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128-642: It is located just off a crossroads, with the route to the Place Castellane (via the Rue de Rome) leading off from one side, the route to the Porte d'Aix and its triumphal arch, completed in 1839 (the route also passes near the library Bibliothèque de L'Alcazar) leading off from the opposite side, two routes leading towards the Old Port (one of which being the famous La Canebière built in 1666 by King Louis XIV ),

256-470: A centralised state governed from the capital. He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism persisting in parts of France; by compelling many members of the nobility to reside at his lavish Palace of Versailles , he succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy, many of whom had participated in the Fronde rebellions during his minority. He thus became one of the most powerful French monarchs and consolidated

384-479: A chief minister: "Up to this moment I have been pleased to entrust the government of my affairs to the late Cardinal. It is now time that I govern them myself. You [secretaries and ministers] will assist me with your counsels when I ask for them. I request and order you to seal no orders except by my command . . . I order you not to sign anything, not even a passport . . . without my command; to render account to me personally each day and to favor no one". Capitalizing on

512-613: A civil war, the Fronde . Philip initially hoped simply to improve the terms on offer from France, but the Fronde allowed him to make substantial gains in the Netherlands, including retaking Ypres . Elsewhere, neither side was able to win a significant advantage. In 1650, Spanish success in crushing the Neapolitan Revolt was offset by the loss of Barcelona to French-backed Catalan rebels. Mazarin forced Condé into exile in

640-540: A common diplomatic front against France, leading to the Triple Alliance , between England, the Dutch and Sweden . The threat of an escalation and a secret treaty to divide Spanish possessions with Emperor Leopold , the other major claimant to the throne of Spain, led Louis to relinquish many of his gains in the 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle . Louis placed little reliance on his agreement with Leopold and as it

768-520: A counterweight against his domestic Orangist opponents. Louis provided support in the 1665-1667 Second Anglo-Dutch War but used the opportunity to launch the War of Devolution in 1667. This captured Franche-Comté and much of the Spanish Netherlands ; French expansion in this area was a direct threat to Dutch economic interests. The Dutch opened talks with Charles II of England on

896-570: A direct threat both to Imperial Protestant states and external powers that held Imperial territories. They included the Dutch Prince of Orange , hereditary ruler of Nassau-Dillenburg , and Christian IV of Denmark , who was also Duke of Holstein-Gottorp . That presented Richelieu with additional opportunities to weaken his Habsburg opponents in Spain and the Empire but avoid direct conflict. As

1024-461: A favoured few. Financial officials were required to keep regular accounts, revising inventories and removing unauthorized exemptions: up to 1661 only 10 per cent of income from the royal domain reached the king. Reform had to overcome vested interests: the taille was collected by officers of the Crown who had purchased their post at a high price, and punishment of abuses necessarily lowered the value of

1152-647: A historic place, it also features a few notable institutions such as La Chapellerie de Marseille (a famous hat shop), Toinou Coquillages (a sea food and shellfish restaurant established in 1956), as well as La Pharmacie du Père Blaize (a herbal chemist shop established in 1815), being just a few steps away in nearby Rue Méolan. The Cours Saint-Louis is now easily accessible by a new section Tramway which runs directly through it. 43°17′46″N 5°22′41″E  /  43.29611°N 5.37806°E  / 43.29611; 5.37806 This article about road transport in France

1280-704: A member of the royal family and the effective ruler of large parts of eastern France, leverage in his struggle with Anne and Cardinal Mazarin . Despite some successes in northern France and the Spanish Netherlands, including victory at Lens in August 1648, France was unable to knock Spain out of the war. In the Holy Roman Empire, Imperial victories at Tuttlingen and Mergentheim were offset by French success at Nördlingen and Zusmarshausen . In Italy, French-backed Savoyard offensives against

1408-465: A peak of 211,000 in 1639. These are based on official muster rolls and should be treated with caution, since officers were paid for numbers reported, rather than those actually present; in addition, during this period on average another 10% was absent due to sickness, although most generally recovered. Parrott estimates variances between "Reported" and "Actual" averaged up to 35% for the French and 50% for

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1536-715: A powerful but war-weary kingdom, in major debt after the War of the Spanish Succession that had raged on since 1701. Some of his other notable achievements include the construction of the Canal du Midi , the patronage of artists , and the founding of the French Academy of Sciences . Louis   XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye , to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria . He

1664-574: A proposed Austro-Spanish offensive in the Netherlands and led Louis XIII of France and Richelieu to decide on direct intervention. In early 1635, they signed an agreement with Bernard of Saxe-Weimar to provide 16,000 troops for a campaign in Alsace and the Rhineland, formed an anti-Spanish alliance with the Dutch and signed the Treaty of Compiègne with Sweden. In May, a French army of 27,000 invaded

1792-660: A result, Catholic France supported the Protestant Dutch Republic in its war against Spain and funded first Danish and then Swedish intervention in the Empire. In 1630, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden invaded Pomerania partly to support his Protestant coreligionists, but he also sought control of the Baltic trade , which provided much of Sweden's income. The Swedish intervention continued after his death at Lützen in 1632 but caused tensions with Saxony and Brandenburg-Prussia , whose lands were devastated by

1920-412: A result, and Anne was forced, under intense pressure, to free Broussel. Moreover, on the night of 9–10 February 1651, when Louis was twelve, a mob of angry Parisians broke into the royal palace and demanded to see their king. Led into the royal bed-chamber, they gazed upon Louis, who was feigning sleep, were appeased, and then quietly departed. The threat to the royal family prompted Anne to flee Paris with

2048-568: A route towards Palais Longchamp (with a simple right turn onto the Canebèire). With its close proximity to the famous daily vegetable marketplace of Noailles and also with an opening at the back, which meets up with the beginning of the Rue d'Aubagne (which leads up to Notre Dame-du-Mont), the Cours Saint-Louis forms a kind of unofficial central point both geographically and culturally of Marseille town centre. Apart from being itself

