Louis Xiv And His World

Author : Philip Mansel
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 669 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2020-09-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780226690926

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King of the World by Philip Mansel Pdf

Louis XIV was a man in pursuit of glory. Not content to be the ruler of a world power, he wanted the power to rule the world. And, for a time, he came tantalizingly close. Philip Mansel’s King of the World is the most comprehensive and up-to-date biography in English of this hypnotic, flawed figure who continues to captivate our attention. This lively work takes Louis outside Versailles and shows the true extent of his global ambitions, with stops in London, Madrid, Constantinople, Bangkok, and beyond. We witness the importance of his alliance with the Spanish crown and his success in securing Spain for his descendants, his enmity with England, and his relations with the rest of Europe, as well as Asia, Africa, and the Americas. We also see the king’s effect on the two great global diasporas of Huguenots and Jacobites, and their influence on him as he failed in his brutal attempts to stop Protestants from leaving France. Along the way, we are enveloped in the splendor of Louis’s court and the fascinating cast of characters who prostrated and plotted within it. King of the World is exceptionally researched, drawing on international archives and incorporating sources who knew the king intimately, including the newly released correspondence of Louis’s second wife, Madame de Maintenon. Mansel’s narrative flair is a perfect match for this grand figure, and he brings the Sun King’s world to vivid life. This is a global biography of a global king, whose power was extensive but also limited by laws and circumstances, and whose interests and ambitions stretched far beyond his homeland. Through it all, we watch Louis XIV progressively turn from a dazzling, attractive young king to a belligerent reactionary who sets France on the path to 1789. It is a convincing and compelling portrait of a man who, three hundred years after his death, still epitomizes the idea of le grand monarque.

Author : Philip Mansel
Publisher : Penguin UK
Page : 636 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2019-07-11
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780241960592

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King of the World by Philip Mansel Pdf

Winner of the Franco-British Society Book Prize 2019 'The ultimate biography of the Sun King' Simon Sebag Montefiore Louis XIV dominated his age. He extended France's frontiers into Netherlands and Germany, and established colonies overseas. The stupendous palace he built at Versailles became the envy of monarchs all over Europe. In his palaces, Louis encouraged dancing, hunting, music and gambling. He loved conversation, especially with women: the power of women in Louis's life and reign is a particular theme of this book. Louis was obsessed by the details of government but the cost of building palaces and waging continuous wars devastated the country's finances and helped set it on the path to revolution. Nevertheless, by his death, he had helped make his grandson king of Spain, where his descendants still reign, and France had taken essentially the shape it has today. King of the World is the most comprehensive and up-to-date biography of this hypnotic, flawed figure in English. It draws on all the latest research to paint a convincing and compelling portrait of a man who, three hundred years after his death, still epitomises the idea of le grand monarque.

Author : John C. Rule,Ben S. Trotter
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Page : 653 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2014-06-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780773592155

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A World of Paper by John C. Rule,Ben S. Trotter Pdf

Historians and social scientists have long identified bureaucracy as the modern state's foundation and the reign of France's Louis XIV as a model for its development. A World of Paper offers a fresh interpretation of bureaucracy through a close examination of the department of the Sun King's last foreign secretary, Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Torcy. Torcy, who served as foreign secretary from 1696-1715, is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant foreign ministers of the ancien regime. Building on the work of his predecessors, he fashioned a skilled team of collaborators as he managed the complex issues of war and peace during the turbulent final decades of Louis XIV's reign. John Rule and Ben Trotter examine Torcy's department to depict administrative structures as they emerged through the circulating stream of paper that connected his office with provincial administrators and diplomats abroad. They explore the collection and centralization of information during Torcy's tenure through the creation of a modern state archive, discreet intelligence gathering, and the surveillance and management of the French mails. They also study the postal carriers, couriers, household officers of the royal court, genealogists hired for research, and an informal "brain trust" of experts, and advisors who carried vital information in and out of the department every day. A remarkable reconstruction of the department of Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Torcy, A World of Paper demystifies bureaucracy and explores the ways in which the modern information state developed from his labours.

Author : Catherine Pégard,Mathieu da Vinha
Publisher : Assouline Publishing
Page : 6 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2020-11-01
Category : Travel
ISBN : 9781614289623

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Versailles: From Louis XIV to Jeff Koons by Catherine Pégard,Mathieu da Vinha Pdf

Lavishly illustrated with archival images and beautiful photography, Versailles: From Louis XIV to Jeff Koons features insightful texts by Catherine Pégard, president of the Château de Versailles, with the collaboration of Mathieu da Vinha, scientific director of the Château de Versailles Research Center, revealing all the stories that have unfolded within this glorious monument.

