Louis
the name of various European rulers, as follows:
GERMANY.
LOUIS (lö-ē') I., surnamed le Débonnaire, Emperor of Germany and King of France; born in 778. He succeeded his father, Charlemagne, in 814. In 817 he associated his eldest son, Lothaire, with himself in the empire, and gave to his other two sons, Pepin and Louis, the kingdoms of Aquitaine and Bavaria.
In 829 Louis created his younger son, Charles, whom he had by Judith of Bavaria, King of Germany; on which his other sons arose against him, deprived him of his crown, and shut him up in a monastery, where he died, June 20, 840.
LOUIS II., surnamed the Young, Emperor of Germany; born about 822. He was the only son of Lothaire I., and was created King of Italy in 844, ascending the imperial throne in 855. He died in 875. of Germany. He was the son of Boson, LOUIS III., called the Blind, Emperor King of Provence, and Ermengarde, daughter of the Emperor Louis the Young. He succeeded his father at the age of 10. He died about 923.
LOUIS IV., Emperor of Germany; born in 893. He was the son of the Emperor Arnulphus, whom he succeeded in 899.
He was the last prince in Germany of the Carlovingian race. Died in 911.
LOUIS V., commonly called Louis of Bavaria, Emperor of Germany; born in 1286. He was the son of Louis the Severe, Duke of Bavaria. He was elected emperor in 1314, and the election resulted in civil war during which Louis was accidentally killed in 1347.
LOUIS FRANCE.
LOUIS I., King of France. See LOUIS I., EMPEROR OF GERMANY.
LOUIS II., called the Stammerer, King of France; born in 846. He was the son of Charles the Bald, was crowned King of Aquitaine in 867, and succeeded his father as King of France in 877.
Died in Compiègne, in 879.
LOUIS III., King of France; born about 863. He was the son of the preceding and brother of Carloman, with whom he enjoyed the kingdom. Died without issue in 882.
LOUIS IV., surnamed d'Outremer, King of France; born in 921. He was the son of Charles the Simple and ascended the throne in 936. He invaded Normandy, but was defeated and taken prisoner in 944. He regained his liberty the following year. He died of a fall from his horse in 954.
LOUIS V., surnamed the Fainéant (donothing), King of France; born in 966. He succeeded his father Lothaire in 986.
He died in 987.
LOUIS VI., called the Big, King of France; born about 1078. He was the son of Philip I., and succeeded to the throne in 1108. His reign was disturbed by wars with the Normans, and also by feuds among his vassals. He also quarreled with Henry I. of England, and thus were commenced the wars between the English and French which lasted during three centuries. He died in 1137.
LOUIS VII., King of France; born about 1120. He was the son and successor of the preceding. He had a dispute with Pope Innocent II., on the right of presenting to benefices, and was excommunicated by that pontiff. After a reconciliation Louis, by the persuasions of St. Bernard, engaged in a crusade, but was defeated by Saladin. Having divorced his queen, Eleanor, she married of England.
Henry of Normandy, afterward Henry II. of England, to whom she brought, as her dower, the provinces of Poitou and Guienne. This produced a new war between England and France, which lasted, with little intermission, for 21 years. He died in 1180.
LOUIS VIII., named the Lion, King of France; born in 1187. He was the son of Philip Augustus and his queen Isabella of Hainault. He attempted, unsuccessfully, to aid the English barons against King John, and withdrew to France in September, 1217.
King John, He succeeded his father in 1223, and in the following year recovered most of the English possessions in France, in spite of papal excommunications. In 1226 he undertook LOUIS a crusade against Raymond, Count of Toulouse, and the Albigenses, and died LOUIS IX., or Saint Louis, King of year. He had married, in 1200, Blanche of Castile, by whom he had seven sons and one daughter.
LOUIS of Louis was the establishment of the royal power and the overthrow of the feudal aristocracy; but it is almost impossible to convey a just idea of his character, so contradictory were its qualsuspicious, avaricious and lavish, audacious and timid, mild and cruel. He died Aug. 30, 1483. ities. He was at once confiding and Aug. 30, 1483.
