Louis XVI., king of France, born 23d August 1754, was the third son of the dauphin, Louis, only son of Louis XV. He was styled Duc de Berri until, by the death of his father and his elder brothers, he became dauphin. He had a vigorous frame, was fond of hunting and manly exercises, took great pleasure in making locks and such mechanical labours, and showed an aptitude for geometry but none for political science. In the midst of the most corrupt of courts he grew up temperate, honest, and moral. He was married on 10th May 1770 to Marie Antoinette, the youngest daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa.
When Louis ascended the throne the public treasury was empty, the state burdened with a debt of 4000 millions of livres, all borrowing credit was exhausted, the people were crushed under the weight of taxes, and all respect had gone from king, court, church, and governing classes. Personally full of good-will, he failed to restrain the excesses of his brothers and to resist the influence of his proud and high-handed consort. He yielded unwisely to the advice of his first prime-minister, Maurepas, an incompetent and narrow-minded courtier, in restoring to the Paris and provincial parliaments their semi-political rights in the matter of public expenditure and local taxation. The accession of Malesherbes and Turgot to the ministry heralded thorough-going reforms, which Voltaire hailed as the 'dawn of the age of reason' in French politics. But these proposals, accepted by the king, were rejected by the court, the aristocracy, the parliaments, and the church. Turgot resigned his office. Yet Louis succeeded in the remission of some of the most odious taxes, the abolition of the last relics of serfdom, the abolition of torture in judicial investigations, a reduction of the expenditure of the court, and the foundation of institutions for the benefit of the working-classes. He was for a time extremely popular, though deeper reforms were rendered impossible by the opposition of the privileged classes and the obstinacy of the queen. In June 1777, when the state of the finances seemed nearly desperate, Necker was made Director-general, and succeeded in bringing them to a more tolerable condition, without any very radical change; but, from the interference of France in the American war of independence, he was obliged to propose the taxation of the privileged classes hitherto exempted. Their resistance compelled him to resign. The American war swallowed up the revenue of three years. The appointment in 1783 of Calonne (q.v.), a spendthrift, to the finances renewed for a while the splendour of the court. At his wits' end, he advised the calling together of an Assembly of Notables, such as the monarchy, especially under Richelieu's premiership, had occasionally summoned to its help. The noblemen, clergymen, state-officials, councillors of parliaments, and municipal officers thus collected showed him bitter hostility, and, when he revived Necker's proposals, compelled him to fly to London. His successor, Loménie de Brienne, obtained some concessions and some new taxes. But the parliament of Paris refused to register the edict of taxation, as oppressive to the people; for the extravagance of the court and the queen began to be freely spoken of in a nation now fully acquainted with the facts. The convening of the States-general was demanded from every corner of France. The king registered the edicts in a lit de justice, and banished the councillors of parliament to Troyes, but ere long found it necessary to recall them, and experienced from them even a stronger opposition than before. On 8th May 1788 he dissolved all the parliaments and established a new kind of court
(Cour Plénière) instead; but this act of despotism set the whole country in flames. Matters became still worse when on 16th August appeared the famous edict, that the treasury should cease from all cash payments except to the troops. Brienne was compelled to resign, and Necker again became minister. An Assembly of the States of the kingdom, in abeyance since 1614, was resolved upon; and by the advice of Necker, who wished a counterpoise to the influence of the nobility, clergy, and court, the Third Estate was called in double number, while in other respects the precedent set in 1614 was adhered to.
The subsequent history of Louis is given under the head FRANCE. All readers of history are familiar with the melancholy incidents of his life, from the opening of the Assembly of the States (5th May 1789) down to his tragic execution. At ten o'clock in the morning of the 21st of January 1793 he died by the guillotine, in the Place de la Révolution. Great precautions were taken to prevent any rescue. As the executioner bound him Louis tore himself free and exclaimed: 'Frenchmen, I die innocent; I pray that my blood come not upon France.' The rolling of drums drowned his voice.
The share of the French in the American war of independence is a bright and almost romantic episode in the drama of this reign. Franklin kindled in excitable Paris such enthusiasm for liberty and democracy that the Marquis de Lafayette and some other ideal-loving gentlemen crossed the sea in defence of England's colonies. A formal alliance ensued, and assistance was given in men, money, and ships.
See MARIE ANTOINETTE, NECKER, TURGOT, MIRABEAU; and works by Soulaive (1801), Bournissieux (1829), Droz (2d ed. 1858), Capefigue (1844), Tocqueville (2d ed. 1850), and Jobez (3 vols. 1877-93).