2176-578: A secret marriage to Queen Anne. However, Louis's coming-of-age and subsequent coronation deprived them of the Frondeurs ' pretext for revolt. The Fronde thus gradually lost steam and ended in 1653, when Mazarin returned triumphantly from exile. From that time until his death, Mazarin was in charge of foreign and financial policy without the daily supervision of Anne, who was no longer regent. During this period, Louis fell in love with Mazarin's niece Marie Mancini , but Anne and Mazarin ended

2304-650: A shortage of arquebuses. With the outbreak of war, this situation quickly improved so that by 1636 only 25% of militiamen in Castile were armed with hand weapons alone, with 25% carrying pikes and the remaining 50% arquebuses and muskets. By the end of the conflict, however, the situation had deteriorated once again, with more than 87 percent of the 465,000 militiamen listed in Castilian registers classed as "unarmed". In October 1647, discontent led to revolts in both Sicily and Naples ; although quickly suppressed, it exposed

2432-489: A strong position and on the Spanish marriage. Additionally, Mazarin's relations with Marie Mancini were not good, and he did not trust her to support his position. All of Louis's tears and his supplications to his mother did not make her change her mind. The Spanish marriage would be very important both for its role in ending the war between France and Spain, because many of the claims and objectives of Louis's foreign policy for

2560-780: A system of absolute monarchy in France that endured until the French Revolution . Louis also enforced uniformity of religion under the Catholic Church . His revocation of the Edict of Nantes abolished the rights of the Huguenot Protestant minority and subjected them to a wave of dragonnades , effectively forcing Huguenots to emigrate or convert, virtually destroying the French Protestant community. During Louis's long reign, France emerged as

2688-596: A tactic the French used throughout the war by supporting the Catalan, Neapolitan and Portuguese rebels along with allies in Northern Italy and the Rhineland. Loss of Dutch naval support after 1648 severely impacted their ability to challenge the Spanish at sea, until replaced with the English alliance in 1657. At its peak in 1632, the Spanish army contained around 300,000 regulars, exclusive of local militia and

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2816-529: A truce with the Spanish commander, Caracena . On 8 May 1659, France and Spain began negotiating terms; the death of Oliver Cromwell in September 1658 weakened England, which was allowed to observe but excluded from the talks. Although the Anglo-Spanish War was suspended after the 1660 restoration of Charles II , it did not formally end until the Treaty of Madrid (1667) . Under the Treaty of

2944-533: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Louis XIV Louis   XIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great ( Louis le Grand ) or the Sun King ( le Roi Soleil ), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign . An emblematic character of

3072-575: The Age of Absolutism in Europe, Louis XIV's legacy is widely characterized by French colonial expansion , the conclusion of Eighty Years' War involving the Habsburgs , and his architectural bequest , marked by commissioned works of art and buildings. His pageantry, opulent lifestyle and ornate cultivated image earned him enduring admiration. Louis   XIV raised France to be the exemplar nation-state of

3200-475: The Army of Flanders . In 1631 to 1636 alone, Naples provided 3.5 million scudi, significant naval resources and 53,500 recruits for the Spanish army, more than Castile from a population half the size. In addition to supporting its own army and navy, from 1630 to 1643 Naples supplied an average of 10,000 soldiers a year to the Spanish army, provided an annual subsidy of one million ducats to support other areas of

3328-653: The Battle of Lens , Mazarin, on Queen Anne's insistence, arrested certain members in a show of force. The most important arrest, from Anne's point of view, concerned Pierre Broussel , one of the most important leaders in the Parlement de Paris . People in France were complaining about the expansion of royal authority, the high rate of taxation, and the reduction of the authority of the Parlement de Paris and other regional representative entities. Paris erupted in rioting as

3456-617: The Catalan Courts recognised Louis XIII of France as Count of Barcelona and the ruler of the Principality of Catalonia . However, they soon found the new administration differed little from the old, which turned the war into a three sided contest between the Franco-Catalan elite, the rural peasantry and the Spanish. Louis XIII died on 14 May 1643, and was succeeded by his five-year-old son, Louis XIV , whose mother,

3584-454: The Comte de Montal , but his political power was broken, and he did not hold military command again until 1667. An integral part of the peace negotiations was the marriage contract between Louis and Maria Theresa , which he used to justify the 1666 to 1667 War of Devolution , and formed the basis of French claims over the next 50 years. The marriage was more significant than intended, since it

3712-485: The Duchess of Longueville ; dukes of legitimised royal descent, such as Henri, Duke of Longueville , and François, Duke of Beaufort ; so-called " foreign princes " such as Frédéric Maurice, Duke of Bouillon , his brother Marshal Turenne , and Marie de Rohan , Duchess of Chevreuse; and scions of France's oldest families, such as François de La Rochefoucauld . Queen Anne played the most important role in defeating

3840-519: The Duchy of Cleves . The French retreated across the border, and the Dutch, under Frederick Henry , marched urgently on the strategic position of Schenkenschans . Captured by the Spanish on 28 July, it was recovered only after a long and costly siege. After that failure, the States General of the Netherlands opposed further large-scale land operations in favour of attacks on Spanish trade. In

3968-575: The Duke of Beaufort and Marie de Rohan , who conspired against him in 1643. The best example of Anne's loyalty to France was her treatment of one of Richelieu's men, the Chancellor Pierre Séguier . Séguier had brusquely interrogated Anne in 1637 (like a "common criminal", as she recalled) following the discovery that she was giving military secrets to her father in Spain, and Anne was virtually under house arrest for years. By keeping

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4096-556: The Electorate of Cologne . Rapid French advance led to a coup that toppled De Witt and brought William III to power. Leopold viewed French expansion into the Rhineland as an increasing threat, especially after they seized the strategic Duchy of Lorraine in 1670. The prospect of Dutch defeat led Leopold to an alliance with Brandenburg-Prussia on 23 June, followed by another with the Republic on 25th. Although Brandenburg

