I Am Louis XIV

Chapter 375 The dust has settled

In history books, except for events worthy of being written about such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, most marriages only have a few lines - especially for princesses and queens. Many times, they will only be remembered. No one cares about whose daughter, whose wife, whose mother they are recorded as, or what they are like - but starting from the Louis XIV period, the noble ladies of the Bourbon family have the qualification to open another page, although that At that time, people were always very wary of foreign queens. But after analysis by 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 they are the crown prince, the eldest princess, the eldest princess, and later the son of the duke, their marriages They are all arranged extremely securely and advantageously, and the advantages here are not just for France or their father.

If one were to choose one among them, people would probably all mention Lucky Mary, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Orleans and the Grand Princess of Versailles.

The reason why she is "lucky" is because she almost negotiated a marriage contract with King Carlos II of Spain twice, but neither of them succeeded.

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

Because the marriage contract between Spain and the Holy Roman Empire came first, if Leopold I was unwilling to give in, the Roman Church would still support the previous marriage contract, unless the Spanish could prove that Antonia, the eldest princess of the Holy Roman Empire, was sterile, which would Of course the Spaniards couldn't get it, and Leopold I didn't give the Spanish Habsburgs another chance. He asked his wizard to prepare some magic potions to adjust the development time of the eldest princess Antonia forward.

After the princess of Versailles heard about this, a chill rushed into her heart from her feet. She had a loving father and a kind uncle, and she could not imagine such a thing - in this era, girls from aristocratic families , as long as you don’t enter a monastery, with enough food and enough activities, you will usually mature between the ages of twelve and thirteen!

But this was a common thing for Leopold I and the pro-Austrian faction in Madrid. They had even begun to mediate, hoping to bring forward the marriage of Carlos II.

Leopold I had already adopted such an attitude. Although the Spaniards coveted the princess's dowry, they had to stop. The Duke of Orleans also vaguely knew from the king that Carlos II's first-born son was born as a child. died in infancy, and the situation may be worse than they imagined. The Spanish's secrecy can almost prove this-just look at the Duke of Halebour and the Duke of Montreal. Even if it is an illegitimate child, the king's son must There were celebratory banquets and a few grand masses for the dead child, but everyone in the courts of Madrid or Toledo seemed to be dead and there was no reaction at all.

At this time, Louis XIV and the king's brother did not know that the king's maid gave birth to a devil. The king originally stood with the king and thought that he should marry Juan Patiño, the daughter of the Duke of Orleans of France, and Toledo The Archbishop, as well as the Queen Mother, all changed their previous ideas - France's request was to cede Friesland to France, and then France return it to Spain in the form of a dowry. If she died or gave birth to a deformed monster, Louis XIV would definitely directly ask the Roman Church to declare the marriage contract invalid. Wouldn't Friesland be given to France in vain?

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

"The princess of France has been replaced, ha!" Duke Don Juan said with a smile: "Look at Queen Elizabeth of Sweden." His gloating made Queen Mother Maria glare at him fiercely, but there was nothing she could do. After all, Don Juan Duke Juan was right - although Louis XIV's eldest princess Elizabeth could not bring anything from France except herself during the ceremony, her French maids and entourage arrived immediately after the ceremony. In Stockholm, in addition to the army that accompanied the marriage, Huguenots also migrated to Sweden one after another this year - this was all agreed upon during the marriage negotiations, and even Karl XI could not object. Opinions, these behaviors certainly aroused the disgust of the Swedes, but as Louis XIV saw, it is useless for a foreign queen to please her husband's dignitaries. A sentence of "You are French!" can be destroyed. All your efforts, so...not as good as Eleanor of Aquitaine. She only had two daughters in her fifteen-year marriage to Louis VII. But perhaps to people's surprise, this queen not only blatantly interfered in state affairs, Intervening in government affairs, he was the first to file for divorce when it was discovered that he had an affair with Duke Raymond.

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

Compared with the subsequent princesses and queens, Eleanor of Aquitaine lived a much happier life. Even if she fell out with Henry II after giving birth to her eighth child, she could still live in her own palace and territory. He spent the next few decades in a carefree life, surrounded by passionate and beautiful young people, until he died at the age of eighty-three.

Louis XIV wanted to create this path for the daughters of the Bourbon family. Needless to say, this is also true.

Although the Swedes grumbled about their new queen, they could not refuse her dowry of substantial assets, a port south of Groningen, new weapons and troops, and tens of thousands of Hugs. Norse.

The whole of Scandinavia now has a population of only two million - it is too cold and desolate here. If it were not for the promises and orders of Louis XIV and the Grand Princess, even the Huguenots would rather migrate to England or It is a Protestant vassal state in the Holy Roman Empire. According to the original plan, 10,000 Huguenots will migrate to Sweden every year, mainly to cities around Stockholm. Such migration will last three to five years depending on the situation. wait.

In an era when people were needed for agriculture, fishery, industry, and even war, people were originally a precious asset. The Huguenots who were willing to leave the warm France were almost the most stubborn and aggressive group of people. Their departure from France made Louis XIV less worried. As for the eldest princess, now the Queen of Sweden, she announced her conversion to Protestantism the day after she arrived in Stockholm.

