Who was the winter king in history. Winter queen
Heidelberg is a box of stories and stories. Traveling through it, it seems that you are sorting through old documents and listening to the gossip of a city old-timer. Here are the treatises of scholars, here are the notes of Martin Luther, followed by someone's letters tied with faded ribbons, and pages of poetry addressed to an undoubtedly beautiful stranger.
This is a really strange city: the more you learn the details about its inhabitants, events and curiosities, the brighter and clearer, like a photograph in a developer solution, it is visible itself.
Tell about the city of lovers and not tell some love story? Fortunately, the city is simply filled with them. The stories are happy and not so, sad, instructive, tragic, in a word, love.
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The most romantic and sad one is associated with one of the owners of the castle. At the beginning of the 17th century, a young Elector Frederick V (1596-1632) lived in the Heidelberg Castle. As a sixteen-year-old boy, he fell in love with his peer, the English princess Elizabeth Stewart, nicknamed "The Pearl of Britain". And how could you not fall in love? Numerous portraits that have come down to us testify - a true beauty! Frederick sent matchmakers, but the king did not want to hear about the marriage of his daughter with a simple duke from Heidelberg.
The young elector persisted, and the monarch eventually invited him to visit. Friedrich turned out to be a handsome and sensible young man. The royal family liked him, the wedding took place.
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According to the legend, the happy Frederick erected a magnificent arched gate in the castle in one night for Elizabeth's arrival.
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Later, he presented his beloved wife with another gift. A wonderful garden was laid out in the castle, rightly called "the wonder of the world".
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"Heidelberg Castle and Its Gardens". Engraving by Jacques Fouquiere, 1620
They should live, live, and make children, in the latter, however, they have succeeded. But politics intervened, and the couple's happy life was soon cut short. The Elector received an invitation to become King of Bohemia and to lead the struggle of Protestants against Catholics. Frederick was king for only one winter and went down in history as the "winter king", and his wife was nicknamed the "winter queen". After the defeat at the "White Mountain" Frederick with Elizabeth and 13 children (among them was a newborn) fled to The Hague. Soon the father of a large family died in exile. Elizabeth, years later, returned to her native England. She outlived her husband by 30 years!
Is it sad? Sadly, of course. But as one friend of mine said: "Why? My husband loved, he gave gardens!" And that's true. Many persons of royal blood did not even have this. And, not a royal one - and even more so.
Why Frederick got into this, in advance doomed to failure, adventure, only God knows. But I have a suspicion that he did all this for his beloved wife, whom he wanted to make a real queen, and not a "simple" duchess. And everything started so well, that's really true the saying "the best is the enemy of the good"! Or maybe the evil fate hovering over the Stuart family intervened in the happy story of the beautiful prince and princess, because Elizabeth was the granddaughter of that very Mary Stuart, whose life began as the most beautiful fairy tale, and turned into the most terrible of tragedies.
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Well, now a little about the castle itself. If I were a resident of Europe, I would say that the castle is quite ancient. But since I am from Israel, I will say that the castle is not new enough. The first mentions of the castle in these places date back to the 13th century. True, at the beginning of the century they mentioned another - the first - upper castle, but by the end of the century the current one was also built. After 300 years, the upper castle was destroyed by lightning. However, the lower one was also unlucky with lightning: 200 years later, in the 18th century, lightning struck him as well. First, the Mirror Palace caught fire, and then the palace of Otto Heinrich. As a result, the ceilings of the two upper floors collapsed, leaving only windows to the sky. The Germans decided not to argue with the sky, so it is still. In general, Zeus was not to be supportive of "Heidelberger Schloss".
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And Mars, and did rage at all. By the way, can you imagine that the dawn of the famous Caribbean piracy (and even the founding of the pirate republic of Le Wasser on the island of Tortu) is a consequence of the same 30-Year War that Brecht described in Mother Courage? And part of it were the battles of D "Artagnan and the three musketeers, when they were distracted from the Richelieu guards.
Yes, the 17th century: Protestants against Catholics, young royal dynasties against the Habsburg dynasty, Portuguese filibusters against the Spanish colonists of America, in general, all against everyone. Not the first and not the last world war before the world war, which was called the First. And also far from the last. So, the Calvinist Heidelberg was captured by the field marshal of the Catholic League Johannes Cerklas Tilly and completely destroyed along with the castle. And after that, the townspeople, restoring their homes, almost stole what was left of the citadel.
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And at the end of the same century, but already during the War of the Palatinate Succession (1688-1697, when France decided to bite off a piece of the Palatinate under the pretext that the wife of the Duke of Orleans was the daughter of a deceased Elector), the city was captured by the French Louis XIV. The king, although he lost (alas, the musketeers are already in the grave), but still managed to destroy both the city and part of the fortress again (it's not a tricky business).
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But it is interesting that the castle also owes its salvation to a Frenchman. They tried to restore the castle complex several times. But there was not enough money, then time before the next military misfortune, then the desires of people, then the will of the gods. And the regional capital was moved to Mannheim. In the end, they gave up on him completely. But at the beginning of the 19th century, the Frenchman Charles de Granberg came to Heidelberg, and he remained here to live, devoting himself to preserving the castle. By the way, it was he who created the first local map for travelers. And a new life began for the old ruin.
