Louis XIV路易十四资料

Louis XIV
born: Sept. 5, 1638, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
died: Sept. 1, 1715, Versailles
Louis XIV - the Sun King
Louis-Dieudonné de France
Introduction
Louis XIV of France ranks as one of the most remarkable monarchs in history. He reigned for 72 years, 54 of them he personally controlled French government. The 17th century is labeled as the age of Louis XIV. Since then his rule has been hailed as the supreme example of a type of government - absolutism. He epitomized the ideal of kingship. During his reign France stabilized and became one of the strongest powers in Europe.
During his reign France became the ideal culture since he put great care into its enhancement so he could boast it to the world. The country changed drastically from savage mediaeval ways to a more refined, exquisite living - evident from his palace in Versailles. Within 54 years he did what several kings worked on for centuries. French culture became one of the most appealing in the world, and the name Louis XIV has been associated with greatness and glory.
Louis XIV was a great monarch, and he was capable of maintaining strong kingdom because he never, in his entire life, doubted his right to be king.
His autocracy was indeed amazing, and truly an example of the kind. He lived and ruled as a king should have. Louis XIV became the ideal king, and many have tried unsuccessfully to live up to his glory.
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great and The Sun King, inherited the throne when he was four years old, and was a neglected child taken care of by servants while Cardinal Mazarin governed the country.
Louis was nine years old when the nobles and the Paris Parlement rose against the authority of the crown in 1648. During a period of several civil wars, Louis suffered poverty, fear, humiliation, and hunger. He never forgave the nobles or the common people. Upon taking control of France, Louis had two goals -- he wanted power and fame. In his Memoires, he wrote:
"In my heart I prefer fame above all else, even life itself. . . Love of glory has the same subtleties as the most tender passions . . . In exercising a totally
divine function here on earth, we must appear incapable of turmoils which could debase it."
At age 23, following the death of Cardinal Mazarin, Louis informed his ministers that he intended to assume all responsibility for ruling France. He wanted to control everything, and the smallest detail did not escape his attention.
To centralize his control, Louis built splendid palaces at Saint-Germain, Marly and Versailles. Because pensions and punishments had not controlled the nobles in the past, he now lured them to his court, corrupted them with gambling, kept them busy with court etiquette, festivals, games, hunting and other amusements, and made their destinies dependent on their ability to please him.
France was made self-sufficient by the encouragement of manufacturing. With the aid of capable ministers, Louis built a navy and merchant marine, a modern police force, roads, ports, and canals.
Louis was a patron of the arts, and established the Academy of Painting and Sculpture (1655) and the Academy of Architecture (1671). He gave pensions to writers, and ordered them to sing his praises. The spectacular Court of Louis XIV enhanced French prestige throughout Europe. Foreign monarchs attempted to imitate him, and even adopted French as the accepted language at court.
Louis's desire for power led to a series of wars that lasted for many years and extended the boundaries of France. The extravagent building projects at Versailles and almost constant wars were paid for by the people of France in the form of heavy taxes, and many soldiers lost their lives on the battlefield. Louis died in 1715 at the age of 77. He had achieved the power and fame he desired, and at the time of his death, was greatly disliked by the people of France.
Both Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet were born during the reign of Louis XIV. Emilie's father had the position of Introducer of Ambassadors at the Court of Versailles, and this position placed her among the highest of French noble society.
Voltaire was particularly impressed by Louis XIV who honored poets, writers, and artists, and he spent more than five years writing a history of Louis' reign titled, The Age of Louis XIV.This work, published in 1751, was the most researched and carefully prepared of Voltaire's works. He began work on this project in 1734 while at the Chateau Cirey, put it aside in 1738, and resumed work on it in 1750 when he was at the Court of Frederick the Great in Prussia. For it he read 200 books and reams of unpublished memoirs. He consulted with
scores of people who give accounts of what happened at Louis' Court, and in the archives at Versailles, he studied the original papers of Louis' ministers, and the manuscripts left by Louis himself.
Voltaire's The Age of Louis XIV established a new way of writing history. Prior to this work, history books were an account of political and military history. To these topics, Voltaire added the history of the achievements of the great artists, writers, and builders of the day in order to achieve a better understanding of the era. This new approach to writing history was adopted by many historians who later followed Voltaire's example.
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contribution
King Louis XIV contributed to history by achieving abosulte power and having a strong military, but more importantly it was his effect on history that is remembered. After his rule he left france in debt from from so many wars.
King Louis had a purely aesthetic
taste. His tastes were refined and his contributions to the cultural heritage of France were immeasurable. He was a connoisseur of art and specifically encouraged writers, whom he accurately envisaged to be some of the greatest names in the history of French literature, including the likes of Moliere and Racine.