After removing the barriers of religion, the Huguenots and the princess only have the same identity, that is, the French. The Huguenots want to gain a foothold on that cold land, multiply, and strengthen themselves. They had no one to turn to except Queen Elizabeth, and they had only one master.

The eldest princess, no, we should call her the Queen of Sweden next. Her letter to Louis XIV also stated this. The leaders of the Huguenots came to see her just a few days ago, as well as King Charles. In the 11th century, Karl XI was full of confidence and care for these believers - because almost all of them were shipbuilders. These people migrated from Marseille and Nantes. Of course, the ambitious young king was very happy. Victory, but he may not have noticed that there are a few more girls from Huguenot families among the queen's maids, but even if he knew, he would not care too much, but these are the contacts between the queen and the Huguenots ——The number of Huguenots is not large now. When the number gradually threatens the local Scandinavians and creates conflicts, then it will be time for Queen Elizabeth to show her power.

Louis XIV sighed when he saw Elizabeth clearly writing that in these five years, she would try to give birth to an heir to Karl XI, but he had no choice but to do so. After all, this period was really a good time for childbirth. Maybe they will start fighting again in a few years. A marriage without an heir is unstable. Even if she has feelings for Karl XI, if she has a son, let's say the worst-case scenario, even if Karl King XI died on the battlefield, but the alliance between Sweden and France remained firm and unshakable.

Elizabeth also congratulated the eldest princess in her letter, because if there were no mistakes, the eldest princess's future husband should be Frederick of Brandenburg-Prussia.

It was not only Leopold I who could be ruthless, but also the elector who spoke humbly but had a tough attitude. In order to find a good marriage for his son, this elector would become extremely bold when necessary. The emperor actually imitated Louis XIV and borrowed large sums from merchants, raising 500,000 livres to Leopold I, and another 300,000 livres to bribe the princes and churches, turning the Principality of Prussia into the Kingdom of Prussia in one fell swoop. , when Frederick came to Versailles again, he was the crown prince of Prussia instead of the son of a prince. This behavior is really reckless and dangerous. After all, Louis XIV has not given him any promises. If Louis XIV thinks that the Bourbon bloodline should be integrated into the Spanish royal family in ten years, then he and his descendants will have to bear a hundred The heavy debt may not be repaid even in years. If other countries intend to take advantage of the fire and rob it...then the Kingdom of Prussia may be the kingdom with the shortest life so far. Not only that, once the heirs are exterminated - of course, this is very likely, then the achievements of the Hohenzollern ancestors who have fought for hundreds of years will be destroyed.

Frederick was still a somewhat naive boy when he left Paris, but he was already a mature man when he came back. He even suppressed his concern and love for the princess and went to see the king first. He was full of trepidation. , until the king asked him to have dinner with him - his heart suddenly fell to the ground... When there was no banquet, the king would only have dinner with the people closest to him, his relatives and most valued minister, Frederick He has not even graduated from the military academy, and of course it is impossible to serve the king, so there is only one option left - he and the princess sit face to face, separated by the fragrant greenhouse 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.

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Even though the howl was separated by several rooms, it still sounded very clear.

Now the Duke of Don Juan is thankful that they did not bring Carlos II directly back to Madrid, but stayed away from the Aranjuez Palace in Madrid. This palace is located on the Tagus River. It is a summer palace because it had been unfortunately attacked before. There was a fire, so the surrounding houses were demolished, and the Spaniards did not have to know that their king would bark like a mad dog.

The smile on his lips undoubtedly hurt Queen Mother Maria's heart. She glared at him viciously, and then turned to the dark wizard who was making the potion: "Didn't you say that he will be a normal person from now on?"

"Isn't it?" A tall and thin dark wizard said calmly: "Listen to this scream, how loud and powerful it is. Was your Majesty able to scream like this before?"

The Archbishop of Toledo couldn't help but curse, but this had no effect on these dark wizards at all. They were the experts when it came to curses. They exchanged glances in the smoke. In fact, if there was any magical elixir, they would It has been used on myself a long time ago, and it will not be used by Carlos II, otherwise? Wait until these mortals cross the river and burn the bridge?

"So what happened to the baby?" Patiño asked in a deep voice. His niece should have had a good marriage, but he made her the wife of Carlos II out of... selfishness. He didn't expect the consequences for the maid and the person on the bed to be so tragic. He was thankful that she went to heaven, otherwise she would go crazy when she saw that he gave birth to such a monster.

"Your Majesty's birth was not through the hands of any of us." One of the dark wizards said: "To trace the origin, we have to start with the blood of Habsburg."

Queen Mother Maria yelled angrily, but no one listened to her. "Is there any way that the queen can give birth to a healthy child?" Patiño asked.

Now that Leopold I was obstructing them, they could not dissolve their previous engagement, and the queen could only be Antonia of Habsburg. The dark wizards couldn't help but shook their heads and tutted...

"This is your fault!" the Queen Mother shouted: "Originally, my child could live for many years!"

"It's not easy to say, blind, deaf, epileptic and dementia," the tall and thin dark wizard said contemptuously: "You have to pay a price for what you want. Everyone, if you want a healthy king, it is doomed that he will no longer be able to Spend half your life like waste..."

"So how can Spain have a healthy and long-lived heir?" Patinho interrupted the dark wizard and asked.

The dark wizard curled his lips slightly: "Do you know who was the last person to make such a wish?"

"who?"

"Henry VIII."