The Life of King Louis XIV - Part 1 - The CHILDHOOD years

this video is the first one in a five part series on the life of louis xiv in this video i will discuss the matter of his conception his birth and the childhood years of louis xiv in the year 1615 louis xiii of france married anna of austria relations between the two spouses were poor and louie's preference for men made him neglect his marital duties in addition louis xiii had become convinced that his wife was purposefully sabotaging the production of an heir in order to please her brother philip the fourth thanks to the mediation efforts by cardinal de richeliu the relationship between the two spouses improved the story goes that the king was near the residence of the queen in paris on december 5th 1637 when a sudden thunderstorm broke out he is said to have gone to the louvre for shelter and ended up spending the night with his wife whether the conception of louis xiv really happened this way is doubted because according to louis xiii's personal physician louis xiv was conceived in the week between the 23rd and the 30th of november 1637. because the birth of an heir to the throne had been awaited for so long expectations were now extremely high when anne of austria was finally pregnant in 1638 many prayed for a safe delivery of the child louis xiv was born on september 5 1638 and he was given the nickname duo donaid which means given by god his birth gave rise to great festivities in the streets of paris as was customary at the time the care for the newborn louis was entrusted to a nurse two years after his birth louie's little brother philippe was born sadly the health of king louis xiii deteriorated rapidly after the birth of his second son on his deathbed the king drew up his will regarding the future of the kingdom his wife was to become regent and the regency council was to be set up in which among others gaston d'orleans brother of louis xiii and cardinal jules mazzarell were seated louis xiii died on may 14 1643 four days later his son louis xiv left for paris with his mother to be introduced to the parliament of paris as the new king however parliament rejected the will of louis xiii on establishing a regency council and transferred absolute and complete power to the queen and of austria who now officially became regent of france after she was appointed regent anne of austria chose cardinal mazzaga to serve as her prime minister they jointly determined french politics during the early years of louise minority as king mazaram became heavily involved in the education of the young king he appointed the boy's tutors and had the child attend the council of ministers to gain experience he personally educated louis in matters of diplomacy and the importance of alliances the cardinals views of art also influenced the young king louise personal chamberlain taught him french history thanks to the efforts of the chamberlain the young louis learned about his ancestor louis ix in whose footsteps he wanted to follow at a young age louis practiced warfare in the gardens of the castle of saint-germain only with a toy castle which was made especially for him his mother also influenced the education of louis especially in religious and political matters from an early age she instilled in him the idea that a king's power should be absolute a philosophy which louis would carry with him his entire life louis learned spanish and italian his latin was only moderately spoken louie's knowledge of geography on the other hand was extraordinarily good the 30 years war which france had been involved in since 1635 was a considerable expense for the french treasury mazar raised new taxes hoping to make up for the shortcomings of the treasury as a result of doing so the provincial courts turned against the cardinal the parliament of paris refused to legalize the new taxes dissatisfied with previously increased taxes the people were now about to revolt however the victory of the very popular louis ii of bourbon conde in the battle of long created a positive atmosphere in the capital and mazarin saw his chance to act he allowed some of the military regiments into the city of paris with the intention of having the parliamentary leaders arrested the city revolted and the civil war that came to be known as lafronda broke out when the grand conde's army started to warch towards the city mazar managed to reach an agreement with parliament to prevent worse because of the revolt louis and his family had hastily left the capital on january 6 1649 to retreat to the castle of saint germain only the revolt left a deep impression on louis it installed the feeling in him that it was not wise for a king to live in the middle of a city this event was one of the key moments which led louis xiv to move his entire court to versailles at a later date the royal family returned to the capital on august 19 1649. the dukedom conde preyed on mazarin's position and therefore launched the major smear campaign against the prime minister on january 18 1650 the conde was subsequently arrested by order of the queen regent in reaction to the arrest the people of paris revolted again and the troops of the other french nobles marched against the capital to free the duke the condi ultimately mazarin was forced to release the kunde after his release the french nobles who fought against mazar decided not to form a common front and maserati was able to benefit from this by convincing some of them to change sides in 1652 anne of austria had her 14 year old son louis declared of age however the duct conde continued to fight against the royal army and the citizens of paris were now faced with the choice between supporting their god-given king or a presumptuous fighting prince with an army of mercenaries the grand conde did not win this comparison and therefore had to leave paris upon request of mazara louis xiv convened the parliament of paris and issued a number of decrees some of them reversed previously parliamentary decisions as of now the members of parliament were explicitly forbidden to interfere any longer in the king's affairs in addition their right of opposition was limited which severely reduced the power of parliament louis xiv made his court debut at the age of 14 by performing in five of the 45 dances in the ballet de la nuit a ballet commemorating the victory over the fondues the premiere took place on february 23 1653 at the hotel yupiti bourbon in paris and the 14-hour ballet was repeated on six days in february and march in the last act louis xiv appeared as the sun got apollo in a golden suit he emerged from a shutter and thus depicted the rising sun other nobles danced around him like planets revolving around the sun this role earned him the nickname the sun king this concludes the first part of my 5 part series on louis the 14th in the next video i will talk more about mazara louise marriage to maria teresia of spain and louise first steps as an absolute monarch i hope you'll join me see you next week