What do you think?
Rate this book
Routledge Historical Biographies
Lodewijk XIV
Lodewijk XIV (1638-1715), de Zonnekoning, heerste meer dan een halve eeuw over Frankrijk en wordt vandaag de dag vooral herinnerd om zijn absolutisme, zijn rol als mecenas en zijn weelderige levensstijl - wat allemaal culmineerde in de bouw van Versailles.
De originele en levendige biografie richt zich op zowel Lodewijks leven als op zijn betekenis voor de geschiedenis van Frankrijk en Europa.
De originele en levendige biografie richt zich op zowel Lodewijks leven als op zijn betekenis voor de geschiedenis van Frankrijk en Europa.
355 pages, Hardcover
First published May 17, 2007
5 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Richard Wilkinson
6 booksRichard Wilkinson is a former history teacher. He holds a PhD from University of Hull, UK.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 9, 2020
Reading Madame de la Fayette’s La Comtesse de Tende lately and delving into the historical and literary context and milieu her writing was imbedded in, I deplored my disgraceful ignorance on this fascinating period, realising 17th century France vastly unknown territory to me apart from some vague notions on Absolutism from schooldays long gone and impressions from visits of cities in the North of France still bearing the traces of Louis’ Marshal Vauban’s fortifications.
As one cannot always read about the Russian revolution, and this book is aimed at history students and non-specialist readers, the entrance angle of the Sun King, or Louis the Great as he liked to be called, looked appealing to get introduced to the age, my image of him coloured by just a few grimy anecdotes, Versailles, the ballet, his annexation of parts of Flanders, the film on his court composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, Le Roi danse (2000) and, when crossing the Grand Place, the bombardment of Brussels by French troops in 1695 during the Nine years’ war, destroying the Grand Place, along with a third of the buildings in the city. Not to speak about long-supressed memories of unwillingly performing in a school play around Anne of Austria, Louis’ mother, not overly happy but anyway relieved with having been allotted the part of Cardinal Richelieu, as he only had to stammer a few lines (in French).
Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701, the portrait he allegedly liked the most himself.
As Wilkinson in his introduction takes the stance that also Louis’ private life is highly relevant for a better understanding of the personality and the reign of the man and the mentalité of the age, one might initially assume this could turn out to be a rather gossipy book on daily life in Versailles (like Nancy Mitford’s The Sun King : Louis Fourteenth at Versailles reportedly is one) ; however repeatedly referring to his fervid love life spicing up and vivifying the narrative, the book is not overly concerned with Louis’ lavish life style and the court life, and leaves a quite balanced overall impression, focussing on his various roles as a head of state and head of government, military leader and patron of the arts and science, artfully blended with the economic, social, political, military and religious context.
He also addresses issues like proto-nationalism and the potential impact of Louis’ reign (and spendthrift) on the French revolution, and gives a brief survey of the differing historical theories concerning the concept of Absolutism and the limits of power of the monarch, taking a middle path in the discussion between more traditionalist views and revisionists attacking Absolutism as a myth and depicting Louis as a mere marionette of advisesrs and relatives, nuancing former assumptions on the extent of the centralisation of power by pointing at the many limitations of royal power in reality. Although I cannot compare with other approaches, the way Wilkinson deals with Louis’ wars and foreign policy comes across as rather muddled and scattered – in Wilkinson’s eyes, Louis’ expansive wars were not only concerned with acquiring glory and with personal revenge, but definitely also with giving France a defensible frontier (at the expense of the Southern Netherlands, Flanders, and more).
Louis XIV in 1673
Wilkinson approaches Louis’ life and reign largely thematically, structuring his discourse around his upbringing, family, relations and friends, patronage of the arts, military campaigns and role as a commander, Louis’s relation to his subjects and to religion and his foreign policy; as every theme is dealt with chronologically, allusions on forthcoming events and repetitiveness are understandably hard to avoid, occasionally at the expense of coherence and the propulsion of the narrative.
