Louis XIV was born in St.-Germain-en-Laye on Sept. 5, 1638. He was given the title le Dieudonné, the gift of God, at birth by hopeless Frenchmen after 20 years of barren marriage between Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. Louis XIV was later given other titles such as "Grand Monarch", "Louis the Great", and his most famous title le roi-soleil or the Sun King. He also boasted "L'état c'est moi", or that "I am the State". This is true because the in the region that he ruled the king had the highest political authority. During Louis XIV reign France outranked all other European nation in the fields of art, literature, war, and statesmanship. The 72 years of his rule saw the betterment of the French State.
             Louis XIV succeeded his father Louis XIII for the throne in 1643, when he was one 4 years old. During his minority the French State was managed by his mother Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin. Louis was brought up in a continual round of pious ceremonies by his mother. He was also a lover of the externals of religion. Louis was taught statecraft by his mother's minister, Cardinal Mazarin, who but more emphasis on diplomatic combinations than on thrift. Louis's mind was molded by the tensions and tragedies caused by the revolution that destroyed Charles I of England and by the 5 years of the Fronde which had raged in France. During the insecure years of the Fronde; Louis learned that a king need a powerful army as well as divine authority to rule. He as began to distrust the Parlement of Paris, the nobility of France, and the capital city but he later brought them in to subjection. Louis married to his cousin, Marie-Thérèse the Spanish Infanta, in June 1660. Louis's love!
             of Marie Mancini, the niece of Mazarin, was sacrificed for the political marriage. The marriage that gave France a small claim to the inheritance was the last achievem...