![]() ![]() It seems that he had a bleeding and a colonic cleanse at least once a month, and some have estimated he received over 2000 enemas in his life. All were wedded to the strange therapeutic doctrines of the time, assaulting him for the rest of his life with regular bleedings, enemas, and purgatives. In reality, he recovered despite their medical attention.ĭuring his adult life, Louis had a succession of physicians, all of the same ilk (Vallot, L’Aquin, Fagon 3). Six physicians bled him vigorously, attacked him with enemas, prescribed emetics to clear out his stomach, and gave him a tea that “sent him to the pot for fourteen to fifteen times in a day.” 1 When he got well they patted themselves on the shoulder and attributed his recovery to “the nine good bleedings” they had given him. At sixteen he was “abruptly introduced to sex”, had his “first experience with human flesh,” and some girl of uncertain social standing gave him “a case of gonorrhea that caused his doctors to worry about loss of fertility.” 1Īt twenty he had a fever, probably typhoid. From this he survived but was left with his face badly marked by disease. At eight, he came down with the dreaded smallpox. Eliot’s broad-backed hippopotamus, who seemed so firm to us but was merely flesh and blood, 2 Louis XIV was heir to the same ailments as the meanest of his subjects. At home he tamed the potentially rebellious feudal lords by building a great palace at Versailles and making the nobles live there and enjoy life under his close surveillance. He went to war and annexed part of what is now Belgium, as well as Loraine and Alsace (including Strasbourg), and he also acquired from Spain territories adjacent to Switzerland and the Pyrenees. Proud of his army and conscious of his might, the Sun King would soon confront the neighboring countries, not eschewing violence or terror if deemed necessary. He was to rule absolutely, by the grace of God. There was to be no more chief-minister, and nothing was to be ordered or signed without his permission or command, not even a passport. On the day after Mazarin died, he announced he was now going to rule by himself. ![]() Accordingly, the young man now felt he knew it all. He had spent many hours teaching Louis the “métier” of kingship and keeping him informed of everything going on in the kingdom. In 1661, when Louis turned twenty-two, his chief-minister and tutor, Cardinal Jules Mazarin, died. Its lineage of kings could be traced with little interruption to Charlemagne and seemed to have reached its apogee under the Sun King. France had the advantage of a centralized government at a time when Germany and Italy were not unified. Its population of 21 million surpassed Russia’s (14 million) and greatly exceeded England’s five million (8.2 for the British Isles). 1įrance in the seventeenth century was the most powerful and populous country in Europe. This did not prevent him from later fathering more than a dozen illegitimate children. At nineteen he fell in love with a clever and entertaining woman but was forced to make a dynastic marriage with the dull, uneducated daughter of the King of Spain. He turned out to be only 5 feet, 4 inches tall, but grew up strong and healthy. Te Deums were sung in all churches and cathedrals, for now the succession of the dynasty was ensured and the country had a dauphin, Louis Le Dieudonné-the gift of God. But when at last a male heir was produced (1638) there was universal rejoicing. His father, Louis XIII, disliked contact with women and had to be almost forced into his queen’s bed. Yet the Sun King barely escaped not being conceived at all. For many decades his neighbors trembled at the sound of his armies the mystique survives to this day and students in France still have to study his wars, and the treaties that ended them (Aix-la-Chappelle, Nijmegen, Ryswick, and Utrecht). He brought glory to his country, extended its boundaries, and promoted the arts and letters so that French culture became second to none in Europe. For over 300 years King Louis XIV has occupied a special place in the heart of every Frenchman. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |