Louis XIII, King of France

b1601; d1643

Born at Fontainebleau, son of Henry IV, on whose assassination he succeeded to the throne at the age of nine. His mother, Marie de Médici, acted as regent, and Louis was brought up in an atmosphere of court intrigue and general insecurity. A Protestant rising in 1619 was suppressed two years later, and after the rise to power of Cardinal Richelieu in 1624, the government became considerably more stable. Louis was soon completely under Richelieu's influence. By the capture of La Rochelle (1628) the military power of the Huguenots was finally crushed, and Richelieu pursued a general policy of consolidation of the central authority at home, and of French aggrandisement abroad in which Louis, as king, gained immensely in prestige.

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