The main dude of the 17th century is Louis XIV, and.

Since there was practically no sewerage in the cities of Europe at that time, there was a terrible stench and stench on the streets, which tried to kill with the smell of tart perfumes. The situation was aggravated by the fact that personal hygiene had not yet become habitual. Even in the royal palaces, there were no comfortable toilet rooms, and if they were, they were small and poorly equipped. They barely fit a small table, a mirror, a basin with a jug.

It was customary to wash in parts in a basin, pouring water from a jug. Since they did not wash every day, the lipsticks that were applied to the face formed a thick layer by the end of the week. No one ever bothered to brush their teeth. Naturally, people smelled strongly of rancid powder, grease, sweat, and simply rotten teeth. The Sun King himself, afraid of dying (it was predicted even before birth that he was destined to die from water), washed only 4 times in his entire life! Louis XIV did not wash his face at all (!), but only lightly sprinkled his favorite jasmine "Spanish Perfume" on his hands and face! Once his mistress, Madame de Montespan, said in her hearts that "from His Majesty it stinks like from a stinking goat" ...

In imitation of the Sun King, the aristocracy was not interested in simple scents, but craved the fine ones. French perfumery of that time experienced an extraordinary rise. Jasmine, tuberose and rose are the main components for the production of perfumes.

The nobles usually wore shoes (half boots or shoes with a flat rounded toe - “duck nose”) made of soft embroidered or embossed leather of different colors (usually white) with high (from 15 to 24 cm! Red heels and thick (7-10 cm) cork soles covered in red leather, which led some fashionistas to be called "Mr. Red Heel".

It is believed that the fashion for such shoes was introduced by the short Louis XIV, who in 1660 ordered similar shoes for his coronation ceremony from a famous shoemaker from Bordeaux. It was no longer possible to walk in such heels, but you could only bounce. But such high heels made the walk proud, as if the person was performing various steps.

At first, high heels were worn by both women and men. But for women, such “heights” were much more important, and therefore they “kept” on heels of such a grotesque size. Even when the heels became thin.

Men and women took lessons in beautiful walking in heels. True, by the end of the century, the heel became lower (the king aged and it became more difficult for him to move around in high heels).

During the reign of Louis XIV, the man became more elegant, more like a dressed-up woman, more feminine, incapable of work.

France at that time was a model for the European nobility, so the rules of etiquette and fashion that she dictated were followed not only by the crowned persons and their entourage, but by the entire nobility as a whole. All this was not just entertainment, but an expensive and exhausting game aimed at subjugating others.

All of Europe enthusiastically spoke about the grace of French women, the gallantry of their gentlemen. French speech, French manners dominated everywhere.

everyone tried to become like the French and French fashion. The whole civilized world began to dress in the French way. Hundreds, thousands of nobles wore wigs and flaunted high red heels. Anyone who wanted to be known as an important person tried to imitate the French monarch. Although the British, Germans, Russians and other peoples brought something of their own to the clothes, these were just details. French fashion not only erased national differences - it gradually brought separate classes closer in appearance. Starting from the time of Louis XIV, we can already talk about world fashion.

Louis XIV lived for a long time - 77 years. And he ruled a lot - 72 years (1643-1715). These years were marked in the history of costume by unprecedented luxury. The desire for luxury, wasteful spending to satisfy the fleeting whims of the king did not pass without a trace. By the end of the reign of Louis XIV, the state treasury of France was so impoverished that the royal gold service, along with diamond-studded napkin rings, and the silver altar of Notre Dame Cathedral had to be sent to the melting furnace.

This is the finale of the brilliant reign of the imposing sovereign, who once proudly declared: “The state is me!”. The "sun" of French fashion has set. But the image of an enlightened monarch invented by Louis outlived its creator for a long time ...

There was no son who showed more reverence for his mother in his entire life.

Charles Perrault

Louis XIII (1601-1643, king since 1610) and Anna of Austria (1601-1666) were both loved and revered by their eldest son, but the influence of each of them on the fate of Louis XIV was different.
The courtiers looked at the sick and weak Louis XIII, frankly, not with much admiration. However, the king answered them the same, often avoiding court society and spending days on end hunting in the company of selected gentlemen. As the Duke de La Rochefoucauld wrote, “this is a man of poor health, exhausted by hunting, which greatly increased the shortcomings of his character: he was stern, distrustful, did not like people; wanted to be led, and did not take it well. His mind was petty, and he, the king, knew no more about the war than a simple officer. A not entirely plausible description of Louis XIII, a king who was undeservedly considered by his contemporaries to be a weak-willed person and a mediocre ruler. Unfortunately, they are echoed by many historians. By the way, for example, Cardinal de Richelieu, who probably knew Louis better than many courtiers, wrote about his stubborn and unbending character. As a child, little Louis somehow did not obey his father: “The heir to the throne flatly refused, no matter how he was persuaded, to jump over the stream in Fontainebleau Park, which led the King (Henry IV. - M.S.) in front of the courtiers into such a rage, that if he had not been prevented, he would have grabbed it and started dipping it into the water.

King Louis XIII. Works by Philippe Champaigne.

Louis the Just must stand among the greatest rulers of France. However, such a portrait indicates how this monarch was seen by his entourage.
On the one hand, the king loved his sons - the Dauphin Louis the God-given and his younger brother Philip of France, Duke of Anjou - he cared about their future; on the other hand, he still harbored feelings of distrust and hostility towards his wife. Sometimes Louis XIII, proud of his firstborn, was jealous of his mother.
Despite all the intra-family vicissitudes, in the atmosphere of which the first years of the life of the future Louis XIV passed, he always honored and respected the memory of his parent, who died in 1643. Feeling of deep reverence for his father, Louis retained until the end of his days. Although Louis XIV knew him very little, for some four and a half years, dying, he ordered to put his heart next to the heart of his parent, with the Jesuits on Saint-Antoine street.
Another example of Louis XIV's filial deference to his father is Versailles. The melancholic Louis XIII loved solitude, court amusements and life in noisy Paris never tempted him. Therefore, the king chose a modest village near Paris, where in 1623 he ordered the construction of a small hunting lodge for himself, where he could rest after an exhausting hunt. The house was so modest that it could not claim the status of a royal residence. Louis XIII's Versailles didn't even have an apartment for Anne of Austria. The castle was modest, like its owner. According to Marshal de Bassompierre (1579-1646), such a structure "even a simple nobleman should not be proud of." As the historian F. Bossan noted, in the 20s of the 17th century, Versailles looked more like an auxiliary building than a dwelling. But the son of Henry IV liked to often run into there with a small group of courtiers.
Later, in 1631, Louis XIII ordered to rebuild and expand Versailles, adding four small corner pavilions to it and finishing the facade of the building with red brick. A small park was even laid out next to the castle, which would later become the largest park ensemble in Europe. Thus, Versailles turned into a castle, quite befitting a nobleman. Saint-Simon was mistaken in calling this Versailles, the model of 1631, "the house of cards."
Already in his youth, Louis XIV showed a passion for hunting, no less than his parent. This made him turn his eyes to his father's Versailles, which was very conveniently located. Over time, the young king realized that there he could not only indulge in the pleasures of the goddess Dina, but also give free rein to his heart and feelings that arose for Mademoiselle de La Vallière. Only in Versailles, remote from the Louvre and Saint-Germain, which the king visited only with selected courtiers and ladies in the first years of his independent reign, lovers could hide from numerous spies and gossips.

Versailles in 1668, after the first building campaign. Works by Pierre Patel.

