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Birth
Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638, in Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, France, and christened Louis-Dieudonné—French for "Gift of God." His mother was the Hapsburg Spanish queen Anne of Austria, and his father was Louis XIII, king of France. -
Louis become King of France
Louis XIV became the king at the age of four. His reign was the longest that ever lasted of any European Monarch. He began ruling after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, his chief minister. -
Marriage
Louis XIV fell in love with Marie Mancini, Mazarin's niece. Ultimately choosing duty over love, in 1660 he married the daughter of the king of Spain, Marie-Thérèse of Austria, instead. The marriage ensured ratification of the peace treaty that Mazarin had sought to establish with Hapsburg Spain. -
Louis weakens the Nobles' Authority
When Cardinal Mazarin dies, Louis takes control of the government by himself. He does this by decreasing the power of the nobles, and increasing the dominance of the government who collect taxes and administered justice. In order to do this, Louis had to make sure he made contact with the local officials. -
Patronage of the Arts
Versailles was a center of the arts during Louis's reign. Louis made opera and ballet more popular. Under Louis, the chief purpose of art was no longer to glorify God, as it had been in the Middle Ages. Now the purpose of art was to glorify the king and promote values that supported Louis’s absolute rule. -
Louis Attempts to Expand France's Boundaries
In 1667, just six years after Mazarin's death, Louis invaded the Spanish Netherlands in an effort to expand France's boundaries. Through this campaign, he gained 12 towns. -
Louis Attempts to Expand France's Boundaries
Confident with his success in Spanish Netherlands, he led his army to invade Dutch Netherlands. But, they had failed. The ended in 1678 with the Treaty of Nijmegen. France gained several towns and even a region called Franche-Comte. -
War of the Spanish Succession
A war that lasted from 1701 - 1713, in which various European states fought to prevent the Bourbon family from controlling Spain and France. France lost their colonies and wealth. -
Death
On September 1, 1715, a few days before what would have been his 77th birthday, Louis XIV died of gangrene in Versailles, France. Following Louis XIV’s death, his 5-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV, who was the last male heir of the Duc de Bourgogne, inherited the throne.
