13. Young Titus Manlius was sent by his father to the village. Young David was sent by his father to a distant pasture. Sextus Aurelius Victor says that his father sent Titus Manlius TO THE VILLAGE, p. 194. Apparently, this happened at a time when Titus Manlius was still a boy or youth, since

Life story
It was as if Louis XIV was destined to be the darling of fate. His very birth, after twenty years of his parents’ married life, could serve as a good sign. At the age of five, he became heir to the most beautiful and powerful of the thrones of Europe. Louis XIV was called the Sun King. A handsome man with dark curls, regular features of a blooming face, graceful manners, majestic posture, and also the ruler of a great country, he really made an irresistible impression. Could women not love him?
The first lesson of love was taught to him by the queen's chief chambermaid, Madame de Beauvais, who in her youth was quite a libertine. One day she waylaid the king and took him to her room. Louis XIV was fifteen years old, Madame de Beauvais was forty-two...
The admiring king spent all the subsequent days with his chambermaid. Then he wished for diversity and, as the philosopher Saint-Simon said, “everyone was good for him, as long as there were women.”
He began with ladies who wanted to obtain his virginity, and then began to methodically conquer the ladies-in-waiting who lived at court under the supervision of Madame de Navay.
Every night - alone or in the company of friends - Louis XIV went to these girls in order to taste the healthy pleasure of physical love with the first maid of honor who came to his hand.
Naturally, these nocturnal visits eventually became known to Madame de Navailles, and she ordered bars to be placed on all the windows. Louis XIV did not retreat in the face of the obstacle that arose. Calling on the masons, he ordered to break through the secret door in the bedroom of one of the mademoiselles.
For several nights in a row, the king successfully used the secret passage, which during the day was masked by the headboard of the bed. But the vigilant Madame de Navay discovered the door and ordered it to be walled up. In the evening, Louis XIV was surprised to see a smooth wall where the secret passage had been the day before.
He returned to himself in a rage; the next day Madame de Navay and her husband were informed that the king no longer needed their services and ordered them to immediately go to Guienne.
Fifteen-year-old Louis XIV no longer tolerated interference in his love affairs...
Some time after all these events, the monarch made the gardener's daughter his mistress. Probably as a sign of gratitude, the girl gave birth to a child. The king's mother, Anna of Austria, greeted this news with great displeasure.
If at night Louis XIV had fun with the Queen Mother's ladies-in-waiting, during the day he was most often seen in the company of Mazarin's nieces. It was then that the king suddenly fell in love with his peer Olympia, the second of the Mancini sisters.
The court learned about this idyll on Christmas Day 1654. Louis XIV made Olympia the queen of all festive celebrations in the last week of the year. Naturally, a rumor soon spread throughout Paris that Olympia would become queen of France.
Anna of Austria was seriously angry. She was ready to turn a blind eye to her son’s excessive affection for Mazarin’s niece, but she was offended by the very idea that this friendship could be legitimized.
And young Olympia, who had gained too much power over the king in the hope of winning the throne, was ordered to leave Paris. Mazarin quickly found her a husband, and soon she became Countess of Soissons...
In 1657, the king fell in love with Mademoiselle de la Motte d'Argencourt, the queen's maid of honor. Mazarin reacted with annoyance to this news and informed the young monarch that his chosen one was the mistress of the Duke de Richelieu, and one evening they were taken by surprise when "they made love on a stool." Louis XIV did not like the details, and he broke off all relations with the beauty, after which he went with Marshal Turenne to the northern army.
After the capture of Duncker (June 12, 1658), Louis XIV fell ill with a severe fever. He was transported to Calais, where he finally fell ill. Within two weeks, the monarch was on the verge of death, and the entire kingdom offered prayers to God for his recovery. On June 29, he suddenly became so ill that it was decided to send for sacred gifts.
At that moment, Louis XIV saw the girl’s face drenched in tears. Seventeen-year-old Maria Mancini, another niece of Mazarin, had long loved the king, without admitting it to anyone. Louis looked at her from his bed with eyes shining with heat. According to Madame de Motteville, she was black and yellow, the fire of passion had not yet ignited in her large dark eyes, and that is why they seemed dull, her mouth was too large, and if not for her very beautiful teeth, she could have passed for an ugly person.”
However, the king realized that he was loved and was moved by this look. The doctor brought the patient medicine “from a wine infusion of antimony.” This amazing mixture had a miraculous effect: Louis XIV began to recover before his eyes and expressed a desire to return to Paris in order to quickly be near Marie...
When he saw her, he realized “by the beating of his heart and other signs” that he had fallen in love, but did not admit it, but only asked that she and her sisters come to Fontainebleau, where he decided to stay until he fully recovered.
For several weeks, entertainment took place there: boat trips accompanied by musicians: dancing until midnight, ballets under the trees of the park. Marie was the queen of all entertainment.
The court then returned to Paris. The girl was in seventh heaven. “I discovered then,” she wrote in her “Memoirs,” “that the king did not have hostile feelings towards me, for I already knew how to recognize that eloquent language that speaks more clearly than any beautiful words. The courtiers, who always spy on kings, guessed, like me, about His Majesty’s love for me, demonstrating this even with excessive importunity and showing the most incredible signs of attention.”
Soon the king became so bold that he confessed his love to Marie and gave her several amazing gifts. From now on they were always seen together.
In order to please the one whom he already considered his bride, Louis XIV, who had received a rather superficial upbringing, began to study intensively. Ashamed of his ignorance, he improved his knowledge of French and began to study Italian language, while paying a lot of attention to ancient authors. Under the influence of this educated girl, who, according to Madame de Lafayette, was distinguished by an “extraordinary mind” and knew many poems by heart, he read Petrarch, Virgil, Homer, became passionately interested in art and discovered new world, the existence of which he did not even suspect while he was under the tutelage of his teachers.
Thanks to Maria Mancini, this king was subsequently involved in the construction of Versailles, provided patronage to Moliere and financial assistance Racine. However, she managed not only to transform spiritual world Louis XIV, but also to instill in him the idea of ​​the greatness of his destiny.
