Louis, Duke of Burgundy

For other dukes of Burgundy named Louis, see Louis, Duke of Burgundy (disambiguation).

Louis
Dauphin of France; Duke of Burgundy
Portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud
Born	(1682-08-16)16 August 1682 Palace of Versailles, France
Died	18 February 1712(1712-02-18) (aged 29) Château de Marly, Marly, France
Burial	23 February 1712 Basilica of St Denis, France
Spouse	Princess Marie Adélaïde of Savoy ​ ​ (m. 1697; died 1712)​
Issue Among others	Louis, Duke of Brittany Louis XV of France
Names Louis de France
House	Bourbon
Father	Louis, Grand Dauphin
Mother	Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Louis, Duke of Burgundy (16 August 1682 – 18 February 1712), was the eldest son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, and grandson of the reigning French monarch, King Louis XIV. He was known as the "Petit Dauphin" to distinguish him from his father, until the latter died in April 1711. At that time he became the official Dauphin of France. He died in 1712 before his grandfather, the King. Upon the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the Duke of Burgundy's son became King Louis XV.

Childhood

Louis, playing with a spear, with his parents and brothers in 1687

Louis was born in the Palace of Versailles, the eldest son of the young 21-year-old Dauphin, Louis, who would later be called le Grand Dauphin, and his wife, Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria. His father was the eldest son of King Louis XIV of France, by then at the height of his powers at age 44. At birth, he received the title of Duke of Burgundy (duc de Bourgogne). In addition, as the son of the Dauphin and grandson to the king, he was a fils de France and also second in the line of succession to his grandfather, Louis XIV after his father.

Louis grew up with his younger brothers: Philip, Duke of Anjou, who became King Philip V of Spain; and Charles, Duke of Berry, under the supervision of the royal governess Louise de Prie. He lost his mother when he was eight. His father, viewed as lazy and dull, never played a major role in politics.

Marriage

Wedding of Louis and Marie-Adélaïde

At the age of 15, he was married to his second cousin, Princess Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, the daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy and Anne Marie d'Orléans. This match had been decided as part of the Treaty of Turin, which ended Franco-Savoyard conflicts during the Nine Years' War. The wedding took place on 7 December 1697 at the Palace of Versailles.

Military career and politics

In 1702, at the age of twenty, Louis was admitted by his grandfather King Louis XIV to the Conseil d'en haut (High Council), which was in charge of state secrets regarding religion, diplomacy and war. His father had been admitted only at the age of thirty.

In 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Louis was given command of the army in Flanders, with the experienced soldier Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, serving under him. The uncertainty as to which of the two should truly command the army led to delays and the need to refer decisions to Louis XIV. Continued indecision led to French inactivity as messages travelled between the front and Versailles; the Allies were then able to take the initiative. The culmination of this was the Battle of Oudenarde, where Louis's mistaken choices and reluctance to support Vendôme led to a decisive defeat for the French. In the aftermath of the defeat, his hesitation to relieve the Siege of Lille led to the loss of the city and thereby allowed the Allies to make their first incursions onto French soil.

Louis was influenced by the dévots and was surrounded by a circle of people known as the faction de Bourgogne (Burgundy's faction), which was most notably made up of his old tutor François Fénelon, his old governor Paul de Beauvilliers, Duke of Saint-Aignan and his brother-in-law Charles Honoré d'Albert, Duke of Chevreuse, as well as the renowned memorialist, Louis de Rouvroy, Duke of Saint-Simon.

These high-ranking aristocrats sought a return to a monarchy less absolute and less centralised, with more powers granted to the individual provinces. Their view was that government should work through councils and intermediary organs between the king and the people. These intermediary councils were to be made up not by commoners from the bourgeoisie (like the ministers appointed by Louis XIV) but by aristocrats who perceived themselves as the representatives of the people and would assist the king in governance and the exercise of power. Had Louis succeeded to the throne, he might have applied this concept of monarchy.

Death and legacy

Éléments de géométrie, 1713

Louis became Dauphin of France upon the death of his father in 1711. In February 1712, his wife contracted measles and died on February 12. Louis himself, who dearly loved his wife and who had stayed by her side throughout the fatal illness, caught the disease and died six days after her at the Château de Marly on 18 February, aged 29. Both of his sons also became infected. The elder, Louis, Duke of Brittany, the latest in a series of Dauphins, succumbed on 8 March, leaving his brother, the two-year-old Duke of Anjou, who was later to succeed to the throne as Louis XV.

Since, however, it was thought that the chances of survival of this frail child, now heir apparent to his seventy-three-year-old great grandfather, were minimal, a potential succession crisis loomed.

Moreover, overnight the broad hopes of the faction de Bourgogne were destroyed and its members would soon die of natural deaths. Nonetheless, some of their ideas were put into practice when, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as regent during Louis XV's minority, created a form of government known as polysynody, where each ministry was replaced by a council composed of aristocrats. However, the absenteeism, ineptitude and squabbling of the aristocrats caused this system to fail, and it was soon abandoned in 1718 in favour of a return to absolute monarchy.

Issue

1. Louis, Duke of Brittany (25 June 1704 – 13 April 1705) died of convulsions;
2. Louis, Duke of Brittany (8 January 1707 – 8 March 1712) died of measles;
3. Louis XV of France (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774) first engaged to Mariana Victoria of Spain; married Marie Leszczyńska and had issue; died of smallpox.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Louis of France

16. Henry IV of France (= 22, 30) 8. Louis XIII of France 17. Marie de' Medici (= 23, 31) 4. Louis XIV of France 18. Philip III of Spain (= 20) 9. Anne of Austria 19. Margaret of Austria (= 21) 2. Louis, Dauphin of France 20. Philip III of Spain (= 18) 10. Philip IV of Spain 21. Margaret of Austria (= 19) 5. Maria Theresa of Austria 22. Henry IV of France (= 16, 30) 11. Elisabeth of France 23. Marie de' Medici (= 17, 31) 1. Louis de France, Le Petit Dauphin, Duke of Burgundy 24. William V, Duke of Bavaria 12. Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria 25. Renata of Lorraine 6. Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria 26. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 13. Maria Anna of Austria 27. Maria Anna of Bavaria 3. Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria 28. Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy 14. Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy 29. Catherine Michelle of Austria 7. Henriette Adelaide of Savoy 30. Henry IV of France (= 16, 22) 15. Christine of France 31. Marie de' Medici (= 17, 23)

Bibliography

• Erlanger, Philippe, Louis XIV, translated from the French by Stephen Cox, Praeger Publisher, New York & Washington, 1970. (First published in French by Fayard in 1965).
• Wolf, John B. Louis XIV (1968).
• Mansfield, Andrew, "The Burgundy Circle's plans to undermine Louis XIV's “absolute” state through polysynody and the high nobility", 'Intellectual History Review', Vol.27, Issue 2 (2017), pp. 223–45 - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17496977.2016.1156346

In French

• Achaintre, Nicolas Louis, Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de Bourbon, Vol. 2, Publisher Mansut Fils, 4 Rue de l'École de Médecine, Paris, 1825.
• Antoine, Michel, Louis XV, Fayard, Paris, 1989 (French).
• Dufresne, Claude, les Orléans, CRITERION, Paris, 1991 (French).