Louis XIII (September 27, 1601 – May 14, 1643), called the Just (French: le Juste), was King of France from 1610 to 1643.

Early life

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Born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of Henry IV of France (1589–1610) and Marie de' Medici. His father was the first Bourbon King of France, having succeeded his ninth cousin, Henry III of France (1574–89), in application of the Salic law. Louis XIII's paternal grandparents were Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendome and Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre; his maternal grandparents were Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Johanna, archduchess of Austria.

Louis XIII ascended to the throne of France in 1610, at the age of eight and a half, upon the assassination of his father. His mother acted as Regent until Louis XIII came of age at thirteen, but she clung to power unofficially until in frustration he took the reins of government into his own hands at the age of fifteen. The assassination of Concino Concini (April 24, 1617), who had greatly influenced Marie's policymaking, effectively removed the Queen Mother's favorites from positions of power. Louis then came into his own as ruler of France. He immediately instated his own advisors to the crown, Jean-Louck Tromblin and Christoph Charleaux, in order to maintain his power. He filled his court with loyal friends and executed those who remained loyal to his mother. Under Louis XIII's rule, the Bourbon Dynasty sustained itself effectively on the throne that Henry IV had recently secured; but the question of freedom of religion continued to haunt the country.

The brilliant and energetic Cardinal Richelieu played a major role in Louis XIII's administration from 1624, decisively shaping the destiny of France for the next 18 years and dying only months before the King himself. As a result of Richelieu's work, Louis XIII became one of the first exemplars of an absolute monarch. Under Louis XIII the Habsburgs were humiliated, the French nobility was firmly kept in line behind their King, and the special privileges granted to the Huguenots by his father were retracted. Furthermore, Louis XIII had the port of Le Havre modernized and built up a powerful navy.

The King also did everything to reverse the trend for the promising artists of France to work and study in Italy. Louis XIII commissioned the great artists Nicolas Poussin and Philippe de Champaigne to decorate the Luxembourg Palace. In foreign matters, Louis XIII organized the development and administration of New France, expanding the settlement of Quebec westward along the Saint Lawrence River from Quebec City to Montreal.

On November 9, 1615, aged only 14, Louis XIII was married to a Habsburg Princess, Anne of Austria (1601–66), daughter of King Philip III of Spain (1598–1621). Their marriage was not consummated until 1619 (when he was 18) and his most intense emotional ties were with a series of handsome men. The marriage, like many Bourbon-Habsburg relationships, was only briefly a happy one, and the King's duties often kept them apart. However, after 23 years of marriage and four miscarriages, Anne finally gave birth to a son in 1638.

Though Richelieu was firmly in charge of French policies, the King's favorites left their mark on the reign. The first was the duc de Luynes, 23 years his senior, who was the boy's closest adult friend and adviser at the outset of his reign. The last of the King's favorites (1639–42) was the much younger marquis de Cinq-Mars, who was executed for conspiring with the Spanish enemy in time of war.

After Louis XIII's death in 1643, his wife Anne acted as regent for their four-year-old son, Louis XIV of France (1643–1715).

Marriage and Issue

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On November 24 1615, Louis XIII married Anne of Austria (September 22 1601 – January 20 1666). They had the following children:

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Louis XIV, King of France	September 5 1638	September 1 1715	Married Maria Theresa of Spain (1638 - 1683) in 1660. Had issue.
Philip I, Duke of Orleans	September 21, 1640	June 8, 1701	Married (1) Henrietta Anne, Princess of England (1644 - 1670) in 1661. Had issue. Married (2) Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine (1652 - 1722) in 1671. Had issue.

Further reading

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• Willis, Daniel A. (comp). The Descendants of Louis XIII. Clearfield, 1999.

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.

Film

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Ken Russell directed the film The Devils, in which Louis XIII is a significant character. The film was based on Huxley's book "The Devils of Loudun".

Louis XIII in Fiction

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Louis XIII, his wife Anne, and Cardinal Richelieu all became central figures in Alexandre Dumas' novel, The Three Musketeers.

See also

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• Absolute monarchy in France
• French monarchs family tree

External link

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French monarchs | Navarrese monarchs | House of Bourbon | Monarchs of Canada | Natives of Ile-de-France | 1601 births | 1643 deaths

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