How many rules did Louis 14. History and ethnology. Data. Events. Fiction. Time for repentance
Louis XIV of Bourbon, nicknamed the “Sun King,” was on the throne of France for the longest time. Louis was born in 1638 after 22 years of barren marriage between King Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, and five years later became king of France. After the death of his father, Louis and his mother lived in a rather ascetic environment in the Palais Royal.
Despite the fact that Anna of Austria was the regent of the state, the first minister, Cardinal Mazarin, had full power. In his early childhood, the young king had to go through a civil war - the struggle with the so-called Fronde, and only in 1652 was peace restored, however, despite the fact that Louis was already an adult, power remained with Mazarin. In 1659, Louis entered into a marriage alliance with the Spanish princess Maria Theresa. Finally, in 1661, after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, Louis was able to concentrate all power in his hands.
The king was poorly educated, did not read and write well, but had wonderful logic and common sense. The main negative trait of the king was excessive selfishness, pride and selfishness. Thus, Louis considered that there was no palace in France that would emphasize its greatness, so in 1662, he began construction, which dragged on for fifty long years. Since 1982, the king almost never visited Paris; the entire royal court was located in Versailles. The new palace was extremely luxurious; the king spent four hundred million francs on its construction. The palace contained numerous galleries, salons and parks. The king loved playing cards, and the courtiers followed his example. Moliere's comedies were staged at Versailles, balls and receptions were held almost every evening, a new, strict ceremony was developed, which was to be performed to the smallest detail by each of the courtiers.
Even during his lifetime, Louis began to be called the Sun King due to the identification of royal power with the heavenly body, and this had been going on since the 16th century. However, during the time of Louis XIV it reached its apogee. Louis loved all kinds of staged ballets, masquerades and carnivals, and the main role in them, of course, was assigned to the king. At these carnivals, the king appeared before his courtiers in the role of Apollo or the Rising Sun. The Tuileries Ballet of 1662 played a major role in the emergence of this nickname; at this carnival, the king appeared in the image of a Roman emperor, in whose hands was a shield with the image of the sun, as a symbol of the king, who illuminates all of France. It was after this equestrian ballet that Louis began to be called the Sun King.
There were always many beautiful women next to Louis, but the king never forgot his wife; six children were born in their marriage. The king also had more than ten illegitimate children, some of whom the king legitimized. It was under Louis that the concept of the “official favorite” - the king’s mistress - arose. The first was Louise de La Vallière, who bore him four children and ended her life in a monastery. The next famous mistress of the king was Atenais de Montespan, she was next to the king for about 15 years along with Queen Maria Theresa. The last favorite was Francoise de Maintenon. It was she who, after the death of Queen Maria Theresa in 1683, became the morganatic wife of the French king.
Louis completely subordinated all power to his will; in governing the state, the monarch was assisted by the Council of Ministers, the Council of Finance, the Postal Council, the Trade and Spiritual Councils, the Grand and State Councils. However, in resolving any issues, the king had the final say. Louis introduced a new tax system, which was mainly reflected in an increase in taxes on peasants and the petty bourgeoisie to expand the financing of military needs, and in 1675 he even introduced a tax on stamp paper. The first confication of commercial law was introduced by the monarch, and the Commercial Code was adopted. Under Louis, the sale of government positions reached its apogee; in the last years of his life, two and a half thousand new positions were created to enrich the treasury, which brought 77 million livres to the treasury. For the final establishment of absolutism, he even wanted to achieve the creation of the French patriarchy, this would create the political independence of the clergy from the pope. Louis also revoked the Edict of Nantes and resumed the persecution of the Huguenots, which most likely was a consequence of the influence of his morganatic wife de Maintenon.
The era of the Sun King was marked in France by large-scale wars of conquest. Until 1681, France managed to capture Flanders, Alsace, Lorraine, Franche-Comté, Luxembourg, Kehl and lands in Belgium. Only in 1688, the aggressive policy of the French king began to fail, the huge costs of the war required a constant increase in taxes, the king often sent his silver furniture and various utensils to be melted down. Realizing that the war could cause great discontent among the people, Louis began to seek peace with the enemy, who at that time was the King of England, William of Orange. According to the concluded agreement, France lost Savoy, Catalonia, Luxembourg; in the end, only Strasbourg, which had been captured earlier, was saved.
In 1701, the already aging Louis started a new war for the Spanish crown. Louis' grandson Philip of Anjou claimed the Spanish throne, but it was necessary to comply with the condition of non-annexation of Spanish lands to France, but the French side retained Philip's rights to the throne, in addition, the French sent their troops to Belgium. England, Holland and Austria opposed this state of affairs. The war undermined the French economy every day, the treasury was completely empty, many French people were starving, all gold and silver dishes were melted down, even at the royal court, white bread was replaced with black bread. Peace was concluded in stages in 1713-14, the Spanish King Philip renounced his rights to the French throne.
The difficult foreign policy situation was aggravated by problems within the royal family. During 1711-1714, the monarch’s son, the Dauphin Louis, died of smallpox, a little later his grandson and his wife, and twenty days later their son, the king’s great-grandson, five-year-old Louis, also died of scarlet fever. The only heir was the king's great-grandson, who was destined to ascend the throne. The numerous deaths of children and grandchildren greatly weakened the old king, and in 1715 he practically did not get out of bed, and in August of the same year he died.
France under Louis XIV
While the revolutionary crisis was subsiding in England, a completely different era was beginning in France. In 1661, with the death of Cardinal Mazarin, Louis XIV (reigned 1643–1715) became the sole ruler of France. The conditions for his reign were ideal. The young king did not need any of the radical innovations - Henry IV, Richelieu and Mazarin had already laid the necessary foundations. The French privileged class wanted to be ruled by a king who would not sit in one place, but act. Louis's army and his income were the largest in Europe. France had just won a victory over Spain and, with a divided Germany, a confused England and a Holland without military power, was out of competition. Louis XIV, who was 22 years old in 1661, envisioned his long future as the first lord on the throne, surrounded by the splendor of royal luxury and an aura of easy victories over his enemies. These hopes were fully justified. By the age of 54, Louis had won the title of Great Monarch, he had become a symbol of absolutism, he was adored and despised by other rulers. Towards the end of the era, Louis's style of government caused problems both domestically and internationally. But during the years 1661–1688, which we will touch upon here, he could characterize his reign as “great, significant and sparkling.”
Louis XIV did not succeed in all his endeavors, but he was a monarch from God. To begin with, he looked very majestic, with his proud demeanor, strong figure, elegant carriage, magnificent clothes and magnificent manners. More importantly, he had the stamina and focus to deal with every grueling detail of his role as monarch in front of thousands of critics, day after day and year after year. Finally, he knew how to enjoy what he had, without the desire to remake France (unlike the Puritans in England). That Louis received a rather superficial education was no doubt an advantage, since it enabled him to adopt his own single point of view without worrying about the intricacies of governing the country. He hated reading, but was an excellent listener - he enjoyed attending council meetings for several hours a day. A subtle and sharp mind was a liability to Louis's position as leader of the French aristocracy, a position in which the observance of ceremonies mattered more than intelligence. Louis moved his court from the Louvre to Versailles, 32 kilometers from Paris, partly to get rid of annoying townspeople, partly to create a powerful but secluded center for the aristocracy. At Versailles, he built a huge palace, the facade of which stretched 5 kilometers in length, the marble-lined rooms were decorated with tapestries, and bravura portraits showed his military triumphs. The surrounding gardens were decorated with 1,400 fountains, 1,200 orange trees bloomed in the greenhouse, and the courtyards were decorated with classical statues - mainly of Apollo, the sun god. Today Versailles is just a museum complex; at the end of the 17th century. 10 thousand representatives of the nobility lived here with their servants. 60 percent of royal taxes went to maintain Versailles and the royal court.
