans began to emulate French manners, values, goods and way - of - life. French even became the lingua franca of the European elite.

Louis's detractors have argued that his considerable foreign, military and domestic expenditure impoverished and bankrupted France. However, his supporters distinguish the State, which was impoverished, from France, which was not. As evidence in support, they cite the literature of the time, such as the social commentary, Lettres Persanes by Montesquieu.

Alternatively, Louis's critics attribute the social upheaval culminating in the Revolution to his failure to reform French institutions while the monarchy was still secure. But, other scholars opine that there was little reason to reform institutions which largely worked well under him. They also maintain that events occurring almost eighty years after his death were not reasonably foreseeable to Louis and that in any case his successors had sufficient time to initiate reforms of their own.

Louis has often been criticised for his vanity. Saint - Simon, who claimed that Louis slighted him, criticised him thus:

"There was nothing he liked so much as flattery, or, to put it more plainly, adulation; the coarser and clumsier it was, the more he relished it".

For his part, Voltaire saw Louis's vanity as the cause for his bellicosity:

"It is certain that he passionately wanted glory, rather than the conquests themselves. In the acquisition of Alsace and half of Flanders, and of all of Franche - Comté, what he really liked was the name he made for himself."

But, Louis has also received praise. The anti - Bourbon Napoleon described him not only as "a great king", but also as "the only King of France worthy of the name". Leibniz, the German Protestant philosopher, commended him as "one of the greatest kings that ever was". And Lord Acton admired him as "by far the ablest man who was born in modern times on the steps of a throne". Finally, Voltaire also dubbed his reign "an eternally memorable age", calling it "le Grand Siècle" (the "Great Century").

Few rulers in world history have commemorated themselves in as grand a manner as Louis. Louis used the arts and court ritual to demonstrate, augment and maintain his control over France. With his support, Colbert established from the beginning of Louis's personal reign a centralized and institutionalized system for creating and perpetuating the royal image. The King was thus portrayed largely in majesty or at war, notably against Spain. This portrayal of the monarch was to be found in numerous media of artistic expression, such as painting, sculpture, theatre, dance, music and the almanacs which diffused royal propaganda to the population at large.

Over his lifetime, Louis commissioned numerous works of art to portray himself, amongst which are over 300 formal portraits. The earliest portrayals of Louis already followed the pictorial conventions of the day in depicting the child king as the majestically royal incarnation of France. This idealisation of the monarch continued in later works. These avoided depicting any trace of smallpox, which Louis suffered in 1647. Moreover, by the 1660s, Louis began to be shown as a Roman emperor, Apollo, or Alexander, as may be seen in many of Le Brun's works such as sculpture, paintings and the decor in major monuments.

The depiction of the King in this manner focused on the allegorical or the mythological, instead of attempting to produce true likenesses. As Louis aged, so too did his likenesses in portraits. However, the conflict between representing him realistically and representing him in the manner required by royal propaganda continued and was demonstrated in Rigaud's Portrait of Louis XIV of 1701 where a 63 year old Louis appears to stand on a set of unnaturally young legs.

Indeed, Rigaud's portrait exemplified the height of royal portraiture in Louis's reign. Although Rigaud made a credible likeness of Louis, the portrait was neither meant as an exercise in realism nor to explore Louis's personal character. Certainly, Rigaud was concerned with detail and depicted the King's costume with great precision, down to his shoe buckle. However, Rigaud's intention was to glorify the monarchy. Rigaud's original, now housed in the Louvre, was originally meant as a gift to Louis's grandson, Philip V of Spain. However, Louis was so pleased with the work that he kept the original and commissioned a copy to be sent to his grandson. That became the first of many copies, both in full and half - length formats, to be made by Rigaud, often with the help of his assistants. The portrait also became a model for French royal and imperial portraiture down to the time of Charles X, over a century later. In his work, Rigaud proclaims Louis's exalted royal status through his elegant stance and haughty expression, the royal regalia and throne, rich ceremonial fleur - de - lys robes, as well as the upright column in the background, which, together with the draperies, serves to frame this image of majesty.

