text: Marriage of Louis XIV Saint-Jean-de-Luz is known for its royal wedding connection. In 1659, Cardinal Mazarin spent several months in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, from where he would embark on almost daily trips to Pheasant Island in the river Bidassoa (near modern-day Hendaye) for Franco-Spanish meetings that resulted in the Treaty of the Pyrenees, one clause of which was the marriage of Louis XIV to Maria Theresa, the Infanta of Spain. Saint-Jean-de-Luz and its church were chosen to host the royal wedding on 9 June 1660. The marriage is one of the most important political marriages in history that brought an end to a bitter war. Today, visitors of the cathedral can see that the main door is bricked off. Two legends circulate this oddity: First, it has been said that the door the couple passed through was later closed to represent the closing of the troubles between France and Spain. A more popular theory among the locals is that the king, Louis XIV, ordered the door to be closed off, so no other couple could walk into the church to be married in his footsteps.
  Peninsular War
  The Duke of Wellington set up his winter headquarters in the town during the Peninsular War, 1813–14.
  End of the nineteenth century
  At the end of the nineteenth century, Saint-Jean-de-Luz became a popular beachside resort town for the surrounding high-society. Like Biarritz (called "The queen of the beaches, the beach of kings"), Saint-Jean-de-Luz was particularly appreciated by the French and Spanish aristocracy. By the early 1900s, it turned into the scene of Carlist conspiratorial activities. The composer Maurice Ravel, a native of the nearby town of Ciboure, frequently vacationed at Saint-Jean-de-Luz from Paris, where he was centered for almost his entire life.
  Following Marshal Pétain's call for an armistice on the outset of World War II, a coastal fringe of the Basque Country fell in the German occupation area. Before the agreement was enforced, a retreating Polish Army was evacuated from the town in mid June 1940.
  Postwar
  After 1945, some of the traditional fishing-based industries of the Fargeot district gradually disappeared, mainly by overfishing and competition from elsewhere. The change strengthened the transformation of the town towards more luxury and tourism industries. In Saint-Jean-de-Luz over 40% of dwellings of the town are second homes.