The secret of Louis's success was truly simple: he, and only he, could give the French aristocracy and the upper stratum of the bourgeoisie what they most wanted at that moment. The king devoted more than half of each working day to palace ceremonies. It was a pleasant pastime for the aristocracy, who had long been the most capricious and unruly element in French society and looked to the king for due consideration for their unique world of privilege. They approved the king's move to Versailles. Louis allowed all the main representatives of the nobility to live at court, where he could observe them. He regulated every moment of his day and his courtiers with a rigid set of rules of palace etiquette in order to put the huge court in order, elevate his person and rein in the nobility. The aristocrat who would otherwise have become the leader of the new Fronde in the country became the center of ridicule at the court at Versailles, his ambitions being to hold up the sleeve of Louis's doublet as he dressed, to listen to the platitudes that the king spoke, and to watch him eating. Louis was a gourmet and preferred to dine alone. By the time the honor guard brought several dishes from the kitchen to the king's table, the food had already cooled, which did not stop Louis from finishing off a dozen plates of game and meat in one sitting. The menu for one of his feasts included 168 dishes.
Only through diligent service at court could an aristocrat achieve the king's favor and privileges. The king had a huge number of honorary positions, which he gave out as gifts; honored aristocrats were made generals, governors, and ambassadors. Most of the 200 thousand French peers lived away from their country, but they also liked the tax exemption. As a result, the aristocracy under Louis XIV had little power. But the leading members of the nobility preferred the splendor and luxury of Louis to the feudal autonomy they had known before. They did not want to deprive France of its head, although towards the end of Louis's reign they sought to control his power. In the 18th century The claims of aristocrats to increase their political influence, corresponding to their social privileges, became the main cause of the French Revolution.
He identified his power with the collective desires of his subjects, unlike Leopold I or Frederick William, whose subjects never tasted national unification, since Austria and Brandenburg-Prussia were congregations of unrelated territories. Moreover, Western European absolutism rested on simple relationships with landowners, while Louis XIV carefully built connections with the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie. Like his Bourbon predecessors, Louis preferred to see representatives of the middle class in the posts of ministers, intendants, and advisers. His chief minister, Colbert, was the son of a merchant and worked under the direct supervision of the king. No members of the royal family or high aristocracy were invited to the daily sessions of the council at Versailles, where the king discussed matters of war, diplomacy, finance and peace. The decisions of the council were communicated to the rest of the country through intendants, who controlled all levels of local government, especially the courts, police and tax collection. Louis effectively eliminated the power of all remaining institutions in France that could interfere with his centralized bureaucracy. His intendants forced three local parliaments to cease their activities, arresting and intimidating those representatives who dared criticize royal policies. Parliaments soon ceased to be a hindrance.
Louis' centralized administrative system had its drawbacks. The king's decision could only be carried out at the local level by more than 40 thousand representatives of the bourgeoisie, who bought from the crown a lifelong stay in their posts. Despite the activities of the quartermasters, residents ignored some decrees that were unpleasant to them. And yet Louis' system worked. The king's urban subjects were more intelligent and capable than the nobility. The French bourgeoisie quickly took up positions in the civil service, finding that such power suited their needs better than some "vulgar" trade or industry. Only in the 18th century. the bourgeoisie, like the aristocracy, became dissatisfied with their position; their well-founded demands for social privileges corresponding to their political and economic position also became the cause of the French Revolution.
Like any ruler of the 17th century, Louis XIV paid little attention to the unprivileged sector of his society. He protected his peasants from civil war and from foreign invasion until the end of his reign. But in a society where 80 percent of the population was peasants, very little was done to improve agricultural productivity.
In 1660, France was experiencing a terrible famine, and it was the same in 1690. Many French peasants had their own plots of land, but they still bore the burden of feudalism and serving the owner. The poorest peasants were forced to hand over their plots to creditors, and the percentage of those who leased land in parts and those who worked for wages grew inexorably throughout the late 17th century. The unemployed poor were hired into the Sun King's army or sent to workhouses. During the reign of Louis XIV, taxes doubled, bringing in 116 million livres in 1683 against 85 million in 1661 and 152 million in 1715. Many bourgeois sought to avoid paying taxes, so the position of the peasants was unenviable. Whenever they began to rebel against new taxes, Louis XIV sent soldiers to the rebellious district and hanged the rebels or sent them to the galleys as slaves.
Money collected from the peasantry paid for the expenses of Louis's court and his army, as well as Colbert's mercantilist policies. Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683), minister of finance from 1661 to 1683, was remarkably energetic and remarkably pedantic. His energy was evident in the enthusiasm with which he plugged the huge holes in the royal revenue system.
Colbert found that only 35 percent of the taxes that the French paid ended up in the royal treasury, the remaining 75 percent disappeared into the pockets of middlemen and corrupt officials. Colbert stopped taxing farmers and significantly reduced some of the debt. By the time of his death, 80 percent of the increased tax payments were received by the treasury. With the same energy, Colbert achieved his mercantilist goal. He used every opportunity of his position to set France on the path to a self-sustaining economic union. Colbert equated wealth to gold bars, and from the moment the amount of gold by the end of the 17th century. became stable, he calculated that France could improve its prosperity only with the help of gold from other countries. He sought to take it away from Holland, envious of the latter's resourcefulness. To introduce the export of goods from France into Dutch-dominated territories, he organized a series of French trading companies, the most important of which were the East India Company, the West India North Company, and the Levant Company. He paid generously for the construction of ships. He raised tariffs on imports from Holland and England. He did everything he could - which really wasn't much - to speed up French trade: he improved roads (slightly) and built several canals. But the rafting of goods across the country still took a month. I was also not happy with the cost of transportation costs. Colbert paid special attention to the development of new industry in France. He sponsored the production of goods that France had previously imported, such as luxury items such as silk, wool, mirrors and glass. Were all these actions thought out? The limits of Colbert's success are clear. He did not build a merchant fleet to compete with the Dutch, that is, he could not stop importing goods from other countries. French trade remained rather undeveloped due to tax duties and local habits. From the moment French merchants began investing in Colbert's risky maritime ventures, the king had to pay for more than half of the investments in the West India and East India Companies. In any case, most of Colbert's companies failed within a few years. His industrial projects went better, although his meticulous management deprived the industry of proactive growth. He neglected heavy industry, say ironworking. And he didn't pay attention to agriculture because the French food industry was fine. However, without a doubt, French trade and industry benefited greatly from Colbert's efforts. In a society where merchants and merchants were not respected, it was important for the government to protect and enhance the role of commerce and industry. Moreover, at the end of the 17th century. France was ready to accept Colbert's mercantilist doctrine. The French economy was more diversified than the Spanish, and French merchants were more responsive to government intervention than their Dutch and English rivals.
One of Colbert's decisions was to unite the country's scattered plantations into a huge colonial empire. By 1680, Louis XIV had trading ports in India, several eastern points in the Indian Ocean, slave points in Africa, and 14 sugar islands in the Caribbean. His most impressive achievement was the colony of New France; Fur traders and Jesuit missionaries settled North America from St. Lawrence Island north to Hudson Bay, west to the Great Lakes, and south along the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Several thousand French lived in these places. The amount of fur, fish and tobacco exported from New France disappointed the king. Only the sugar islands and trading ports of India were able to become a source of income for France. In any case, under Colbert, France took a big step towards its impressive 18th-century economy.
So far little has been said about religion. Louis XIV was in a delicate position in relation to the Catholic Church. He allowed the Huguenot heretics to hold their services within the country, which other Catholic rulers could hardly afford. And his country was the only Catholic state to ignore the reform decrees of the Council of Trent because the French crown refused to share control of its church with the papacy or council. Louis XIV did not even think of giving up. On the contrary, in 1682 he announced to his priests that the papacy no longer had power over the French church. However, Louis sought to introduce some semblance of Tridentine discipline into French religious practice in order to complete the unification of the country into a single union. Unifying French religious practice was not so easy. Catholics were experiencing the peak of spiritual revival. The Catholic Reformation came to France in the 17th century, later than to Spain, Italy and Germany. New orders were born, for example, the Trappists and Saint Vincent de Paul (c. 1581–1660) founded the institution of Sisters of Charity to care for the poor, foundlings and courtesans of Paris. Some reforms were ineffective; Basically three groups - the Jesuits, the Quietists and the Jansenists - competed for the support of the ruling class. Louis favored the Jesuits. In their schools and denominations, the Jesuits carried out work to instruct them to avoid sects and respect the country and state. Many Catholics were offended by the casuistry of the Jesuits and the pragmatics of the doctrine that God helps those who help themselves. Quietists leaned towards a religion of personal experience, believing that the soul could achieve an ideal through a passive union with God. The Jansenists leaned towards the opposite theological pole. They rejected the Jesuit doctrine of freedom of choice and reaffirmed the thesis of St. Augustine - and Calvin - about original sin and the irresistible desire to choose. The Quietist and Jansenist movements attracted many prominent minds: Francis Fenelon was a Quietist, Blaise Pascal a Jansenist. Be that as it may, Louis recognized these two sects as intolerant and sentenced their members to exile, imprisonment or beheading.
