The Last Days Of Louis XIV – August 15, 1715
A suspicious-looking sore has appeared below the King’s right knee. Louis XIV’s servants bandage the King’s leg and change the bandages each day. Louis is not able to wear his ordinary clothes due to the bandages. He can hardly walk anymore and takes care of the business of state from his bed. Mass is performed in the King’s bedroom as well, Louis does not wish to miss it. The Marquis de Champcenetz, Premier Valet de Chambre de Quartier, is worried about the King’s condition, his physicians not so much. His servants do not leave the King’s side, they dress him and when he wishes, and is able to do so, carry him to the rooms of Madame de Maintenon. The Marquis de Dangeau writes: “The King slept very indifferently till three o’clock, and drank several times, for he suffers much from thirst. He slept tolerably well from three o’clock till six. He heard mass in his bed, and, after it, conversed with the chancellor, then with Monsieur des Marets, and afterwards with Monsieur de Pontchartrain. He appears to be sufficiently easy. He suffers however, continually from his sciatica. He dined in bed at one o’clock, ate with a pretty good appetite, rose at five, and was carried to Madame de Maintenon‘s.”
