Louis, Duke of Burgundy
Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy (6 August 1682 – 18 February 1712), was the eldest son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, and Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria and grandson of the reigning French king, Louis XIV. He was known as the "Petit Dauphin" to distinguish him from his father. When his father died in April 1711, the Duke of Burgundy became the official Dauphin of France. He never reigned, as he died in 1712 while his grandfather was still on the throne. Upon the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the Duke of Burgundy's third son became Louis XV.
For other dukes of Burgundy named Louis, see Louis, Duke of Burgundy (disambiguation).Louis
6 August 1682
Palace of Versailles, France
18 February 1712 (aged 29)
Château de Marly, Marly, France
23 February 1712
Death and legacy[edit]
Louis became Dauphin of France upon the death of his father in 1711. In February 1712, his wife contracted measles and died on February 12. Louis himself, who dearly loved his wife and who had stayed by her side throughout the fatal illness, caught the disease and died six days after her at the Château de Marly on 18 February, aged 29. Both of his sons also became infected. The elder, Louis, Duke of Brittany, the latest in a series of Dauphins, succumbed on 8 March, leaving his brother, the two-year-old Duke of Anjou, who was later to succeed to the throne as Louis XV.
As it was thought that the chances of survival of this frail child, now heir apparent to his seventy-three-year-old great grandfather, were minimal, a potential succession crisis loomed.
Moreover, overnight the broad hopes of the faction de Bourgogne were destroyed and its members would soon die of natural deaths. Nonetheless, some of their ideas were put into practice when the Duke of Orléans, as regent during Louis XV's minority, created a form of government known as polysynody, in which each ministry was replaced by a council composed of aristocrats. However, the absenteeism, ineptitude and squabbling of the aristocrats caused this system to fail, and it was soon abandoned in 1718 in favour of a return to absolute monarchy.