![]() ![]() ![]() It remained for Louis XIV to complete their work. And the two wily cardinals had gained for France a diplomatic ascendancy to match her military might. Its army had surpassed that of Spain as Europe's most formidable military machine. France was the richest and most populous nation in Europe. ![]() It had been the aim of Cardinal Richelieu, the great first minister of Louis's father, "to make the king supreme in France and France supreme in Europe." And to an extent Cardinal Richelieu, as well as his successor, Cardinal Mazarin, had been successful. And he was to rule for more than another half century, through one of the longest, most brilliant, most eventful, and most controversial reigns in the history of modern Europe. Though he was just twenty-three years old, Louis had already been nominally the king for almost twenty years. In 1661, on the death of the regent Cardinal Mazarin, the personal reign of Louis XIV of France began. ![]()
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