I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 375 The dust settles

In the history books, except for events worthy of special mention like Eleanor of Aquitaine, most marriages have only a few lines—especially for princesses and queens, who are often only recorded For whose daughters, whose wives, whose mothers, and who they are, nobody cares—but from the time of Louis XIV, the ladies of the Bourbons have been entitled to a new page, although people at that time Always be wary of foreign queens. However, after the analysis of scholars, Louis XIV and the Duke of Orleans are obviously not the kind of people who don't care about their children. It can be said that whether it is the crown prince, the eldest princess or the lord of the county, and the son of the duke later, their marriage All are arranged with great security and advantage, and the advantage here is not only for the French or their fathers.

  If one were to choose one, people would probably unanimously mention the lucky Mary, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Orleans and the grand dame of Versailles.

The reason why    is "lucky" is that she has twice negotiated a marriage contract with King Carlos II of Spain, but has not succeeded.

  ———

   Once Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire was willing to intervene, then things became easier.

Because Spain's engagement with the Holy Roman Empire was earlier, if Leopold I was unwilling to make concessions, the Roman Church would still support the previous engagement, unless the Spaniards could prove that the Holy Roman Emperor's eldest princess, Antonia, was infertile. Of course, the Spaniards couldn't get it, and Leopold I didn't give the Habsburgs in Spain another chance. He asked his wizards to concoct some potions to adjust the development time of the princess Antonia forward.

After the Grand Princess of Versailles heard about this, a chill rushed to her heart from her feet. She had a loving father and a gracious uncle, and she could not imagine such a thing at all. In this era, girls from noble families, As long as you don't enter a monastery, if you have enough food and enough activities, you will usually mature at the age of twelve to thirteen!

   But this was a common occurrence for Leopold I and the pro-Austrian faction in Madrid, who had even begun to negotiate in hopes of bringing forward the marriage of Carlos II.

Leopold I had already made such an attitude. Although the Spaniards coveted the dowry of the great county lord, they had to die. The Duke of Orleans also vaguely knew from the king that the first son of Carlos II died as soon as he was born. And the situation may be worse than they imagined, and the Spanish secrecy can almost prove this point - just look at the Duke of Halebur and the Duke of Montreal to know that even if it is an illegitimate child, the king's son will have a wedding after the birth. There should be a few grand Masses for the children who died, but the people in Madrid or the court of Toledo seemed to be dead, and there was no reaction at all.

At this time, Louis XIV and the king's younger brother did not know for the time being that because the king's maid gave birth to a devil, who originally stood with the king and believed that he should marry Juan Patinho, the daughter of the Duke of Orleans of France, and Toledo. The archbishop and the queen mother have changed their previous ideas - the request made by France is to cede Friesland to France, and then France will return it to Spain in the form of a dowry, but if the grand county lord is married a few days later because of dystocia If he died, or gave birth to a deformed monster, Louis XIV would definitely ask the Church of Rome to declare the marriage annulled. Wouldn't Friesland be given to France in vain?

But Antonia, the princess of the Holy Roman Empire, was another matter. She was not favored by Leopold I, and was also a Habsburg. Even for Habsburgs, she would keep silent, or They were able to ask her to remain silent.

"It's the Grand Princess of France, ha!" Duke Don Juan said with a smile: "Look at Queen Elizabeth of Sweden." His schadenfreude made the Queen Mother glared at him fiercely, but there was nothing he could do. After all, Tang The Duke of Juan was right—although Louis XIV's eldest princess Elizabeth could not bring anything from France except herself at the ceremony, her French maid and entourage rushed to Stockholm immediately after the ceremony. , In addition to the army that accompanied the marriage, Huguenots migrated to Sweden one after another this year - this was all agreed in the marriage negotiations, and even Karl XI could not raise any objections. Of course, these actions aroused the resentment of the Swedes, but as Louis XIV saw, no matter how much a foreign queen and queen curry favor with the dignitaries of her husband's family, it is useless. A sentence "You are French!" can destroy everything you have. Her efforts, so... not like Eleanor of Aquitaine, who had only two daughters in her fifteen-year marriage to Louis VII, but perhaps unexpectedly, this queen not only brazenly intervened in state affairs, intervened in government affairs, He was also the first to file for divorce when he was found to have an affair with Duke Raymond.

Eleanor of Aquitaine has always been Eleanor of Aquitaine, but whether it was Louis VII before, or Henry II, who was ten years younger than her, no one in their court dared to shout, "She is a "Foreigners", on the contrary, this woman has always maintained her military, territorial and political independence, and no one dares to underestimate her.

Eleanor of Aquitaine lived a much happier life than the princess and queen that followed. Even if she turned her face with Henry II after giving birth to her eighth child, she could still live in her own court and territory. For the next few decades, he was surrounded by amorous and beautiful young people until he died at the age of eighty-three.

  Louis XIV wanted to create the same path for the daughters of the Bourbons, needless to say, it was true.

While the Swedes complained about their new queen, they couldn't refuse her dowry—great assets, a port south of Groningen, new weapons and troops, and tens of thousands of Huguenots sectarian.

The whole of Scandinavia is now only two million people - it's too cold and desolate, and if it weren't for the promises and orders of Louis XIV and the Grand Princess, even the Huguenots would rather migrate to England or Protestant vassal states of the Holy Roman Empire - According to the original plan, 10,000 Huguenots would migrate to Sweden every year, mainly in the cities around Stockholm, and this migration would last three to five years, depending on the situation.

