Louis XIII

Louis XIII
King of France and Navarre
Reign	14 May 1610 – 14 May 1643 (33 years, 0 days)
Coronation	17 October 1610(1610-10-17) (aged 9)
Predecessor	Henry IV
Successor	Louis XIV
Regent	Marie de' Medici (until 1614)
Burial	Saint Denis Basilica, France
Spouse	Anne of Austria
Issue	Louis XIV Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
House	House of Bourbon
House	House of Bourbon
Father	Henry IV
Mother	Marie de' Medici

For the cognac, see Louis XIII de Rémy Martin.

Louis XIII (27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643. Along with his First Minister Cardinal Richelieu, Louis "the Just" is remembered for the establishment of the Académie française and participation in the Thirty Years' War against the House of Habsburg. France's greatest victory in the war came at the Battle of Rocroi, five days after Louis' death—apparently from complications of intestinal tuberculosis, "marking the end of Spain's military ascendancy in Europe."

Early life, 1601–10

Born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of Henry IV of France (1553–1610) and Marie de' Medici (1575–1642). As son of the King, he was a Fils de France, and as the eldest son, the Dauphin. His father was the first Bourbon King of France, having succeeded his ninth cousin, Henry III of France (1574–1589), in application of Salic law. Louis XIII's paternal grandparents were Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme and Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre; his maternal grandparents were Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Johanna, archduchess of Austria, and Eleonora de' Medici, his maternal aunt, was his godmother

Speech impediment

James I’s ambassador to Paris, Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, who presented his credentials to Louis XIII in 1619, remarked on Louis’ extreme congenital speech impediment, and his double teeth:

...I presented to the King [Louis] a letter of credence from the King [James] my master: the king [Louis] assured me of a reciprocal affection to the king [James] my master, and of my particular welcome to his Court: his words were never many, as being so extream [sic] a stutterer that he would sometimes hold his tongue out of his mouth a good while before he could speak so much as one word; he had besides a double row of teeth, and was observed seldom or never to spit or blow his nose, or to sweat much, 'tho he were very laborious, and almost indefatigable in his exercises of hunting and hawking, to which he was much addicted...

Rule of Marie de' Medici, 1610–7

Coin of Louis XIII, struck 1612
Obverse: (French) LOYS XIII, ROY DE FRANCE ET NAVARRE, in English: "Louis XIII, King of France and Navarre."	Reverse: (French) DOVBLE TOVRNOIS, 1612, in English: "Double Tournois, 1612."

Louis XIII ascended to the throne in 1610, at the age of eight-and-a-half, upon the assassination of his father. His mother, Marie de' Medici, acted as Regent until Louis XIII came of age at thirteen. Marie maintained most of her husband's ministers, with the exception of Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully, who was unpopular in the country. She mainly relied on Nicolas de Neufville, seigneur de Villeroy, Noël Brûlart de Sillery, and Pierre Jeannin. Marie pursued a moderate policy, confirming the Edict of Nantes. She was not, however, able to prevent rebellion by nobles like Henry II de Bourbon, prince de Condé, the next-in-line to the throne. Condé did squabble with Marie in 1614, briefly raising an army, but he received little support, and Marie was able to raise her own army. Nevertheless, Marie agreed to call an Estates General assembly to address Condé's grievances.

Louis in 1616

This Estates General assembly was delayed until Louis XIII formally came of age on his thirteenth birthday. Although Louis's coming-of-age formally ended Marie's Regency, she remained the de facto ruler of France. The Estates General accomplished little, spending its time discussing the relationship of France to the Papacy and the venality of offices, but not reaching any resolutions.

Beginning in 1615, Marie came to rely increasingly on Concino Concini, who now assumed the role of her favourite. Concini was widely unpopular because he was an Italian, and therefore a foreigner. This further antagonised Condé, who launched another rebellion in 1616. Huguenot leaders supported Condé's rebellion, which led the young Louis XIII to conclude that they would never be loyal subjects. Eventually, Condé and Queen Marie made peace via the Treaty of Loudun, which allowed Condé great power in government, but didn't remove Concini. With growing dissatisfaction from nobles due to Concini's position, Queen Marie, with Louis' help, imprisoned Condé to protect Concini, leading to renewed revolts against the Queen and Concini.

