Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/533

* LOUIS XIII. 475 LOUIS XIV. naudaiy. A rising under tlie Count de Soisson was repressed in 1041, and this was followed by the unsuccessful conspiracy of Cinq-ilars (q.v.). Louis died May 14. 1043. less than half a jear after his great minister. His Queen, after twenty- three 3'ears of married life, bore a son in 1038. who succeeded to the tlirone as Louis XIV. ; and in 1040 a second son, Philip, Duke of Orleans, the ancestor of the jiresent House of Orleans. Consult : Kaumer, Gcxchiclile J,udiri(j» XIII. vnd den Kar- dinals Richelieu (Leipzig, 1830); Topin, Louis XIII. et Richelieu (Paris, 1870), accompanied by letters from the King to Richelieu; Zeller, La minorite de Louis XI II. (Paris, ISOT). See RlCHELIEf; Fr.NCE. LOUIS XIV. (1038-17 15). King of France from 1643 to 171.5, called "the Great.' He was the son of Louis Xlll. and Anne of Austria, and was born at Saint-Germain-en-Lave, September 15 (16?), 1638. He became King of France at the age of five by the death of his father. May 14, 1643. The Queen mother, Anne of Austria, held the regency, but the virtual control of affairs was in the hands of ilazarin. the chief minister, who was more solicitous for the continuance of his own power than for the education of the young King. The discontent of the nobles under the administration of JIazarin brought on the civil wars of the I''ronde (q.v.) fomented by Spain, but the rebellion was put down in 16.52. The war with Spain, a legacy from the preceding reign, was terminated by the Peace of the Pyre- nees in 1659, which gave France part of the Spanish Xetherhinds and confirmed her in the possession of Kmissillon. In 1600 Louis married the Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain, a princess lacking attractive qualities of mind or person. Mazarin died March 0, 1661, and at once the young King showed to what purpose he had studied the example of his father's subserviency to Richelieu and the e.xperience of his own tute- lage under ilazarin. He surprised the Court by his prompt assertion of the intention to be his own chief minister. Richelieu and ilazarin had established firmly the foimdatinns of royal power by putting down the nobles and Huguenots and by the foreign policy which had made France the greatest power in Europe. Louis XIV. built on this foundation a structure of the most complete despotism. The yoimg King brought to the task a zest for work which had '■not been destroyed by a neglected education or the pleasures of a frivolous Court. Lacking in surpassing intel- lectual qualities himself, he had the gift of recog- nizing talents in others, and he gathered around him a group of advisers of exceptional ability, whose activity he know liow to subordinate to his own purposes. The brilliant services which they rendered France, far from eclipsing the reputa- tion of the King, redounded only to his ovn glory. From the Grand Monarque alone emanated that vivifying power under the influence of which the national life of France, its industry and com- merce, its military strength, its political influence in Europe, attained an unprecedented develop- ment. The Court of Louis XIV. was the most magnificent in Europe, and it became the model for European so'ereigns. Handsome in person and stately in bearing, with just enough kindliness in his manner to make condescension seem gra- cious, the monarch moved among a brilliant crowd of soldiers, politicians, prelates, and men of Vol. XII 31. letters, whose unrestrained adulation was prob- ably as sincere as any courtiers' praises in history. His most influential adviser was Colbert (q.v.), his bourgeois Minister of Finance (1061-83), a man of reasonable ambitioii-s and great business ability, and in touch with the people. He re- stored the finances of the Kingdom, which had been impoverished by Mazarin and pilfered by the pleasure-loving Fouquet (q.v.), fostered indus- tries, and by a drastic application of the pro- tective principle of State encouragement, made France a self-supporting and highly productive country. Louvois. who succeeded his father. Le Tellier, as Jlinister of War, brought the army to a pitch of cinciency which made it the first in Europe. Thus the means were provided for the foreign wars, almost continuous through the King's long reign, which were a necessary ac- companiment to his ambitious plans. Foreign conquest for France meant expansion at the cost of Spain, whose possessions in the Netherlands were Louis's first point of attack. After the death of Philip IV. of Spain (1005) Louis laid claim in the name of his wife to certain por- tions of the Netherlands, as well as Luxemburg and Franche-Comte, basing his claim on various laws of succession prevailing in those provinces. There followed the so-called War of Devolution. In May. 1007. an army of 50.000 men under Turenne invaded the Spanish Xetherlands and within three months overran a great part of the country. The Dutch, in alarm, concluded an alliance with England and Sweden to put a stop to the encroachments of France, and in ilay. 1608, peace was signed at .ix-la-Chapelle, the French King giving back Franche-Comt*^, but retaining possession of French Flanders. Louis adhered tenaciously to his purpose, however, and, having eft'ected alliances with the Archbishop of Cologne and the Bishop of Miinster. whose terri- tories lay to the east of the Xetherlands. and having bought off Charles II. of England, he seized Lorraine in 1070, and invaded Holland in 1072. The States-General made an alliance with Spain, Brandenburg, and the (iernian Emperor (1073), to which Louis retorted by seizing Im- perial cities in Alsace. Four great armies were put into the field. Condf carried on the campaign on the Mouse. Turenne overran .lsace and Lor- raine, Schoniberg was intrusted with the defense of Roussillon. while Louis in person with the great engineer Vauban led an army into Franche- C'omte, which was speedily and definitely con- quered (1674). In the Xetherlands, Condo won a victory over the Dutch, Germans. an<l Spanish at Seneffe (August 11th). After a number of reverses in 167.5, occasioned by the death of Turenne, the French armies entered once more upon a series of victories in the Spanish Xether- lands. and in March, 1678. Ghent and Ypres were taken. The treaties of X'imeguen (1078-79) restored the territory taken from Holland, under a guarantee of neutrality. bit left to France four- teen cities in Flanders. Franche-Comto. and Frei- burg in the Breisgau. and imposed svu'h onerous conditions on the Duke of Lorraine that that prince allowed his State to remain in the hands of the French rather than accede to them. Louis was now at the height of his power, and his ar- rogant ambition knew no bounds. He established at Metz, Breisach. Besaneon. and Tournay French courts of claims (chambres de reunioix), which proceeded ex parte to determine what territories