Louis XV.. the king who ruled France when he was 5 years old

A painting in the Louvre Museum of King Louis XV in 1748 by the painter Maurice Quentin de la Tour (Getty)

Louis 15th ruled France when he was 5 years old from 1715 to 1774. He became king of France and Navarre on September 1, 1715 after the death of his great-grandfather, Louis 14th, and he became his heir.

He was nicknamed "the Beloved" for his good treatment of his subjects, but politically many criticisms were directed at him, especially since France was experiencing a state of weakness during his rule, in addition to the coincidence of the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, which extended from 1756 to 1763.

He is considered the penultimate king in France, as after his death on May 10, 1774, his grandson Louis XVI inherited power from him, during whose reign the monarchy fell due to the outbreak of the French Revolution and its success in 1789.

Birth and upbringing

Louis XV was born on February 15, 1710 in the city of Versailles in northern France, and grew up in the royal palace.

His father, the Duke of Burgundy, died in 1712 when he was two years old, and shortly after that his mother, Marie-Adelaide de Savoy, died, and he inherited the rule from his grandfather, Louis XIV, due to his father’s death in February 1712, before his grandfather’s rule ended.

He lived a sad childhood due to the loss of his parents, but he soon assumed the throne in 1715, when he was only 5 years old, and the Duke of Orleans assumed the regency and acted as his regency until he reached puberty.

When he reached the age of ten, he began his preparation for assuming power, and the Duke of Orleans was keen to attend government council meetings. The family circumstances he lived in as a child later made him a kind, sensitive, shy, and secretive person, and he faced many difficulties during his tenure as king.

Educational path

He was interested in education from an early age, and received a strict education from those in charge of the king’s affairs. In 1726, Marshal and Cardinal de Villeroy held the position of governor in the name of the king, and he was his teacher and supervisor of his educational path. He was 73 years old and considered the oldest prime minister in the history of France, and he continued in his position. Until his death at the age of 90 years.

The young king's educational interest was directed to the exact sciences, botany, medicine, astronomy, geography, and history, until he became educated and passionate about science, open to a number of sciences, specifically botany, and keen to enrich the gardens of the Palace of Versailles.

He loved reading books in multiple languages ​​(French, German, and English) and in different fields, especially science and history, and he insisted on collecting them in his private library inside the royal palace.

Royal family

He descends from a royal family whose roots go back to the new Bourbon dynasty, which began its rule since the reign of King Henry de Bourbon, King of France and Navarre, after the assassination of King Henry III of France.

With this affiliation, Louis 15 entered the group of powerful kings who ruled France until its fall during the reign of his grandson Louis 16. After the death of his grandfather, King Louis 14, he left him the crown and assumed the rule of France on September 1, 1715, but because of his young age, rule was exercised by regency.

There are conflicting accounts regarding his marriage, between those who say that he entered the golden cage in 1723, when he was 13 years old, and those who believe that this was in 1725 (he was 15 years old).

Despite this difference, there is a consensus that he married Marie Leszczynska, a princess and daughter of the deposed King of Poland, who was at least 5 years older than him, and he had 10 children with her, and some reports indicate that they were born between 1727 and 1737.

He had 8 girls - including twins - and two boys, the first of which he named Ludovin. He was born in 1729 and was supposed to be the heir to the throne, but he died in 1765. The second child, Philip, was born in 1730 and died when he was 3 years old.

The king's children lived in the princes' wing, which was later called the southern wing, but as soon as the crown prince and successor to his throne reached the age of six, it was decided to move him to another part of the palace, where apartments were allocated to him on the ground floor.

The king father chose the Abbey of Fontevraud for the education of his daughters, and when they reached adulthood they returned to Versailles, except for his eldest daughter, who in 1739 married her cousin, Infante, the future Duke of Parma.

Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great and the “Sun King,” is the grandfather of King Louis XV (Getty)

Ownership decisions

In 1722, he decided to restore the government and the court and reinstall them in the Palace of Versailles, which had remained abandoned since the death of King Louis XIV, and abandoned by those who were in power at that time.

He did not begin to rule practically until 1743, immediately after the end of the mission of the old Cardinal de Fleury, and with his death the king personally assumed the presidency of the King's Council, but some writings indicated his weakness in front of his ministers and his favorite people who were supported by Parliament. In 1749, his bold royal decision that he proposed was foiled. Concerning the establishment of a tax reform known as the “Twenties”, which approves taxes on all incomes.

Shortly after this decision, he announced another decision according to which the king’s apartments would be reused and equipped to allow him to escape from the crowds of citizens and the troubles of his duties within the court.

