Louis XIV
by Anthony Levi
49 Members (3.60)
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Description
In the seventeenth century France was Europes most powerful nation, and its monarch, the flamboyant and headstrong young Louis XIV was almost an object of worship. Popularly depicted as the sun god Apollo, and known as Le Roi soleil, he was invested with unprecedented power and privilege. For almost 50 years he was the magnificent public face of an exceedingly rich, diverse culture. Louis XIV was also one of the most politically effective European monarchs ever, able to present himself show more within France and throughout Europe as the model of royal absolutism. But as a man he was irredeemably flawed and his reign proved ultimately damaging both to France and its monarchy. At the core of Levis enthralling biography lies the conflict between Louis role as custodian of the grandeur of France, and his undoubted sense of personal guilt at the effects of his rule on France and its people. It might be said he confused Frances glory with his own, and this was behind his prodigious expenditure and the lavish brilliance of his court. Levis attempt to understand this most extravagant of rulers leads him to ask, who was his father? Was it really Louis XIII? More likely, Levi claims, it was Cardinal Mazarin, the man with his hands on the reins of power during the regency. A fascinating psychological portrait of the king is explored in the context of this possibility. Levi looks in particular at what created in Louis the unlikely mixture of devotion and promiscuity that was his hallmark. This intricate, controversial and absorbing account fully examines the lengthy and testing role that fate cast for the Sun King in European history. show lessTags
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Author Information
9+ Works 207 Members
Anthony Levi is a writer and cultural historian, formerly Buchanan Professor of French Language and Literature at the University of St Andrews
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 944.033092 — History & geography History of Europe France and Monaco France Bourbon 1589-1789 Louis XIV 1643-1715; War of Spanish succession ; XVIIth Century
- LCC
- DC129 .L44 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania France – Andorra – Monaco History of France Modern, 1515- 1589-1715. Henri IV, Louis XIII, Louis XIV
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 49
- Popularity
- 614,820
- Rating
- (3.60)
- Languages
- Chinese, English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 1