LOUIS IX., or Saint Louis, King of a truce for five years was concluded. the English in several engagements, and VIII., in 1226. In 1243 Louis defeated 25, 1214. He succeeded his father, Louis VIII., in 1226. In 1243 Louis defeated the English in several engagements, and a truce for five years was concluded. his People, King of France; born in Land, he made preparations for doing covering from a dangerous disease, to the son of Charles, Duke of Orleans. LOUIS XII., surnamed the Father of march against the infidels in the Holy On ascending the throne in 1498 he par- Land, he made preparations for doing doned the wrongs he had suffered before so, and in 1248 embarked at Aigues- his accession. He conquered the Mila- The expedition failed and Louis was and almost all the chivalry of France. nese, Genoa, and Naples; but after his accession. He conquered the Mila- doned the wrongs he had suffered before accompanied by his queen, his brothers, ravaging Italy for 15 years the French and almost all the chivalry of France. were expelled in 1513. The Emperor The expedition failed and Louis was Maximilian, Henry VIII. of England, and taken prisoner. He was ransomed and the Swiss, attacking Louis in his own embarked with about 6,000 the sole remains of his fine army, for peace. About three months before his Acre and spent four years more in death he had married the young Princess Palestine. On his return to France he Mary, sister of Henry VIII. Louis XII. applied himself to the government of possessed many of the qualities of a good his kingdom with exemplary diligence, ruler; he was honest, kind-hearted, and and ruled with impartiality and moder- magnanimous; he was also a friend to ation. He undertook men, dominions, he was obliged to sue for and died of the plague while besieging cook a second crusade, Tunis in 1270. Louis was canonized by Boniface VIII. in 1297, and his life was written by his friend, the Sire de Join- Boniface VIII. in 1297, and his life was ville.
French term for quarrelsome), King of LOUIS X., surnamed Hutin (an old France; born in Paris in 1289. He succeeded Philip the Fair, his father, in 1314, being King of Navarre before, in ceeded Philip the Fair, his father, in right of his mother. Died in Vincennes, in 1316.
LOUIS XI., King of France; born in Bourges, France, July 3, 1425. He was
LOUIS XI., King of France; born in the son of Charles VII. Active, bold, and cunning, he was in all respects unlike the son of Charles VII. Active, bold, his father. He engaged in several conspiracies against his father and was a high degree of prosperity and security. scien He died Jan. 1, 1515. science, and France enjoyed under him fathe only nine years old at the death of his LOUIS XIII., King of France; born in He died Jan. 1, 1515. a high degree of prosperity and security. dom were intrusted to his mother, Marie He was the son of Henry IV. Being de Medici. father , the care of him and the kingfather, the care of him and the king- only nine years old at the death of his nots rose in arms, with Rohan and Southe kingdom rebelled against the king, After the king, in 1615, who now delivered himself up to the guidance of Cardinal Richelieu. After dom were intrusted to his mother, Marie victory had inclined, sometimes to one side and sometimes to the other, peace was concluded in 1623. But it was of obliged to live in exile for many years. no long duration. La Rochelle, the head- On the death of his father, in 1461, he dismissed the former ministers, and filled their places with obscure men withdismissed the former ministers, and them. Insurrections broke out in various parts of his dominions; but they were soon quelled, and followed by many executions. In everything he did, his crooked policy and sinister views were evident. He became involved in a war with Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, which lasted 1465-1472. A peace was concluded on favorable terms for Charles and his allies; but when Louis returned to Paris he used every artifice Charles and his allies; but when Louis quarters of the Huguenots, revolted, and was supported by England. The king drove the English to the sea, conquered the island of Rhé, and at last took La Rochelle, which had sustained all the was supported by England. The king drove the English to the sea, conquered of the king, revolted, out of dislike to Richelieu, and was assisted by the Duke of Montmorency, who being wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Castelnaudary in 1632 was beheaded at Toulouse. Louis and the cardinal were attacked by a mortal disease nearly at the same time; the latter died in December, 1642, and the king in May following LOUIS LOUIS XIV., called the Grand Monarque, King of France; born in St. Germain-en-Laye, France, Sept. 5, 1638. He was the son of the preceding, and only five years old on the death of his father, the regency being in the hands of the queen-mother, Anne of Austria, under whom Mazarin acted as prime minister.
The nation was then involved in a war with Spain and the emperor, but though Louis was successful abroad, his kingdom was distracted by internal divisions; LOUIS XIV. the Parisians, irritated against Mazarin and the queen, took up arms; and the king, his mother, and the cardinal were obliged to fly. The Spaniards, profiting by these troubles, made several conquests in Champagne, Lorraine, and Italy. In 1651 the king assumed the government, but Mazarin returning to power the year following, the civil war was renewed. On the war breaking out between England and Holland, Louis joined with the latter; after a few naval actions the peace of Breda was concluded in 1667. In 1672 the French king made an attack on Holland and reduced some of its provinces in a few weeks. This invasion produced a new confederacy against Louis, between the emperor, Spain, and the Elector of Brandenburg, in which the allies were unsuccessful, and which was terminated in 1678 by the treaty of Nimeguen. Louis committed an act of impolitic cruelty, by the revocation, in 1685, of the Edict of Nantes, LOUIS granted by Henry IV. in favor of the Protestants-a measure which drove from France a vast number of ingenious mechanics and others, who settled in England and Holland. About this time another league was formed against France by the Prince of Orange, the Duke of Savoy and the Electors of Bavaria and Brandenburg. To this league were afterward added the German emperor and the King of Spain. The dauphin had the command of the French army and the campaign resulted in military successes.
