LUIGI XIII, King of France. — Of the House of Bourbon, born at Fontainebleau on 27 Sept. 1601 to Enrico IV and Maria de' Medici, died on 14 May 1643 at St-Germain-en-Laye. He married in 1615 Anna d'Austria, by whom he had Luigi XIV and Filippo d'Orléans. Having lost his father, assassinated in 1610, he had a wretched childhood under his mother’s guardianship, amid the struggles of factions and the rule of favorites, from which he was freed only by the assassination of Concini in 1617.
He then fell into the hands of other oppressors and incompetents, until in 1624 he appointed Cardinal Richelieu as his chief minister, maintaining his trust in him until death, despite the deep hostility of the court and the recalcitrant nobility toward the minister who was restoring the king’s absolute authority, crushing the Parlements, the nobility, and the Huguenots as a political party. A mediocre man but full of a sense of his regal duties, he took part in the siege of La Rochelle and in expeditions to the south and to Piedmont. He supported Richelieu in the struggle against the House of Austria both in Germany and in the various Spanish dominions (Flanders, Catalonia, Portugal, Italy), and after Richelieu’s death, by appointing Mazarin, he ensured the continuation and success of the policy. He maintained good relations with Pope Urban VIII, who was also suspicious of Spanish arrogance. Piedmont, governed by his sister Cristina as regent, followed his directives.