The Peace of Alais was a treaty signed in 1629 between the French monarchy and the leaders of the Huguenots, French Protestants. The peace provided religious toleration for the Huguenots but required them to disarm so that they would no longer be a threat to the crown. The peace did not last, however, as later in the seventeenth century, Louis XIV revoked the arrangement and began official state persecution of Protestants in France.

Louis XIV, often known as the Sun King, is perhaps the most significant ruler (excluding, possibly, Napoleon) in French history. He ruled for an unprecedented period of time in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and did a great deal to strengthen the French monarchy and country. His reforms, directed by his Chief Minister Cardinal Mazarin, established national standards for currency, taxes, and language and also helped codify French national identity.