8Brown, p. 159.
9Ibid., pp. 159–60.
10Ibid., p. 160.
11Ibid., p. 152.
12Saint-Maurice, volume 2, p. 68.
13Ibid., pp. 209–10.
14Ibid., pp. 219–20 and note.
15Ibid., p. 241 and note.
16Ibid., pp. 278–9.
17Ibid., p. 286.
18Ibid., p. 290.
19Ibid., p. 294.
20Louis XIV, Œuvres, volume III, pp. 183–4.
21Saint-Maurice, volume 2, pp. 314–15.
22Armand de Gramont, comte de Guiche, Mémoires de comte de Guiche concernant les Provinces-Unies des Pais-Bas (London: chez Philippe Changuion, 1744), p. 397.
23Guiche, p. 409.
24Louis XIV, Œuvres, volume III, p. 199.
25Cronin, p. 196.
26Dunlop, p. 228.
27Hassall, Louis XIV, pp. 176–77.
28Sévigné, Marie du Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de, Recueil des lettres de Mme la marquise de Sévigné a Madame la Comtesse de Grignan sa fille (Paris: Chez Rollin, 1754), volume II, p. 290.
29Hassall, Louis XIV, p. 178.
30Ibid.
31Ibid., p. 177.
32Cornette, p. 208.
33Grimarest, cited by Palmer, pp. 403–4. Grimarest recorded the memories of Michel Baron some thirty years after these events.
34François de Harlay de Champvallon had become archbishop of Paris in 1671 following the death of Hardouin de Péréfixe. Whereas Molière had died in the arms of two nuns, Harlay de Champvallon would die in the arms of his mistress after a life of debauchery. Mme de Sévigné would never invite him into her house, saying that she had no daughters young enough for his entertainment.
35Brossette, cited in Palmer, p. 407.
36Ibid.
37Candia is known today as Crete.
38Cronin, p. 198.
39Louis XIV, Œuvres, volume III, p. 373.
40Dunlop, p. 231.
41Bluche, Louis XIV, p. 251.
42Louis XIV, Œuvres, volume III, p. 402.
43Hassall, Louis XIV, p. 181.
44Louis XIV, Œuvres, volume III, p. 453.
45Ibid., pp. 473–9.
46Medailles sur les principaux evenements, pp. 132–5.
47César de Vendôme was the son of Gabrielle d’Estrées, while Antoine de Moret’s mother was Jacqueline de Bueil.
48Lair, Louise de La Vallière, p. 313.
49Ibid., p. 316.
50Ibid., p. 237.
51Clément, pp. 233–4; Lair, Louise de La Vallière, pp. 316–17.
52Hilton, p. 137.
53This was a separation and not a divorce, since divorce was not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. Marriage was a sacrament and could not be undone. Athénaïs could separate in bed and board from her husband, but she could not remarry.
54La Vallière, Miséricorde, volume 1, p. 126.
55Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondance, volume 2, p. 344.
56Lair, Louise de La Vallière, pp. 324–5.
57Ibid., p. 327.
58Dunlop, p. 234.
59Ibid., p. 235; La Fare, pp. 284–5.
60Ibid., p. 235.
61marquis de La Fare, Mémoires et Réflexions sur les principaux événements du règne de Louis XIV in Michaud and Poujoulat, Series 3, volume 30 (Lyons, Paris: Guyot Frères, 1854), p. 285; Dunlop, p. 236.
62Richard Wilkinson, Louis XIV, 2nd ed. (Abingdon, U.K.: Routledge, 2018), p. 155.
63Voltaire, pp. 124–15.
64La Fare, p. 267.
65Voltaire, p. 126.
EIGHTEEN: LES FEMMES
1Primi Visconti, pp. 99–100. A few days later, Athénaïs confided to her lady-in-waiting, Mlle Desœillets, that she had dreamed that all her hair had fallen out.
2Ibid., p. 100.
3Ibid., p. 103.
4Ibid., pp. 103–4.
5Sévigné (1754), volume III, p. 346.
6Primi Visconti, p. 100.
7Hilton, p. 265.
8Jean Lemoine, Les des OEillets: Une grande comédienne, une maitresse de Louis XIV (Paris: Libraire Académique Perrin, 1938), p. 49; Somerset, p. 179.
9Somerset, p. 103.
10The story of Athénaïs’s golden dress is told by Mme de Sévigné, Sévigné, Marie du Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de, Lettres de Madame de Sevigné, de sa famille et de ses amis (Paris : J.J. Blaise, 1818). volume V, pp. 54–5.
11Sévigné (1818), volume V, p. 66. Actually, the word oisons should be translated as ‘goslings,’ but ‘geese’ fits better in this context.