Living in his father's castle, Louis XIV, who from childhood began to show individuality in almost everything, first of all ordered to remake its interior. The facade of the building remained untouched for some time, but soon it underwent the first changes, albeit minor ones. A balcony was made around the entire perimeter of the castle. To the castle of his father, Louis XIV added two new wings from the side of the forecourt: in one he placed the stables, in the other - services.
Later, in 1668-1670, Versailles will undergo more serious changes, it is possible that even then Louis began to think about making his main residence out of it. Although it is a mistake to believe that the king took over overnight and began to build a grandiose palace complex: Versailles, as we know it today, was created over thirty years, construction progressed in stages. But already during the development of the first projects, the king forbade his chief architect Louis Levo (1612-1670) and his team to destroy the palace of Louis XIII. And this, despite numerous persuasions from the architects. All as one, led by Levo, tried to persuade the monarch to agree with their arguments: the brick castle of the late king did not fit into the interior of a new luxurious residence, which should be built in stone. But Louis was not inclined. According to the memoirs of Charles Perrault, who led the construction department of the kingdom in those years, the architects “found that the small castle had no coordination, no correspondence with the new building”:

“It was suggested to the king that this little castle be demolished and in its place erect structures of the same nature and symmetry as those just built. However, the king did not agree. He was reported that most of it would turn into ruins - he ordered to rebuild what needed it. And he calmly said that you can break everything around, but then rebuild it again the way it was, without changing anything.

There is an assumption that the king kept his father's castle because he wanted to avoid unnecessary expenses.
Despite the fact that Louis XIV knew his father very little, he had reason to admire him, his deeds, the milestones of his reign, because it was under Louis XIII that the foundations of the state began to be laid, on the creation of which his heir subsequently worked. Of course, much would have been impossible without the participation of Cardinal de Richelieu, but one should not deny the merits and role of Louis XIII either.
In addition, he was a true warrior king who spent most of his life in a military camp and took part in battles. For example, Philip IV of Spain never commanded an army at all and did not wear armor (except perhaps while posing for portraits of Velazquez). Moreover, the ruler of Spain remained in the rear not of his own free will, but dutifully obeying his favorite minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares (1587-1645). The love of camp life was largely reflected in the tastes and preferences of Louis XIII: he was unpretentious in everyday life and food (even while living in the palace, the king made his own bed). There is a known case when, hungry on the road, Louis XIII with his retinue stopped at an inn, cooked scrambled eggs himself (the king was an excellent culinary specialist), refreshed himself and treated those close to him.

Architect Louis Leveaux.

Another hobby of this king was hunting (it is no coincidence that Louis XIII dedicated the “Merleson Ballet” of 16 acts, staged on March 15, 1635 in Chantilly, to falconry). Subsequently, Louis XIV inherited this passion from his father, however, willingly, however, as with the war, he acted in his own way. If Louis XIII preferred to hunt with several companions, giving priority to the process itself, and not paraphernalia, then his son, on the contrary, turned hunting (and then war) into a real court entertainment with the participation of ladies. Except for the last years of his life, when the body of Louis XIII was exhausted by serious illnesses, he was always a hardened and physically developed person.
What about government affairs? And here the little dauphin had a lot to learn from this “weak-willed” monarch (alas, even in modern historiography there is an opinion that Richelieu, having full power, allegedly pushed the weak and indecisive king into the background). For example, Louis XIV was probably told that Henry IV took his first child to a meeting of the State Council from the age of eight. So the image of the royal parent, who died so early, was not so poor.
Some historians hold that Louis XIII was not the father of Louis XIV (there is no doubt that Philip of Orleans is his son, since the prince looks very much like his father). Whom they just didn’t predict as possible fathers to Louis XIV (among the contenders they called both the Comte de Rochefort and the Duke de Beaufort), but Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin still remain the most favorite candidates. However, these versions do not stand up to scrutiny. Richelieu's candidacy can be rejected immediately, since at the end of the 30s of the 17th century the cardinal was already quite a sick person. It is unlikely that he could count on the fact that he can give healthy offspring. In addition, according to another popular theory, madness was transmitted from generation to generation in the Richelieu family. Knowing this, the chief minister of the king of France, wishing the kingdom only good and prosperity, would not so deliberately "spoil" the blood of the ruling dynasty. In addition, do not forget that Anne of Austria and Richelieu were then in a state of "cold war", it is unlikely that they could agree, especially on such a delicate issue.
Mazarin. As the English historian E. Levy writes, Richelieu understood that only the appearance of a direct heir could save France from Gaston's succession to the throne, and hence from the Habsburg hegemony on the European continent (Gaston belonged to the pro-Catholic, and therefore pro-Spanish party and more than once tried to negotiate with Philip IV, thereby committing high treason). And since the king and queen had not had an intimate relationship for a long time (in 1637, the scandal with Spanish letters only intensified the crisis between the spouses), the cardinal suggested another way out. He introduced Anna of Austria to the Italian prelate Mazarin, who was already in his service then. Richelieu was very glad that the Queen liked the Italian. Mazarin also fell in love with Anna of Austria, as evidenced by numerous gifts (flavored gloves, oils and perfumes that he sent her from Italy), with which the protégé of the all-powerful minister filled up the wife of Louis XIII.

Marble courtyard of the castle of Versailles. Contemporary photography.

From the mid-30s, according to E. Levy, the relationship between Anna of Austria and Mazarin turned into a serious love affair. Frankly, such a statement is more than doubtful. As the French historian P. Huber rightly noted, there is not a single documentary evidence of this. Judge for yourself, reading the memoirs of contemporaries, you will learn about the nature of Louis XIII's affection for the girls Lafayette and d'Hautefort, about his relationship with favorites (de Luyne, Saint-Simon, Saint-Mar, and so on). It is hard to imagine that the courtiers would have ignored the “serious love affair” of the queen with the Italian nobleman or did not notice it, especially since, according to court rules, the queen was almost never left alone, including at night. And after the scandal with the Spanish letters, Anna of Austria was completely surrounded by numerous spies who followed her.
We propose to analyze the theatrical repertoire of that time, which can serve as a curious source, albeit an indirect one. In 1640, in honor of the birth of Philip of Anjou, Richelieu invited the royal couple and courtiers to the Palais Cardinal for the premiere of the Mirama tragedy, in which the plot of Anne of Austria's romance with the Prime Minister of England Buckingham (1592-1628), since which fifteen years. The story is quite old, but at one time it greatly agitated the court. It is hard to believe that the cardinal - the author of the betrayal of the queen (if you follow the version of E. Levy) - himself made such hints in the presence of both herself and Louis XIII, who, as you know, was very jealous and scrupulous in matters of honor and morality. If everything was as E. Levy suggested, then such hints could cost Richelieu not only the ministerial chair.
A few years earlier, in March 1638, when the queen was already in her fourth month of pregnancy, the ballet about weddings without disgust and without horns was staged at the court. Again, if the child was conceived not from the king, but from someone else, then this topic would hardly have been touched upon so clearly. Moreover, Louis has always taken an active part in ballet performances. Even if he did not go on stage himself, he was actively involved in organizational issues (composed music, thought out scenery and costumes).

Anna of Austria in 1622. Works by Peter Paul Rubens.

According to E. Levy, since 1624 there is no evidence that the king and queen had intimate relations. But it's not. In her book “The Daily Life of the French in the Age of Louis XIII and Richelieu,” E. Glagoleva spoke about the efforts made by the royal spouses to have a long-awaited child. On the advice of the doctor Bouvard, the couple went to the waters in Forsh (Normandy): it was believed that the local iron-containing source cured anemia. In addition, in 1633 Anna of Austria made a pilgrimage to a small village in the region of Brie to sit on the tomb of St. Fiacre. Disappointed in the strength of Saint Fiacre, the queen turned to Saint Norbert. This Cologne canon was friendly with Saint Bernard; it was said that before his conversion, he became famous as a "sexual giant" and had many bastard children. In 1637, Louis XIII took a vow, entrusting the kingdom under the protection of the Virgin. It would be naïve to think that by making such efforts, the king and queen were not fulfilling their marital duties.
As the leading Russian expert on the era of Louis XIV V.N. Malov, there was some similarity in the characters of father and son: like Louis XIII, and unlike his grandfather, the bright extrovert Henry IV, Louis XIV was an introvert, a person deep in himself, prone to secrecy and restraint in the outward expression of feelings.
In 1643, the Venetian ambassador Giustiniani saw in a four-year-old boy a future outstanding ruler: "A sovereign of noble appearance and full of greatness." In 1648, when Louis was not even ten years old, another Venetian wrote: “Beauty, calmness and importance give perfection to his appearance, his face shows seriousness and severity. Melancholy dominates him at that age, which is usually full of liveliness. In public, Louis was clearly serious beyond his years. Indeed, there is evidence to the contrary. For example, they said that when the actor of the comedy dell'arte and the creator of the image of Scaramouche, Tiberio Fiorelli, sat the little dauphin on his knees and threw him up, he achieved great success with the future monarch. When Ludovic was two years old, he painted for an Italian actor and laughed hard.
In his speech at the closing of the Estates General of 1614-1615, the Bishop of Luson addressed Marie de Medici with the following words: "Happy is the King, whom God rewards with a mother who loves him dearly, cares for his State and has experience in managing his affairs." Alas, but in relation to the Queen-Regent Marie de Medici, these were nothing more than compliments. The widow of Henry IV did not love her firstborn, therefore, she was not so much engaged in his upbringing, the formation of the personality of the future ruler, but in her suppression. What can not be said about Anna of Austria, to whom one could safely redirect the praises of Cardinal Richelieu.
Anna of Austria was destined to play a larger role in the life of her eldest son. In order to take her rightful place in history and be interesting not only to contemporaries, but also to posterity, the queen was endowed with many suitable qualities.