As Louis’ reign was extraordinary long - 72 years – Wilkinson also documents the coming and going of a whole range of ministers and prominent figures circling around Louis xiv which are relevant to draw the religious, artistic military, economic and political context (Mazarin, Louvois, Vauban, Lully) who are worth a biography themselves and require further reading. This procession is somewhat bedazzling and confusing when not thoroughly acquainted with the period, as Louis often appointed or sold judicial offices to relatives of former officials. One of the figures that struck me as particularly intriguing was Vauban, not exactly as a military engineer, but because he had the nerve to write a tract to protest against the unequal incidence of taxation and the exemptions and privileges of the upper classes sucking dry the peasantry, calling for an imposition of a dÏme royale (a 10 % tax) without exemptions (the last 30 years of Louis’ reign were disastrous for the peasantry, warfare eating 42% (1662-1669), 66% (1670-1679), after 1690 78% of the collected taxes).
Queen Maria Theresa of France and her son the Dauphin, by Charles Beaubrun, c. 1663-66.
Unsurprisingly he highlights a few women in the series of subsequent official and unofficialMadames and lovers of His Majesty, from Marie Mancini to his first wife, the Spanish infant Maria Theresa, finding solace for Louis’ adultery in faith and Spanish chocolate (6 children, only Louis le Grand Dauphin survived to adulthood), and his principal maîtresses-en-titre, Louise de La Vallière (6 children), Madame de Montespan (Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan , 7 children) and the former governess of Louis’ legitimized Montespan children, Madame de Maintenon (Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon), who he called votre solidité and ended up as his unofficial second wife, all the same minimalizing and nuancing the influence these women had on his policy.
Louise de La Vallière by Pierre Mignard
Madame de Montespan
Madame de Maintenon by Pierre Mignard
As the scope of this book is unreservedly wide via Louis’s long life and reign touching on so many facets of the age worth elaborating on, it risks to disappoint regarding to the topics the reader might desire a more in depth exploration on – the court culture, military strategy, the ballet and the arts, Jansenism – which Wilkinson elegantly obviates by inserting and commenting on an extensive thematic bibliography likely to satisfy further curiosity; he picks and comments 5 other bibliographies he thinks worthwhile: Louis XIV by Geofffrey Treasure, Louis XIV by Sturdy; however too partial in his eyes Louis XIV by Bluche; Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King by Antonia Fraser and one he regrets not be translated into English (yet) Louis XIV by Jean-Christian Petitfils; moreover he recommends biographies on other relevant figures, books on Versailles and its gardens, the court life, the role of music and religion, and topics like the origins and concept of Absolutism and the opposition to Louis XIV.
As a first acquaintance with Louis XIV and 17th century France this book is captivating. and I thought Wilkinson an engaging story-teller, but the jesting tone of his writing got slightly enervating in the end (another reviewer who also read this book in Dutch wondered if it was poorly written or poorly translated) and sometimes felt misplaced, particularly when illustrating the almost denigrating attitude Wilkinson takes towards the many women in Louis’ life, while he is rather indulgent towards Louis himself - Wilkinson admits to sympathize to a certain extent with the person of the Sun King as a likeable and courteous person, without however sweeping under the carpet his less edifying character traits, his vigorous persecution of Jansenists and Huguenots and how his pursuit of gloire brought profound misery to many of his subjects and bloodshed to Europe. I imagined Wilkinson almost licking his lips while depicting those ladies as the king’s distinguished and expensive whores; hearing him chuckle when recurrently reminding us of Madame de Montespan’s untidy reputation and stark odour, typical for the time (which made me wonder about the veracity of rumours on his majesty himself never taking a bath, found in children’s books like Clive Gifford’s 100 Grossest Facts – according to other sources he was in comparison to his courtiers quite fussy on his own cleanliness, taking Turkish baths and disinfecting his skin with spirits or alcohol).At the same time Wilkinson doesn’t dissimulate how God’s most Christian king’s twist to puritanism and his crusade against sin midway through his reign mainly affected women who became the special targets of his police as ‘soldiers of Satan’ (subject on which Philip F. Riley’s A Lust for Virtue: Louis XIV's Attack on Sin in Seventeenth-Century France looks riveting, not cited by Wilkinson).
