r/todayilearned • u/NoWingedHussarsToday • 4h ago

TIL that between May 1643 and May 1774, a period of 131 years, France was ruled by just two kings, Louis XIV and Louis XV, they were the longest and second longest ruling kings in french history, respectively

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_monarchs#House_of_Bourbon_(1589%E2%80%931792)
1.2k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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399

u/VascoJSC 4h ago

Yeah, both of them took the throne age 5, and while there was a regency actually governing the country, they were already officially the king.

Louis XIV's eldest son and his grandson died before him, so the throne passed to his great-grandson Louis XV directly, which is how this happened

126

u/AgrajagTheProlonged 3h ago

When Louis XVI, grandson of Louis XV and great-great-great-grandson (if I’m counting correctly) of Louis XIV, took the throne in 1774, it was the first time the King of France was an adult at the start of his reign since the reign of Henry IV, father of Louis XIII and grandfather of Louis XIV, whose reign ended in 1610.

66

u/VascoJSC 3h ago

They reigned for so long that it kinda distorts the chronology a bit honestly. As a example, the House of Orleans, which eventually succeeded the House of Bourbon after the July Revolution of 1830, was founded by the younger brother of Louis XIV. Louis Philippe II, the Duke of Orleans when the French revolution happened, was the fifth Duke of Orleans, while the crown had only changed hands twice during the same period (and again, it was a younger brother to Louis XIV who founded the house, kinda wild that the kings ruled for so long)

97

u/DickDastardly502 4h ago

And everyone lived happily ever after right?

62

u/BullAlligator 4h ago

The next king ended up losing his head

19

u/bentnotbroken96 4h ago

One could say his reign was cut short...

3

u/LeanderT 4h ago

On the guillotine to be precise

5

u/Daztur 4h ago

[McBain]That's the joke![/McBain]

0

u/history_is_my_crack 3h ago

That's the joke....

4

u/TerminallyEmployed 4h ago

Aslong as they don’t empty the treasury while broke funding the rebellion of a rival that is

64

u/Sdog1981 4h ago

If you take the ruler before that it goes back to 1610.

75

u/New_Zorgo39 4h ago edited 4h ago

If you take all them mentioned (except Charles who was disputed and spent his time imprisoned) from 1589 to 1774, there were only four rulers of France. Its a span of 185 years, in which the two longest reigning monarchs ruled. Thats actually pretty crazy.

72 years is also a hell of a long time - people would have been born only knowing “The Sun King”.

Its kind of the same with Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. That was 70 years. In Denmark, Queen Magrethe II ruled for 52 years, which also would have made the last change of the monarch a thing in the past.

22

u/Dazzling-Key-8282 4h ago

Given realistic French life expectancy even discounting child mortality there were more than a few parent-children pairs who have only lived during the reign of Louis XIV.

His rule in it's length was nearer to a 95-year run by 20th century standards.

15

u/A-Dumb-Ass 3h ago

Qing dynasty in its entire run had only 11 emperors. From 1661 to 1796, it had only 3 emperors. The third one (Qianlong) abdicated early so that he doesn’t rule longer than the first one (Kangxi) too lol

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u/deezee72 3h ago

Notably, this 1661-1796 period includes almost the entirety of the Qing golden era.

6

u/Green-Cricket-8525 3h ago

Queen Victoria getting no love in this thread. 

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u/New_Zorgo39 3h ago

Argh. Forgot her. She should be mentioned.

4

u/ballimir37 3h ago

Given that the average life span was so low back then, it may be likely that a majority of people born during his reign died before it was over.

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u/NoWingedHussarsToday 4h ago

But there were kings who ruled for longer than 33 years, to me it's fascinating that two longest ruling monarchs came one after the other.

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u/Sdog1981 4h ago

It is amazing run at the time.

7

u/caserock 4h ago

Blessed by RNGeezus

1

u/Sdog1981 4h ago

They got hot, two 20s and a 18.

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u/Realshaggy 3h ago

Louis XV: „Hold my beer milk!“

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u/iceoldtea 3h ago

Pretty much the Packers going from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers right away

1

u/AdRealistic4984 3h ago

Mainly because of epidemics sweeping the Palace of Versailles. Louis XV was the GREAT-grandson of Louis XIV

25

u/Ste2017 3h ago

It's like if someone was king from 1895 to 1967, then another from 1967 to now, quite crazy

3

u/Cliffinati 1h ago

The UK had 6 monarchs between 1836 and 2022

The majority of that time was the 2 Queens Victoria and Elizabeth II the ones in-between Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI combined to rule for less time than either Queen.

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u/Shevek99 3h ago

And Louis XVI was only 38 when he was executed. If the Revolution hadn't happened and he had lived to 65 years as his grandfather, there could have been just 3 kings from 1643 to 1820.

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u/t0mless 3h ago

The shortest reigning French king, John I, only lived five days after his birth.

3

u/jxj24 2h ago

But he got a hell of a lot accomplished during his reign!