Another field of interest for King Louis was the field of architecture. The Palace of Versailles was built during his great reign and till this date, is one of the most exquisitely built architectural monuments in France.
Other than that, King Louis was quite an altruistic emperor by nature –be it in terms of sophistication, culture, elegance, grace or opulence. His refinement was such a marvel that its fame reached other parts of the world becoming an established wonder for other civilizations to be covetous about. He also played a great role in promoting the Catholic faith.
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Influence
When Louis XIV was crowned his interest in dancing was strongly supported and encouraged by Italian-born Cardinal Mazarin, (formerly Mazarini), who assisted Louis XIV. The young king made his ballet debut as a boy, but it was in 1653 as a teenager that he accomplished his most memorable feat as a dancer. He performed a series of dances in Le Ballet de la Nuit and for his final piece he appeared as Apollo, god of the sun. Wearing a fancy golden Roman-cut corselet and a kilt of golden rays he came to be known as the Sun King.
Cardinal Mazarin promoted Italian influences in the French spectacle. The ballet master he imported from Italy was Giovanni Baptista Lulli, who was rechristened Jean Baptiste Lully for work in France. Lully became one of the king's favorite dancers and rivaled the king as the best dancer in France.
In 1661 Louis established the Académie Royale de Danse in a room of the Louvre, the world's first ballet school. Also in 1661 he attended a party put on by the finance minister to show off his new home in the country. The entertainment was Molière's ballet Les Fâcheaux which pleased the king to no end, although he thought that the finance minister was a treasonous servant. As it turned out, the finance minister was arrested, and the ballet master, the home's architect, and the gardener were hired by the king.
At court, Molière and Lully collaborated, with Molière choreographing and Lully composing the music for ballets. Pierre Beauchamps, another ballet master, also worked with them choreographing interludes in the dramatic parts. Beauchamps eventually was named "superintendent of the king's ballets" in the dance school that Louis established in 1661 and is now one of the most famous of the "fathers" of ballet. It is Beauchamps who has been given credit for standardizing the five foot positions of ballet, (first through fifth positions).
In 1669 Louis, (still Louis XIV), established the Académie Royale de Musique for Lully to run. Then, in 1670 the king, past his physical prime, retired from dancing, allowing other, better dancers to take lead roles.
In 1672 Lully established a dance academy within the Académie Royale de Musique. This dance company survives today as the ballet of the Paris Opera - the world's oldest continuously running ballet company.
Lully's seriousness towards the study of dance led to the development of professional dancers as opposed to courtiers who could dance. Up until 1681 ballet was performed almost exclusively by men. Then, in 1681 Lully staged Le Triomphe de l'Amour, featuring Mademoiselle de Lafontaine,
(1665-1738), one of four ballerinas in the production; we do not know who the other three ballerinas were. Since this time, Lafontaine has been hailed as the "Queen of Dance."
In 1687 Lully died from an injury he received by accidentally stabbing his foot with his time marking stick. At this time, ballet was normally performed in the same productions as opera, a theatrical form known as opéra-ballet. The music academy that Lully had run set the standard in the opéra-ballet, which people attended as much, if not more, for the dancing as for the music, and the composer of one opéra-ballet, L'Europe Galante, (1697), suggested making the opéra-ballet more popular by lengthening the dances and shortening the skirts of the now common female dancers.
In 1700 Choréographie, ou l'art de décrire la danse was published by Raoul Auger Feuillet. This book wrote down both conventions of stage and ballroom dancing and attempted to create a dance notation similar to music. Although this notation was never finalized and standardized, it is the system that is still in use today as no other system has been developed. The word choréographie gives us the English word choreography and is derived from the greek khorea, (to dance), and graphein, (to write). By 1700 many of the words and movements common in today's ballet were already in use, including jeté, sissone, chassé, entrechat, pirouette, and cabriole.
In 1713 the Paris opera established its own dance school, which taught a technique based on Feuillet's writings. Two years after this, in 1715, King Louis XIV died.
In 1725 The Dancing Master was published by Pierre Rameau, (1674-1748), a former dance master for the queen of Spain. In his book Rameau formally documented the five foot positions for the first time. At this time French dance concentrated on well-mannered lordly elegance where Italian dance was full of acrobatic vitruosity. Also, in France the dance sections of the opéra-ballet continued the story, whereas in Italy they were simply dances put in to give the audience a break from the singing.
In 1735 Rameau put on an opéra-ballet called Les Indes Galantes, based on a theme of four romances in different exotic locations. In this production the dancers were definitely doing ballet, as the ballroom and ballet dance forms were now recognized as separate, and it was recognized that turning out the legs had become much more important in ballet, although it was still desirable in ballroom dancing. Now, ballet requires almost flat turnout and in ballroom turnout is not really necessary at all.
