Louis XIII, 1635-B

KM 51; Friedberg 398, PCGS graded MS-63

Louis XIII succeeded his murdered father, Henri IV, in 1610, at the age of nine. Due to his youth, the task of governing the kingdom often devolved upon influential advisors of various abilities. The early regency of his mother and her Italian favorites mismanaged the kingdom and ended in 1617, when Louis XII exiled his mother and executed her associates. Better were Charles d’Albert and especially Cardinal Richelieu, who aided the king in developing policies to concentrate power in the crown at the expense of the French nobility, to overturn earlier concessions to the Huguenots, and to promote education through the establishment of the Académie française. Through these means, Louis XIII brought to completion tendencies that had been developing in the French monarchy since the time of François I and became one of the first absolute kings in Europe.

Rouen. LVDOVICVS · XIII · D : G (sun) FRAN · ET · NAVA · REX, crowned arms of France. Reverse: + CHRISTVS · REGNAT · VINCIT · ET · IMP (hand) 1635, lobed cross fleurdelisée.

Ex Stack’s-Bowers (12 January 2018), 20185