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By the way, the castle owes one acquisition that is interesting for tourists to the war. World War II. The Pharmacy Museum, which was located in bombed-out Munich, was transported here, you still go to it on occasion.
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It is good already because it is not forbidden to take pictures in it. How much it makes life easier and adds impressions! Ah, all these cones, retorts, mortars, all these powders, pills, essences, drinkers and crocodiles of medieval alchemists of medicine and spicy secrets of health! Ah, these sugary healing records! And the prototype of the somogonic apparatus!
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Did you know that the snake that so wisely wrapped itself around the pharmaceutical glass was a worm on a stick in medieval childhood? This malicious worm, feeding on medieval unsanitary conditions, got under the skin, and the operation to remove it was very long and deadly, because when it burst, the worm threw out the strongest poison into the human body. Therefore, they removed it, carefully winding it on a chip. A little bit every day. Imagine the torture of waiting!
But the most impressive thing is Groser Fass - Big Barrel! Well, sooo big! In the wine cellars of the castle. No, first there was the Small Barrel. But also sooooo big. Well, downright, oooo! And suddenly it turned out that compared to the Big barrel, the huge Small barrel is really small! "The Germans - how not to see it: only hate the Masters. They need to pour out this hatred at all costs. And to contain it - the Heidelberg barrel is not enough!" their own.
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Choosing a name is a responsible business. Even the most ordinary people approach this issue with enthusiasm, flipping through lists of meanings of names and tips on the signs of the zodiac. In royal families, things are much more complicated. When choosing the name of the future monarch, all relatives in different lines were taken into account. Astrologers drew up horoscopes, astrologers were determined by the stars ...
Often, the child received the name of the previous kings - according to tradition - which was assigned a serial number (to avoid confusion). Or it consisted of the names of a good half of the ancestors. And all these efforts went to pieces as soon as the child became king.
And all because the good people immediately gave the king their nickname - depending on the appearance, the actions of the monarch during the reign, his habits, even mental abilities. And not always euphonic or beautiful. This is exactly what happened with two kings - Louis VI Tolstoy and Charles VI the Mad. But the parents chose ...
Birth of a nickname
The king's nickname could have been born in the palace corridors and on city streets. A truly folk creation, it could arise overnight, or it could be selected from a dozen others that describe the qualities of the king or his appearance.
Louis VI the Fat - King of France, the fifth of the Capetian dynasty. Son of King Philip I and Bertha of Holland.
Of all the nicknames of the king, one was usually left, which remained in history as the official one. Most likely there was not a single ruler without a nickname, it is just that not all of them have come down to us, although it is likely that they could be bright and original. Be that as it may, they could all be divided according to several principles.
The principle of appearance
The easiest way to earn a nickname from the people is to have something special about your appearance. The first and the simplest one is to play on the ruler's appearance. This is exactly how they got their prefixes to the official names:
Louis VI the Fat - it is clear why,
Frederick I Barbarossa - for a gorgeous red beard,
Philip IV the Handsome - apparently for beauty by those standards,
Louis Philippe Orleans - The Pear King and a caricature of him.
Louis Philippe d'Orléans, Pear King - the shape of the face was the reason for many caricatures, not only because of the resemblance to a pear, the fact is that the French word la poire can mean both fruit and stupidity ...
Almost everyone knows about Louis XIV - the Sun King, and there were also Harold I Hare's Paw, Sven I Forkbeard, Richard III the Hunchback, William II Rufus (Red), Edward I Longshenks (Long-Legged) and ... Viking King Harald II Blue Tooth.
It may be true that he had blue teeth, but, most likely, BlueTooth is a distorted Scandinavian Bletand (dark-haired). Harald was not your typical Norwegian - he had brown eyes and black hair.
The king's hobbies
Often the reason for the assignment of the nickname was what the monarch did the most and his personal passions. William the Conqueror - fought, Enrique the Navigator - walked the seas, Henry I the Birdman - caught birds when he received the news that he had become king.
Henry of Navarre, nicknamed "Gallant Cheer".
But the first place for the originality of the nickname is shared by the King of France Henry IV and the Romanian King Carol II. For his demeanor, Henry of Navarre received the nickname Gallant Cheerleader. Karol II was known as the Playboy King for his romantic adventures.
He was married three times, the number of his girlfriends is legendary. In the end, the Romanian king renounced the throne altogether and fled the country with an ordinary girl, leaving a Greek princess for her.
Personal qualities and generalizations
The nicknames received due to personal qualities have preserved for us the true face of their carriers. Brave warriors like Charles the Bold of Burgundy, Philip the Brave of Burgundy and Richard the Lionheart of England or those who suffered failures during his reign as the English king John the Landless, who lost almost all of the French Plantagenet territories in the wars.
Charles VI the Mad - King of France since 1380, from the Valois dynasty.
Personality traits could also become the nickname of the king - good or bad: Pedro the Cruel Portuguese or Alfonso the Meek Aragonese, Pedro the Ceremonial Aragonese or Charles the Mad French.
The piety in the behavior of the monarch was especially noted: Louis the Pious of France, Istvan Saint of Hungary, Louis of Saint French. Far-sighted rulers were called the Wise: Sancho the Wise of Navarre, Charles the Wise of France, Alfonso the Wise of Castile.