4224-759: The Holy Roman Empire and entered the conflict as an ally of the Dutch Republic and of Sweden . After Westphalia in 1648, the war continued between Spain and France, with neither side able to achieve decisive victory. France made some gains in Flanders and along the north-eastern end of the Pyrenees , but by 1658 both sides were financially exhausted, which led them to make peace in November 1659. French territorial gains were minor but strengthened

4352-640: The Holy Roman Empire . Until the mid 20th century, the Thirty Years' War was primarily seen as a German religious conflict. In 1938, British historian Veronica Wedgwood argued that it actually formed part of a wider ongoing European struggle, with the Habsburg-Bourbon conflict at its centre. Some historians suggest the Franco-Spanish War was simply part of a much wider contest with many different locations and participants. During

4480-844: The Peace of Westphalia , which ended the Thirty Years' War . Its terms ensured Dutch independence from Spain , awarded some autonomy to the various German princes of the Holy Roman Empire , and granted Sweden seats on the Imperial Diet and territories controlling the mouths of the Oder , Elbe , and Weser Rivers . France, however, profited most from the settlement. Austria, ruled by the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand III , ceded all Habsburg lands and claims in Alsace to France and acknowledged her de facto sovereignty over

4608-608: The Secretary of War , helped maintain large field armies that could be mobilised much more quickly, allowing them to mount offensives in early spring before their opponents were ready. The French were nevertheless forced to retreat from most of the Dutch Republic, which deeply shocked Louis; he retreated to St Germain for a time, where no one, except a few intimates, was allowed to disturb him. French military advantages allowed them however to hold their ground in Alsace and

4736-544: The Spanish Empire , then the strongest military power in Europe, required French forces of unprecedented size and an associated expansion of the taxation and supply base needed to support them. To meet these needs, official estimates for the army expanded from 39,000 in 1630 to around 150,000 shortly before the declaration of war in May 1635. However, at this stage the French state was unable to support such large numbers; of

4864-699: The Spanish Netherlands and the German Rhineland . In addition, France supported revolts against Spanish rule in Portugal (1640–1668), Catalonia (1640–1653) and Naples (1647), and from 1647 to 1653, Spain backed French rebels in the civil war known as the Fronde . Both also backed opposing sides in the 1639 to 1642 Piedmontese Civil War . France avoided direct participation in the Thirty Years' War until May 1635, when it declared war on Spain and

4992-546: The Three Bishoprics of Metz , Verdun , and Toul . Moreover, many petty German states sought French protection, eager to emancipate themselves from Habsburg domination. This anticipated the formation of the 1658 League of the Rhine , which further diminished Imperial power. As the Thirty Years' War came to an end, a civil war known as the Fronde erupted in France. It effectively checked France's ability to exploit

5120-731: The Twelve Years' Truce . The Spanish strongly objected to its commercial provisions, and when Philip IV became king in 1621, he resumed the war. The cost proved extremely high and increased after 1628 by a proxy war with France over the Mantuan succession . The Spanish Empire reached its maximum nominal extent under Philip's rule, but its size and complexity made it increasingly difficult to govern, or enact essential reforms. However, its depth of resources consistently allowed it to recover from defeats that would have shattered other powers, and new regulations passed in 1631 and 1632 were key to

5248-772: The Venetian Republic , Transylvania and Sweden . After 1635, France intervened directly through anti-Habsburg alliances with the Dutch and the Swedish, and supported insurgencies with money and troops in Catalonia , Portugal , and Naples For their part, the Habsburgs backed the Huguenots and numerous conspiracies led by the feudal lords who resented their loss of power under Cardinal Richelieu and his successor, Cardinal Mazarin . The most significant ones were

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5376-450: The early modern period , and established a cultural prestige which lasted through the subsequent centuries until today. Louis began his personal rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister Cardinal Mazarin , when the King famously declared that he would take over the job himself. An adherent of the divine right of kings , Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating

5504-629: The 1620s, France was threatened internally by a series of Huguenot rebellions and externally by Habsburg possessions on its borders in the Spanish Netherlands , Lorraine , Alsace , Franche-Comté and Roussillon . Prior to 1635, France sought to weaken both branches of the Habsburgs by financing their opponents, including the Dutch , clients in Northern Italy and the Grisons , the Ottomans ,

5632-488: The 1632 Montmorency plot , the 1641 Princes des Paix rising , and Cinq-Mars in 1642. Spain also helped finance the 1648–1653 French civil war known as the Fronde . Wider co-operation between the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs was limited since their objectives did not always align. Spain was a global maritime power, and Austria was primarily a European land power and focused on the Holy Roman Empire, which contained over 1,800 states, most of them extremely small. Although

5760-489: The 27,000 men who took part in the invasion of the Spanish Netherlands in May of the same year, fewer than 15,000 remained a month later. Throughout the war, both sides struggled to support offensives outside their own boundaries; the Spanish invasion of northern France in 1636 collapsed due to lack of supplies and was not repeated. Including those supplied by Bernard of Saxe-Weimar and paid by France, between 1635 and 1642 official troop levels averaged 150,000 to 160,000, with

5888-419: The Cardinal-Infante, and the attack was not repeated as the Cardinal-Infante himself would fall ill not long after in the coming years. As agreed at Compiègne in 1635, the French replaced Swedish garrisons in Alsace. Prior to his death in 1639, Bernard of Saxe-Weimar won a series of victories over the Imperials in the Rhineland, notably the capture of Breisach in December 1638. Severing the Spanish Road meant

6016-464: The Dutch used the opportunity to attack their possessions in the Americas, Africa and Asia, especially those belonging to the Portuguese Empire , which was also ruled by Philip IV. Spanish inability to protect those interests caused increasing unrest in Portugal . Damage to the economy and tax increases imposed to pay for the war led to protests throughout Spanish territories, which in 1640 erupted into open revolts in Portugal and Catalonia . In 1641,

6144-629: The Emperor (distracted by the Great Turkish War ) abandoned them, and the Dutch only supported them minimally. By the Truce of Ratisbon , in 1684, Spain was forced to acquiesce in the French occupation of most of the conquered territories, for 20 years. Franco-Spanish War (1635%E2%80%931659) [REDACTED] Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne [REDACTED] Louis II of Condé (until 1652) [REDACTED] Jean de Gassion [REDACTED] Caesar de Choiseul [REDACTED] Charles de La Porte [REDACTED] Henri de La Ferté [REDACTED] Frederick Henry The Franco-Spanish War

