Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Get this deal Try for £0.00
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Age of Louis XIV cover art

The Age of Louis XIV

By: Laurence Bradford Packard
Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £11.99

Buy Now for £11.99

Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

The seventeenth century was one of the most fascinating and seminal periods in European history, particularly with regard to France. For it was here in France that the fruits of the earlier Renaissance were to be most brilliantly realized. Although the path of "greatness" for Louis XIV was prepared for him by men like Richelieu, Mazarin, Colbert, Turenne, and Louvois, it was during his reign that French preeminence in all facets of civilization emerged. In diplomacy, military science, art, architecture, literature, fashion, music, gastronomy, philosophy, physics, mathematics, engineering, and many other fields of endeavor, France stood at the pinnacle of human achievement. She was to remain there until the time of Napoleon. How did this hegemony come about?

Laurence Bradford Packard, an eminent historian and scholar, traces the origins of absolute monarchy and tells us how the political evolution of inherited kingship came to be what it was by the time of Louis XIV. He explains the marvelous diplomatic machinery backed by military might that made France the most feared nation in Europe for almost 200 years. And he discusses the various intellectual controversies of the day which were to produce some of the greatest minds in Europe. There has never been a period which produced so many masters of language: Voltaire, Moliere, Racine, Corneille, Pascal, Bayle, Rochefoucauld, La Fontaine, Bossuet, and many others. And of course, there were Milton, Hobbes, and Locke in England. Packard gives them all their due and goes on to explore the other arts, as well. The book ends with an appraisal of the amazing progress Europeans, and especially the French, made in the scientific fields. The names are legendary: Descartes, Newton, Boyle, Leeuwenhoek, Leibnitz, and others.

It was a titanic period, and hovering above them all was the man who symbolized the power and majesty of the absolute monarchy...Louix XIV.
©2005 Audio Connoisseur (P)2005 Audio Connoisseur
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
Canada Europe
Show More Show Less

What listeners say about The Age of Louis XIV

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
No Reviews are Available