“Of all the people I have ever met,” wrote Cardinal de Retz, “the queen had enough intelligence not to look stupid in the eyes of those who knew her. She was more vitriolic than arrogant, more arrogant than majestic, she was more mannered than deep, more clumsy with money than generous, more generous than greedy, more affectionate than passionate, more inflexible than proud, longer. she remembered offenses rather than good deeds, she wanted to look more pious than she was, she was more stubborn than firm, more mediocre than talented.

A typical verbal portrait of the Baroque era; it confuses rather than reveals a person. No less sharp-tongued, Saint-Simon wrote about the connection between the young Louis XIV and Anna of Austria: “Almost from birth, the king was debilitated by the cunning of his mother, who herself wanted to rule, and even more so by the selfish interests of the wicked minister, who risked the good of the state a thousand times for the sake of own power." If you do not pay attention to the caustic tone of this statement, then, in fact, it is true. It was these two foreigners: a Spanish woman, proud and humiliated for many years by her own husband, and a smart, cunning Italian, who became the rulers of France and the educators of her king.

Anne of Austria in 1660.

In contrast to de Retz (who during the years of the regency of Anne of Austria was her political opponent), the Duke de La Rochefoucauld wrote about the queen that “she was very pretty, kind, gentle and very gallant; there was nothing false in her - neither in character, nor in mind. She was very kind."
The position of the semi-disgraced queen, who lived almost the entire marriage under the threat of divorce and a monastery, changed with the birth of the long-awaited heir. The hitherto hateful childless wife of the king suddenly became the mother of a male baby, and therefore the heir to the throne. And this after twenty years of a childless marriage. That is why the birth of Louis XIV was perceived by the French as a real miracle, and Anna of Austria was involved in the miracle revealed to France. Who would have thought that literally in two years she, as if in confirmation of the latter, would give birth to the king another son, the future Monsieur. According to tradition, the regency under the minor king of France belonged to his mother, and the dying Louis XIII, for all his dislike for his wife, could not violate it. Moreover, he had no other choice, since Gaston of Orleans was often in opposition to his brother and his chief minister. In 1642, Monsieur once again took part in a conspiracy against his brother.
The upbringing given to Anna of Austria in the strict Spanish court made itself felt in her later life. Already being the wife of the King of France, she did not miss a single fast, not a single major religious holiday, took communion weekly, constantly visited monasteries, especially the Parisian Val-de-Grasse founded by her and rebuilt to commemorate the birth of her firstborn. She taught Louis XIV to a similar regularity in the performance of religious rites.
The boy was not deprived of maternal love. “She raised them by her side with maternal tenderness,” wrote Madame de Lafayette about the attitude of Anne of Austria towards children, “sometimes causing jealousy of those with whom they shared their pleasures.” When Louis was ill, his mother would not leave his bed. He responded to her with the same strong love and affection. Having already become a sovereign ruler, Louis, out of habit, was afraid of her reproaches for his amorous adventures. The death of Anna of Austria, who was dying painfully of breast cancer at the beginning of 1666, he experienced as a great grief: “Unable after this misfortune to endure the sight of the Louvre, where this misfortune happened, I immediately left Paris and went to Versailles, where it was easier for me retire,” wrote Louis XIV.
The king turned to the example of his mother in his old age: when his morganatic wife, Madame de Maintenon, persuaded the court theater to be closed as an institution too frivolous for a pious monarch, Louis refused her, saying that his late mother had always loved the theater, but that did not lose her virtue .
Charles Perrault, who had the opportunity to observe some moments of communication between the king and his mother, wrote that "there was no son who would have shown greater respect for his mother in his entire life."
In a posthumous speech dedicated to Anne of Austria, Guillaume Lebout, Bishop of Dax, speaks of the tender affection that has always united the Queen Mother and Louis XIV: Austrian, they talk about his tenderness: no one can be a better mother - tam mater nulla. And when they talk about Louis, they talk about his respect and love: no one can be the best son - tam filius nemo.

The attention of any tourist who stepped under the arches of the royal residence near Paris, Versailles, in the very first minutes will be drawn to the numerous emblems on the walls, tapestries and other furnishings of this beautiful palace ensemble. The emblems represent a human face framed by the sun's rays illuminating the globe.

Source: Ivonin Yu. E., Ivonina L. I. Rulers of the destinies of Europe: emperors, kings, ministers of the 16th - 18th centuries. - Smolensk: Rusich, 2004. P. 404-426.

This face, executed in the best classical traditions, belongs to the most famous of all the French kings of the Bourbon dynasty, Louis XIV. The personal reign of this monarch, which had no precedents in Europe in its duration - 54 years (1661-1715) - went down in history as a classic example of absolute power, as an era of unprecedented prosperity in all areas of culture and spiritual life, which paved the way for the emergence of the French Enlightenment and, finally, as the era of French hegemony in Europe. Therefore, it is not surprising that the second half of the 17th - early 18th centuries. in France it was called the "Golden Age", the monarch himself was called the "Sun King".

A huge number of scientific and popular books have been written about Louis XIV and his time abroad.

The authors of a number of works of art known to the general public are still attracted by the personality of this king and his era, so full of a wide variety of events that left an indelible mark on the history of France and Europe. Domestic scientists and writers, in comparison with their foreign counterparts, paid relatively little attention to both Louis himself and his time. Nevertheless, everyone in our country has at least an approximate idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthis king. But the problem is how accurate this representation is to reality. Despite the wide range of the most controversial assessments of the life and work of Louis XIV, all of them can be reduced to the following: he was a great king, although he made many mistakes throughout his long reign, he elevated France to the rank of major European powers, although in the end he diplomacy and endless wars led to the elimination of French hegemony in Europe. Many historians note the inconsistency of the policy of this king, as well as the ambiguity of the results of his reign. As a rule, they look for the origins of contradictions in the previous development of France, the childhood and youth of the future absolute ruler. The psychological characteristics of Louis XIV are very popular, although they practically remain behind the scenes knowledge of the depth of the king's political thinking and his mental abilities. The latter, I think, is extremely important for assessing the life and activities of a person within the framework of her era, understanding her needs of her time, as well as her ability to foresee the future. Here we will immediately take revenge, so as not to refer to this in the future, that the versions about the “iron mask” as the twin brother of Louis XIV have long been swept aside by historical science.

"Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre" - such was the title of the French monarchs in the middle of the 17th century. It represented a certain contrast with the contemporary long titles of Spanish kings, Holy Roman Emperors or Russian tsars. But its apparent simplicity in fact meant the unity of the country and the presence of a strong central government. To a large extent, the strength of the French monarchy was based on the fact that the king simultaneously combined various roles in French politics. We will only mention the most important ones. The king was the first judge and, undoubtedly, the personification of justice for all the inhabitants of the kingdom. Being responsible (p. 406) before God for the well-being of his state, he directed its domestic and foreign policy and was the source of all legitimate political power in the country. As the first overlord, he had the largest lands in France. He was the first nobleman of the kingdom, protector and head of the Catholic Church in France. Thus, wide legally justified powers in the event of successful circumstances gave the king of France rich opportunities for effective management and the exercise of his power, of course, provided that he had certain qualities for this.

