- Publisher: Amberley
- Year: 2019
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 352pp
- Illustrated: Yes
- Dimensions: 240x162mm
- Condition: New
- Weight: 0.6kg
- ISBN: 9781445691732
- Product code: 542358
Louis XIV
The Real King of Versailles
Josephine Wilkinson New Hardback Illustrated
Postscript summary
This new biography examines the policies and consequences of the monarch’s 72-year reign. Ascending the throne in 1643 aged four, under the tutelage of his mother Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin, in maturity he cultivated the image of the all-powerful Sun King, waging war across Europe, promoting the arts and science, and establishing a centralized, autocratic regime in France.
Product information
Full publisher description
Intelligent, authoritative, and often surprising, a biography of the most famous of French monarchs, by an acclaimed biographer and historian.
Louis XIV's story has all the ingredients of a Dumas classic: legendary beginnings, beguiling women, court intrigue, a mysterious prisoner in an iron mask, lavish court entertainments, the scandal of a mistress who was immersed in the dark arts, and a central character who is handsome and romantic, but with a frighteningly dark side to his character.
Louis believed himself to be semidivine. His self-identification as the Sun King, which was reflected in iconography of the sun god, Apollo, influenced every aspect of Louis's life: his political philosophy, his wars, and his relationships with courtiers and subjects.
As a military strategist, Louis's capacity was debatable, but he was an astute politician who led his country to the heights of sophistication and power - and then had the misfortune to live long enough to see it all crumble away. As the sun began to set upon this most glorious of reigns, it brought a gathering darkness filled with the anguish of dead heirs, threatened borders, and a populace that was dangerously dependent upon - but greatly distanced from - its king.
Louis XIV's story has all the ingredients of a Dumas classic: legendary beginnings, beguiling women, court intrigue, a mysterious prisoner in an iron mask, lavish court entertainments, the scandal of a mistress who was immersed in the dark arts, and a central character who is handsome and romantic, but with a frighteningly dark side to his character.
Louis believed himself to be semidivine. His self-identification as the Sun King, which was reflected in iconography of the sun god, Apollo, influenced every aspect of Louis's life: his political philosophy, his wars, and his relationships with courtiers and subjects.
As a military strategist, Louis's capacity was debatable, but he was an astute politician who led his country to the heights of sophistication and power - and then had the misfortune to live long enough to see it all crumble away. As the sun began to set upon this most glorious of reigns, it brought a gathering darkness filled with the anguish of dead heirs, threatened borders, and a populace that was dangerously dependent upon - but greatly distanced from - its king.
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product
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542358
Louis XIV
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/Campaigns/Amberley
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This new biography examines the policies and consequences of the monarch’s 72-year reign. Ascending the throne in 1643 aged four, under the tutelage of his mother Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin, in maturity he cultivated the image of the all-powerful Sun King, waging war across Europe, promoting the arts and science, and establishing a centralized, autocratic regime in France.
Hardback
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rrp_info:£20.00
productId:176254
bic_code:BGH, BGR, HBLH, HBLL
BGH, BGR, HBLH, HBLL
£20.00
Josephine Wilkinson
General
240x162mm
Amberley
No
Hardback
Early Modern: 1450-1700
