Summary of Documental "Luis XIV, el Rey Sol" del Canal Historia

00:00:00 - 00:40:00

This documentary tells the story of Louis XIV, the "Sun King." He was a very successful French monarch who ruled for over seven decades. However, his reign ended tragically with his death from an infection. Despite the cost of his wars and the grandeur of his court, Louis XIV's legacy will forever be remembered for creating one of the most powerful and modern European countries - France.

• 00:00:00 This documentary tells the story of French monarch Louis XIV, known as "the Sun King." He was a beautiful, wealthy king who believed he had a sacred right to power. His great monarchical dynasty in France began with him, and during his youth, he drove a golden carriage and dressed like an Apollo each facet of his life was a representation of his absolute power. He raised the bar for extravagance at the royal court and the spectacle of the court became unprecedented. However, Louis' reign ended tragically with his assassination in 1610. He was succeeded by his young son Louis XIII, but Louis XIII lacked his father's strength or popularity and was soon unpopular himself. In 1594, Louis' younger brother, Henry IV, asserted his right to the French throne and began a new era of peace and prosperity. His decree proclaiming that all Sundays were to have a chicken in everyone's pots changed him into a very popular king. However, Henry's reign was short-lived, as he was assassinated in 1610. Louis succeeded him, but was soon confronted by numerous rivals who were convinced that he was too young, uninformed, and homosexual to rule. After 20 unusual years of marriage to his queen, Ana of Austria, Louis finally produced a son in 1638
• 00:05:00 In 1651, when Louis XIV was just 13 years old, his mother, Maria Theresa of Spain, decided to take him and his brother away from France to escape the turmoil caused by the French Revolution. They went to Austria, where Louis was educated in the art of ruling. He learned about politics and European history from his tutor, Mazarino. Louis was also taught how to be a good king by his mother. However, things changed dramatically in 1652 when the royal army was defeated by rebel forces in Paris. This event caused the queen to flee the city with her son, and the king was left alone and betrayed. Louis' first experience of powerlessness and humiliation. In the end, the rebels were successful in taking the capital back from the king and imprisoned him in the Bastille. Louis was just 13 years old. This event marked the beginning of a long period of turmoil and war for the young king. Mazarino started a private army to protect the real king. On July 2, 1652, Louis' troops fought against the rebel princes for control of the city. He believed that this would be the end of the rebels, and he would be able to restore order and finally marry his beloved Ana Lucia. However, what Louis was about
• 00:10:00 This documentary covers the life of Louis XIV, the "Sun King." After being expelled from his capital city with cannons pointed at his back, the young king retreated to the countryside. A day later, he returned to Paris to take revenge on the treachery of his nobles. He was forced to flee again, this time due to the treachery of his cousin, the queen, and other nobles. Louis 14 withdrew to the countryside of Paris several times, spending his 16th birthday there. While his mentor and first minister, the cardinal Mazarin, planned his return to power, Louis was born in 1638. He was crowned king of France in 1643 at the cathedral of Reims. His first order as king was to punish those nobles who were disobedient to his majesty. For example, all of them were exiled. During the decade of 1650-60, Louis marked a period of exuberance and luxury for France and his monarch. He was healthy and stout, and had a healthy libido and a similarly inflated sense of self. He was an actor in the sense that he played his role perfectly, always portraying the role of king. Louis never limited himself to performing in his throne, but took part in active roles in opera and ballet
• 00:15:00 This documentary tells the story of Louis XIV, the "Sun King." He was a french king who reigned from 1643 to 1715 and was known for his lavish lifestyle and his many love affairs. One of his most famous relationships was with Louise de la Valliere, the sister of his close friend and adviser, Philippe de la Valliere. Louise became enamored of Louis and he fell in love with her back. However, his brother, Felipe, became very concerned about Louis' election choices - specifically, when he fell in love with Felipe's wife, the wealthy Enriqueta. Felipe was homosexual and preferred boys over girls, so it was no surprise that he would be attracted to his brother's new love. In order to divert Louis' attention from Enriqueta, the queen arranged for several ladies-in-waiting to enter the court. One of these ladies, Luisa de la Vega, caught the king's attention and he fell in love with her. She was a brave and courageous woman who was also very beautiful. The love between her and the king was sweet and gentle. She fell in love with a man, not a king, and he was so impressed by her attitude that he began to admire her
