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ANNE OF AUSTRIA WARIN, Jean (?) : France, ca.1643, Bronze, 53 mm Anne of Austria (1601-1666) was the daughter of Philip
III of Spain (of the house of Austria, i.e., of the Habsburg dynasty), wife
of Louis XIII of France, and mother of Louis, the future Louis XIV, king of
France. Her married life was unhappy as Louis was cold in his attitude
towards her and the Franco-Spanish hostilities in the Thirty Years' War cut
her off from close relations with her family in Spain. In addition, the
omnipotent minister Cardinal Richelieu prevented her from exercising any
rival influence over her husband. She also suffered great humiliation in the
"affair of Val-de-Grace" when the chancellor Pierre Seguier was
sent to search her person and to interrogate her on the ground that she was
frequenting the convent of Val-de-Grace in order to conceal a treasonable
correspondence with the Spaniards. Her husband died in 1643, the likely date
at which this medal was struck, at which time she ruled France as regent in
close alliance with Cardinal
Mazarin, Richelieu's successor. Anne's regency
ended in 1651 when Louis XIV was proclaimed of age to rule. |
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