Louis XIII, king of France

Louis XIII, 1601–43, king of France (1610–43). He succeeded his father, Henry IV Henry IV, 1553–1610, king of France (1589–1610) and, as Henry III, of Navarre (1572–1610), son of Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne d'Albret ; first of the Bourbon kings of France.
..... Click the link for more information. , under the regency of his mother, Marie de' Medici Marie de' Medici (mĕd`ĭchē)
..... Click the link for more information. . He married Anne of Austria Anne of Austria, 1601–66, queen of France, daughter of King Philip III of Spain. Married to the French king Louis XIII (1615), she was neglected by her husband and sought the society of the court intriguer, Mme de Chevreuse .
..... Click the link for more information. in 1615. Even after being declared of age in 1614, he was excluded from affairs of state by his domineering mother. In 1617 he caused the assassination of her minister Concino Concini Concini, Concino (kōnchē`nō kōnchē`nē), d.
..... Click the link for more information. , with the aid of his own favorite, Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes Luynes, Charles d'Albert, duc de (shärl dälbĕr` dük də lüēn`)
..... Click the link for more information. , and Marie de' Medici was forced into retirement. He was reconciled to her in 1622 and entrusted (1624) the government to her protégé, Cardinal Richelieu Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, duc de (Cardinal Richelieu)
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1630, urged by his mother to discharge Richelieu, he instead sent his mother again into exile. Melancholy and retiring by nature, Louis thenceforth gave full support to Richelieu and his successor, Cardinal Mazarin Mazarin, Jules (zhül mäzärăN`), 1602–61, French statesman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, b. Italy.
..... Click the link for more information. . Richelieu strengthened royal authority and centralized government control. Louis's reign was remarkable for the establishment of the French Academy and for the work of St. Francis de Sales Francis de Sales, Saint, 1567–1622, French Roman Catholic preacher, Doctor of the Church, and key figure in the Counter Reformation in France. He was a member of an aristocratic family of Savoy and was trained for the law, but he entered (1593) the priesthood
..... Click the link for more information. and St. Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul, Saint, 1580?–1660, French priest renowned for charitable work, b. Gascony. He was ordained in 1600. There are conflicting stories about his capture by pirates and enslavement in Tunis and his subsequent escape.
..... Click the link for more information. in religion, René Descartes Descartes, René (rənā` dākärt`), Lat.
..... Click the link for more information. in philosophy, and Pierre Corneille Corneille, Pierre (pyĕr kôrnā`yə)
..... Click the link for more information. in literature.

Bibliography

See V. L. Tapié, La France de Louis XIII et de Richelieu (1952); H. W. Chapman, Privileged Persons (1966).

Louis XIII

(born Sept. 27, 1601, Fontainebleau, France—died May 14, 1643, Saint-Germain-en-Laye) King of France (1610–43). He was the son of Henry IV and Marie de Médicis. His mother was regent until 1614 but continued to govern until 1617; she arranged Louis's marriage to the Spanish Anne of Austria in 1615. Resentful of his mother's power, Louis exiled her, but Cardinal de Richelieu, her principal adviser, reconciled them in 1620. In 1624 Louis made Richelieu his principal minister, and the two cooperated closely to make France a leading European power, consolidating royal authority in France and fighting to break the dominant rule of the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs in the Thirty Years' War. Pro-Spanish Catholic zealots led by Marie de Médicis appealed to Louis to reject Richelieu's policy of supporting the Protestant states, but Louis stood by his minister and his mother withdrew into exile. France declared war on Spain in 1635 and had won substantial victories by the time Richelieu died in 1642. Louis was succeeded by his son Louis XIV.

Louis XIII

1601--43, king of France (1610--43). His mother (Marie de M?dicis) was regent until 1617; after 1624 he was influenced by his chief minister Richelieu