Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/537

* LOUIS XVII. 479 Loms I. LOUIS XVII., Charles (1785-95). Titular King of Fiance after the execution of Louis X'l. on January 21, 17'J3. lie was born on Wareh 27, 1785, the second son of Louis X'L and ilarie Antoinette. After the death of his brother, June 4, 1789, he became, lieir to the throne, but together with the royal family he was ■ imprisoned in the Temple after August 10, 1792. His fate was a most pitiful one, for he was ulti- mately delivered over to a brutal shoemaker named Simon, and died from neglect and abuse on June 8, 1795. Though there could be no ques- tion of the death of the real Louis XVii., vari- ous claimants arose, who had all some followers. There was one liebert, who appeared in 1828, and carried on a propaganda until his death, in 1845. Then a Prussian named Xaundorff and his de- scendants sought, for a time after 1830, to en- force their so-called claims. About the middle of the nineteenth century many people firmly lielieved that the lost Dauphin had been found in - ierica in the person of Eleazar 'illiams, an Episcopal cIerg}^llan and missionary to the Indians, of which race his putative great-grandfather was. He seems to have been convinced that he was a Bourl)on, and sufficient arguments were brtnight forward to furnish a book in defense of his claim — Hanson. 7'/ie Los< Prince (Xew York, 1854) ; but some of these arguments were afterwards ilis- proved, and the belief lost ground. Williams died in 1858. Xo one has explained how the escape could possibly have been effected, and why no one appeared before 1804 to show that the Prince had not died. Consult: Chantelauze, Louis X'II., son enfance, sa prison, et sa mart an Temple (Paris, 1895) : Biilau, Geheime Geschichten und riitselhafte Men-schen, vol. ii. (2d ed., I-eipzig, 1863) : Evans. The Story of Louis XVII. of France (London, 1893). LOUIS XVIII. (1755-1824). Iving of France from 1814 to 1824. He was a younger brother of Louis XVI.. and was born at Versailles. Xo- vember 17, 1755. He received the title of Count of Provence. In 1771 he married Maria Josephine Louisa, daughter of Victor Amadeus III., of Sar- dinia. After the accession of Louis XVI. to the throne he assumed the designation of •Monsieur.' He became an opponent of every salutary- meas- ure of the Government. He fled from Paris on the .same night with the King (1791), and was more fortunate, for, taking the road by Lille, he reached the Belgian frontier in safety. With his brother, the Count d'Artois, he issued declara- tions against the Revolutionary cause in France, which had a very unfavorable effect on the for- tunes of the King. The two brothers for some time held a court at Coljlenz, and in 1792. join- ing with the Prussians under the Duke of Bruns- wick, led a body of 6000 emigres across the Rhine. After the death of his brother, Louis XVt.. the Count of Provence proclaimed his nephew King of France, as Louis XVII., and on the deatli of the Prince in 1795 he assumed the title of King. The events of subsequent years compelled him frequently to change his place of abode. He i lived by turns in Germany, Courland, Poland, and Sweden, till at last, in 1807, he found a refuge in England, and purchased a residence — Hartwell. in Buckinghamshire, where his wife died in 1810, and where he remained till the fall of Xapoleon opened the way for him to the French throne. He landed at "Calais on April 26, 1814, and entered Paris, alter twenty-three years' exile, on May 3il, and tlic nation received the constitutional charter from his hands on June 4th. (See Fbaxce.) The conduct of the Government, however, was far from being constitutional or liberal, ilie nobles exercised an influence over the King which led to severe treat- ment of the adherents of the Empire. (See White Terror.) Then followed Xapoleon's re- turn from Elba, wlien the King and liis family ilcd from Paris, remained at (ihent till after the liattle of Waterloo, and in -July, 1815, returned to Paris. Louis issued froiii Cambrai a pnKiania- tion in which he acknowledged his former errors, and promised a general amnesty to all except traitors. Again, however, he followed in many things the counsels of the party which detested all the fruits of the Revolution. The party struggle was bitter between the fanatical Royal- ists on the one hand and those who desired a true parliamentary government on the other. The King succeeded in satisfying neither side, and the struggle was still in progress when this feeble monarch died. The head of the Ministry during the greater part of the reign was the Due de Richelieu, a man whose character won him the respect of the nation. The Fiance of the Restora- tion lent itself to the policy of the Holy Alliance, and the year 1823 witnessed the invasion of Spain by a French army, sent to reestablish the tyrannical sway of Ferdinand VU. Consult the Memoirs of Vit'rolles (1883). Broglie (ISSC), Baiante (1890). Basquier (1893), Vill&le ( 1890) , and Hyde de Xeuville ( 1889) ; also Dulaure and -Aiiguis, Histoire de la revolution depuis ISI) jiiS'ju'd ItiM (Paris, 1834-.38) ; Daudet, Histoire de I'cmigration (ib., 1886) ; Viel-Castel, Histoire de la rcstauration (ib., 1860 et seq.). LOUIS I. (Ger. LUDWIG) (175.3-1830). First Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, born at Prenzlau, son of the Landgrave Louis IX. He succeeded his father as Landgrave in 1790, re- ceived in 1803 the Duchy of Westphalia and part of the old See of Mainz as compensation for his losses on the farther side of the Rhine, and en- tereil the Confederation of the Rhine as a grand duke in 1806. He joined the .llies in 1813. and became a member of the Germanic Confederation in 1815. In 1820 he granted a constitution to his people, and upon his death, ten years afterwards, was succeeded by his son. Louis II. LOUIS III. (1387-1436). An Elector of the Palatinate, son of King Rupert. He acted as Regent during his father's absence in Italy (1401), and became Elector in 1410. Louis took a prominent part in the election of Sigismund, and was long a devoted defender of his ecclesias- tical policy, which he advanceil at the Ccuiiicil of Constance. Afterwards he joined the opposition to the Emperor. He greatly assisted the growth of the University of Heiclelberg and left his library to that institution. Louis IV., his son, succeeded him and ruled till 1449. LOUIS L (Port. LUIZ) (18.38-89). A King of Portugal, son of Ferdinand of Coburg and Maria II. da Gloria. He held the title of Duke of Oporto while Pedro was Crown Prince and King, and succeeded him in 1861. He married Maria Pia. daughter of Victor Emmanuel of Italy, in 1862. Louis attempted to promote various re- forms, and in 1868 atiolished slavery in the Portuguese colonies. His reign, however, was one