If Louis was hostile to the Catholic heresy, then one can easily guess about his attitude towards the Huguenots. From 1620, when Richelieu broke their political and military independence, the Huguenots became useful subjects and valuable citizens. From the aristocratic faction of the 16th century. they became a respectable society of bourgeois and white-collar workers. But when Louis began to eradicate the Protestant heresy, it turned out that thousands of them were still of their own opinion. Louis closed Huguenot schools and churches, paid those who converted to another religion, and sent soldiers to the homes of those who refused to change religion. In 1685, the king remembered the Edict of Nantes of Henry IV. Now French Protestants did not have city rights, their children grew up and were raised as Catholics, and the clergy were executed or expelled. After 1685 Protestantism still existed, but in a very modest way. The most convinced Huguenots - about 200 thousand - went to England, the Dutch Republic and other Protestant countries. Louis paid this price to achieve true Catholicism, as was the case in Spain, Austria, and Bohemia. At the end of the 17th century. the Dutch and English were the only ones who accepted any degree of nonconformism. The French were no more anti-Protestant than the English were anti-Catholic, but they asserted their superiority more forcefully. Louis, like any absolute monarch, proclaimed his right to rule his subjects. “The state is me,” said Louis.
No matter how cruel his methods were, Louis XIV was far from modern dictators. His power was based on a stratified society, where each class had its own functions and status. Louis increased the privileges of the aristocrats and bourgeoisie in order to maintain an alliance with them. The king rarely took risks within his Versailles circle. He did not seek to establish contact with the peasants, who remained subjects of the lords. When the Revolution of 1789 awakened the national spirit among the French, it opened the way to a new power beyond the dreams of Louis. His method of governing France most closely parallels that of Philip II of Spain a century earlier. At first glance, the two kings acted in exactly the opposite way. Calm, self-absorbed Philip in his stone Escorial and Louis, surrounded by luxury at Versailles. But all these are just differences in the temperament of the French and Spaniards. Both monarchs adopted features of early European absolutism. Spain 16th century and France of the 17th century. were agrarian, feudal countries where the king was only as strong as his army and bureaucracy, and as rich as the taxes collected from the peasants. Since Bourbon France was larger and richer than Habsburg Spain, Louis XIV was able to establish a stronger absolutist rule than Philip. He assembled a large army to satisfy dynastic ambitions and change the international balance of power. But France's rivals were not far behind. Louis realized - as did Philip - that war could bankrupt even the most powerful ruler.
During the first half of his reign, from 1661 to 1688, Louis's foreign policy was a series of brilliant conquests. Building on Mazarin's conquests, he retook territories in Flanders, Luxembourg, Lorraine, Alsace and Franche-Comté. His troops easily defeated the armies of the Spaniards and the Empire. In 1677 they conquered the United Provinces. French diplomats cleverly set Louis's enemies against each other to prevent the creation of an anti-French coalition. England and Sweden were brought into an alliance with France. Louis' ambitions were dynastic, not national. And it was only a coincidence that the people in the conquered territories spoke French. He laid claim to any land where he could obtain title by inheritance or by marriage. At the end of his reign, he wanted to conquer the Spanish Habsburg Empire, since his mother and wife were Infantas of Spain. But after 1699, Louis's grandiose foreign policy no longer worked so smoothly. France plunged into a twenty-five year war against the international coalition that first stopped Louis's expansion and put him to flight. The organizer was one of the most skillful politicians of that era, William of Orange. A Dutchman with an exceptional sense of national pride and zeal, William spent his life opposing Louis XIV and everything he did.
Prince William III of Orange (1650–1702) was the Habsburg governor of the Netherlands and the great-grandson of William the Silent, the organizer of the revolt against Philip II. Wilhelm's whole life became the reason that he hated absolutism, the Habsburgs and the Bourbons. The Dutch Republic was small and poorly structured. Its inhabitants had no political ambitions to achieve independence, which they lost due to Spain. By the middle of the 17th century. Holland has reached the peak of its economic development. The two political factions, the Orangemen and the Regents, were at the status quo. The regents were merchants in Holland, the most important of the seven provinces. They adhered to political oligarchy and religious tolerance. The Orangemen sought the power of the Williamite dynasty. In times of international crisis, the military talents of this dynasty were especially needed. William the Silent and his son fought a protracted war with Spain from 1560 to 1648. While William was a child, Dutch politics was controlled by the regents. Their leader, Jan de Witt (1625–1672), based his foreign policy on friendship with France; later his position was crushed. When Louis invaded the United Provinces in 1672 at the height of the crisis, de Witt was killed in the street by a mad monk. The reins of power passed to the young prince. To stop the expansion of France, he committed a desperate act: he opened the docks and flooded the neighboring territories. It worked: Louis lost his army. During and after the crisis, William ruled the country without being king. He believed that the monarchy was contrary to the traditions and temperament of the Dutch, and therefore adhered to a federal and republican framework. In any case, his goal was to prevent further French conquests.
In 1674, Wilhelm organized the first anti-French coalition. It consisted of the United Provinces, Austria, Spain and several German principalities. Unfortunately for William, his allies fell to the military might of France and in 1679 signed a peace treaty with Louis. A decade of truce began, during which the French advanced along the Rhine. In 1681, Louis captured Strasbourg, and in 1684 - Luxembourg. By this time, all France's neighbors were alarmed. A new anti-French coalition was formed: the League of Augsburg included the allies of 1674 plus Sweden and most of the principalities of Germany. William knew that to stop Louis, the league needed the support of England. And he knew that the British were on the verge of revolution against their king, James II. He had his own interests in England: William could just as much claim the English throne as Louis could claim the Spanish throne; his mother and wife were princesses of the Stuart dynasty. In 1688 he took action against his adoptive father James and thus joined England in the alliance against France. Let's follow him along the English Channel.
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Louis XIV reigned for 72 years, longer than any other European monarch. He became king at the age of four, took full power into his own hands at 23 and ruled for 54 years. “The state is me!” - Louis XIV did not say these words, but the state has always been associated with the personality of the ruler. Therefore, if we talk about the blunders and mistakes of Louis XIV (the war with Holland, the repeal of the Edict of Nantes, etc.), then the assets of the reign should also be credited to him.
The development of trade and manufacturing, the emergence of the French colonial empire, the reform of the army and the creation of the navy, the development of the arts and sciences, the construction of Versailles and, finally, the transformation of France into a modern state. These are not all the achievements of the Century of Louis XIV. So what was this ruler who gave his name to his time?
Louis XIV de Bourbon.
Louis XIV de Bourbon, who received the name Louis-Dieudonné (“God-given”) at birth, was born on September 5, 1638. The name “God-given” appeared for a reason. Queen Anne of Austria gave birth to an heir at the age of 37.
For 22 years, the marriage of Louis's parents was barren, and therefore the birth of an heir was perceived by the people as a miracle. After the death of his father, young Louis and his mother moved to the Palais Royal, the former palace of Cardinal Richelieu. Here the little king was brought up in a very simple and sometimes squalid environment.
His mother was considered regent of France, but real power lay in the hands of her favorite, Cardinal Mazarin. He was very stingy and did not care at all not only about providing pleasure to the child king, but even about his availability of basic necessities.
The first years of Louis's formal reign included the events of a civil war known as the Fronde. In January 1649, an uprising against Mazarin broke out in Paris. The king and ministers had to flee to Saint-Germain, and Mazarin generally fled to Brussels. Peace was restored only in 1652, and power returned to the hands of the cardinal. Despite the fact that the king was already considered an adult, Mazarin ruled France until his death.
Giulio Mazarin - church and political leader and first minister of France in 1643-1651 and 1653-1661. He took up the post under the patronage of Queen Anne of Austria.
In 1659, peace was signed with Spain. The agreement was sealed by the marriage of Louis with Maria Theresa, who was his cousin. When Mazarin died in 1661, Louis, having received his freedom, hastened to get rid of all guardianship over himself.
He abolished the position of first minister, announcing to the State Council that from now on he himself would be the first minister, and no decree, even the most insignificant, should be signed by anyone on his behalf.
