Anne Of Austria - Mother Of The Sun King
13 Video Views·Aug 7, 2021
Anne of Austria (in Spanish Ana María Mauricia de Austria y Austria-Estiria), Infanta of Spain, Infanta of Portugal, Archduchess of Austria, Princess of Burgundy and Princess of the Netherlands, born 22 September 1601 in Valladolid in Spain and died January 20, 1666 in Paris of breast cancer, was queen of France and Navarre from 1615 to 1643 as the wife of Louis XIII, then regent of these two kingdoms during the minority of his son Louis XIV (from 1643 to 1651). Daughter of King Philip III (1578-1621), King of Spain (1598-1621), and Archduchess Margaret of Austria-Styria (1584-1611), Anne of Austria is the mother of Louis XIV, the "Sun King", and Philippe, Duke of Orleans.
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In today's video we'll discuss the life of Anne of Austria, mother of the Sun King Louis XIV.
Anne of Austria was born on September 22, 1601 and grew up in the royal palace of the Alcazar in Madrid.
She was the eldest daughter of Philip III of Spain and his wife, the Archduchess Margaret of Austria-Styria.
Anne was very deeply loved by her parents and received a strong religious education.
Upon the death of her mother in 1611, Anne took on the responsibility of caring for her siblings,
while still receiving the necessary love and support from her father, the king.
In the hopes that his daughter's presence at the French court would be beneficial for the interests of Spain,
Philip III proposed the hand of his daughter Anne to the French Dauphin, the later King Louis XIII.
However, Louis' father, King Henry IV, wished his son to marry Nicole de Lorraine
so that France would obtain the Vosges Mountains, which would add strong borders to France.
Sadly, Henry IV was murdered on 14 May 1610 and the marriage to Nicole de Lorraine was soon forgotten,
as his widow, Marie de' Medici, did support a French-Spanish alliance and, on October 18, 1615,
Anne of Austria married Louis XIII in a by-proxy ceremony.
On November 21, 1615, the official wedding ceremony took place in Bordeaux.
Although the newlyweds were only 14 years old, Marie de' Medici wanted to ensure for political reasons
that the marriage was immediately consummated.
Due to the very young age and inexperience of both bride and groom, the wedding night went horribly wrong.
The young king, having experienced the night as a real humiliation, for a long time held a grudge against his mother.
Furthermore, he no longer wanted to maintain carnal relations with his wife.
Louis XIII lost all interest in Anne, despite the fact that she was considered to be extremely beautiful.
Anne was left to her own devices with a small household, which was populated by 100 Spanish ladies-in-waiting.
Thus, she continued to live in the Spanish fashion she was used to.
Her knowledge of the French language did not improve and Anne found it difficult to communicate with her new family.
In 1617, the situation changed.
Aware of the diplomatic and dynastic problems caused by the king's indifference towards the queen,
the Duc de Lugnes, a new favorite of Louis XIII, tried to remedy the situation.
First of all, he had Anne's Spanish ladies-in-waiting replaced with French ones.
The Duc also organized intimate meetings between Anne and the king.
And, under the influence of Madame de Lune, the queen began to dress and behave like a French woman.
In the spring of 1619, Lune ended up forcing the king to sleep with the queen.
From that moment on, relations between Anne and Louis XIII started to improve.
Unfortunately, the marital bliss only lasted briefly due to the several miscarriages suffered by Anne, which greatly upset Louis XIII.
In 1625, a matrimonial alliance was arranged between France and England.
On May 11 of that year, Henriette Marie of France, the sister of Louis XIII,
left the French court in order to marry the new king of England, Charles I.
The Duc of Buckingham was appointed as Henriette Marie's escort to England.
According to French customs, the court of France had to accompany Henriette Marie to the border of France.
Louis XIII remained in Paris, but Anne of Austria, as well as the queen mother, set out to bid farewell to Henriette.
It was during this trip that Buckingham started to court the beautiful Anne.
Gossip inevitably reached the king and affected Louis XIII's self-esteem, which put even more strain on the couple's marriage.
As the relationship between the king and his wife remained cold, the absence of a direct heir after many years of marriage started to weaken the dynasty.
Despite the bad relationship between France and Spain, Anne remained close to her Spanish family.
In 1635, France declared war on Spain, which made Anne's position at court even more precarious.
The secret correspondence that she maintained with her brother, Philip IV of Spain,
was reason for an investigation to be carried out into the activities of the queen.
Her household was discharged and her correspondence was opened from now on.
Despite the climate of mistrust in which Anne lived, and due to the intervention of Cardinal de Richelieu,
who repeatedly pointed out the importance of the birth of an heir, the queen finally became pregnant in 1637.
Several chroniclers attributed the conception of the child to a thunderstorm,
which forced the king to spend the night at the residence of the queen at the Palais de Louvre.
Although this story is historically incorrect, nonetheless, on September 5, 1638, a son was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
The union between Louis XIII and Anne of Austria ultimately led to two sons being born,
Louis Dieudonné, the later King Louis XIV, and Philip of France, Duc d'Anjou, the later Duc d'Orléans.
Sadly, the birth of the boys was not enough to restore the relationship between the two spouses.
In 1643, Louis XIII fell seriously ill.
According to tradition, Anne of Austria was to be appointed regent of the kingdom.
However, Louis XIII, who still did not trust his wife, organized a regency council consisting of among others the queen,
Cardinal Mazarin, and Gaston d'Orléans.
Furthermore, he decided that decisions were to be made by majority vote.
On May 14, 1643, Louis XIII died.
Five days after the death of her husband, Anne summoned the parliament of Paris and had the will of Louis XIII annulled.
Anne of Austria became regent of France.
To everyone's amazement, Anne appointed Cardinal Mazarin, already a member of the regency council, as her prime minister.
Inexperienced at ruling a country, Anne relied heavily on the advice of her prime minister.
When in 1648 the revolt known as the Fronde erupted, Anne of Austria was tempted to use force against the Frondeurs, but Mazarin advised her against this.
In January 1649, the queen mother and her 11-year-old son left Paris for Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
During the long-lasting conflict, Anne of Austria and her son led a traveling lifestyle.
Anne's faith in her first minister withstood the revolt.
When the Fronde finally died down, and Louis XIV reached majority on September 5, 1651, Louis requested his mother to remain a member of his council, which she did until Mazarin's death in 1661.
In 1665, Anne was diagnosed with breast cancer, and on January 20, 1666, she died.
Anne of Austria was buried in the royal necropolis of the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris.
When a courtier wanted to comfort Louis XIV by telling him his mother had been a great queen, Louis answered,
No sir, more than a queen, she was a great king.
Thank you for watching this week's video about Anne of Austria.
I hope you'll join me next week for more on the Bourbon dynasty.
See you then.