In practice, of course, no king of France could simultaneously combine all these functions on a full scale. The existing social order, the presence of government and local authorities, as well as the energy, talents, personal psychological characteristics of the monarchs limited the field of their activity. In addition, the king, in order to successfully rule, had to be a good actor. As for Louis XIV, in this case, the circumstances were for him in the most favorable way.

Actually, the reign of Louis XIV began much earlier than his immediate reign. In 1643, after the death of his father Louis XIII, he became king of France at the age of five. But only in 1661, after the death of the first minister, Cardinal Giulio Mazarin, Louis XIV took full power into his own hands, proclaiming the principle "The State is me." Realizing the comprehensive and unconditional significance of his power and power, the king repeated this phrase very often.

... For the deployment of the stormy activities of the new king, solid ground had already been prepared. He had to consolidate all the achievements and outline the further path for the development of French statehood. The outstanding ministers of France, Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, who had advanced political thinking for that era, were the creators of the theoretical foundations of French (p. 407) absolutism, laid its foundation and strengthened it in a successful struggle against opponents of absolute power. The crisis in the era of the Fronde was overcome, the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ensured the hegemony of France on the continent and made it the guarantor of European balance. The Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 consolidated this success. This magnificent political legacy was to be used by the young king.

If we try to give a psychological characterization of Louis XIV, then we can somewhat correct the widespread idea of ​​​​this king as a selfish and thoughtless person. According to his own explanations, he chose the emblem of the "sun king" for himself, since the sun is the giver of all blessings, a tireless worker and a source of justice, it is a symbol of a calm and balanced government. The late birth of the future monarch, which contemporaries called miraculous, the foundations of his upbringing laid by Anna of Austria and Giulio Mazarin, the horrors of the Fronde experienced - all this forced the young man to manage in this way and show himself to be a real, powerful sovereign. As a child, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, he was "serious ... prudent enough to remain silent, fearing to say something inappropriate", and, starting to rule, Louis tried to fill in the gaps in his education, since his curriculum was too general and avoided special knowledge. Undoubtedly, the king was a man of duty and, contrary to the famous phrase, considered the state incomparably higher than himself as an individual. He performed the “royal craft” conscientiously: in his view, it was associated with constant work, with the need for ceremonial discipline, restraint in the public manifestation of feelings, and strict self-control. Even his entertainment was largely a matter of state, their splendor supported the prestige of the French monarchy in Europe.

Could Louis XIV do without political mistakes? Was the time of his reign really calm and balanced? (p.408)

Continuing, as he believed, the work of Richelieu and Mazarin, Louis XIV was most of all occupied with the improvement of royal absolutism, which corresponded to his personal inclinations and concepts of the duty of the monarch. His Majesty persistently pursued the idea that the source of any statehood is only the king, who is placed by God himself above other people and therefore more perfectly than they evaluate the surrounding circumstances. “One head,” he said, “belongs to the right to consider and resolve issues, the functions of the remaining members are only in the execution of orders transmitted to them.” He considered the absolute power of the sovereign and the complete subordination of his subjects to him as one of the main divine commandments. “In all Christian teaching there is no more clearly established principle than the unquestioning obedience of subjects to those who are placed over them.”

Each of his ministers, advisers or close associates could retain his position, provided that he managed to pretend that he was learning everything from the king and considered him alone the reason for the success of any business. A very illustrative example in this respect was the case of Nicolas Fouquet, surintendent of finance, whose name during the reign of Mazarin was associated with the stabilization of the financial situation in France. This case was also the most striking manifestation of the royal vindictiveness and vindictiveness brought up by the Fronde and was associated with the desire to remove everyone who does not obey the sovereign in due measure, who can be compared with him. Despite the fact that Fouquet during the years of the Fronde showed absolute loyalty to the Mazarin government and had considerable merits before the supreme power, the king eliminated him. In his behavior, Louis, most likely, saw something "Fronde" - self-reliance, an independent mind. The Surintendant also fortified the island of Belle Île that belonged to him, attracted clients from the military, lawyers, representatives of culture, maintained a magnificent courtyard and a whole staff of informants. His castle Vaux-le-Viscount was not inferior in beauty and splendor to the royal palace. In addition, according to a document that has survived (p. 409), though only in a copy, Fouquet tried to establish relations with the king's mistress, Louise de Lavaliere. In September, 1661, the Surintendant was arrested at the feast of Vaux-le-Viscount by the well-known captain of the royal musketeers, d'Artagnan, and spent the rest of his life in prison.

Louis XIV could not put up with the existence of political rights that remained after the death of Richelieu and Mazarin for some state and public institutions, because these rights to some extent contradicted the concept of royal omnipotence. Therefore, he destroyed them and introduced bureaucratic centralization, brought to perfection. The king, of course, listened to the opinions of ministers, members of his family, favorites and favorites. But he stood firmly at the top of the pyramid of power. In accordance with the orders and instructions of the monarch, secretaries of state acted, each of which, in addition to the main field of activity - financial, military, etc. - had several large administrative-territorial regions under his command. These areas (there were 25 of them) were called "generalite". Louis XIV reformed the Royal Council, increased the number of its members, turning it into a real government in his own person. Under him, the States General were not convened, provincial and city self-government was everywhere destroyed and replaced by the administration of royal officials, of whom the intendants were endowed with the broadest powers. The latter carried out the policy and activities of the government and its head - the king. The bureaucracy was omnipotent.

But it cannot be said that Louis XIV was not surrounded by sensible officials or did not heed their advice. In the first half of the king's reign, the inspector general of finances Colbert, the minister of war Louvois, the military engineer Vauban, talented generals - Condé, Turenne, Tesse, Vendome and many others contributed to the splendor of his reign. (p. 410)

Jean-Baptiste Colbert came from the bourgeois strata and in his youth managed the private property of Mazarin, who was able to appreciate his outstanding mind, honesty and hard work, and recommended him to the king before his death. Louis was won over by Colbert's relative modesty compared to the rest of his employees, and he appointed him comptroller-general of the finances. All the measures taken by Colbert to raise French industry and trade received a special name in history - Colbertism. First of all, the Comptroller General of Finance streamlined the system of financial management. Strict accountability was introduced in the receipt and expenditure of state revenues, all those who illegally evaded it were brought to pay land tax, taxes on luxury goods were increased, etc. True, in accordance with the policy of Louis XIV, the nobility of the sword (hereditary military nobility). Nevertheless, this reform of Colbert improved the financial situation of France, (p. 411), but not enough to satisfy all state needs (especially military ones) and the insatiable demands of the king.

Colbert also undertook a series of measures known as the policy of mercantilism, i.e., encouraging the productive forces of the state. In order to improve French agriculture, he reduced or completely abolished taxes for large peasants, gave benefits to those with shortfalls, and expanded the area of ​​cultivated land with the help of land reclamation measures. But most of all the minister was interested in the development of industry and trade. Colbert imposed a high tariff on all imported goods and encouraged their domestic production. He invited the best craftsmen from abroad, encouraged the bourgeoisie to invest in the development of manufactories, moreover, provided them with benefits and issued loans from the state treasury. Under him, several state manufactories were founded. As a result, the French market was filled with domestic goods, and a number of French products (Lyon velvet, Valenciennes lace, luxury items) were popular throughout Europe. Mercantilist measures of Colbert created a number of economic and political difficulties for neighboring states. In particular, angry speeches were often heard in the English Parliament against the policy of Colbertism and the penetration of French goods into the English market, and Colbert's brother Charles, who was the French ambassador in London, was not loved throughout the country.

