Who was King Louis XIV, how long did he rule France for and when was the Palace of Versailles built?
LOUIS XIV was the King of France who tyrannically governed his empire from 1643-1715.
The extravagant monarch, who vowed to rule with absolute power, is one of the longest serving rulers in history and is now the star of a saucy BBC drama Versailles.
Who was King Louis XIV?
Louis XIV, who is also known as the Sun King, is one of the most well-known figures in European history.
The ruler considered himself an “absolute monarch”, as he believed in the Divine Right of Kings.
Followers of this doctrine were adamant that the royal family had been selected by God and therefore must be completely obeyed.
Louis XIV’s reign is remembered as a golden age of art and literature.
The King was a patron of all things cultural, providing protection for some of the most famous French writers of all time, including Moliere, Racine and La Fontaine.
He also encouraged the work of artists including Charles Le Brun and Pierre Mingard and composers such as Lully and Couperin.
Another of King Louis XIV’s major interests was ballet, and he founded both the Académie Royale de Danse and the Académie d’Opéra in the mid-seventeenth century.
When was King Louis XIV’s reign?
In 1643, the absolutist French monarch took the crown when he was just four-years-old.
Until King Louis came of age, his mother Anne and godfather Cardinal Jules Mazarin served as regent and chief minister.
When he turned 15, the teen was coronated in 1654, before gaining complete control of the nation when his Mazarin passed away seven years later.
After an extensive 72 years and 100 days on the throne, he died at the Palace of Versailles.
As if history was repeating itself, his five-year-old grandson was the next to be appointed as King.
The scandal of the royal palace is the focus of BBC Two drama Versailles
What noteworthy historical events happened in Louis XIV’s reign?
Louis XIV is responsible for building the extravagant Palace of Versailles, a 700-room palace that housed the nobility and the royal court.
The ostentatious location, which lies 13 miles outside of Paris, soon became the grandest building in Europe and one of the biggest centres of power.
Understandably, with this influence soon came conflict.
The King pushed an aggressive foreign policy and was not shy in dragging his country into war.
After attempting to seize the Spanish Netherlands during his early reign, the absolutist also settled in a Native American territory, which he re-named Louisiana after himself.
Conflicts that sprung up during Louis XIV’s reign include the War of the Spanish Succession and the Franco-Dutch War.
One of the biggest points of contention during the Sun King’s rule was when he repealed the Edict of Nantes in 1685.
The proclamation, which was issued by his grandfather almost a century before, allowed Protestants to practice their religion freely.
To the contempt of other European nations, Louis XIV demanded that everyone was educated in the Catholic faith and annulled every wedding carried out by the Church of England.
Why was King Louis XIV’s rule so scandalous and how many affairs did he have?
King Louis XIV wed his cousin Maria Theresa of Spain in 1660 – when marrying a member of your family was not unusual.
In fact, the real scandal was the King’s love of women.
He fathered more than a dozen illegitimate children with countless different mistresses, including Henrietta of England, his own brother’s wife.
The blasé Sun King enjoyed some very public affairs, including one with Marie Mancini between 1657 to 1660.
His next mistress with Louise de la Valliere, who mothered four of his illegitimate children.
Following the death of Marie Theresa, the tyrant then wed Francoise in secret, the widow of poet Paul Scarron.
Louis XIV’s third major mistress was Athenais de Montespan, with whom he had seven children – more than either of his wives.
When is Versailles on TV?
Season three of the BBC drama kicked off on Monday 4 June, 2018.
You can also catch up with each episode afterwards on BBC iPlayer, or download them on iTunes.