The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-27
Tercentenary of Marriage of the Famous
 Anne of Austria

Christmas in 1915, just three cen turies ago, is a date that deserves com memoration as marking a turning point in history, for the marriage of King Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria
 was destined not only to be produc-
 tive of civil strife and bIoodshed, but
 to initiate changes in government
 which led logically to the great Revo-
 lution. After the death of her weak
 and futile husband, Queen Anne seized
 the reins of power, and from that
 time Until the fall of the Bastile abso-
 lutism was established in France, and
 the nob1es and middle classes were
 unable to offer resistance to the royal
 power. Anne of Austria was the
 founder of absolute monarchy in
 France, and not her son, the inperious
 Louis XIV.
 This extraordinary woman was the
 daughter of Philip III. of Spain and
 Margaret of Austria. She was the granddaughter of the infamous and bigoted Philip IT., and her father was born of the fourth wife of that tyrant,
 Anne of Austria. At the age of thir- teen Anne was led to the altar by Louis XIII, and began the career which marks her one of the most remarkable women in history. It was soon after the royal mar riage that Cardinal Richelieu, the aII- powerful minister of Louis XIII, be-
 came the real ruler of France. Riche- lieu dreaded the influence of Queen Anne, who was becoming imperious, strong-wi1Ied woman. and. moreover, it is alleged that she angered him by repulsing his project of becoming her lover. Richelieu so worked upon the monarch's prejudices that he permit ted the Queen to be subjected to con tinuaI persecution. At times she was exiled, and left to suffer the greatest penury. Richelieu accused her of conspiring with England and with fu1ness. Both charges may have been true. for. like most of the Thigh born ladies of that time, she had little re-
 gard for marital vows.
 During the eighteen years that Richelieu controlled the destinies not 1 only of France but of Europe, Anne was forced to remain in the back ground of affairs. Shortly before Richelieu's death a temporary recon ciliation was effected between King Louis and Queen Anne, and in 1888 Louis XIV. was born. Queen Anne was then thirty-six. The birth of an heir to the Queen was hailed with among the people, who gave to the
 Future Louis the Great the appe1la- tion of stDieu-donne,'' or od-given. g
 Richelieu died in 1642, and Louis XIII. the following year, leaving Anne, as mother of the infant Louis XIV, the undisputed reins of power. She chose for her minister the Cardinal Mazarin, who was entirely dependent upon her, and as much her servant as Riche1ieu had been the master of Louis XIII. Mazarin, accor ding to contemporary historians, was her low CT we'll as her minister. Although
 a successful instruction for time limited her power, Anne and her ad-
 herents finally triumphed over the 1 noblesse and citizens. and inaugurated
 that era of autocratic power which was to continue to the Revolution.
 Queen Anne was a woman of un-
 usual beauty. extremely naughty. and fond of pomp and ceremonial. It is said that she possessed a peculiar and extremely delicate sense of feeling over her whole body, and could not bear the touch of any but the finest and sheerest lingerie. She loved most flowers passionately, but had a pecu- liar aversion to roses, and could not
 bear the sight of them. or even paint ed roses.