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Private Notes
Louis XIV inherits the crown of France at the age of 4 and a half, but the country over which he reigns is ruined by the Thirty Years' War. The king being too young to govern, a council of regency is set up and his mother Anne of Austria appoints Cardinal Jules Mazarin Prime Minister of the kingdom. But the war continues to tear Europe apart, the people are suffering and dying of hunger. And the Crown is raising taxes to finance the fighting. Mazarin is held responsible for all these evils. On August 27, 1648, 600 barricades blocked the capital.
At 15, Louis XIV officially reigned over France, but he did not yet rule. The major decisions are taken by his minister and godfather, Cardinal Jules Mazarin. A father figure who teaches him the secrets of a good reign while his mother Anne of Austria gives him the necessary courses to reign over the hearts of women. At the age of 20, during a military campaign, the young king fell ill and everyone thought he was lost. His younger brother, Philippe d'Orléans, is terrified of taking the throne. The king is saved in extremis, Anne of Austria and Mazarin will then do everything to marry him and give an heir to France.
After having been received with pomp by his superintendent of finances, Nicolas Fouquet, in Vaux-le-Vicomte, Louis XIV suspected his minister of having enriched himself on the royal treasury. He conceives a deep jealousy of it. For many months, he plotted his vengeance and had him arrested in Nantes on September 5, 1661. Dazzled by Vaux-le-Vicomte, he asked those who had made the magnificence of it to work on the beautification of Versailles. The shock of Fouquet's arrest is immense among the courtiers who, from now on, will be wary of this king who has just revealed a new facet of his personality. Without deserting the queen's bed, Louis XIV lived true love passions, in particular with Françoise Athénaïs de Montespan.
Louis XIV has the ambition to continue the policy of his ancestors: to limit the hegemony of the Habsburgs who surround his kingdom. When he decided to attack the Protestants in Holland, the king needed the support of the English. He sent for this his sister-in-law Henriette of England, wife of Philippe d'Orléans and sister of the King of England Charles II. In Dover, she negotiated a secret treaty but, on her return to France, she died suddenly. As the war is about to start, Louis XIV is forced to find other alliances. Salvation will come from his brother Philippe d'Orléans.
The 1680s were a turning point in the reign of Louis XIV. He installs the court in Versailles. It was the height of French power ... but also the beginnings of its decline. The French court is shaken by the “poisons affair”. Many nobles are involved, including the king's favorite, Madame de Montespan.
The new European situation does not help Louis XIV's affairs at all. William of Orange, new king of England wastes no time, he participated in the League of Augsburg in order to contain the expansion of Louis XIV in Europe.
