Louis XIV of France died in 1715 after ruling since childhood. His reign had centralised royal power, expanded court culture and involved France in repeated wars. His death opened the Regency and a different social atmosphere in French elite life.

The end of Louis XIV's reign loosened the cultural mood that had sustained high classicism and courtly discipline. French literature moved towards Regency wit, philosophical questioning and the social energies that later fed the Enlightenment.