19Bluche, Louis XIV, pp. 10–11.
20Cronin, p. 20.
21Quoted in Philippe Erlanger, Louis XIV (London: Phoenix Press, 2003), p. 8.
22John B. Wolf, Louis XIV (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1968), p. 4.
23François de Paule de Clermont, Marquis de Montglat, Mémoires in Michaud et Poujoulat, Series 3, volume 30 (Lyon, Paris: Guyot Frères, 1854), p. 216.
24Motteville, volume I, p. 65.
25Clovis - Lovis - Louis.
26Bluche, Louis XIV, p. 11.
27Mathieu Molé, Mémoires (Paris: Chez Jules Renouard et Cie, 1855), volume 3, pp. 425–7.
28Jean Racine, OEuvres complètes de Racine (Paris: Chez Lefèvre, Libraire, 1822), volume 5, p. 332. Jean Racine, who was born a year after Louis XIV and would be appointed the king’s official historiographer.
29Quoted in Erlanger, Louis XIV, p. 12.
30Ibid., pp. 12–13.
31Motteville, volume I, p. 70.
32Erlanger, Louis XIV, p. 18
33Recueil des Gazettes, 1644, pp. 326–7.
34Cronin, p. 25. The story is almost certainly apocryphal, because kings rarely, if ever, referred to themselves using their regnal number.
35Motteville, volume I, p. 95; Ian Dunlop, Louis XIV (London: Chatto & Windus, 1999), p. 3; Bluche, Louis XIV, p. 18; Erlanger, Louis XIV, p. 18.
TWO: TO EDUCATE A LIVING GOD
1Louis’s blue eyes, blond hair, and round face hinted at his Austro-Flemish lineage, but the slightly protruding “Habsburg lip” provided the biggest clue to his ancestral heritage.
2Wolf, p. 12.
3Olivier Lefèvre d’Ormesson, Journal d’Olivier Lefèvre d’Ormesson, ed. M. Chéruel (Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1861), volume 1, p. 43.
4Peter Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV (New Haven, Conn., London: Yale University Press, 1992) pp. 44–5.
5It was the duty of the parlement to register policy, not to ratify it.
6Gazette (1643), pp. 427–8.
7Omer Talon, OEuvres d’Omer et Denis Talon (Paris: A. Egron, 1821), volume 1, p. 46.
8Wolf, Louis XIV, p. 16.
9Gazette (1643), p. 428.
10Medailles sur les principaux evenements, p. 4.
11Motteville, volume I, p. 71.
12Marquis de Chouppes, Mémoires (Paris: J. Techener, Librairie, 1861), pp. 41–4; Motteville, volume I, p. 71.
13Gédeon Tallemant des Réaux, Les Histoirettes (Paris: Alphonse Levasseur, 1834), volume 1, p. 422.
14Georges Dethan, The Young Mazarin (London: Thomas and Hudson, 1977), p. 147; Geoffrey Treasure, Mazarin. The Crisis of Absolutism in France (London: Routledge, 1995), p. 25.
15The suggestion that Anne and Mazarin were lovers and/or that they later married continues to surface from time to time and is most forcefully argued by Anthony Levi, Louis XIV (London: Constable & Robinson, 2004), pp. 17–21, who also suggests that Mazarin, rather than Louis XIII, was the real father of Louis XIV. Most historians have never taken such ideas seriously.
16Erlanger, Louis XIV, pp. 27–8; Comte de Brienne, Mémoires de Louis-Henri de Loménie, comte de Brienne, dit le Jeune Brienne ed. Paul Bonnefon (Paris: Société de l’Histoire de France, 1916–19), volume 2, p. 5.
17Campbell, Duchess, p. 248.
18See, for example, Erlanger, Louis XIV, p. 31.
19Cited in Dunlop, p. 8.
20Gazette, 1643, p. 808.
