Louis stared at the bare stone castle walls. He frowned at the heavy cobwebs hanging above his bed. His nose crinkled at the stench of a decaying rat. Across the room, his servants lay on straw covered floor. They huddled closer together as another icy gust of wind whipped through the castle. Louis was filled with pity, but only for himself.

            Was this how a king should live? He remembered being the pampered dauphin (heir to the throne), carted to parades on a golden pillow. Now he was the eleven year old escaped king, hiding in an abandoned castle at Saint-Germain, France.

            Born on September 5, 1638, Louis XIV was the first child of King Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. His father knelt and said a prayer of thanks. The newborn’s governess, Madame de Lansac, wrapped him in a blue blanket decorated with golden lilies. She bustled down the hallway, taking him to his nursery. Soldiers in the hallway flashed raised swords in salute.

            Outside, fifty messengers on Spanish horses clattered through the stone streets, yelling the news. Cannons boomed. Church bells chimed. Peasants lit huge bonfires and danced to violin music. They guzzled wine and blasted fireworks. Priests offered special masses. Parades and floats continued for two day.

            Finally, the celebration quieted. The men stopped tossing their casaques (capes) and drifted back into the inns to play billiards. The women stopped twirling their full skirts and returned to scrubbing floors and serving the men. All of France waited for the first presentation of young Louis.

            Louis’ mother, Anne, doted on him. She had waited through twenty-three lonely years for this child. Now her green eyes sparkled every time she gazed at her infant. Louis’ nurse did not push his carriage. Anne did. She presented him with an entire toy soldier army. Each silver piece was carved in tiny detail. He played war with accurate, scaled down models of pistols, muskets, and hilted swords. Later, in the palace gardens at Louvre, he played in a detailed miniature of a real fort.

            When Louis was two years old, his brother Philippe was born. Anne brought Philippe up as though he were a girl. That way, she thought, he would never challenge Louis’ throne. She was right. He never did.

            Louis’s father, Louis XIII, was a distant, moody man. He married Anne only to gain political advantage. The child embraced his mother, but ran from his father. When Louis XIII came into a room, Louis hid behind Anne. Louis XIII became angry and jealous. He threatened to take the toddler away. Relief came when Louis was five years old: his father died of tuberculosis.

            Louis was now Louis XIV, king-enfant (king in infancy). Anne became his regent (the guardian ruling in his place). She moved her family to the Louvre Palace in October, and fell in love with Jules Mazerin, the prime minister. He was warm and friendly toward her, and she welcomed his companionship.

            These were the dark years for young Louis. His little brother was his lone playmate. He only saw his mother at her formal rising each day, and during breakfast. His sheets were torn. His socks were worn thin, with holes. His floor length dressing gown only reached his knees. Anne of Austria was busy with Jules Mazarin.

            Meanwhile, the people rebelled against heavy taxes. At a gathering in January of 1648, an old man screamed, “No more taxes!” Mazarin threw the man into prison. This started the Fronde Wars, which raged for ten years.

            Within a year, the royal family was in great danger. They escaped to the abandoned castle at Saint-Germaine during the night of January 5, 1649. Anne had to sell her jewels, and dismiss most of her servants. The family stayed in exile until August 14.

            On September 7, 1651, Louis presented himself to Parliament. He said, “I have come to tell you that . . . I am going to take the governments upon myself . . . with God’s grace it will be managed with piety and justice.” He thanked his mother. Then he dismissed her. He had just turned fourteen.

            Louis was back in the sun. Dance, music and drama flourished during his reign. The tapestry and carpet industries became famous. Some of the beautiful inlaid wood furniture of that time still survives today.

            He took care of himself in splendor. So many gold buttons were on his clothes that his tailor, Saint-Simon, said he “nearly sank beneath the weight of them”. Once he ate four plates of stew, two small fowl, ham, lamb, salad, pastry, fruit and hard boiled eggs at one sitting (and all  with his fingers!) He built a huge, elaborate palace at Versailles (Ver-sigh). An orchestra or theater production entertained him each evening.

            His first son was born in 1661. Louis officially adopted the sun as his emblem during the festivities that followed. He also wrote a letter of instruction to the dauphin. In it he said, “I felt myself rising as it were both in mind and courage . . . then it dawned on me that I was King, and born to be.” He is still known, today, as the Sun King.

            The sun shone on Louis XIV for 59 years—longer than any king in history. It finally set when he died of gangrene on September 1, 1715

 

Green, Marilyn V., The Button Lover’s Book, Radnor, PA: Chilton Book Company, 1991

 

Stearns, Monroe, Louis XIV of France, New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1971

 

Tapie, Victor L., France in the Age of Louis XIII and Richelieu, translated and edited by Lockie, D. McN, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975