Some prominent male dancers of the time were Michel Blondy, (1677-1747), and Claude Balon, (1676-1739), who may have inspired the term ballon for light jumps. Women were still in the shadow of men at this time, because they started dancing later and they had to wear huge heavy costumes. Some of the leading female dancers were Marie-Thérèse de Subligny, (1666-1735), and Franoise Prévost, (1680-1741). These two ladies became known as France's Queen of Dance as they reached their primes, and they danced with the likes of Blondy and Balon. Prévost made her claim to fame by choreographing a solo called Les charactès de la Danse depicting several romances - in which sh e played both parts. Two of her pupils, Marie Sallé, (1701-1756), and Marie-Anne de Cupis de Carmargo, (1710-1770), performed this piece.
Sallé became famous for her incredible ability to portray character. Because of this she transformed her teacher's solo into a duet, allowing her to interact dramatically with her partner. Carmargo, or La Carmargo as she was known, pursued pure dance. In the solo, she concentrated on the jumps and developed the "beating" steps, or batterie. Both La Carmargo and Sallé con tributed to shortening the ballerina's dress by performing in shorter skirts, (the were just barely above the ankle). In their shorter skirts, the ballerinas had to wear calçons de précaution, ("precautionary "), so that the audience would not see anything inappropriate.
In 1739 Barbara Campanini, (1721-1799), came to Paris from Italy and became well known as "La Barbarina." Where La Carmargo could do an excellent entrechat-quatre, a jump in which the legs cross each other, or "beat", twice, La Barbarina could do an entrechat-huit, a jump with four beats. /21702/h6.html
Wars
Mazarin instructed Louis in the areas of law, kingship and politics till his death in 1661. Two revolts in 1648 and 1653 called to Fronde forced Louis to bring reform to France. The Franco-Spanish treaty ended France's war with Spain and gave them land in the south. France's predominance in Europe had begun. After Mazarin died in 1661 Louis XIV began to rule himself and alone.
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fun facts
The longest reigning monarch in history was Pepi II, who ruled Egypt for 90 years; 2566 to 2476 BC. The second longest was France's Louis XIV, who ruled for 72 years, 1643 to 1715.
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How many beds did Louis XIV have?
Fact: 413 beds.
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King Louis XIV of France hated washing. He took only three baths during his lifetime (1638–1715).
1.Louis the XIV had fourteen personal wigmakers and 1,000 wigs.
2.Louis XIV insisted that none of his courtiers sit in chairs with
arms
3.Louis XIV of France once had an unfortunate experience while putting
on a sock--his toe fell off.
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Interesting & Fun Facts about Chateau de Versailles
∙In 1685, 36,000 people and 6,000 horses started the construction work of the 500 meters long palace, which took altogether 50 years.
∙When Chateau de Versailles was built, Versailles was only a country village. However, it has now developed into a suburb of Paris.
∙On October 8, 1789, a group of townspeople, especially the women, marched up to the palace and demanded bread.
∙When Chateau de Versailles was completed, it could accommodate up to 5,000 people, including servants.
∙The chateau is famous because it served as the residence of King Louis XIV and his queen, Marie Antoinette. Together, they ruled
over France for many years till they were overthrown.
∙Chateau de Versailles is one of the most extravagant buildings in the whole world.
∙The chateau is one of the largest palaces in the world. It has more than 700 rooms, 2000 windows, 1250 fireplaces, 67 staircases and
more than 1800 acres of park.
∙The palace is open everyday, except Mondays, from 9 am to 5.30 pm
(6.30 pm, from May 2nd to September 30th).
∙The Versailles Park is open daily, from 7 or 8 pm. Its access is free.
∙The paintings, tapestries, sculptures and furniture of this fabulous palace, have been executed by the best Italian and French
artists of the time.
∙The palace of Versailles, including the famous Hall of Mirrors, has been imitated many times throughout Europe, during the 18th
century.
∙In the Hall of Mirrors, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, after World War I.
∙Versailles is famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy.
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Parmentier helped King Louis XIV popularize the potato in France in the 18th century. Parmentier created a feast with only potato dishes,
a concept he realized was possible when he was imprisoned in Germany
and fed only potatoes. Benjamin Franklin, ambassador to France, was in attendance of Parmentier's feast in 1767.
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Fact 1: When the Palace of Versailles was completed, it could accomodate up to 5,000 people, including servants. Fact 2: On October 8, 1789, a group of townspeople, especially the women, marched up to the palace and demanded bread.。