“The king was twenty years old,” said one of his contemporaries, Amédée Rene, “and he still obediently obeyed his mother and Mazarin. Nothing in him foreshadowed a powerful monarch: when discussing state affairs, he was openly bored and preferred to shift the burden of power onto others. Marie awakened Louis XIV had a dormant pride; she often talked with him about glory and extolled the happy opportunity to command. Whether it was vanity or calculation, she wanted her hero to behave as befits a crowned person."
Thus, we can come to the conclusion that the Sun King was born from love...
The king experienced real feeling for the first time in his life. He shuddered at the sound of violins, sighed on moonlit evenings and dreamed of “the sweet embrace” of a delightful Italian woman who grew prettier day by day.
But at the same time, talk began at court that the king would soon marry the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa.
Knowing in detail the progress of negotiations with Spain, Mancini, as versed in politics as in music and literature, suddenly realized that the passion of Louis XIV could have the most fatal consequences for the entire kingdom. And on September 3, she wrote to Mazarin that she was abandoning the king.
This news plunged Louis XIV into despair. He sent her pleading letters, but received no response to any of them. In the end, he ordered his beloved dog to be taken to her. The exile had enough courage and determination not to thank the king for the gift, which, however, brought her painful joy.
Then Louis XIV signed a peace treaty with Spain and agreed to marry the infanta. Maria Theresa had an unusually calm disposition. Preferring silence and solitude, she spent her time reading Spanish books. On the day when the festive bells rang throughout the kingdom, in Brouage Marie burst into burning tears. “I couldn’t think,” she wrote in her “Memoirs,” “that I had paid a dear price for the peace that everyone was so happy about, and no one remembered that the king would hardly have married the infanta if I had not sacrificed myself.” ..."
Maria Theresa sometimes waited all night for the return of the king, who flitted from one lover to another at that time. In the morning or the next day, the wife bombarded Louis XIV with questions, in response he kissed her hands and referred to state affairs. Once, at a ball at Henrietta of England's, the king met the eyes of a charming girl and began to persistently court the maid of honor Louise de La Vallière.
Louis XIV fell in love with Louise so much that he surrounded his relationship with her, in the words of the Abbé de Choisy, “an impenetrable secret.” They met at night in the park of Fontainebleau or in the room of the Comte de Saint-Aignan, but in public the king did not allow himself a single gesture that could reveal “the secret of his heart.”
Their connection was discovered by chance. One evening the courtiers were walking through the park when suddenly a heavy downpour poured down. To escape the thunderstorm, everyone took refuge under the trees. The lovers fell behind. Lavaliere because of his lameness, and Louis for the simple reason that no one walks faster than his beloved.
In front of the court, the king led his favorite into the palace in the pouring rain, baring his head to cover her with his hat.
Naturally, such a gallant manner of treating the young lady-in-waiting caused a stream of satirical couplets and epigrams from malicious poets.
After some time, jealousy again made Louis XIV forget about his restraint.
One young courtier named Lomenie de Brienne had the imprudence to court Louise de La Vallière a little. Having met her one evening in the chambers of Henrietta of England, he invited her to pose for the artist Lefebvre in the form of Magdalene. During the conversation, the king entered the room.
"What are you doing here, mademoiselle?"
Louise, blushing, spoke of Brienne's proposal.
"Isn't that a good idea?" - he asked.
The king was unable to hide his displeasure: “No. She should be portrayed as Diana. She is too young to pose as a repentant sinner.”
Lavaliere sometimes refused a date, citing illness. But the king found thousands of ways to see her. One day she volunteered to accompany Henrietta to Saint-Cloud, where she hoped to hide from him. He immediately jumped on his horse and, under the pretext of wanting to inspect the construction work, visited Vincennes Castle, the Tuileries and Versailles in one day.
At six o'clock in the evening he was in Saint-Cloud.
“I came to have dinner with you,” he told his brother.
After dessert, the king went up to the bedroom of Louise, the maid of honor of his brother's wife. He rode thirty-seven leagues just to spend the night with Louise - an absolutely incredible act that caused amazement among all his contemporaries.
Despite this evidence of ardent passion, the naive girl initially hoped that the king would become more prudent in the last weeks before his wife gave birth.
However, after a quarrel with Maria Theresa, the king decided to devote himself entirely to his mistress. He couldn't miss this opportunity. And Louise, who thought that he could return to the true path, now spent almost every night with him, experiencing both unspeakable pleasure and strong remorse in his arms...
On November 1st, the queen gave birth to a son, who was named Louis. This happy event temporarily brought the crowned spouses closer together. However, as soon as the Dauphin was christened, the monarch returned to Mademoiselle de La Vallière’s bed. On this bed, warmed by a heating pad, the favorite experienced joys that quenched the languor of the body, but at the same time brought confusion into the soul...
One day the king asked Louise about the love affairs of Henrietta of England. The favorite, who promised her friend to keep the secret, refused to answer. Louis XIV left in great irritation, slamming the door and leaving a sobbing Louise in the bedroom.
Meanwhile, even at the beginning of their relationship, the lovers agreed that “if they happen to quarrel, then neither of them will go to bed without writing a letter and making an attempt at reconciliation.”
So Louise waited all night for the messenger to knock on her door. At dawn it became clear to her: the king had not forgiven the insult. Then she, wrapped in an old cloak, left the Tuileries in despair and ran to the Chaillot monastery.
This news brought the king into such confusion that he, forgetting about decency, jumped on his horse. The Queen, who was present, said that he had absolutely no self-control.
Louis brought Louise to the Tuileries in his carriage and kissed her publicly, so that all witnesses to this scene were amazed...
Having reached the chambers of Henrietta of England, Louis XIV “began to rise very slowly, not wanting to show that he had been crying.” Then he began to ask for Louise and achieved - not without difficulty - Henrietta's consent to keep her with him... Greatest King Europe turned into a humiliated supplicant, concerned only with ensuring that Mademoiselle de La Vallière did not shed any more tears.
