All About - History - Hitler Versus Stain

H O
VILL IN?
OR
King Louis XIV
60
of France
The Sun King was both a shining beacon and a
dangerously disruptive force
For a man that would become France’s longest
serving monarch, the young Louis spent almost
two decades of his reign without a shred of
power. From the tender age of four, he sat
beneath the wing of his mentor, Cardinal Jules
Raymond Mazarin. The Italian papal minister formed
a strong bond with the king-in-waiting, overseeing
his education and reinforcing two distinct principles
– that the nobility of France were a dangerous faction
that had to be kept in check, and that the sovereignty
of the crown should be absolute. These were
principles shared by the other key figure of Louis’s
early life – his mother, Queen Anne of Austria.
During his childhood, a civil war known as The
Fronde erupted across France – a conflict that saw
the disenfranchised nobility, the lawmakers of
the Parlement de Paris and the people of France
themselves band together to overthrow Anne and
her pitbull of a first minister. Mazarin had levied
high taxes in order to slow the growth of the Parisian
population and the nation as a whole, but it had only
served to anger the people. France had also been
locked in the Thirty Years’ War with Spain for the
best part of 13 years, and its continued commitment
to the conflict had ground down to a financially
ruinous stalemate.
Written by Dom Reseigh-Lincoln
With this in mind, Anne and Mazarin took drastic
action with a single goal – consolidating power in the
crown for Louis’s true ascension. France soon signed
a treaty with Spain, the Peace of Westphalia, which
saw it officially recognise the sovereignty of the other
nations within Europe. It was the formation of an
alliance of royal self-determination with each nation
involved officially recognising the right of each ruler
to control their own kingdom. The treaty effectively
shredded the power of the French parliament and
the nobility, but this bold move to consolidate Louis’s
future would nearly tear the country apart.
For the next five years, the young king would
find himself bundled into the shadows. His country
was at war with itself and he, the linchpin of his
protector’s machinations, was a target constantly
under threat. He was smuggled out of Paris multiple
times during the troubles and sometimes forced to
live in hiding like a pauper as the conflict raged on.
Those leading the revolt were the Frondeurs, political
rebels who were opposed to Mazarin and Anne, but
their ultimate lack of desire to remove Louis from
the throne saw the revolt fizzle out as the young king
came of age.
When Mazarin died in 1661, Louis’s true reign
had finally begun. Now in control of France, Louis’s
Defining
moment
The Fronde
A series of civil wars erupted in France
whenLouisXIVwasbarelytenyearsold.The
conflictsbrokeoutwhentheParlementde
Paris, the princes, the nobles and a significant
proportion of the country rebelled against
themonarchandthereformsofCardinal
Mazarin.TheFrondesawtheyoungking
forcedtoendurealifeinhidingas
Mazarin fought to maintain order.
1648-53