The Biography of France's King Louis Xiv

Throughout history, the monarchies that ruled over France and England have had very influential and significant roles in shaping not only their own countries, but all over the Europe. The Sun King, King Louis XIV of France, had arguably the most dominant reign over France of any monarch to ever rule the country. His reign of 72 years is the longest of any European monarch ever. During his time, England was ruled by a multitude of different monarchs, all members of the same house, the House of Stuart. The rulers of the House of Stuart also have a claim as some of the most important rulers when it comes to shaping both the history of England and the history of Europe. The first ever Queen of Great Britain was a member of the House of Stuart. To really get a strong understanding of just how influential the monarchs of England and France were, an analysis of the similarities and differences between the two offers a better look than an analysis of the two great monarchs separately could offer.

Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638 to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was the first child between the two after numerous stillbirths, adding to the illusion that he was a gift from God. At the age of four, he succeeded his father for the throne of the King of France after Louis XIII decided on his deathbed against giving power over to his wife, Anne of Austria, due to his lack of faith in her political abilities. In Louis XIV’s early years, Cardinal Jules Mazarin handled all of his political duties, having an official role as the Chief Minister of France. Mazarin ruled alongside Anne during this time, although Anne was no longer the Queen and had much less power than Mazarin. Mazarin made moves to increase the power of the King of France over the country. He slowly increased France’s standing in Europe at the Peace of Westphalia (the treaty that ended the Thirty Years’ War) when he claimed to be working towards a common Catholic goal, but in the end was only interested in what was best for France. He also began to set the tone when it came to France’s religious intolerance for Protestants. His attempts at increasing the power of the monarch eventually led to violence when he attempted to create a tax specifically for the Parlement de France. These moves lead to the first of the two Fronde. The Fronde were small civil wars in which a complete overthrow of the government wasn’t the goal. Instead the goal was to cease the growing power of the monarch. The second of the Fronde finished in 1653 with Parlement gaining little ground in terms of stopping Mazarin’s efforts.

With the death of Mazarin in 1661, Louis XIV would finally hold complete power as the King of France. King Louis’ first move was to appoint himself the Chief Minister of France, a position never actually held by a King. His next move was to solve the money issues France was having as the treasury was on the verge of bankruptcy. He removed Nicolas Fouqet, the corrupt Superintendent of Finances, and replaced him with Jean Baptiste-Colbert, whom he hand-picked for the job. Although Fouqet had not actually been the one to put France in the bad position it currently was financially, Louis saw him as a threat due to the fact that he was Mazarin’s rightful heir to the position of Chief Minister. Through the joint efforts of Louis and Colbert, the country’s finance issues quickly disappeared through the development of new tax methods. Although there weren’t actually any new taxes added, just more efficient versions of the taxes from before. Louis brought uniformity across the land regarding laws. Prior to his reign, many provinces throughout France decided how laws were carried out within their boundaries. With the Grande Ordonnance de Procédure Civile in 1667, the provinces were required to follow and enforce all of the same laws (Carr, page 24).

Louis used his power as the ruler of one of the great European forces at the time to intimidate and bribe other countries into fulfilling his desires. When France was trying to eliminate the Dutch, to break an alliance England had with the Dutch, Louis XIV struck up a secret deal with Charles II to have him realign himself on the French side. The deal included a large payment made out to England from France. This temporary peace between the two countries did not last long. In 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes with his Edict of Fontainebleu. The Edict allowed Protestants the right to practice their religion freely. Protestant pastors either had to choose a secular life or be forced to live in exile. This move ultimately led to around 200,000 French Protestants fleeing France to the more accepting Dutch and English. In 1688, France was forced to enter the War of the League of Augsburg. The war was occurring around the time of the Glorious Revolution in England. Louis XIV backed the Catholic James II, but even Louis could not stop the Protestant William III from taking England.

A strong point of difference between the two monarchies was the religious tolerance displayed. France was very intolerant towards any religion outside of Catholicism and remained that way throughout Louis’ reign, as seen by Louis’ revocation of the Edict of Nantes. During the times of James I and Charles I, England was also very intolerant towards all others than that of the Church of England, especially Protestantism. This view changed significantly, with England becoming much more tolerant as time passed, but Catholicism was still never received with completely open arms.

The decline of Louis XIV’ empire began in 1701. France took part in the War of Spanish Succession, and although was not officially defeated, the country came out with much more lost than gained. The end of his reign came as swiftly as it had started when he first gained control of France. The end of his life was marked with the deaths of many of those who he considered close to himself. Because of all of the grief that was placed upon him, he became a shell of his former self and soon fell sick. When he finally died, due to the fact that both his son and his grandson had already passed, he was forced him to give the throne of the King of France to his five year old great-grandson Louis XV.

The first to rule England from the House of Stuart was James Stuart on March 24, 1603. James I was an experienced king before he even took control of the throne of England, as he was crowned the King of Scots when he was only thirteen months old in 1567. He succeeded the Scottish throne after his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, had been removed from power. Although James I was raised in a time of turmoil for Scotland, he received a Presbyterian and classical education. His early reign of Scotland wasn’t established until he was at the age of seventeen. In 1586, he signed a treaty with Queen Elizabeth I of England in an attempt to increase his chances of obtaining the throne of England as Elizabeth had no true heir being completely childless.