In the evening, Louis visited Louise. Alas! The more pleasure she received, the more she was tormented by remorse. "And languid sighs mixed with sincere lamentations..."
At this time, Mademoiselle de la Mothe Udencourt, burning with passion, made a desperate attempt to lure Louis XIV into her network. But the king could not afford two relationships at the same time, especially since he was too busy - he was building Versailles.
For several months now, the monarch, with the help of architects Le Brun and Le Nôtre, had been building the most beautiful palace in the world in honor of Louise. For the twenty-four-year-old king, this was an intoxicating activity that absorbed all his time.
When he happened to push aside the drawings that cluttered his desk, he began to write a tender letter to Louise. Once he even wrote her an exquisite couplet on the two of diamonds during a card game. And Mademoiselle de La Vallière, with her usual wit, responded with a real little poem, where she asked her to write hearts on the deuce, because this is a more case suit. When the king returned to Paris, he immediately rushed to Louise, and both lovers then experienced such joy that they completely forgot about caution.
The result was not long in coming: one evening the favorite, in tears, announced to the king that she was expecting a child. Louis XIV, delighted, threw away his usual restraint: from now on he began to walk around the Louvre with his girlfriend, which he had never done before.
Several months have passed. Louis XIV went to fight with the Duke of Lorraine and, at the head of a victorious army, returned on October 15, 1663, covering himself with glory. Louise was waiting for him impatiently. She could no longer hide her pregnancy.
On December 19, at four o'clock in the morning, Colbert received the following from the obstetrician:
note: “We have a boy, strong and healthy. Mother and child feel
Fine. God bless. I'm waiting for orders."
The orders turned out to be cruel for Louise. On the same day, the newborn was carried to Saint-Lay: by secret order of the king, he was recorded as Charles, son of M. Lencourt and Mademoiselle Elizabeth de Bey."
All winter, Louise hid in her house, not receiving anyone except the king, who was very upset by this seclusion. In the spring he brought her to Versailles, which was almost completed. Now she took the position of the officially recognized favorite, and the courtesans fawned over her in every possible way. However, Louise did not know how to be happy and therefore cried.
But she would have cried even more bitterly if she had known that she was carrying under her heart a second little bastard, conceived the previous month.
This child was born under the cover of the deepest secrecy on January 7, 1665 and was christened Philippe, “son of Francois Dersy, a bourgeois, and Marguerite Bernard, his wife.” Colbert, who still had to deal with the arrangement of the babies, entrusted him to the care of reliable people.
In the end, Louis XIV got tired of calming his mistress, and he turned his attention to the Princess of Monaco. She was young, charming, witty and unusually attractive; but in the eyes of the king her greatest advantage was that she shared a bed with Lauzen, a famous seducer, and therefore had a wealth of experience.
Louis XIV began to diligently court the princess, who happily allowed herself to be seduced.
Three weeks later, the king parted with the Princess of Monaco, because he found her affection somewhat tiresome for himself, and again returned to De La Vallière.
On January 20, 1666, regent Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV, died.
With her, the last barrier that had kept the king at least a little within the bounds of decency disappeared. Soon everyone was convinced of this. A week later, Mademoiselle de La Vallière stood next to Maria Theresa during mass...
It was then that one young lady-in-waiting of the queen tried to attract the attention of the king, who realized that circumstances were developing in her favor. She was beautiful, cunning and sharp-tongued. Her name was Françoise Athenais, she had been married to the Marquis de Montespan for two years, but she was not distinguished by impeccable marital fidelity.
Louis XIV soon fell under her spell. Without abandoning Louise, who was pregnant again, he began to flutter around Athenais. The modest favorite quickly realized that from now on it was not only she that interested the king. As always, having quietly been relieved of her burden, she hid in her mansion and prepared to suffer in silence.
But the future Sun King loved theatricality, so that everything happened in front of the audience. Therefore, he organized celebrations in Saint-Germsnes called "Ballet of the Muses", where Louise and Madame de Montespan received exactly the same roles, so that it would be clear to everyone that both equal rights will share his bed.
On May 14, around noon, amazing news broke. It became known that the king had just bestowed the title of Duchess on Mademoiselle de La Vallière and recognized her third child, little Maria Anna, as his daughter (the first two sons died in infancy).
The pale Madame de Montespan hurried to the queen to find out the details. Maria Theresa was crying. Around her, the courtiers were discussing in whispers the charter of grant, already approved by parliament. There was no limit to amazement. They said that such shamelessness had not happened since the time of Henry IV.
On October 3, Lavaliere gave birth to a son, who was immediately taken away. He was to receive the name Comte de Vermandois. This event brought the king somewhat closer to the gentle Lavaliere, and, alarmed, Montespan hurried to the sorceress Voisin. She handed her a bag of “love powder” made from charred and crushed toad bones, mole teeth, human nails, Spanish flies, blood bats, dry plums and iron powder.
That same evening, the unsuspecting King of France swallowed this disgusting potion along with his soup. It was difficult to doubt the power of witchcraft, since the king almost immediately left Louise de La Valliere, returning to the arms of Madame de Montespan.
Soon Louis XIV decided to give his mistresses official status in order to demonstrate his disdain for all kinds of moralists. At the beginning of 1669, he placed Louise and Françoise in adjacent apartments in Saint-Germain. Moreover, he demanded that both women maintain the appearance of friendly relations. From now on, everyone saw them playing cards, dining at the same table, and walking hand in hand through the park, chatting animatedly and amiably.
The king silently waited to see how the court would react to this. And soon couplets appeared, very disrespectful towards the favorites, but restrained as far as the king was concerned. Louis XIV realized that the game could be considered won. Every evening, with a calm soul, he went to his beloved and found more and more pleasure in this.
Of course, preference was almost always given to Madame de Montespan. She did not hide her delight. She really liked the king's caresses. Louis XIV did this with knowledge of the matter, since he read Ambroise Paré, who argued that “a sower should not invade the field of human flesh at a swoop...” But after that it was possible to act with the courage of a husband and king.
