This day was the only one whose mastery has escaped the Great King, he who wanted the almighty officer of his kingdom. Examine the scope of the death of Louis XIV led to reconsider this very long reign in terms of the political project that the prince himself had designed. This book gives to understand what goes out with the Sun King and who continues his work. What is the singular greatness of the age of Louis XIV? The glory, the king of war, the "state machine", the factory of royal culture: that sovereign elevated the prestige of the French monarchy at the peak of its influence; he completed installing the administrative apparatus of the old regime by including it in the gene pool of our institutions; he erected the "state secrets" method of government and merges the glory of his sacred figure even in the humblest cottage. It was an inordinate ambition that the tests will eventually disrupt. What a contrast between the young monarch, ardent reformer in the "Colbert years," which leaves its mark to all forms of creation in the excitement of a Versailles Baroque and festive, and the old king proven by endless wars in the Prancing devotion chasing the enemies of the faith! The death of Louis XIV closes a chapter in the history of royalty and opens another: at the dawn of the Enlightenment, it is the "how" of this monarch is also a certain conception of authority which died with him.

Author : Joel Cornette
Editor : Gallimard
384 pages
Language : French
Date of release : 07/08/2015