Podcast 38: The life & times of King Louis XIV
Janine: A great big bonjour and welcome to the Good Life France podcast. I’m Janine Marsh, your host. As you may tell from my accent, I’m not French, I’m from London UK but I’ve had a home in the far north of France, Pas-de-Calais, for 20 years. I write books about France, I’m the editor of a magazine and website about France and I travel around France all year round, exploring and discovering more about my adopted country. Last week I was in southwest France and Paris, next week I’ll be in Picardy, and the week after in the lovely city of Arras. But when I’m not travelling or writing or looking after my many animals (I have more than 50 animals), I love to chat to you on this podcast alongside my podcast partner Olivier Jauffrit.
Oli: Bonjour tout le monde, and welcome to the podcast. I am French and I lived in England for 20 years but now I live in lovely sunny Lyon in the far south of France, the opposite end of l’hexagon as we French call France, to Janine. When I’m not chatting to you I’m a radio presenter here in Lyon and on my own radio station, Paris Chanson. Well that’s us two – so now, let’s get down to business! Janine cab you please tell us what’s coming up in this episode?
Janine: Today we’re going to be talking about a man who in his time was one of the most powerful men in the world. He had a huge impact on French history. He had lavish tastes, he was a control freak, he loved the arts and believed himself chosen by God to rule over millions of people. You might have guessed who I’m talking about by now. It is the only and only Louis XIV, the Sun King. He was arguably one of the greatest Kings of France, certainly one of the most remembered. He was also a Machiavellian puppet master whose legacy is evident in the France of today, long after its citizens disposed of his heirs.
Oli: A great topic, there’s a lot to say about him, he ruled for a very long time and he was a fascinating character who lived an incredible life, one of history’s most iconic monarchs for sure. Let’s talk Louis…
Oli: Step back with us to 17th century France to explore the life and times of Louis XIV and discover the man behind the legend and the legacy that outlived him.
Janine: Louis was born in 1638 into the royal house of the Bourbons. He was a much-loved baby and was called Louis Dieudonné – the god given one, because after 23 years of marriage and four miscarriages, his parents King Louis XIII and Queen Anne had all but given up hope of having a healthy son. Interestingly he was born with teeth, which was thought to be a sign of a great future. Later he was called Louis le Grand, Louis the Great and Louis le Roi de Soleil, the Sun King, and we’ll talk about that in a minute.
Oli: Little Louis became a King at just four years old in 1643 when his father died. He was crowned in Reims Cathedral in Champagne. Because he was so young, his mother became regent until he was ready to take over. As her chief advisor she took a man called Cardinal Mazarin. He was not a humble man and loved nice things. He was an obsessive collector of valuable things and when he died, he was the richest man France had ever seen at that point. Ann and her advisor spent money like it was going out of fashion and when they tried to raise more money by getting government officials to give up their wages for four years, there was uproar.
Janine: Understandable. You can’t keep taxing people and eroding their quality of life. There was pushback. So Cardinal Mazarin had his opponents arrested. Now this is a potted history of course but all these shenanigans led to rebellion by the nobles against the monarchy, it was known as the Fronde, a series of civil wars between 1648 and 1653. Queen Anne fled her home in Paris taking Louis with her. And for Louis who was 9 years old when it all kicked off, it was a terrifying time and deeply affected him, giving him a lifelong desire for absolute control and shaping his approach to monarchy. It also made him not want to live in Paris.
Oli: Mazarin had a firm pair of hands on the reins of power and wasn’t going to let them go if he could help it. It wasn’t until he died in 1661 that Louis was able to take total control. And he vowed that from now he would rule without a chief minister. Only he could issue orders. Only he could direct policy. He was after all he believed, the direct representative of God, who had chosen him to rule France.
Janine: He believed that he possessed miraculous healing powers. On major holidays he went around touching those infected with scrofula (also known as tuberculosis of the neck). Actually it wasn’t just him who thought he could cure sick people, everyone thought he could but actually scrofula though horrible, couldn’t be cured, but also rarely killed so when people didn’t die after being touched by the King they all went along with the theory that kings could cure. In 1680, Louis bestowed his royal touch on 1600 people in one day alone. It's said that he touched and probably ‘healed’ about 350,000 people during his reign.