Louis was poorly educated, barely able to read and write, but had common sense and a strong determination to maintain his royal dignity. He was tall, handsome, had a noble bearing, and tried to express himself briefly and clearly. Unfortunately, he was overly selfish, as no European monarch was distinguished by monstrous pride and selfishness. All previous royal residences seemed to Louis unworthy of his greatness.
After some deliberation, in 1662 he decided to turn the small hunting castle of Versailles into a royal palace. It took 50 years and 400 million francs. Until 1666, the king had to live in the Louvre, from 1666 to 1671. in the Tuileries, from 1671 to 1681, alternately in the Versailles under construction and Saint-Germain-O-l"E. Finally, from 1682, Versailles became the permanent residence of the royal court and government. From now on, Louis visited Paris only on short visits.
The king's new palace was distinguished by its extraordinary splendor. The so-called (large apartments) - six salons, named after ancient deities - served as hallways for the Mirror Gallery, 72 meters long, 10 meters wide and 16 meters high. Buffets were held in the salons, and guests played billiards and cards.
The Great Condé greets Louis XIV on the Staircase at Versailles.
In general, card games became an uncontrollable passion at court. The bets reached several thousand livres at stake, and Louis himself stopped playing only after he lost 600 thousand livres in six months in 1676.
Also comedies were staged in the palace, first by Italian and then by French authors: Corneille, Racine and especially often Moliere. In addition, Louis loved to dance, and repeatedly took part in ballet performances at court.
The splendor of the palace also corresponded to the complex rules of etiquette established by Louis. Any action was accompanied by a whole set of carefully designed ceremonies. Meals, going to bed, even basic quenching of thirst during the day - everything was turned into complex rituals.
War against everyone
If the king were only concerned with the construction of Versailles, the rise of the economy and the development of the arts, then, probably, the respect and love of his subjects for the Sun King would be limitless. However, the ambitions of Louis XIV extended much beyond the borders of his state.
By the early 1680s, Louis XIV had the most powerful army in Europe, which only whetted his appetite. In 1681, he established chambers of reunification to determine the rights of the French crown to certain areas, seizing more and more lands in Europe and Africa.
In 1688, Louis XIV's claims to the Palatinate led to the whole of Europe turning against him. The so-called War of the League of Augsburg lasted for nine years and resulted in the parties maintaining the status quo. But the huge expenses and losses incurred by France led to a new economic decline in the country and a depletion of funds.
But already in 1701, France was drawn into a long conflict called the War of the Spanish Succession. Louis XIV hoped to defend the rights to the Spanish throne for his grandson, who was to become the head of two states. However, the war, which engulfed not only Europe, but also North America, ended unsuccessfully for France.
According to the peace concluded in 1713 and 1714, the grandson of Louis XIV retained the Spanish crown, but its Italian and Dutch possessions were lost, and England, by destroying the Franco-Spanish fleets and conquering a number of colonies, laid the foundation for its maritime dominion. In addition, the project of uniting France and Spain under the hand of the French monarch had to be abandoned.
Sale of offices and expulsion of the Huguenots
This last military campaign of Louis XIV returned him to where he started - the country was mired in debt and groaning under the burden of taxes, and here and there uprisings broke out, the suppression of which required more and more resources.
The need to replenish the budget led to non-trivial decisions. Under Louis XIV, the trade in government positions was put on stream, reaching its maximum extent in the last years of his life. To replenish the treasury, more and more new positions were created, which, of course, brought chaos and discord into the activities of state institutions.
Louis XIV on coins.
The ranks of opponents of Louis XIV were joined by French Protestants after the “Edict of Fontainebleau” was signed in 1685, repealing the Edict of Nantes of Henry IV, which guaranteed freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
After this, more than 200 thousand French Protestants emigrated from the country, despite strict penalties for emigration. The exodus of tens of thousands of economically active citizens dealt another painful blow to the power of France.
The unloved queen and the meek lame woman
At all times and eras, the personal life of monarchs influenced politics. Louis XIV is no exception in this sense. The monarch once remarked: “It would be easier for me to reconcile all of Europe than a few women.”
His official wife in 1660 was a peer, the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa, who was Louis’s cousin on both his father and mother.
The problem with this marriage, however, was not the close family ties of the spouses. Louis simply did not love Maria Theresa, but he meekly agreed to the marriage, which had important political significance. The wife bore the king six children, but five of them died in childhood. Only the first-born survived, named, like his father, Louis and who went down in history under the name of the Grand Dauphin.
The marriage of Louis XIV took place in 1660.
For the sake of marriage, Louis broke off relations with the woman he really loved - the niece of Cardinal Mazarin. Perhaps the separation from his beloved also influenced the king’s attitude towards his legal wife. Maria Theresa accepted her fate. Unlike other French queens, she did not intrigue or get involved in politics, playing a prescribed role. When the queen died in 1683, Louis said: “ This is the only worry in my life that she has caused me.».
The king compensated for the lack of feelings in marriage with relationships with his favorites. For nine years, Louise-Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc, Duchess de La Vallière, became Louis's sweetheart. Louise was not distinguished by dazzling beauty, and, moreover, due to an unsuccessful fall from a horse, she remained lame for the rest of her life. But the meekness, friendliness and sharp mind of Lamefoot attracted the attention of the king.
Louise bore Louis four children, two of whom lived to adulthood. The king treated Louise quite cruelly. Having begun to grow cold towards her, he settled his rejected mistress next to his new favorite - Marquise Françoise Athenaïs de Montespan. The Duchess de La Valliere was forced to endure the bullying of her rival. She endured everything with her characteristic meekness, and in 1675 she became a nun and lived for many years in a monastery, where she was called Louise the Merciful.
There was not a shadow of the meekness of her predecessor in the lady before Montespan. A representative of one of the most ancient noble families in France, Françoise not only became the official favorite, but for 10 years turned into the “true queen of France.”
Marquise de Montespan with four legitimized children. 1677 Palace of Versailles.
Françoise loved luxury and did not like counting money. It was the Marquise de Montespan who turned the reign of Louis XIV from deliberate budgeting to unrestrained and unlimited spending. Capricious, envious, domineering and ambitious, Francoise knew how to subjugate the king to her will. New apartments were built for her in Versailles, and she managed to place all her close relatives in significant government positions.
Françoise de Montespan bore Louis seven children, four of whom lived to adulthood. But the relationship between Françoise and the king was not as faithful as with Louise. Louis allowed himself hobbies besides his official favorite, which infuriated Madame de Montespan.
To keep the king with her, she began to practice black magic and even became involved in a high-profile poisoning case. The king did not punish her with death, but deprived her of the status of a favorite, which was much more terrible for her.
Like her predecessor, Louise le Lavalier, the Marquise de Montespan exchanged the royal chambers for a monastery.
Time for repentance
Louis's new favorite was the Marquise de Maintenon, the widow of the poet Scarron, who was the governess of the king's children from Madame de Montespan.
This king's favorite was called the same as her predecessor, Françoise, but the women were as different from each other as heaven and earth. The king had long conversations with the Marquise de Maintenon about the meaning of life, about religion, about responsibility before God. The royal court replaced its splendor with chastity and high morality.
Madame de Maintenon.
After the death of his official wife, Louis XIV secretly married the Marquise de Maintenon. Now the king was occupied not with balls and festivities, but with masses and reading the Bible. The only entertainment he allowed himself was hunting.
The Marquise de Maintenon founded and directed Europe's first secular school for women, called the Royal House of Saint Louis. The school in Saint-Cyr became an example for many similar institutions, including the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg.
For her strict disposition and intolerance to secular entertainment, the Marquise de Maintenon received the nickname the Black Queen. She survived Louis and after his death retired to Saint-Cyr, living the rest of her days among the pupils of her school.
Illegitimate Bourbons
Louis XIV recognized his illegitimate children from both Louise de La Vallière and Françoise de Montespan. They all received their father's surname - de Bourbon, and dad tried to arrange their lives.
Louis, Louise's son, was already promoted to French admiral at the age of two, and as an adult he went on a military campaign with his father. There, at the age of 16, the young man died.
Louis-Auguste, son from Françoise, received the title of Duke of Maine, became a French commander and in this capacity accepted the godson of Peter I and Alexander Pushkin's great-grandfather Abram Petrovich Hannibal for military training.