In order to intensify French internal trade, Colbert ordered the construction of roads that stretched from Paris in all directions, destroyed internal customs between individual provinces. He contributed to the creation of a large merchant and navy that could compete with English and Dutch ships, founded the East India and West India trading companies, and encouraged the colonization of America and India. Under him, a French colony was founded in the lower reaches of the Mississippi, named Louisiana in honor of the king.

All these measures gave the state treasury huge revenues. But the maintenance of the most luxurious court in Europe and the continuous wars of Louis XIV (even in peacetime, 200 thousand people were constantly under arms) absorbed such colossal sums that they were not enough to cover all costs. At the request of the king, in order to find money, Colbert had to raise taxes even on basic necessities, which caused discontent against him throughout the kingdom. It should be noted that Colbert was by no means an opponent of French hegemony in Europe, but was against the military expansion of his overlord, preferring economic expansion to it. Finally, in 1683, the comptroller-general of the treasury fell out of favor with Louis XIV, which subsequently led to a gradual decline in the proportion of French industry and trade on the Continent compared with England. The factor holding the king back was eliminated.

The Minister of War Louvois, the reformer of the French army, contributed a lot to the prestige of the French kingdom in the international arena. With the approval (p. 413) of the king, he introduced recruiting kits for soldiers and thus created a standing army. In wartime, its number reached 500 thousand people - an unsurpassed figure for those times in Europe. Exemplary discipline was maintained in the army, recruits were systematically trained, and each regiment was given special uniforms. Luvois also improved weaponry; the pike was replaced by a bayonet screwed to a gun, barracks, food stores and hospitals were built. On the initiative of the Minister of War, a corps of engineers and several artillery schools were established. Louis highly valued Louvois and in frequent quarrels between him and Colbert, by virtue of his inclination, took the side of the Minister of War.

According to the projects of the talented engineer Vauban, more than 300 land and sea fortresses were erected, channels were broken through, dams were built. He also invented some weapons for the army. After reviewing the state of the French kingdom for 20 years of continuous work, Vauban submitted a memorandum to the king proposing reforms that could improve the situation of the lower strata of France. Louis, who did not issue any instructions and did not want to waste his royal time, and especially finances, on new reforms, disgraced the engineer.

The French commanders Prince Condé, Marshals Turenne, Tesse, who left valuable memoirs to the world, Vandom and a number of other capable military leaders greatly increased the military prestige and asserted the hegemony of France in Europe. They saved the day even when their king started and fought wars rashly and imprudently.

During the reign of Louis XIV, France was in a state of war almost continuously. The wars for the Spanish Netherlands (60s - early 80s of the XVII century), the war of the Augsburg League, or the Nine Years' War (1689-1697) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), absorbing huge financial resources, eventually ultimately led to a significant decrease in French influence (p. 414) in Europe. Although France still remained among the states that determined European policy, a new alignment of forces took shape on the continent, and irreconcilable Anglo-French contradictions arose.

The religious measures of his reign were closely connected with the international policy of the French king. Louis XIV made many political mistakes that Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin could not afford. But a miscalculation that became fatal for France and later called the “mistake of the century” was the repeal of the Edict of Nantes in October 1685. The king, who assessed his kingdom as the strongest in economic and political relations in Europe, laid claim not only to (p. - political, but also spiritual hegemony of France on the continent. Like the Habsburgs in the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, he aspired to play the role of defender of the Catholic faith in Europe, in connection with which his disagreements with the See of St. Peter aggravated. Louis XIV banned the Calvinist religion in France, continued the persecution of French Protestants, which began in the 70s. and are now violent. Huguenots rushed abroad in masses, in connection with which the government banned emigration. But, despite severe punishments and cordons placed along the border, up to 400 thousand people moved to England, Holland, Prussia, and Poland. The governments of these countries willingly received Huguenot emigrants, mostly of bourgeois origin, who noticeably revived the industry and trade of the host states. As a result, the economic development of France suffered considerable damage; the Huguenot nobles most often entered the service of officers in the army of states that were opponents of France.

It must be said that not everyone in the king's entourage supported the abolition of the Edict of Nantes. As Marshal Tesse very aptly remarked, "her results were quite consistent with this apolitical measure." The "mistake of the century" dramatically damaged the plans of Louis XIV in the field of foreign policy. The mass exodus of the Huguenots from France revolutionized Calvinist doctrine. In the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689. more than 2,000 Huguenot officers participated in England. The outstanding Huguenot theologians and publicists of that time, Pierre Ury and Jean Le Clerc, created the basis of a new Huguenot political thinking, and the Glorious Revolution itself became for them a theoretical and practical model for the reorganization of society. The new revolutionary outlook was that France needed a "parallel revolution", the overthrow of the absolutist tyranny of Louis XIV. At the same time, the destruction of the Bourbon monarchy as such was not proposed, but only constitutional changes that turned it into a parliamentary monarchy. As a result, the religious policy of Louis XIV (p. 416) prepared the transformation of political ideas, which were finally developed and strengthened in the concepts of the French Enlightenment of the 18th century. The Catholic Bishop Bossuet, who enjoys influence at the court of the king, noted that "free-thinking people did not neglect the opportunity to criticize the policies of Louis XIV." The concept of a tyrant king was formed.

So, for France, the repeal of the Edict of Nantes was a truly disastrous act. Called upon to strengthen the royal power within the country and achieve not only the territorial and political, but also the spiritual hegemony of France in Europe, in fact, he put the cards in the hands of the future English King William III of Orange and contributed to the accomplishment of the Glorious Revolution, pushed away almost all of her few allies from France. The violation of the principle of freedom of conscience, in parallel with the violation of the balance of power in Europe, turned into serious defeats for France, both in domestic and foreign policy. The second half of the reign of Louis XIV no longer looked so brilliant. And for Europe, in fact, his actions turned out to be quite favorable. In England, the Glorious Revolution was carried out, neighboring states rallied into an anti-French coalition, through the efforts of which, as a result of bloody wars, France lost its absolute primacy in Europe, retaining it only in the cultural field.

It was in this area that France's hegemony remained unshakable, and in some aspects it remains to this day. At the same time, the very personality of the king and his activities laid the foundation for the unprecedented cultural elevation of France. In general, there is an opinion among historians that it is possible to speak of the "golden age" of the reign of Louis XIV only in relation to the sphere of culture. This is where the "sun king" was really great. In the process of education, Ludovik did not receive the skills of independent work with books; he preferred questions and a lively conversation to the search for truth from authors who contradicted each other. Perhaps that is why the king paid great attention to the cultural framing of his reign (p. 417), and brought up his son Louis, born in 1661, in a different way: the heir to the throne was introduced to jurisprudence, philosophy, taught Latin and mathematics.

Among the various measures that were supposed to contribute to the growth of royal prestige, Louis XIV attached particular importance to attracting attention to his own person. He devoted as much time to worrying about this as to the most important affairs of state. After all, the face of the kingdom was primarily the king himself. Louis, as it were, made his life a work of art of classicism. He did not have a "hobby", he could not be imagined as an enthusiastic business that did not coincide with the "profession" of the monarch. All his sports hobbies are purely royal pursuits that created the traditional image of the king-knight. Louis was too solid to be talented: a bright talent would have broken through at least somewhere the boundaries of the circle of interests assigned to him. However, this rationalistic focus on one's specialty was a phenomenon of the early modern period, which in the field of culture was characterized by encyclopedism, dispersion and disorganized curiosity.

By awarding ranks, awards, pensions, estates, profitable positions, and other signs of attention, for which Louis XIV was inventive to the point of virtuosity, he managed to attract representatives of the best families to his court and turn them into his obedient servants. The most well-born aristocrats considered it their greatest happiness and honor to serve the king when dressing and undressing, at the table, during walks, etc. The staff of courtiers and servants numbered 5-6 thousand people.

Strict etiquette was adopted at court. Everything was distributed with petty punctuality, each, even the most ordinary act of the life of the royal family, was arranged extremely solemnly. When dressing the king, the whole court was present, a large staff of employees was required to serve the king a dish or drink. During the royal dinner, all those admitted to it, including (p. 418) and members of the royal family, stood, it was possible to talk with the king only when he himself wished it. Louis XIV considered it necessary for himself to strictly observe all the details of complex etiquette and demanded the same from the courtiers.