Oli: And he also associated himself with the Roman sun god, Apollo. He felt that as the world revolved around the sun, so France revolved around him, Louis, and that’s how the sun became his emblem
Janine: By the time Mazarin died, Louis had been married for a year to his first cousin Marie Theresa of Spain. He had no love for her, it was a strategic alliance organised by the Cardinal, even though Louis was for a time in love with Mazarin’s niece Maria and had an affair with her. Louis was married to Marie Theresa for 23 years and in that time they had six children though only one survived to become an adult. Also during that time he had many mistresses and many more offspring including 5 children with the Duchess Louise de la Valliere, a lady in waiting to his wife, and 7 children with the Marquise de Montespan. No one knows how many children he had in total at least 20 it is thought. And no one actually knows for sure but it’s believed that he secretly married his last mistress Madame de Maintenon.
Oli: There’s no proof that he did actually marry her but most historians believe it to be true. She never changed her name though it’s said that those in the know called her Majesty in private and she sat in the Queen place when travelling with the King.
Janine: If he really did marry her, it’s very out of character and shows a hidden side as it must have been for love. He was only 44 years old when the marriage is said to have taken place after Queen Marie-Therese died in 1683. He could have made another strategic marriage, grown his power, had more royal children. But he didn’t. He also knew that if he married Madame de Maintenon in open the nobles would rebel over it, and he’d worked so hard to gain control and establish absolute monarchy. Marrying for love would have seemed weak, plus she was of lesser rank. So he had a human side after all.
Oli: As a young man Louis had a busy social life and people thought he wouldn’t be serious about his responsibilities so they were surprised when he decided to really take control when Mazarin died. In fact he was tough as old boots, worked hard, played hard and was intelligent and cunning. Soon after he took power, he had one of his chief ministers arrested – Nicolas Fouquet, who had built the beautiful castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte near Paris. It was much more beautiful than anything Louis had. The charges of stealing from the king’s coffers were most likely made up. But it showed everyone that Louis was not to be trifled with and it sent a message “ no one is more powerful than the King of France.”
Janine: Louis didn’t want a repeat of the terrible civil wars that took place during his childhood. He knew he had to deal with the pesky nobles, the peasants who needed to know he was boss, not the local lords. With the help of his minister Jean Baptiste Colbert, he reformed the tax and administration of France which had been largely managed by the nobles who pocketed much of the money. With Colbert’s help, much more went to the royal coffers. Colbert was an incredible man, he increased commerce and trade, reduced imports, encouraged manufacturing in all areas from making silk to making cheese reducing France’s reliance of foreign industries. For instance when France was at war with the Dutch, and people still wanted Edam cheese, Louis and Colbert ordered cheese makers to make something like it – and Mimolette was born though it’s a very different colour and I think different taste! Colbert established regulations of production, new industries, founded the Academy of Sciences, the Paris observatory, the Royal Academy of Architecture. All of this enhanced the reputation of the King. Colbert employed people who weren’t nobles to deal with administration as they were easier to control and didn’t have family loyalty like the nobles did. The money poured in.
Oli: But Louis spent it just as fast as he banked it. He fought war after war. his foreign policy and military engagements reshaped European geopolitics And he expanded France’s territory. Louisianna in the US was named in his honour who claimed it for France in the 1680s.
Janine: did you know it was sold back to the USA in 1803 for $15million? 828,000 square miles of land. A bargain!
Oli: Louis had expensive tastes. One of the ways he controlled the nobility was by moving them to Versailles and away from Paris and their own homes. A former hunting lodge, Louis employed the creators of Vaux-le-Vicomte, the castle that had made him so jealous, to transform the lodge into one of the most beautiful palaces ever built. And we won’t talk much about Versailles here as we’ve already done an episode on Versailles if you’d like to listen to that. And then he made sure that if anyone wanted to be in favour with him, they lived in the palace or nearby where he could keep an eye on them. He spied on them, read their letters and kept them busy.
Janine: He certainly kept them busy! He commissioned lots of cultural and sporting events. During his reign his support of the arts was generous. He commissioned hundreds of portraits and busts of himself. He founded the Académie royale de danse – he loved to dance and was trained by professional instructors, and he was very proud of his legs which were often a main feature in his portraits! He also founded the Académie d’Opéra. He employed hundreds of craftspeople at Versailles to make ornaments, furniture, mirrors and other decorative items.
