:''For the cognac, see
Louis XIII de Rémy Martin.''
'Louis XIII of France', also 'Louis II of Navarre', called 'the Just' (
French: ''le Juste'') (
September 27,
1601 –
May 14,
1643), ruled as
King of France and
Navarre from
1610 to
1643.
Early life
Born at the
Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of
Henry IV of France (1589–1610) and
Marie de' Medici. His father was the first
Bourbon King of France, having succeeded his ninth cousin,
Henry III of France (1574–89), in application of the
Salic law. Louis XIII's paternal grandparents were
Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendome and
Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre; his maternal grandparents were
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and
Johanna, archduchess of Austria.
Louis XIII ascended to the throne in
1610, at the age of eight and a half, upon the
assassination of his father. His mother acted as
Regent until Louis XIII came of age at thirteen, but she clung to power unofficially until in frustration he took the reins of government into his own hands at the age of fifteen. The assassination of
Concino Concini (April 24, 1617), who had greatly influenced Marie's policymaking, and Marie's own exile to Blois, removed her from power. Louis then came into his own as ruler of
France. He filled his court with loyal friends and sidelined those who remained loyal to his mother. Under Louis XIII's rule, the
Bourbon Dynasty sustained itself effectively on the throne that
Henry IV had recently secured; but the question of
freedom of religion continued to haunt the country.
The brilliant and energetic
Cardinal Richelieu played a major role in Louis XIII's administration from 1624, decisively shaping the destiny of France for the next 18 years. As a result of Richelieu's work, Louis XIII became one of the first exemplars of an
absolute monarch. Under Louis XIII the
Hapsburgs were humiliated, the French nobility was firmly kept in line behind their King, and the political and military privileges granted to the
Huguenots by his father were retracted (while their religious freedoms were maintained). Furthermore, Louis XIII had the port of
Le Havre modernized and built up a powerful navy. Unfortunately time and circumstances never permitted King and Cardinal to attend to the administrative reforms (particularly of France's tax system) which were urgently needed.
The King also worked to reverse the trend of promising French artists to leave for
Italy to work and study. Louis XIII commissioned the great artists
Nicolas Poussin and
Philippe de Champaigne to decorate the
Louvre. In foreign matters, Louis XIII organized the development and administration of
New France, expanding the settlement of
New France westward along the
Saint Lawrence River from
Quebec City to
Montreal.
 King Louis XIII.jpg |
On
November 9,
1615, aged only 14, Louis XIII was married to a Hapsburg Princess,
Anne of Austria (1601–66), daughter of King
Philip III of Spain (1578–1621). This marriage followed a tradition of cementing military and political alliances between the Catholic powers of France and Spain with royal marriages. The tradition went back to the marriage of King
Philip II of Spain with the French princess,
Élisabeth de Valois, the daughter of King
Henry II of France, in
1559 as part of the
Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. Their sexual relationship did not begin (other than the consummation of the wedding) until
1619 (when he was 18). The marriage, like many Bourbon-Habsburg relationships, was only briefly happy, and the King's duties often kept them apart. After 23 years of marriage and four miscarriages, Anne finally gave birth to a son in
1638. There is no evidence as to whether or not Louis had lovers, but persistent rumours insinuated that the King may have been
homosexual or
bisexual.
Tallemant des Réaux, in his ''Historiettes'', gives quite explicit (but second hand) descriptions of what happened in the king's bed.
Though Richelieu was firmly in charge of French policies, the King's favorites left their mark on the reign. The first was the
Duc de Luynes, 23 years his senior, who was the boy's closest adult friend and adviser at the outset of his reign. The last of the King's favorites (1639–42) was the much younger
Marquis de Cinq-Mars, who was executed for conspiring with the Spanish enemy in time of war.
After Louis XIII's death in
1643, his wife Anne acted as regent for their four-year-old son,
Louis XIV of France (1638–1715).
Ancestors
Marriage and issue
On
November 24 1615, Louis XIII married
Anne of Austria (
September 22 1601 –
January 20 1666). They had the following children:
Further reading
★ Moote, A. Lloyd. ''Louis XIII, the Just''. Berkeley, CA; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press, 1991 (paperback, ISBN 0-520-07546-3).
★ Willis, Daniel A. (comp). ''The Descendants of Louis XIII''. Clearfield, 1999.
★ Huxley, Aldous. "The Devils of Loudun". The 1952 book tells the story of the trial of
Urbain Grandier, priest of the town who was tortured and burned at the stake in 1634.
Louis XIII in fiction and film
★ Louis XIII, his wife Anne, and Cardinal Richelieu all became central figures in
Alexandre Dumas, ''père'''s novel, ''
The Three Musketeers'' and subsequent
film adaptations. Films such as
George Sidney's or
Richard Lester's tend to treat Louis XIII as comical character by depicting him as a bumbling, incompetent king.
★ Louis XIII also appears in novels of
Robert Merle's ''Fortune de France'' series.
★
Ken Russell directed the film ''
The Devils'', in which Louis XIII is a significant character, albeit one with no resemblance to the real man. Louis XIII is portrayed as an effeminate homosexual who amuses himself by shooting protestants dressed up as birds.The film was based on
Aldous Huxley's book ''The Devils of Loudun''.
★ Louis XIII is mentioned in Lil' Wayne's track "I Feel Like Dying".
See also
★
Absolute monarchy in France
★
French monarchs family tree
★
Charles II of Guise-Lorraine, Duke of Elbeuf
External links
★
★
The French Army 1600-1900
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