With the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, James I King of Scots was declared the ruler of England. There were a number of different conditions of monarchy that James had to adjust to between England and Scotland. The King in Scotland had very little power, viewed as little more than the first among equals. James had actually been kidnapped and held prisoner twice by his subjects while living in Scotland. The majority of ruling power was given to the General Assembly of the Scottish Church. In England, the King was the chief executive, the Supreme Governor of the Church, the possessor of hereditary wealth, and the leader of his subjects in war and peace. Despite all of this, his authority was still constitutionally limited by tradition. The English Parliament had to be consulted before he made any radical decisions such as to wage war or to meet extraordinary expenses he may accumulate.

The difference in the distribution of the power of each country is another main point that the two monarchies differ greatly in. Through the time Louis ruled, his rule over France became more absolute as time passed. The opposite can be said of the House of Stuart. Although James had much more power in England than in Scotland, England’s power distribution would continue to favor the House of Commons throughout the 17th Century and into the 18th Century.

James I had numerous problems that he had to face when immediately taking the throne. The most pressing was the growing Puritan movement that wished to take over the Roman Catholics in the church. Another was Parliament’s attempts at gaining more power over England, which meant less power for himself. He displayed sympathy for the Puritans because he himself had been brought up as a Calvinist, and because of this sympathy, never made any attempts throughout his reign to harm their cause. He was rather religiously tolerant throughout his time as ruler, although reacted accordingly with punishment towards the Catholics for their Gunpowder Plot in 1605, a plot which planned to blow up the House of Parliament (Lloyd, page 58).

James I believed strongly in the Divine Right of Kings. He often exaggerated the rights of the King when addressing Parliament. In his book Basilikon Doron, he stressed the patriarchal nature of kingship and compared monarchs to gods. Despite all of this, he still dismissed the notion made by some that he believed he was above the law. One of James’ goals was to unite the kingdoms of England and Scotland under one name. He even went as far as calling himself the King of Great Britain, although Parliament did not accept his attempts at a union between the two countries. In 1613, James entered an alliance with the German Protestant Union and regarded himself as a Protestant champion when his daughter Elizabeth married Frederick the Elector Palantine. He began to have an ugly relationship with Parliament because of his desire to maintain the rights of the King while Parliament wanted to limit them. His dislike of Parliament stayed with him until his death in 1625. He warned his heir of the growing influence of the House of Commons.

King Louis XIV did relate closely with James I in regards to the Divine Right of Kings. Louis would often refer to himself as the Sun King because of the importance he thought he was born with. This view would stay with Louis XIV throughout his reign, but it was just an afterthought of the later members of the House of Stuart. The English Parliament’s drain of power will continue for the remainder of the House’s reign.

Charles I was the second son James I, born on November 19, 1600. He succeeded to the throne on March 27, 1625 and within two months married Henrietta Maria, the sister of King Louis XIII of France, although the two never had much mutual interest in one another. He was often at odds with Parliament as his father was. Parliament never gave him the funds he needed to fight the wars he would later be engaged in, and they disliked his attitudes towards religious affairs. Although he was tutored by a Scottish Calvinist, he disliked the kind of church services of which the Puritans most approved. Many accused him of promoting high churchmen who believed in free will rather than predestination to achieve salvation. The House of Commons drew up a Petition of Right that would limit Charles’ power. Among other grievances, the Petition condemned forced loans, the billeting of soldiers, and the imprisonment of subjects without cause shown. Although, Charles signed the Petition, he rarely abided by it. Charles went on to try and create religious uniformity in Scotland and England. He got to the point where he raised an army to force Scotland to do as he pleased. His army was easily defeated.

Moves such as increasing taxes without Parliament’s permission and Charles I’s complete disregard for their Petition of Right led to Parliament’s complete distrust of him. Parliament began to take more power from him, although the two points he wouldn’t budge on were the reform of the Church of England and the control of the militia. In 1642, a complete civil war broke out between the opposing members of Parliament who followed Charles- the Royalists- and those who didn’t- the Parliamentarians. After lasting seven years, Charles had officially lost the war, eventually being captured by Parliamentarians and found guilty of treason for waging war on his own people. Charles I was put to death on January 3, 1649.

The two monarchies were similar in that neither was truly loved by the common man. The monarchies of the House of Stuart were often overthrown by their people along with the help of Parliament. Louis on the other hand was never overthrown because of the people’s lack of guidance. The English Parliament had the ability to lead and rally the people for a single cause. There was no branch of government that Louis didn’t have complete control, easily being able to remove anyone from power he saw as a threat.

From 1649 until another member of the House of Stuart would take control in 1660, the Parliament held complete control of England. Oliver Cromwell, the man who lead the Parliamentarians in war against Charles I was viewed as the leader of England, although he declined Parliament’s offer to make him King of England as he thought that the role of the King should be removed completely from England’s government.