Oli: In Paris, he established a police force, constructed broad boulevards, and installed street lighting. He also constructed Les Invalides, a military complex for soldiers and infirm veterans. He expanded The Louvre, and commissioned the Canal du Midi.
Janine: He was a busy King alright. He. Introduced meticulous routines into the daily lives of Versailles, controlling the nobles through a system of rituals, ceremonies and etiquette which distracted them and kept them from having the time to think about opposing him or causing him trouble. Some etiquette rules were fairly odd. If the King wasn’t in residence and you passed his portrait you had to bow or curtsy to it. You weren’t allowed to knock on his door, you had to scratch it like a rat so as not to disturb him too much – apparently some courtiers grew out one of their fingernails long so they could scratch better! Only Louis and his immediate family could walk through a door without scratching first. You couldn’t sit unless you were approved, you had to stay on your feet all day, and since it was a full-time job getting noticed for being around, it was not an easy life for nobles who weren’t in with the king.
Every hour of the King’s day would be precisely organized with all the trappings of formality around it. Someone to hand him slippers, someone to empty his chamber pot, two people to take his night shirt off, someone to hand tie his neckcloth, someone else to adjust it, someone to hand him a mirror – there were numerous positions for the nobles to know their place. Watching the King perform his levée (waking up and getting dressed ceremony), or couchée (bedtime undressing ceremony), was the highlight of the day for nobles hoping to curry favour with the King.
Janine: Louis’s day was rigorously organised from morning to night. His day started at 8.30 and was visited by doctors and then friends and nobles who attended while he washed, combed his hair, shaved dress and had a bowl of soup or a bit of bread dipped in wine for breakfast. And he drank coffee or hot chocolate. Only important servants were allowed to watch. How many people do you think took part in this ceremony?
Oli : 10 maybe? 15?
Janine: It’s thought around 100 people, just think – 100 people in your bedroom. They were all male, and they took part in getting the king ready in the morning! At 10 o’clock he crossed the palace to go to Mass, followed by crowds of people. After this he worked on state matters, he famously said “L’Etat c’est moi” – the state – it is me: meaning there is no one higher than me in France. Then he had lunch in his bedroom. In the afternoon he hunted, walked in the gardens, did more work, met with his mistresses.
Oli: Then at 10 o’clock at night he had dinner, the “Grand Couvert“. Nobility would be placed near the King, according to their importance and rank but to the side of the table so that everyone could have a clear view of Louis. Crowds would watch him eat – they were squeezed in. It was a show of his power. The soup and starters were followed by roasts and salads, then puddings and finally fruit. With each service a different procession of officers from the Services for the King’s Mouth brought in dishes in gold, silver or silver-gilt. The best goldsmiths worked to produce new forms that would keep the food warm for longer. Glasses, which were ordinary items, were only provided upon request. Despite all this, the meal lasted less than an hour.
Janine: A whopping 324 people were involved in preparing the Sun King’s meals. Someone to take care of the table, tablecloth and bread, someone to take care of the candelabras and fruit. Someone to fold the napkins which would be made into extraordinary shapes. As the servants carried the food to the kitchens they were escorted by guards. And it was etiquette that if you were walking in Versailles and the food headed for the royal table was carried past you, you had to bow or curtsy to the dish.
Oli: The king would eat up to 30 different dishes, washed down with wine and would pop some candied fruit in his pocket to eat on this way to bed!
Janine: Louis liked ice cream. A lot. He had two ice-houses built at Versailles. The ice was carved out of a frozen pond in winter and stored in the ice houses – not exactly hygienic but pretty amazing for the day when he served frozen ice balls on hot days. In fact this created a whole new trend as the poorer people got to hear about it and the practice of mixing cream, ice and fruit spread. Louis imposed a strict dress code at Versailles, insisting on the finest materials so the nobles spent a small fortune money on outfits trying to outdo each other and impress the king, bankrupting themselves, instead of being able to pay soldiers to cause trouble. France became the capital of fashion, etiquette, and culture. The French love of art de la table and art de vivre all stem from the rules that were put in place at Versailles. By the way we also have an episode on art de vivre!