Political training

Louis 15 received practical political training at the hands of his teacher, the Duke of Orléans, the guardian of the kingdom, and from the age of ten he began to follow and attend government council meetings. The wars that the king fought were difficult moments in his rule from which he learned very important political lessons.

Throughout his rule, he dealt with extreme caution, avoiding excesses in power, and tolerating criticism from the parliamentary opposition, which was limited in numbers, but fierce in practice, especially with regard to its confrontation with the approval of taxes and some of the powers of the King’s Council.

A number of writings revealed that the king, a few years before his death, carried out other reforms, such as legislative clarification, modernization of the police and urban police, and other proposals that were welcomed by all political components.

The year 1770 was a difficult political moment for him because of the issuance of a law described as authoritarian, requiring the abolition of parliaments and replacing them with higher courts similar to the courts of appeal that later appeared in a number of countries around the world.

Some other media reports considered that this measure was a modern, rational measure that was welcomed by public opinion, even though it required a constitutional change that the king did not adopt except after great hesitation.

Marshal Nicolas de Villeroy, who served as governor temporarily on behalf of King Louis XV during his regency (Getty)

Military life

There were conflicting writings in evaluating his period from a military perspective. One group said that his period witnessed great military weakness based on his defeat in the Seven Years’ War against the United Kingdom between 1756 and 1763, and the repercussions of the conflict that broke out between France and England, and the resulting change in France's alliances.

France was unable to compete with Britain for stability in some regions of North America, and this conflict brought the king many troubles that did not end until the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, according to which the war ended after the British Kingdom inflicted heavy damage on France, most notably the loss of a large portion of Its colonial empire in North America and its exit are economically and politically exhausted.

Despite the criticism directed at him in this war due to the defeat inflicted on France, there are some writings that consider that his opponent was unable to penetrate the territory of the Kingdom, except for some islands, and that the battle took place outside France.

Based on some writings, the king’s opponents considered that France was a difficult bloc to penetrate, because its leadership was experienced and its systems were solid and disciplined to defend it, and that he was able to achieve economic development for his country, especially in the regions of Lorraine and the Corsica islands, and left the impression that the monarchy remained solid and withstood in the face of threats.

Based on these data, a group went on to say that until the end of the reign of Louis XV, France was not defeated militarily, and he personally fought the War of the Austrian Succession, which lasted from 1740 to 1748, and his country achieved a series of successes.

Economic situation

When he assumed power at a young age, the country's financial and economic situation was turbulent, but after 1726 and after the end of the regency period, some positive economic indicators quickly began to appear on the horizon, such as the stability of the local currency and the revival of some factories that were experiencing difficulties.

Throughout his reign, the process of constructing roads, building bridges, and developing the canal network did not stop. The process of renewing cities began and urban aspects dating back to the medieval era disappeared, and the cities of Bordeaux and Nantes were built, which became known as the cities of King Louis XV.

The scientific progress that the king was interested in also led to positive effects on industry, and he took important measures to combat famine by building grain stores in the regions of Lyon and Lille, to avoid the disturbances that the wheat trade was witnessing due to climate fluctuations that exposed it to uncontrolled rises and falls.

Marie Leszczynska, wife of King Louis XV, a princess and daughter of the deposed King of Poland (Art Net)

His favorite interests

Despite his status as a ruling king, he practiced a number of hobbies, and some reports indicate that he was interested in making watches and fine objects, and under his orders, a number of geographers and astronomers devoted themselves to drawing a map of the country during his reign.

He also encouraged sea voyages and organized scientific expeditions to bring species of plants from distant countries, and in his palace garden and in the Trianon Botanical Garden he ordered the adoption of the classification of plants by the Swedish botanist Linnaeus.

His interest extended to the first research in the field of electricity. In 1746, in the Palace of Versailles, the French physicist Jean-Antoine Abi Nolet - one of the most famous lecturers in Paris and the author of many books on physics - conducted the bottle experiment in front of him, which made it possible to obtain an electrical discharge.

In 1763, Madame de Pompadour persuaded him to build a new castle, which he called “The Little Pavilion,” as a future residence for Queen Marie Antoinette. The king agreed and gave orders to equip it.

Several reports stated that Madame de Pompadour was his mistress, friend, and advisor, and played an essential role in his life. She also influenced him on the artistic side, and the painter François Bouchet was placed at her disposal, and she supported a number of artists, such as the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pical.

Death

He died on May 10, 1774, at his residence in the Palace of Versailles due to smallpox, and was buried in the cemetery of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, where the graves of the kings and queens of France are.

Since his son, Crown Prince Dauphin Louis and his presumed heir to the throne, died before him in 1765, he was succeeded by his grandson, Auguste Louis 16, who was the last king of France, and was overthrown and executed by the French Revolution in 1789.

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