This approach could not fail to bear fruit. At the end of March 1669, Madame de Montespan gave birth to a delightful girl.
The king, who became more and more attached to the ardent marquise, practically ignored de La Vallière. Madame de Montespan was so favored by the king that on March 31, 1670, she gave birth to her second child, the future Duke of Maine. This time the child was born in Saint-Germain, “in the ladies' quarters,” and Madame Scarron, whom the king did not like, did not dare to come there. But Lozen did everything for her. He took the child, wrapped him in his own cloak, walked quickly through the chambers of the queen, who was in ignorance, crossed the park and approached the grating where the teacher's carriage was waiting. Two hours later the boy had already joined his sister.
Suddenly, stunning news spread: Mademoiselle de La Vallière, having secretly left the court during a ball in the Tuileries, went to the Chaillot monastery at dawn. Louise, humiliated by Madame de Montespan, abandoned by the king, crushed by grief and tormented by remorse, decided that only in religion could she find solace.
Louis XIV was informed of this when he was about to leave the Tuileries. Having listened dispassionately to the news, he climbed into the carriage along with Madame de Montespan and Mademoiselle de Montpensier, and it seemed to many that Louise’s flight had left him completely indifferent. However, as soon as the carriage drove onto the road to Versailles, tears flowed down the king’s cheeks. Seeing this, Montespan burst into tears, and Mademoiselle de Montpensier, who always cried willingly at the opera, thought it best to join her.
That same evening, Colbert brought Louise to Versailles by order of the king. The unfortunate woman found her lover in tears and believed that he still loved her.
But after on December 18, 1673, in the Church of Saint-Sulpice, the king forced her to be the godmother of Madame de Montespan's next daughter, Louise made the most important decision of her life.
On June 2, at the age of thirty, she took monastic vows and became the merciful Sister Louise. And she bore this name until her death, for thirty-six years.
Meanwhile, in Paris, Madame de Montespan did not sit idle. She constantly sent love powders to Saint-Germain, which were then mixed into the king's food through bribed servants. Since these powders contained Spanish fly and other stimulants, Louis XIV again began to wander around the apartments of the young ladies-in-waiting, and many girls acquired the status of women thanks to this circumstance...
Then the beauty de Montespan turned to the Norman sorcerers, who began to regularly supply her with love potions and aphrodisiacs for Louis XIV. This went on for many years. The potion had an increasingly stronger effect on the king than Madame de Montespan would like. The monarch began to experience an insatiable need for sexual intercourse, as many ladies-in-waiting soon became aware of.
The first person the king noticed was Anne de Rohan, Baroness de Soubise, a delightful young woman of twenty-eight years of age, who respectfully yielded to the not very respectful proposal. The monarch met with her in the apartments of Madame de Rochefort. Receiving endless pleasure from these dates, he tried to act as carefully as possible so that no one would find out anything, because the beauty was married.
But Louis XIV was tormented in vain: de Soubise was well brought up and had an easy-going character. Moreover, he was a business man. Seeing his dishonor as a source of income, he did not protest, but demanded money. “The vile deal was completed,” the chronicler wrote, “and the noble scoundrel, into whose baronial mantle golden rain poured, bought former palace Gizov, who received the name Soubiz. He made himself a million-dollar fortune."
When someone expressed admiration for his wealth, the indulgent husband replied with commendable modesty: “I have nothing to do with it, this is the merit of my wife.”
The lovely Anna was as greedy and insatiable as her husband. She benefited all her relatives: this family was showered with favors from the king. From Baroness de Soubise, the favorite turned into Princess de Soubise and felt that she could now look down on Madame de Montespan.
The Marquise, jealous of her rival, ran to the sorceress Voisin and got hold of a new potion in order to discourage Louis XIV from Anna. It is difficult to say whether this powder caused his disgrace, but the king suddenly left his young mistress and returned to Françoise’s bed.
At the end of 1675, Louis XIV, having bestowed his affection first on Mademoiselle de Grandce and then on Princess Marie-Anne of Würtenburg, fell in love with Françoise's chambermaid. From then on, on his way to see his favorite, the king invariably lingered in the hallway, engaging in not very decent pastimes with Mademoiselle de Hoye.
Having discovered that she was being deceived, de Montespan, in a rage, instructed her reliable friends to turn to Auvergne healers and get from them a potion stronger than Voisin powders. Soon, mysterious vials containing a cloudy liquid were delivered to her, which then ended up in the king's food.
However, the results were encouraging: Louis XIV, who did not tolerate monotony, left Mademoiselle de Hoye, and Madame de Montespan was imbued with even greater faith in the power of love potions. She ordered other stimulants to be prepared in order to once again become the king’s only mistress, but she achieved the opposite.
IN Once again the monarch could not be satisfied with the charms of his favorite; he needed one more "sweet flesh" to satisfy his desire. He entered into a relationship with Mademoiselle de Ludre, a maid of honor from the queen's retinue. But this woman also showed immodesty.
The marquise, overwhelmed by jealousy, began to look for even stronger remedies and for two weeks fed them to the king, who, admittedly, had great health if he managed to digest preparations containing crushed toad, snake eyes, boar's testicles, cat urine, fox feces, artichokes and capsicums.
One day he came to Françoise while under the influence of a potion and gave her an hour of pleasure. Nine months later, on May 4, 1677, the radiant marquise gave birth to a daughter, who was christened Françoise Marie of Bourbon. She was subsequently recognized as the king's legitimate daughter under the name Mademoiselle de Blois.
But Françoise did not manage to gain a foothold in her former capacity as the only mistress, because the beautiful Mademoiselle de Ludre, wanting to maintain her “position,” decided to pretend that she had also become pregnant by the king.
Accomplices delivered a box of gray powder to Françoise, and, by a strange coincidence, Louis XIV completely lost interest in Mademoiselle de Ludre, who ended her days in the convent of the daughters of St. Mary in the suburbs of Saint-Germain.
However, the monarch, overly inflamed by the Provençal drug, again eluded Françoise: in the witty expression of Madame de Sevigne, “there was a smell of fresh air again in the country of Quanto.”
Among the ladies-in-waiting, Madame Louis XIV spotted a delightful blonde with gray eyes. She was eighteen years old and her name was Mademoiselle de Fontanges. It was about her that the Abbé de Choisy said that “she is as beautiful as an angel and stupid as a cork.”
