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Louis XIV: The Real King of Versailles

by Josephine Wilkinson

  

ISBN: 9781445691732

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.

360 pages.

€ 24.99 

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Date of Publication: 08/03/2019

Cover of Louis XIV: The Real King of Versailles - Josephine Wilkinson - 9781445691732Hardback

Louis XIV: The Real King of Versailles also appears in these Categories:

History & Politics