6272-443: The French crown and nobility: the king might raise taxes on the nation without consent if only he exempted the nobility. Only the "unprivileged" classes paid direct taxes, which came to mean the peasants only, as most bourgeois finagled exemptions in one way or another. The system laid the whole burden of state expenses on the backs of the poor and powerless. After 1700, with the support of Louis's pious secret wife Madame de Maintenon ,

6400-434: The Fronde because she wanted to transfer absolute authority to her son. In addition, most of the princes refused to deal with Mazarin, who went into exile for a number of years. The Frondeurs claimed to act on Louis's behalf, and in his real interest, against his mother and Mazarin. Queen Anne had a very close relationship with the Cardinal, and many observers believed that Mazarin became Louis   XIV's stepfather by

6528-422: The Habsburgs had been Holy Roman Emperors since 1440, their control over the empire was weakened by the 1555 Peace of Augsburg , which continued in the period leading up to 1620. Reversing the trend was a major Habsburg objective during the Thirty Years' War, but failure was acknowledged by the 1648 Peace of Westphalia . France faced the same issue of diverging objectives with its allies. The war coincided with

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6656-415: The King's authority, in a manner that was much more radical than the one proposed by Mazarin. The Cardinal depended totally on Anne's support and had to use all his influence on the Queen to temper some of her radical actions. Anne imprisoned any aristocrat or member of parliament who challenged her will; her main aim was to transfer to her son an absolute authority in the matters of finance and justice. One of

6784-496: The October 1648 Treaty of Münster, France gained strategic locations in Alsace and Lorraine , as well as Pinerolo , which controlled access to Alpine passes in Northern Italy. However, the peace excluded Italy, Imperial territories in the Low Countries and French-occupied Lorraine. Although Emperor Ferdinand was now at peace with France, the fighting between France and Spain continued. After Philip IV of Spain had declared bankruptcy in 1647, he reduced expenditure by prioritising

6912-414: The Peace of Westphalia. Anne and Mazarin had largely pursued the policies of Cardinal Richelieu, augmenting the Crown's power at the expense of the nobility and the Parlements . Anne was more concerned with internal policy than foreign affairs; she was a very proud queen who insisted on the divine rights of the King of France. All this led her to advocate a forceful policy in all matters relating to

7040-428: The Pyrenees , signed on 5 November 1659, France gained Artois and Hainaut along its border with the Spanish Netherlands, as well as Roussillon . These were more significant than often assumed; in combination with the 1648 Treaty of Münster, France strengthened its borders in the east and south-west, while in 1662, Charles II sold Dunkirk to France . Acquisition of Roussillon established the Franco-Spanish border along

7168-518: The Pyrenees, but divided the historic Principality of Catalonia , an event still commemorated each year by French Catalan-speakers in Perpignan . In addition to these territorial loses, Spain was forced to recognize and confirm all of the French territorial gains at the Peace of Westphalia. France withdrew support from Afonso VI of Portugal , while Louis XIV renounced his claim to be Count of Barcelona, and king of Catalonia. Condé regained his possessions and titles, as did many of his followers, such as

7296-479: The Reunions . Warfare defined Louis's foreign policy, impelled by his personal ambition for glory and power: "a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique". His wars strained France's resources to the utmost, while in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats that their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military. Upon his death in 1715, Louis   XIV left his great-grandson and successor, Louis XV ,

7424-605: The Spanish Army of Flanders . As a result, much of the fighting focused on the Spanish Road , a land supply route connecting Spanish possessions in Italy with Flanders but also passing through areas considered vital to French security, like Alsace . The independent Duchy of Savoy and Spanish-held Duchy of Milan were strategically important to the Road but also provided access to the vulnerable southern borders of France and Habsburg territories in Austria . Richelieu aimed to end Spanish dominance in those areas, an objective that had been largely achieved at his death in 1642. Until

7552-418: The Spanish Empire, and paid a third of Milan's government expenditures. As a result, its public debt quintupled and by 1648 interest payments constituted 57% of the kingdom's revenue. In both Naples and Sicily, taxes tripled between 1618 and 1688; Philip sought to mitigate the impact by providing tax exemption for the elderly and poor and increasing consumption taxes on the wealthy, but this and other measures had

7680-473: The Spanish Netherlands and defeated a smaller Spanish force at Les Avins and besieged Leuven on 24 June, where they were joined by Dutch reinforcements. Disease and lack of supplies quickly reduced the besieging army, which withdrew in the face of a relief force under Ottavio Piccolomini on 4 July. Led by Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria , the Spanish took the initiative and captured Limbourg , Gennep , Diest and Goch and besieged Dutch garrisons in

7808-426: The Spanish Netherlands in 1651, where his immense prestige in territories adjacent to the Spanish possession of Franche-Comté made him a valuable ally for Philip. Over the course of 1652, Spain recaptured both Dunkirk and Barcelona , and although limited combat continued in Roussillon , the front by 1653 had stabilised along the modern Pyrenees border. However, doing so forced Philip into bankruptcy again, while

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7936-448: The Spanish Netherlands while retaking Franche-Comté. By 1678, mutual exhaustion led to the Treaty of Nijmegen , which was generally settled in France's favour and allowed Louis to intervene in the Scanian War . Despite the military defeat, his ally Sweden regained much of what it had lost under the 1679 treaties of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , Fontainebleau and Lund imposed on Denmark–Norway and Brandenburg. Yet Louis's two primary goals,

8064-403: The Spanish armies in Flanders had to be resupplied by sea, which made them vulnerable to attack by the Dutch States Navy , which destroyed a large Spanish fleet at the Battle of the Downs in 1639. Although most convoys managed to get through, that illustrated the difficulties Spain faced in sustaining its war effort in the Low Countries. With Spanish resources stretched to the limit in Europe,

