King Louis XIV
King Louis. There have been many King Louis in the past, a total of 19 to be precise, but the King Louis I’m here to talk about is the 14th one or King Louis XIV. King Louis XIV was king in the late 17th century, and notably the longest ruling king in Europe’s history! So let’s get started on King Louis XIV, shall we?
King Louis XIV was born on September 5th 1638. During his childhood, he was neglected, a lot. He even almost drowned because his family left him unattended in the bathtub! Cut to a few years later (To be specific, on May 14th 1643), he begins his reign over France as Prince Louis XIV, but due to mistakes by the king, a revolt began, and Prince Louis XIV and Queen Anne of Austria (his mom) were captured and held as prisoners in the royal palace of Paris. Jeez, what an eventful child hood! On June 7th 1654 Prince Louis XIV was crowned King Louis XIV, and all rejoiced with their new king. No one knew that King Louis XIV would reign for 72 years!
In the middle of King Louis XIV’s reign, his Chief Minister died, originated by Cardinal de Richelieu. All of Paris scared because, no one was there to take charge of the French government. Then, out of the blue King Louis XIV said something like, “I shall take on this duty and not waist more money on the Chief Minister’s pay check!” and of course, everyone was excited. Some other cool things that King Louis XIV did were; bringing absolute monarch to its height, destroying the last remnants of feudalism, establishing a remarkable court at Versailles, fighting countless wars with the countries around him, and bringing France to ultimate power! No, no, it’s a good thing! King Louis XIV died on September 1st 1715 just 4 days before his 77th birthday! Poor King Louis XIV died of gangrene and lived his last few days in pain, but once he died one of his family members said, “He yielded up his soul without any effort, like a candle going out”. And that was the end of King Louis XIV.