Oli: Louis was quite short at 5 feet 4 inches and that had an impact on the fashion of the day.
Janine: not that short, I’m 4 feet 11 inches, he seems quite tall to me!
Oli: Well as a control freak he wanted to be taller so he wore high heeled shoes up to 5 inches high with buckles and ribbons. And he loved red heels for his shoes and made it a rule only he and select aristocrats could wear red heels. He made himself taller with big wigs, like, really big wigs. He had a room in the palace just for keeping wigs in.
Janine: I read that he started to lose his hair quite early too and that partly influenced his choice to wear wigs. He apparently had 48 wigmakers, and it took around 10 heads of hear to create a single wig. The rest of European aristocracy were influenced by Louis’ love of long flowing locks in a wig and that the term “bigwig” was coined in England – meaning an important person – and we still use the phrase to this day!
Oli: Did you know that one of the King’s favourite wigmakers once said he was prepared to strip the heads of every French subject to cover that of the King!
Janine: Nice. Not. Despite his long life and long reign, he holds the record for the longest reigning monarch in the history of France – 72 years on the throne, Louis didn’t always enjoy the best of health. His doctors noted symptoms of diabetes, chronic inflammation, dental abscesses, boils, fainting spells, gout, dizziness, hot flushes and headaches. As he drew towards the end of his life, he was in almost permanent pain. He outlived all his immediate family including his surviving legitimate son. His legitimate grandsons had also died, meaning his heir was his five-year-old great grandson Louis, the Duke of Anjou, who coincidentally was to have the second longest reign in French history!
Oli: Louis XIV died in 1715 and his body was displayed for 8 days at the palace before being transported to the basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris, last resting place of French Kings and Queens. His death marked the end of an era, but the legacy of the Sun King lives on. Versailles stands as a monument to his reign, and his policies continue to influence French national identity. We've journeyed through the life of a king whose reign epitomized the age of absolutism, leaving a mark on history that endures to this day.
But now… it’s time for a reader’s question.
Oli: So Janine what’s today’s question?
Janine: Today’s question is from Simon Parker of Ontario, Canada and he asks “who do you think is the most Frenchest person ever?” Hmm that’s a hard one but you know it’s a surprisingly common question and I guess that there are a lot of potential answers – Louis XIV for instance! But Oli – you are the Frenchest person on this podcast team so this is one for you to answer!
Oli: Hmmm you know for me, it might have to be the late, great Serge Gainsbourg. He liked the ladies, he was into the arts, a great singer and wrote saucy songs we French still love. He drank a lot, he smoked – a bit old school these days, he dated Brigitte Bardot and wrote the infamous song Je t’aime… moi non plus for her which she sang with him originally but then remembered she was married and refused to allow it to be released. Jane Birkin sang it instead.
Janine: He was pretty wild, I don’t think he was a particularly nice man, I mean I didn’t know him, but he was very badly behaved but yes, very French – at least for those days. I think for me I would have to choose Victor Hugo, he was the most wonderful writer and really understood human nature. He is widely quoted to this day almost 200 years after he died. One of my favourite quotes of his is “even after the darkest night, the sun will always rise” and he also said “to love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life.” A few simple words but such beauty in how he puts them together.
Oli: Yes, he’s very French too I agree. Thanks so much for that question, Simon. If anyone has a question for us – feel free to send it to janine@thegoodlifefrance.com or via our podcast newsletter. And, if there’s a topic you want to know more about – let us know!
Oli: Thank you so much, a massive merci beaucoup, to everyone for listening to our podcast nearly 150 countries all around the world! And a massive thank you for sharing the podcast with your friends and family, we’re truly grateful when you do that. You’ve been listening to Janine Marsh and me Olivier Jauffrit. You can find me at parischanson.fr
Janine: And you can find me and heaps of information about France – where to visit, culture, history, recipes – everything France - at thegoodlifefrance.com where you can subscribe to the podcast, my weekly newsletter about France and our totally brilliant, totally free magazine which you can read at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com
But for now, it’s au revoir from me.
Olivier: And goodbye from me.
Janine: Speak to you soon!
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