Editing Louis XIII (section)

==Sexuality==

[[File:LouisXIII.jpg|thumb|Coronation portrait of Louis XIII by [[Philippe de Champaigne]]]]

There is no evidence that Louis kept mistresses (a distinction that earned him the title "Louis the [[Chastity|Chaste]]"), but several reports suggest that he may have been homosexual. The prolonged temporal gap between the queen's pregnancies may have been a result of Louis XIII's aversion to heterosexual activity, a matter of great political consequence, since it took the couple more than 20 years of marriage before Louis XIV's birth.<ref>{{cite book|title=Louis XIV|url=https://archive.org/details/louisxiv00wolf|url-access=registration|author=John Baptiste Wolf|publisher=Norton|year=1968}}</ref> His interests as a teenager were focused on male courtiers and he developed an intense emotional attachment to his favourite, [[Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes|Charles d'Albert]], although some say there is no clear evidence of a sexual relationship.<ref>{{harvnb|Moote|1989|p=148}}</ref> [[Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux]], drawing from rumours told to him by a critic of the King (the [[Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet|Marquise de Rambouillet]]), explicitly speculated in his ''Historiettes'' about what happened in the king's bed.

A further [[affair|liaison]] with an [[equerry]], François de Baradas, ended when the latter lost favour fighting a duel after duelling had been forbidden by royal decree.<ref>{{Harvnb|Crompton|2006|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TfBYd9xVaXcC&pg=PA338 338]}} The grandson of Henry III, Saint-Luc, penned the irreverent rhyme:  "Become a bugger, Baradas / if you are not already one / like Maugiron my grandfather / and La Valette".</ref>

Louis was also captivated by [[Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars]], 19 years his younger, who was later executed for conspiring with the Spanish enemy in time of war. Tallemant described how on a royal journey, the King "sent M. le Grand [de Cinq-Mars] to undress, who returned, adorned like a bride. 'To bed, to bed' he said to him impatiently... and the mignon was not in before the king was already kissing his hands. But he did not find that M. le Grand, whose heart was elsewhere, responded to his great ardour."<ref>{{Harvnb|Crompton|2006|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TfBYd9xVaXcC&pg=PA338 338]}}</ref>