Author : Ragnhild Marie Hatton
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 1972
Category : France
ISBN : 0500130396

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Louis XIV and His World by Ragnhild Marie Hatton Pdf

Examines the life and times of Louis XIV to throw light on the complexity of his personality and political character.

Author : Antonia Fraser
Publisher : Anchor Canada
Page : 466 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2010-06-25
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780385672511

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Love and Louis XIV by Antonia Fraser Pdf

The superb historian and biographer Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette, casts new light on the splendor and the scandals of the reign of Louis XIV in this dramatic, illuminating look at the women in his life. The self-proclaimed Sun King, Louis XIV ruled over the most glorious and extravagant court in seventeenth-century Europe. Now, Antonia Fraser goes behind the well-known tales of Louis’s accomplishments and follies, exploring in riveting detail his intimate relationships with women. The king’s mother, Anne of Austria, had been in a childless marriage for twenty-two years before she gave birth to Louis XIV. A devout Catholic, she instilled in her son a strong sense of piety and fought successfully for his right to absolute power. In 1660, Louis married his first cousin, Marie-Thérèse, in a political arrangement. While unfailingly kind to the official Queen of Versailles, Louis sought others to satisfy his romantic and sexual desires. After a flirtation with his sister-in-law, his first important mistress was Louise de La Vallière, who bore him several children before being replaced by the tempestuous and brilliant Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. Later, when Athénaïs’s reputation was tarnished, the King continued to support her publicly as Athénaïs left court for a life of repentance. Meanwhile her children’s governess, the intelligent and seemingly puritanical Françoise de Maintenon, had already won the King’s affections; in a relationship in complete contrast to his physical obsession with Athénaïs, Louis XIV lived happily with Madame de Maintenon for the rest of his life, very probably marrying her in secret. When his grandson’s child bride, the enchanting Adelaide of Savoy, came to Versaille she lightened the King’s last years – until tragedy struck. With consummate skill, Antonia Fraser weaves insights into the nature of women’s religious lives – as well as such practical matters as contraception – into her magnificent, sweeping portrait of the king, his court, and his ladies.

Author : Meredith Martin,Gillian Weiss
Publisher : Getty Publications
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2022-01-04
Category : Art
ISBN : 9781606067307

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The Sun King at Sea by Meredith Martin,Gillian Weiss Pdf

This richly illustrated volume, the first devoted to maritime art and galley slavery in early modern France, shows how royal propagandists used the image and labor of enslaved Muslims to glorify Louis XIV. Mediterranean maritime art and the forced labor on which it depended were fundamental to the politics and propaganda of France’s King Louis XIV (r. 1643–1715). Yet most studies of French art in this period focus on Paris and Versailles, overlooking the presence or portrayal of galley slaves on the kingdom’s coasts. By examining a wide range of artistic productions—ship design, artillery sculpture, medals, paintings, and prints—Meredith Martin and Gillian Weiss uncover a vital aspect of royal representation and unsettle a standard picture of art and power in early modern France. With an abundant selection of startling images, many never before published, The Sun King at Sea emphasizes the role of esclaves turcs (enslaved Turks)—rowers who were captured or purchased from Islamic lands—in building and decorating ships and other art objects that circulated on land and by sea to glorify the Crown. Challenging the notion that human bondage vanished from continental France, this cross-disciplinary volume invites a reassessment of servitude as a visible condition, mode of representation, and symbol of sovereignty during Louis XIV’s reign.

Author : Philip Mansel
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2005-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 0300106971

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Dressed to Rule by Philip Mansel Pdf

Throughout history rulers have used clothes as a form of legitimization and propaganda. While palaces, pictures, and jewels might reflect the choice of a monarch’s predecessors or advisers, clothes reflected the preferences of the monarch himself. Being both personal and visible, the right costume at the right time could transform and define a monarch’s reputation. Many royal leaders have known this, from Louis XIV to Catherine the Great and from Napoleon I to Princess Diana. This intriguing book explores how rulers have sought to control their image through their appearance. Mansel shows how individual styles of dress throw light on the personalities of particular monarchs, on their court system, and on their ambitions. The book looks also at the economics of the costume industry, at patronage, at the etiquette involved in mourning dress, and at the act of dressing itself. Fascinating glimpses into the lives of European monarchs and contemporary potentates reveal the intimate connection between power and the way it is packaged.

Author : John B. Wolf
Publisher : Springer
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 1972-06-18
Category : History
ISBN : 9781349014705

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Louis XIV by John B. Wolf Pdf

Professor Wolf focuses on the problems of high politics and war, which intrigued Louis and were his instruments of power. Without ignoring the fact that Louis was also a son, husband, lover, and father as well as king he gives us a striking new image of Louis as soldier administrator and a vivid, accurate picture of the king s impact on the military machine after 1691, his part in the drama of war and in the emergence of a new Europe."