The king was inflamed with desire. One evening, unable to restrain himself any longer, he left Saint-Germain, accompanied by several guards, and went to the Palais Royal, the residence of Henrietta of England. There he knocked on the door with the agreed signal, and one of the princess's ladies-in-waiting, Mademoiselle de Adré, who became an accomplice of the lovers, escorted him to her friend's chambers.
Unfortunately, when he returned to Saint-Germain at dawn, the Parisians recognized him, and soon Madame de Montespan received comprehensive information about this love affair. Her rage is beyond description. Perhaps it was then that the idea came to her to poison both the king and Mademoiselle de Fontanges out of revenge.
On March 12, 1679, the poisoner Voisin, whose services de Montespan had repeatedly resorted to, was arrested. The favorite, mad with fear, left for Paris.
A few days later, Françoise, convinced that her name had not been mentioned, calmed down a little and returned to Saint-Germain. However, upon arrival, a blow awaited her: Mademoiselle de Fontanges settled in apartments adjacent to the king’s chambers.
Ever since Françoise discovered Mademoiselle de Fontanges in her place, she was determined to poison the king. At first it occurred to her to do this with the help of a petition saturated with strong poison. Trianon, Voisin's accomplice, "prepared a poison so strong that Louis XIV had to die as soon as he touched the paper." The delay prevented the execution of this plan: Madame de Montespan, knowing that La Reynie, after the arrest of the poisoners, doubled her vigilance and intensely guarded the king, decided ultimately to resort to damage rather than poison.
For some time, both favorites seemed to live in good harmony. Mademoiselle de Fontanges gave gifts to Françoise, and Françoise herself dressed up Mademoiselle de Fontanges before the evening balls. Louis XIV paid attention to both his ladies and seemed to be at the height of bliss...
Fontanges died on June 28, 1681, after an agony of eleven months, at the age of twenty-two. Immediately there were rumors of a murder, and the Princess of the Palatinate noted: “There is no doubt that Fontange was poisoned. She herself blamed Montespan for everything, who bribed the footman, and he killed her by pouring poison into her milk.”
Of course, the king shared the court's suspicions. Fearing that his mistress had committed a crime, he forbade an autopsy of the deceased.
Although the king had to behave with the Marchioness as if he knew nothing, he still could not continue to play the lover and returned to Maria Theresa.
He embarked on this path not without the help of Madame Scarron, née Françoise D'Aubigné, the widow of a famous poet, who was slowly gaining influence, acting in the shadows, but extremely cleverly and prudently. She raised Montespan's illegitimate children from the king.
Louis XIV saw with what love she raised the children abandoned by Madame de Montespan. He had already managed to appreciate her intelligence, honesty and directness and, not wanting to admit it to himself, increasingly sought her company.
When she bought the lands of Maintenon, a few leagues from Chartres, in 1674, Madame de Montespan expressed extreme displeasure: “Is that so? A castle and an estate for the teacher of bastards?”
“If it is humiliating to be their teacher,” answered the newly-minted landowner, “then what can we say about their mother?”
Then, in order to silence Madame de Montespan, the king, in the presence of the entire court, speechless with amazement, called Madame Scarron by a new name - Madame de Maintenon. From that moment on, and by special order of the monarch, she signed only with this name.
Years passed, and Louis XIV became attached to this woman, so different from Madame de Montespan. After the case of the poisoners, he naturally turned his gaze to her, for his troubled soul required consolation.
But Madame de Maintenon did not want to take the place of the favorite. “Strengthening the monarch in faith,” said the Duke de Noailles, “she used the feelings that she inspired in him in order to return him to the pure family bosom and pay to the queen those signs of attention that rightfully belonged only to her.”
Maria Theresa could not believe her luck: the king spent evenings with her and talked with tenderness. For almost thirty years, she had not heard a single kind word from him. Madame de Maintenon, stern and pious almost to the point of hypocrisy, although she had, according to many, a rather stormy youth, was now distinguished by amazing rationality and restraint. She treated the monarch with extreme respect, admired him and considered herself chosen by God to help him become “the most Christian king.”
For several months, Louis XIV met with her daily. De Maintenon gave excellent advice, skillfully and unobtrusively intervened in all matters, and ultimately became indispensable to the monarch.
Louis XIV looked at her with burning eyes and “with some tenderness in his facial expression.” Without a doubt, he longed to embrace this beautiful touch-me-not, who at forty-eight years of age was experiencing a brilliant decline.
The monarch considered it indecent to make a mistress out of a woman who raised his children so well. However, the dignified behavior and restraint of Françoise de Maintenon excluded any thought of adultery. She was not one of those ladies who could easily be lured to the first bed that came her way.
There was only one way out: to marry her in secret. Louis, having made up his mind, sent his confessor, Father de Lachaise, one morning to propose to Françoise.
The marriage took place in 1684 or 1685 ( exact date no one knows) in the king’s office, where the newlyweds were blessed by Monsignor Harle de Chanvallon in the presence of Father de Lachaise.
Many then began to guess about the king’s secret marriage with Françoise. But this did not come to the surface, because everyone tried to keep the secret. Only Madame de Sevigne, whose pen was as uncontrollable as her tongue, wrote to her daughter: “Madame de Maintenon’s position is unique, nothing like this has ever happened and never will happen...”
Under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, who, with her knees drawn together and her lips pursed, continued the work of “cleansing” morals, Versailles turned into such a boring place that, as they said then, “even the Calvinists would howl here with melancholy.”
At court, all playful expressions were prohibited, men and women no longer dared to openly communicate with each other, and beauties, burned by internal fire, were forced to hide languor under the mask of piety.
On May 27, 1707, Madame de Montespan died on the waters of Bourbon-l'Archambault. Louis XIV, having learned about the death of his former mistress, said with complete indifference: “She died too long ago for me to mourn her today.”
On August 31, 1715, Louis XIV fell into a coma and on September 1, at a quarter past nine in the morning, he breathed his last.
In four days he would have turned seventy-seven years old. His reign lasted seventy-two years.

