Early life Louis XIV of France and also known as the sun king of France was the longest serving king ever in the reign of European kingdom from the period 1643-1715AD. He was born on September 5th 1638 to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria in the city of Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. (Steingrad, 2007) He became king at the age of four due to the passing of his father Louis XIII. Anne of Austria the mother became the regent of France, and she entrusted most of her power to Cardinal Mazarin so she would spend most of her time with Louis XIV. They were mostly close together which made him developed a great interest for theater. According to excerpts …show more content…
Louis XIV and his family were forced out of Paris, and also held under arrest in the royal palace in Paris. The civil war brought about misery and an inward hunger. It helped developed his character and also made him had a grudge against Paris, the nobles, and the people as a result for all the pains and misfortune. Cardinal Mazarin, who was the chief minister fought against the fronde and became victorious in 1653AD. He later constructed an extraordinary administration for the kingdom (Steingrad, 2007). France became the super power in the European continent through the peace treaty of Westphalia and that of Pyrenees after the Thirty years of war between Spain and France. Louis XIV, king of France and Marie Therese, daughter of Philip IV of Spain marriage acted as a symbol for both countries peace …show more content…
Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683AD), who was the finance minister helped mapped out reforms that led to a reduction of the deficit and increased the growth of industry, and Marquis de Louvois (1641-1691AD), who was the war minister established the French army. Louis XIV restored a state of peace and deprived the historically rebellious nobles of their rights (http://www.history.com/topics/louis-xiv, n.d.). He demonstrated his dominance to the throne by stating this: "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 of state] 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." (Spielvogel, 1991). The war of devolution began in 1667-1668AD. The first historical conflict in his reign was that of the Spanish Netherlands which led to him invading the foreign policies. He was doing all these in order to take his wife’s heritage. Countries such as the Great Britain, Germany and Sweden mounted pressure on the France to retreat and restore Spain, and by so doing France only gain control