Grand Dauphin Louis. The only surviving legitimate child of Louis XIV by Maria Theresa of Spain.
Françoise Marie, Louis's youngest daughter, was married to Philippe d'Orléans, becoming Duchess of Orléans. Possessing the character of her mother, Françoise-Marie plunged headlong into political intrigue. Her husband became the French regent under the young King Louis XV, and Françoise-Marie's children married the scions of other European royal dynasties.
In a word, not many illegitimate children of ruling persons suffered the same fate that befell the sons and daughters of Louis XIV.
“Did you really think that I would live forever?”
The last years of the king's life turned out to be a difficult ordeal for him. The man, who throughout his life defended the chosenness of the monarch and his right to autocratic rule, experienced not only the crisis of his state. His close people left one after another, and it turned out that there was simply no one to transfer power to.
On April 13, 1711, his son, the Grand Dauphin Louis, died. In February 1712, the Dauphin's eldest son, the Duke of Burgundy, died, and on March 8 of the same year, the latter's eldest son, the young Duke of Breton, died.
On March 4, 1714, the Duke of Burgundy's younger brother, the Duke of Berry, fell from his horse and died a few days later. The only heir was the 4-year-old great-grandson of the king, the youngest son of the Duke of Burgundy. If this little one had died, the throne would have remained vacant after the death of Louis.
This forced the king to include even his illegitimate sons in the list of heirs, which promised internal civil strife in France in the future.
Louis XIV.
At 76 years old, Louis remained energetic, active and, as in his youth, regularly went hunting. During one of these trips, the king fell and injured his leg. Doctors discovered that the injury had caused gangrene and suggested amputation. The Sun King refused: this is unacceptable for royal dignity. The disease progressed rapidly, and soon agony began, lasting for several days.
At the moment of clarity of consciousness, Louis looked around those present and uttered his last aphorism:
- Why are you crying? Did you really think that I would live forever?
On September 1, 1715, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, Louis XIV died in his palace at Versailles, four days short of his 77th birthday.
Compilation of material - FoxIn 1695, Madame de Maintenon celebrated her victory. Thanks to an extremely fortunate coincidence, the poor widow of Scarron became the governess of the illegitimate children of Madame de Montespan and Louis XIV. Madame de Maintenon, modest, inconspicuous - and also cunning - managed to attract the attention of the Sun King 2, and he, making her his mistress, eventually secretly became engaged to her! To which Saint-Simon 3 once remarked: “History will not believe it.” Be that as it may, History, although with great difficulty, still had to believe it.
Madame de Maintenon was a born educator. When she became queen in partibus, her penchant for education grew into a real passion. The Duke Saint-Simon, already familiar to us, accused her of a morbid addiction to controlling others, arguing that “this craving deprived her of freedom, which she could fully enjoy.” He reproached her for wasting a lot of time in the care of a good thousand monasteries. “She took upon herself the burden of worthless, illusory, difficult worries,” he wrote, “every now she sent letters and received answers, drew up instructions for the chosen ones - in a word, was engaged in all sorts of nonsense, which, as a rule, leads to nothing, and if it does, it leads to some out-of-the-ordinary consequences, bitter mistakes in decision-making, miscalculations in managing the course of events and wrong choices.” Not a very kind judgment about the noble lady, although, in general, fair.
So, on September 30, 1695, Madame Maintenon notified the chief abbess of Saint-Cyr - at that time it was a boarding school for noble maidens, and not a military school, as in our days - about the following:
“In the near future I intend to tonsure a Moorish woman as a nun, who has expressed a desire for the entire Court to be present at the ceremony; I proposed to hold the ceremony behind closed doors, but we were informed that in this case the solemn vow would be declared invalid - it was necessary to provide the people with the opportunity to have fun.”
Mauritanian? What other Mauritanian woman?
It should be noted that in those days people with dark skin color were called “Moors” and “Moorish women”. Therefore, Madame de Maintenon wrote about a certain young black woman.
About the same one to whom, on October 15, 1695, the king appointed a boarding house of 300 livres as a reward for her “good intention to devote her life to serving the Lord in the Benedictine monastery in Moret.” Now we just have to find out who she is, this Moorish woman from Moret.
On the road from Fontainebleau to Pont-sur-Yonne lies the small town of Moret - surrounded by ancient walls, a delightful architectural ensemble consisting of ancient buildings and streets completely unsuitable for automobile traffic. Over time, the appearance of the town has changed a lot. At the end of the 17th century, there was a Benedictine monastery there, no different from hundreds of others scattered throughout the French kingdom. No one would ever have remembered about this holy monastery if one fine day a black nun had not been discovered among its inhabitants, whose existence so amazed her contemporaries.
The most surprising thing, however, was not that some Moorish woman took root among the Benedictines, but the care and attention that high-ranking persons at the Court showed her. According to Saint-Simon, Madame de Maintenon, for example, “visited her every now and then from Fontainebleau, and, in the end, they got used to her visits.” True, she saw the Moorish woman infrequently, but not very rarely either. During such visits, she “sympathetically inquired about her life, health and how the abbess treated her.” When Princess Marie-Adelaide of Savoy arrived in France to become engaged to the heir to the throne, the Duke of Burgundy, Madame de Maintenon took her to Moret so that she could see the Moorish woman with her own eyes. The Dauphin, son of Louis XIV, saw her more than once, and the princes, his children, once or twice, “and they all treated her kindly.”
In fact, the Mauritanian woman was treated like no other. “She was treated with much more attention than any famous, outstanding person, and she was proud of the fact that so much care was shown to her, as well as the mystery that surrounded her; although she lived modestly, it was felt that powerful patrons stood behind her.”
Yes, one thing you can’t deny Saint-Simon is the ability to capture the interest of readers. His skill manifests itself especially clearly when, talking about a Moorish woman, he reports, for example, that “once, having heard the sound of a hunting horn - Monseigneur (son of Louis XIV) was hunting in the forest nearby - she casually dropped: “It’s my brother who is hunting.” "
So the noble Duke put the question. But does it give an answer? It does, although it is not entirely clear.
“It was rumored that she was the daughter of the king and queen... they even wrote that the queen had a miscarriage, which many courtiers were sure of. But, be that as it may, it remains a secret.”
Frankly speaking, Saint-Simon was unfamiliar with the basics of genetics - can we really blame him for that? Any medical student today will tell you that a husband and wife, if they are both white, simply cannot give birth to a black child.
For Voltaire, who wrote so much about the mystery of the Iron Mask, everything was clear as daylight if he decided to write this: “She was extremely dark and, moreover, looked like him (the king). When the king sent her to the monastery, he gave her a gift, assigning an allowance of twenty thousand crowns. There was an opinion that she was his daughter, which made her feel proud, but the abbess expressed obvious dissatisfaction about this. During her next trip to Fontainebleau, Madame de Maintenon visited the Moray Monastery, she called on the black nun to show greater restraint and did everything to rid the girl of the thought that pleased her vanity.
“Madam,” the nun answered her, “the zeal with which such a noble person as you is trying to convince me that I am not the king’s daughter convinces me of just the opposite.”
The authenticity of Voltaire’s testimony is difficult to doubt, since he obtained his information from a trustworthy source. One day he himself went to the Moray Monastery and saw the Moorish woman in person. Voltaire's friend Comartin, who enjoyed the right to freely visit the monastery, obtained the same permission for the author of The Age of Louis XIV.
Here's another detail that deserves the reader's attention. In the boarding certificate that King Louis XIV presented to the Mauritanian woman, her name appears. It was double and consisted of the names of the king and queen... The Mauritanian was called Louis-Maria-Teresa!
If, thanks to his mania for erecting monumental structures, Louis XIV was similar to the Egyptian pharaohs, then his passion for lovemaking made him similar to the Arab sultans. Thus, Saint-Germain, Fontainebleau and Versailles were turned into real seraglios. The Sun King had a habit of carelessly dropping his handkerchief - and every time there were a dozen ladies and maidens, moreover from the most noble families of France, who immediately rushed to pick it up. In love, Louis was more of a “glutton” than a “gourmet.” The most outspoken woman in Versailles, the Princess of the Palatinate, the king’s daughter-in-law, said that “Louis XIV was gallant, but his gallantry often developed into sheer debauchery. He loved everyone indiscriminately: noble ladies, peasant women, gardener’s daughters, maids - the main thing for a woman was to pretend that she was in love with him.” The king began to show promiscuity in love from the very first of his heartfelt passions: the woman who introduced him to the pleasures of love was thirty years older than him, and besides, she did not have an eye.