8192-406: The Spanish king viewed this as a personal obligation to Condé, the war continued. France had previously relied on the Dutch to provide naval support against Spain, which ended after Westphalia. In 1657, Mazarin replaced the loss by negotiating an anti-Spanish alliance with the Commonwealth of England . That expanded the scope of the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660) , and France withdrew support for

8320-410: The Spanish-ruled Duchy of Milan achieved little because of lack of resources and the disruption caused by the 1639 to 1642 Piedmontese Civil War . Victory at Orbetello in June 1646, and the recapture of Naples in 1647 left Spain firmly in control of the region. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War, recognised Dutch independence and ended the drain on Spanish resources. Under

8448-432: The Spanish. Historian John A. Lynn suggests an average of 60% "Reported" versus "Actual" "provides the most reasonable guide", a figure based on André Corvisier's 1964 work L'armée française de la fin du XVIIe siècle au ministère de Choiseul . Throughout the war, logistics remained the major constraint on the number of troops, while strategy was often subordinated to the need to find adequate provisions, especially given

8576-399: The advent of railways in the 19th century, water was the primary means of bulk transportation, and campaigns focused on control of rivers and ports. Armies relied on foraging , while the feeding of the draught animals essential for transport and cavalry restricted campaigning in the winter. By the 1630s, the countryside had been devastated by years of constant warfare, which limited the size of

8704-449: The aristocracy, this rebellion represented a protest for the reversal of their political demotion from vassals to courtiers . It was headed by the highest-ranking French nobles, among them Louis's uncle Gaston, Duke of Orléans and first cousin Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier , known as la Grande Mademoiselle ; Princes of the Blood such as Condé, his brother Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti , and their sister

8832-404: The armies and their ability to conduct operations. Sickness killed far more soldiers than combat. The French army that invaded Flanders in May 1635 had been reduced by desertion and disease from 27,000 to under 17,000 by early July. The Thirty Years' War began in 1618 when the Protestant -dominated Bohemian Estates offered the Crown of Bohemia to Frederick V of the Palatinate , in place of

8960-438: The boundaries of his kingdom. Contemporary treaties were intentionally phrased ambiguously. Louis established the Chambers of Reunion to determine the full extent of his rights and obligations under those treaties. Cities and territories, such as Luxembourg and Casale , were prized for their strategic positions on the frontier and access to important waterways. Louis also sought Strasbourg , an important strategic crossing on

9088-423: The campaign of 1636, Philip switched his focus to recovering territories in the Low Countries , while a Franco-Savoyard offensive in Lombardy was defeated at Tornavento in June. A Spanish incursion led by Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand into northern France captured the key fortified town of Corbie in August, but despite causing panic in Paris , the campaign did not continue past Corbie due to high risks deemed by

9216-479: The capital and the larger strategic picture, with the old military aristocracy ( noblesse d'épée , nobility of the sword) monopolizing senior military positions and the higher ranks. Louvois modernized the army and reorganised it into a professional, disciplined, well-trained force. He was devoted to the soldiers' material well-being and morale, and even tried to direct campaigns. Louis's legal reforms were enacted in his numerous Great Ordinances . Prior to that, France

9344-493: The conservative Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II . Most of the Holy Roman Empire remained neutral and viewed it as an inheritance dispute, and the revolt was quickly suppressed. However, when Frederick refused to admit defeat, Imperial forces invaded the Palatinate and forced him into exile. The removal of a hereditary prince changed the nature and extent of the war. Combined with a renewed Counter-Reformation , it presented

9472-414: The creation of a coalition headed mainly by Marie de Rohan and the duchess of Longueville. This aristocratic coalition was strong enough to liberate the princes, exile Mazarin, and impose a condition of virtual house arrest on Queen Anne. All these events were witnessed by Louis and largely explained his later distrust of Paris and the higher aristocracy. "In one sense, Louis's childhood came to an end with

9600-565: The destruction of the Dutch Republic and the conquest of the Spanish Netherlands, had failed. Louis was at the height of his power, but at the cost of uniting his opponents; this increased as he continued his expansion. In 1679, he dismissed his foreign minister Simon Arnauld, marquis de Pomponne , because he was seen as having compromised too much with the allies. Louis maintained the strength of his army, but in his next series of territorial claims avoided using military force alone. Rather, he combined it with legal pretexts in his efforts to augment

9728-417: The direction of religious policy strongly in hand until her son's majority in 1661. She appointed Cardinal Mazarin as chief minister, giving him the daily administration of policy. She continued the policies of her late husband and Cardinal Richelieu , despite their persecution of her, in order to win absolute authority in France and victory abroad for her son. Anne protected Mazarin by exiling her followers

9856-468: The effective Séguier in his post, Anne sacrificed her own feelings for the interests of France and her son Louis. The Queen sought a lasting peace between Catholic nations, but only after a French victory over her native Spain. She also gave a partial Catholic orientation to French foreign policy. This was felt by the Netherlands, France's Protestant ally, which negotiated a separate peace with Spain in 1648. In 1648, Anne and Mazarin successfully negotiated

9984-453: The empire increasingly relied on its Italian territories for recruits and money. Historian Davide Maffi calculates the Duchy of Milan provided an annual 6 million scudi for the war, as well as an average of 4,000 recruits per year. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany , a de facto Spanish protectorate was required to supply 17,000 scudi a month, as well as provide ships for the fleet and soldiers for

10112-621: The end of the Fronde allowed Mazarin to resume attacks on Milan, possession of which would allow France to threaten Habsburg Austria . The attempt failed despite support from Savoy, Modena and Portugal. By now, the two antagonists were exhausted, with neither able to establish dominance. From 1654 to 1656, major French victories at Arras , Landrecies and Saint-Ghislain were offset by Spanish victories at Pavia and Valenciennes . Under pressure from Pope Alexander VII , Mazarin offered peace terms but refused to accept Philip's insistence for Condé to be restored to his French titles and lands. Since

