Originally Posted by [b
Quote[/b] ]Louis XII, 1462-1515 (r.1498-1515), succeeded his cousin Charles VIII and ensured the continuation of the personal union of France and Brittany by having his first marriage annulled and marrying Anne Of Brittany, Charles VIII's widow. Thereafter Louis tried to assert his claims in Italy (see Italian Wars). He conquered Milan and Genoa, but failed to secure Naples, which he had conquered with the Spanish king Ferdinand V. His Italian territories were attacked (1511) by the Holy League of Pope Julius Ii. Louis abandoned Milan, and in 1513 his armies were defeated at Novara and Guinegate. In 1514 he made a truce with all his enemies save Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Louis tried to rule France with justice and moderation, and was known as the Father of the People. He was succeeded by his cousin and son-in-law, Francis I.
Louis XIII, 1601-43 (r.1610-43), succeeded his father, Henry Iv, under the regency of his mother, Marie De' Medici, and married (1615) Anne Of Austria. Even after being declared of age in 1614, he was excluded from state affairs by his mother. In 1617 he caused the assassination of her minister, Concino Concini, with the help of his own favorite, the duc de Luynes. Marie was forced into retirement, but was temporarily reconciled with Louis when he entrusted the government to her protégé, Cardinal Richelieu. Melancholy and retiring by nature, Louis gave full support to Richelieu and to his successor, Cardinal Mazarin. His son and successor, Louis XIV, 1638-1715 (r.1643-1715), began his reign under the regency of his mother, Anne of Austria, but real power was in the hands of Cardinal Mazarin. Although Louis's majority was declared (1651), he did not take control of the government until the cardinal's death (1661). The centralizing policies of Richelieu and Mazarin had prepared the ground for Louis, under whom absolute monarchy, based on the theory of divine right, reached its height. Gathering power into his own hands, he forced the nobility into financial dependence on the crown, curtailed local authorities, and used the bourgeoisie to build a centralized administration. Under his minister, Jean Baptiste Colbert, industry and commerce were expanded according to Mercantilism. Under the war minister, the marquis de Louvois, the foundations of French military greatness were laid. In foreign policy Louis strove for supremacy. His marriage (1660) to the Spanish princess Marie Thérèse served as a pretext for the War of Devolution (1667-68), which netted him part of Flanders. In the Third Dutch War (1672-78), Louis gained Franche-Comté, but depleted his treasury. Over the next 10 years he seized, on various pretexts, a number of cities, notably Strasbourg (1681). Fear of Louis's rapacity resulted in two great European wars, the War of the Grand Alliance and the War of the Spanish Succession. These left France in debt and weakened it militarily. In religion, Louis resorted in the 1680s to the persecution of French Protestants, or Huguenots, which culminated (1685) in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, after which many Huguenots fled France. Despite his orthodoxy, Louis resisted papal interference in France, and his quarrels with the papacy neared schism (1673-93). He had many mistresses, among them Mlle de La Vallière and Mme de Montespan. In 1684 he married Mme de Maintenon, who was a great influence on him in later years. Louis was a supporter of the arts and was a patron of writers and artists such as . André Hercule de Fleury was the young king's chief adviser from 1726. After Fleury's death (1743), Louis was influenced by a succession of favorites, such as Mme de Pompadour. As a result of the king's marriage (1725) to the Polish princess Marie Leszcynska, France took part in the War of the Polish Succession (1733-35), and eventually obtained the duchy of Lorraine. Louis was also involved in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) and in the Seven Years War (1756-63). In the latter, France lost most of its colonial empire and reached a low point in its prestige on the continent. The expense of the wars and Louis's extravagant court left the government nearly bankrupt. The failure by the monarchy to solve its fiscal problems and to effect needed reforms led directly to the French Revolution. The saying Après moi le déluge [after me, the flood], though wrongly attributed to Louis, aptly sums up his reign.