However, in the future, it must be admitted, he achieved more significant success: his mistresses were the charming Louise de La Vallière and Athenais de Montespan, a delightful beauty, although, judging by current standards, and somewhat plump - nothing can be done; over time, fashion changes as women, and on outfits.
What tricks did the ladies of the court resort to in order to “get the king”! For this reason, young girls were even ready to commit blasphemy: one could often see how in the chapel, during mass, they, without any shame, turned their backs to the altar in order to better see the king, or rather, so that it would be more convenient for the king to see them. Well well! Meanwhile, “The Greatest of Kings” was just a short man - his height barely reached 1 meter 62 centimeters. So, since he always wanted to look stately, he had to wear shoes with soles 11 centimeters thick and a wig high 15 centimeters. However, this is still nothing: you can be small, but beautiful. Louis XIV, on the other hand, underwent a major operation on his jaw, which left a hole in his upper mouth, and when he ate, food came out through his nose. Even worse, the king always smelled bad. He knew this - and when he entered a room, he immediately opened the windows, even if it was frosty outside. To fight off the unpleasant smell, Madame de Montespan always clutched a handkerchief soaked in pungent perfume. However, no matter what, for most of the ladies of Versailles, the “moment” spent in the company of the king seemed truly heavenly. Perhaps the reason for this is female vanity?
Queen Marie-Theresa loved Louis no less than other women who at different times shared his bed with the king. As soon as Maria Teresa, upon arriving from Spain, set foot on the island of Bidassoa, where young Louis XIV was waiting for her, she fell in love with him at first sight. She admired him, because he seemed handsome to her, and every time she froze in delight before him and before his genius. Well, what about the king? And the king was much less blinded. He saw her as she was - corpulent, small, with ugly teeth, “spoiled and blackened.” “They say her teeth became like that because she ate a lot of chocolate,” explains Princess Palatine and adds: “Besides, she ate garlic in exorbitant quantities.” Thus, it turned out that one unpleasant smell fought off another.
The Sun King eventually became imbued with a sense of marital duty. Whenever he appeared before the queen, her mood became festive: “As soon as the king gave her a friendly look, she felt happy all day long. She was glad that the king shared the marriage bed with her, for she, a Spaniard by blood, gave true pleasure to love, and her joy could not help but notice the courtiers. She was never angry with those who made fun of her for this - she herself laughed, winked at the mockers and at the same time contentedly rubbed her little hands.”
Their union lasted twenty-three years and brought them six children - three sons and three daughters, but all the girls died in infancy.
The question related to the mystery of the Moorish woman from Moret is, in turn, divided into four sub-questions: could it be that the black nun was both the daughter of the king and queen? - and we have already given a negative answer to this question; could she be the daughter of a king and a black mistress? - or, in other words, the daughter of a queen and a black lover? And finally, could it be that the black nun, having nothing to do with the royal couple, was simply mistaken when she called the Dauphin “her brother”?
There are two personalities in History whose love affairs have become the subject of careful study - Napoleon and Louis XIV. Some historians spent their whole lives trying to determine how many mistresses they had. So, as for Louis XIV, no one has been able to establish - although scientists have thoroughly studied all the documents, testimonies and memoirs of that time - that he even once had a “colored” mistress. What is true is true, at that time in France women of color were a rarity, and if the king had accidentally set his sights on one, rumors of his infatuation would have spread throughout the kingdom in an instant. Especially considering that every single day the Sun King tried to stay in everyone’s sight. Not a single gesture or word of his could simply be missed by curious courtiers: of course, since the Court of Louis XIV was known as the most slanderous in the world. Can you imagine what would have happened if rumors had spread that the king had a black passion?
However, there was nothing of the kind. In this case, how could a Moorish woman be the daughter of Louis XIV? However, not all historians adhered to this assumption. But many of them, including Voltaire, quite seriously believed that the black nun was the daughter of Maria Teresa.
Here the reader may wonder: how is this so? Such a chaste woman? The queen, who, as you know, literally adored her husband the king! What is true is true. However, with all this, we should not forget that this dear woman was extremely stupid and extremely simple-minded. Here is what, for example, the princess of the Palatinate, whom we know, writes about her: “She was too meager and believed everything that was told to her, good and bad.”
The version put forward by such writers as Voltaire and Touchard-Lafosse, the author of the famous “Chronicles of the Bull's Eye,” as well as the famous historian Gosselin Le Nôtre, boils down, with a small difference, to approximately the following: the envoys of an African king gave Maria Theresa a little Moor of ten or twelve years of age not taller than twenty-seven inches. Touchard-Lafosse allegedly even knew his name - Nabo.
And Le Nôtre claims that from that time on it became fashionable - the founders of which were Pierre Mignard and others like him - “to paint little negros in all large portraits.” In the Palace of Versailles, for example, hangs a portrait of Mademoiselle de Blois and Mademoiselle de Nantes, the king’s illegitimate daughters: right in the middle of the canvas is decorated with the image of a black child, an indispensable attribute of the era. However, soon after the “shameful story connected with the Queen and the Moor” became known, this fashion gradually faded away.
So, after a while, Her Majesty discovered that they would soon become a mother - the same was confirmed by the court doctors. The king rejoiced, awaiting the birth of an heir. What recklessness! The black boy has grown up. He was taught to speak French. It seemed to everyone that “the Moor’s innocent amusements stemmed from his innocence and liveliness of nature.” In the end, as they say, the queen loved him with all her heart, so deeply that no chastity could protect her from weakness, which even the most exquisite handsome man from the Christian world could hardly instill in her.
As for Nabo, he probably died, and “rather suddenly” - immediately after it was publicly announced that the queen was pregnant.
Poor Maria Theresa was about to give birth. But the king could not understand why she was so nervous. And the queen sighed and, as if in bitter forebodings, said:
“I don’t recognize myself: where does this nausea, disgust, whims come from, since nothing like this has ever happened to me before?” If I didn’t have to restrain myself, as decency requires, I would happily play around on the carpet, as we often did with my little Mauritian.
- Ah, madam! — Louis was perplexed. “Your condition makes me tremble.” You can’t think about the past all the time - otherwise, God forbid, you will give birth to a scarecrow that is contrary to nature.
The king looked into the water! When the baby was born, the doctors saw that it was “a black girl, black as ink from head to toe,” and were amazed.
The court physician Felix swore to Louis XIV that “one glance from the Moor was enough to transform the baby into his own kind even in the mother’s womb.” To which, according to Touchard-Lafosse, His Majesty remarked:
- Hm, just one look! This means his gaze was too soulful!
And Le Nôtre reports that only much later “the queen admitted how one day a young black slave, hiding somewhere behind a closet, suddenly rushed towards her with a wild cry - he apparently wanted to scare her, and he succeeded.”
Thus, the pretentious words of the Moorish woman from Moret are confirmed by the following: since she was born by the queen, being at that time married to Louis XIV, legally she had the right to call herself the daughter of the sun king, although in fact her father was a Moor, who grew up from an unintelligent negro slave!
But, frankly speaking, this is only a legend, and it was put on paper much later. Vatu wrote around 1840: The Chronicle of Bull's Eye was published in 1829. And the story of G. Le Nôtre, published in 1898 in the magazine “Mond Illustre”, ends on such a disappointing note: “The only thing that is not in doubt is the authenticity of the portrait of the Moorish woman, stored in the Saint-Geneviève library, the same one about which everyone said it at the end of the last century.”
The authenticity of the portrait is indeed beyond doubt, which, however, cannot be said about the legend itself.
But still! The story of the Moorish woman from Moret obviously began with a completely reliable event. We have proof, such as written evidence from contemporaries, that the Queen of France actually gave birth to a black girl. Let us now, following chronological order, give the floor to the witnesses.
So, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, or Great Mademoiselle, a close relative of the king, wrote:
“For three days in a row, the queen was tormented by severe attacks of fever, and she gave birth prematurely - at eight months. After giving birth, the fever did not stop, and the queen was already preparing for communion. Her condition plunged the courtiers into bitter sadness... Around Christmas, I remember, the queen no longer saw or heard those who were talking in low voices in her chambers...
