The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law courts ("parlements"), as well as most of the French people; yet he won in the end. The dispute started when the government of France issued seven fiscal edicts, six of which were to increase taxation. The "parlements" pushed back and questioned the constitutionality of the King's actions and sought to check his powers.