Louis XIV

1638 – 1715 · Generation XIV · King of France (r. 1643–1715)

Louis (1638 – 1715). King of France (r. 1643–1715). Married Maria Theresa in 1660. Husband and double first cousin of Maria Theresa of Spain. The self-styled Sun King reigned longer than any sovereign monarch in history — seventy-two years — and took personal charge of government on Cardinal Mazarin’s death in 1661. Building the Palace of Versailles, he drew the nobility into orbit around himself, pacifying an aristocracy that had rebelled in the Fronde of his childhood, and made France the leading power of Europe. He fought three great continental wars against powerful coalitions, and his revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove the Huguenots to convert or flee. Patron of Molière, Racine, and Lully, builder of the Canal du Midi, he left his great-grandson a kingdom still supreme in Europe but exhausted by war and deep in debt.

Partners

Married Maria Theresa of Spain (1638 – 1683) in 1660

Life

1638 — Born
1660 — Married Maria Theresa
1715 — Died