LOUIS XIV

Louis the Great, was one of the great monarchs of France. He came to the throne in 1643 and died in 1715. Cardinal Mazarin was his prime minister. He was a despotic ruler of great ability, the author of the famous saying, "I am the state." Under his rule France was the strongest military power in Europe. The nations combined against him. He was humbled finally by the English Duke of Marlborough on the battlefields of Blenheim and Oudenarde. He built the famous palace of Versailles at a cost of $15,000,000. He revoked the Edict of Nantes and drove the Huguenots from France. His reign was noted also in literature. It corresponds to the Elizabethan era in England.

LOUIS XV ruled from 1723 to 1774. He was controlled largely by his mistresses, the notorious Pompadour and Du Barry. It was during his reign that France lost Louisiana to Spain and Canada to England.