History
The Dogtanian
animation produced by BRB did contain several historical similarities
to Alexandre Dumas's novel The Three Musketeers, which
in turn drew on certain items from the pages of history.
Although
Dumas set his story in the first half of the 17th century, there
was a real-life Musketeer named d'Artagnan who served
the French crown during the reign of King Louis IV, from 936 to 954. The other three Musketeers
of the story, Porthos, Athos and Aramis,
are also said to have been real people.
Louis XIII (1601-1643), by Vouet.
The real-life
Louis XIII (1601-1643) was born in Fontainbleau,
the son of King Henry IV, whom in the animation
Dogtanian's father and M. Tréville had fought alongside.
After King Henry IV
was assassinated
in 1610, Louis succeeded to the throne under the regency of his
mother, Marie de' Medici (1573-1642). He married Anne of Austria
in 1615. Even after being declared of age in 1614, he was excluded
from affairs of state by his domineering mother. In 1617 he caused
the assassination of her minister Concino Concini, with the aid
of his own favourite, Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes, and Marie
de' Medici was forced into retirement. He was reconciled to her
in 1622 and entrusted the government to her protégé,
Cardinal Richelieu, two years later. In 1630, urged by his mother
to discharge Richelieu, he instead sent his mother again into
exile. Melancholy and retiring by nature, Louis thenceforth gave
full support to Richelieu, and the Cardinal strengthened royal
authority and centralized government control. Louis's reign was
remarkable for the establishment of the French Academy and for
the work of St. Francis of Sales and St. Vincent de Paul in religion,
René Descartes in philosophy, and Pierre Corneille in literature.
He died in 1643 leaving his son, King Louis XIV (1638-1715) to expand the glories of
France even further.
Anne of Austria (1601-1666)
Louis'
queen, Anne of Austria (1601-1666), was born in Spain,
the daughter of King Phillip III (1578-1621). She was known as Anne of Austria through
her mother Margaret, who was a member of the Austrian Hapsburg
family. She married King Louis XIII in November 1615 when they were both just fourteen.
She was neglected by her husband and sought the society of the
court intriguer, Mme de Chevreuse. Anne's indiscretion, especially
her flirtation with the English Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628),
injured her reputation. Her loyalty to Spain and her strong Roman
Catholic background made her suspect after France's alliance in
1635 with the Protestant nations in the Thirty Years War; she
was accused of treasonable correspondence with Spain by Richelieu
but was pardoned in 1637. Contrary to the express wish of her
husband before his death she was granted by parlement full powers
as regent for her son in 1643. She entrusted the government to
Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602-1661), Richelieu's successor, whom
she supported during the wars of the Fronde in France. After Mazarin's
death her son took personal control of the government and excluded
her from participation in affairs of state.
Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1643), by Philippe de Champagne
The real
name of Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1643) was Armand Jean
du Plessis. He was born in Paris and took the name Richelieu from
his family's estate. Consecrated bishop of Luçon in
1607, he was a delegate of the clergy to the States-General, a
sort of parliament, in 1614. In 1616, through the favour of Marie
de' Medici, he became a secretary of state. He went into exile
with Marie after the king freed himself from her influence with
the aid of the duc de Luynes. The death of Luynes in 1621 and
the reconciliation of King Louis XIII and Marie restored Richelieu to favour.
In 1622 he was made a cardinal, and he became chief minister in
1624. The growing jealousy of Marie and the great nobles endangered
his position, and in 1630 Marie supported a conspiracy against
him. She was unable to win the king's support, however, and was
exiled. Richelieu then had full control of the government. His
domestic policy aimed at consolidating and centralizing royal
authority, which had as its corollary the destruction of the power
of the Huguenots and the great nobles. The Huguenots were humbled
by the capture of La Rochelle (1628); the peace of Alais in 1629
ended their special political privileges—without, however,
denying them religious toleration. Conspiracies of the nobles,
who invariably found a figurehead in the king's brother Gaston
d'Orléans (1608-1660), were rigorously suppressed. In foreign
affairs, Richelieu reacted against Marie de' Medici's pro-Hapsburg
diplomacy in favor of the traditional French anti-Spanish and
anti-Austrian policy. To this end he strengthened the army and
the navy, made alliances with the Netherlands and the German Protestant
states, and subsidized King Gustavus II of Sweden against the Holy Roman Emperor
in the Thirty Years War. In 1635 he formed an active alliance
with Sweden and Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, and France entered the
Thirty Years War. Although Richelieu died before the peace was
signed in 1648 the terms agreed to were in general conformity
to his aims. In France, the war resulted in heavy taxation; this,
combined with Richelieu's poor management of finances, depleted
the treasury and caused dissatisfaction with his rule. Overseas,
however, he encouraged commercial capitalism, organizing companies
to trade in the Indies and Canada. He was a patron of the arts
and the founder of the French Academy.
The aftermath
of the French Monarchy
After the reign
of King Louis XIII
ended in 1643,
France entered the period of its greatest glory but at the same
time was subjected to an increasingly poor financial state, brought
about by a prolonged period of war. There was also the beginning
of the Age of Reason, brought about by the philosophes
such as Voltaire (1694-1778) and Montesquieu (1689-1755), who
preached against the tyrrany of absolute monarchy. Eventually
this would lead to revolution.
King Louis XIV took personal control
of his government as an autocrat upon Mazarin's death in 1661.
His long reign not only saw France become the new European centre
of culture with buildings such as the magnificent Palace of Versailles
(completed 1683), but also become ever more aggressive in the
king's attempts to dominate Europe, an ideal he passed on to his
successors. He fought the Dutch Republic in a war from 1668 to
1678, and fear of French expansion led several powers to join
against France in a second war from 1688 to 1697. Near the end
of his reign there was the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713),
a war that finally frustrated Louis' efforts to control Europe.
His great-grandson
and successor, King Louis XV (1710-1774), succeeded in 1715 and his reign saw
further wars and financial trouble for France, most notably in
the war of the Austrian Succession (1740-1747), and the Seven
Years war (1756-1763). The writings of the philosophes
grew more politically intense during his reign. By the time his
own grandson, King Louis XVI (1754-1793) came to the throne in 1774, the situation
was dire, but this did not stop France entering the American War
of Independence (1776-1781), the most costly war of the period,
helping the colonists defeat the English. By 1788 the country
was practically bankrupt, and this led to a chain of constitutional
events that brought revolution to Paris, and the king's handling
of the situation caused his overthrow and execution in 1793. France
was then a republic until the general Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
seized power, first as consul from 1799, then Emperor from 1804.
His rule ended in 1815 after defeat by European powers, and France
would again experiment with monarchy (1815-1848), and then a second
Empire (1852-1870) before quashing both.
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THIS
PAGE WAS CREATED BY R G COLLINS 1998. LAST UPDATED 17TH OCTOBER
2001.