In an era when people were needed for agriculture, fishing, industry, and even wars, people were originally a precious asset, and the Huguenots who were willing to leave warm France were almost the most stubborn and aggressive group of people. Their departure from France also saved Louis XIV a lot of heart. As for the eldest princess, the current Queen of Sweden, she announced her conversion to Protestantism the day after she arrived in Stockholm.

Removing the barriers of religion, Huguenots and the eldest princess have only one identity left, that is, French. Huguenots must stand on that cold land, multiply, and strengthen themselves. There was no one to turn to except Queen Elizabeth, they could only have one master.

Grand Princess, no, we should call her Queen of Sweden next, she said it in her letter to Louis XIV, the Huguenot leaders came to see her only a few days ago, and King Karl XI, Charles XI is full of confidence and care for these believers - because almost all of them used to be shipbuilders, these people just migrated from Marseille and Nantes, the ambitious young king is of course overjoyed , but he may not have noticed that there are a few more girls from Huguenot families in the maid beside the queen, but even if he knows, he won't care too much, but these are the contacts between the queen and the Huguenots— Now the number of Huguenots is not large, and when the number gradually threatens the local Scandinavians and conflicts, then it is time for Queen Elizabeth to show her strength.

Louis XIV sighed when he saw that Elizabeth clearly wrote that in these five years, she was going to try to be the heir of Charles XI, but there was nothing she could do. After all, this time was really a good time to give birth. In a few years maybe they are going to fight again, a marriage without an heir is unstable, even if she has feelings with Karl XI, but if you have a son, say the worst, even Karl The XI died on the battlefield, and the alliance between Sweden and France remained firm and unshakable.

   Elisabeth also congratulated the Countess in her letter, because if there was nothing wrong, the future husband of the Countess should be Frederick of Brandenburg-Prussia.

It is not only Leopold I who can be ruthless, but also the elector who is humble in words but strong in attitude. In order to get this good marriage for his son, this elector who will become extremely bold when necessary. The emperor even imitated Louis XIV and borrowed a lot of money from businessmen, raising 500,000 livres to Leopold I, and another 300,000 livres to buy the princes and the church, making the Principality of Prussia become the Kingdom of Prussia in one fell swoop. , When Frederick came to Versailles, he was the prince of Prussia, not the son of a prince. This kind of behavior is really reckless and dangerous. After all, Louis XIV did not give him any promises. If Louis XIV thought that the blood of Bourbon should be integrated into the Spanish royal family in the morning, then he and his descendants would have to bear a hundred A heavy debt that may not be repaid in years, if other countries intend to take advantage of the fire...then the Kingdom of Prussia may have the shortest lifespan so far. Not only that, but once the heir is extinct - of course, this is very likely, then the achievements of the ancestors of Hohenzollern that have been fighting for hundreds of years will be destroyed in one fell swoop.

Frederick was still a little naive when he left Paris. When he came back, he was already a mature man. He even suppressed his concern and love for the prince of the county, and went to see the king first. He was full of anxiety. , until the king asked him to have dinner with him - his heart fell suddenly... When there was no banquet, the king would only have dinner with the people closest to him, his relatives and the ministers he valued the most, and Frederick even Without graduating from the military academy, of course it is impossible to serve the king, so there is only one option left - he sits face to face with the grand county master, separated by fragrant conservatory flowers and gold and silver utensils, a pair of young people smiling .

  Louis XIV and the Duke of Orleans looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.

  ————

The    howl sounded clear even if it was separated by several rooms.

Now the Duke of Don Juan should be thankful that they did not bring Carlos II directly back to Madrid, but away from Madrid's Aranjuez Palace, which is located on the Tagus River and is a summer residence, because it has been unfortunately encountered before. A fire, so the surrounding houses were demolished, and the Spaniards didn't have to know that their king would bark like a mad dog.

   The smile on his lips undoubtedly stung the Queen Mother Maria's heart. She gave him a vicious look, then turned to the dark wizard who was preparing the potion: "Didn't you say that he will be normal in the future?"

   "Isn't it?" A tall and thin dark wizard said calmly: "Listen to this cry, how loud and full of energy. Could His Majesty be able to cry like this before?"

Archbishop Toledo couldn't help but cursed, but it didn't affect these dark wizards at all. Cursing them is the expert. They exchanged glances in the smoke. In fact, if there is any magic medicine, they I have already used it on myself, and I will not use it for Carlos II, otherwise? Wait until these mortals cross the river and demolish the bridge?

"Then what happened to the baby?" Patinho asked in a deep voice, his niece should have a good marriage, but he made her the maid of Carlos II out of... selfishness He didn't expect the consequences to be so tragic for the person on the couch. He should be glad that she went to heaven, otherwise she would go crazy when she saw such a monster born to her.

   "His Majesty was born without the hands of any of us." One of the dark wizards said: "If we want to trace the origin, we still have to say it from the blood of the Habsburgs."

  The Queen Mother scolded angrily, but no one listened to her. "Is there any way to make the queen give birth to a healthy child?" Patinho asked.

   Now Leopold I is a stalker, they can't cancel the previous engagement, the queen can only be Antonia of Habsburg, the dark wizards can't help shaking their heads, tsk tsk...

   "It's your fault!" The Queen Mother shouted, "My child could live for many years!"

"It's hard to say, blind, deaf, epilepsy, and dementia," said the lanky dark wizard contemptuously. "Whatever you want, there is always a price to pay, gentlemen, you want a healthy king, and it is doomed that he can no longer be I spent half my life like a waste..."

   "So how can Spain have a healthy and long-lived heir?" Patinho asked, interrupting the Dark Wizard.

   The dark wizard curled the corners of his mouth slightly: "Do you know who was the last person who made such a wish?"

"Who?"

   "Henry VIII."

   (end of this chapter)