Louis XIV
Life and reign
The Sun King, whose reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a sovereign state that can be verified to the day. He built Versailles, tamed the nobility at its court, revoked toleration of Protestants in 1685 and fought three major wars. His patronage created French classicism and the model of the absolute monarch.
Related Monarchs and Houses
Hugh Capet
Elected king after the last Carolingian died, founding the Capetian dynasty. His direct and cadet lines, Capet, Valois and...
Philip II Augustus
Transformed the French monarchy from a weak principality into the strongest power in western Europe. He took Normandy from King...
Louis IX
Canonized within thirty years of his death, the only French king made a saint. He bought the crown of thorns and built the...
Henry IV of France
First Bourbon king, a Protestant who converted to Catholicism with the famous remark that Paris was worth a mass. The Edict of...