In addition to these portraits, Louis also commissioned at least twenty statues of himself in the 1680s to stand in Paris and in provincial towns as physical manifestations of himself to his people. He also commissioned "war artists" to follow him on campaign to document his military triumphs. To remind the people of these triumphs, Louis erected in Paris and the provinces permanent triumphal arches for the first time since the decline of the Roman Empire. Louis's reign also marked the birth and infancy of the art of medallions. Sixteenth century rulers had often issued medals to commemorate the major events of their reigns. Louis, however, struck more than 300, celebrating the story of the King in bronze to be enshrined in thousands of households. He also used tapestries as a main medium of exalting the monarchy. Tapestries were either allegorical, depicting the elements or seasons, or realist, portraying royal residences or historical events. They were amongst the most significant means of royal propaganda prior to the construction of the Hall of Mirrors (French: la Galerie des Glaces) at Versailles.

It was at his great palace, with its gardens, architecture, interior design and works of art, that Louis sought to visually represent the absolute power of the monarchy. The Hall of Mirrors became the setting for court events and became the most prestigious part of the vast complex. Under the King's close supervision, Le Brun finalised the decoration of the Hall of Mirrors, which retraced the important accomplishments of Louis's reign, such as his accession or the War of Devolution. Decorative arches emphasize the significant events during the Dutch War. These decorations were intended to depict Louis's grandeur and understandably omit any mention of French losses and defeats suffered as well as the subsequent diplomatic isolation of France.

Louis loved ballet and frequently danced in court ballets during the early half of his reign. In general, Louis was an eager dancer, performing 80 roles in 40 major ballets. This approaches the career of a professional ballet dancer. His choices were strategic and varied. He danced four parts in three of Molière's comédies - ballets — plays accompanied by music and dance. Louis played an Egyptian in Le Mariage forcé in 1664, a Moorish gentleman in Le Sicilien in 1667, and both Neptune and Apollo in Les Amants magnifiques in 1670.

Thus, he sometimes danced leading roles which were suitably royal or godlike (such as Neptune, Apollo or the Sun). At other times, he would adopt mundane roles before appearing at the end in the lead role. It is considered that, at all times, he provided his roles with sufficient majesty and drew the limelight with his flair for dancing. The sheer number of performances and diversity of roles may serve to indicate a deeper understanding and interest in the art form. Ballet may thus not have merely been a tool for manipulation in his propaganda machinery. Perhaps, Louis was indeed passionate about the art and its progress. Regardless, it is clear Louis combined business with art in a mutually beneficial way. Through his work, Louis developed the original concept of balletic grandeur we see today.

It bears mention that performances at court and in Paris differed substantially. Performances at court were often accompanied by suitably majestic music, especially for those ballets danced by the King. Moreover, the lyrics usually conveyed royal power and benevolence as the patron of the arts. On the other hand, parts played by the King no longer stood out from those of other performers when performed in Paris. In fact, the plays which most overtly promoted Louis's royal image were not performed at all outside of court. This testifies to Molière's readiness to adapt his plays according to the venue and the audience.

Besides the official depiction and image of Louis, his subjects also followed a non - official discourse, consisting mainly of clandestine publications, popular songs and rumors. This provided an alternative interpretation of the King and his government. They often focussed on the miseries arising from poor government, but also carried the hope for a better future in the event the King escaped the malignant influence of his ministers and mistresses and took the government into his own hands. On the other hand, petitions addressed either directly to Louis or to his ministers exploited the traditional imagery and language of monarchy. These varying interpretations of Louis abounded in self - contradictions that reflected the people's amalgamation of their everyday experiences with the idea of monarchy.

