LOUIS XIII

800px-Luis_XIII,_rey_de_Francia_(Philippe_de_Champaigne)

Louis XIII was eight years old when he became king following the assassination of his father Henri IV.

Louis’ mother Marie de Medici acted as Regent. It was a role she did not want to relinquish when the time came and it was not long before her son acted to assert his rightful power. At sixteen Louis sent his mother into exile to the Chateau of Blois. Less than two years later, 43 year old Marie de Medici escaped from the Chateau of Blois by using a rope ladder and climbing a 40 meter wall.

It was the beginning of the first “mother and son war”, soon followed by a second after which Louis XIII relented and allowed his mother to return to Paris where she was building her own residence, the Luxembourg Palace.

The palace Marie de Medici built as her private residence in Paris. It is now the seat of the French Senate. She bought the land from François de Luxembourg whose “hotel particulier” still exists next to the palace. It is known as the “Petit Luxembourg” and is the official residence of the Senate President.
Marie de Medici commissioned a series of 21 paintings by Peter Paul Rubens to depict her life story for the residence she built in Luxembourg Gardens. They are now on display at the Louvre.

A key player in the reconciliation between Louis XIII and his mother was Cardinal Richelieu who was later made Chief Minister to Louis XIII and played a pivotal role in the kingdom. The second reconciliation was organised at the Chateau de Brissac, considered “neutral territory”.

Brissac-Quincé_-_Schloss_Brissac_(Château_de_Brissac
The Chateau de Brissac

The court stayed there for three days celebrating the reconciliation. The great news is that you can do the same. The Chateau is still in the same family after more than 500 years and is not only open for visits, but you can stay in the Louis XIII bedroom.

Louis XIII bedroom at Chateau de Brissac

Like all the previous kings, Louis XIII’s bed travelled with him to each of the royal residences. One exception was the small hunting lodge he built at Versailles.

When Louis was six years old, his father Henri IV had taken him to Versailles to hunt. When he was 22, Louis XIII decided to buy some land and build his own hunting lodge there so he could stay overnight. 

The original building was a modest pavilion. It had a bedroom without much furniture, but there was a bed upholstered in green damask with fringes in green silk and gold. There was no accommodation for the queen or his mother. 

Some years later he bought the entire seigneury of Versailles from the owner, Jean-François Gondi, Archbishop of Paris and grandson of Catherine de Medici’s closest friend. He built a small new chateau in red brick and white limestone with grey slate around the original pavilion. Two wings either side of the main building were joined at the front of the courtyard by an open arched portico. 

The King’s bedroom was bigger and had an antechamber. The bed was replaced and furnished with green Italian velvet and silver lame.

Mesdames Apartments, Versailles
The red brick palace built by Louis XIII is still visible at Versailles surrounding the marble courtyard. The black and white marble in the courtyard was later placed there by Louis XIV using marble he had taken from Vaux-le-Vicomte. He also added the gold and other features and surrounded the Louis XIII’s original small hunting chateau with an “envelope” of white stone.

For more information on Louis XIII’s beds and small chateau at Versailles there is an excellent commentary on it (mainly in French), complete with sketches of the original design online –

Open edition journals –
Journals/openedition.org/insitu/23725?lang=eng

https://doi.org/10.4000/insitu.23725 article by Vivien Richard

Although none of the former royal residences have beds specifically associated with Louis XIII, in an interesting twist it appears it is possible to see an original bed which actually belonged to him –

Chateau de Pennautier
The Louis XIII bed at the Chateau de Pennautier near Carcassone

In 1622 Louis XIIi, who was 21 at the time, was a guest of the owner of the newly built Chateau de Pennautier. The king gave Bernard Reich de Pennautier his four poster travel bed complete with its wool and silk fittings and six matching armchairs. Just Louis XIV had done at Versailles, in the next generation, the son of the owner of Chateau de Pennautier commissioned the architect Le Vau to add wings to the original chateau and Le Notre was called in to create the garden. 

The Chateau is still owned by the same family and it is possible to take a guided tour. It is also available to hire for functions. There is a restaurant and wine tastings are available.

For more information, see the Chateau de Pennautier’s official website.

In Paris it is possible to see an original bed from the period which belonged to Louis XIII’s Superintendant of Finances, the Marquis d’Effiat.

Marquis d'Effiat

Louis XIII style beds came back into fashion in the 19 th century. One of the most notable belonged to Victor Hugo.

Victor Hugo

Ten years after the reconciliation at the Chateau de Brissac, there was a final break between Louis XIII and his mother Marie de Medici. This time she fled from the Chateau de Compiègne to Brussels. She travelled around, staying with her other children who were married to various heads of state throughout Europe. She spent three years in England with her daughter who was Queen Henrietta Marie, wife of Charles I. Marie ended up in Cologne, staying in a house lent to her by the painter Rubens. She died there at the age of 67. 

Less than a year later, Louis XIII died at the age of 41. 

His widow Anne of Austria became regent for Louis XIII’s four year old son who became Louis XIV.

Anne of Austria