In 1963 Will Durant published the eighth of eleven volumes on the story of civilization.
The Age of Louis XIV
From the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 to the death of Louis XIV in 1715.
Our narrative centres around the Great Debate between faith and reason.
While faith occupied a position of authority, reason began to find its voice through the works of thinkers like Newton and Spinoza, shaping what became known as the Age of Reason.
We’ll see why Louis XIV was called the “Sun King”.
We’ll witness the construction of the magnificent Palace of Versailles, where 36,000 men and 6,000 horses labored for years to make a dwelling worthy of the Sun King.
We will then turn our attention to morality and manners of the age, the social customs and ethical values that shaped the lives of people.
Naturally, our exploration includes religion, a force that deeply influenced European thought and culture.
“The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know”.
We’ll encounter the playwright Molière, whose comedies satirized French society; and the scientist Isaac Newton, whose work on gravity transformed our understanding of the universe.
*Each volume and chapter in this series can be listened to independently.*
*You can sit back and watch the story unfold, or skip to the sections that resonate most with the events around you.*
The following is a comprehensive summary of The Story of Civilization: The Age of Louis XIV, highlighting its finest moments
Chapters
0:00:00 – Introduction
0:01:33 – Chapter I The Sun Rises 1643-84
0:12:32 – Chapter II The Crucible of Faith 1643-1715
0:17:26 – Chapter III The King and the Arts 1643-1715
0:18:12 – Chapter IV Moliere 1622-73
0:26:22 – Chapter V The Classic Zenith in French Literature 1643-1715
0:27:48 – Chapter VI Tragedy in the Netherlands 1649-1715
0:33:42 – Chapter VII Cromwell 1649-60
0:40:31 – Chapter VIII Milton 1608-74
0:50:58 – Chapter IX The Restoration 1660-85
1:00:11 – Chapter X The Glorious Revolution 1685-1714
1:04:10 – Chapter XI From Dryden to Swift 1660-1714
1:07:39 – Chapter XII The Struggle for the Baltic 1648-1721
1:14:03 – Chapter XIII Peter the Great 1698-1725
1:18:21 – Chapter XIV The Changing Empire 1648-1715
1:23:13 – Chapter XV The Fallow South 1648-1715
1:27:27 – Chapter XVI The Jewish Enclaves 1564-1715
1:36:25 – Chapter XVII From Superstition to Scholarship 1648-1715
1:39:41 – Chapter XVIII The Scientific Quest 1648-1715
1:49:14 – Chapter XIX Isaac Newton 1642-1727
1:53:40 – Chapter XX English Philosophy 1648-1715
1:58:30 – Chapter XXI Faith and Reason in France 1648-1715
2:01:29 – Chapter XXII Spinoza 1632-77
2:08:09 – Chapter XXIII Leibniz 1646-1716
2:15:45 – Chapter XXIV The Sun Sets 1683-1715