What King Louis XIII really was, and why he does not look like the movie hero Tabakov

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The idea of Ludovik the Just is formed by many, if not from the Soviet film about the Musketeers with the not very young Tabakov, then at least from the book that formed the basis of the film. But both there and there the image of the king gives very little idea of how he looked, behaved in life, what he was interested in and from what one of the most famous (thanks to Dumas) French kings suffered.

The gloomy child and the difficult teenager

Louis grew up at a time when children were raised with rods. And no whipping boys were given to him. If the five-year-old prince behaved too playfully at the table, the king-father only had to mention the rods or show them to keep the baby quiet. On the character of the boy, clearly very impressionable, the upbringing by beatings did not affect in the best way.

Louis grew up as a very irritable and gloomy child and took off his anger, brutally killing birds found in the garden, especially chicks (which could not fly away from the nest). Nevertheless, the influence of the mentor, a great humanist (by the standards of his time) Vauquelin des Ivetoes, somewhat smoothed out the cruelty of parenting. Vauquelin admitted that Louis is very domineering and impossible to control, so he tried to talk and ask the prince questions that would make him think. Judging by the fact that Louis was later called the Fair, the educator succeeded.

At nine years old, Louis became an orphan and became king, but in fact, his mother and her favorite ruled. They picked up a bride for Louis - his approximate age, Anna of Austria, one of the most beautiful girls in Europe. Both Louis and Anna were teenagers with character, and these characters did not work out with each other. After the wedding night, Louis barely talked with his wife, and even more so did not visit her chambers. This, it seems, did not bother Anna much, since she did not really like the gloomy boy either. Nevertheless, on principle, she remained faithful to her husband, although Cardinal Richelieu tried to fool her, clearly dreaming, like his predecessor, to gain power through the queen.

However, that was later. Louis first had to fight with his own mother to be allowed to rule the country. It was for political reasons that Cardinal Richelieu appeared in the palace immediately after Louis received real power, a dry, tough man, but a patriot and, moreover, shared in general the values of the young king. And many did not like this choice of the young man. But Louis, as always, did not care who liked him or not.

Louis XIII was not a fan of luxury

Louis was never a tough boy. Since childhood, he suffered from many diseases - seizures similar to epileptic ones, itching of the skin, due to which he scratched to ulcers, and chronic inflammation of the small intestine. He was also of a rather delicate build. Possibly poor health and not-so-athletic appearance discouraged Anna from trying to please him. In the end, Louis died, by the way, of Crohn's disease, which affects the stomach - as did the husband of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert.

Nevertheless, despite his problems, Louis was never a pampered boy or a man, and even on the contrary, by the standards of his time and in the scale of his capabilities, he was ascetic. He preferred the simplest dark clothes (although, of course, made of good fabric and fashionable cuts) and loved to work with his hands.

Louis always personally dressed, shaved and washed his long dark curls. Sometimes I personally made the bed. Skin disease made him prone to cleanliness and picky about the quality of the fabrics, so that he represented in some way the opposite of his son. In general, in caring for his appearance, he was no worse than any professional and once shaved several courtiers, making funny but very elegant beards. Beards immediately became fashionable - they are what we see in the films about the Musketeers.

Consciously or not, Louis paid a lot of attention to sports, which, no doubt, supported his weak body. He played ball, was an excellent swordsman and marksman, an excellent rider and loved long walks. In addition, he swam a lot, which in his time seemed a strange occupation - and then only a few knew how to swim. Perhaps the sports hobbies of Louis were influenced by the stories of the mentor about how young men were raised in ancient Greece.

Handyman

The Fair King had a good ear for music, and although he did not have the opportunity to make music professionally, he still loved to compose simple melodies. And yet, which is much more surprising for the king, he knew how to work with metal - from forging and turning to grinding and carving, minted coins, repaired weapons, even knew how to sew and weave baskets, and also make fishing nets. He grew green peas and sold them for big money with the most serious face (although, despite the situation, they understood perfectly well that peas were cheaper - he was clearly amused by the situation itself).

Louis himself repaired carriages, knew how and loved to drive horses, and, by the way, did not hesitate to take care of horses. In addition, he was an excellent cook and loved to cook - because he also loved to eat, despite his intestinal problems. He also drew well and made up perfumes and sachets for scenting linen purely for himself - this was what the Queen Mother taught him.

In addition, Louis did not tolerate flat jokes. Once, for a flat joke, he cut the salary of his fools in half. Then they soaked a joke even worse: they danced half-dressed in front of the amazed monarch. One in pants, the other in a shirt. Watching this disgrace, the king angrily asked, what kind of buffoonery is this? "As you pay us, so we joke," answered the jesters. This ending of the joke greatly amused Louis, and he raised his salary back. To tell the truth, the idea did not belong to the jesters themselves - they consulted on the side.

It would seem that for all these hundreds of cases in which the king succeeded, he had no time for politics, but no - Louis was very closely involved in political affairs, although he relied heavily on Richelieu. Yes, contrary to popular stereotype, the king and the cardinal more often looked in one direction than in different directions. The only thing - Richelieu, after unsuccessful harassment, could not stand the queen and would really be glad to substitute her in the eyes of the king.

Weak monarch? No

The king's widow, Anne of Austria, continued to mistreat her indifferent husband (well, she had reasons) and tried in every possible way to prove that, unlike their son, also Louis, the Just King was insignificant and the cardinal did almost all politics alone.

In fact, Richelieu never entered politics against the will of the king, and this will was strong. It was at the request and will of the Fair King that France tied up with religious wars, the ban on dueling was also introduced with the knowledge of the king - he had just begun to reform the army, and he did not smile at him because of the stupid showdowns trained in innovative combat and new weapons.

In cases where an important piece of legislation was not initiated by the monarch himself (which was not so often), they were nevertheless very carefully studied by Louis before receiving his signature.

There is no doubt that King Louis had the strongest will. It is known that in recent months he suffered greatly from an exacerbated illness, which was accompanied by painful vomiting, bloody diarrhea, pain in the joints - and everyone was surprised how stoically he endured it.

In addition, Louis possessed homosexual inclinations and, being, moreover, an extremely pious person, he found it necessary to fight them. Not a single favorite could dissolve him to ruin the treasury - since Louis rarely broke down before physical contact and more often limited himself to those caresses that could be called innocent - he squeezed and kissed other young men. True, some types of contact were and were impossible for him due to the narrowing of the foreskin. But what did Louis do after the operation? He began to regularly visit the bedroom of Anna of Austria (her joy on this occasion was hardly great, but this significantly strengthened her status, and also made it possible to become the mother of the next king) - including, probably, in order to discharge himself after obsessive thoughts about young men.

Without a doubt, cardinal Richelieu, a true patriot of his country, it is worth judging his figure not by the literary history of the queen's pendants.