The Arts and the Royal Court Under Louis XIVĪ hard-working and meticulous administrator who oversaw his programs down to the last detail, Louis XIV nevertheless appreciated art, literature, music, theater and sports. Louis also managed to pacify and disempower the historically rebellious nobles, who had fomented no less than 11 civil wars in four decades, by luring them to his court and habituating them to the opulent lifestyle there.Ī 1701 portrait of Louis XIV of France, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King (1638-1715), painting by Hyacinthe Rigaud. His finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, implemented reforms that sharply reduced the deficit and fostered the growth of industry, while his war minister, the Marquis de Louvois, expanded and reorganized the French army. Immediately after assuming control of the government, Louis worked tirelessly to centralize and tighten control of France and its overseas colonies.

While some historians question the attribution, Louis is often remembered for the bold and infamous statement “L’État, c’est moi” (“I am the State”). To illustrate his status, he chose the sun as his emblem and cultivated the image of an omniscient and infallible “Roi-Soleil” (“Sun King”) around whom the entire realm orbited. He viewed himself as the direct representative of God, endowed with a divine right to wield the absolute power of the monarchy. (A number of illegitimate offspring resulted from Louis XIV’s affairs with a string of official and unofficial mistresses.) Sun KingĪfter Mazarin’s death in 1661, Louis XIV broke with tradition and astonished his court by declaring that he would rule without a chief minister. A diplomatic necessity more than anything else, the union produced six children, of whom only one, Louis, survived to adulthood. The following year, 22-year-old Louis married his first cousin Marie-Thérèse, daughter of King Philip IV of Spain.

Mazarin suppressed the revolt in 1653 and by decade’s end had restored internal order and negotiated a peace treaty with Hapsburg Spain, making France a leading European power. The Frondeĭuring the early years of Louis XIV’s reign, Anne and Mazarin introduced policies that further consolidated the monarchy’s power, angering nobles and members of the legal aristocracy.īeginning in 1648, their discontent erupted into a civil war known as the Fronde, which forced the royal family to flee Paris and instilled a lifelong fear of rebellion in the young king. When his father died on May 14, 1643, 4-year-old Louis inherited the crown of a fractured, unstable and nearly insolvent France.Īfter orchestrating the annulment of Louis XIII’s will, which had appointed a regency council to rule on the young king’s behalf, Anne served as sole regent for her son, assisted by her chief minister and close confidant, the Italian-born Cardinal Jules Mazarin.ĭid you know? At the Palace of Versailles, aristocrats were expected to compete for the privilege of watching Louis XIV wake up, eat meals and prepare for bed. Chiaramonte v.Born on September 5, 1638, to King Louis XIII of France and his Habsburg queen, Anne of Austria, the future Louis XIV was his parents’ first child after 23 years of marriage in recognition of this apparent miracle, he was christened Louis-Dieudonné, meaning “gift of God.”Ī younger brother, Philippe, followed two years later.C.A.), leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed S.C.C.A. Public Accountants Council for Ontario (2004), 71 O.R. LeVan, 2008 ONCA 388, application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed S.C.C.A. British Columbia (Minister of Forests) v.Gee Estate, 2015 ONCA 206, leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed ( 2015) Separation Agreements and Disclosure Obligations Ewing, 2009 ABCA 227, leave to appeal to SCC refused S.C.C.A. Statutory Pathway For Protection Hearing.Appointing Counsel For the Subject Children.Separation Agreements and Disclosure Obligations.

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