Lionheart and Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty is actually the real nickname of the English King Richard III, and not just a character in a famous poem. The story is also accurate. He was not loved for his ugliness, but the nickname was born after a battle in which his legs were cut off and no one from the army was able to come to his aid.
Richard III - King of England since 1483 from the York dynasty.
There were common nicknames - a whole series of Great, Just, Evil and Good kings: Charlemagne, the Great Cnut, John the Good of France, Philip the Good of Burgundy, Charles the Evil of Navarre and others. Even the whole royal dynasty - Lazy Kings (Merovingians) - was nicknamed because they never cut their hair.
Harold I Harepaw
The reign of this English king began in 1035 and lasted 5 years. During this time, he became famous mainly for his hunting skills and fast running, for which he was named the Hare's Paw.
Edmund II Ironside
King of England since 1016, Edmund has tirelessly displayed courage in battles against the Danes. He found himself in the center of the battle so often that his subjects almost never saw him without armor. This made him Ironside.
John I the Posthumous
Alas, the 13th king of France died just five days after ascending the throne, for which he was so named by the people. It is even more sad that he was proclaimed king on the same day that he was born.
Pepin III Short
The king of the Franks of the middle of the 8th century received the nickname for a rather prosaic reason - he was rather short.
Louis XV the Beloved
During one of the wars that fell on the long reign of the 65th king of France, Louis fell seriously ill. The people were alarmed in earnest, but when the ruler recovered, France was so delighted with his healing that she called Louis the Beloved.
Russian rulers
Our princes and kings, too, could not do without nicknames that they deserved for one reason or another.
Vasily Kosoy and Vasily II the Dark
The cousins \u200b\u200bfought for the place of the Grand Duke of Moscow for a long time. In their struggle, they did not shun self-harm. Vasily Yuryevich was blinded by the order of Vasily Vasilyevich, for which he received the nickname Squint.
Vasily II Vasilyevich Dark - the Grand Duke of Moscow since 1425, the fifth son of the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow Vasily I Dmitrievich and Sofia Vitovtovna.
When Vasily II himself was captured, he was overtaken by an equivalent revenge, and he, also blinded, began to be called the Dark One.
Vladimir I Red Sun
The Grand Duke who baptized Russia had many nicknames - Saint, Great, Baptist. But more than others, Vladimir Svyatoslavich got the nickname from the epics - Red Sun.
“Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko and his wife Apraksia Korolevichna”. 1895. Illustration for the book "Russian epic heroes"
In folklore, he was reflected in a collective image, which was, among other things, the personification of natural phenomena.
Yury Dolgoruky
The founder of Moscow got a lot of help from various principalities. Twice he became the Grand Duke of Kiev, fought for Pereyaslavl, he himself founded many cities besides Moscow.
Yuri Vladimirovich, nicknamed Dolgoruky - Prince of Rostov-Suzdal and Grand Duke of Kiev, son of Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh.
He received the nickname Dolgoruky not only for his disproportionately long arms, but also for his love of annexing the lands of weaker rulers.
The enemies called the Prince of Kiev Svyatoslav Bars. More than once he came out victorious, having a much smaller number of troops ...
Prince Yaroslav was nicknamed the wise. Through dynastic marriages, he strengthened ties with European countries and founded a number of new cities.
Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible
Tsar of Moscow Ivan IV was called the Terrible for his ferocity, and Peter I became the Great for many great and glorious deeds.
The nicknames of the kings were given according to merit. So Alexander I quite officially from the Synod in 1814 received the prefix Blessed, Alexander II was called the Liberator, for the abolition of serfdom, and Alexander III was called the Peacemaker, for the fact that under him Russia did not wage wars.
linkKing of France and Navarre since May 14, 1643. Reigned 72 years - longer than any other monarch of the largest states in Europe.
He ascended the throne as a minor and the government passed into the hands of his mother and Cardinal Mazarin. Even before the end of the war with Spain and the Austrian house, the upper aristocracy, supported by Spain and in alliance with the parliament, began unrest, which received the general name Fronde and ended only with the submission of the Prince de Condé and the signing of the Iberian Peace (November 7, 1659).
In 1660, Louis married the Infanta of Spain, Maria Theresa of Austria. At this time, the young king, who had grown up without proper upbringing and education, did not raise even greater expectations. However, as soon as Cardinal Mazarin died (1661) Louis began to independently govern the state. He had a gift for selecting talented and capable employees (for example, Colbert, Vauban, Letelier, Lyonne, Louvois). Louis elevated the doctrine of royal rights to a semi-religious dogma.
Thanks to the works of the genius Colbert, much was done to strengthen state unity, the welfare of the working classes, and encourage trade and industry. At the same time, Louvois put in order the army, united his organization and increased his fighting strength. After the death of King Philip IV of Spain, he declared France's claims to a part of the Spanish Netherlands and retained it in the so-called devolutionary war. Concluded on May 2, 1668, the Peace of Aachen handed over French Flanders and a number of border areas into his hands.
