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- For the cognac, see Louis XIII de Rémy Martin.
| Louis XIII the Just | |
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| King of France and Navarre, Count of Provence, Forcalquier and the lands adjacent, Count of Barcelona, Cerdagne and Rousillon (more...) | |
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| Louis XIII, by Philippe de Champaigne | |
| Reign | 14 May 1610 – 14 May 1643 |
| Coronation | 17 October 1610, Reims |
| Full name | Known as The Just |
| Titles | Dauphin of Viennois: as King of France (14 May 1610 – 5 September 1638) King of Navarre (1610 – 1620) |
| Born | 27 September 1601 |
| Château de Fontainebleau, France | |
| Died | 14 May 1643 (aged 41) |
| Paris, France | |
| Buried | Saint Denis Basilica, France |
| Predecessor | Henry IV |
| Successor | Louis XIV |
| Consort | Anne of Austria (1601 – 1666) |
| Issue | Louis XIV (1638 – 1715) Philip, Duke of Orléans (1640 – 1701) |
| Royal House | House of Bourbon |
| Father | Henry IV (1553 – 1610) |
| Mother | Marie de' Medici (1573 – 1642) |
Louis XIII of France, also Louis II of Navarre, called the Just (French: le Juste) (September 27, 1601 – May 14, 1643), ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643.
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Early life
Born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of Henry IV of France (1589–1610) and Marie de' Medici. His father was the first Bourbon King of France, having succeeded his ninth cousin, Henry III of France (1574–89), in application of the Salic law. Louis XIII's paternal grandparents were Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendome and Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre; his maternal grandparents were Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Johanna, archduchess of Austria.
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Louis XIII ascended to the throne in 1610, at the age of eight and a half, upon the assassination of his father. His mother acted as Regent until Louis XIII came of age at thirteen, but she clung to power unofficially until in frustration he took the reins of government into his own hands at the age of fifteen. The assassination of Concino Concini (April 24, 1617), who had greatly influenced Marie's policymaking, and Marie's own exile to Blois, removed her from power. Louis then came into his own as ruler of France. He filled his court with loyal friends and sidelined those who remained loyal to his mother. Under Louis XIII's rule, the Bourbon Dynasty sustained itself effectively on the throne that Henry IV had recently secured; but the question of freedom of religion continued to haunt the country. The brilliant and energetic Cardinal Richelieu played a major role in Louis XIII's administration from 1624, decisively shaping the destiny of France for the next 18 years. As a result of Richelieu's work, Louis XIII became one of the first exemplars of an absolute monarch. Under Louis XIII the Hapsburgs were humiliated, the French nobility was firmly kept in line behind their King, and the political and military privileges granted to the Huguenots by his father were retracted (while their religious freedoms were maintained). Furthermore, Louis XIII had the port of Le Havre modernized and built up a powerful navy. Unfortunately time and circumstances never permitted King and Cardinal to attend to the administrative reforms (particularly of France's tax system) which were urgently needed. The King also worked to reverse the trend of promising French artists to leave for Italy to work and study. Louis XIII commissioned the great artists Nicolas Poussin and Philippe de Champaigne to decorate the Louvre. In foreign matters, Louis XIII organized the development and administration of New France, expanding the settlement of New France westward along the Saint Lawrence River from Quebec City to Montreal.
On November 9, 1615, aged only 14, Louis XIII was married to a Hapsburg Princess, Anne of Austria (1601–66), daughter of King Philip III of Spain (1578–1621). This marriage followed a tradition of cementing military and political alliances between the Catholic powers of France and Spain with royal marriages. The tradition went back to the marriage of King Philip II of Spain with the French princess, Élisabeth de Valois, the daughter of King Henry II of France, in 1559 as part of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. Their sexual relationship did not begin (other than the consummation of the wedding) until 1619 (when he was 18). The marriage, like many Bourbon-Habsburg relationships, was only briefly happy, and the King's duties often kept them apart. After 23 years of marriage and four miscarriages, Anne finally gave birth to a son in 1638. There is no evidence whether Louis had lovers, but persistent rumours insinuated that the King may have been homosexual or bisexual. Tallemant des Réaux, in his Historiettes, gives quite explicit (but second hand) descriptions of what happened in the king's bed. Though Richelieu was firmly in charge of French policies, the King's favorites left their mark on the reign. The first was the Duc de Luynes, 23 years his senior, who was the boy's closest adult friend and adviser at the outset of his reign. The last of the King's favorites (1639–42) was the much younger Marquis de Cinq-Mars, who was executed for conspiring with the Spanish enemy in time of war. Louis XIII's penitentiary in 1637 was the Jesuit Nicolas Caussin, who was, because of his rigorous stance against attrition, was exiled to Quimper by Richelieu.
