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With Spain on the decline and England not yet powerful, France dominated European politics for much of the second half of the 17th century. In 1643, Louis XIV became king at the age of five and experienced the longest reign in European history (1643–1715). Louis XIV claimed rule by divine right and famously proclaimed that he was the state. Such was his power that the 17th century even came to be known as the age of Louis XIV. To expand his empire he married his first cousin, the daughter of King Philip IV of Spain. Yet despite its growing might, France was not without its own problems. Internally, Louis, a strong Catholic, was not spared religious wars, revoking the Edict of Nantes and making Protestantism illegal. Externally, the last decades of the ‘Sun King’ – as he became known from the emblem he chose to represent himself – were taken up with various wars on which he squandered much of France’s wealth.