War with the Netherlands
From that time on, the United Provinces had a passionate enemy in the person of Louis. Contrasts in foreign policy, state views, trade interests, religion led both states to constant clashes. Louis in 1668-71 skillfully managed to isolate the republic. By means of bribery, he managed to divert England and Sweden from the Triple Alliance, to win Cologne and Munster to the side of France. Having brought his army to 120,000 people, Louis in 1670 occupied the possessions of an ally of the States General, Duke Charles IV of Lorraine, and in 1672 he crossed the Rhine, within six weeks he conquered half of the provinces and returned to Paris in triumph. The breakthrough of dams, the emergence of William III of Orange in power, the intervention of European powers stopped the success of French arms. The states-general allied with Spain and Brandenburg and Austria; they were joined by the empire after the French army attacked the archbishopric of Trier and occupied the 10 imperial cities of Alsace already connected to France by half. In 1674, Louis opposed his enemies with 3 large armies: from one of them he personally occupied Franche-Comté; the other, under Condé, fought in the Netherlands and won at Senef; the third, headed by Turenne, devastated the Palatinate and successfully fought the troops of the emperor and the great elector in Alsace. After a short break due to the death of Turenne and the removal of Condé, Louis appeared in the Netherlands with renewed strength in early 1676 and conquered a number of cities, while Luxemburg devastated Breisgau. The whole country between the Saar, Moselle and Rhine was turned into a desert by the order of the king. In the Mediterranean, Duquesne prevailed over Reuters; Brandenburg's forces were diverted by the attack of the Swedes. Only as a result of hostile actions on the part of England, Louis in 1678 concluded the Treaty of Nimwegen, which gave him large acquisitions from the Netherlands and the entire Franche-Comté from Spain. He gave Philippsburg to the emperor, but received Freiburg and kept all the conquests in Alsace.
Louis at the height of power
This world marks the apogee of Louis' power. His army was the most numerous, the best organized and led. His diplomacy dominated all European courts. The French nation has reached unprecedented heights with its achievements in art and sciences, in industry and trade. The Versailles court (Louis moved the royal residence to Versailles) became the envy and surprise of almost all modern sovereigns who tried to imitate the great king even in his weaknesses. A strict etiquette was introduced at the court, regulating the entire court life. Versailles became the center of all high society life, in which the tastes of Louis himself and his many favorites (Lavalier, Montespan, Fontange) reigned. All the highest aristocracy coveted court positions, since living away from the court for a nobleman was a sign of fronderism or royal disgrace. "Absolute no objection," according to Saint-Simon, "Louis destroyed and eradicated every other force or power in France, except those that came from him: the reference to the law, to the right was considered a crime." This cult of the Sun King, in which capable people were increasingly pushed aside by courtesans and intriguers, would inevitably lead to the gradual decline of the entire building of the monarchy.
The king held back his desires less and less. In Metz, Breisach and Besançon, he established chambers of reunification (chambres de réunions) to investigate the rights of the French crown to certain areas (September 30, 1681). The imperial city of Strasbourg was suddenly occupied by French troops in peacetime. Louis did the same with respect to the Dutch borders. In 1681, the fleet bombed Tripoli, in 1684 - Algeria and Genoa. Finally, an alliance of Holland, Spain and the emperor was formed, forcing Louis in 1684 to conclude a 20-year truce in Regensburg and to refuse further "reunions".
Religious politics
Within the state, the new fiscal system had in mind only an increase in taxes and taxes for the growing military needs; at the same time, Louis, as the "first nobleman" of France, spared the material interests of the nobility who had lost their political significance and, as a faithful son of the Catholic Church, did not demand anything from the clergy. He tried to destroy the latter's political dependence on the pope, having achieved at the national council of 1682 a decision in his favor against the pope (see Gallicanism); but in matters of faith, his confessors (Jesuits) made him an obedient instrument of the most ardent Catholic reaction, which manifested itself in the merciless persecution of all individualistic movements in the church environment (see Jansenism). A number of severe measures were taken against the Huguenots; the Protestant aristocracy was forced to convert to Catholicism, so as not to lose their social advantages, and shy decrees were launched against Protestants from among other classes, culminating in the dragonads of 1683 and the abolition of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. These measures, despite severe punishments for emigration, forced more than 200,000 hardworking and enterprising Protestants to move to England, Holland and Germany. An uprising even broke out in the Cévennes. The king's growing piety was supported by Madame de Maintenon, who, after the death of the queen (1683), was united to him by secret marriage.
War for the Palatinate
In 1688, a new war broke out, the reason for which was, among other things, the claims to the Palatinate, presented by Louis on behalf of his daughter-in-law, Elizabeth-Charlotte of Orleans, who was related to the deceased shortly before that Elector Karl-Ludwig. Having concluded an alliance with the Elector of Cologne, Karl-Egon Fürstemberg, Louis ordered his troops to occupy Bonn and attack the Palatinate, Baden, Württemberg and Trier. In early 1689, the entire Lower Palatinate was devastated by French troops. An alliance was formed against France from England (which had just overthrown the Stuarts), the Netherlands, Spain, Austria and the German Protestant states. Luxembourg defeated the allies on July 1, 1690 at Fleurus; Catina conquered Savoy, Tourville defeated the British-Dutch fleet at Dieppe heights, so that the French for a short time had an advantage even at sea. In 1692 the French laid siege to Namur, Luxembourg prevailed at the Battle of Stenkerken; but on May 28 the French fleet was completely destroyed by Rossel at Cape La Gogue. In 1693-95, the preponderance began to lean towards the Allies; Luxembourg died in 1695; in the same year a huge war tax was needed, and peace was a necessity for Louis. It took place in Riswick, in 1697, and for the first time Louis had to confine himself to the status quo.
