Louis XIV, byname Louis the Great, Louis the Grand Monarch, or the Sun King, French Louis le Grand, Louis le Grand Monarque, or le Roi Soleil, (born September 5, 1638, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France—died September 1, 1715, Versailles, France), king of France (1643–1715) who ruled his country, principally from his great palace at Versailles, during one of its most brilliant periods and who remains the symbol of absolute monarchy of the classical age.
Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638, in Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, France, and christened Louis-Dieudonné—French for "Gift of God." His mother was the Hapsburg Spanish queen Anne of Austria, and...
Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715) ruled as King of France and of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death just prior to his 77 birthday.
The reign of France’s Louis XIV (1638-1715), known as the Sun King, lasted for 72 years, longer than that of any other known European sovereign.
Louis XIV ascended to the throne at the age of four. When France’s King Louis XIII died at the age of 41 on May 14, 1643, the monarchy passed to his eldest child, Louis XIV, who was just four years...
Louis XIV was King of France for a whopping 72 years. As his sobriquet, “The Sun King,” suggests, Louis came to symbolize the big, bright, magnetic pomp of the French monarchy at its peak.
Louis XIV was one of the greatest kings of France, dubbed as Louis the Great or the Sun King. He ruled for 72 years and 110 days that was the longest reign in European history. But this is not...
Marriage of Louis XIV of France and Maria Theresa of Spain. (Krishna / CC BY-SA 2.0) In June 1660, Maria Theresa and Louis XIV were married in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, in the south-western part of France. Although Louis XIV was faithful to his wife at the beginning of the marriage, the Sun King soon began having affairs with other women.
During the reign of King Louis XIV, an enigmatic man spent several decades confined to the Bastille and other French prisons. No one knew his identity or why he was in jail. Even stranger, no one...
