Chapter L: The First Day of the Reign of Louis XIV

Spoiler Notice: This page reveals the complete events and outcomes of Chapter 50 of Between Two Kings. If you haven’t read this far, bookmark this analysis and return later.

Summary

Cardinal Mazarin is dead, and the news races from the château through the city. When ministers Fouquet, Lyonne, and Le Tellier assemble for a council meeting, the young king summons them and delivers a startling declaration: he will now govern personally, requesting their counsel only when he desires it. The ministers, who consider Louis ignorant of state affairs, barely suppress their amusement at what they see as princely arrogance. Fouquet leaves cheerfully, while his colleagues return to Paris with unease.

Louis visits his mother, then travels to the Louvre to observe the hesitant courtiers. As evening falls, he orders the gates closed and stations Swiss guards who speak no French at the river entrance. Late that night, three heavy wagons rumble into the courtyard, and Colbert scratches at the king’s study door with the announcement that the money is safely stored. Louis personally inspects barrels of coin, gold, and silver in the vaults. In the conversation that follows, Colbert refuses any reward beyond the opportunity to serve, but secures key concessions: appointment of his chosen assistants, creation of a Court of Justice to try corrupt financiers, and authority over English correspondence—which he hints will expose Fouquet’s secret fortification of Belle-Île.

After Colbert departs, a courier arrives from King Charles II of England. The letter explicitly mentions the fortification of Belle-Île and warns Louis that the expense is wasted, as England has no hostile intent. Instantly grasping that Colbert sought the English correspondence to obtain this very proof against Fouquet, Louis hesitates to rely on intellect alone. He asks about his former Lieutenant of Musketeers, d’Artagnan, and orders him found for the next morning’s lever. With thirteen million in his cellars, Colbert managing his purse, and d’Artagnan wielding his sword, Louis knows he is at last truly king.

Key Events

Louis XIV announces to his ministers that he will govern personally, ending their unchecked authority.
Fouquet reacts with amusement; Lyonne and Le Tellier depart with anxious reservations.
Under cover of darkness, Colbert secretly transports a fortune in coin and bullion into the Louvre vaults.
Colbert declines a direct reward but obtains the creation of an intendancy with independent powers, the appointment of three assistants, and the establishment of a Court of Justice.
Louis grants Colbert control over England-related correspondence, which Colbert believes will incriminate Fouquet.
A letter from Charles II arrives, revealing English intelligence about Fouquet’s fortification of Belle-Île.
Louis decides he needs both Colbert’s intelligence and a soldier’s strength, ordering d’Artagnan to be found and brought to his morning lever.

Character Development

Louis XIV sheds the role of passive prince. He asserts dominance over ministers who dismiss him as ignorant, orchestrates a covert financial operation, and demonstrates strategic thinking by identifying the political trap within Colbert’s request. His final epiphany—that kingship requires both intellect and force—shows a monarch learning to balance the tools of power. The closing thought, “I am king,” marks his psychological transformation.

Colbert reveals his methodical, patient ambition. He refuses immediate reward to secure systemic authority, carefully names his allies, and maneuvers to gain control of the correspondence that will destroy his rival. His chilly demeanor and precise language frame him as the ultimate bureaucratic operative, serving the state by serving his own interests.

Fouquet appears only briefly, yet his heedless confidence becomes the chapter’s central dramatic irony. His cheerful dismissal of Louis’s declaration reveals a fatal underestimation of the king, while the letter from England confirms he is already caught in a web of surveillance and conspiracy.

D’Artagnan does not appear, but the king’s decision to recall him elevates the musketeer to a symbol of loyal, physical power—the “brawn” to complement Colbert’s “brain.”

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The Illusion of Ignorance runs through the chapter. Ministers assume Louis is incompetent because Mazarin never educated him in governance, yet the king immediately outmaneuvers them. The motif warns against conflating inexperience with incapacity.

Secrets and Surveillance dominate the action. The closed gates at the Louvre, the non-French-speaking Swiss guards, the hidden wagons, and especially the English intelligence on Belle-Île all construct a world where information is a weapon. Colbert’s entire strategy hinges on intercepting correspondence that will ruin Fouquet.

The Two Pillars of Rule crystallize in Louis’s final calculation: intellect and force, Colbert’s purse and d’Artagnan’s sword. The chapter argues that effective sovereignty demands both the subtle manipulation of law and finance and the blunt instrument of military loyalty.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 50 functions as the pivot between the Mazarin era and the true reign of Louis XIV. It dramatizes the vacuum left by the cardinal’s death and the speed with which Louis fills it. The secret transportation of thirteen million into the Louvre cellars is a tangible transfer of power—Mazarin’s wealth becomes the king’s treasury. More critically, the chapter sets the primary conflict of the coming narrative in motion: Colbert’s bureaucratic campaign against Fouquet. By ending on Louis’s decision to recall d’Artagnan, the chapter places the musketeer directly in the path of this political storm, tethering personal loyalty to state conspiracy and preparing the ground for Court of Daggers.

Study Questions and Answers

Why do the ministers react with concealed smiles to Louis’s declaration of personal rule? They have been conditioned by years of Mazarin’s dominance to see Louis as a figurehead raised in complete ignorance of practical governance. Their reaction reveals institutional arrogance—they cannot imagine the prince they dismissed could genuinely manage the burdens he has claimed.
What does Colbert’s request for the English correspondence reveal about his strategy against Fouquet? Colbert knows that Charles II’s intelligence network has detected Fouquet’s fortification of Belle-Île, an act that implies preparation for rebellion or foreign conspiracy. By controlling that correspondence, Colbert secures hard evidence that the king will see as treason, eliminating his rival through legal rather than overt means.
Why does Louis summon d’Artagnan after first calling for Colbert’s recall and then changing his mind? Louis recognizes that Colbert’s revelation about Belle-Île was a calculated political trap, which makes him wary of depending solely on a man of intellect and ambition. He decides he needs a counterbalance: a soldier whose loyalty is personal and unquestioning. D’Artagnan represents the physical authority that makes bureaucratic schemes actionable.

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