Titillating Tidbits
Funny, sad and scandalous stories from the court of Louis XIV.
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Le Grand Carrousel
Louis XIV was a King that loved to show off and how to do that better than with hosting grand spectacles? If you have been to Paris, you probably stood in front of the Louvre to gaze at this massive building in awe. The very place you beheld the museum-palace from is called the Carrousel du Louvre. Odd name for…
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17th century beauty hacks
Beauty hacks and tricks to enhance body features are nothing new. The ladies in the 17th century had quite a few of them, some dating back to ancient times, on how to lose weight, make the teeth whiter, the skin smoother or how to get rid of lice. In matters of weight loss, the 1694 Ladies’ Dictionary advises some easy…
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La Fronde
Long before the Revolution shook France and turned the country upside down, there was the Fronde. A sort of civil war lasting from 1648 to 1653. During this time of general unrest, Louis XIV, still a child, was forced to flee his own residences to escape a violent mob, as members of his own family sought to gain power and…
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17th century beauty standards, or what was sexy at the court of Louis XIV…
Every century and every epoch got their own standards of what is considered handsome and what not. Some of these 17th century might be a bit of a surprise compared to those of our modern times. So, let’s have a look at what was sexy during the time of Louis XIV… First of all, forget tanning. The ideal skin is…
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Monsieur, Madame, their bed and the Virgin Mary…
I do love court anecdotes and this is probably my favourite of them all. It’s cute, hilarious and took place in the bed of Monsieur and Madame…. and thanks to the latter’s habit to write pretty much everything down in various letters, we can have a bit of a laugh about it today. The letter that contains this lovely anecdote was…
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The two marriages of Philippe de France
A 17th century marriage was more or less a business contract. It was about wealth, titles, patronage, heirs, and if one was a member of a royal house about politics. Everyone involved was aware of it. Monsieur had the bliss, he would probably call it misfortune, to be married twice. As brother of the Sun King it was his duty to…
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Carrosses à cinq sol, the first public transport system of the world
Many things of our modern world have their origin in 17th century France and were invented during the reign of the Sun King. Champagne is one, public street lighting a other, high heels as well, public transportation too. The Carrosses à cinq sol -carriages for five sol- have their origin in the year 1661 and were the very first public transport system…
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The contest for precedence, or a turbulent day on London’s streets…
A long-lasting dispute over whether the Spanish ambassadors had precedence over the French, or the other way around, reached a bloody pinnacle on the streets of London on September 30 in 1661. On that very day the new Swedish ambassador was to arrive in London and according to custom, the King’s barge was to meet him at Gravesend and accompany him to Tower-Wharf. The…
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Dining with the Sun King….
Louis XIV enjoyed to eat. A lot. Although, as he said himself, he never really felt such a thing as hunger and could go the whole day without eating anything, once the first drop of broth made contact with his royal tongue, he developed an appetite that was hard to satisfy. The King was one of very few people…
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In bed with the Sun King….
Looking at what is searched for on my blog, this one topic seems to be the one with the most appeal. Not a week passes without countless searches involving the words sex and Louis XIV. The Sun King is famous for having an army of long and short-time mistresses, but this shan’t be our focus here. All of them will,…
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Court Mourning
The colours of mourning followed Louis XIV during his long reign of seventy-two years and especially in the last years of his reign, the court hardly got out of mourning. Court mourning followed strict rules of etiquette as well as strict rules of fashion, the latter so much that fabric merchants all over France suffered great losses whenever the court went…
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17th Century Hygiene Or The Many Smells Of Versailles…
The definition of cleanliness has changed over the centuries. Today we know about germs and how diseases can spread, we have things like antibacterial soaps and sprays, in some households there is both a shower and a bathtub and we have machines that do our laundry. If you think of the 17th Century in that perspective, you might be glad…
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The Plundering Of The Royal Tombs of Saint-Denis
The Basilique royale de Saint-Denis has been the burial side of French Monarchs for centuries. Saint Denis, after which the Basilique was named, is the Parton Saint of Paris. You can find images of him carrying his head all over the city and France. Saint Denis, or Dionysius, is believed to have been the very first Bishop of Paris. He…
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Funny And Not So Funny Things That Happened At The Court Of Louis XIV, Part Six
Marly-le-Roi appears to be the perfect place for playing pranks on others, as we have learned, but it also seems to be a good place to try new things at. The King’s daughters Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, Duchesse de Chartres, and Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, Duchesse de Bourbon, while visiting Marly, borrowed pipes from the Swiss Guards. They were eager to try…
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The Miracle Birth Of Louis XIV
Anne d’Autriche and Louis XIII had been married for a long twenty-three years before their first son, Louis XIV, was born. This birth of a healthy heir to the throne of France was regarded a miracle and what led to it was reportedly a happy coincidence. As Anne d’Autriche and Louis XIII were married on the 24th November in 1615, both…
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Funny And Not So Funny Things That Happened At The Court Of Louis XIV, Part Five
As the Trianon de Porcelaine was taken down and what is now the Grand Trianon was built in 1687, Louis XIV visited the construction side regularly. Having a accurate eye for measurements, he noticed during one of his visits that something was wrong with one of the windows. Louis thus pointed it out to Louvois, his Minister of War and…
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Funny And Not So Funny Things That Happened At The Court Of Louis XIV, Part Four
Madame de Saint-Herem, the one with the thunderstorms, was bathing in the river at Fontainebleau, but because the water was rather cold, she had a quantity boiled on the bank and poured round her in mid-stream, with the result that she was badly scalded, and had to take to her bed for some time. Monsieur La Chatre, would suddenly imagine himself to…
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Funny And Not So Funny Things That Happened At The Court Of Louis XIV, Part Three
Paule-Marguerite Françoise de Gondi, the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres, cared neither for writing, reading, cards or other amusements. She spent most of her day drinking tea or coffee. When she drank tea, her ladies-in-waiting had to dress in Indian fashion. When she turned her attention to coffee, they were expected to attire themselves a la Turque. The Duchesse switched between the…
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Funny And Not So Funny Things That Happened At The Court Of Louis XIV, Part Two
Madame de Chartres and her sisters once acquired petards, small bombs made of a metal or wooden box filled with powder, which are strong enough to blow open doors or blow holes into walls. They went with them to the Grand Trianon and set them off just beneath the windows of the rooms Monsieur occupied. The fumes were so bad,…
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The Death Of Madame
Saint Cloud, June 30, 1670, three o’clock in the morning. Henrietta of England, Henriette d’Angleterre as the French called her, Minette as she was called by her brother, closes her eyes forever. Madame, as she was called at court, being the wife of Monsieur, the King’s brother, had suddenly fallen ill the previous day, June 29, and died less than…