In the meantime, Charles d'Albert, the Grand Falconer of France, convinced Louis XIII that he should break with his mother and support the rebels. Louis thus organised a palace coup d'état. As a result, Concino Concini was assassinated (24 April 1617) and Marie was sent into exile in Blois. Louis created Charles d'Albert, his new favourite, the first duke of Luynes.

Ascendancy of Charles de Luynes, 1617–21

Charles de Luynes (1578-1621), royal favourite, 1617-21.

Luynes soon became as unpopular as Concini had been. Other nobles resented what they saw as Luynes's monopolisation of the King. Luynes was seen as not as competent as Henry IV's ministers, who had surrounded Marie de' Medici, and who were now dying off.

The Thirty Years' War broke out in 1618. The French Court was initially unsure what side to support. On the one hand, France's traditional rivalry with the House of Habsburg argued in favour of intervening on behalf of the Protestant powers (and Louis's father Henry IV of France was once a Huguenot leader). On the other hand, Louis XIII had had a strict religious Catholic upbringing, and his natural inclination was therefore to support the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II.

The French nobles were further antagonised against Luynes by the 1618 revocation of the paulette tax and by the sale of offices in 1620. From her exile in Blois, Marie de' Medici became the obvious rallying point for this discontent, and the bishop of Luçon was allowed to act as her chief adviser, serving as a go-between to Marie and the King.

French nobles launched a rebellion in 1620, but their forces were easily routed by royal forces at Les Ponts-de-Cé in August 1620. Louis then launched an expedition against the Huguenots of Béarn who had defied a number of Royal decisions. This expedition managed to re-establish Catholicism in Béarn. However, the Béarn expedition drove Huguenots in other provinces into a rebellion led by Henri, duc de Rohan.

In 1621, Louis XIII was formally reconciled with his mother. Luynes was created Constable of France and Louis and Luynes set out to quell the Huguenot rebellion. The siege at the Huguenot stronghold of Montauban had to be abandoned after three months, owing to the large number of Royal troops who had succumbed to camp fever. One of the victims of camp fever was Luynes, who died in December 1621.

Rule by Council, 1622–4

A young Louis XIII.

Following the death of Luynes, Louis determined that he would rule by council. His mother returned from exile and, in 1622, entered this council where Henry II de Bourbon, prince de Condé recommended violent suppression of the Huguenots. The 1622 campaign, however, followed the pattern of the previous year: Royal forces won some early victories, but were unable to complete a siege, this time at the fortress of Montpellier.

The rebellion was ended by the Treaty of Montpellier, signed by Louis XIII and Henri, duc de Rohan in October 1622. The treaty confirmed the tenets of the Edict of Nantes: several Huguenot fortresses were to be razed, but the Huguenots retained control of Montauban and La Rochelle.

Louis ultimately dismissed Noël Brûlart de Sillery and Pierre Brulart, vicomte de Puisieux in 1624 because of his displeasure with how they handled the diplomatic situation over the Valtellina with Spain. Valtellina was an area with Catholic inhabitants under the suzerainty of the Protestant Three Leagues. It served as an important route to Italy for France and also it provided an easy connection between the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburg Kingdoms, especially in helping each others with armies if necessary. Spain was constantly interfering in the Valtellina, which angered Louis as he wanted to hold possession of this strategically important passageway. (At these years the French Kingdom was literally surrounded by the Habsburgs as they were the Kings of Spain and Austria. In addition, these empires included the territories of today's Belgium, the Netherlands, parts of Germany and Northern Italy.)

Ministry of Cardinal Richelieu, 1624–42

Louis XIII on horseback, with Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle.

Cardinal Richelieu played a major role in Louis XIII's reign from 1624, decisively shaping the destiny of France for the next eighteen years. As a result of Richelieu's work, Louis XIII became one of the first examples of an absolute monarch. Under Louis and Richelieu, the crown successfully intervened in the Thirty Years' War against the Habsburgs, managed to keep the French nobility in line, and retracted the political and military privileges granted to the Huguenots by Henry IV (while maintaining their religious freedoms). Louis XIII led successfully the important Siege of La Rochelle. In addition, Louis had the port of Le Havre modernised, and he built a powerful navy.

Unfortunately, time and circumstances never permitted the King and the Cardinal to attend to the administrative reforms (particularly of France's tax system) which were urgently needed.