Louis was a pious and devout king who saw himself as the head and protector of the Gallican Church, Louis made his devotions daily regardless of where he was, following the liturgical calendar regularly. Towards the middle and the end of his reign, the center for the King's religious observances was usually the Chapelle Royale at Versailles. Ostentation was a distinguishing feature of daily Mass, annual celebrations, such as those of Holy Week, and special ceremonies. Louis established the Paris Foreign Missions Society, but his informal alliance with the Ottoman Empire was criticised for undermining Christendom.

There is no proof that he ever said "L'État, c'est moi" ("I am the state"). Although historians agree that broad decision making was restricted to Louis and a small circle of advisers, a careful analysis of how the French monarchy functioned in Louis's day will demonstrate numerous qualifications to the conception of Absolutism as one - dimensional autocratic tyranny. In any case, legal documents clearly distinguished between the monarch as a person and his kingdom. In support of this latter interpretation of facts, Louis is recorded by numerous eyewitnesses as having said on his deathbed: "Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours." ("I depart, but the State shall always remain.")

Louis's formal style was "Louis XIV, par la grâce de Dieu, roi de France et de Navarre", or "Louis XIV, by the Grace of God, King of France and of Navarre". His arms were Azure three fleurs - de - lis Or (for France) impaling Gules on a chain in cross saltire and orle Or an emerald Proper (for Navarre).

On 5 April 1693, Louis also founded the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis (French: Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint - Louis), a military Order of Chivalry. He named it after Louis IX and intended it as a reward for outstanding officers. It is notable as the first decoration that could be granted to non - nobles and is roughly the forerunner of the Légion d'honneur, with which it shares the red ribbon (though the Légion d'honneur is awarded to military personnel and civilians alike).

Colbert's market reforms included the foundation of the Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs in 1665 to supplant the importation of Venetian glass (forbidden in 1672, as soon as French glass manufacturing industry was on sound footing) and to encourage the technical expertise of Flemish cloth manufacturing in France. He also founded royal tapestry works at Gobelins and supported those at Beauvais. Colbert worked to develop the domestic economy by raising tariffs and by encouraging major public works projects. Colbert also worked to ensure that the French East India Company had access to foreign markets, so that they could always obtain coffee, cotton, dyewoods, fur, pepper and sugar. In addition, Colbert founded the French merchant marine.

Colbert issued more than 150 edicts to regulate the guilds. One such law had the intention of improving the quality of cloth. The edict declared that if the authorities found a merchant's cloth unsatisfactory on three separate occasions, they were to tie him to a post with the cloth attached to him.

Colbert's father and grandfather operated as merchants in his birthplace of Reims, France. He claimed to have Scottish ancestry. A general (but unconfirmed) belief exists that he spent his early youth at a Jesuit college, working for a Parisian banker; as well as working for the father of Jean Chapelain. Before the age of 20, Colbert had a post in the war office; a position generally attributed to the marriage of an uncle to the sister of Secretary of War Michel le Tellier. Colbert spent some time as an inspector of troops, eventually becoming the personal secretary of Le Tellier. In 1647, through unknown means, Colbert acquired the confiscated goods of an uncle, Pussort. In 1648, he and his wife Marie Charron, received 40,000 crowns from an unknown source; and in 1649 Colbert became the councilor of state (Political minister).

Colbert was recommended to King Louis XIV by Mazarin. While Cardinal Mazarin was in exile, Louis' trust in Colbert grew. In 1652 Colbert was asked to manage the affairs of the Cardinal while he was away. This new responsibility would detach Colbert from his other responsibility as commissaire des guerres. Although Colbert was not a supporter of Mazarin in principle, he would defend the cardinal's interests with unflagging devotion.

Colbert's earliest recorded attempt at tax reform came in the form of a mémoire to Mazarin, showing that of the taxes paid by the people, not one - half reached the King. The paper also contained an attack upon the Superintendent Fouquet. The postmaster of Paris, a spy of Fouquet's, read the letter, leading to a dispute which Mazarin attempted to suppress.