War of Spanish Succession
France was completely exhausted when, a few years later, the death of Charles II of Spain led Louis to war with the European coalition. The War of the Spanish Succession, in which Louis wanted to reclaim the entire Spanish monarchy for his grandson Philip of Anjou, inflicted incurable wounds on Louis' power. The old king, who personally directed the struggle, stood under the most difficult circumstances with amazing dignity and firmness. According to the peace concluded in Utrecht and Rastatt in 1713 and 1714, he kept Spain proper for his grandson, but her Italian and Dutch possessions were lost, and England laid the foundation for her maritime rule by the destruction of the Franco-Spanish fleets and the conquest of a number of colonies. The French monarchy did not have to recover from the defeats at Hochstedt and Turin, Ramilia and Malplac until the revolution itself. She languished under the weight of debts (up to 2 billion) and taxes, which caused local outbursts of displeasure.
Last years. Family tragedy and the question of a successor
Thus, the result of the whole system of Louis was the economic ruin, poverty of France. Another consequence was the growth of opposition literature, especially developed under the successor of the “great” Louis. The home life of the aged king at the end of his life presented a sad picture. On April 13, 1711, his son, Dauphin Louis (born in 1661), died; in February 1712 he was followed by the eldest son of the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, and on March 8 of the same year, the eldest son of the latter, the juvenile Duke of Breton. On March 4, 1714, the younger brother of the Duke of Burgundy, the Duke of Berry, fell from his horse and was killed to death, so that, in addition to Philip V of Spain, only one heir remained - the king's four-year-old great-grandson, the 2nd son of the Duke of Burgundy (later Louis XV). Even earlier, Louis legitimized 2 of his sons from Madame Montespan, Duke of Manx and Count of Toulouse, and gave them the surname Bourbons. Now, in his will, he appointed them members of the council of the regency and declared them the eventual right to succession to the throne. Louis himself remained active until the end of his life, firmly supporting the court etiquette and the entire appearance of his "great century", which was already beginning to fall. He died on September 1, 1715.
In 1822, an equestrian statue was erected to him (modeled on Bosio) in Paris, at the Place des Victoires.
The history of the nickname "Sun King"
From the age of 12, Louis XIV danced in the so-called “ballets of the Palais Royal Theater”. These events were quite in the spirit of the times, for they were held during the carnival.
Carnival of the Baroque era is not just a holiday, it is an upside down world. For several hours the king became a jester, an artist, a buffoon (just as a jester could well afford to appear in the role of a king). In these ballets, the young Louis had a chance to play the roles of the Rising Sun (1653) and Apollo - the Sun God (1654).
Later, court ballets were staged. The roles in these ballets were assigned by the king himself or by his friend, de Saint-Aignan. In these court ballets, Louis also dances the roles of the Sun or Apollo.
Another cultural event of the Baroque era, about the so-called Carousel, is also important for the emergence of the nickname. This is a festive carnival cavalcade, a cross between a sports festival and a masquerade. In those days, the Carousel was simply called "equestrian ballet". At the Carousel in 1662, Louis XIV appeared before the people in the role of the Roman emperor with a huge shield in the shape of the Sun. This symbolized the fact that the Sun protects the king and with him the whole of France.
The princes of the blood were "forced" to depict various elements, planets and other beings and phenomena subject to the Sun.
The historian of ballet F. Bossan reads: “It was on the Great Carousel of 1662 that the Sun King was born in a way. His name was given not by the politician and not by the victories of his armies, but by the equestrian ballet ”.
The image of Louis XIV in popular culture
Louis XIV appears in the trilogy about the Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. In the last book of the "Viscount de Bragelon" trilogy, an impostor (allegedly the king's twin brother) is involved in the conspiracy, with whom they are trying to replace Louis. In 1929, the film "Iron Mask" was released, based on the "Viscount de Bragelon", where William Blackwell played Louis and his twin brother. Louis Hayward played the twins in the 1939 film The Man in the Iron Mask. Richard Chamberlain played them in the 1977 film adaptation, and Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1999 remake of this film.
Louis XIV also appears in the film Vatel. In the film, the Prince of Condé invites him to his Chantelly castle and tries to impress him in order to take the post of chief marshal in the war with the Netherlands. Responsible for the entertainment of the royal person is the master Vatel, who was brilliantly played by Gerard Depardieu.
Vonda McLintre's novella The Moon and the Sun shows the courtyard of Louis XIV at the end of the 17th century. The king himself appears in the Baroque cycle of Neil Stevenson's trilogy.
Louis XIV is one of the main characters in Gerard Corbieu's The King of the Dances.
Louis XIV appears as a beautiful seducer in the film Angelica and the King, where he was played by Jacques Toja, and also appears in the films Angelica - Marquis of Angels and Magnificent Angelica.
