Louis+XIV

"I am the State!"

= Louis XIV =

Louis XIV became king of France at the age of four when his father died. Due to his young age, Frances true ruler at this time was Cardinal Richelieus succesor, Cardinal Mazarin.
==== ﻿The nobles, along with many other French citizens of the time, hated Mazarin. They disliked that he made high taxes, and streghtend the central government. Nobles, and citizens held violent anti-Mazarin riots that tore France apart. It was during this time that the young kings life would be threatend many times by nobles who held the riots. This is the reason why Louis XIV was determined to have absolute power. Louis was also married twice and had three main mistresses. He was first married to Maria Theresa of Spain for political reasons. They had six children of which only one lived. His second wife was Francoise, the widow of poet Paul Scarron. This marrige was secret. His first major mistress was Mazarins niece, Marie Mancini. His second major mistress was Louise de la Valliere with which he had four children. Louis' last major mistress was Athenais de Montespan with which he had seven children. His affairs were not secret, but public and were simingly tolerated by all. ====

Louis officially took power as Frances king in 1661, after Mazarins death.
==== ﻿One of the first things Louis did as king was weaken the power of the nobles. In order to do this he excluded them from his councils. Instead of giving nobles the power, Louis gave it to intendents. These were government agents who would: collect taxes and administer taxes. ====