In 1661, Mazarin died and Colbert "made sure of the King's favor" by revealing the location of some of Mazarin's hidden wealth. In January 1664 Colbert became the Superintendent of buildings; in 1665 he became Controller - General of Finances; in 1669, he became Secretary of State of the Navy; he also gained appointments as minister of commerce, of the colonies and of the palace. In short, Colbert acquired power in every department except that of war.

A great financial and fiscal reform at once claimed all his energies. Not only the nobility, but many others who had no legal claim to exemption, paid no taxes; the bulk of the burden fell on the wretched country folk. Supported by the young king Louis XIV, Colbert aimed the first blow at the man accused of being the greatest of the royal embezzlers, the superintendent Nicolas Fouquet. Fouquet's fall, it should be noted, simultaneously secured Colbert's own advancement.

With the abolition of the office of superintendent and of many other offices dependent upon it, the supreme control of the finances became vested in a royal council. The sovereign functioned as its president; but Colbert, though for four years he possessed the title only of intendant, operated as its ruling spirit, having had great personal authority conferred upon him by the king. One must not judge the career on which Colbert now entered without remembering the corruption of the previous financial administration. His ruthlessness in this case, dangerous precedent though it gave, seemed perhaps necessary; the council could not respect individual interests. When he had severely punished guilty officials, he turned his attention to the fraudulent creditors of the government. Colbert had a simple method of operation. He repudiated some of the public loans and cut off from others a percentage, which varied, at first according to his own decision, and afterwards according to that of the council that he established to examine all claims against the state.

Much more serious difficulties met his attempts to introduce equality in the pressure of the taxes on the various classes. To diminish the number of the privileged proved impossible, but Colbert firmly resisted false claims for exemption, and lightened the unjust direct taxation by increasing the indirect taxes, from which the privileged could not escape. At the same time he immensely improved the mode of collection on his own.

Having thus introduced a measure of order and economy into the workings of the government, Colbert now called for the enrichment of the country by commerce. The state, through Colbert's dirigiste policies, fostered manufacturing enterprises in a wide variety of fields. The authorities established new industries, protected inventors, invited in workmen from foreign countries, and prohibited French workmen from emigrating. To maintain the character of French goods in foreign markets, as well as to afford a guarantee to the home consumer, Colbert had the quality and measure of each article fixed by law, punishing breaches of the regulations by public exposure of the delinquent and by destruction of the goods concerned, and, on the third offense, by the pillory. But whatever advantage resulted from this rule, the disadvantages it entailed more than outweighed them. Colbert prohibited the production of qualities which would have suited many purposes of consumption, and the odious supervision which became necessary involved great waste of time and a stereotyped regularity which resisted all improvements. Other parts of Colbert's schemes have met with less equivocal condemnation. By his firm maintenance of the corporation system, each industry remained in the hands of certain privileged bourgeois; in this way, too, the system greatly discouraged improvement; while the lower classes found opportunities of advancement closed. With regard to international commerce Colbert suffered equally from lack of foresight: the tariffs he devised protected commerce to an extreme, and under his tutelage enforcement of trade and quality restrictions was draconian. He did, however, wisely consult the interests of internal commerce. Unable to abolish the duties on the passage of goods from province to province, he did what he could to induce the provinces to equalize them. Currency exchange rates still remained between these provinces despite a policy focusing on the unification of French trade. His régime improved roads and canals. Pierre Paul Riquet (1604 – 1680) planned and constructed the Canal du Midi under Colbert's patronage. To encourage overseas trade with the Levant, Senegal, Guinea and other places, Colbert granted privileges to companies, but, like the noted French East India Company, all proved unsuccessful. The narrowness and rigidity of the government regulations significantly contributed to this collapse, as well as the failure of the colonies, upon which Colbert had bestowed a great deal of energy and political capital.