Author : Josephine Wilkinson
Publisher : Pegasus Books
Page : 488 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2020-12-08
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1643135929

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Louis XIV by Josephine Wilkinson Pdf

An intelligent, authoritative, and often surprising biography of the most famous of French monarchs, by an acclaimed biographer and historian. This stylish and incisive narrative presents readers with a fresh perspective on one of the most fascinating kings in European history. 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 semi-divine. His self-identification as the Sun King, which was reflected in iconography by 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 ambiguous, 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.

Author : Aurora von Goeth,Jules Harper
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
Page : 146 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2018-06-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781526726421

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Louis XIV by Aurora von Goeth,Jules Harper Pdf

A concise, straightforward biography of the seventeenth-century French monarch and his seventy-two-year reign. Innovator. Tyrant. Consummate showman. Passionate lover of women. After the death of King Louis XIII in 1643, the French crown went to his first-born son and heir, four-year old Louis XIV. In the extraordinary seventy-two years that followed, Louis le Grand—France’s self-styled “Sun King”—ruled France and its people, leaving his unique and permanent mark on history and shaping fashion, art, culture and architecture like none other before. This frank and concise book gives the reader a personal glimpse into the Sun King’s life and times as we follow his rise in power and influence: from a miraculous royal birth no one ever expected to the rise of king as absolute monarch, through the evolution of the glittering Château de Versailles, scandals and poison, four wars and many more mistresses . . . right up to his final days. Absolute monarch. Appointed by God. This is Louis XIV, the man. We will uncover his glorious and not-so-glorious obsessions. His debilitating health issues. His drive and passions. And we will dispel some myths, plus reveal the people in his intimate circle working behind the scenes on the Louis propaganda machine to ensure his legacy stayed in the history books forever. This easy-to-read narrative is accompanied by a plethora of little-known artworks, so if you’re a Louis XIV fan or student, or just eager to know more about France’s most famous king, we invite you to delve into court life of seventeenth-century French aristocracy, the period known as Le Grand Siècle—“The Grand Century.”

Author : Patrick Boucheron,Stéphane Gerson
Publisher : Other Press, LLC
Page : 993 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2019-04-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9781590519424

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France in the World by Patrick Boucheron,Stéphane Gerson Pdf

This dynamic collection presents a new way of writing national and global histories while developing our understanding of France in the world through short, provocative essays that range from prehistoric frescoes to Coco Chanel to the terrorist attacks of 2015. Bringing together an impressive group of established and up-and-coming historians, this bestselling history conceives of France not as a fixed, rooted entity, but instead as a place and an idea in flux, moving beyond all borders and frontiers, shaped by exchanges and mixtures. Presented in chronological order from 34,000 BC to 2015, each chapter covers a significant year from its own particular angle--the marriage of a Viking leader to a Carolingian princess proposed by Charles the Fat in 882, the Persian embassy's reception at the court of Louis XIV in 1715, the Chilean coup d'état against President Salvador Allende in 1973 that mobilized a generation of French left-wing activists. France in the World combines the intellectual rigor of an academic work with the liveliness and readability of popular history. With a brand-new preface aimed at an international audience, this English-language edition will be an essential resource for Francophiles and scholars alike.

Author : Georgia Cowart
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 332 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2008-12-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780226116389

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The Triumph of Pleasure by Georgia Cowart Pdf

With a particular focus on the court ballet, comedy-ballet, opera, and opera-ballet, Georgia J. Cowart tells the long-neglected story of how the festive arts deployed an intricate network of subversive satire to undermine the rhetoric of sovereign authority.

Author : Hall Bjørnstad
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 247 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2021-10-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780226803838

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The Dream of Absolutism by Hall Bjørnstad Pdf

Introduction. The problem with absolutism ; Beyond mere propaganda ; Approaching absolutism differently: royal glory and royal exemplarity ; The dream of absolutism -- The grammar of absolutism. The dream of a book like no other ; Taking Louis XIV's Mémoires seriously ; Absolutism, explained to a child: "The first and most important part of our entire politics" ; The utility of "These Mémoires" ; The paradoxes of absolutist exemplarity ; Conclusion: "So many ghastly examples" -- Mirrors of absolutism. Introduction: Our body in this space ; An age of mirrors ; A gallery celebrating greatness ; Making the king see what he felt ; A mirror for one ; In lieu of conclusion: Mirrors for a future without a past -- Absolutist absurdities. Exhibit A: The royal historiographer and the unparalleled greatness of Louis XIV ; Exhibit B: Absolutism from the cabinet of fairies to the cabinet of the king ; Conclusion: Seven theses on the dream of absolutism.

Author : Michel (Prince of Greece)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 456 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 1983
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : UOM:39015005381424

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Louis XIV by Michel (Prince of Greece) Pdf