Louis also worked to reverse the trend of promising French artists leaving for Italy to work and study. He commissioned the painters Nicolas Poussin and Philippe de Champaigne to decorate the Louvre. In foreign matters, Louis organised the development and administration of New France, expanding its settlements westward along the Saint Lawrence River from Quebec City to Montreal.

Expansion overseas under Louis XIII

Morocco

Mogador was explored as a possible French settlement by Isaac de Razilly under Louis XIII.

In order to continue the exploration efforts of his predecessor Henry IV, Louis XIII considered a colonial venture in Morocco, and sent a fleet under Isaac de Razilly in 1619. Razilly was able to reconnoiter the coast as far as Mogador. In 1624, he was put in charge of an embassy to the pirate harbour of Salé in Morocco, in order to solve the affair of the library of Mulay Zidan.

In 1630, Razilly was able to negotiate the purchase of French slaves from the Moroccans. He visited Marocco again in 1631, and participated to the negotiation of the Franco-Moroccan Treaty (1631). The Treaty gave France preferential treatment, known as Capitulations: preferential tariffs, the establishment of a Consulate and freedom of religion for French subjects.

Americas

Tupinambá "Louis Henri" was sent on a visit to Louis XIII in Paris in 1613.

Further information: France–Americas relations

Acadia was also developed under Louis XIII. In 1632, Isaac de Razilly became involved, at the request of Cardinal Richelieu, in the colonization of Acadia, by taking possession of the Habitation at Port-Royal (now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia) and developing it into a French colony. The King gave Razilly the official title of lieutenant-general for New France. He took on military tasks such as ordering the taking of control of Fort Pentagouet at Majabigwaduce on the Penobscot Bay, which had been given to France in an earlier Treaty, and to inform the English they were to vacate all lands North of Pemaquid. This resulted in all the French interests in Acadia being restored.

In Brazil, the colony of Equinoctial France was established in 1612, but only lasted 4 years until it was eliminated by the Portuguese.

Asia

"Fleet of Montmorency", led by Augustin de Beaulieu, in the East Indies, 1619-22.

France-Japan relations started under Louis XIII in 1615 when Hasekura Tsunenaga, a Japanese samurai and ambassador, sent to Rome by Date Masamune, landed at Saint-Tropez for a few days. In 1636, Guillaume Courtet, a French Dominican priest, would reciprocate when he set foot in Japan.

The same year, in 1615, the regent Marie de Médicis incorporated the merchants of Dieppe and other harbours to found the Company of the Moluccas. In 1619, an armed expedition composed of three ships (275 crews, 106 cannons) and called the "Fleet of Montmorency" under General Augustin de Beaulieu was sent from Honfleur, with the objective of fighting the Dutch in the Far East. Finally in 1624, with the Treaty of Compiègne, Richelieu obtained that the Dutch would stop fighting the French in the East.

Relationships and issue

Duke of Orléans

On two occasions the King's younger brother, Gaston, Duke of Orléans had to leave France for conspiring against the King's government, and for attempting to undermine the influence of both his mother and of Cardinal Richelieu. After waging an unsuccessful war in Languedoc, he took refuge in Flanders. In 1643, on the death of Louis XIII, Gaston became lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and fought against Spain on the northern frontiers of France.

Marriage

Royal styles of Louis XIII
Reference style	His Most Christian Majesty
Spoken style	Your Most Christian Majesty
Alternative style	Monsieur Le Roi

On 24 November 1615, Louis XIII married Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip III of Spain. 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 Philip II of Spain with the French Princess, Elisabeth of Valois. The marriage was only briefly happy, and the King's duties often kept them apart. After twenty-three years of marriage and four miscarriages, Anne finally gave birth to a son in 1638, the future Louis XIV.

Many regarded this birth as a divine miracle and, in show of gratitude to God for the long-awaited birth of an heir, his parents named him Louis-Dieudonné (“God-given”). As another sign of gratitude, according to several interpretations, seven months before his birth, France was dedicated by Louis XIII to the Virgin Mary, who, many believed, had interceded for the perceived miracle. However, the text of the dedication does not mention the royal pregnancy and birth as one of its reasons. Also, Louis XIII himself is said to have expressed his scepticism with regards to the miracle after his son's birth.

