Louis XIV transmits to the Spanish court…

Louis XIV transmits to the Spanish court on May 8, 1667, a declaration in which he repeats his demands.

This declaration is likewise advertised by the French ambassadors in every court in Europe.

They are to present the campaign of the Sun King not as an invasion, but as an entry into lands that already rightfully belong to him.

The King himself calls the invasion a "voyage".

After the Treaty of the Pyrenees, the French armed forces had been sharply reduced in order to save costs.

In 1665, they numbered only fifty thousand men.

Louis XIV however has authorized preparations through which the number of soldiers has grown to eighty-two thousand by the start of the war.

Fifty-one thousand French soldiers, who have been raised in four days, deploys in spring 1667 between Mézières and the sea. 

The main army consists of thirty-five thousand men personally commanded by Louis XIV; however, the actual commander is Maréchal Turenne).

To the left of the main army, ...