The king gave an unprecedented splendor to the external life of the court. His favorite residence was Versailles, which turned under him into a large luxurious city. Especially magnificent was the grandiose palace in a strictly sustained style, richly decorated both outside and inside by the best French artists of that time. During the construction of the palace, an architectural innovation was introduced, which later became fashionable in Europe: not wanting to demolish his father’s hunting lodge, which became an element of the central part of the palace ensemble, the king forced the architects to come up with a mirror hall, when the windows of one wall were reflected in the mirrors on the other wall, creating there the illusion of the presence of window openings. The large palace was surrounded by several small ones, for members of the royal family, many royal services, rooms for the royal guard and courtiers. The palace buildings were surrounded by a vast garden, kept according to the laws of strict symmetry, with decoratively trimmed trees, many flower beds, fountains, and statues. It was Versailles that inspired Peter the Great, who visited there, to build Peterhof with its famous fountains. True, Peter spoke of Versailles as follows: the palace is beautiful, but there is little water in the fountains. In addition to Versailles, under Louis, other beautiful architectural structures were built - the Grand Trianon, Les Invalides, the Louvre colonnade, the gates of Saint-Denis and Saint-Martin. On all these creations, encouraged by the king, the architect Hardouin-Monsart, the artists and sculptors Lebrun, Girardon, Leclerc, Latour, Rigaud and others worked.

While Louis XIV was young, life in Versailles proceeded like a continuous holiday. Balls, masquerades, concerts, theatrical performances, and pleasure walks followed in a continuous succession. Only in his old age (p. 419) did the king, who was already continuously ill, begin to lead a more relaxed lifestyle, unlike the English king Charles II (1660–1685). He even on the day that turned out to be the last in his life, arranged a celebration in which he took an active part.

Louis XIV constantly attracted famous writers to his side, giving them monetary rewards and pensions, and for these favors he expected glorification of himself and his reign. The literary celebrities of that era were the playwrights Corneille, Racine and Moliere, the poet Boileau, the fabulist La Fontaine and others. Almost all of them, with the exception of Lafontaine, created a cult of the sovereign. For example, Corneille, in his tragedies from the history of the Greco-Roman world, emphasized the advantages of absolutism, extending benefits to its subjects. In the comedies of Molière, the weaknesses and shortcomings of modern society were skillfully ridiculed. However, their author tried to avoid everything that might not please Louis XIV. Boileau wrote laudatory odes in honor of the monarch, and in his satires he ridiculed medieval orders and opposition aristocrats.

Under Louis XIV, a number of academies arose - sciences, music, architecture, the French Academy in Rome. Of course, not only the high ideals of serving the beautiful inspired His Majesty. The political nature of the French monarch's concern for cultural figures is obvious. But did this work, created by the masters of his era, become less beautiful?

As we have already seen, Louis XIV made his private life the property of the entire kingdom. Let's note one more aspect. Under the influence of his mother, Louis grew up to be a very religious person, at least outwardly. But, as the researchers note, his faith was the faith of an ordinary person. Cardinal Fleury, in a conversation with Voltaire, recalled that the king "believed like a collier". Other contemporaries noted that "he never read the Bible in his life and believes everything that the priests and bigots tell him." But perhaps this was consistent with the religious policy of the king. Louis listened to Mass every day (p. 420), every year on Holy Thursday he washed the feet of 12 beggars, every day he read the simplest prayers, and on holidays he listened to long sermons. However, such ostentatious religiosity was not a hindrance to the luxurious life of the king, his wars and relationships with women.

Like his grandfather, Henry IV of Bourbon, Louis XIV was very amorous by temperament and did not consider it necessary to observe marital fidelity. As we already know, at the insistence of Mazarin and his mother, he had to give up his love for Maria Mancini. Marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain was a purely political matter. Not being faithful, the king nevertheless conscientiously fulfilled his marital duty: from 1661 to 1672, the queen gave birth to six children, of whom only the eldest son survived. Louis was always present at childbirth and, together with the queen, experienced her torment, as, indeed, other courtiers. Maria Theresa, of course, was jealous, but very unobtrusively. When the queen died in 1683, her husband honored her memory with the following words: "This is the only trouble she gave me."

In France, it was considered quite natural that the king, if he is a healthy and normal man, has mistresses, as long as decency is observed. It should also be noted here that Louis never confused love affairs with state affairs. He did not allow women to interfere in politics, prudently measuring the boundaries of the influence of his favorites. In the "Memoirs" addressed to his son, His Majesty wrote: "Let the beauty that gives us pleasure, do not dare to talk to us about our affairs, or about our ministers."

Among the numerous lovers of the king, three figures are usually distinguished. Former favorite in 1661-1667. the quiet and modest lady-in-waiting Louise de Lavalière, who gave birth four times to Louis, was perhaps the most devoted and most humiliated of all his mistresses. When she was no longer needed by the king, she retired to a monastery, where she spent the rest of her life.

In some way, the contrast in comparison with her was represented by Françoise-Athenais de Montespan, who "reigned" (p. 422) in 1667-1679. and bore the king six children. She was a beautiful and proud woman, already married. So that her husband could not take her away from the court, Louis gave her the high court rank of sirintendante of the queen's court. Unlike Lavaliere, Montespan was not loved by the king's entourage: one of the highest church authorities in France, Bishop Bossuet, even demanded the removal of the favorite from the court. Montespan adored luxury and liked to give orders, but she also knew her place. The king's beloved preferred to avoid asking Louis for private individuals, talking with him only about the needs of the monasteries she patronized.

Unlike Henry IV, who went crazy at the age of 56 for the 17-year-old Charlotte de Montmorency, widowed at 45, Louis XIV suddenly began to strive for quiet family happiness. In the person of his third favorite, Francoise de Maintenon, who was three years older than him, the king found what he was looking for. Despite the fact that in 1683 Louis entered into a secret marriage with Françoise, his love was already the calm feeling of a man who foresaw old age. The beautiful, intelligent and pious widow of the famous poet Paul Scarron was apparently the only woman capable of influencing him. The French enlighteners attributed the repeal of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 to its decisive influence. However, there is no doubt that this act was in the best possible way consistent with the aspirations of the king himself in the field of domestic and foreign policy, although it cannot be overlooked that the “Maintenon era” coincided with the second, worst half of his reign. In the secluded rooms of his secret wife, His Majesty "shed tears that he could not hold back." Nevertheless, in relation to her subjects, the traditions of court etiquette were observed: two days before the death of the king, his 80-year-old wife left the palace and lived out her days in Saint-Cyr, an educational institution for noble maidens she founded.

Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715 at the age of 77. Judging by his physical data, the king could have lived much longer. Despite his small stature, which forced him to wear high heels, Louis was stately and proportionately complex, had a representative appearance. Natural grace was combined in him with a majestic posture, a calm look, unshakable self-confidence. The king had enviable health, rare in those difficult times. Ludovic's conspicuous tendency was bulimia - an insatiable feeling of hunger that caused an incredible appetite. The king ate mountains of food day and night, while eating food in large chunks. What body can handle it? The inability to cope with bulimia was the main cause of his many illnesses, combined with the dangerous experiments of the doctors of that era - endless bloodletting, laxatives, drugs with the most incredible ingredients. The court physician Vallo rightly wrote about the "heroic health" of the king. But it was gradually shattered, in addition to illnesses, also by countless entertainments, balls, hunting, wars and the nervous tension associated with the latter. No wonder therefore, on the eve of his death, Louis XIV uttered these words: "I loved the war too much." But this phrase, most likely, was uttered for a completely different reason: on his deathbed, the "sun king" may have realized what result his country's policy had led to.