Significantly illustrating the book’s accessibility, footnotes and source indications are limited, which might have had its repercussions on the accuracy in some details; for instance, Wilkinson writes juicily about an ‘anonymous’ painting of Madame de Montespan reclining on her sofa in the Chateau de Clagny which Louis built for her (again describing her as a typical high society whore, indolent and ostentatiously attractive, having sluttishly kicked off her shoes, a nipple cheerfully peeking out from her blouse). In absence of a reproduction of the painting concerned, I was wondering whether Wilkinson is mixing up several painting here, perhaps the one from Henri Gascard on which she is lying on a sofa and a few anonymous ones revealing some nipple.
Portrait of Madame de Montespan (1640-1707) reclining in front of gallery of the Chateau de Clagny - Henri Gascard
What surprised me was that Louis XIV almost came across as a workaholic, and daily went to church, in fact leaving one wondering where on earth he still found the time and energy for his frivolous, gluttonous and exuberant court life and ‘one afternoon stands’.
As a conclusion, Wilkinson admits his defeat as a biographer to look behind the ‘golden mask’ of Louis’ public persona, still judging him as an elusive character. As I read the book for other purposes, this was of not much importance to me, neither Wilkinson’s attempt to judge Louis’ achievements and to answer the question if he truly was ‘a great monarch’ or not, in comparison to his contemporaries like William III of Orange, Charles II of Spain and Emperor Leopold I.
A second edition of this biography is about to be published in August 2017, which promises further sections on the women at Louis’ court, new material on Louis’ involvement in ballet and on France in an international context (in the first edition Louis’ role in non-European relations and the colonies is not discussed). A peek into Wilkinson’s personal view on the Sung King can be found in this article that appeared in History Review, December 2006, and in which Wilkinson is somewhat harsher for the monarch than in his biography itself.
As one cannot always read about the Russian revolution, and this book is aimed at history students and non-specialist readers, the entrance angle of the Sun King, or Louis the Great as he liked to be called, looked appealing to get introduced to the age, my image of him coloured by just a few grimy anecdotes, Versailles, the ballet, his annexation of parts of Flanders, the film on his court composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, Le Roi danse (2000) and, when crossing the Grand Place, the bombardment of Brussels by French troops in 1695 during the Nine years’ war, destroying the Grand Place, along with a third of the buildings in the city. Not to speak about long-supressed memories of unwillingly performing in a school play around Anne of Austria, Louis’ mother, not overly happy but anyway relieved with having been allotted the part of Cardinal Richelieu, as he only had to stammer a few lines (in French).
Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701, the portrait he allegedly liked the most himself.
As Wilkinson in his introduction takes the stance that also Louis’ private life is highly relevant for a better understanding of the personality and the reign of the man and the mentalité of the age, one might initially assume this could turn out to be a rather gossipy book on daily life in Versailles (like Nancy Mitford’s The Sun King : Louis Fourteenth at Versailles reportedly is one) ; however repeatedly referring to his fervid love life spicing up and vivifying the narrative, the book is not overly concerned with Louis’ lavish life style and the court life, and leaves a quite balanced overall impression, focussing on his various roles as a head of state and head of government, military leader and patron of the arts and science, artfully blended with the economic, social, political, military and religious context.
He also addresses issues like proto-nationalism and the potential impact of Louis’ reign (and spendthrift) on the French revolution, and gives a brief survey of the differing historical theories concerning the concept of Absolutism and the limits of power of the monarch, taking a middle path in the discussion between more traditionalist views and revisionists attacking Absolutism as a myth and depicting Louis as a mere marionette of advisesrs and relatives, nuancing former assumptions on the extent of the centralisation of power by pointing at the many limitations of royal power in reality. Although I cannot compare with other approaches, the way Wilkinson deals with Louis’ wars and foreign policy comes across as rather muddled and scattered – in Wilkinson’s eyes, Louis’ expansive wars were not only concerned with acquiring glory and with personal revenge, but definitely also with giving France a defensible frontier (at the expense of the Southern Netherlands, Flanders, and more).
Louis XIV in 1673
Wilkinson approaches Louis’ life and reign largely thematically, structuring his discourse around his upbringing, family, relations and friends, patronage of the arts, military campaigns and role as a commander, Louis’s relation to his subjects and to religion and his foreign policy; as every theme is dealt with chronologically, allusions on forthcoming events and repetitiveness are understandably hard to avoid, occasionally at the expense of coherence and the propulsion of the narrative.
As Louis’ reign was extraordinary long - 72 years – Wilkinson also documents the coming and going of a whole range of ministers and prominent figures circling around Louis xiv which are relevant to draw the religious, artistic military, economic and political context (Mazarin, Louvois, Vauban, Lully) who are worth a biography themselves and require further reading. This procession is somewhat bedazzling and confusing when not thoroughly acquainted with the period, as Louis often appointed or sold judicial offices to relatives of former officials. One of the figures that struck me as particularly intriguing was Vauban, not exactly as a military engineer, but because he had the nerve to write a tract to protest against the unequal incidence of taxation and the exemptions and privileges of the upper classes sucking dry the peasantry, calling for an imposition of a dÏme royale (a 10 % tax) without exemptions (the last 30 years of Louis’ reign were disastrous for the peasantry, warfare eating 42% (1662-1669), 66% (1670-1679), after 1690 78% of the collected taxes).
Queen Maria Theresa of France and her son the Dauphin, by Charles Beaubrun, c. 1663-66.
Unsurprisingly he highlights a few women in the series of subsequent official and unofficialMadames and lovers of His Majesty, from Marie Mancini to his first wife, the Spanish infant Maria Theresa, finding solace for Louis’ adultery in faith and Spanish chocolate (6 children, only Louis le Grand Dauphin survived to adulthood), and his principal maîtresses-en-titre, Louise de La Vallière (6 children), Madame de Montespan (Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan , 7 children) and the former governess of Louis’ legitimized Montespan children, Madame de Maintenon (Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon), who he called votre solidité and ended up as his unofficial second wife, all the same minimalizing and nuancing the influence these women had on his policy.
Louise de La Vallière by Pierre Mignard
Madame de Montespan
Madame de Maintenon by Pierre Mignard
As the scope of this book is unreservedly wide via Louis’s long life and reign touching on so many facets of the age worth elaborating on, it risks to disappoint regarding to the topics the reader might desire a more in depth exploration on – the court culture, military strategy, the ballet and the arts, Jansenism – which Wilkinson elegantly obviates by inserting and commenting on an extensive thematic bibliography likely to satisfy further curiosity; he picks and comments 5 other bibliographies he thinks worthwhile: Louis XIV by Geofffrey Treasure, Louis XIV by Sturdy; however too partial in his eyes Louis XIV by Bluche; Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King by Antonia Fraser and one he regrets not be translated into English (yet) Louis XIV by Jean-Christian Petitfils; moreover he recommends biographies on other relevant figures, books on Versailles and its gardens, the court life, the role of music and religion, and topics like the origins and concept of Absolutism and the opposition to Louis XIV.
As a first acquaintance with Louis XIV and 17th century France this book is captivating. and I thought Wilkinson an engaging story-teller, but the jesting tone of his writing got slightly enervating in the end (another reviewer who also read this book in Dutch wondered if it was poorly written or poorly translated) and sometimes felt misplaced, particularly when illustrating the almost denigrating attitude Wilkinson takes towards the many women in Louis’ life, while he is rather indulgent towards Louis himself - Wilkinson admits to sympathize to a certain extent with the person of the Sun King as a likeable and courteous person, without however sweeping under the carpet his less edifying character traits, his vigorous persecution of Jansenists and Huguenots and how his pursuit of gloire brought profound misery to many of his subjects and bloodshed to Europe. I imagined Wilkinson almost licking his lips while depicting those ladies as the king’s distinguished and expensive whores; hearing him chuckle when recurrently reminding us of Madame de Montespan’s untidy reputation and stark odour, typical for the time (which made me wonder about the veracity of rumours on his majesty himself never taking a bath, found in children’s books like Clive Gifford’s 100 Grossest Facts – according to other sources he was in comparison to his courtiers quite fussy on his own cleanliness, taking Turkish baths and disinfecting his skin with spirits or alcohol).At the same time Wilkinson doesn’t dissimulate how God’s most Christian king’s twist to puritanism and his crusade against sin midway through his reign mainly affected women who became the special targets of his police as ‘soldiers of Satan’ (subject on which Philip F. Riley’s A Lust for Virtue: Louis XIV's Attack on Sin in Seventeenth-Century France looks riveting, not cited by Wilkinson).
Significantly illustrating the book’s accessibility, footnotes and source indications are limited, which might have had its repercussions on the accuracy in some details; for instance, Wilkinson writes juicily about an ‘anonymous’ painting of Madame de Montespan reclining on her sofa in the Chateau de Clagny which Louis built for her (again describing her as a typical high society whore, indolent and ostentatiously attractive, having sluttishly kicked off her shoes, a nipple cheerfully peeking out from her blouse). In absence of a reproduction of the painting concerned, I was wondering whether Wilkinson is mixing up several painting here, perhaps the one from Henri Gascard on which she is lying on a sofa and a few anonymous ones revealing some nipple.
Portrait of Madame de Montespan (1640-1707) reclining in front of gallery of the Chateau de Clagny - Henri Gascard
What surprised me was that Louis XIV almost came across as a workaholic, and daily went to church, in fact leaving one wondering where on earth he still found the time and energy for his frivolous, gluttonous and exuberant court life and ‘one afternoon stands’.
As a conclusion, Wilkinson admits his defeat as a biographer to look behind the ‘golden mask’ of Louis’ public persona, still judging him as an elusive character. As I read the book for other purposes, this was of not much importance to me, neither Wilkinson’s attempt to judge Louis’ achievements and to answer the question if he truly was ‘a great monarch’ or not, in comparison to his contemporaries like William III of Orange, Charles II of Spain and Emperor Leopold I.
A second edition of this biography is about to be published in August 2017, which promises further sections on the women at Louis’ court, new material on Louis’ involvement in ballet and on France in an international context (in the first edition Louis’ role in non-European relations and the colonies is not discussed). A peek into Wilkinson’s personal view on the Sung King can be found in this article that appeared in History Review, December 2006, and in which Wilkinson is somewhat harsher for the monarch than in his biography itself.
February 10, 2018
This is quite a balanced biography of Louis XIV, looking at his domestic policy, foreign policy, his tendency for war, and the mentality of France concerning Louis.
It was really interesting, but there were other things that I wished it had discussed more. Things like Louis’s issues with medical “experts” like dentists, which I think is only mentioned twice, and his role in creating the Palace of Versailles, which is mentioned as a background concern.
Parts were quite hard to read, and did turn into a slog. It also became quite difficult to understand who some people were, and follow the line of thought from the author.
It was really interesting, but there were other things that I wished it had discussed more. Things like Louis’s issues with medical “experts” like dentists, which I think is only mentioned twice, and his role in creating the Palace of Versailles, which is mentioned as a background concern.
Parts were quite hard to read, and did turn into a slog. It also became quite difficult to understand who some people were, and follow the line of thought from the author.
July 5, 2021
I approached this biography of Louis XIV warily - it appeared suspiciously brief for a biography of a remarkable monarch who ruled France for 72 years. However, I finished this book impressed. Certainly, Louis XIV was a complex figure and there are further intricacies and more depth that could be explored, but this biography manages to provide a concise account of Louis's life, his relationships with family, mistresses, administrators, and courtiers, summaries of the war and foreign policy, and the state of France during his reign. Overall, this book is an excellent introduction to the Sun King and the author manages to bring notable historical criticisms of the monarch into the narrative.
March 11, 2016
Slecht geschreven of bijzonder slecht vertaald? ik ben er niet achter gekomen. Dit boek is oer en oer saai. Weinig diepgang. Veel onduidelijke, onsamenhangende verhalen die het boek zeer saai maken. Er zijn vast betere biografieën verschenen over de Zonnekoning
March 13, 2022
Gefaald. De auteur is van mening dat hij heeft gefaald in zijn poging om een kijkje achter het gouden masker van Lodewijk de zonnekoning te nemen. Volgens de auteur is het hem niet gelukt om verschillende factoren uit het leven van Lodewijk, hij noemt specifiek diens omgang met vrouwen, te analyseren.
Verdere diepgang dan de ijzige, standvastige en absolute vorst is de auteur naar zijn mening niet gekomen, al komen er wel enkele gebeurtenissen aan bod waarbij Lodewijk zijn masker even liet zakken.
Er valt veel te zeggen voor de conclusie die de auteur zelf trekt: het gebrek aan chronologie, de af en toe ongenuanceerde beschrijvingen van mensen, het stellen van veel vragen aan de lezer tussendoor, de obsessie met de biograaf Bluche door het hele boek heen etc.
Echter, was ik zelf als lezer niet zo teleurgesteld als de auteur dat zelf was aan het einde. Tuurlijk, er zijn gebreken die ik zie en die voor problemen kunnen zorgen in het verhaal, maar het boek gaf wel een goed inzicht in het leven van een van de meest excentrieke figuren uit de 17e eeuw.
De auteur heeft een interessante visie van waaruit hij schrijft; door het hele boek heen blijft deze biograaf de begrippen 'soulagement' en 'gloire' benadrukken die volgens de auteur heel veel zeggen over alle beslissingen die de koning door zijn lange regeringsperiode heeft genomen.
Daarnaast laat de auteur door het boek heen blijken dat hij zich erg bewust is van de zeitgeist en dat alles in de context van de tijd geplaatst moet worden, een klassiek behandeld voorbeeld in het boek is het verlangen om oorlog te voeren of het voorbeeld om te trouwen voor diplomatieke redenen.
Als laatste ter verdediging van de auteur: de auteur vergelijkt zijn eigen visie met die van andere biografen van Lodewijk XIV door het boek heen, hierdoor nodigt de auteur de lezer uit om zelf een mening te vormen over de vraag of Lodewijk wel echt zo'n grote koning was en op welke manier wel of niet.
Al met al een prima overzichtswerk van het leven van Lodewijk 'de Grote', met af en toe diepgang in diens privéleven. Het leest niet bepaald droog weg en ik kon de rode draad prima volgen door het boek heen.
Verdere diepgang dan de ijzige, standvastige en absolute vorst is de auteur naar zijn mening niet gekomen, al komen er wel enkele gebeurtenissen aan bod waarbij Lodewijk zijn masker even liet zakken.
Er valt veel te zeggen voor de conclusie die de auteur zelf trekt: het gebrek aan chronologie, de af en toe ongenuanceerde beschrijvingen van mensen, het stellen van veel vragen aan de lezer tussendoor, de obsessie met de biograaf Bluche door het hele boek heen etc.
Echter, was ik zelf als lezer niet zo teleurgesteld als de auteur dat zelf was aan het einde. Tuurlijk, er zijn gebreken die ik zie en die voor problemen kunnen zorgen in het verhaal, maar het boek gaf wel een goed inzicht in het leven van een van de meest excentrieke figuren uit de 17e eeuw.
De auteur heeft een interessante visie van waaruit hij schrijft; door het hele boek heen blijft deze biograaf de begrippen 'soulagement' en 'gloire' benadrukken die volgens de auteur heel veel zeggen over alle beslissingen die de koning door zijn lange regeringsperiode heeft genomen.
Daarnaast laat de auteur door het boek heen blijken dat hij zich erg bewust is van de zeitgeist en dat alles in de context van de tijd geplaatst moet worden, een klassiek behandeld voorbeeld in het boek is het verlangen om oorlog te voeren of het voorbeeld om te trouwen voor diplomatieke redenen.
Als laatste ter verdediging van de auteur: de auteur vergelijkt zijn eigen visie met die van andere biografen van Lodewijk XIV door het boek heen, hierdoor nodigt de auteur de lezer uit om zelf een mening te vormen over de vraag of Lodewijk wel echt zo'n grote koning was en op welke manier wel of niet.
Al met al een prima overzichtswerk van het leven van Lodewijk 'de Grote', met af en toe diepgang in diens privéleven. Het leest niet bepaald droog weg en ik kon de rode draad prima volgen door het boek heen.
April 3, 2021
Ik wens dat Goodreads een did not finish button had. Nu dump ik niet uitgelezen boeken maar in een random jaartal. Ik ben tot pagina 110 gekomen en en na het boek een paar dagen niet aangeraakt te hebben, voelde ik ook geen neiging het meer op te pakken. Wat jammer is, Lodewijk XIV en zijn tijd zijn namelijk super interessant.
Met dat uit de weg....kan ik dit boek aanraden? Nee niet echt. De schrijfstijl is afstandelijk, kil te noemen. Er mist een zekere passie. In mijn optiek moet een goede biografie de lezer niet alleen leren over de persoon waar het over gaat, maar ook hoe het eraan toeging in diens tijd. Peter de Grote van Robert K Massie is een mooi voorbeeld hiervan. Een dikke pil, maar het las als een trein en je kreeg een mooi kijkje hoe het oude Rusland voor Peter's hervormingen was, hoe mensen over vrouwen dachten en hoe gigantisch Rusland zelf veranderde onder zijn invloed.
Dit gebeurde hier niet, wat erg jammer is. Ik denk dat ik Lodewijks bio'grafie van Johan op de Beeck maar een kans ga geven.
Met dat uit de weg....kan ik dit boek aanraden? Nee niet echt. De schrijfstijl is afstandelijk, kil te noemen. Er mist een zekere passie. In mijn optiek moet een goede biografie de lezer niet alleen leren over de persoon waar het over gaat, maar ook hoe het eraan toeging in diens tijd. Peter de Grote van Robert K Massie is een mooi voorbeeld hiervan. Een dikke pil, maar het las als een trein en je kreeg een mooi kijkje hoe het oude Rusland voor Peter's hervormingen was, hoe mensen over vrouwen dachten en hoe gigantisch Rusland zelf veranderde onder zijn invloed.
Dit gebeurde hier niet, wat erg jammer is. Ik denk dat ik Lodewijks bio'grafie van Johan op de Beeck maar een kans ga geven.
January 17, 2019
As much as I adore Louis XIV and the history around his reign, I found this book incredibly dry and occasionally difficult to follow. Wilkinson recounts this biography categorically rather than chronologically, which maybe just be a personal preference, makes it less enjoyable. Even within each category he does not keep to a chronological order, speaking at one point of Colbert’s death and then to a policy he worked to implement. This is incredibly well researched but poorly executed in writing style, as he will bring new persons in and out with no context as to why they are important, nor is there a “character guide” anywhere to keep track of the numerous figures that flicker in and out. Over all I appreciate the effort to bring about more information about a very powerful and intelligent individual, but I would not recommend this book without some prior knowledge of his reign (which luckily I had but still found myself lost).
September 10, 2021
Wilkinson heeft een bijzondere visie op de rol van Mazarin in Lodewijks leven. Hij is zeker niet de eerste historicus die beweert dat Mazarin wellicht de vader van Lodewijk is, maar er is een reden waarom deze visie niet populair is onder historici, het is pure speculatie met te weinig onderbouwde bronnen.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 8, 2019
Read more on this link.
https://allaboutroyalfamilies.blogspo...
https://allaboutroyalfamilies.blogspo...
September 26, 2021
A godsend for clarifying and explaining fully the finer points of the monarch and the socio-political context of the time for a burnt-out history student. Readable, interesting, with all notes and bibliography easy to find and reference. An excellent research text!
Currently reading
September 24, 2017Hoewel het boek goed bronmateriaal bevat is het niet geheel wetenschappelijk geschreven. Ik mis een duidelijke weergave van de door de schrijver onderzochte feiten. Ook zijn bepaalde feiten beperkte uitgewerkt en wordt verondersteld dat de lezer op de hoogte is van specifieke termen en/of gebeurtenissen.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews