Louis XIV of France  

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Louis XIV (5 September 1638 - 1 September 1715), known as the Sun King (French: le Roi Soleil, see Louis XIV as Apollo), was King of France and of Navarre.

For much of Louis's reign, France stood as the leading European power, engaging in three major wars—the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession—and two minor conflicts—the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions. He encouraged and benefited from the work of prominent political, military and cultural figures such as Mazarin, Colbert, Turenne and Vauban, as well as Molière, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Lully, Le Brun, Rigaud, Le Vau, Mansart, Perrault and Le Nôtre.

Upon his death just days before his seventy-seventh birthday, Louis was succeeded by his five-year-old great-grandson who became Louis XV. All his intermediate heirs—his son Louis, le Grand Dauphin; the Dauphin's eldest son Louis, duc de Bourgogne; and Bourgogne's eldest son Louis, duc de Bretagne—predeceased Louis.

Origin of the "Sun King" epithet

Louis XIV is known as the Sun King (French: le Roi Soleil). This is partially due to a ballet in which he played at age 15, see Louis XIV as Apollo the Sun King.

In fiction








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