These were counter-balanced by the defeat of Tourville's squadron off La Hogue, by Admiral Russell, June 2, 1692. Louis in person took Namur, and Luxembourg gained the battles of Steenkirk and Neerwinden. In 1696 Savoy made a separate peace with France, which was followed by a general one at Ryswick, in 1697.
The death of Charles II. of Spain in 1700 resulted in wars which lasted for thirteen years. In 1713 a treaty of peace was signed at Utrecht by France, Spain, England, Savoy, Portugal, Prussia, and Holland; and the next year peace was concluded with the emperor at Rastadt.
The internal administration of his government during this long period had been marked by the highest magnificence, and conduced to the most splendid results.
The domestic history of Louis, for the greater part of his life, is far more open to censure than any part of his public conduct. Apart from this, Louis XIV. was distinguished by high qualities of heart and mind, and his self-command and moderation in all that pertains to the sovereign character cannot be doubted.
He died in Versailles, France, Sept. 1, 1715.
LOUIS XV., King of France; born in Versailles, France, Feb. 15, 1710. He was great-grandson and successor of the preceding; and Louis XIV. dying when he was only five years of age, the kingdom was placed under the regency of Philip, Duke of Orleans. Louis was crowned in 1722, and declared of age the following year. In 1725 the king married the daughter of the King of Poland. On the death of the last-mentioned monarch, in 1733, Louis supported the election of his father-in-law, Stanislaus, against the Elector of Saxony, which occasioned a war between France and the emperor. The French were successful in Italy, and a peace was concluded in 1738. The death of the Emperor Charles opened a new scene. the struggle for the succession Louis supported the pretensions of the Elector of Bavaria, who called himself Charles VII.
In 1744 Louis took the field in person, In LOUIS and captured Courtray, Menin, and Ypres.
On the other hand, the troops of the Duke of Saxony and of the Queen of Hungary ravaged Provence, and the English completely ruined the French commerce at sea, and negotiations were opened which ended in the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.
In 1755 a new war broke out between France and England, in which the latter power had Prussia for an ally, while Austria leagued with France. At first the French were successful, taking Port Mahon, defeating the Duke of Cumberland at Hastenbeck, and forcing the English general and his army to capitulate at Closter-Seven. The electorate of Hanover was conquered; but in 1757 the French and Austrians were defeated by Frederick the Great at Rossbach; this was followed by other losses, both by land and sea, particularly by the conquest of Canada by the English, and Louis, humiliated, despised by his subjects, and given up to the grossest immoralities with his mistresses, died in Versailles, France, May 10, 1774.
LOUIS XVI., King of France; born in Versailles, France, Aug. 23, 1754. He was son of Louis the dauphin and Maria Josephine, daughter of Frederic Augustus, King of Poland, and immediately created Duke of Berri. On the death of his father, in 1765, he became the heir to the throne; and in 1770 he married Marie Antoinette, an Austrian princess of great beauty and accomplishments. In 1774 he succeeded to the crown. France, at this time, was in a desperate financial and economic condition. Louis chose Turgot and Malesherbes for his first ministers. In 1774 the Parliament was recalled, and affairs began to assume a favorable aspect. On Feb. 6, 1778, he concluded the treaty of alliance with the United States, which in a few months resulted in the declaration of hostilities between France and Great Britain. The war cost France 1,400,000,000 livres; and besides the irreparable deficit it produced in the already disordered finances, it tended greatly to weaken the monarchy by diffusing republican and revolutionary ideas. Necker became, by his attempts at reform, so obnoxious to the court and the aristocracy that he was obliged to resign in 1781. Louis, at the suggestion of Necker, again in office, convened the states-general in May, 1789. The public mind was agitated. Mirabeau was the leader of the popular party. At his voice the people of Paris arose, and on July 14 of that year stormed the Bastille. Revolution had begun; and in October the armed mob, with a prodigious number of women, marched to Ver- LOUIS sailles, forced the palace, murdered the guards, and searched in vain for the queen, who would have shared the same fate had she not escaped. The result of this insurrection was the leading of the king and his family in triumph to Paris, amid the insults of a lawless rabble. In February , 1790, Louis was forced to accept the new constitution; but, notwithstanding all his concessions, finding himself a mere prisoner at Paris, and exposed daily to new injuries, he resolved LOUIS XVI. to escape. Accordingly, on the night of June 21, 1791, he and his family quitted the Tuileries; but at Varennes he was recognized and conducted back to Paris, where he became a prisoner in his own palace. The Legislative Assembly gave way to the National Convention, which brought Louis to trial. His defense was conducted by Malesherbes, Tronchet, and De Sèze, and his own deportment was, as it had uniformly been during his confinement, firm and modest, dignified and resigned. On Jan. 17, 1793, he was adjudged to death for conspiring against the public good. On Jan. 21 he was led to the scaffold, where he showed the calm fortitude which had distinguished him through all the scenes of suffering and indignity to which he had been exposed.