For the first time in modern Russian cinema, the image of King Louis XIV was performed by the artist of the Moscow New Drama Theater Dmitry Shilyaev, in Oleg Ryaskov's film "The Servant of the Sovereign".
Louis XIV is one of the main characters in the 1996 Nina Companéez TV series "L" Allée du roi "The Way of the King. Historical drama based on the novel by Françoise Chandernagore" Royal Alley: Memoirs of Françoise d "Aubigne, Marquise de Maintenon, wife of the King of France". Dominique Blanc starred as Françoise d'Aubigne, Didier Sandre starred as Louis XIV.
Choosing a name is a responsible business. Even the most ordinary people approach this issue with enthusiasm, flipping through lists of meanings of names and tips on the signs of the zodiac. In royal families, things are much more complicated. When choosing the name of the future monarch, all relatives in different lines were taken into account. Astrologers made up horoscopes, astrologers were determined by the stars ...
Often, the child received the name of the previous kings - according to tradition - which was assigned a serial number (to avoid confusion). Or it consisted of the names of a good half of the ancestors. And all these efforts went to pieces as soon as the child became king.
And all because the good people immediately gave the king their nickname - depending on the appearance, the actions of the monarch during the reign, his habits, even mental abilities. And not always euphonious or beautiful. This is exactly what happened with two kings - Louis VI Tolstoy and Charles VI the Mad. But the parents chose ...
Birth of a nickname
The king's nickname could have been born in the palace corridors and on city streets. A truly folk creation, it could arise overnight, or it could be selected from a dozen others that describe the qualities of the king or his appearance.
Louis VI the Fat - King of France, the fifth of the Capetian dynasty. Son of King Philip I and Bertha of Holland.
Of all the nicknames of the king, one was usually left, which remained in history as the official one. Most likely there was not a single ruler without a nickname, it is just that not all of them have come down to us, although it is likely that they could be bright and original. Be that as it may, they could all be divided according to several principles.
The principle of appearance
The easiest way to earn a nickname from the people is to have something special about your appearance. The first and the simplest one is to play on the ruler's appearance. This is exactly how they got their prefixes to the official names:
Louis VI the Fat - it is clear why,
Frederick I Barbarossa - for a gorgeous red beard,
Philip IV the Handsome - apparently, for beauty by those standards,
Louis Philippe Orleans - The Pear King and a caricature of him.
Louis-Philippe Orleans, Pear King - the shape of the face was the reason for many cartoons, not only because of the resemblance to a pear, the fact is that the French word la poire can mean both fruit and stupidity ...
Almost everyone knows about Louis XIV - the Sun King, and there were also Harold I Hare's Paw, Sven I Forkbeard, Richard III the Hunchback, William II Rufus (Red), Edward I Longshenks (Long-Legged) and ... Viking King Harald II Blue Tooth.
It may be true that he had blue teeth, but, most likely, BlueTooth is a distorted Scandinavian Bletand (dark-haired). Harald was not your typical Norwegian - he had brown eyes and black hair.
The king's hobbies
Often the reason for the assignment of the nickname was what the monarch did the most and his personal passions. William the Conqueror - fought, Enrique the Navigator - walked the seas, Henry I the Birdman - caught birds when he received the news that he had become king.
Henry of Navarre, nicknamed "Gallant Cheer".
But the first place for the originality of the nickname is shared by the King of France Henry IV and the Romanian King Carol II. For his demeanor, Henry of Navarre received the nickname Gallant Cheerleader. Karol II was known as the Playboy King for his romantic adventures.
He was married three times, the number of his girlfriends is legendary. In the end, the Romanian king renounced the throne altogether and fled the country with an ordinary girl, leaving a Greek princess for her.
Personal qualities and generalizations
The nicknames received due to personal qualities have preserved for us the true face of their carriers. Brave warriors like Charles the Bold of Burgundy, Philip the Brave of Burgundy and Richard the Lionheart of England or those who suffered failures during his reign as the English king John the Landless, who lost almost all of the French Plantagenet territories in the wars.
Charles VI the Mad - King of France since 1380, from the Valois dynasty.
Personality traits could also become a nickname for a king - good or bad: Pedro the Cruel Portuguese or Alfonso the Meek Aragonese, Pedro the Ceremonial Aragonese or Charles the Mad French.
The piety in the behavior of the monarch was especially noted: Louis the Pious of France, Istvan Saint of Hungary, Louis of Saint French. Far-sighted rulers were called the Wise: Sancho the Wise of Navarre, Charles the Wise of France, Alfonso the Wise of Castile.
Lionheart and Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty is actually the real nickname of the English King Richard III, and not just a character in a famous poem. The story is also accurate. He was not loved for his ugliness, but the nickname was born after a battle in which his legs were cut off and no one from the army was able to come to his aid.
Richard III - King of England since 1483 from the York dynasty.
There were common nicknames - a whole series of Great, Just, Evil and Good Kings: Charlemagne, the Great Cnut, John the Good of France, Philip the Good of Burgundy, Charles the Evil of Navarre and others. Even the whole royal dynasty - Lazy Kings (Merovingians) - was nicknamed because they never cut their hair.
