Louis XIII
koning van 1610 tot 1643, uit het Huis Bourbon , was een zoon van Hendrik IV en Maria de Médicis. Hij stond eerst onder het regentschap van zijn moeder (1610–1614) en liet daarna de regering over aan eerste ministers : maarschalk d'Ancre (tot 1617), hertog de Luynes (tot 1624), met name kardinaal de Richelieu (tot 1642) en kardinaal Mazarin (tot zijn dood). Van 1614 tot 1615 riep Lodewijk de laatste maal voor de Franse Revolutie de États-Généraux bijeen. Hij was gehuwd met Anna van Oostenrijk , dochter van Filips III van Spanje.
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Lodewijk was de zoon van koning Hendrik IV van Frankrijk. Na diens dood in 1610 werd hij op minderjarige leeftijd koning. Tot 1617 stond hij onder het voogdij van zijn moeder Maria de Medici. In 1615 trouwde hij met Anna van Oostenrijk.
Tijdens zijn regerinsperiode begon de uitbreiding van het absolutisme, met name door de beide leidingevende ministers Armand Jean Richelieu en na hem Jules Mazarin. Zij en niet de koning bepaalden de richtlijnen van de Franse politiek.
In 1614/15 vond er een laatste vergadering van de Staten-Generaal plaats, daarna werden de vertegenwoordigers van de standen van de Franse koningen tot 1789 niet meer bij elkaar geroepen. In 1617 kreeg eerst de favoriet van Lodewijk, de hertog van Luynes, toonaangevende invloed op de staatszaken (tot 1621). Kardinaal Richelieu werkte sinds 1624 systematisch aan de uitbreiding van de absolutistische macht van de koning, in zowel de binnenlandse als buitenlandse politiek aan het losmaken van Frankrijk uit de Habsburgse omklemming en de winning van de "natuurlijke grenzen" (Rijn en Pyreneeën). Lodewijk XIII steunde zijn politiek tegen de weerstand van de adel en hoofse kringen, maar daar hij streng kerkelijk gezind was, had hij moeite met de heroriëntering van de Franse buitenlandse politiek, onderleiding van Richelieu, door bondgenootschappen met protestanse machten, tegen Habsburg toe te stemmen. Na de dood van Richelieu in 1642 benoemde hij Mazarin tot leidinggevende minister.
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Louis XIII, byname LOUIS THE JUST, French LOUIS LE JUSTE (b. Sept. 27, 1601, Fontainebleau, Fr.--d. May 14, 1643, Saint-Germain-en-Laye), king of France from 1610 to 1643, who cooperated closely with his chief minister, the Cardinal de Richelieu, to make France a leading European power.
The eldest son of King Henry IV and Marie de Médicis, Louis succeeded to the throne upon the assassination of his father in May 1610. The Queen Mother was regent until Louis came of age in 1614; but she continued to govern for three years thereafter. As part of her policy of allying France with Spain, she arranged the marriage (November 1615) between Louis and Anne of Austria, daughter of the Spanish king Philip III. By 1617 the King, resentful at being excluded from power, had taken as his favourite the ambitious Charles d'Albert de Luynes, who soon became the dominant figure in the government. Louis exiled his mother to Blois; and in 1619-20 she raised two unsuccessful rebellions. Although Richelieu (not yet a cardinal), her principal adviser, reconciled her to Louis in August 1620, the relationship between the King and his mother remained one of thinly disguised hostility.
At the time of Luynes' death (December 1621) Louis was faced with a Huguenot rebellion in southern France. He took to the field in the spring of 1622 and captured several Huguenot strongholds before concluding a truce with the insurgents in October. Meanwhile, in September Richelieu had become a cardinal. Louis still distrusted Richelieu for his past association with Marie de Médicis, but he began to rely on the Cardinal's political judgment. In 1624 he made Richelieu his principal minister. (see also Index: Huguenot Wars)
Although Louis had displayed courage on the battlefield, his mental instability and chronic ill health undermined his capacity for sustained concentration on affairs of state. Hence Richelieu quickly became the dominant influence in the government, seeking to consolidate royal authority in France and break the hegemony of the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs. Immediately after the capture of the Huguenot rebel stronghold of La Rochelle in October 1628, Richelieu convinced the King to lead an army into Italy (1629); but his campaign increased tensions between France and the Habsburgs, who were fighting the Protestant powers in the Thirty Years' War. Soon the pro-Spanish Catholic zealots led by Marie de Médicis began appealing to Louis to reject Richelieu's policy of supporting the Protestant states. During the dramatic episode known as the Day of the Dupes (Nov. 10-12, 1630), the Queen Mother demanded that Louis dismiss Richelieu. After some hesitation, the King decided to stand by his minister; Marie de Médicis and Gaston, duc d'Orléans, Louis's rebellious brother, withdrew into exile. Thereafter Louis adopted the Cardinal's merciless methods in dealing with dissident nobles.
In May 1635, France declared war on Spain; and by August 1636 Spanish forces were advancing on Paris. Richelieu recommended evacuation of the city; but Louis, in a surprising display of boldness, overruled him. The King rallied his troops and drove back the invaders. Late in 1638 he suffered a crisis of conscience over his alliances with the Protestant powers, but Richelieu managed to overcome his doubts. Meanwhile, Anne of Austria, who had long been treated with disdain by her husband, had given birth (September 1638) to their first child, the dauphin Louis (the future Louis XIV). (see also Index: Franco-Spanish War)
In 1642, Louis's young favourite, the Marquis de Cinq-Mars, instigated the last major conspiracy of the reign by plotting with the Spanish court to overthrow Richelieu; revelation of Cinq-Mars's treason made Louis more dependent than ever on the Cardinal. By the time Richelieu died in December 1642, substantial victories had been won in the war against the Spaniards, and Louis was respected as one of the most powerful monarchs in Europe. The King succumbed to tuberculosis five months later. He was succeeded by his son Louis XIV.
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