The Life of King Louis XIV - Part 1 - The CHILDHOOD years

This video is the first one in a five-part series on the life of Louis XIV. In this video, I will discuss the matter of his conception, his birth and the childhood years of Louis XIV. In the year 1615, Louis XIII of France married Anna of Austria. Relations between the two spouses were poor and Louis' preference for men made him neglect his marital duties. In addition, Louis XIII had become convinced that his wife was purposefully sabotaging the production of an heir in order to please her brother, Philippe IV. Thanks to the mediation efforts by Cardinal de Richelieu, the relationship between the two spouses improved. The story goes that the king was near the residence of the Queen in Paris on December 5, 1637, when a sudden thunderstorm broke out. He is said to have gone to the Louvre for shelter and ended up spending the night with his wife. Whether the conception of Louis XIV really happened this way is doubted because, according to Louis XIII's personal physician, Louis XIV was conceived in the week between the 23rd and the 30th of November, 1637. Because the birth of an heir to the throne had been awaited for so long, expectations were now extremely high. When Anna of Austria was finally pregnant in 1638, many prayed for a safe delivery of the child. Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638, and he was given the nickname Dieu Donné, which means given by God. His birth gave rise to great festivities in the streets of Paris. As was customary at the time, the care for the newborn Louis was entrusted to a nurse. Two years after his birth, Louis' little brother Philippe was born. Sadly, the health of King Louis XIII deteriorated rapidly after the birth of his second son. On his deathbed, the king drew up his will regarding the future of the kingdom. His wife was to become regent and a regency council was to be set up, in which, among others, Gaston d'Orléans, brother of Louis XIII and Cardinal Jules Mazarin, were seated. Louis XIII died on May 14, 1643. Four days later, his son, Louis XIV, left for Paris with his mother to be introduced to the Parliament of Paris as the new king. However, Parliament rejected the will of Louis XIII on establishing a regency council and transferred absolute and complete power to the Queen, Anne of Austria, who now officially became After she was appointed regent, Anne of Austria chose Cardinal Mazarin to serve as her prime minister. They jointly determined French politics during the early years of Louis' minority as king. Mazarin became heavily involved in the education of the young king. He appointed the boy's tutors and had the child attend the Council of Ministers to gain experience. He personally educated Louis in matters of diplomacy and the importance of alliances. The cardinal's views of art also influenced the young king. Louis' personal chamberlain taught him French history. Thanks to the efforts of the chamberlain, the young Louis learned about his ancestor, Louis IX, in whose footsteps he wanted to follow. At a young age, Louis practiced warfare in the gardens of the castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye with a toy castle which was made especially for him. His mother also influenced the education of Louis, especially in religious and political matters. From an early age, she instilled in him the idea that a king's power should be absolute, a philosophy which Louis would carry with him his entire life. Louis learned Spanish and Italian. His Latin was only moderately spoken. Louis' knowledge of geography, on the other hand, was extraordinarily good. The Thirty Years' War, which France had been involved in since 1635, was a considerable expense for the French treasury. Mazarin raised new taxes, hoping to make up for the shortcomings of the treasury. As a result of doing so, the provincial courts turned against the cardinal. The Parliament of Paris refused to legalize the new taxes. Dissatisfied with previously increased taxes, the people were now about to revolt. However, the victory of the very popular Louis II of Bourbon-Condé in the Battle of Lens created a positive atmosphere in the capital, and Mazarin saw his chance to act. He allowed some of the military regiments into the city of Paris with the intention of having the parliamentary leaders arrested. The city revolted and the civil war that came to be known as La Fronde broke out. When the Grand Condé's army started to warch towards the city, Mazarin managed to reach an agreement with Parliament to prevent worse. Because of the revolt, Louis and his family had hastily left the capital on January 6, 1649, to retreat to the castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The revolt left a deep impression on Louis. It installed the feeling in him that it was not wise for a king to live in the middle of a city. This event was one of the key moments which led Louis XIV to move his entire court to Versailles at a later date. The royal family returned to the capital on August 19, 1649. The Duc de Condé preyed on Mazarin's position and therefore launched a major smear campaign against the Prime Minister. On January 18, 1650, de Condé was subsequently arrested by order of the Queen-Regent. In reaction to the arrest, the people of Paris revolted again and the troops of the other French nobles marched against the capital to free the Duc de Condé. Ultimately, Mazarin was forced to release de Condé. After his release, the French nobles who fought against Mazarin decided not to form a common front and Mazarin was able to benefit from this by convincing some of them to change sides. In 1652, Anne of Austria had her 14-year-old son Louis declared of age. However, the Duc de Condé continued to fight against the royal army and the citizens of Paris were now faced with the choice between supporting their god-given king or a presumptuous fighting prince with an army of mercenaries. The Grand Condé did not win this comparison and therefore had to leave Paris. Upon request of Mazarin, Louis XIV convened the Parliament of Paris and issued a number of decrees. Some of them reversed previously parliamentary decisions. As of now, the members of Parliament were explicitly forbidden to interfere any longer in the king's affairs. In addition, their right of opposition was limited, which severely reduced the power of Parliament. Louis XIV made his court debut at the age of 14 by performing in five of the 45 dances in the Ballet de la Nuit, a ballet commemorating the victory over the Frondeurs. The premiere took place on February 23, 1653, at the Hotel du Petit Bourbon in Paris, and the 14-hour ballet was repeated on six days in February and March. In the last act, Louis XIV appeared as the sun-god Apollo in a golden suit. He emerged from a shutter and thus depicted the rising sun. Other nobles danced around him like planets revolving around the sun. This role earned him the nickname the Sun King. This concludes the first part of my five-part series on Louis XIV. In the next video, I will talk more about Mazarin, Louis' marriage to Maria Theresia of Spain, and Louis' first steps as an absolute monarch. I hope you'll join me. See you next week!