Harold I Harepaw
The reign of this English king began in 1035 and lasted 5 years. During this time, he became famous mainly for his hunting skills and fast running, for which he was named the Hare's Paw.
Edmund II Ironside
King of England since 1016, Edmund has tirelessly displayed courage in battles against the Danes. He found himself in the center of the battle so often that his subjects almost never saw him without armor. This made him Ironside.
John I the Posthumous
Alas, the 13th king of France died just five days after ascending the throne, for which he was so named by the people. It is even more sad that he was proclaimed king on the same day that he was born.
Pepin III Short
The king of the Franks of the middle of the 8th century received the nickname for a rather prosaic reason - he was rather short.
Louis XV the Beloved
During one of the wars that fell on the long reign of the 65th king of France, Louis fell seriously ill. The people were alarmed in earnest, but when the ruler recovered, France was so delighted with his healing that she called Louis the Beloved.
Russian rulers
Our princes and kings, too, could not do without nicknames that they deserved for one reason or another.
Vasily Kosoy and Vasily II the Dark
The cousins \u200b\u200bfought for the place of the Grand Duke of Moscow for a long time. In their struggle, they did not shun self-harm. Vasily Yuryevich was blinded by the order of Vasily Vasilyevich, for which he received the nickname Squint.
Vasily II Vasilyevich Dark - the Grand Duke of Moscow since 1425, the fifth son of the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow Vasily I Dmitrievich and Sofia Vitovtovna.
When Vasily II himself was captured, he was overtaken by an equivalent revenge, and he, also blinded, began to be called the Dark One.
Vladimir I Red Sun
The Grand Duke who baptized Russia had many nicknames - Saint, Great, Baptist. But more than others, Vladimir Svyatoslavich got the nickname from the epics - Red Sun.
“Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko and his wife Apraksia Korolevichna”. 1895. Illustration for the book "Russian epic heroes"
In folklore, he was reflected in a collective image, which was, among other things, the personification of natural phenomena.
Yury Dolgoruky
The founder of Moscow got a lot of help from various principalities. Twice he became the Grand Duke of Kiev, fought for Pereyaslavl, he himself founded many cities besides Moscow.
Yuri Vladimirovich, nicknamed Dolgoruky - Prince of Rostov-Suzdal and Grand Duke of Kiev, son of Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh.
He received the nickname Dolgoruky not only for his disproportionately long arms, but also for his love of annexing the lands of weaker rulers.
The enemies called the Prince of Kiev Svyatoslav Bars. More than once he came out victorious, having a much smaller number of troops ...
Prince Yaroslav was nicknamed the wise. Through dynastic marriages, he strengthened ties with European countries and founded a number of new cities.
Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible
Tsar of Moscow Ivan IV was called the Terrible for his ferocity, and Peter I became the Great for many great and glorious deeds.
The nicknames of the kings were given according to merit. So Alexander I quite officially from the Synod in 1814 received the prefix Blessed, Alexander II was called the Liberator, for the abolition of serfdom, and Alexander III was called the Peacemaker, for the fact that under him Russia did not wage wars.
There were about 300-400 people killed in the battle. Catholics brought 25 thousand people to the battlefield, and their opponents - 16 thousand people. The defeated after the battle on November 8, 1620, panicked, many soldiers drowned in the cold waters of the Vltava, when they fled in despair from the battlefield. Friedrich Faltsky did not show restraint that day either. He left Prague Castle and settled with his family in the Old Town. The next night he decided to flee from Prague to Wroclaw. Escaped before noon on November 9th. It was an incredible failure in such a difficult situation. He left his subjects, the stricken estates and property.
History called him the Winter King, but his contemporaries called him the same - he was predicted that he would not hold out on the Czech royal throne longer than one winter. And they were right.
On November 8, the winners gathered on the territory of the Prague Castle that he had left. There were beautiful horses in the yard, which Frederick loved so much, incl. and a Turkish stallion, a gift from the Hungarian ruler Gabor Betlen. In the third courtyard of Prague Castle, there were boxes that the fleeing did not have time to load; they contained not only jewelry, but also an order with diamonds, which he received from his father-in-law, King James I.
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“He abandoned the kingdom without any significant reasons, because he had enough funds to gather the scattered people and, for example, at night and together with his generals to strike at the enemy, as the Czechs were able to”, - wrote Pavel Skala from Zgorze, Czech church historian, participant in the uprising against the Habsburgs.
The question is what chances of success Friedrich had. It is only known that he and his wife were in a hurry to Wroclaw. Perhaps he remembered how solemnly Prague met him on October 31, 1619. His entire reign was distinguished by its own characteristics.
When the estates of Ferdinand II were overthrown from the Czech throne on August 19, 1619, in order to thus get rid of the rule of the Habsburgs, they had two candidates for his place - the Saxon Elector, the Lutheran Jan Jiri and the Palatinate Elector, Calvinist Friedrich.
He headed the Evangelical Union. Frederick was elected on 26 August. He was from the famous family of Wittelbachs, with whom the post of Elector was associated from the middle of the 13th century. Friedrich was easy-going and friendly.
