The Greatness of Louis XIV?

The Greatness of Louis XIV: Myth or Reality? edited by William F Church, 96 pages

This is a book in the excellent Problems In European Civilization series, which includes installments on subjects ranging from the Gracchi to the Dreyfus affair.  Like the other titles, this work consists of excerpts from noted thinkers and historians - in this case including Bossuet, Leibniz, Fenelon, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Lord Acton - presenting different perspectives on the theme.  The dense text packs the pamphlet-sized book with a considerable amount of content.

So, was Louis XIV a great king, or a weak intellect who owed all his successes to his superior advisors, or a doctrinaire tyrant who created a system unable to sustain itself without him?  From his contemporaries to his later admirers and critics, there are a wide range of views presented in this book.  The best, I think, is summed up by the early 20th century French historian Louis Madelin:  "The seventeenth century has been called 'the age of Louis XIV.'  Rather, it was Louis XIV who was 'the man of the seventeenth century'..."

A wonderful book in a classic series.