28.01.2018

Louis XIV remained in the memory of posterity as an extremely self-confident and narcissistic monarch, whose phrase “The State is me!” fully reveals his character. Was this phrase actually said? We will now talk in more detail about this and other interesting facts from the life of Louis XIV.

1. Louis became a long-awaited child: his parents tried to conceive an heir for 22 years. Finally, 37-year-old Anne of Austria gave birth to the Dauphin. Everyone rejoiced: from the nobility to common people. People feared the instability that the absence of a legitimate prince would entail.
2. Louis reigned for 72 years, the longest reign of any European monarch.
3. The statement “The State is me!” really took place. But the phrase was uttered for a reason, but in response to the actions of parliament, which was trying to limit the power of the 17-year-old monarch. Louis XIV had to remind the highest state dignitaries that it was not they who controlled everything here, but the rightful king.
4. A popular myth is about his twin brother, whom Louis allegedly hid from everyone under an iron mask. But this is hardly true: if twins had been born, Louis’s parents would not only not have hidden this fact, but would have rejoiced heartily along with the courtiers. After all, this is a double guarantee that the throne will not remain empty.
5. The future “Sun King” respected his mother very much, and was even afraid of her. In his youth, he fell passionately in love with Mazarin's niece Maria. The young man begged the queen to allow him to marry his beloved, who reciprocated his feelings, but she firmly answered: “No.” It was necessary to conclude an alliance beneficial to France for political reasons. It was a marriage with a Spanish infanta. No king can marry for love...
6. During the reign of Louis, extraordinary pomp reigned at court. The king loved luxury. His grandiose plan to turn the Versailles hunting lodge into his residence with gardens, palaces and parks cost the treasury dearly: for 50 years, 14% of annual income was constantly spent on its construction. But now Versailles is the pearl of France.
7. Louis was no stranger to cultural entertainment, except for traditional hunting and balls. Plays by Racine, Moliere, and Corneille were often staged at Versailles.
8. Trying to collect as much money as possible, the king invented more and more new measures to retain the “gold reserve”: for example, property was taken away from everyone leaving the country forever, and senior government officials were paid salaries from taxes collected, and not from the gold accumulated in the treasury.
9. Louis is credited with the talent of a fashion designer: he invented shoes for high heels with a red sole (prototype of “Louboutins”).
10. The “Sun King” had many mistresses throughout his life. They say that some of them had political influence: for example, the Edict of Nantes, which abolished the policy of toleration, was agreed upon with the last favorite, the Marquise de Maintenon. But most historians agree: Louis XIV strictly distinguished between politics and personal life, and made all important state decisions himself, single-handedly.
11. The king's second marriage was morganatic: he married his faithful friend, the Marquise de Maintenon, who raised his six illegitimate children. But for the highest secular and spiritual authorities, the marriage did not have legal force: when Louis was dying, the 80-year-old marquise was sent away from the court so that the monarch could appear before God “cleansed from sin.”

Louis XIV lived to be 77 years old. Perhaps his reign would have lasted even longer if he had not fallen from his horse while walking. During the decades of his stay in power, France acquired a magnificent façade: a magnificent courtyard, and shone with techniques that amazed the imagination of foreigners. But behind the external splendor, gaps of poverty were already revealed, about which the “sun king” did not want to know anything.

In 1661, a 23-year-old King Louis XIV of France arrived at his father's small hunting castle located near Paris. The monarch ordered large-scale construction of his new residence to begin here, which was to become his stronghold and refuge.

The Sun King's dream has come true. In Versailles, created at his request, Louis spent his best years, and here he ended his earthly journey.

Louis XIV de Bourbon, who received the name at birth Louis-Dieudonné(“God-given”), was born on September 5, 1638.

Anna of Austria. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

The name “God-given” appeared for a reason. Queen Anne of Austria produced an heir at the age of 37, after more than 20 barren years of marriage.

Already at the age of 5 he became king after the death of his father, Louis XIII. Due to the king’s young age, the government of the state was taken over by his mother, Anna of Austria, and First Minister - Cardinal Mazarin.

The state is me

When Louis was 10 years old, the country actually broke out Civil War, in which the authorities were opposed by the opposition Fronde. The young king had to endure a blockade in the Louvre, a secret escape and many other, not at all royal things.

Louis XIV as the god Jupiter. 1655 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

It was during these years that his character and his views were formed. Remembering the turmoil of his childhood, Louis XIV was convinced that the country could prosper only under the strong, unlimited power of the autocrat.

After the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, the young king convened the Council of State, at which he announced that he henceforth intended to rule independently, without appointing a first minister. It was then that he decided to build a large residence in Versailles, so as not to return to the unreliable Louvre.

At the same time, the king, as they say, worked excellently with personnel. The de facto head of government for two decades was Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a talented financier. Thanks to Colbert, the first period of the reign of Louis XIV was very successful from an economic point of view.

Louis XIV patronized science and art, because he considered it impossible for his kingdom to flourish without a high level of development in these spheres of human activity.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

War against everyone

If the king were only concerned with the construction of Versailles, the rise of the economy and the development of the arts, then, probably, the respect and love of his subjects for the Sun King would be limitless. However, the ambitions of Louis XIV extended much beyond the borders of his state. By the early 1680s, Louis XIV had the most powerful army in Europe, which only whetted his appetite. In 1681, he established chambers of reunification to determine the rights of the French crown to certain areas, seizing more and more lands in Europe and Africa.

Louis XIV crossing the Rhine on June 12, 1672. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

In 1688, Louis XIV's claims to the Palatinate led to the whole of Europe turning against him. The so-called War of the League of Augsburg lasted for nine years and resulted in the parties maintaining the status quo. But the huge expenses and losses incurred by France led to a new economic decline in the country and a depletion of funds.

Louis XIV at the siege of Namur (1692). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

But already in 1701, France was drawn into a long conflict called the War of the Spanish Succession. Louis XIV hoped to defend the rights to the Spanish throne for his grandson, who was to become the head of two states. However, the war, which engulfed not only Europe, but also North America, ended unsuccessfully for France. According to the peace concluded in 1713 and 1714, the grandson of Louis XIV retained the Spanish crown, but its Italian and Dutch possessions were lost, and England, by destroying the Franco-Spanish fleets and conquering a number of colonies, laid the foundation for its maritime dominion. In addition, the project of uniting France and Spain under the hand of the French monarch had to be abandoned.

Sale of offices and expulsion of the Huguenots

This last military campaign of Louis XIV returned him to where he started - the country was mired in debt and groaning under the burden of taxes, and here and there uprisings broke out, the suppression of which required more and more resources.