12Primi Visconti (p. 246) goes further, suggesting that Louis had harbored an inclination for Mme de Soubise for fifteen years.
13Lucy Norton, Saint-Simon at Versailles (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1958), volume I, p. 412.
14Saint-Maurice, volume 1, p. 256.
15Ézéchiel Spanheim, Relation de la Cour de France en 1690 (Paris: Librairie Renouard, 1882), pp. 11, 130.
16See Somerset, p. 103; Saint-Simon (Wormeley), volume III, p. 313. Bertière, Les Femmes (p. 244) suggests that Mme de Sévigné was also aware.
17Somerset, p. 104; Saint-Simon (Norton), volume 1, p. 264.
18Montpensier (Chéruel), volume IV, pp. 419–20; Marthe-Marguerite, marquise de Caylus, Souvenirs de Madame de Caylus (Paris: Chez Ant. Aug. Renouard, 1806), p. 108. Mme de Sévigné, volume IV, p. 467.
19Sévigné (1818), volume IV, p. 467
20Sévigné (1818), volume V, p. 82.
21Ibid., pp. 82–3.
22Sadly, Mme de Soubise’s looks were marred when she lost a tooth (Sévigné (1818), volume V, p. 112).
23Decker, p. 152.
24Hilton, p. 209.
25Somerset, p. 104.
26Saint-Maurice, volume 1, p. 503, note 1.
27Sévigné (1818), volume III, p. 156.
28Primi Visconti, p. 155, Somerset, p. 105.
29Michel de Decker, Louis XIV. Le bon plaisir du roi (Paris: Belfond, 2000), p. 153; Sévigné, volume V (1818), p. 97 note.
30Sévigné (1818), volume V, p. 88.
31Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondance, volume IV, p. 21.
32Somerset, p. 106.
33Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondance, volume III, pp. 354, 381; Somerset, p. 106.
34Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondance, volume IV, p. 45; Clément, Montespan et Louis XIV, p. 97; Somerset, p. 106.
35Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondance, volume IV, p. 106.
36Somerset, p. 107.
37Ibid.; Primi Visconti, p. 172.
38Marie-Louise (1662–1689) was the eldest daughter of Philippe d’Orléans and the duchesse Henriette d’Angleterre.
39Fraser, Louis XIV, p. 171.
40Orléans, duchesse d’, Letters (Scott–Stevenson), volume I, pp. 33–4.
41Mademoiselle (volume III, p. 181) cautioned Philippe, duc d’Orléans not to bring his daughter to court so often, for “it will give her a disgust for all other matches, and if she does not marry the Dauphin, it will embitter the rest of her life.”
42Barker, p. 210.
43Montpensier, volume II, p. 182, note.
44Fraser, Louis XIV, p. 172. The Most Catholic Queen would be Marie-Louise’s official title as queen of Spain.
45Fraser, Louis XIV, p. 172.
46Orléans, duchesse d’, Letters (Scott–Stevenson), volume I, p. 78.
47Montpensier, volume III, p. 181.
48Ibid., p. 182.
49Orléans, duchesse d’, Letters (Scott–Stevenson), volume I, p. 38.
50Montpensier, volume III, pp. 182–3.
51Orléans, duchesse d’, Letters (Scott–Stevenson), volume I, p. 38.
52Montpensier, volume III, pp. 183–5.
53Orléans, duchesse d’, Letters (Scott–Stevenson), volume I, p. 34.
54Choisy, volume 2, p. 35.
55Orléans, duchesse d’, Letters (Scott–Stevenson), volume II, p. 169.
56Ibid.
57Ibid., p. 125.
58Hilton, pp. 224–5.
59Bussy-Rabutin, Corre
spondance, volume IV, p. 333.
60Somerset, p. 108.
61Montpensier, volume III, p. 183.
62Somerset, p. 109.
63Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondance, volume IV, pp. 344, 345; Somerset, p. 109.
64See Hilton, pp. 19, 59–60, 181, 330–34, 350–52.
65Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondance, volume IV, p. 345.
66Ibid., pp. 386, 419.
67Hilton, p. 229. This story also appears in the apocryphal Memoirs of Madame la Marquise de Montespan—Complete: “At the chase, one day, his nymph, whom nothing could stop, had her knot of riband caught and held by a branch; the royal lover compelled the branch to restore the knot, and went and offered it to his Amazon. Singular and sparkling, although lacking in intelligence, she carried herself this knot of riband to the top of her hair, and fixed it there with a long pin. Fortune willed it that this coiffure, without order or arrangement, suited her face, and suited it greatly. The King was the first to congratulate her on it; all the courtiers applauded it, and this coiffure of the chase became the fashion of the day. All the ladies, and the Queen herself, found themselves obliged to adopt it.”
68Sévigné (1818), volume VI, p. 203.
69Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondance, volume IV, p. 424.
70Ibid., p. 428.
71Primi Visconti, p. 173.
72Hilton, p. 227; Somerset, p. 110.
73Sévigné (1818), volume VI, p. 180; Somerset, p. 111.
74Ibid., p. 242.
75Ibid., p. 369.
76Mme de Sévigné (1818), volume VI, p. 273, described Cabrières as a médecin forcé, not really a doctor, although he seemed to have helped Mlle de Fontanges, at least for a while.
77Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondance, volume V, pp. 109–110.
78Ibid., p. 108.
79Primi Visconti, pp. 254–5.
80It would later be claimed that Mlle de Fontanges’s last words were that she died content because she had seen the king weep for her. Sadly, this was not the case, see Jean-Christian Petitfils, Madame de Montespan (Paris: Fayard, 1988), pp. 172–30. Mme de Sévigné (1818), volume VII, p. 73, marked the event with the comment “Sic transit gloria mundi.”
81See Frantz Funck-Brentano, La drame des poisons (Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1913), p. 250; Somerset, pp. 291–2; Holly Tucker, City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris (New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2017), p. 208; Francis Mossiker, The Affair of the Poisons (London: Victor Gollancz, 1970), pp. 260–61.
82There are several books on the Affair of the Poisons, with the fullest treatments being that of Somerset (in English) and Petitfils (in French). Tucker’s book combines a study of the Affair with a life of La Reynie, the chief of police who investigated the case. Mossiker’s work is somewhat outdated, although it is still an interesting read.
NINETEEN: THE AFFAIR OF THE POISONS
1It was widely believed (e.g., La Fare, p. 291; Ravaisson, ed., volume, VI, p. 396; Primi Visconti, p. 228) that the marquise de Brinvilliers had learned the art of poisoning by experimenting on paupers in the public hospitals, whom she visited out of charity. She was alleged to have fed them poisoned biscuits and studied the effects so that she could calculate the correct dosage when she administered poison to members of her family. However, this was probably not true, but the fact that many believed it speaks to the horror with which her crimes were viewed, especially as they were perpetrated by a wealthy aristocratic lady: see Somerset, p. 7.
2See above, p. 219.
3Primi Visconti practiced palmistry, cartomancy, and astrology.
4Primi Visconti, p. 232.
5Somerset, p. 153; Ravaisson, ed., volume VI, pp. 31, 37.
6Somerset, p. 151; Ravaisson, ed., volume, V, p. 348.
7Somerset, p. 151.
8Aged fifty-one at the time of his appointment, La Reynie had been a provincial governor before becoming a master of requests in the Parlement of Paris. Colbert had been so impressed with his work that he would have offered him a position in the admiralty had not fate intervened. Louis, who was equally impressed with La Reynie, created the post of lieutenant-general of the Paris police, to which he appointed La Reynie on March 15, 1676 (Somerset, p. 126).
La Reynie’s responsibilities were wide-ranging and included public order, public health, regulating food supplies and prices, traffic control, and improving and maintaining regulations governing inns and hostelries. Street lighting and hygiene also came under his jurisdiction, as did addressing emergencies, such as fire and floods. He was also responsible for combatting debauchery and tracing unfaithful wives. He transformed Paris, turning it from a dangerous and dirty city into a clean, safe, and pleasant place where people were not afraid to go about their business (Somerset, p. 126; Tucker, pp. 15, 18, 19–25).
9Somerset, p. 151. Among Colbert’s other posts was that of minster for the département of Paris, and it was in this capacity that he countersigned the commission for the establishment of the Chambre d’Arsenal.
10Torture was known to be an unsatisfactory method of extracting information because victims usually said what they thought their interrogator wanted to hear. There had been calls for the practice to be stopped. Even so, it continued to be used in order to make victims reveal the names of accomplices and clients.
11Funck-Brentano, pp. 165–6.
12Ravaisson, ed., volume VI, pp. 372–4.
13Ibid., pp. 214–15.
14Ibid., p. 305.
15Le Roi, ed., pp. 125–6.
16Funck-Brentano, p. 183. Romani and Bertrand, friends of La Voisin, were implicated in the plot to murder Mlle de Fontanges.
17Ravaisson, ed., volume VI, pp. 290–1.
18Ibid., pp. 198, 242–3.
19See above, pp. 228-9.
20Hilton, pp. 114–15.
21Ravaisson, ed., volume VI, pp. 244, 291.
22Guibourg referred to this ritual as a messe sèche, or ‘dry mass,’ meaning one without consecration (Ravaisson, ed., volume VI, p. 420).
23Ravaisson, ed., volume VI, pp. 420–1. It has been speculated that Mlle Desœillets, wittingly or otherwise, and the English lord had been part of a wider international conspiracy to assassinate Louis, see Hilton, pp. 267–8.
24Somerset, p. 307.
25The Château de Suisnes is in the département de la Seine-et-Marne, southeast of Paris.
26Somerset, p. 304.
27Unbeknownst to Louis, Le Reynie kept a secret record of the poisons affair, thus providing a great service to historians.
TWENTY: MME DE MAINTENON
1De Imprimerie royale, p. 110.
2Hôpital Général (1656–1790) (http://archives.aphp.fr/hopital-general-1656–1790/).
3Dunlop, p. 248.
4Emmanuel Filhol, “La France contre ses Tsiganes.” http://academos.ro/sites/default/files/biblio-docs/249/20100707_tsiganes_filhol.pdf
5Franco Mormondo, Bernini: His Life and His Rome (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011), pp. 255–6.
6Claude Perrault was the brother of the author, Charles.
7Paris Observatory (www.obspm.fr). Gabriel La Hire’s map showed France to be slightly smaller than had originally been thought, upon which Louis commented, “You have taken from me more of my kingdom than I have won in all my wars.” Quoted in Cronin, p. 305.
8Dunlop, pp. 250–52; Bertrand Fonck, “Invalides (hôtel royal des).” In Dictionnaire Louis XIV, ed. Lucian Bély (Paris: Éditions Robert Laffont, 2015), pp. 670–2.
9Emily Bowles, Madame de Maintenon (London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1888), p. 15.
10Ibid., p. 15; Françoise d’Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, Lettres historiques et édifiantes adressées aux dames de Saint-Louis par Mme de Maintenon,.ed. Théophile Lavallée (Paris: Charpentier, 1856), p. 77.
11Bowles, p. 15; Maintenon (1856), p. 77.
12Bowles, p. 18.
13Ibid., pp. 18–19.
14Ibid., p. 20.
15Ibid., p. 21.
16Ibid., p. 23.
17Madeleine Marie Louise Saint-René Taillandier, Madame de Maintenon, trans. Mary Sophie Loyd (London: W. Heineman, 1922), p. 43.
18Abbé Gobelin was a doctor of theology at the Sorbonne. Known for his severity, Françoise chose him because she hoped he would help her lead a “stricter life.”
19Usually described as Françoise’s niece, Marthe-Marguerite was, in fact, a distant cousin. She would marry the comte de Caylus and would recall Françoise in her memoir, Les souvenirs de Madame de Caylus.
20Referring to the difficulties involved in running her secret household, Françoise wrote, “The strange kind of honor cost me an infinitude of pain and trouble. Often I was standing on ladders, doing the work of upholsterers and workmen, who might not be allowed to come into the house.” She did everything herself, rather than tire out the wet nurses and risk harming their milk; at the same time, she walked the streets in disguise as she sought one nurse after another, or carry linen or meat under her arm. “I would often spend the whole night with one of the children who was ill in a little house outside Paris. In the morning I would go home by a little back-gate, and, after having myself dressed, would go out at the front door to my coach, and drive to the Hôtels de Richelieu or d’Albret.” Her friends had no idea that she had a secret to keep. “Everybody saw how thin I became, but no one guessed the reason.” She saw her position as divinely ordained: “This is how God makes use of everything to fulfill His plans, and how He leads us insensibly, without our knowing when we are led” (cited in Bowles, p. 32).
21Françoise’s preferred attire was a gown of etamine, a woollen material favored by gentlewomen of modest means. It was austere but practical.
22Bowles, p. 37; Françoise d’Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, Lettres historiques et édifiantes adressées aux dames de Saint-Louis par Mme de Maintenon, ed. Théophile Lavallée (Paris: Charpentier, 1856), p. 137.
23Caylus, pp. 89–90.
24Mme de Sévigné, cited in Bowles, p. 35.
25Sevigné, volume III, p. 76.
26Château de Maintenon is about 35 miles, or 50 kilometers, west of Versailles.
27Maintenon (1856), p. 135; Bowles, pp. 35–6.
28Bowles, p. 38.
29Ibid., p. 37.
30Ibid., p. 39.
31Veronica Buckley, Madame de Maintenon, the Secret Wife of Louis XIV (London: Bloomsbury, 2008), pp. 167–8; Bowles, p. 36.
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