Louis XIV

by Ian Dunlop

Book Overview

Setting in motion events that would ultimately bring his nation to military and fiscal ruin-and his dynasty to a bloody end-Louis XIV also established France as the preeminent and, to this day,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312261969
• ISBN13: 9780312261962
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A monarch for all seasons, and then some

I once read that Louis XIV would hold court with his advisors and other notables while receiving his daily enema, making him sort of a public "enema of the people." Maybe that's what was wrong with the French monarchy. The author seems to agree with me that Louis did have his problems, not the least of which is the eponymous condition, Dunlap's disease (note the similarity to our author's name), which Louis had also. Asked once whether he was gaining weight, Louis replied, "It done lapped over my belt." And the rest, as they say, is history...

Well-Rounded Portrait Of The Sun King

I found this to be a very well thought out, and well-written, biography. In the space of less than 500 pages we are given a very complete picture of a remarkable man, a man who came to the throne as a child and was king from 1643 until his death in 1715. The author is admirably even-handed. Louis' faults are not ignored: In his youth and up until middle-age he was an inveterate womanizer. When he was through with a mistress, she was carted off to a convent. (There was a joke making the rounds at the time that the quickest way to salvation for a woman was via the King's bed!) Louis also had an inordinate fondness for war and glory. Besides the obvious cost in lives for soldiers of all the countries involved in these conflicts, France was bankrupted. This did not stop Louis from building and renovating- Versailles; Marly; Fontainebleau, etc. One of the many strengths of this book is that Mr. Dunlop can rightfully criticize this irresponsible behavior and profligate spending; then, he can turn right around and describe the architectural splendor, the beautiful gardens and fountains, etc. For, as Montesquieu asked: "Who could have told that the King established the greatness of France by building Versailles and Marly?" Another glaring "negative" in the rule of The Sun King was his persecution of the Huguenots, via his 1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. But without making excuses or trying to justify what Louis did, Mr. Dunlop puts this in perspective. To quote the author: "Tolerance enjoys a high moral status in Western civilisation today, but it exists in inverse proportion to a general decline in commitment to any creed or moral code. Total tolerance denies, in effect, the possibility of any objective truth in either religion or ethics. Intolerance, a logical outcome of total commitment or total conviction, is therefore more typical of the seventeenth century because of the often fanatical firmness with which the differing faiths were held." Likewise, regarding Louis' fondness for the ladies, the author shows us both the weakness of Louis in his giving in (often!) to temptation but also shows us the difficulties involved in resisting.... If you are brought up to believe that you are God's anointed, could you refuse the advances of beautiful, intelligent, charming women...some of whom were quite ruthless in the means they used to get a previous mistress out of the way? For bedding the King wasn't only a romantic achivement- the families of these women would "egg them on," hoping to gain political influence at court. Louis was aware that people were trying to use him, and he was always on his guard. This book is a wonderful blend of the political, the philosophical, the religious and the military aspects of Louis' reign....as well as containing much enjoyable material on the architecture and the gardens of the royal residences. The mistresses, the gossip and the hypocrisy and political infighting at court are certainly not neglected! Wi

Louis XIV, a brilliant biography

'Louis XIV' by Ian Dunlop is the perfect biography. That is, when the author enjoys such a visceral feeling for his subject, that he, she is able to translate to a reader, the true human and spiritual qualities. An ideal inner life portrayed, not clouded by descriptions and bogus historical data. Not that Ian Dunlop doesn't reveal a myriad of well reseached events, though here, luckily, his scholastic duties never get on the way of showing us intimately his grand and real Bourbon king. There are familiar themes though this time narrated by a very virile mind (is this politically correct?) Dunlop is here concerned historically with many political and military vignettes that at times I found hard to grasp. My fault, not Dunlop's. He's more at easy discribing military stuff, than he is at gossiping with Louise de la Valliere, the Mancini, or Madame de Montespan. Everything about La Fronde is brilliantly accounted. At last I got to really know Anne Marie Luise d'Orleans, La grande Mademoiselle. And her tortured relationship with her cousin. That dreamy king of France. Kind, young, handsome, alluring, noble. Who was incongruously happiest at war camps, fighting his own battles. And many battles were wrought, a sinister epecter borne that will cost France later, much blood. All the political and military unfold in an articulate and lucid manner. Dunlop, by nature not a gossip, nevertheless reveals triumphantly the filial relationship with the young king's mother, Anne of Austria. La Montespan appears as rackish and fascinating as ever. I'm intrigued, have a thing, for Madame de Maintenon, and don't you know I read her pages two or three times. Ladies, keep an eye on your baby sitters. Dunlap channels her with a new and sober elan. It's all here St Cyr, everything. I repeat, this is a great biography, sober, but never dull.Characters that emerge and quickly demand a life. For those who like froth buy this book and read about the young Marie-Adelaide de Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne, who like a contemporary rock star, suddenly appears at Versailles quickly inflowing the dimming life of the king. Abruptly, a new source of fascination. Notice the disparity between the arresting macabre Marquise de Maintenon, the morganatic wife. And this silly emerging butterfly. All at 17thc Versailles! The rare read, a new biography with virtuosity.For more reading check out 'The Memoirs of the Duke de Saint Simon' Also a superb colletion, 'False Dawn, women in the age of the Sun King' by Louis Auchincloss

A very competent treatment

I have long wanted to read a biography of Louis XIV and when I saw this new one I decided I had to read it. I think it does a very good job, and shows that there were good things about Louis XIV as well as bad. I have know since I was a child that he was succeeded by his great-grandson, and this book makes that knowledge meaningful, as it tells of the deaths of his son and grandson not too long before Louis's own death on Sept 1, 1715. Does someone know of a good biography of Louis XV?

First-Rate history

A brilliant consideration of the troubled Louis. A "must read" effort.