Louis XIII

Louis XIII (27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) ruled France from 1610 until his death, and was also King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 until that crown merged with France’s in 1620. He became king just before his ninth birthday, following the assassination of his father Henry IV. His mother, Marie de’ Medici, governed as regent while he was still a child. Poor administration and endless political scheming by Marie and her Italian favorites pushed the young king to seize control in 1617. He sent his mother into exile and had her supporters, including the influential Italian courtier Concino Concini, executed.

Louis XIII was a quiet, distrustful man who leaned heavily on his chief ministers—first Charles d’Albert, duc de Luynes, and later Cardinal Richelieu—to run the kingdom. Together, the king and the cardinal founded the Académie française and crushed the rebellion of the French nobility. They systematically tore down the castles of defiant lords and condemned private violence such as dueling, carrying weapons, and maintaining private armies. By the late 1620s, Richelieu had made “the royal monopoly of force” the guiding principle of the state. Louis’s reign also saw conflicts with the Huguenots and with Habsburg Spain.

Born at the Palace of Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of Henry IV and his second wife, Marie de’ Medici. As the king’s eldest son, he was a Fils de France and the Dauphin. His father was the first Bourbon king of France, having succeeded his second cousin Henry III under Salic law. Louis’s paternal grandparents were Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme, and Jeanne d’Albret, Queen of Navarre. His maternal grandparents were Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. His godmother was his maternal aunt, Eleonora de’ Medici. As a child, he was raised by royal governess Françoise de Montglat and his physician, Jean Héroard.

In 1619, Sir Edward Herbert, the English ambassador to France, presented his credentials to Louis and noted the king’s severe stutter and double row of teeth. Herbert wrote that Louis spoke very little because he stammered so badly that he would sometimes hold his tongue out of his mouth for a long time before uttering a single word. The king also rarely spat, blew his nose, or sweated much, despite being very active and nearly tireless in his favorite pastimes of hunting and hawking.

Louis XIII became king in 1610 after his father’s assassination, and his mother Marie de’ Medici served as regent. Although he came of age at thirteen in 1614, Marie did not surrender her regency until 1617, when he was sixteen. She kept most of her husband’s ministers, except for the unpopular Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully. Her main advisers were Nicolas de Neufville, seigneur de Villeroy; Noël Brûlart de Sillery; and Pierre Jeannin. Marie followed a moderate policy, confirming the Edict of Nantes, but could not prevent rebellions by nobles like Henri, Prince of Condé, who was second in line to the throne after Marie’s second surviving son, Gaston, Duke of Orléans. Condé clashed with Marie in 1614 and briefly raised an army, but found little support, and Marie raised her own forces. She agreed to call an Estates General to address Condé’s complaints.

That assembly was delayed until Louis’s thirteenth birthday, when he formally came of age. Even so, Marie remained the real ruler. The Estates General achieved little, debating France’s relationship with the Papacy and the sale of offices without reaching any decisions.

From 1615, Marie relied increasingly on Concino Concini, an Italian who became her favorite and was widely hated as a foreigner. This angered Condé further, and he launched another rebellion in early 1616. Huguenot leaders backed Condé, leading the young Louis to believe they would never be loyal. Condé and Marie made peace with the Treaty of Loudun on 3 May 1616, giving Condé great power but leaving Concini in place. On 1 September, after nobles grew more dissatisfied with Concini’s influence, Marie—with Louis’s help—imprisoned Condé to protect Concini, sparking fresh revolts. Encouraged by Charles d’Albert, the Grand Falconer, and others, Louis decided to break with his mother and arrest Concini. On 24 April 1617, during the attempted arrest, Concini was killed. His widow, Leonora Dori Galigaï, was tried for witchcraft, condemned, beheaded, and burned on 8 July 1617. Marie was exiled to Blois. Louis later made Charles d’Albert the Duke of Luynes.

Luynes soon became as unpopular as Concini had been. Other nobles resented his hold on the king, and he was seen as less competent.