10240-687: The exiled Charles II of England , whose supporters joined the Spanish as a result. After the Anglo-French capture of Dunkirk in June 1658, Philip requested a truce, which Mazarin refused, but once again success proved illusory. On 15 August, Spain won an important victory at Camprodon in Catalonia, Oliver Cromwell 's death in September led to political chaos in England, and fighting in northern Italy ended when French allies Savoy and Modena agreed to

10368-444: The first knots which tied me to my mother. But attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood." It was his mother who gave Louis his belief in the absolute and divine power of his monarchical rule. During his childhood, he was taken care of by the governesses Françoise de Lansac and Marie-Catherine de Senecey . In 1646, Nicolas V de Villeroy became

10496-591: The former Spanish princess, Anne of Austria , took control of the Regency Council that ruled in his name. Five days later, Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé , then known as the duc d'Enghien, defeated the Spanish Army of Flanders at Rocroi . Less decisive than often thought, the battle led to the loss of the veteran army and ended Spanish dominance of the European battlefield. It also gave Condé,

10624-480: The grandson of Louis   XIV and Maria Theresa. The War of Devolution did not focus on the payment of the dowry; rather, the lack of payment was what Louis   XIV used as a pretext for nullifying Maria Theresa's renunciation of her claims, allowing the land to "devolve" to him. In Brabant (the location of the land in dispute), children of first marriages traditionally were not disadvantaged by their parents' remarriages and still inherited property. Louis's wife

10752-413: The improved Spanish military performance in the first part of the war. In 1628, the Dutch captured the Spanish treasure fleet , which they used to finance the capture of 's-Hertogenbosch the following year. The powerful Amsterdam mercantile lobby saw that as an opportunity to end the war. Negotiations ended without result in 1633 but strengthened the peace party. The Peace of Prague led to rumours of

10880-546: The indirect effect of crushing the southern Italian economy. Despite its power, the Spanish army was subject to constant supply shortages throughout the twenty five year conflict. By the end of it, both states were exhausted. When the commander of the Army of Extremadura requested 3,000 quintales (138 tons) of gunpowder for the 1659 campaign in Portugal, the central Junta of War for Spain revealed that total supplies for defense in

11008-498: The king and his courtiers. Shortly thereafter, the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia allowed Condé's army to return to aid Louis and his court. Condé's family was close to Anne at that time, and he agreed to help her attempt to restore the king's authority. The queen's army, headed by Condé, attacked the rebels in Paris; the rebels were under the political control of Anne's old friend Marie de Rohan . Beaufort, who had escaped from

11136-525: The king at the opulent château of Vaux-le-Vicomte , flaunting a wealth which could hardly have accumulated except through embezzlement of government funds. Fouquet appeared eager to succeed Mazarin and Richelieu in power, and he indiscreetly purchased and privately fortified the remote island of Belle Île . These acts sealed his doom. Fouquet was charged with embezzlement; the Parlement found him guilty and sentenced him to exile; and finally Louis altered

11264-421: The king was persuaded to change his fiscal policy. Though willing enough to tax the nobles, Louis feared the political concessions which they would demand in return. Only towards the close of his reign under the extreme exigency of war, was he able, for the first time in French history, to impose direct taxes on the aristocracy. This was a step toward equality before the law and toward sound public finance, though it

11392-600: The king's infatuation by sending Mancini away from court to be married in Italy. While Mazarin might have been tempted for a short time to marry his niece to the King of France, Queen Anne was absolutely against this; she wanted to marry her son to the daughter of her brother, Philip IV of Spain , for both dynastic and political reasons. Mazarin soon supported the Queen's position because he knew that her support for his power and his foreign policy depended on making peace with Spain from

11520-540: The kingdom's borders. Louis XIV married Maria Theresa of Spain , the eldest daughter of Philip IV . Spain remained as a great power and retained a vast global empire , but the treaty marked the end of its position as the predominant European power during the rest of the 17th century. Europe in the 17th century was dominated by the struggle between the Bourbon kings of France , and their Habsburg rivals in Spain and

11648-483: The leaders of the Parlement of Paris, whom she had jailed, died in prison. The Frondeurs , political heirs of the disaffected feudal aristocracy, sought to protect their traditional feudal privileges from the increasingly centralized royal government. Furthermore, they believed their traditional influence and authority was being usurped by the recently ennobled bureaucrats (the Noblesse de Robe , or "nobility of

11776-529: The leading European power and regularly made war. A conflict with Spain marked his entire childhood, while during his personal rule, Louis fought three major continental conflicts, each against powerful foreign alliances: the Franco-Dutch War , the Nine Years' War , and the War of the Spanish Succession . In addition, France contested shorter wars such as the War of Devolution and the War of

11904-522: The left bank of the Rhine and theretofore a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire , annexing it and other territories in 1681. Although a part of Alsace, Strasbourg was not part of Habsburg-ruled Alsace and was thus not ceded to France in the Peace of Westphalia. Following these annexations, Spain declared war, precipitating the War of the Reunions . However, the Spanish were rapidly defeated because

12032-433: The net outflow of precious metals from France. Louis instituted reforms in military administration through Michel le Tellier and his son François-Michel le Tellier , successive Marquis de Louvois. They helped to curb the independent spirit of the nobility, imposing order on them at court and in the army. Gone were the days when generals protracted war at the frontiers while bickering over precedence and ignoring orders from

12160-519: The next 50 years would be based upon this marriage, and because it was through this marriage that the Spanish throne would ultimately be delivered to the House of Bourbon. Louis XIV was declared to have reached the age of majority on the 7th of September 1651. On the death of Mazarin, in March 1661, Louis personally took the reins of government and astonished his court by declaring that he would rule without

12288-461: The outbreak of the Fronde. It was not only that life became insecure and unpleasant – a fate meted out to many children in all ages – but that Louis had to be taken into the confidence of his mother and Mazarin on political and military matters of which he could have no deep understanding". "The family home became at times a near-prison when Paris had to be abandoned, not in carefree outings to other chateaux but in humiliating flights". The royal family