Charles II was only twelve when the civil war broke out in 1642. Despite being so young, his father, Charles I, saw quite a bit of potential in him. Charles II would serve numerous roles in his father’s army during the civil war, but in the end still lost along with his father. In 1650, after hearing of his father’s execution, he fled to Scotland where he was appointed the King of the Scots. His goal was to reclaim the British throne and made an attempt to do so in 1651. He and his Scottish army were easily defeated by Cromwell. It wasn’t until Cromwell’s death in 1660 that Charles II would retake his rightful throne. He made strong efforts to strike up negotiations between the supporters of the old Church of England and the Presbyterians, although nothing ever came to fruition.

England viewed France as the most dangerous threat in all of England, so Charles struck up a secret treaty with them to wage war on the Dutch, who they currently were in good terms with as both were members of the Protestant Alliance. One of the terms of the treaty was that Charles had to declare himself Roman Catholic when the time was right. He never fulfilled this promise, as the House of Commons would not allow it. The House of Commons, being very anti-France and anti-Catholic, urged Charles to declare war on France. The opposing views regarding France between Charles and Parliament remained throughout his reign. After being received into the Roman Catholic Church, he passed away February 6, 1685.

The two monarchs viewed one another in much different lights. France saw England as it saw many others, just another pawn that it could manipulate in order to achieve its goals. England saw France as many others saw it, the military powerhouse that it did not want to be an enemy of. The two were never on the best or worst of terms, sometimes allies and sometimes enemies.

James II, the second son of Charles I, was brought up in a similarly volatile situation as his brother, Charles II. He did thrive as a general in his father’s army and would also serve as Lord High Admiral under his brother Charles during Charles’ tenure as the King of England. He was much more open about his Roman Catholic views than his brother, putting him in even worse standing with Parliament. When he took the throne in 1685, many were surprised how peacefully it occurred. This was only because he swore to retain the Church of England and the power it held. Parliament thought this meant James would attempt to eliminate all dissenters of the Church, but he instead meant the opposite, in which he would grant whomever power he felt deserved it regardless of their religion.

James II would pursue complete religious equality despite Parliament’s efforts against it. He made it so that it was much easier for Catholics to gain positions of power throughout the country, and anyone who discriminated based on religious differences was punished. He attempted to punish seven bishops for their disobeying of these laws. When the bishops were found innocent of James’ accusations, the people of England rejoiced. These same people called upon William of Orange to come and take the throne from James II. When William came to England with an army, the English army immediately disbanded when confronted. William would easily take control of the throne while James would eventually flee to France where he never did anything more of significance until his death at the age of sixty-six.

William III married Mary II in 1677, a marriage between the Calvinist duke and his Roman Catholic bride. William had always remained in relatively good terms with England prior to his ascension to the throne in 1688. He earned the position in the bloodless war known as the Glorious Revolution when the English Protestants welcomed him in as their new King. Before William and Mary became King and Queen, they were asked to sign a Declaration of Rights that would give them a much more limited monarchy than their predecessors, and the two signed over willingly. During the joint reign, Mary accepted her role as William’s subordinate and allowed him to make most of the decisions. She was viewed as the more people-oriented of the two monarchs.

Many constitutional changes occurred during Williams’ reign, slowly removing more and more power from the monarchs. Religious tolerance also increased, although not towards the Roman Catholics at first. Parliament made the decision to require any future monarchs to be members of the Church of England before even being considered a candidate for the throne. When Mary passed away in 1964, public opinion of the King began to falter. He did not align himself with either of the new political parties, the Tories or the Whigs, as he disagreed with the pro-French views of the Tories and the pro-Parliament views of the Whigs. Before he passed in 1702, William III found a suitable heir in Anne, Mary’s younger sister.

Anne was born on February 6, 1665. She had not been educated as she wasn’t viewed as a future monarch when she was first born. Through her relations to William III and Mary II, her chances at the throne increased dramatically. She was a stout member of the Church of England and shared the common dislike of the Catholic James II during his reign. Her dedication to the Church was shown in her support of the Tories over the Whigs at the beginning of her reign (Lewis, page 99). Anne finally united the kingdoms of England and Scotland in May of 1707, which was met by celebration by the people of England and Scotland alike. The rest of her reign was focused on following whatever party, be it the Tories or the Whigs, that controlled the majority of the seats in the House of Commons. Passing away on August 1, 1714, she was the last monarch from the House of Stuart and last true English monarch.

Neither of the monarchies met the greatest of endings. The King of France at least retained the power of his respective position throughout his reign, compared to the monarchy of England, which only retained a sliver of the power it used to have. Although France reached a much higher point than England had reached under their respective monarchies, the state it was left in after the respective reigns was much worse than that of the state of England.

Through comparing and contrasting King Louis XIV of France and England’s House of Stuart, it can be seen that although the two monarchies operated differently, they both are very significant. Louis’ reign could be viewed as the more impressive of the two because of the sheer longevity of it, but the union of Scotland and England that was achieved by Anne of the House of Stuart cannot be overlooked when it comes to weighing which of the two had more historical relevance. Regardless of which of these two more successful than the other, it is indisputable that Europe would not be the same if it were missing either monarchy in its long and storied history.