So, now it remains for us to utter the sacramental phrase, so often repeated in studies about Louis XIV: did a man or a messenger of God on earth die? Undoubtedly, this king, like many others, was a man with all his weaknesses and contradictions. But to appreciate the personality and rule of this monarch is still not easy. The great emperor and unsurpassed commander Napoleon Bonaparte noted: “Louis XIV was a great king: it was he who elevated France to the rank of the first nations in Europe, it was he who for the first time had 400 thousand people under arms and 100 ships at sea, he annexed Franche-Comte to France, Roussillon, Flanders, he put one of his children on the throne of Spain ... What king since Charlemagne can compare with Louis in every respect? Napoleon is right - Louis XIV was indeed a great king. But was he a great man? It seems that here the assessment of the king by his contemporary Duke Saint-Simon suggests itself: "The king's mind was below average and did not have a great ability to improve." The statement is too categorical, but its author did not sin much against the truth.

Louis XIV was, without a doubt, a strong personality. It was he who contributed to bringing absolute power to its apogee: the system of rigid centralization of government, cultivated by him, was an example for many political regimes of both that era and the modern world. It was under him that the national and territorial integrity of the kingdom was strengthened, a single internal market functioned, and the quantity and quality of French industrial products increased. Under him, France dominated Europe, having the strongest and most efficient army on the continent. And, finally, he contributed to the creation of immortal creations that spiritually enriched the French nation and all of humanity.

But nevertheless, it was during the reign of this king that the “old order” in France cracked, absolutism began to decline, and the first prerequisites for the French revolution of the late 18th century arose. Why did it happen? Louis XIV was neither a great thinker, nor a significant commander, nor a capable diplomat. He did not have the broad outlook that his predecessors Henry IV, Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, could boast of. The latter created the foundation for the flourishing of the absolute monarchy and defeated its internal and external enemies. And Louis XIV, with his devastating wars, religious persecution and extremely rigid centralization, built obstacles to the further dynamic development of France. Indeed, in order to choose the right strategic course for his state, the monarch required extraordinary political thinking. But the "king-sun" did not possess such. Therefore, it is not surprising that on the day of the funeral of Louis XIV, Bishop Bossuet, in his funeral speech, summed up the results of a stormy and unheard of long reign with one phrase: “Only God is great!”

France did not mourn the monarch, who reigned for 72 years. Did the country already then foresee the destruction and horrors of the Great Revolution? And was it really impossible to avoid them during such a long reign?

She had a small stature and an unsightly appearance, did not differ in special intelligence, and all her short life endured the amorous adventures of her husband-king.

Personality of the Queen of France Maria Theresa known to many through Alexandra Dumas- a father who, on the pages of his novels, described in sufficient detail the life of the French royal court of that time. True, the queen herself remained a mere attribute of history against the backdrop of the seething passions of her husband. LouisXIV. What was she after all, this unfortunate woman, given in marriage to the “Sun King”?

This depraved French court

Maria Theresa, daughter of the Spanish king Philip IV and Isabella Bourbon, was born on September 10, 1638 and became the only child from this marriage who survived to adulthood.

Spain at that time was a country of strict Catholic rules. All its inhabitants prayed intensely to God and led a modest lifestyle, in contrast to neighboring France, in which at the court of the king LouisXIII violent passions raged.

Portrait of the Infanta Maria Theresa at the age of 14. Diego Velazquez

Maria Theresa was brought up in virtue and obedience. While her future husband, Louis XIV, Cardinal Mazarin deliberately corrupted by female attention.

Few people know, but in the middle of the 17th century, “Italian love”, or homosexuality, gained immense popularity at the French court. Mazarin was afraid that the pretty Louis would not set foot on this path, and from an early age he put the king of "Mazarin women" in bed.

Unwanted wife

The process of marriage of the French king Louis XIV and the Spanish princess Maria Theresa took place in 1660, when the newlyweds were barely 22 years old (Louis was only five days older than his wife).

The princess who arrived in France shocked everyone present with her short stature and ugly appearance, clearly betraying the presence of the blood of the Austrian Habsburg family. But even more shocking was her modest outfits, which were simply monstrous compared to French puffy skirts, low necklines and slimming corsets that raised even not very large breasts.

Louis even tried to refuse the wedding, but was forced to obey his mother Anna of Austria, for which the future daughter-in-law was a niece. It is worth recalling that at that time the king was infatuated with the extremely flamboyant Italian aristocrat Maria Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin.

Maria Theresa, of course, came to the wedding procedure dressed as expected, but for a long time she could not get used to French fashion and traditions. At the French court, then gossip: the young queen was horrified that before the wedding night she was undressed by her husband's relatives, and he himself entered the bedroom half-dressed, accompanied by his friends.

Machine for the birth of heirs

The first year of their life together passed more or less tolerably. Under the influence of his mother, Louis behaved with dignity and did not cheat on his wife. But in 1661, after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, who was the de facto ruler of the country, Louis XIV, who became at the helm of the state, as they would say now, completely “unbelted”.

The handsome and amorous Louis was very popular with women, many of whom tried through him to attach their relatives and friends to "bread" positions. How could you not take advantage of this opportunity?

At first, the favorites changed with great speed, but later in the life of the king appeared Louise de Lavalier who bore Louis four children, and Athenais de Montespan, who made the "sun king" happy with seven descendants.

At the same time, Louis XIV did not forget about his own wife, regularly visiting her bedroom. As a result of these visits, six heirs to the throne were born, of whom only the future King Louis XV survived to adulthood.

"The queens have gone!"

Louis XIV de Bourbon, also known as the "Sun King", also Louis the Great, (born September 5, 1638, death September 1, 1715) - King of France and Navarre since May 14, 1643.

Not every European monarch could say about himself: "The state is me." However, these words rightfully refer to Louis XIV, whose reign was the period of the highest flowering of absolutism in France.

Childhood and early years

The Sun King, the luxury of whose court overshadowed all the august courts of Europe, the son of Louis XIII and Anna of Austria. The boy was 5 years old when, after the death of his father, he inherited the throne of France and Navarre. But at that time, the dowager queen became the sole ruler of the country, contrary to the will of her husband, which provided for the creation of a regency council.

But in reality, power was concentrated in the hands of her favorite, Cardinal Mazarin, an extremely unpopular man, even despised by all sectors of society, hypocritical and treacherous, who was characterized by insatiable money-grubbing. It was he who became the tutor of the young sovereign.

The cardinal taught him the methods of conducting public affairs, diplomatic negotiations, and political psychology. He was able to instill in the student a taste for secrecy, a passion for fame, faith in his own infallibility. The young man became vindictive. He never forgot or forgave.

Louis XIV had a controversial character. He combined industriousness, determination and firmness in the implementation of his plans with unshakable stubbornness. Appreciating educated and talented people, in the meantime, he selected into his environment those who could not outshine him in anything. The king was characterized by extraordinary conceit and lust for power, selfishness and coldness, heartlessness and hypocrisy.

The characteristics given to the king by different people are contradictory. His contemporary Duke Saint-Simon noted: “Praise, let's say better - flattery, he liked it so much that he willingly accepted the rudest, and savored the lowest even more strongly. Only in this way it was possible to approach him ... Cunning, meanness, servility, humiliated posture, groveling ... - only in this way it was possible to please him.

As soon as a person deviated from this path even a little, there was no turning back. Voltaire considered him "a good father, a skilled ruler, always decent in public, industrious, impeccable in deeds, thinking, easy to speak, combining courtesy with dignity." And he said that Louis XIV “was a great king: it was he who raised France to the rank of the first nations of Europe ... What French king from the time can be compared with Louis in all respects?”

Be that as it may, any of these characteristics fit Louis. He was a worthy student of Cardinal Mazarin.

The sovereign was well built, even graceful, had, despite all the "efforts" of the doctors, enviable health. The only disease that haunted him all his life was insatiable hunger. He ate both day and night, swallowing food in large chunks. Physically, the monarch remained strong enough even in old age: he rode, drove a carriage with four horses, and accurately shot on the hunt.

Rise to power

Since childhood, since 1648, the king was faced with the performances of the Fronde (nobility), directed both personally against Mazarin and against the strengthening of absolutism. These performances resulted in a civil war. But in 1661, Louis was officially proclaimed an adult. In his short speech in parliament, he said: “Gentlemen, I have come to my parliament to declare to you that, according to the law of my state, I myself take the government into my own hands ...”