21Carré, Henry. L’Enfance et la Premiere Jeunesse de Louis XIV (Paris: Albin Michel, 1944), p. 30; Gazette, 1643, pp. 897–908.
22Carré, p. 30.
23Comte de Brienne, Mémoires inédits de Louis-Henri de Loménie, comte de Brienne, secrétaire d’état sous Louis XIV, ed. F. Barrière (Paris, Leipzig: Ponthieu, 1828), volume 1, pp. 218–22; Dunlop, pp. 7–8.
24Motteville, volume I, pp. 105, 106–7.
25Anne of Austria’s education strategy for her sons, especially Louis, is outlined in Motteville, volume I. pp. 144–46.
26Carré, p. 36, quoting Péréfixe’s lessons.
27Ibid., p. 31.
28Motteville, volume I, p. 146.
29Ibid., volume I, pp. 154–5.
30Fraser, Charles II, p. 32.
31Osmund Airy, Charles II (London, New York, Bombay: Longmans, Green & Co., 1904), pp. 34–5.
32Motteville, volume I, p. 169.
33Ibid., p. 172.
34Ibid., p. 174.
35Ibid., pp. 174–5.
36Ibid., p. 174; Francis Steegmuller, La Grande Mademoiselle (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1955), p. 35.
37Motteville, volume I, p. 125.
38Ibid., p. 126.
39Dunlop, p. 9. The term petit papa was frequently used by elder brothers.
40Marie Du Bois, Moi, Marie du Bois (Rennes, France: Éditions Apogée, 1994), p. 37.
41Motteville, volume I, p. 197.
42Ibid. François Ravaillac assassinated Henri IV, Louis’s grandfather, on May 14, 1610.
43Motteville, volume I, p. 211. Charles’s father, Charles I of England, was now a prisoner of the New Model Army, and was currently being held at Hampton Court.
44Motteville, volume I, pp. 211–12.
45The course of Louis’s illness, including the harsh treatments, is described by Motteville, volume I, pp. 212–15; J.-A Le Roi, ed. Journal de la Santé du Roi Louis XIV de l’année 1647 é l’anne 1711 ecrit par Vallot, d’Aquin et Fagon (Paris: Auguste-Durand, Libraire-éditeur, 1862), pp. 1–7.
THREE: THE FRONDE
1Motteville, volume I, p. 144.
2A rente was a form of investment for credit, a legal way to make loans for profit.
3These revolts reflected similar uprisings in Portugal, Naples, England, and, later, the Netherlands, all of which began as protests against excessive fiscality, see Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. The Ancien Régime: A History of France 1610–1774 (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1996), p. 99.
4Le Roy Ladurie, pp. 96–100; John Lough, An Introduction to Seventeenth Century France (London, New York, Toronto: Longmans, Green & Co., 1955), pp. 127–9.
5Cronin, p. 39.
6Geoffrey Treasure, Mazarin. The Crisis of Absolutism in France (London: Routledge, 1995), p. 350 n1.
7Cronin, p. 38; Lough, p. 130.
8Bluche, Louis XIV, p. 37; Jean-Christian Petitfils, Louis XIV (Paris: Perrin, 2008), pp. 81–2.
9Formerly the duc d’Enghein, Louis II de Bourbon inherited the title of prince de Condé upon the death of his father two years earlier. He would be known to history as le Grand Condé.
10The Battle of Lens, fought on August 20, 1648, was the last major battle in the Thirty Years’ War.
11Motteville, volume I, p. 311.
12According to Motteville (volume I, p. 312), the French army had 14,000 men, while that of the enemy comprised some 15,000 or 16,000.
13Wolf, p. 38.
14Cronin, p. 41.
15Today, Rueil is called Rueil-Malmaison. It is a small commune to the west of Paris.
16Motteville, volume I, p. 344.
17Among other libels, the Mazarinades suggested that Mazarin and Anne of Austria were lovers, with the unspoken implication that Louis was their illegitimate son. Despite this, the frondeurs continued to insist that their anger was directed primarily at Mazarin and not the king.