After Louis XIII's death in 1643, his wife Anne acted as regent for their four-year-old son, Louis XIV of France (1638–1715).
Ancestors
| Louis XIII of France | Father: Henry IV of France |
Paternal Grandfather: Antoine of Navarre |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Françoise d'Alençon |
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| Paternal Grandmother: Jeanne III of Navarre |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Henry II of Navarre |
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| Paternal Great-grandmother: Marguerite de Navarre |
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| Mother: Marie de' Medici |
Maternal Grandfather: Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Eleonora di Toledo |
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| Maternal Grandmother: Johanna of Austria |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Anna of Bohemia and Hungary |
Marriage and issue
On November 24 1615, Louis XIII married Anne of Austria (September 22 1601 – January 20 1666). They had the following children:
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| stillborn child | December 1619 | December 1619 | |
| stillborn child | March 14 1622 | March 14 1622 | |
| stillborn child | April 1631 | April 1631 | |
| stillborn child | ? | ? | |
| Louis XIV, King of France | September 5 1638 | September 1 1715 | Married Maria Theresa of Spain (1638 - 1683) in 1660. Had issue. |
| Philippe I, Duke of Orléans | September 21, 1640 | June 8, 1701 | Married (1) Henrietta Anne, Princess of England (1644 - 1670) in 1661. Had issue. Married (2) Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine (1652 - 1722) in 1671. Had issue. |
Further reading
- Moote, A. Lloyd. Louis XIII, the Just. Berkeley, CA; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press, 1991 (paperback, ISBN 0-520-07546-3).
- Willis, Daniel A. (comp). The Descendants of Louis XIII. Clearfield, 1999.
- Huxley, Aldous. "The Devils of Loudun". The 1952 book tells the story of the trial of Urbain Grandier, priest of the town who was tortured and burned at the stake in 1634.
Louis XIII in fiction and film
- Louis XIII, his wife Anne, and Cardinal Richelieu all became central figures in Alexandre Dumas, père's novel, The Three Musketeers and subsequent film adaptations. Films such as George Sidney's or Richard Lester's tend to treat Louis XIII as comical character by depicting him as a bumbling, incompetent king.
- Louis XIII also appears in novels of Robert Merle's Fortune de France series.
- Ken Russell directed the film The Devils, in which Louis XIII is a significant character, albeit one with no resemblance to the real man. Louis XIII is portrayed as an effeminate homosexual who amuses himself by shooting Protestants dressed up as birds. The film was based on Aldous Huxley's book The Devils of Loudun.
- Louis XIII also appears in the Doctor Who audio drama The Church and the Crown.
See also
- Absolute monarchy in France
- French monarchs family tree
- Charles II of Guise-Lorraine, Duke of Elbeuf
External links
- The Three Musketeers, available at Project Gutenberg.
- The French Army 1600-1900
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Louis XIII of France
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: 27 September 1601 Died: 14 May 1643 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Henri IV |
King of France 14 May 1610 – 20 October 1620 |
Titles unified |
| King of Navarre as Louis II 14 May 1610 – 20 October 1620 |
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| Co-Prince of Andorra 14 May 1610 – 20 October 1620 |
Title merged into French crown | |
| New title former Titles unified
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King of France and Navarre 20 October 1620 – 14 May 1643 |
Succeeded by Louis XIV |
| Preceded by Felipe IV of Spain |
Count of Barcelona as Lluís I 1641 – 14 May 1643 |
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| French royalty | ||
| Preceded by François II |
Dauphin of France 27 September 1601 – 14 May, 1610 |
Succeeded by Louis XIV |
| Preceded by Henri IV |
Dauphin of Viennois as Louis IV 27 September, 1601 – 14 May, 1610 |
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