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Title details for Love and Louis XIV by Antonia Fraser - Available

Love and Louis XIV

The Women in the Life of the Sun King

by Antonia Fraser
Rosalyn Landor
Audiobook
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The superb historian and biographer Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette, casts new light on the splendor and the scandals of the reign of Louis XIV in this dramatic, illuminating look at the women in his life.
The self-proclaimed Sun King, Louis XIV ruled over the most glorious and extravagant court in seventeenth-century Europe. Now, Antonia Fraser goes behind the well-known tales of Louis’s accomplishments and follies, exploring in riveting detail his intimate relationships with women.
The king’s mother, Anne of Austria, had been in a childless marriage for twenty-two years before she gave birth to Louis XIV. A devout Catholic, she instilled in her son a strong sense of piety and fought successfully for his right to absolute power. In 1660, Louis married his first cousin, Marie-Thérèse, in a political arrangement. While unfailingly kind to the official Queen of Versailles, Louis sought others to satisfy his romantic and sexual desires. After a flirtation with his sister-in-law, his first important mistress was Louise de La Vallière, who bore him several children before being replaced by the tempestuous and brilliant Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. Later, when Athénaïs’s reputation was tarnished, the King continued to support her publicly as Athénaïs left court for a life of repentance. Meanwhile her children’s governess, the intelligent and seemingly puritanical Françoise de Maintenon, had already won the King’s affections; in a relationship in complete contrast to his physical obsession with Athénaïs, Louis XIV lived happily with Madame de Maintenon for the rest of his life, very probably marrying her in secret. When his grandson’s child bride, the enchanting Adelaide of Savoy, came to Versaille she lightened the King’s last years – until tragedy struck.
With consummate skill, Antonia Fraser weaves insights into the nature of women’s religious lives – as well as such practical matters as contraception – into her magnificent, sweeping portrait of the king, his court, and his ladies.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    October 17, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780739346815
      • File size: 383893 KB
      • Duration: 13:19:46

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Any nonfiction account of royalty can be tricky--complex family trees and complicated names of people and places can be stumbling blocks for readers. Happily, the audio version of Antonia Fraser's study of Louis XIV is in the capable hands of Rosalyn Landor, whose brisk, efficient reading makes short work of a long history. True to its title, this history chronicles the lives of the Sun King's female influences, from his mother to his mistresses. Landor's resonant, precise enunciation easily navigates Louis's lineage and delivers any name with aplomb. Hers is an animated, pleasant voice for a nonfiction text, and, combined with Fraser's trademark skill with language, the history unfolds with grace. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Subtitled "The Women in the Life of the Sun King," this book includes a lot of sex in seventeenth-century France. Peerless historian Fraser winds the chaotic events of the times in and out of the king's boudoir, proving the axiom, "Under a king, a country is really ruled by women." Undoubtedly, Louis's mother, Queen Anne of Austria, exerts the most influence, making Louis and the public believe that he is a god. The sexually voracious monarch uses his "divinity" to seduce an eclectic array of lovers. British actress Justine Eyre quietly catalogs these amours in a youthful, reedy voice, but her delivery sounds too high-pitched for the male participants. Nevertheless, this royal romp is a fascinating, if off-beat, approach to history. M.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 7, 2006
      Prolific royal biographer Fraser (Marie Antoinette
      ) has assiduously researched her measured yet engrossing study, shedding welcome light on the galaxy of influential women who orbited the dazzling Sun King. The most important woman in Louis XIV's life, in Fraser's telling, was probably the first—his mother, Anne of Austria. The voluptuous, pleasure-loving but pious and dignified queen regent inculcated Louis with the notion that he was a godlike miracle who was nevertheless accountable to the deity for his sins. As this narrowly focused history suggests, Louis was constantly trying to reconcile his gargantuan sexual appetite with his duty to his people and his God. Louis gave up his first love, the bold and amusing Marie Mancini, to marry his graceless first cousin, the Spanish princess Maria Teresa. A serious flirtation with his charming sister-in-law Henriette-Anne, sister of England's Charles II, ended when Louis fell for Charles and Henriette's decoy, the timid virgin Louise de La Vallière. In sexual thrall to the intelligent, magnetic Athénaïs, the Marquise de Montespan, the king intriguingly threw her over for Françoise Scarron, the puritanical governess to their bastards. Lastly, Louis gave his heart to his spirited granddaughter-in-law Adélaïde, who died of measles within days of her husband, the Dauphin.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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