Age of DiscoveryGovernment & Law Louis XIV's personal rule 1661Major Louis XIV begins ruling without a chief minister, centralizing power in the crown. His reign becomes the model of absolute monarchy in Europe. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → Complex language → Natufian villages → Oldest known bread → Agriculture begins → Irrigation → Uruk and the first cities → Cylinder seals → Writing (cuneiform) → Babylonian mathematics → Babylonian astronomical diaries → Thales and natural philosophy → Trial and death of Socrates → Plato's Academy → Aristotle's Lyceum → Alexander's conquests → Death of Alexander and the Hellenistic kingdoms → Seleucid Empire founded → Parthian Empire founded → Sasanian Empire → Birth of Muhammad → Muhammad's first revelations → The Hijra → Conquest of Mecca → Death of Muhammad and the Rashidun caliphate → Arab conquests → Umayyad Caliphate → Umayyad conquest of Iberia → Marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella → Charles V elected Holy Roman Emperor → Diet of Worms → Peace of Augsburg → Thirty Years' War → Peace of Westphalia → Louis XIV's personal rule Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentbritannica.comLouis XIV (Britannica) ↗Editor's pickBookPeter BurkeThe Fabrication of Louis XIV ↗Editor's pickBookPhilip ManselKing of the World: The Life of Louis XIV ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeLouis XIV absolute monarchy explained ↗Editor's pick