Louis XIV

Death of Louis XIV, The Sun King

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After a week of agonising pain, four days before his 77th birthday, Louis XIV died in Versailles, just after 8.15 am on 1st September, 1715.

He had been king for 72 years, the longest reign in the history of France.

On 10th August 1715, upon his return from a hunting trip, Louis felt sharp pains in his leg.

Originally, his doctor, diagnosed sciatica, but the pain was always in the same place.

Shortly afterwards, black marks appeared, indicating senile gangrene.

Senile gangrene is a form of gangrene occurring particularly in old people, and usually caused by insufficient blood supply due to degeneration of the walls of the smaller arteries.

Despite excruciating pain, the king carried on with his daily duties, without flinching.

He fully intended to do his duty to the end.

However, on 25th August, he was forced to remain in bed, and thereafter never left his bedchamber.

The gangrene worsened, and on the 26th August, it had spread to his bone.

The doctors were powerless.

But the poor king took longer than expected, to die.

On 29th August a man who claimed to have a miracle cure, was granted permission to approach the royal bed.

The king did feel better afterwards, but the damage had been done, and on 30th and 31st August, he began to drift in and out of consciousness.

On the morning of 1st September he died.

For eight days his body was displayed in his coffin, at Versailles, in the Mercury Room,

On the 9th September 1715, Louis XIV was laid to rest at Saint-Denis, the burial place of the kings of France.

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Source~ChateauVersailles

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