>
Louis died of gangrene on September 1, 1715, just 4 days shy of his 77th birthday. He had been King of France for 72 years. He was preceded in death by the next heirs apparent, which left Louis’ grandson, the 5 year old Louis Duke of Anjou, as next heir to the French throne. Louis XIV undertook a series of legal proceedings to ensure Louis XV’s success. He tried to alienate potential conflicts, and hinder opposition. Regardless, Louis’ attempts were largely nullified once he was dead. Louis the Duke of Anjou did become king, but his minority was not carried out the way that Louis XIV had desired. Regardless of his unheeded desires concerning Louis XV, Louis XIV did leave an immense legacy for his grandson, and a powerful kingdom to illustrate such a legacy.
Depending on bias, Louis was either the greatest French, even European, king ever. Or, Louis was the embodiment of pure tyranny. Louis arrogantly claimed “L’Etat, c’est moi”, that is “I am the state.” He truly worked the entire French political and in large part religious structure around his throne. Much of this could not have been done had it not been for Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, whose tireless statecraft created a strong monarchy, which Louis exploited to the fullest. Louis, after the Frondes, obliterated once powerful feudal concerns, and castrated all aristocratic power, though the aristocrats did not realize it at the time. Louis quelled all civil wars, and even had anti-Catholic support for some time, until the revocation of Nantes – his singular greatest blunder.
Though previously civil war ravaged France had been pacified and unified, Louis still kept Frenchmen fighting. His numerous wars were a mixed bag of success and failure, again depending on which view one could take. Louis was either the master warrior who expanded French borders, military might, and projected power globally. France during and immediately after Louis was feared, exactly what Louis wanted. However, Louis’ wars came at a cost. He impoverished the government, brought hardship upon the increasingly burdened bourgeois, and hampered the once burgeoning French economy. He won some territory, and lost others, especially to an increasingly powerful England. French wars did not severely plague the French elite, who after Louis XIV invested in the Mississippi Company and then lost all their money. John Law’s infamous stock swindle hurt France much more than Louis’ pride.
Louis stylized a profound French art. His funding as previously penned, is solely responsible for the lasting legacy of plays, art, and architecture. Louis’ name is borne upon anything produced during his vast reign. Beauty was without a doubt one of Louis’ achieved goals, as time has consistently attested. And for some time France remained supreme in all artistic aspects, until a new art, impressionism, re-established French artistic hegemony, and further built upon Louis’ legacy.
Louis’ centralized government was hugely successful, but to remain successful, France needed another Louis XIV. Louis’ grandson was incapable of his grandfather’s greatness. Louis XVI proved to be even more inept. On this notion, Louis did spur French greatness as immediate evidence proved; however, Louis’ enduring legacy was on that could not be managed. France fell into a period of decline after the War of the Spanish Succession and John Law’ “Mississippi Bubble”, which led to serious problems, and ultimately the French Revolution before the century closed. France would not have a leader on Louis XIV’s level until Napoleon, yet the results were predictably the same. Bottom line – Without Louis, France would have remained in Feudal/Religious Civil War, yet With Louis, France was on path for Revolution. For now, Louis was dead, long live the King – Louis XV.
armchaircapitalist 