The need to replenish the budget led to non-trivial decisions. Under Louis XIV, the trade in government positions was put on stream, reaching its maximum extent in last years his life. To replenish the treasury, more and more new positions were created, which, of course, brought chaos and discord into the activities of state institutions.

French Protestants joined the ranks of opponents of Louis XIV after the Edict of Fontainebleau was signed in 1685, repealing the Edict of Nantes. Henry IV, which guaranteed freedom of religion to the Huguenots.

After this, more than 200 thousand French Protestants emigrated from the country, despite strict penalties for emigration. The exodus of tens of thousands of economically active citizens dealt another painful blow to the power of France.

Louis XIV on coins. 1701 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

The unloved queen and the meek lame woman

At all times and eras personal life monarchs influenced politics. Louis XIV is no exception in this sense. The monarch once remarked: “It would be easier for me to reconcile all of Europe than a few women.”

His official wife in 1660 was a Spanish woman of her own age. Infanta Maria Theresa, which belonged to Louis cousin both father and mother.

The marriage of Louis XIV took place in 1660. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

The problem with this marriage, however, was not the close family ties of the spouses. Louis simply did not love Maria Theresa, but he meekly agreed to the marriage, which had important political significance. The wife bore the king six children, but five of them died in childhood. Only the first-born survived, named, like his father, Louis and went down in history under the name Grand Dauphin.

Louise de La Valliere. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

For the sake of marriage, Louis broke off relations with the woman he really loved - his niece Cardinal Mazarin. Perhaps the separation from his beloved also influenced the king’s attitude towards his legal wife. Maria Theresa accepted her fate. Unlike other French queens, she did not intrigue or get involved in politics, playing a prescribed role. When the queen died in 1683, Louis said: “This is the only worry in my life that she has caused me.”

The king compensated for the lack of feelings in marriage with relationships with his favorites. For nine years she became the lady of Louis's heart. Louise-Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc, Duchess de La Vallière. Louise was not distinguished by dazzling beauty, and, moreover, due to an unsuccessful fall from a horse, she remained lame for the rest of her life. But the meekness, friendliness and sharp mind of Lamefoot attracted the attention of the king.

Marquise de Montespan in the painting unknown artist. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Louise bore Louis four children, two of whom lived to adulthood. The king treated Louise quite cruelly. Having begun to grow cold towards her, he settled his rejected mistress next to his new favorite - Marquise Françoise Athenais de Montespan. The Duchess de La Valliere was forced to endure the bullying of her rival. She endured everything with her characteristic meekness, and in 1675 she became a nun and lived for many years in a monastery, where she was called Louise the Merciful.

There was not a shadow of the meekness of her predecessor in the lady before Montespan. Representative of one of the most ancient noble families France, Françoise not only became the official favorite, but for 10 years turned into the “true Queen of France.”

Françoise loved luxury and did not like counting money. It was the Marquise de Montespan who turned the reign of Louis XIV from deliberate budgeting to unrestrained and unlimited spending. Capricious, envious, domineering and ambitious, Francoise knew how to subjugate the king to her will. New apartments were built for her in Versailles, and she managed to place all her close relatives in significant government positions.

Françoise de Montespan bore Louis seven children, four of whom lived to adulthood.

But the relationship between Françoise and the king was not as faithful as with Louise. Louis allowed himself hobbies besides his official favorite, which infuriated Madame de Montespan. To keep the king with her, she began to study black magic and even became involved in a high-profile poisoning case. The king did not punish her with death, but deprived her of the status of a favorite, which was much more terrible for her.

Like her predecessor, Louise le Lavalier, the Marquise de Montespan exchanged the royal chambers for a monastery.

Madame de Maintenon. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Time for repentance

Louis's new favorite was Marquise de Maintenon, widow poet Scarron, who was the governess of the king’s children from Madame de Montespan.

This king's favorite was called the same as her predecessor, Françoise, but the women were as different from each other as heaven and earth. The king had long conversations with the Marquise de Maintenon about the meaning of life, about religion, about responsibility before God. The royal court replaced its splendor with chastity and high morality.

After death official wife Louis XIV married secret marriage with the Marquise de Maintenon. Now the king was occupied not with balls and festivities, but with masses and reading the Bible. The only entertainment he allowed himself was hunting.

The Marquise de Maintenon founded and directed Europe's first secular school for women, called the Royal House of Saint Louis. The school in Saint-Cyr became an example for many similar institutions, including the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg.

For a strict disposition and intolerance towards social entertainment The Marquise de Maintenon received the nickname the Black Queen. She survived Louis and after his death retired to Saint-Cyr, living the rest of her days among the pupils of her school.

Louis XIV and his family dressed as Roman gods. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Illegitimate Bourbons

Louis XIV recognized his illegitimate children from both Louise de La Vallière and Françoise de Montespan. They all received their father's surname - de Bourbon, and dad tried to arrange their lives.

Maria Theresa, wife of Louis XIV, with their only surviving son, the Grand Dauphin Louis. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Louis, son from Louise, was already promoted to French admiral at the age of two, and having matured, he went on a military campaign with his father. There, at the age of 16, the young man died.

Louis-Auguste, son from Françoise, received the title of Duke of Maine, became a French commander and in this capacity accepted military training Godson of Peter I And great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin Abram Petrovich Hannibal.

Francoise-Marie, the most youngest daughter Louis, was married to Philippe d'Orléans, becoming the Duchess of Orleans. Possessing the character of her mother, Françoise-Marie plunged headlong into political intrigue. Her husband became the French regent under the young King Louis XV, and Françoise-Marie's children married the scions of other European royal dynasties.

In a word, not many illegitimate children of ruling persons suffered the same fate that befell the sons and daughters of Louis XIV.

“Did you really think that I would live forever?”

The last years of the king's life turned out to be a difficult ordeal for him. The man, who throughout his life defended the chosenness of the monarch and his right to autocratic rule, experienced not only the crisis of his state. His close people left one after another, and it turned out that there was simply no one to transfer power to.

