The Third Reign of Louis XIV, c.1682-1715 - 9781472475008

Taylor & Francis

The second half of Louis XIV\u2019s personal rule, his \""third reign,\"" has not received adequate historical attention. The chapters in this volume therefore examine a range of important subjects \u2013 from royal finances to architecture \u2013 to illuminate the changes that came over France between c.1682 and the king\u2019s death in 1715. > The personal rule of Louis XIV, following on from a long period of royal minority and apprenticeship, lasted 54 years from 1661 to 1715. But the second half of this personal rule has, until recently, received significantly less scholarly attention than the 1660s and 1670s. This has obscured some of the very real changes and developments that occurred between the early 1680s and the mid-1690s, by which time a new generation of younger royals had come to prominence, France was engulfed in international war on a greater scale than ever before, and the king was visibly no longer as vigorous or healthy as he had once been. The essays in this volun