Louis de France, Dauphin of France (1 November 1661 -
14 April 1711) was the eldest son and heir of
Louis XIV, King of France and of his spouse,
Maria Theresa of Spain. He was known as
le Grand Dauphin due to his large physical size.
Biography
Louis de France was born at the
Palace of Fontainebleau, the eldest son of the King and Queen of France and Navarre; he was later baptised at the chapel of the
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and was given his fathers name. As a
Fils de France (Son of France) he was entitled to the style of
Royal Highness and was the most important man in the kingdom directly after his father.
When Louis reached the age of seven, he was removed from the care of women and placed in the society of men. He received
Charles de Sainte-Maure, duc de Montausier as his governor and was tutored by
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, the great French preacher and orator. Despite many indications and reports of intelligence, Louis was perceived as lazy and indolent:
It was said that, when an adult, Louis could pass a whole day simply tapping his cane against his foot in an armchair. Nonetheless, Louis' generosity, affability and liberality gave him great popularity in Paris and with the French people in general.
Louis was one of six legitimate children of his parents; only one other would reach the age of 5,
Marie Thérèse of France. She died in March 1672 when Louis was 11. Her death affected the King and Queen greatly.
Louis had been engaged to his second cousin,
Duchess Maria Anna of Bavaria since he had been seven; Maria Anna was a year older then Louis and, upon arriving at the French court, was described as being very unattractive; she was a very cultured princess and was the daughter of
Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria and his wife
Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy.
Prior to the marriage to Louis, she had a proxy ceromony in Munich on
28 January 1680; the couple would meet for the first time on
7 March 1680 in
Chalons-sur-Marne.
Political and military role
Although he was permitted at first to attend and later to participate in the
Conseil d'en haut, he did not play a particularly important part in French politics. However, as the heir to the throne and, presumably, future king, Louis was constantly surrounded by cabals battling for future prominence. Apart from the minor political role he played during his father's reign, Louis engaged in more leisurely pursuits and was esteemed for his magnificent collection of art at
Versailles and his private establishment at
Meudon. Louis XIV purchased Meudon from the widow of Louvois. A brilliant period followed. The Dauphin employed
Jules Hardouin Mansart and the office of the
Bâtiments du Roi, but most particularly his long-term "house designer"
Jean Bérain head of the Menus Plaisirs, to provide new decors
He lived quietly at Meudon for the remainder of his life surrounded by his two half sisters
Marie Anne de Bourbon, whom he adored, and the
Princess of Condé who he also loved dearly. These three made up the main part of the
Cabal de Meudon which opposed the Dauphins son, Louis and his Savoyard wife the
Duchess of Burgundy.
Louis is said to have hunted wolves to extinction in the
Île-de-France.
During the
War of the Grand Alliance, he was sent in 1688 to the Rhineland front. Before leaving the court, Louis was thus instructed by his father:
"In sending you to command my army, I am giving you an opportunity to make known your merit; go and show it to all Europe, so that when I come to die it will not be noticed that the King is dead."
There Louis succeeded, under the tutelage of
Marshal de Duras and
Vauban, in taking one of the bridgeheads across the
Rhine,
Philippsburg, which was surrounded by marshes. Louis' courage was shown when he visited the soldiers in the inundated trenches under heavy fire to observe the progress of the siege. Montausier, his former governor, wrote to him thus:
"I shall not compliment you on the taking of Philippsburg; you had a good army, bombs, cannons and Vauban. I shall not compliment you because you are brave. That virtue is hereditary. But I rejoice with you that you have been liberal, generous, humane, and have recognised the services of those who did well."
The Grand Dauphin
Louis' capture of Philippsburg prevented the large gathering Imperial army from crossing the Rhine and invading
Alsace.
Louis' position in the
Conseil d'en haut gave him an opportunity to have his voice heard in the years and crises leading up to the
War of the Spanish Succession. From his mother, Louis had rights and claims to the Spanish throne. His uncle
Charles II of Spain had produced no descendants and, as he lay dying, had no heir to whom he could pass the throne. The choice of a successor was essentially split between the French and Austrian claimants. In order to improve the chances of a Bourbon succession, Louis gave up his rights in favour of his second son, Philippe, duc d'Anjou (later
Philip V of Spain), who, as second son, was not expected to succeed to the French throne, thus keeping France and Spain separate. Moreover, in the discussions in the
Conseil d'en haut regarding the French response to Charles II's last will and testament, which did indeed leave all Spanish possessions to Anjou, Louis persuasively argued for acceptance. He opposed those who advocated a rejection of the will and the adherence to the
Partition Treaty signed with
William III of England, even though that Treaty had awarded
Naples,
Sicily and
Tuscany to him.
Louis died of
smallpox on 11 April 1711, at the age of forty-nine, predeceasing his father.
Marriage and issue
Louis married
Duchess Maria Anna of Bavaria on 7 March 1680. A possible bride was the Italian
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, niece of
la Grande Mademoiselle. The Medici bride refused; thus Louis married his first cousin Maria Anna, known in France as
Dauphine Victoire. The couple had three sons
Legend has it that a prophecy told at his birth said that he would be "son of a king, father of a king, but never a king". This was thought to be fulfilled as he was the son of Louis XIV of France and father of
Philip V of Spain (who however prevailed in his claim only after his father's death) but did not himself become King.
Issue
Thus, through Burgundy and Anjou, Louis ensured the continuation of the senior Bourbon line on the throne of France and the establishment of the cadet Spanish Bourbon dynasty respectively.
Louis, on the death of his wife Maria Anna, secretly married
Marie Emilie Thérèse de Joly de Choin. However, his new wife did not acquire the status of "Dauphine", and the marriage was without issue.
He had two illegitimate daughters with
Françoise Pitel:
- Anne Louise de Bonbour (1695 - August 1716) - wife of Anne Errard d'Avaugour;
- Charlotte de Fleury (6 February 1697 - 1750) - wife of Gérard Michel de La Jonchère.
With another mistress, Marie Anne Caumont de La Force, he had one daughter:
Legacy
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania and
Dauphin, Pennsylvania, two towns in the USA, are both named for Louis.
The
Delphin Classics was a large edition of the
Latin classics, edited in the 1670s for Louis (
Delphin is the adjective derived from
dauphin) Thirty-nine scholars contributed to the series, which was edited by
Pierre Huet, with assistance from several co-editors including
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet and
Anne Dacier.
Ancestry
Louis' paternal grandparents were
Louis XIII of France and
Anne of Austria; he was descended, on his mother's side, from
Philip IV of Spain and
Élisabeth of France. Louis XIII and Élisabeth de Bourbon were siblings (the children of
Henry IV of France and
Marie de' Medici), as were Anne of Austria and Philip IV, who were the children of
Philip III of Spain and
Margaret of Austria. That means that he had only four great grandparents instead of the usual eight, and that his parents had the same coefficient of coancestry (1/8) as if they were half-siblings.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
