King Louis XIV

King Louis XIV examines the reign of the monarch who made royal absolutism and the court of Versailles central symbols of early modern France. It follows his childhood during the Fronde, the beginning of personal rule and the administrative, military and cultural policies associated with his ministers.

The biography covers religious persecution, colonial ambition and the long wars that expanded French power while burdening the kingdom with debt. It also considers how ceremony, patronage and architecture turned the king’s person into an instrument of government and created the enduring image of the “Sun King.”