Now, any speeches against the cardinal could be considered as treason or as a crime against His Majesty, because Mazarin had only the appearance of power left: now only Louis XIV signed laws, made decisions, appointed ministers. At this time, he, with satisfaction accepting the activities of the Prime Minister in the field of foreign policy, diplomacy and military affairs, expressed dissatisfaction with the situation in domestic politics, finance, and administration.

Reign of Louis XIV

Cardinal Mazarin

After the death of the cardinal in 1661, the king declared at a meeting of the state council: “I have gathered you with my ministers and secretaries of state to tell you ... the time has come for me to govern myself. You will help me with your advice when I ask you to." And when the council was dissolved, he added that he would “convene them when it is necessary to know their opinion.” However, the State Council never met again.

Louis XIV created a government completely controlled by him, consisting of three people: the chancellor, the general controller of finances and the secretary of state for foreign affairs. Now even his mother could not influence his decision. In France, a system began to take shape, which in the 20th century would be called administrative. The monarch received the right, based on the interests of the public good, to go beyond the limits of power prescribed to him: the powers of parliament were limited: he was deprived of the opportunity to influence the course of state affairs, to make even minor amendments to royal ordinances and legislative acts.

Disobedience and freethinking of citizens were severely punished: the death penalty, life imprisonment, hard labor, galleys. At the same time, a certain semblance of democracy was preserved. From time to time there were open investigations. This is the case of the abuses of the Minister of Finance Fouquet, and the case of poisoning, in which a number of courtiers and even titled persons were held accountable. Introduced income tax, mandatory for the nobility. Millions of sums were invested in the development of manufactories and trade, which greatly contributed to the improvement of the economic situation of France and helped to restore the fleet and create the largest army in Europe.

Foreign policy

The foreign policy of the king was a continuation of the policy of Mazarin and his predecessor: “Whoever has power, he has the right in the affairs of the state,” Richelieu pointed out in his will, “and whoever is weak can hardly remove himself from among the wrong in the eyes of the majority ". Significant military forces were created that were supposed to serve the glory and power of the dynasty, because the central problem at that time was the struggle against dominance in Europe at home and for the establishment of Bourbon hegemony.

This began with Louis' claims to the Spanish inheritance, to the throne of Spain, which the Spanish infanta renounced when she married the French king. France put forward claims to all the Spanish Netherlands, to a number of German lands. The confrontation with England, which formed an anti-French coalition, intensified. Although Louis XIV could not establish hegemony in Europe, he left the state better protected than he inherited: the Bourbons owned Spain and the colonies, the eastern border was strengthened. His armies fought on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, America.

Domestic politics

Incessant wars devastated the treasury, a financial crisis threatened, and for several years in a row there were poor harvests. All this led to unrest in the city and countryside, food riots. The government resorted to brutal repression. In a number of cities, entire streets and even districts were demolished.

Terror against the Huguenots intensified: they began to expel Protestant pastors, destroy Protestant churches, banned the Huguenots from leaving the country, Catholic baptism and marriage became mandatory. All this led to the fact that many French Protestants renounced their faith, but the goal of the king to restore the Catholic faith was not achieved. Protestantism went underground, and at the beginning of the 18th century there was a Huguenot uprising, which in a number of places took on the scale of a civil war. It was only in 1760 that regular troops were able to suppress it.

Royal court of Louis XIV

A heavy burden on the finances of the state was not only constant wars, but also the maintenance of the royal court, numbering about 20 thousand people. At the court, festive performances, theatrical and musical performances were constantly organized, which remained in the memory of posterity for a long time.

But the monarch was engaged not only in entertainment, but also in the affairs of his subjects: on Mondays, in the premises of the royal guard, on a large table, petitioners folded their letters, which were then sorted by secretaries and transmitted with a corresponding report to the king. He personally made decisions in each case. This is what Louis did in all his affairs. “France is a monarchy,” he wrote, “the king represents the whole nation in it, and before the king everyone is only a private person. Therefore, all power, all power is concentrated in the hands of the king, and in the kingdom there can be no other power than that established by him.

At the same time, the court of Louis XIV was distinguished by a variety of vices and perversions. The courtiers were addicted to gambling to such an extent that they lost estates, fortunes, and even life itself. Drunkenness, homosexuality, and lesbianism flourished. Holiday spending was frequent and ruinous. So, only Marshal Buffle, commander of the troops, contained 72 cooks and 340 servants. Meat, game, fish, even drinking water were brought to him from various parts of the country, even from abroad.

Maria Theresa (wife of Louis XIV)

Against this background, Louis preferred to emphasize his modesty. He wore a cloth or satin camisole, mostly brown. Jewels adorned only the buckles of shoes, garters and a hat. On solemn occasions, the monarch wore a long blue sash with precious stones worth up to 10 million livres under the caftan.

For a long time, the king did not have a permanent residence. He lived and worked in the Louvre and the Tuileries in Paris, then in the Chambord Palace, 165 km from the capital, then in the Saint-Germain Palace, then in Vincennes, then in Fontainebleau. In this regard, Louis XIV and his court often traveled around, carrying furniture, carpets, linen, and dishes in many kilometers of carts.

Only in 1682 did they move to the still unfinished Palace of Versailles, which eventually became one of the wonders of French and world culture and cost 60 million livres. With its construction, the king, who in 1662 chose the sun as his emblem, wanted to express his greatness. The palace had 1252 rooms with fireplaces and 600 without them. Next to the royal bedroom was the Great Gallery, or gallery of mirrors, 75 meters long and 10 meters wide, with 17 windows and a panel of 400 mirrors. There, on solemn days, 3,000 candles burned. Only in the 90s. life from Versailles began to move to Paris, aided by economic and financial difficulties and, in no small measure, by the influence of Madame de Maintenon.

King's personal life

Despite the ease of morals of the royal court, the king, a pious man, did not encourage debauchery, although he had many fleeting relationships and even long attachments that lasted for years. He visited his wife Maria Theresa every night; none of the favorites could influence his political decisions. The exact number of love affairs of the monarch is shrouded in mystery. He had his first deep relationship with Maria Mancini, Mazarin's niece, back in 1658, he even wanted to marry her.

But under pressure from the cardinal and his mother, in 1660, for political reasons, he married a Spanish princess from the house of Habsburg, his cousin Maria Theresa, a very plain and unpretentious girl, who quickly reconciled herself to her husband's love affairs. From this marriage several children were born, but only one survived, the heir, who received the right only to attend meetings of the royal council.

And the official favorites of the king in the 60s. there were the Duchess de Lavaliere, who bore him 4 children, of whom two survived, and the Marquise de Montespan, who bore the king 8 children, of which 4 survived. The king legitimized all his children, spared nothing for them, especially since he took from the state treasury. So, to an illegitimate daughter who was getting married, he gave a million livres in cash, jewelry worth 300,000 livres, an annual pension of 100,000 livres; he monthly paid for his son's entertainment - 50 thousand livres, thousands of card losses, both his own and his wife and mistresses.

From the beginning of the 80s. a new favorite appeared at the court - the Marquise de Maintenon, a smart and pious woman, who at one time raised the illegitimate children of the monarch. She had apartments in Versailles adjoining the royal chambers. After the death of Maria Theresa in 1683, a secret marriage took place between Louis XIV and Madame Maintenon, who was 3 years older than her husband.

Death of Louis XIV

Time passed, the king grew old, people close to him died. In 1711–1712 one by one, a son, a grandson and a great-grandson passed away. This endangered the dynasty itself. And then the sovereign went to violate the "Salic law" - the law of succession to the throne. By order of 1714, his children born from a relationship with the Marquise de Montespan were allowed to succeed to the throne. In August 1715, the king fell ill, his condition worsened, gangrene began. On September 1, Louis XIV died.

Although he left the country with upset finances and never achieved hegemony over other European states, nevertheless, France was able to play a paramount political role in Europe.