12416-482: The peninsula (including the navy, coastal garrisons, and militia in addition to the three major war fronts in Catalonia, Extremadura and Galicia) were only 1427 quintales (66 tons) due to so much powder having been spent in the fight against France. Shortages were particularly prominent among the militia and reserve forces. In 1632, 70% of the 44,000 men in Castile's militias were "unarmed" (as in, armed only with swords or similar weapons rather than firearms or pikes) due to

12544-589: The period of economic supremacy known as the Dutch Golden Age , and by 1640, many Dutch statesmen viewed French ambitions in the Spanish Netherlands as a threat. Unlike France, Swedish war aims were restricted to Germany, and in 1641, the Swedes considered a separate peace with Emperor Ferdinand III . From the late 16th century, Italy, especially the Kingdom of Naples , was the primary source of money for

12672-544: The plague and famine that accompanied the war. A significant Imperial-Spanish victory at Nördlingen in September 1634 forced the Swedes to abandon southern Germany, and most of their German allies used the opportunity to make peace with Ferdinand II at Prague in April 1635. The other major European conflict of the period was the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) between Spain and the Dutch Republic, suspended in 1609 by

12800-404: The practice by prohibiting the separation of families. Additionally, in the colonies, only Roman Catholics could own slaves, and these had to be baptised. Louis ruled through a number of councils: The death of Louis's maternal uncle King Philip IV of Spain in 1665 precipitated the War of Devolution . In 1660, Louis had married Philip   IV's eldest daughter, Maria Theresa , as one of

12928-521: The predominant European power. More recent assessments argue this relies on hindsight, and that while France made crucial strategic gains around its borders, the outcome was far more balanced. One view is that the two parties effectively settled for a draw, and that had France not moderated its demands in 1659, Spain would have continued fighting. "The (1659 treaty) was a peace of equals. Spanish losses were not great, and France returned some territory and strongholds. With hindsight, historians have regarded

13056-524: The primitive infrastructure then available. It was not until the 1660s that Louvois created the support systems that allowed France to sustain an army of nearly 200,000 men for extended periods, and crucially ensure co-ordinated strategy between different fronts. The more experienced Spanish were better equipped in this respect while their resources made it easier to replace losses of men and material. These advantages could be offset by engaging them on multiple fronts while attacking their lines of communication,

13184-437: The prison where Anne had incarcerated him five years before, was the military leader in Paris, under the nominal control of Conti. After a few battles, a political compromise was reached; the Peace of Rueil was signed, and the court returned to Paris. Unfortunately for Anne, her partial victory depended on Condé, who wanted to control the queen and destroy Mazarin's influence. It was Condé's sister who pushed him to turn against

13312-624: The provisions of the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees . The marriage treaty specified that Maria Theresa was to renounce all claims to Spanish territory for herself and all her descendants. Mazarin and Lionne , however, made the renunciation conditional on the full payment of a Spanish dowry of 500,000 écus . The dowry was never paid and would later play a part persuading his maternal first cousin Charles ;II of Spain to leave his empire to Philip, Duke of Anjou (later Philip V of Spain ),

13440-485: The purchase. Nevertheless, Colbert achieved excellent results, with the deficit of 1661 turning into a surplus by 1666, with interest on the debt decreasing from 52 million to 24 million livres. The taille was reduced to 42 million in 1661 and 35 million in 1665, while revenue from indirect taxation progressed from 26 million to 55 million. The revenues of the royal domain were raised from 80,000 livres in 1661 to 5.5 million in 1671. In 1661,

13568-411: The queen. After striking a deal with her old friend Marie de Rohan, who was able to impose the nomination of Charles de l'Aubespine, marquis de Châteauneuf as minister of justice, Anne arrested Condé, his brother Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti , and the husband of their sister Anne Genevieve de Bourbon, duchess of Longueville . This situation did not last long, and Mazarin's unpopularity led to

13696-402: The receipts were equivalent to 26 million British pounds, of which 10 million reached the treasury. The expenditure was around 18 million pounds, leaving a deficit of 8 million. In 1667, the net receipts had risen to 20 million pounds sterling , while expenditure had fallen to 11 million, leaving a surplus of 9 million pounds. Money was the essential support of

13824-489: The reorganized and enlarged army, the panoply of Versailles, and the growing civil administration. Finance had always been the weakness of the French monarchy: tax collection was costly and inefficient; direct taxes dwindled as they passed through the hands of many intermediate officials; and indirect taxes were collected by private contractors called tax farmers who made a handsome profit. The state coffers leaked at every joint. The main weakness arose from an old bargain between

13952-402: The retaking of Catalonia and remaining on the defensive elsewhere. In addition, many of his best troops had been lost at Rocroi and parts of Flanders overrun, including the key port of Dunkirk , a centre for Spanish privateer attacks on Dutch and French shipping. However, his position improved after the Peace of Westphalia ended the Dutch war, and political and economic turmoil in France led to

14080-417: The robe"), who administered the kingdom and on whom the monarchy increasingly began to rely. This belief intensified the nobles' resentment. In 1648, Anne and Mazarin attempted to tax members of the Parlement de Paris . The members refused to comply and ordered all of the king's earlier financial edicts burned. Buoyed by the victory of Louis, duc d'Enghien (later known as le Grand Condé ) at

14208-402: The sentence to life imprisonment. Fouquet's downfall gave Colbert a free hand to reduce the national debt through more efficient taxation. The principal taxes included the aides and douanes (both customs duties ), the gabelle (salt tax), and the taille (land tax). The taille was reduced at first, and certain tax-collection contracts were auctioned instead of being sold privately to

14336-567: The sole regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his son's behalf, with Anne at its head. Louis XIII died on 14 May 1643. On 18 May Queen Anne had her husband's will annulled by the Parlement de Paris , a judicial body of nobles and high clergymen, and she became sole regent. She exiled her husband's ministers Chavigny and Bouthilier and appointed the Count of Brienne as her minister of foreign affairs. Anne kept

