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Louis XIV done badly
Levi's Louis XIV is an odd book. After the introductory first chapter, the next seven chapters proceed chronologically from his birth to the affair of the poisons, although Levi does jump around within that chronological order. The final five chapters are arranged topically on Versailles, the king's religion, war and foreign policy, Popes and Protestants (one would think that this chapter should have followed the one on the king's religion), and finally the king's character, health and death.

This is not a very good book. It is jammed with facts but many of them are not right. For instance, on pages 263 and 264 Levi discusses Marshal Vauban who has been a heroic character throughout the book. On page 263 Levi says that Vauban had been appointed a member of the Order of the Holy Spirit in February 1708 with all kinds of special permissions by Louis XIV. Yet on page 264 Levi says that Vauban died in March, 1706. (He actually died in March, 1707.) Either this is sloppiness on the part of the writer or bad proofreading by the publisher. And this is one example out of many of apparent misstatements of fact or sloppy publishing.

Some of Levi's sentences are unreadable. On page 269 in discussing the death of Louis XIV's grandson the duc de Bourgogne, he writes the following: "No fasting was involved, and doctors were not being provoked by being told against their judgement (sic) by a miscellany of priests and royalty that the danger of death was imminent, although it was." This is just one example of some of the monstrosities in this book.

Levi makes a pair of linked outrageous claims in this book. First, he says that Louis XIV was not the son of Louis XIII but was a product of a union between Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin. Then, he compounds this claim by saying that Louis XIV was aware that Mazarin was his biological father. Previous authors (John B. Wolf and Claude Dulong among them) have said that Mazarin and Anne of Austria became and remained lovers after the death of Louis XIII. And many people have wondered about the possibility of Louis XIV being produced by a one-night stand between Anne of Austria and the consumptive, possibly homosexual Louis XIII. Levi comes out and states that Louis XIV (and his brother) were not produced by Louis XIII. And he makes a strong case, but, given his problems with facts discussed above, can we trust him?

And, if Louis XIV was aware that his mother had had an adulterous relationship with Mazarin, how did that affect his attitude toward monarchy? Louis XIV is widely regarded as the leading proponent and example of absolute monarchy based on divine right of kings and Levi says that it was all based on a lie that Louis XIV was aware of. Levi makes very little of this argument or of the psychological impact it may have had on Louis XIV, but instead he talks about Louis XIV as being uncertain, timid, shy, etc. This is a missed opportunity at best.