Lodewijk XIV. “It is my contention therefore, that despite the aggressive actions of Louis XIV on the eastern borders of France (where deeds were perpetrated that, however justifiable from the strategic point of view and regardless of whether Louis was personally responsible or not, have been condemned by contemporaries and posterity), the underlying purpose of defence is part and parcel of the struggle that took place between Bourbon and Habsburg over rival interpretations of [the Treaty of Munster of] 1648, and that Louis’ actions were not the prelude to the establishment of control over the Empire or of universal monarchy.” (R.M. Hatton, Louis XIV and his Fellow Monarchs, in: Ragnhild Hatton [ed.] Louis XIV and Europe [Londen 1976], p. 34)