“All we can do with Frederick is for him to follow the right advice, otherwise he will never reach the point of deciding something for himself and doing something famous. The character is delicate, secretive, timid, but very greedy and arrogant, "- in 1606 the young Count Palatine was characterized by the duke of Sedan. Friedrich had an excellent education for his time - he spoke French as well as German. He was interested in science and sports, climbed trees and went swimming. He was a handsome young man, sporty rather than intelligent.
He was barely 16 years old when he was included in the marriage policy of King James I of England, who chose Frederick for his only daughter, Elizabeth. The young man visited London in November 1612. He immediately fell in love with the graceful and dissolute Elizabeth, who was one week older than him. Instead of letting Friedrich kiss the hem of her dress, she held her lips up to him with a laugh. It was a public offense. The young people got married on February 24, 1613, and in June went to the Palatinate Heidelberg.
Elizabeth was sweet, but she loved entertainment, and she enjoyed spending the Palatinate money. In Heidelberg, she had a whole palace. At home the Elector spoke only French. It did not even occur to her to learn German.
Her royal lineage was often the cause of contention with her husband - she quarreled with him over the priority of observing etiquette. For example, which of them should have a more important place at the banquet. Elizabeth gave birth to 13 children to Frederick.
Frederick's election as king caused confusion. He wanted to consult with members of the Evangelical Union and his father-in-law, James I. Ultimately, he decided to accept the crown, and in early October 1619 he went to Prague. It was a magnificent procession of 153 carriages.
The road was not without accidents. A large stone fell on Elizabeth's carriage, which almost killed their first-born son Jindrich Friedrich. Elizabeth was pregnant again at that time. The trip to Prague lasted a whole week, via Cheb, Zatec, Louny and Bustegrad. She was full of entertainment. For example, Pan Jan Jindřich from Stampach ordered to build a pergola on the lawn on the lawn, covered with fresh greenery, in which he laid expensive tables.
The king was courteously greeted with breakfast or lunch, carefully covered with sumptuous dishes, game, and various fish. The king, the queen and all their escort were so entertained, the king and queen himself never ceased to be amazed at such a wonderful reception. "
This was an expensive deed, because the procession consisted of 569 people, including the military, and the same number of estate processions that met the king at the border. It was the same in Prague.
On November 4, 1619, the king was solemnly crowned, and three days later the queen. Frederick, however, was not a great strategist. His upbringing did not prepare him for this, and he knew little about the art of war. He was young and inexperienced. Humanly pleasant, that's all.
He behaved quite democratically, which lowered his authority in the eyes of the citizens of Prague. For example, in the summer of 1620, he and his wife swam in the Vltava, which caused neglect among the citizens of Prague. He often smiled, loved to dance, sports, hunting, hiking. All this spoiled the impression, as well as the deep neckline of Elizabeth. Frederick spent a year and a week in the Bohemian kingdom, and devoted little time to real government.
He traveled a lot - to Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia. And, of course, to his army, because the disastrous war against the imperial dragged on with varying success. And he constantly raised funds for the salaries of civilian soldiers. Before the battle on White Mountain, the mercenaries were last paid on September 15, which did not raise their morale in any way. Frederick asked for financial help, and jewelry would do. He asked the burghers, and the queen asked the bourgeois. It all ended in fiasco - the bourgeois refused to lend. Negotiated with foreign ambassadors for possible assistance. He turned many against himself.
The Calvinist king in October 1619 expelled the members of the St. Vitus chapter from the church and confiscated their estates. On the advice of his preacher Abraham Scultetus, he ordered to put a guard at the door of the temple. The canon houses were taken over by Calvinist preachers. The country's main shrine must be adapted for the royal court and the nobility. Calvinists preached in the temple three times a week.
Moreover, back in December 1619, under pressure from Sculttetus, images and works of art began to be removed from the temple. Scultetus even burned holy relics at home in order to "cleanse the temple", because the Calvinists did not approve of the luxurious decoration of the church.
They even smashed the altar, epitaphs, statues. They were joined by some Czech Calvinists and Lutherans. This did not benefit in the eyes of many Prague residents, not only Catholics, but most importantly the new Utraquists (radical chashniks), who were in the majority in the Czech Republic. Frederick also ordered to remove the Cross from the Charles Bridge, allegedly because "the queen, passing over this bridge, could not look at that naked bath attendant." Even the Hussites did not get to such an image.
However, on December 27, 1619, the kingdom splendidly celebrated the birth of the royal son, Ruprecht. The battlefield was not as great. On the day of the battle on White Mountain, November 8, 1620, the king stayed at the Prague Castle, where he received the envoys of the English king, his father-in-law Jacob I. At this time, he received a dispatch from his army that the hour of battle was approaching, and it was necessary that the king came to the army and inspired him to win.
Frederick told the English envoys that he would not go to battle. Then he had lunch. It was exactly twelve. The battle began at half past eleven. At the Strahov Gate, he met with his commanders, who fled from the battlefield without waiting for its end. Friedrich immediately understood everything.
He immediately announced the defeat to the queen, who did not want to believe it. After that, the couple, together with the court, went to Stare Mesto.
Frederick doubted whether to stay and fight or leave Prague. Pregnant Elizabeth advised to fight. The indecisive king began to retreat. And the next morning he ran away with his people in the direction of Wroclaw, earning the nickname "Rabbit".
