Louis of France, Duke of Burgundy
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| Louis of France | |
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| Duke of Burgundy le Petit Dauphin |
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| Louis, Duc de Bourgogne | |
| Spouse | Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy |
| Issue | |
| Louis, Duke of Brittany Louis XV of France |
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| Royal House | House of Bourbon |
| Father | Louis, le Grand Dauphin |
| Mother | Maria Anna of Bavaria |
| Born | 16 August 1682 |
| Died | 18 February 1712 (aged 29) |
Louis de France, Duke of Burgundy (duc de Bourgogne) (16 August 1682 - 18 February 1712) was the eldest son of Louis, le Grand Dauphin. He was known as le Petit Dauphin, and upon his father's death in 1711, he became Dauphin of France.
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[edit] Birth
Louis was born in the Château de Versailles, the eldest son of Louis, le Grand Dauphin, and his wife Maria Anna of Bavaria. At birth, he received the title "duc de Bourgogne". As the son of the Dauphin, he was second in the line of succession to his grandfather, King Louis XIV of France.
[edit] Life and political role
The Duke of Burgundy was reputed to be a difficult child who respected no one, but under the influence of his tutor François Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai, he grew into a very pious and religious man. Fénelon's thoughts and beliefs would continue to influence the young prince throughout his life.
In 1702, at the age of twenty, the Duke of Burgundy was admitted by Louis XIV to the Conseil d'en haut (High Council), which was in charge of state secrets regarding religion, diplomacy and war. This greatly delighted him because his father had only been admitted to the High Council at the age of thirty.
During the War of the Spanish Succession, he was given command, in 1708, of the army in Flanders, with the experienced soldier Louis Joseph de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme theoretically serving under him. The uncertainty as to which of the two should truly command the army led to delays and the need to refer decisions to Louis XIV. Continued indecision led to French inactivity as messages travelled between the front and Versailles; the Allies were then able to take the initiative. The culmination of this was the Battle of Oudenarde where the Duke of Bourgogne's mistaken choices and reluctance to support Vendôme led to a decisive defeat for the French. In the aftermath of the defeat, his hesitation to relieve the Siege of Lille doomed the city and allowed the Allies to make their first incursions onto French soil.
The Duke of Burgundy was influenced by the dévots and was surrounded by a circle of people known as the Faction de Bourgogne (Burgundy's faction), which was most notably made up of his old tutor Fénelon, his old governor Paul de Beauvilliers, duc de Saint-Aignan and his brother-in-law Charles Honoré d'Albert, duc de Chevreuse, as well as the renowned memorialist, Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon.
These high-ranking aristocrats sought a return to a monarchy less absolute and less centralised, with vast powers granted to the individual provinces. They perceived that government should work through councils and intermediary organs between the king and the people. These intermediary councils were to be made up not by commoners from the bourgeoisie (as the ministers appointed by Louis XIV) but by aristocrats who perceived themselves as the representatives of the people and would assist the king in governance and the exercise of power. Had the Duke of Burgundy succeeded to the throne, he may have applied this concept of monarchy.
After his father's death in 1711, the Duke of Burgundy succeeded him as Dauphin. In February 1712, his wife Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy contracted measles and died on the 12th of that month. The Duke of Burgundy, who dearly loved his wife, and who had stayed by her side throughout the fatal illness, contracted the disease. He died six days later, on 18 February. Both their children also became infected, and their elder surviving son, Louis, Duke of Brittany, the latest in a series of Dauphins, succumbed to it within the month. However, the younger son, the Duke of Anjou, then only two years of age, survived the epidemic disease and would later succeed as Louis XV upon the death of his great-grandfather, Louis XIV, in 1715.
The premature death of the Duke of Burgundy precipitated a possible succession crisis as he left as the heir to his seventy-four-year-old grandfather his frail infant son whose chances of survival were thought minimal. It also ruined the hopes of the Faction de Bourgogne, whose members would soon die of natural deaths. Nonetheless, some of their ideas were put into practice when, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as Regent during Louis XV's minority, created a form of government known as polysynody, where each ministry was replaced by a council composed of aristocrats. However, the absenteeism, ineptitude and conflicts of the aristocrats caused this system of governance to fail, and it was soon abandoned in 1718 in favour of a return to the preceding style of rule.
[edit] Marriage and children
As part of the Treaty of Turin, which ended Franco-Savoyard conflicts during the Nine Years' War, Bourgogne was married, on 7 December 1697, to Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy (1685-1712). She was the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy and his first wife Anne Marie d'Orléans. Marie-Adélaïde's maternal grandparents were Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and Henrietta Anne Stuart.
The couple's children were:
- a stillborn child (1702)
- a stillborn child (1703)
- Louis, Duke of Brittany (1704-1705)
- Louis, Duke of Brittany (1707-1712)
- stillborn child (1708)
- Louis, Duke of Anjou (1710-1774), later King Louis XV
- a stillborn child (1712)
[edit] Ancestry
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[edit] References
- Antoine, Michel, Louis XV, Fayard, Paris, 1989 (French).
- Dufresne, Claude, les Orléans, CRITERION, Paris, 1991 (French).
- Erlanger, Philippe, Louis XIV, translated from the French by Stephen Cox, Praeger Publisher, New York & Washington, 1970. (First published in French by Fayard in 1965).
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Louis of France, Duke of Burgundy
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: 16 August 1682 Died: 18 February 1712 |
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| French royalty | ||
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| Preceded by Louis, le Grand Dauphin |
Dauphin of France 14 April 1711 – 18 February 1712 |
Succeeded by Louis |