Grand Dauphin Louis. The only surviving legitimate child of Louis XIV by Maria Theresa of Spain. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

On April 13, 1711, his son, the Grand Dauphin Louis, died. In February 1712, the Dauphin's eldest son, the Duke of Burgundy, died, and on March 8 of the same year, the latter's eldest son, the young Duke of Breton, died. On March 4, 1714, the Duke of Burgundy's younger brother, the Duke of Berry, fell from his horse and died a few days later. The only heir was the 4-year-old great-grandson of the king, the youngest son of the Duke of Burgundy. If this little one had died, the throne would have remained vacant after the death of Louis.

Statue of Louis XIV. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

This forced the king to include even his illegitimate sons in the list of heirs, which promised internal civil strife in France in the future.

At 76 years old, Louis remained energetic, active and, as in his youth, regularly went hunting. During one of these trips, the king fell and injured his leg. Doctors discovered that the injury had caused gangrene and suggested amputation. The Sun King refused: this is unacceptable for royal dignity. The disease progressed rapidly, and soon agony began, lasting for several days.

At the moment of clarity of consciousness, Louis looked around those present and uttered his last aphorism:

- Why are you crying? Did you really think that I would live forever?

On September 1, 1715, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, Louis XIV died in his palace at Versailles, four days short of his 77th birthday.

The Castle of Versailles is a grandiose architectural monument of Louis XIV. Photo:

Louis 14 – the Sun King – is the most charismatic monarch of France. The era of his reign, which lasted 72 years, is called by historians the “Great Age”. The French king became the “hero” of numerous novels and films. Even during his lifetime, legends were made about him. And the monarch was worthy of them.

It was King Louis 14 who came up with the idea to build a grandiose palace complex on the site of a small hunting lodge. The majestic Versailles, which has amazed the imagination for centuries, became not just the residence of the monarch during his lifetime, here he accepted his death with dignity, as befits an august person.

The greatest of the Bourbon dynasty - “God-given” Louis 14

King Louis 14 de Bourbon is the long-awaited heir. That is why at birth he received the “iconic” name - Louis-Dieudonne - “God-given”. The era of his rule over France began when little Louis was barely five years old. The regents were Anna of Austria, the mother of the Sun King, and the well-known Cardinal Mazarin, who tried with all his might to connect his family with family ties with the Bourbons. Interestingly, the skillful strategist almost succeeded.

King Louis 14 inherited from his mother, a proud Spaniard, strength of character and enormous self-esteem. It is quite natural that the young monarch did not “share the throne” with the Italian cardinal for a long time. Although he was his godfather. Already at the age of 17, Louis first showed disobedience, expressing dissatisfaction in front of the entire French parliament. “The State is me” is a phrase that characterizes the entire era of the reign of King Louis 14.

Unsolved mysteries of the biography of Louis de Bourbon

The biggest mystery remains the very birth of King Louis 14. According to the legend, which many believed in that era, Anne of Austria gave birth to not one, but two Dauphins. Did Louis have a twin brother? Historians still doubt this. But in many novels and even chronicles there are references to the mysterious “Iron Mask” - a man who, by order of the king, was forever hidden from human eyes. This decision can be considered justified, because the twin heirs are the reason political scandals and shocks.

King Louis 14 did have a brother, but the younger one was Philippe. The Duke of Orleans did not lay claim to the throne and never tried to intrigue against the Sun King. On the contrary, he called him “my little daddy”, since Louis constantly tried to take care of him. Photos of portraits of two brothers give a clear idea of ​​their mutual sympathy.

Women in the life of Louis de Bourbon - favorites and wives

Cardinal Mazarin, having become the godfather of King Louis 14, wanted to get even closer to the Bourbon dynasty. The clever intriguer never forgot that he came from a rather seedy Italian family. It was one of the cardinal’s nieces, brown-eyed Maria Mancini, who became the first love of young Louis 14. The King of France was twenty at that time, his beloved was only two years younger than him. The court whispered that the monarch from the Bourbon dynasty would soon marry for love. But fate decreed otherwise.

Maria Mancini - the first love of King Louis 14

Maria and Louis had to separate simply because, for political reasons, King Louis 14 needed to marry Maria Theresa, the daughter of the Spanish king. Mazarin very quickly “attached” his niece, marrying her to an Italian prince. It was from the moment when the young monarch was forced to enter into a political marriage that his series of love affairs began.

Historians believe that King Louis 14 de Bourbon inherited his amorousness and ardent temperament from his grandfather, Henry 4. But the Sun King was more prudent in his hobbies: none of his favorites influenced the politics of France. Did the wife know about the monarch’s many love interests and his illegitimate children? Yes, but Maria Theresa was a proud Spaniard and the daughter of a king, so she remained unperturbed - Louis 14 did not hear any tears or reproaches from her.

Queen Maria Theresa - first wife of King Louis 14

The queen died much earlier than her husband. Literally a few months after her death, King Louis 14 entered into a second marriage. With whom? The chosen one was the governess of his illegitimate children born to the Marquise de Montespan, Françoise de Maintenon. The woman was older than Louis; before that, she was married to the then famous writer Paul Scarron. At court she was known only as “the Widow Scarron.” It was with Françoise that King Louis 14 “met old age,” it was she who became his last passion, and it was her few whims that he fulfilled throughout all the years of marriage.

Interesting facts from the biography of Louis 14 – the Sun King

The excellent appetite of Louis 14 was known not only to the entire court, even ordinary residents of Paris knew about it. The dishes that the monarch ate at dinner could feed not only all the queen's ladies-in-waiting, but also his retinue. And this meal was not the only one. The king constantly satisfied his hunger at night, but he did it alone; his valet secretly brought him food.

King Louis 14 almost always fulfilled the whims of his favorites, but with regard to his second wife, the king outdid himself. When Françoise wished to ride a sleigh in the summer heat, her loving husband fulfilled her whim. Literally the next morning, Versailles sparkled with “snow,” which was perfectly replaced by tons of salt and sugar.

King Louis 14 adored luxury. Historians believe that this was due to the fact that as a child his expenses were carefully controlled by Mazarin, and he grew up completely “not like a king.” When Louis became a "state", he was able to satisfy his passion. There were about 500 luxurious beds in the residences of the monarch. He had more than a thousand wigs, and his clothes were made by 40 of the best tailors in France.

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