ABSTRACT
In seventeenth-century France war and violence were at the very heart of the state. The last of the country's warrior kings, and as his father Henri IV had done before him, he shared the life of his troops, spurring them on by his presence and often exposing himself to danger. War was in reality an instrument of the new royal order being established, a tool in the construction of the absolutist state by the first Bourbon kings. Royal troops in full armour entered the city, followed a day or so later by the king himself, also fully armed, and on horseback. Behind the king, soldiers in Roman dress with helmets and lances can be seen. The dominant theme in the royal entries following the siege and surrender of Montpellier and La Rochelle was the triumph once awarded to the victorious warrior. Portraits and comparisons of the French king with the ancient god of war were frequent.