Issue

The couple had the following children:

Name	Lifespan	Notes
stillborn child	December 1619
stillborn child	14 March 1622
stillborn child	1626
stillborn child	April 1631
Louis de France, King of France	5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715	Married Maria Theresa of Austria (1638–83) in 1660. Had issue.
Philippe de France, Duke of Orléans	21 September 1640 – 8 June 1701	married (1) Princess Henrietta of England (1644–70) in 1661. Had issue. Married (2) Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (1652–722) in 1671. Had issue.

Sexuality

There is no evidence that Louis had mistresses (consequently earning the title of 'Louis the Chaste'), but persistent rumours insinuated that he may have been homosexual or at least bisexual. Tallemant des Réaux, drawing from rumours told to him by a critic of the king (the marquise de Rambouillet), explicitly speculated in his Historiettes what happened in the King's bed. A liaison with an equerry, François de Baradas, ended when the latter lost favour fighting a duel after duelling had been forbidden by royal decree. He was also allegedly captivated by Marquis de Cinq-Mars, who was later executed for conspiring with the Spanish enemy in time of war. Tallemant described how on a Royal journey, the King "sent M. le Grand [de Cinq-Mars] to undress, who returned, adorned like a bride. 'To bed, to bed' he said to him impatiently... and the mignon was not in before the King was already kissing his hands."

In fiction and film

Louis XIII as painted by Justus van Egmont in the 1670s.

• 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. The book depicts Louis as a man willing to have Richelieu as a powerful advisor but aware of his scheming; he is depicted as a bored and sour man, dwarfed by Richelieu's intellect. Films such as the 1948 version or the 1973 version tend to treat Louis XIII as a comical character by depicting him as bumbling and incompetent. He is also a major character in the French television cartoon Albert the Fifth Musketeer, where he is depicted as childish, unintelligent, and indifferent to his authority.
• Louis XIII, his wife Anne, Cardinal Richelieu, Cardinal Mazarin and members of the Royal family are mentioned throughout the course of the 1632 Series.
• 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.
• In the opening prologue of the movie, "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra", Louis XIII is referenced. Destro's ancestor is forced to wear an iron mask for the crime of selling arms to both Louis XIII and his enemies. The year given for this event is 1641.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Louis XIII of France

16. François de Bourbon, Count of Vendôme

8. Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme

17. Marie de Luxembourg

4. Antoine of Navarre

18. René of Alençon

9. Françoise of Alençon

19. Marguerite de Lorraine

2. Henry IV of France

20. John III of Navarre

10. Henry II of Navarre

21. Catherine of Navarre

5. Jeanne III of Navarre

22. Charles, Count of Angoulême

11. Marguerite de Navarre

23. Louise of Savoy

1. Louis XIII of France

24. Giovanni dalle Bande Nere

12. Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

25. Maria Salviati

6. Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

26. Pedro Álvarez de Toledo

13. Eleonora di Toledo

27. Maria Osorio

3. Marie de' Medici

28. Philip I of Castile

14. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

29. Joanna of Castile

7. Johanna of Austria

30. Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary

15. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary

31. Anna of Foix-Candale

See also

• Absolute monarchy in France
• Charles de Lorme, personal medical doctor to Louis XIII
• French monarchs family tree
• Lords, Marquesses and Dukes of Elbeuf Charles II of Guise-Lorraine, Duke of Elbeuf

References

• Bremond, Henri (1908), La Provence mystique au XVIIe siècle, Paris: Plon-Nourri [3]
• Crompton, Louis (2006), Homosexuality & Civilization, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674022-33-5 [4]
• Dulong, Claude, Anne d’Autriche. Paris: Hachette, 1980.
• Herbert of Cherbury, Edward (1830), The life of Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Whittaker, Treacher, and Arnot [5]
• James, Ralph N. (1897), Painters and Their Works, L.U. Gill [6]

Further reading

• Howell, James "Louis XIII" English historiographer Royal 1661-1666
• 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.
• Knecht, Robert, Renaissance France, genealogies, Baumgartner, genealogical tables.
• Moote, A. Lloyd. Louis XIII, the Just. Berkeley; 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.

External links

• A very complete portrait gallery of Louis XIII and Anna of Austria
• The Three Musketeers at Project Gutenberg
• The Orchestra of Louis XIII, Jordi Savall, Le Concert des Nations - Alia Vox AV9824
• The French Army 1600-1900
• Free scores by Louis XIII in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

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