His body was thrown into a pit filled with lime, and no vestige left of the place of his interment.
LOUIS LOUIS XVII., titular King of France; born in Versailles, France, March 27, 1785. He was second son of the preceding, was at first styled Duc de Normandie, and after the death of his elder brother, Louis-Joseph, in 1789, became dauphin of France. Imprisoned in the Temple with his relatives, he was, after his father's death, styled monarch by the Royalists and foreign powers. A cobbler, named Simon, was appointed his jailer, with the derisive title of tutor.
He died June 8, 1795, it is suspected of poison.
LOUIS XVIII. (Stanislas Xavier), surnamed Le Désiré, King of France; born in Versailles, France, Nov. 17, 1755. He was the second son of the dauphin (the son of Louis XV.), and was originally known as the Count de Provence. At the accession of his brother, Louis XVI., in 1774, he received the title of Monsieur; and after the death of his nephew, in 1795, from which time he reckoned his reign, he took the name and title of Louis XVIII., King of France and Navarre. When Louis XVI., attempting to escape to the frontiers of the kingdom, took the road to Montmedy, and was arrested at Varennes, Monsieur took that of Mons and reached Brussels in safety; and in 1792 he and the Count d'Artois joined the Prussian army at the head of 6,000 cavalry. The progress of the republican arms, however, compelled them to make a retreat, first to Turin, and afterward to Verona, where he assumed the name of Count de Lille, a title which he retained till his accession to the French throne. The Russian government allowed him to reside at Warsaw. After the peace of Tilsit he took refuge in England, where he was hospitably received, and where he remained till the fall of Napoleon, in 1814, drew him from his retreat to reascend the throne of his ancestors.
On May 3 he made his entry into Paris; on May 30 he caused a constitution to be drawn up; on June 4 it was formally accepted. When Napoleon made his reappearance in France, March 1, 1815, his presence roused every latent feeling, and inspired his former followers with tenfold courage and enthusiasm. Louis was compelled to flee from Paris on the 20th, and seek refuge in Belgium. The ministers, together with several officers of distinction, followed the king; and Talleyrand, in particular, was actively engaged in his cause at Vienna. Great events now followed in rapid succession. The battle of Waterloo, fought June 18, broke the power of Napoleon; Wellington and Blücher LOUISE marched to Paris; and Fouché, who had already induced the emperor to leave France, put a stop to the shedding of blood by the capitulation of Paris, July 3. Thus was Louis once more restored to the throne of France. Among the most decided measures by which the king sought to support his throne was the ordinance of July 16 disbanding the army, according to the wishes of the Allies; and another, dated July 24, excluding from the the general amnesty those who were there denominated "rebels," and whose punishment, for the most part, consisted in exile, or degradation from the peerage. All the relations of Napoleon were, under pain of death, banished from France; as were also those who had voted for the death of Louis XVI., and those who had, in 1815, received offices or honors from the "usurper." During the last few years of his reign Louis was much enfeebled by disease; and a paralysis of the lower limbs taking place, he died, Sept. 16, 1824.
LOUISBURG (lö'ē-burg), a port on the S. E. coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, 27 miles S. E. of Sydney.
It is inhabited only by a few fishermen; but there are the ruins of the old town, which under the French had a large export trade in cod, and was the strongest fortress in North America till taken by the English in 1758. It had already been captured by the New England colonists and an English squadron in 1745, and restored in 1748; now its fortifications, which had been 30 years in building, and cost over $5,000,000, were demolished, and it gradually sank into ruin.
LOUIS-D'OR (lö-ē-dor'), a gold coin introduced into France in 1641, and continued to be coined till 1795. The louisd'or ranged in value from about $4.14 to $4.69. In some parts of Germany, in the old coinage, were gold pieces of five thalers, often popularly called louis-d'or, and the name has been occasionally applied to the French napoleon or 20-franc piece.