Everything about King Louis Xiii totally explained
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For the cognac, see Louis XIII de Rémy Martin.
Louis XIII ascended to the throne in 1610, at the age of eight and a half, upon the
assassination of his father. His mother acted as
Regent until Louis XIII came of age at thirteen, but she clung to power unofficially until in frustration he took the reins of government into his own hands at the age of fifteen. The assassination of
Concino Concini (April 24, 1617), who had greatly influenced Marie's policymaking, and Marie's own exile to Blois, removed her from power. Louis then came into his own as ruler of
France. He filled his court with loyal friends and sidelined those who remained loyal to his mother. Under Louis XIII's rule, the
Bourbon Dynasty sustained itself effectively on the throne that
Henry IV had recently secured; but the question of
freedom of religion continued to haunt the country.
The brilliant and energetic
Cardinal Richelieu played a major role in Louis XIII's administration from 1624, decisively shaping the destiny of France for the next 18 years. As a result of Richelieu's work, Louis XIII became one of the first exemplars of an
absolute monarch. Under Louis XIII the
Hapsburgs were humiliated, the French nobility was firmly kept in line behind their King, and the political and military privileges granted to the
Huguenots by his father were retracted (while their religious freedoms were maintained). Furthermore, Louis XIII had the port of
Le Havre modernized and built up a powerful navy. Unfortunately time and circumstances never permitted King and Cardinal to attend to the administrative reforms (particularly of France's tax system) which were urgently needed.
The King also worked to reverse the trend of promising French artists to leave for
Italy to work and study. Louis XIII commissioned the great artists
Nicolas Poussin and
Philippe de Champaigne to decorate the
Louvre. In foreign matters, Louis XIII organized the development and administration of
New France, expanding the settlement of
New France westward along the
Saint Lawrence River from
Quebec City to
Montreal.
Personal relationships
On
November 9,
1615, aged only 14, Louis XIII was married to a Habsburg Princess,
Anne of Austria (1601–66), daughter of King
Philip III of Spain (1578–1621). This marriage followed a tradition of cementing military and political alliances between the Catholic powers of France and Spain with royal marriages. The tradition went back to the marriage of King
Philip II of Spain with the French princess,
Élisabeth de Valois, the daughter of King
Henry II of France, in 1559 as part of the
Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. Their sexual relationship didn't begin (other than the consummation of the wedding) until 1619 (when he was 18). The marriage, like many Bourbon-Habsburg relationships, was only briefly happy, and the King's duties often kept them apart. After 23 years of marriage and four miscarriages, Anne finally gave birth to a son in 1638.
There is no evidence whether Louis had mistresses (consequently earning the tile of 'Louis the Chaste', but persistent rumours insinuated that the King may have been
homosexual or at least
bisexual.
Tallemant des Réaux, in his
Historiettes, gives quite explicit (but inevitably second-hand) descriptions of what happened in the king's bed. A liaison with an equerry, Francois de Baradas, ended after favour was lost when Baradas fought a duel after duelling had been forbidden by royal decree
Though Richelieu was firmly in charge of French policies, the King's favorites left their mark on the reign. The first was the
Duc de Luynes, 23 years his senior, who was the boy's closest adult friend and adviser at the outset of his reign. The last of the King's favorites (1639–42) was the much younger
Marquis de Cinq-Mars, who was executed for conspiring with the Spanish enemy in time of war. The spoiled young aristocrat was beautiful and splendidly dressed; but the gloomy king was captivated and rejuvenated by the dashing youth. Louis' letters to Richelieu are filled with anguished complaints about the distress their lover's quarrels caused him. Tallemant describes how on a royal journey, the king "sent M. le Grand to undress, who returned, adorned like a bride. 'To bed, to bed' he said to him impatiently... and the mignon wasn't in before the king was already kissing his hands." Cinq Mars, who was himself an ardent womaniser, merely tolerated these passionate attentions
After Louis XIII's death in 1643, his wife Anne acted as regent for their four-year-old son,
Louis XIV of France (1638–1715).
Ancestors
Marriage and issue
On
November 24 1615, Louis XIII married
Anne of Austria (
September 22 1601 –
January 20 1666). They were childless for almost twenty-three years and almost hopeless when the heir to the throne, the future
Louis XIV, was born. Many regarded this birth as a divine miracle and, in show of gratitude to God for the long-awaited birth of an heir to the French throne, his parents named him Louis-
Dieudonné (“God-given”). As another sign of gratitude, according to several interpretations, seven months before his birth, France was dedicated by his father,
Louis XIII, to the
Virgin Mary, who, many believed, had interceded for the perceived miracle. However, the text of the dedication doesn't mention the royal pregnancy and birth as one of its reasons. Also, Louis XIII himself is said to have expressed his skepticism with regards to the miracle after his son's birth.
The couple had the following children:
Louis XIII in fiction and film
Bibliography
Moote, A. Lloyd. Louis XIII, the Just. Berkeley, CA; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press, 1991 (paperback, ISBN 0-520-07546-3).
Willis, Daniel A. (comp). The Descendants of Louis XIII. Clearfield, 1999.
Huxley, Aldous. "The Devils of Loudun". The 1952 book tells the story of the trial of Urbain Grandier, priest of the town who was tortured and burned at the stake in 1634.Further Information
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