LEWIS XIII. anno 1610, increased the military reputation of his country, and made considerable additions to its domains. The beginning of his reign was occupied in civil wars with his mother and his Protestant subjects; in which he was excited to continue by his famous minister Cardinal Richelieu, who attended him to the siege of Rochelle, the bulwark of the Huguenot party. This place was reduced by famine to surrender, in 1628, after a siege of more than a year. Upon this and other occasions, the king gave proofs of great personal bravery. His attachment to his ally the duke de Nevers, who succeeded to the duchy of Mantua, but was refused the investiture by Charles VI. emperor of Germany, involved him in a war with that prince, the Spaniards, and the duke of Savoy; in which Lewis was victorious; and obtained a treaty of peace, by which the duke of Mantua was guaranteed in the possession of his dominions. In 1635, a new war broke out between France and Spain, and the emperor took part with the latter: it lasted, 13 years against the emperor, and 25 against Spain, with various
various success; and the different armies kept on foot in the Low Countries, on the frontiers of France, and in Italy, in the first years of this war, paved the way for the signal victories of Louis XIV. the campaigns of these armies being a military school of discipline and experience for the French officers, besides giving them a knowledge of the countries which became the seat of war in the next reign. Lewis XIII. died 1643, aged 41.