I Am Louis XIV

The enmity between Britain and France has lasted for hundreds of years, and there are also conflicts of orthodoxy between them. Whether the British fleet defeated the French fleet or the French fleet defeated the British fleet, it would cause a grand celebration or a trial, just as As Louis XIV speculated, after the naval battle known as the Battle of the Double Bay by later generations, the British fell into the gloom and irritability of the weather in London. Charles II did not have the same courage as Louis XIV. —The royal family’s property and palaces were used to make up for the loss of the war. The war bonds he issued plummeted. Countless small and medium-sized nobles and property owners went bankrupt. There was a lot of grief in Britain, even though not many soldiers died in the Shuangwan Sea Battle People in London still put on black clothes in anger.

Who are they burying?

for the king. When people ask each other, of course they dare not say so under the watchful eyes of the king's spies, but they can say aloud that they are mourning for the British fleet, and Charles II was annoyed and helpless about it, but fortunately he has always been admiral. The power is firmly in his hands, especially the guards. He referred to the guards of the French king for this army. Not only has he been surrounded by them, he has also given them the best equipment, the best treatment, and It was a great honor, and they were loyal to him, there was no question about it.

But speaking of it, the dissatisfaction of the British is understandable. Although Great Britain is far away from Europe, it is still a descendant of barbarians. The barbarian king is almost equivalent to the leader of the tribe. Any leader who cannot bring victory to the tribe is a waste.

In addition to this, there is another thing, inherited from the three barbarian tribes that destroyed ancient Rome, which is shameless but considered normal by the kings of Europa-probably reneging on the covenant and acting on the wind.

Ladies and gentlemen, when we look at history, please don't just believe in the words of books and tongues, but also look at the real actions of these people. Unlike a handicraft and rich city, there is no difference between pagans or Catholic cities. During the holy war of nearly a thousand years, Catholics and pagans were robbed and blackmailed by knights holding crosses and portraits of saints; priests even In the last so-called "juvenile jihad", under the pretext that only "pure children" can conquer the holy city of Jerusalem, a large number of children were recruited and deceived to board the ship, saying that they wanted to make them dedicate themselves to God, but in fact they sacrificed themselves for the priest's purse .

These children were sold to pagans as slaves and eunuchs; there are knights as noble as those in knightly novels, but they are very rare, so rare that they are worthy of being firmly remembered by a king or pope. The character of the knight may not appear when no one is around or when dealing with pagans. Although knights are elegant, humble, honest and trustworthy to noble ladies, priests and lords, they may not be able to show a kind gesture to humble commoners. —Maybe they are not bad people, but in their education, people with low status must be corrupt. This is a principle that everyone recognizes (even the commoners themselves think so). They use the sword in their hands to be judges and executioners , and their judgment must be biased towards those who are superior, even if they also know that the latter may not be as glamorous as the surface.

And the kings who are above the lords, let alone have any hope of their morality. As an ancient Roman scholar complained in an article, when a tyrant is still alive, no matter how cruel, stupid or It is incompetence, every will he sends out will be obeyed, until an unbearable person finally turns him into a dead person, and when he is dead, anyone can come up and step on them-this kind of The situation has continued until now, ministers and nobles will only confront the king when his interests are touched, but if the king or emperor just ravages the common people, they will laugh it off like doting parents, and even Will not obstruct or even condone.

With such ministers, relatives and close attendants, a king is bound to be more likely to become a terrible monster like Machiavelli's "Theory of Kings" than the legendary "Holy King". Everything they do is for themselves ( Even if it is for the country and the people, it must be "his country and people"), and so are their morals, conduct and feelings.

So there is a big difference between this era and later generations, that is, in all alliances, allies may change their positions at any time. Simply give an example, just like in the world war closest to us, the Allies and the Entente Members can change their identities as they wish... In the war of Spanish succession, which has involved the whole of Europe, apart from countries that are destined to be unshakable such as Austria and France, even Spain, Portugal, Or the United Kingdom, can determine where they should stand according to the situation.

Just like the King of Prussia brazenly asked Louis XIV and Leopold I to stand in a neutral position (semi-coercion). The other electors of the Roman Empire fought back—so long as France remained strong; and another in-law of Louis XIV, King Pedro II of Portugal, was never a man of fickleness, or he could not have been so determined To take away his brother's kingdom and wife, and be so indifferent to his eldest daughter, you know, the birth of this child may be a sin, but he and his concubine have to bear most of it, after all, a baby has no How to decide whether you should be born or not.

Such a person, although he stood on the side of France in this battle-because if he stood on the side of Habsburg, he would not get any benefits, and if it was Leopold I's His son inherited the Spanish throne, and Habsburg will definitely try to gather the recently independent Portugal back into his pocket—as you can see from the map, Portugal is located on the left side of Spain, accounting for nearly a quarter of the original Spain of the territory and nearly half of the coastline...

But Pedro II was like a penny-pinching businessman, constantly considering the price Portugal had to pay for this covenant. He didn't like the eldest daughter Isabella because her birth was "questionable". She was indeed born to his elder brother's wife - Henry VIII once said in a petition to the Pope that the Bible says that those who marry their elder brother's wife cannot have sons, Pedro II and Savoy His daughter has been married for several years and has no son, so he is a little worried.

He was unwilling to recognize Isabella before, and it was hard to say whether he had followed Henry VIII's example and planned to apply to the Pope for annulment of marriage after extracting the available value of his sister-in-law and wife. It is hard to say whether Louis XIV secretly complained about the capriciousness of the French king because of his choice to shatter his ambitions.