14464-648: The state's registers, not the church's, and it strictly regulated the right of the Parlements to remonstrate. The Code Louis later became the basis for the Napoleonic code , which in turn inspired many modern legal codes. One of Louis's more infamous decrees was the Grande Ordonnance sur les Colonies of 1685, the Code Noir (black code). Although it sanctioned slavery, it attempted to humanise

14592-451: The time. Contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is highly likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis's journal entries, such as: "Nature was responsible for

14720-411: The treasury verged on bankruptcy. To rectify the situation, Louis chose Jean-Baptiste Colbert as Controller-General of Finances in 1665. However, Louis first had to neutralize Nicolas Fouquet , the powerful Superintendent of Finances . Although Fouquet's financial indiscretions were not very different from Mazarin's before him or Colbert's after him, his ambition worried Louis. He lavishly entertained

14848-402: The treaty as a symbol of the 'decline of Spain' and the 'ascendancy of France'; at that time, however, (it) appeared a far from decisive verdict on the international hierarchy". "Spain maintained her supremacy in Europe until 1659, and was the greatest imperial power for years after that. Although (its) economic and military power suffered an abrupt decline in the half century after (1659), (it)

14976-453: The widespread public yearning for peace and order after decades of foreign and civil strife, the young king consolidated central political authority and at the expense of the feudal aristocracy. Praising his ability to choose and encourage men of talent, the historian Chateaubriand noted: "it is the voice of genius of all kinds which sounds from the tomb of Louis". Louis began his personal reign with administrative and fiscal reforms. In 1661,

15104-502: The young king's tutor. Louis   XIV became friends with Villeroy's young children, particularly François de Villeroy , and divided his time between the Palais-Royal and the nearby Hotel de Villeroy. Sensing imminent death in the spring of 1643, King Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order for his four-year-old son Louis   XIV. Not trusting the judgement of his Spanish wife Queen Anne, who would normally have become

15232-496: Was Philip   IV's daughter by his first marriage, while the new king of Spain, Charles   II, was his son by a subsequent marriage. Thus, Brabant allegedly "devolved" to Maria Theresa, justifying France to attack the Spanish Netherlands . During the Eighty Years' War with Spain , France supported the Dutch Republic as part of a general policy of opposing Habsburg power. Johan de Witt , Dutch Grand Pensionary from 1653 to 1672, viewed this as crucial for Dutch security and

15360-570: Was a major participant in the European coalitions against Louis XIV, and the peace congresses at Nijmegen in 1678, and Ryswick in 1697". David Parrott, Professor of Early Modern History at New College, Oxford claims the Peaces of Westphalia and the Pyrenees both reflected mutual exhaustion and stalemate, not a "military diktat imposed by victorious powers". Elsewhere, he labels the Franco-Spanish War as "25 years of indecisive, over-ambitious and, on occasions, truly disastrous conflict". Taking on

15488-507: Was a patchwork of legal systems, with as many traditional legal regimes as there were provinces, and two co-existing legal systems— customary law in the north and Roman civil law in the south. The Grande Ordonnance de Procédure Civile of 1667, the Code Louis , was a comprehensive legal code imposing a uniform regulation of civil procedure throughout the kingdom. Among other things, it prescribed baptismal, marriage and death records in

15616-422: Was agreed shortly after Philip's second wife, Mariana of Austria , gave birth to a second son, both of whom died young. Philip died in 1665, leaving his four-year-old son Charles as king, once described as "always on the verge of death, but repeatedly baffling Christendom by continuing to live." Traditional scholarship viewed the war as a French victory that marked the start of France's rise, replacing Spain as

15744-653: Was driven out of Paris twice in this manner, and at one point Louis   XIV and Anne were held under virtual arrest in the royal palace in Paris. The Fronde years planted in Louis a hatred of Paris and a consequent determination to move out of the ancient capital as soon as possible, never to return. Just as the first Fronde (the Fronde parlementaire of 1648–1649) ended, a second one (the Fronde des princes of 1650–1653) began. Unlike that which preceded it, tales of sordid intrigue and half-hearted warfare characterized this second phase of upper-class insurrection. To

15872-693: Was forced out of the war by the June 1673 Treaty of Vossem , in August an anti-French alliance was formed by the Dutch, Spain , Emperor Leopold and the Duke of Lorraine . The French alliance was deeply unpopular in England, and only more so after the disappointing battles against Michiel de Ruyter 's fleet. Charles   II of England made peace with the Dutch in the February 1674 Treaty of Westminster . However, French armies held significant advantages over their opponents; an undivided command, talented generals like Turenne , Condé and Luxembourg and vastly superior logistics. Reforms introduced by Louvois ,

16000-429: Was fought from 1635 to 1659 between France and Spain , each supported by various allies at different points. The first phase, beginning in May 1635 and ending with the 1648 Peace of Westphalia , is considered a related conflict of the Thirty Years' War . The second phase continued until 1659, when France and Spain agreed to peace terms in the Treaty of the Pyrenees . Major areas of conflict included northern Italy ,

16128-478: Was named Louis Dieudonné (Louis the God-given) and bore the traditional title of French heirs apparent : Dauphin . At the time of his birth, his parents had been married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631. Leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Louis's relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for

16256-522: Was now clear French and Dutch aims were in direct conflict, he decided to first defeat the Republic , then seize the Spanish Netherlands. This required breaking up the Triple Alliance; he paid Sweden to remain neutral and signed the 1670 Secret Treaty of Dover with Charles, an Anglo-French alliance against the Dutch Republic. In May 1672, France invaded the Republic , supported by Münster and

16384-711: Was predictably diminished by concessions and exemptions won by the insistent efforts of nobles and bourgeois. Louis and Colbert also had wide-ranging plans to grow French commerce and trade. Colbert's mercantilist administration established new industries and encouraged manufacturers and inventors, such as the Lyon silk manufacturers and the Gobelins tapestry manufactory . He invited manufacturers and artisans from all over Europe to France, such as Murano glassmakers, Swedish ironworkers, and Dutch shipbuilders. He aimed to decrease imports while increasing French exports, hence reducing

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