His Majesty also told me what suffering the illness caused the queen, how many people gathered with her before communion, how at the sight of her the priest almost fainted from grief, how His Majesty the prince laughed, and then everyone else, what an expression the queen had a face... and that the newborn was like two peas in a pod like the charming Moorish baby that Mr. Beaufort brought with him and with whom the queen never parted; when everyone realized that the newborn could only look like him, the unfortunate Moor was taken away. The king also said that the girl was terrible, that she would not live and that I should not say anything to the queen, because it could lead her to the grave... And the queen shared with me the sadness that took possession of her after the courtiers laughed when she We’re already getting ready to take communion.”
So in the year when this event happened - it was established that the birth took place on November 16, 1664 - the king's cousin mentions the resemblance of a black girl born to the queen to a Moor.
The fact of the birth of a black girl is also confirmed by Madame de Mottville, Anne of Austria's maid. And in 1675, eleven years after the incident, Bussy-Rabutin told a story that, in his opinion, was quite reliable:
“Marie Therese was talking with Madame de Montosier about the king’s favorite (Mademoiselle de La Vallière), when His Majesty unexpectedly came to them - he overheard their conversation. His appearance struck the queen so much that she blushed all over and, shyly lowering her eyes, hurriedly left. And after three days she gave birth to a black girl, who, as it seemed to her, would not survive.” If you believe official reports, the newborn really died soon - more precisely, it happened on December 26, 1664, when she was just over a month old, about which Louis XIV did not fail to inform his father-in-law, the Spanish king: “Yesterday evening, my daughter died. .. Although we were prepared for misfortune, I did not experience much grief.” And in Guy Patin’s “Letters” you can read the following lines: “This morning the little lady had convulsions and she died, because she had neither strength nor health.” Later, Princess Palatine also wrote about the death of the “ugly baby,” although she was not in France in 1664: “All the courtiers saw how she died.” But was it really like that? If the newborn really turned out to be black, it would be quite logical to declare that she died, but in fact take her and hide her somewhere in the wilderness. And if so, then a better place than a monastery cannot be found...
In 1719, the Princess of the Palatinate wrote that “the people did not believe that the girl had died, because everyone knew that she was in a monastery in Moret, near Fontainebleau.”
The last, more recent, evidence relating to this event was the message of Princess Conti. In December 1756, the Duke de Luynes briefly outlined in his diary a conversation he had with Queen Marie Leszczynska, wife of Louis XV, where they were talking about a Moorish woman from Moret: “For a long time there was only talk about some black woman a nun from a monastery in Moret, near Fontainebleau, who called herself the daughter of a French queen. Someone convinced her that she was the queen's daughter, but because of her unusual skin color she was put away in a convent. The Queen did me the honor of telling me that she had a conversation about this with the Princess of Conti, the legitimized illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV, and the Princess of Conti told her that Queen Marie Theresa had actually given birth to a girl who had a purple, even black, face - apparently , because when she was born she suffered greatly, but a little later the newborn died.”
Thirty-one years later, in 1695, Madame de Maintenon intended to tonsure a Moorish woman as a nun, to whom Louis XIV assigned a boarding house a month later. This Moorish woman is called Ludovica Maria Teresa.
When she gets to the Moray Monastery, she is surrounded by all sorts of worries. The Mauritanian is often visited by Madame de Maintenon - she demands to be treated with respect, and even introduces her to the Princess of Savoy, as soon as she manages to get engaged to the heir to the throne. The Mauritanian woman is firmly convinced that she herself is the daughter of the queen. All Moray nuns seem to think the same thing. Their opinion is shared by the people, because, as we already know, “the people did not believe that the girl died, because everyone knew that she was in the monastery in Moret.” Yes, as they say, there is something to think about here...
It is possible, however, that there was a simple and at the same time stunning coincidence. Now is the time to give one interesting explanation that Queen Maria Leszczynska gave to the Duke de Luynes: “At that time a Moor and a Moorish woman served under a certain Laroche, a gatekeeper in the Zoological Garden. The Mauritanian woman had a daughter, and the father and mother, not being able to raise the child, shared their grief with Madame de Maintenon, who took pity on them and promised to take care of their daughter. She provided her with significant recommendations and escorted her to the monastery. This is how a legend appeared, which turned out to be a fiction from beginning to end.”
But how, in this case, did the daughter of the Moors, the servants of the Zoo, imagine that royal blood flowed in her veins? And why was she surrounded by so much attention?
I think we should not rush to conclusions, decisively rejecting the hypothesis that the Moorish woman from Moret somehow has nothing to do with the royal family. I would really like the reader to understand me correctly: I am not saying that this fact is indisputable, I just believe that we do not have the right to categorically deny it without studying it from all sides. When we consider it comprehensively, we will certainly return to the conclusion of Saint-Simon: “Be that as it may, this remains a secret.”
And one last thing. In 1779, the portrait of a Moorish woman still decorated the office of the chief abbess of the Moray monastery. Later he joined the collection of Saint-Genevieve Abbey. Nowadays the painting is stored in the library of the same name. At one time, a whole “case” was attached to the portrait - correspondence concerning the Mauritanian woman. This file is in the archives of the Sainte-Geneviève Library. However, now there is nothing in it. All that was left of it was the cover with a suggestive inscription: “Papers relating to the Moorish woman, daughter of Louis XIV.”
Alain Decaux, French historian
Translated from French by I. Alcheev
Duke Philippe d'Orléans (brother of Louis XIV) was one of the most controversial aristocratic figures in French history. Being second in line to the throne, he posed a serious threat to the monarchy, but even in the era of the Fronde and internal turmoil, Monsieur did not oppose the legitimate ruler. While remaining loyal to the crown, the Duke led a unique lifestyle. He regularly shocked the public, surrounded himself with many favorites, patronized the arts and, despite his effeminate image, periodically successfully led military campaigns.
King's brother
On September 21, 1640, Louis III and his wife Anne of Austria had a second son, the future Philippe d'Orléans. He was born at a residence in the Paris suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The boy was the younger brother of the monarch Louis XIV, who ascended the throne in 1643 after the death of their father.
The relationship between them was a big exception for royal families. There are many examples in history of how brothers (children of some ruler) hated each other and fought with each other for power. There were similar examples in France. For example, there is a theory that the penultimate monarch of Charles IX was poisoned by one of his younger brothers.
Monsieur
The hereditary principle, in which the eldest heir received everything, and the other remained in his shadow, was largely unfair. Despite this, Philip of Orleans never plotted against Louis. Warm relations have always been maintained between the brothers. This harmony became possible thanks to the efforts of mother Anna of Austria, who tried to do everything so that her children lived and were raised together in a friendly atmosphere.
In addition, the character of Philip himself affected. By nature, he was extravagant and hot-tempered, which, however, could not drown out his good nature and gentleness. All his life, Philip bore the titles “Only Brother of the King” and “Monsieur,” which emphasized his special position not only in the ruling dynasty, but throughout the country.
Childhood
The news that she had given birth to a second boy was received with enthusiasm at court. The omnipotent was especially pleased. He understood that Philip of Orleans - the brother of Louis 14 - was another legitimate support of the dynasty and its future in the event that something happened to the Dauphin. From early childhood, the boys were invariably raised together. Together they played, studied and misbehaved, which is why they were spanked together.
At that time, the Fronde was raging in France. Princes were secretly taken from Paris more than once and hidden in distant residences. Philippe d'Orléans, the brother of Louis 14, just like the Dauphin, experienced many hardships and hardships. He had to feel fear and defenselessness in front of an angry crowd of rioters. Sometimes the brothers' childhood pranks escalated into fights. Although Louis was older, he did not always emerge victorious in fights.
Like all children, they could quarrel over trifles - plates of porridge, sharing beds in a new room, etc. Philip was temperamental, loved to shock others, but at the same time had an easy character and quickly moved away from insults. But Louis, on the contrary, was stubborn and could sulk at those around him for a long time.
Relations with Mazarin
The very fact that Philippe Duke of Orleans was the younger brother of the all-powerful king made it inevitable that there would be many ill-wishers who did not like Monsieur. One of his most influential opponents was Mazarin. The cardinal was put in charge of the education of the previously poorly performing Louis and his younger brother. Mazarin did not like Philip because of his fear that he would become a threat to the throne as he grew up. Monsieur could repeat the fate of Gaston - his own uncle, who opposed the monarchy with his claims to power.