18Motteville, volume II, p. 40.
19Ibid., p. 38.
20The fullest account of Louis’s escape to Saint-Germain is that of Mme de Motteville (volume 2, pp. 41–7). The incident is also mentioned by Montglat (p. 203), Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz, Memoirs (London, Toronto: JM Dent & Sons; New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1917) pp. 102–3, and Talon (pp. 248–9).
21Montpensier (1848), volume I, pp. 121–2.
22Motteville, volume II, pp. 48–9.
23Ibid., pp. 49–50. Mme de Motteville kept a copy of Louis’s letter, which she included in her Mémoires. The letter was also signed by de Guénégaud.
24Ibid., p. 104.
25Le Custode du L
it de la Reine is reproduced in le Comte de Laborde, Le Palais Mazarin et les Grandes Habitations de Ville et de Campagne au dix-septième siècle (Paris: Chez A Franck, 1846), p. 157.
26The name Dieudonné was sometimes given to children of dubious paternity, euphemistically referring to them as gifts of God.
27Carré, pp. 75–6.
28Motteville, volume II, p. 144.
29Ibid., p. 139.
30Carré, pp. 76.
31Motteville, volume II, p. 143.
32Ibid., p. 144.
33Known today as Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis.
34Motteville, volume II, p. 144.
35Jean Vallier, Journal de Jean Vallier, Maître d’Hôtel du Roi (1648–1657) (Paris: Libraire Renouard, 1902), volume 1, pp. 389–90.
36Motteville, volume II, p. 145; Carré, pp. 78–9.
37Mademoiselle was the formal title of the duchesse de Montpensier, who was also known as the Grande Mademoiselle.
38Vallier, volume 1, p. 396.
39Mme Le Feron was the wife of the prévôt des marchands, the nearest equivalent of a mayor.
40Vallier, volume 1, p. 397. The occasion is also described in Gazette (1649), pp. 757–68.
41Motteville, volume II, p. 149.
42Ibid., p. 149.
43Ibid., p. 145.
44Lough, pp. 131–31; Motteville, volume II, p. 66.
45Henri Chérot, ed. La Première Jeunesse de Louis XIV (1649–1653): d’après la correspondance inédite du P. Charles Paulin (Lille: impr. de Desclée, de Brouwer et Cie, 1892), pp. 68–9.
46Ibid.
47Ibid., p. 54; Gazette, p. 1200, p. 1649.
48Chérot, p. 59.
49Ibid., p. 60.
50Gazette, 1649, pp. 1273–80.
51Gazette, 1650, pp. 60, 92; Chérot, p. 67.
52Pierre de La Porte, Mémoires in Michaud et Poujoulat, Series 3, volume 30 (Lyon, Paris: Guyot Frères, 1854), p. 47.
53Ibid.
54Gazette, p. 60.
55Motteville, volume II, p. 218.
56Ibid., p. 211.
57Cronin, p. 72.
58Carré, p. 83.
59Arthur Hassall, A Short Introduction to the Peace of Westphalia and the Fronde (San Diego: Didactic Press, 2014), loc.162.
60A treaty of unity was signed on January 30, 1651.
61Motteville, volume II, p. 332.
62Ibid., p. 335.
63Ibid., p. 344. It was later discovered that Orléans was being incited by Retz to take custody of Louis, shut Anne into a convent, remove Mazarin permanently, and make himself regent. Fortunately, Orléans resisted the pressure exerted upon him.
64Montglat, volume 2, pp. 276–7; Motteville, volume II, pp. 345–6.
65Motteville, volume III, pp. 345–6.
66Montglat, volume 2, p. 277.
67Motteville, volume II, p. 349.
68Cronin, p. 53.
69Erlanger, Louis XIV, p. 63; Cronin, p. 60.
70This section follows Motteville, volume III, pp. 44–51.
71The account of the ceremonies surrounding Louis’s coming of age is mainly taken from Motteville, volume III, pp. 44–51, which is based upon a newspaper report.
72In this context, the caduceus is a symbol of peace and protection.
73The word used by Evelyn was semée: sown with, powdered.
74John Evelyn, The Diary of John Evelyn (London, New York: Macmillan and Co., 1901), volume II, p. 41.
75Louis is often described as being tall. Estimates vary, but he is believed to have been anywhere between five feet nine and six feet tall. See Petitfils (Louis, p. 171 and note), who explains how the myth that Louis was short came about. Of course, Louis’s high-heeled shoes and, later, his tall wig gave the impression that he was even taller than this.
76Vincent J. Pitts, Embezzlement and High Treason in Louis XIV’s France: The Trial of Nicolas Fouquet (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), p. 23.
77La Porte, p. 49.
78Ibid., p. 51.
79Montpensier (1848), volume I, pp. 264–5.
80Montpensier (1848), volume I, pp. 273–4. The princess later told Mme de Motteville (volume III, p. 78) that this had not been done on her orders. “I know, however,” said Motteville, “that the king and queen were convinced to the contrary, and perhaps with reason.”
81Motteville, volume III, p. 75.
82Ibid., pp. 86–7
83Ibid., p. 87.
84Ibid., p. 88. The arrest of Retz could have gone so differently. At first, the order was given to Pradelle, the captain of a company of the infantry of the Gardes. He begged Louis to sign it with his own hand “because he felt that, as this stroke ought not to fail, he might perhaps be forced to kill him [Retz] rather than to allow him to escape.” As it was, Queen Anne could not consent to such an “act of vengeance and cruelty.” She and Louis waited until “God was pleased, in blessing their good and just intentions, to give them the means of making sure of his person in a more gentle manner; which came to pass, at last as they wished,” at Christmas 1652 (Motteville, volume III, pp. 87–8).
85Burke, p. 45; Jeane-Pierre Labatut, Louis XIV: Roi de gloire (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1984), p. 43.
FOUR: “THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD”
1The Ballet de la Nuit was first performed on February 23, 1653.
2Carré, pp. 188–9; Gazette, 1653, pp. 222–3.
3The Cour des Miracles, a medieval Parisian slum, was situated in the district surrounding the now lost Filles-Dieu convent, near Notre-Dame des Victoires, and was the haunt of beggars, vagabonds, and prostitutes.
4Le Roi, ed., p. 14.
5Ibid., pp. 14–15.
6Ibid., pp. 15–16.
7Julia Prest, Theatre under Louis XIV, Cross-dressing and the performance of Gender in Drama, Ballet, and Opera (Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), p. 107.
8The first anointed coronation to take place at Reims was that of Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, in 816. After that, coronations might be held at Soissons, Saint–Denis, or Noyon. From 1027 onwards, all kings of France were crowned at Reims, the first being Henri I, with Charles X as the last, in 1825. There were two exceptions, Louis VI and Henri IV. (Patrick Demouy, Saint Rémi and Our Lady of Reims. trans. Carolyn Morson (Strasbourg, France: Éditions du Signe, 1995), pp. 10–11.)
9The general chronology of the coronation service and the ceremonies surrounding it are taken from Menin, pp. 195–316. However, Louis’s ceremonies differed in certain respects, and these will be highlighted in the notes.
10The bishop of Soissons would officiate at Louis’s coronation. Normally the officiate would have been the archbishop of Reims, but the titular holder, Henri de Savoy, was not in holy orders, so the task fell to his senior suffragan, Simon Le Gras, bishop of Soissons (Dunlop, p. 33).
11The archiepiscopal palace is the Palais de Tau, next door to Notre-Dame de Reims. It is so named because the building is in the shape of the Greek T.
12Archbishop Hincmar was the first to assert that the holy oil had been brought from heaven in the beak of a dove (Demouy, p. 11).
13Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, the most Christian King.
14The Edict of Nantes of 1598.
15At this point, Louis had no intention of persecuting the French Protestants, known as Huguenots; the time would come, however, when he would be less tolerant.
16Menin, p. 328.
17Cronin, pp. 70–72.
18Guy Patin, Lettres. 3 vols. (Paris: Chez J.-B. Baillière, 1846), volume 2, p. 140.
19Louis XIV, OEuvres de Louis XIV (Paris: Chez Treuttel et Würtz, 1806), volume II, p. 95.
20Joël Cornette, Chronique du Règne de Louis XIV (Paris: Editions SEDES 1997), p. 25.
FIVE: LOUIS IN LOVE
1Motteville, volume III, p. 96.
2Isaac de Benserade, Ballet des Plaisirs. Dansé par sa Majesté le 4 jour de Février 1655 (Paris: Robert Ballard, seul Imprimeur du Roy pour la Musique, 1655), p. 24.
3The events of this ev
ening are recounted by Mme de Motteville, volume III, pp. 98–9.
4Jules Cousin, L’Hôtel de Beauvais, rue Saint-Antoine (Paris: Revue Universelle des Arts, 1864) pp. 12–13, dates the incident to the winter of 1654.
5Jean de La Bruyère, OEuvres de La Bruyère. ed. M. G. Servois (Paris: Librairie de L. Hachette, 1865), p. 490, note 2. Similarly, Saint-Simon (Boislisle, volume 1, p. 291) described Mme de Beauvais as the woman who had taken the king’s virginity; see also M. l’Abbé de Choisy, Mémoires pour servir à l’Histoire de Louis XIV (Paris: Librairie des Bibliophiles, 1887), volume 1, p. 99.
6Elizabeth-Charlotte, duchesse d’ Orléans, The Letters of Madame. trans. and ed. Gertrude Scott–Stevenson (London: Arrowsmith, 1925), volume II, pp. 131–2: Montglat, p. 247.
7Motteville, volume III, p. 96. Olympe first arrived at court with her sisters in 1647, when Mme de Motteville (volume 2, p. 201) noted that she was brunette, with a “long face and a pointed chin. Her eyes were small but lively, and it might be expected that when fifteen years old she would have some charm. According to the rules of beauty it was impossible at this time to grant her any, except that of having dimples in her cheeks.” Time would change her opinion of Olympe. Brienne (1916–19, volume 1, pp. 278–81) introduces his readers to the Mazarinettes, as the cardinal’s nieces were called.
8Motteville, volume III, p. 96.
9Ibid., p. 97.
10Ibid., p. 95.
11This section follows Adolphe Chéruel, Histoire de France sous le Ministère de Mazarin (Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie, 1882), volume 2, pp. 254–7 (Louis’s speech, p. 255); Montglat, p. 306; Patin, p. 168.
12Bluche, Louis XIV, pp. 79–80.
13Chéruel, Histoire de France, volume 2, p. 257; Bluche, Louis XIV, pp. 79–80.
14Du Bois, pp. 110–12.
15Louis’s bedchamber comprised an antechamber, a grande chambre, where he received those who had right of entry, and a chambre de l’alcôve, or recess, which contained his bed and the commode. A rail or bannister divided the grande chambre from the alcove, while the space between the bed and the wall was called the ruelle, a very private area to which only specially selected persons had entry.
16Louis would learn statecraft by example. In Mazarin’s chambers, he would read the day’s dispatches, which he would then copy out, the hands-on approach being deemed the best way for him to practice formulating ideas. Louis would also attend council meetings, beginning with those dealing with simple matters that required a straightforward solution. Gradually, the business would become more complex. As time went on, Louis’s attendance increased so that he was present at meetings in which even the most important decisions were made and the most secret affairs of state were discussed. At this stage, however, the king always deferred to Mazarin’s judgment.
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