Even ecclesiastical affairs, though with these he had no official concern, did not altogether escape Colbert's attention. He took a subordinate part in the struggle between the king and the papacy as to the royal rights over vacant bishoprics; and he seems to have sympathized with the proposal that suggested seizing part of the wealth of the clergy. In his hatred of idleness he ventured to suppress no less than seventeen fêtes, and he had a project for lessening the number of persons devoted to clerical and monastic life, by fixing the age for taking the vows some years later than the then customary time. He showed himself at first unwilling to interfere with heresy, for he realised the commercial value of the Huguenots (French Protestants), who were well represented among the merchant classes; but when the king resolved to make all France Roman Catholic, he followed him and urged his subordinates to do all that they could to promote conversions.

Colbert took much interest in art and literature. He possessed a remarkably fine private library, which he delighted to fill with valuable manuscripts from every part of Europe and the Near East where France had placed a consul. He employed Pierre de Carcavi and Étienne Baluze as librarians. Colbert's grandson sold the manuscript collection in 1732 to the Bibliothèque Royale. Colbert has the honor of having founded the Academy of Sciences (now part of the Institut de France), the Paris Observatory, which he employed Claude Perrault to build and brought Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1625 – 1712) from Italy to superintend, the Academies of Inscriptions and Medals, of Architecture and of Music, the French Academy at Rome, and Academies at Arles, Soissons, Nîmes and many other towns. He reorganized the Academy of Painting and Sculpture which Mazarin had established. Wishing to increase the prestige of the image of France and the French royal family, Colbert played an active role in bringing the great Italian architect - sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, to Paris (June – October 1665), in order to design the new East Facade of the Louvre and sculpt a marble portrait bust of Louis XIV. This was quite an international diplomatic - artistic coup because Bernini, who had never left Rome or its vicinity, was personal architect to the pope, whom Louis was attempting to humiliate. However the relations between the two strong willed men, Colbert and Bernini, proved melodramatically stormy and Colbert ultimately rejected Bernini's Louvre design, though the Italian artist's bust of the king (housed today in the Versailles palace) won Louis's appreciation. Colbert himself became a member of the Académie française; and proposed one very characteristic rule with the intention of expediting the great Dictionary, in which he had a great interest: no one could count as present at any meeting unless he arrived before the hour of commencement and remained till the hour for leaving. In 1673 Colbert presided over the first exhibition of the works of living painters; and he enriched the Louvre with hundreds of pictures and statues. He gave many pensions to men of letters, among whom we find Molière, Corneille, Racine, Boileau, P D Huet (1630 – 1721) and Antoine Varillas (1626 – 1696); and even foreigners, as Huygens, Carlo Dati the Dellacruscan. Evidence exists to show that by this munificence he hoped to draw out praises of his sovereign and himself; but this motive certainly does not account for all the splendid, if in some cases specious, services that he rendered to literature, science and art.

Colbert worked incessantly hard until his final hours. Work was his religion; he once pondered whether it was better to rise early and work or retire very late and work. He concluded that rising early and retiring late would be the ideal combination. But towards the end of his life he suffered from stomach aches, which caused him much distress. He was reduced to eating moist bread dipped in chicken broth for his meals. By 64 he was bedridden and shortly after his birthday he died. The surgeons who examined him found that he had been suffering from kidney stones. A huge stone was found in his urinary tract, which would explain why he was in such writhing agony.

In 1657, he purchased the Barony of Seignelay.

Of his children, Jean - Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de Seignelay followed his father as Secretary of State of the Navy while Jacques - Nicolas Colbert was Archbishop of Rouen.

His policies inspired those of Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary of the United States.

• Six ships of the French Navy bore his name:
  • A steam corvette in 1848
  • A battleship in 1875
  • A cargo ship in 1914
  • A dundee in 1916
  • A French heavy cruiser, launched 1928
  • A French missile cruiser, launched 1956

• "It is simply, and solely, the abundance of money within a state [which] makes the difference in its grandeur and power."
• "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing"