Louis XIV: Sun King and Propagandist
5/14/202647 min
How did Louis XIV use his day-to-day life, especially his marriage, to help create the mythology of the Sun King as semi-divine, radiant and unrivalled?
In 17th-century France, monarchy was performed, witnessed, and widely circulated. Using portraits, medals, sculptures and official pamphlets, Louis XIV meticulously constructed his own image, appearing as Apollo, Jupiter, Hercules, Neptune, a Roman emperor, and even as the sun itself. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Dr. Abby Zanger explore the Sun King's carefully staged world.
More:
Marie Antoinette
Montaigne: Philosopher of the French Renaissance
Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSuzannah Lipscomb· Host0:01
Want to walk the halls of Anne Boleyn's childhood home or explore the castles that made up Henry VIII's English stronghold? With a subscription to History Hit, you can dive into our Tudor past alongside the world's leading historians and archeologists. You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week, covering everything from the ancient world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com/subscribe. [upbeat music] Hello, I'm Professor Suzannah Lipscomb, and welcome to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit, the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to samurais, relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage, and witchcraft. [woman laughing] Not, in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors. [upbeat music] From the moment he woke up, the life of Louis XIV was a performance. At 7:30 or 8:00 every morning, he was woken by his head valet de chambre, for most of his reign, a man called Alexandre Beauptin. Around the king stood the princes of the blood. His chamber pot was removed, and Louis drank a cup of