Mazarin had many superficial reasons to fear such a development of events. The all-powerful nobleman could not help but notice what an adventurous person Philippe d'Orléans grew up to be. The duke's future biography showed that he also grew into a good commander who could lead armies and achieve victories on the battlefield.
Upbringing
Some biographers, not without reason, noted in their works that Philip could have been deliberately instilled in feminine habits and instilled an interest in homosexuality. If this was really done for ambiguous reasons, then Mazarin could thus count, firstly, on the fact that the Duke would not have a normal family and heir, and secondly, on the fact that Monsieur would be despised at court. However, the cardinal did not even need to take the initiative into his own hands.
Philip's feminine habits were brought up by his mother Anna of Austria. She liked the gentle character of her youngest son much more than Louis' boring habits. Anna loved to dress up the child as a girl and let him play with the maids of honor. Today, when Philippe d'Orléans is mentioned, he is often confused with his namesake descendant, but the 19th-century King Louis-Philippe d'Orléans had little in common with the 17th-century duke. Their upbringings were markedly different. It is enough to give an example of how the brother of Louis XIV could be jokingly pulled into a lady's corset.
The ladies-in-waiting who lived at court also loved theater and often gave the child comic roles in their productions. Perhaps it was these impressions that instilled in Philip an interest in the stage. At the same time, the boy was left to his own devices for a long time. All the strength of his mother and Cardinal Mazarin was spent on Louis, from whom they made a king. What would happen to his younger brother was of much less interest to everyone. All that was required of him was not to interfere with the throne, not to make claims to power and not to repeat the path of the rebellious uncle Gaston.
Wives
In 1661, Gaston's younger brother, Duke of Orleans, died. After his death, the title passed to Philip. Before that he was Duke of Anjou. In the same year, Philip of Orleans married Henrietta Anne Stuart, daughter of Charles I of England.
Interestingly, the first wife Henrietta was supposed to marry Louis XIV himself. However, during their adolescence, the royal power in England was overthrown, and a marriage with the daughter of Charles Stuart was considered unpromising at Versailles. Wives were then chosen according to the position and prestige of the dynasty. While the Stuarts remained without a crown under Cromwell, the Bourbons did not want to become related to them. However, everything changed in 1660, when Henrietta's brother regained his father's throne. The girl’s status became higher, but Louis had already married by that time. Then the princess received an offer to marry the king's younger brother. Cardinal Mazarin was an opponent of this marriage, but on March 9, 1661, he died, and the last obstacle to the engagement disappeared.
It is not known exactly what the future wife of Philippe d'Orleans sincerely thought about her groom. England heard conflicting rumors about Monsieur's hobbies and favorites. Nevertheless, Henrietta married him. After the wedding, Louis gave his brother the Palais Royal, which became the city residence of the couple. Philippe, Duke of Orleans, in his own words, was infatuated with his wife just two weeks after the wedding. Then everyday life set in, and he returned to the company of his favorites - the minions. The marriage was unhappy. In 1670, Henrietta died and Philip remarried. This time his chosen one was Elizabeth Charlotte, daughter of Karl Ludwig, Elector of the Palatinate. This marriage produced a son, Philip II, the future regent of France.
Favorites
Thanks to the surviving correspondence of the second wife, historians were able to collect a lot of evidence of the Duke’s homosexuality. Of his lovers, the most famous is Chevalier Philippe de Lorraine. He was a representative of the old aristocratic and influential family of Guise. Philippe d'Orléans and the Chevalier de Lorraine met at a young age. Later, both wives of the duke tried to remove the favorite from the court. He exerted a serious influence on Philip, which jeopardized the latter’s family life. Despite the efforts of Henrietta and Elizabeth, the Chevalier continued to remain close to the Duke of Orleans.
In 1670, the king tried to take control of the situation. Louis XIV imprisoned the Chevalier in the famous Prison If. However, the favorite's stay in prison was short-lived. Seeing his brother’s grief, Louis retreated and allowed the minion to first move to Rome and then return to the court of his patron. The relationship between Philippe d'Orléans and Philippe de Lorrain continued until the Duke's death in 1701 (the favorite survived him by only a year). When Louis buried his younger brother, he ordered all of Philip’s correspondence to be burned, fearing the publicity of his adventures and unsightly lifestyle.
Commander
Philip first distinguished himself as a military commander during the War of Devolution in 1667-1668, when France fought with Spain for influence in the Netherlands. In 1677 he returned to the army again. Then the war began against Holland, which was ruled by The conflict flared up on several fronts. In Flanders, Louis needed another commander, since all his usual commanders were already occupied. Then Philip 1 of Orleans went to this region. The duke's biography is an example of a faithful and loyal brother, who without wrangling carried out the orders of the monarch at the most crucial moment, when the fatherland was in danger.
The army under the command of Philip first captured Cambrai, and then began the siege of the city of Saint-Omer. Here the Duke learned that the main Dutch army was coming towards him from Ypres, led by King William III of Orange himself. Philip left a small part of his army under the walls of the besieged city, and he himself went to intercept the enemy. The armies clashed at the Battle of Kassel on April 11, 1677. The Duke headed the center of the army, in which the infantry stood. The cavalry positioned itself on the flanks. Success was ensured by a swift attack by dragoon units, which forced the enemy army to retreat.
The Dutch suffered a crushing defeat. They lost 8 thousand people killed and wounded, and another 3 thousand were captured. The French captured the enemy's camp, their banners, cannons and other equipment. Thanks to the victory, Philip was able to complete the siege of Saint-Omer and take control of the city. A radical change occurred in the war. This was the Duke's most significant success on the battlefield. After his triumph, he was recalled from the army. Louis XIV was clearly jealous and fearful of his brother's further victories. Although the king solemnly greeted Monsieur and publicly thanked him for defeating the enemy, he did not give him any more troops.
Philip and art
Thanks to his hobbies, Philippe d'Orleans was remembered by his contemporaries and descendants as the largest patron of the arts of his era. It was he who made the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully famous, and also supported the writer Moliere. The Duke had a significant collection of art and jewelry. His special passion was theater and satire.
Prince Philippe Duke of Orleans not only loved art, but later he himself became the hero of many works. His personality attracted a variety of writers, creators of musicals, directors, etc. For example, one of the most provocative images came from Roland Joffe in his 2000 film Vatel. In this painting, the Duke is depicted as an open homosexual and friend of the disgraced Condé. Philip's childhood is shown in another film - "The Child King", where the events of the Fronde unfold. The most famous French writer could not ignore the image of the Duke - In his novel “The Vicomte de Bragelonne, or Ten Years After,” the author took liberties with historical facts. In the book, Philippe is not the only brother of Louis XIV. In addition to him, on the pages of the novel there is the twin of the monarch, who became a prisoner in an iron mask due to political expediency.
Last years
Thanks to successful marriages, both of Philip's daughters became queens. His namesake son had a distinguished military career during the War of the League of Augsburg. In 1692 he took part in the Battle of Steenkirk and the Siege of Namur. The successes of the children were Philip's special pride, so in his last years he could live peacefully on his estates and rejoice for his descendants.
At the same time, relations between the Duke and his crowned brother were going through difficult times. On June 9, 1701, Prince Philippe d'Orléans died of an apoplexy that overtook him in Saint-Cloud after a long dispute with the king about the fate of his son. Louis tried in every possible way to limit his nephew, fearing the growth of his popularity in the army. This infuriated Philip. Another quarrel became fatal for him. Having become nervous, he survived the blow, which turned out to be fatal.
The body of 60-year-old Monsieur was buried in the Parisian Abbey of Saint-Denis. During the French Revolution, the grave was plundered. At court, the former favorite of the king, the Marquise de Montespan, grieved most of all about the death of the Duke.
It is interesting that the King of France, Louis-Philippe d'Orléans, who ruled the country in 1830-1848. and overthrown by the revolution, was a descendant of Monsieur. The ducal title was regularly passed on from descendant to descendant of Louis XIV's brother. Louis Philippe was his grandson in several generations. Although he did not belong to the previously reigning branch of the Bourbons, this did not prevent him from becoming king thanks to a bloodless coup. Louis-Philippe d'Orléans, although similar in name to his ancestor, actually had little in common with him.