In addition to these, in the marriage negotiations between the French crown prince and the Portuguese princess, in addition to the agreed content, according to the requirements of the French ministers, Princess Isabella should have a considerable dowry-because according to the inheritance law, if If Pedro II wanted the princess to give up her right to inherit the Portuguese throne, he should give a corresponding ransom.

Of course, it is impossible for Pedro II to repeat the mistakes of Philip IV. If the King of Spain had given Princess Teresa’s dowry of 500,000 livres, there would be no such thing as now, but this dowry would be It seems that a piece of meat has been cut from him, and he has to make this investment worthwhile-he may pay more attention to the battle between Britain and France than Leopold I. Portugal is located at the bottom left of the Atlantic Ocean, The trade routes of Portuguese merchants also overlapped with Britain and France. They also fought with the British and fought for the colony of India-the Portuguese lost.

The result of the double bay naval battle undoubtedly made Pedro II finally make up his mind. Compared with the signature and seal on the covenant document, the dowry was equal to that of Queen Teresa, which was 500,000 livres of silver and gold.

This dowry was really nothing in Portugal before 1580. It was one of the maritime overlords who used to keep pace with Spain in the Age of Discovery—the Portuguese who almost monopolized all the trade in spices, sugar and slaves. Achievements in navigation and exploration of new continents, and even declared: "We give the world a new world." Their colonies covered the Eastern Atlantic Islands and Africa, India, gold, silver and spices that were more valuable than the first two were continuously transported. To ports like Lisbon—half a million livres! ? Five million livres and they will not feel strenuous.

It is a pity that since it was annexed by Spain in 1580 and became independent in 1640, like every new land occupied, Portugal has been severely and cruelly exploited, its blood has been almost drained, and its economy has retreated rapidly, even if Joao The IV (the first king after Portugal's independence) to Pedro II are doing their best to improve and restore it, but Portugal is still very weak. This is an irrefutable fact.

This dowry can be regarded as Pedro II's bow to Louis XIV. It is not an exaggeration to say that he surrendered. Even Louis XIV proposed to advance the wedding between the crown prince and Princess Isabella. agreed.

Princess Isabella's date of birth is in fact wrong, wrong on purpose. As we all know, Pedro II exiled his brother and the king out of the palace in 67, usurped his power and throne, and his wife. He bought a priest and announced that his previous marriage was invalid because his brother did not have the ability necessary for a man to conceive his wife. In 68, he married his former sister-in-law.

Those who watched the ceremony at the time said that the daughter of Savoy looked very haggard and bloated at the wedding, not at all the energetic look a bride should be, and she did not follow the tradition, and she was in the palace in the next few months. It is completely different from when she was the queen of Alfonso VI. She lived in seclusion early and waited for childbirth. After giving birth, the princess did not return to the palace and was raised outside for a period of time.

There is definitely a difference between a newborn baby and a child who is a few months old, but there is not much difference between a child who is two or three years old and a child who is three or four months older. Therefore, although Princess Isabella said that she was born in 1969 Yes, but she is more likely to be born in 1968. If she is a son, Pedro II will definitely recognize her with joy, but if she is a daughter, Pedro II will treat her as if she does not exist.

The princess was only five years old when the marriage contract was confirmed. For this marriage, even though she was still an ignorant child at that time, she still knew that she might have done a very vicious thing, which made her feel painful and confused. Even though she later returned to her parents, regained her honorable status, and had no worries about food and clothing, she was still more gloomy and introverted than other children of the same age.

For her, the only light in the Sintra Palace (Portugal Royal Palace) was a letter from the Dauphin of France.

Louis XIV has always encouraged his son to write to his fiancée, just like he once wrote to Queen Teresa, and Queen Teresa also agreed. Compared with Louis XIV's naive ideas, this Habu When the Princess of Fortress came here, she thought of her former self. Queen Teresa was also disliked by her father when she was a Spanish princess. Although Princess Isabella's mother was still her biological mother, it is said that she was also very fond of her. Indifference; secondly, she also hopes that her son has a wife who will be devoted to him. She deeply remembers the secret heartbeat when she received the letter. No one can ignore a king, or a future king who is so attentive, Being gentle and considerate, this allowed her to spend the most difficult period when she was newly married and came to France.

And over the years, she can also feel how much trouble a wife who works together with her husband can save her husband. When women are still regarded as mentally retarded babies who need to be taken care of all the time, Louis XIV's trust in her is like A sapling is planted, and when the sapling grows up, it can give back shade and fruit to her master—this is a virtuous circle. As a father, Louis XIV got it, and she certainly hopes that her son can get it.

Although the letters between Isabella and Little Louis have to be checked, Pedro II will not tamper with them or keep them in his hands and not give them to his daughter, so Princess Isabella is not so traditional... ...Knowing the news that her marriage will be advanced earlier than most people.

Isabella would certainly not be unwilling to leave the Sintra Palace, the gloomy father and the mother who was determined to have a son. Under the guidance, she has been able to read and write in Portuguese, French and Latin as she likes. She has also read a lot of books, not only the Bible, books are good things that can open her eyes and mind. The more she reads, the more The more clearly you can see your situation.

It also made her feel miserable—because it was always hard to admit that you were unwanted and unloved.

That was what Louis XIV wanted too—he wanted a French dauphine, not a Portuguese princess.