Louis XIV was born in 1638 to Louis XIII and his queen, Anne of Austria (really from Spain), and in 1643 became king at the death of his father. During his minority, Louis's government was left in the hands of his mother, who as Queen Regent allowed Cardinal Mazarin, a naturalized Italian, to govern. His youth was marked by the first and second Frondes, revolts by the great nobles and Parliamentary officials against Anne's regency and Mazarin's power. After the end of the regency, Mazarin was retained as prime minister, until his death in 1661.
Henceforth Louis XIV reigned himself, with a Council of State but never with another prime minister. When he assumed personal control of government, France was the richest and most powerful state in Europe, but by his death in 1715 he had exhausted the country through wars, persecution of various religious minorities (notably Huguenots and Jansenists), and his personal extravagance.
Louis XIV is responsible for the contruction of Versailles, an immense palace about 20 miles from Paris. In this palace he collected the great nobility of his time, and kept them occupied with trivial favors and distinctions to distract them from the exercise of governmental power. Seigneurs which once wielded great personal power now competed for the honor of holding a candle during the king's prayers.
In 1660, Louis married Maria Theresa of Austria, an Infanta of Spain (and his first cousin twice over); she bore him several children, but only the oldest, the Dauphin, survived. He had other children through his various mistresses, notable Louise-Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc, duchesse de La Vallière et de Vaujours; Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart-Mortemart, marquise de Montespan; and Marie-Angélique de Scorraille de Roussille, duchesse de Fontanges. The queen died in 1683 and sometime thereafter Louis is thought to have secretly married Mme de Maintenon, former governess of the royal bastards.
When the king died in 1715 smallpox and other diseases had ravaged the already small royal family to the point that the only prince in direct line was the five-year-old duc d'Anjou, who became Louis XV.