Louis XIII
King of France · 1610-1643 · born on 27 September 1601, died on 14 May 1643
A child anointed in 1610, Louis XIII first had to endure the regency of his mother Marie de’ Medici and the conspiracies of the high nobility. From 1624 he relied on Cardinal Richelieu, principal minister and man of trust.
Together they crushed the noble and Protestant rebellions (siege of La Rochelle, 1628) and asserted the reason of state. France entered the Thirty Years’ War against the Habsburgs: the victory of Rocroi (1643), won after his death, established French power in Europe.
A withdrawn and often sick king, Louis XIII nonetheless remained the master of a strengthened royal power: absolutism, which his son would carry to its summit, was put in place under his reign.
Key dates
- 1635: Founding of the Académie française
In the tree of power
- Era: Bourbons
- Predecessor: Henri IV (1589-1610)
- Successor: Louis XIV (1643-1715)
- Queen: Anne d'Autriche (1615-1643)