• 00:20:00 During the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715), the King of France, he took control of all of his father's power and use it to create a lavish royal residence, Versailles, in 1661. The palace is enormous, with every detail meticulously perfect, and produces a sense of beauty materialized in great power. Louis began building Versailles in 1661 as an expansion of his father's modest hunting lodge to 27 kilometers from Paris. Versailles cost millions of euros in today's money and impoverished the French people and country. Versailles was also used to display Louis' wealth and power when he received visitors. For example, when Spanish royalty came to visit, he would show them Versailles' vast power. Versailles was the only thing whose advance he could not stop. Louis XIV understood the power of great majesty and was enthusiastic about the idea of centralized power. He used Versailles to display his power both at home and abroad. France during the reign of Louis XIV was a time of unprecedented growth and prosperity. Louis developed the industrial, commercial, and scientific sectors of society. He also raised an army from 50,000 men to 400,000. During the 1660s, Louis
• 00:25:00 In 1664, Louis XIV, the Sun King, embarked on a promotional campaign in which he appeared in public for the first time. At Versailles, the king arrived in a golden carriage, dressed like Apollo. The music and poetry of the time attracted artists and historians, who were hired to write about the king. They painted him, made sculptures of him, and presented them in the most mythical terms, Versailles was literally wallpapered with murals that depicted Louis XIV as a valiant conqueror and the embodiment of heroic greatness. The king's supporters hoped that this propaganda would make the king known to all. Louis XIV was the first ruler to use advertising in this way. In 1660, Madame de Montespan replaced Luisa de la Valliere as the new favorite of the king. She gave birth to six children of the king, and during many years she was the wealthiest person in the court. Louis noticed her and started to court her. Madame de Montespan had a cynical sense of humor and was very intelligent. She charmed the king and captivated everyone she knew. In 1672, France attacked Holland. The disastrous history of France is that it gradually became a war machine that its kings used to develop and grow the
• 00:30:00 Louis XIV, "the Sun King," ruled France with an extravagant style, using wars to inflate his own prestige and that of his monarch. Louis' best galas and colorful feathers were worn during his court's frequent galas and parades, which brought love affairs within the royal household to a whole new level of entertainment. War often became a magnificent game, between aristocrats, very elegant and always in character, where Louis wanted the world to witness his greatness. So, the Rhine continued to be in full flow, as long as he knew where the battlefield was. When he sensed victory was near, he turned his naval power against his enemies, achieving a final victory. Louis' behavior at home was equally expansive, now at age 40. He was increasingly promiscuous, sleeping with the queen or any of his many ladies of the night. Just outside his bedroom door, no one could enter or leave. So, it was said that he resorted to scaling the walls to get to the bedrooms of his paramours - a daring nighttime adventure for an aging king. In 1682, at age 44, Louis established Versailles as the official seat of his government. The nobility had to relinquish their property to other people in order to retain the king
• 00:35:00 In the late 16th century, French monarch Louis XIV died after a long, successful reign. His successor, Louis XV, married Madame de Montespan, an illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon. The marriage was kept secret from the French people, as the nobles of France were not allowed to marry "plebeians" (commoners). Louis XIV became increasingly devoted to his religious wife, Madame de Montespan, but this change in his life did not prevent him from taking a controversial decision which would later lead to war. In the late 1700s, Louis XV accepted the premonitory offer of King Charles II of Spain to convert his grandson, Philip of Anjou, into heir to the French throne. The combined French and Spanish forces defeated the Austrians in the War of the Spanish Succession, which ended in 1714. However, the cost of this war was high for France, and Louis XV was forced to borrow money to finance it. In addition, the classes of France's lower classes were required to pay higher taxes to support the war. As the war dragged on, Louis XV's subjects became increasingly desperate. In 1751, a series of famines occurred which caused widespread famine and destruction
• 00:40:00 The documentary, "Luis XIV, el Rey Sol," covers the life and reign of Louis XIV, the "Sun King." Louis XIV was a very athletic man who fell seriously ill with an infection. One of his beautiful legs became infected and he died after a three-week agonizing death on September 1, 1515. Louis XIV was one of the longest-reigning monarchs in European history, reigning for seven decades. He had a strong appetite for life and had a spectacular stage presence. He was truly a great monarch in charge of his country as regent. However, in his death bed, he seemed to recapitulate and admit that he had loved too much in the war. Something less of ambition might have satisfied us better. We were very great, but perhaps also more happy if he had been less ambitious. The heavy taxes necessary to finance his wars and the grandeur of his court passed on costs with devastating consequences: the guillotine would be the fate of Louis XIV's heirs, and the French Revolution would eventually destroy the monarchy. But, despite all this, Louis XIV's legacy will forever be remembered for creating one of the most powerful and modern European countries – France – and for his impact