Louis XIV reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from 14 May
1643 until his death. He was a minor when he inherited the Crown; he
did not actually assume personal control of the government until the
death of his chief minister, Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661. Louis,
who is known as "The Sun King" and as "Louis the Great", ruled
France
for seventy-two years - a longer reign than any other French or other
major European monarch. Louis attempted to increase the power of
France in Europe, fighting four major wars - the War of Devolution, the
Dutch War, the War of the Grand Alliance and the War of the Spanish
Succession. He worked successfully to create an absolutist and
centralised state; he is often cited as an example of an enlightened
despot. He is supposed to have once remarked, "L'état, c'est
moi!" (I am the state!), but this quotation is most likely
apocryphal.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France
Today's selected anniversaries:
1470 The Earl of Warwick restored Henry VI of England to the
throne during the Wars of the Roses.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neville%2c_16th_Earl_of_Warwick)
1831 After months of hiding, African American slave Nat Turner
was captured and arrested for leading a brutally suppressed
slave rebellion.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner)
1961 Tsar Bomba, a Soviet hydrogen bomb, was detonated over
Novaya Zemlya Island in the Arctic Sea; it was the largest
nuclear weapon ever detonated.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba)
1974 At the Rumble in The Jungle, Muhammad Ali knocked out
George Foreman.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rumble_in_the_Jungle)
1995 In a referendum, the province of Quebec voted 50.6% in
favour of remaining a part of Canada.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Quebec_referendum)
Wikiquote of the day:
"The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are
creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, - and the activity
of making them, changes both the maker and the destination." ~ John
Schaar
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Schaar)