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Le potager du roi
One of the most important places of Versailles was the potager du roi -the King’s kitchen Garden- for it ensured the Sun King always had enough of his favourite vegetables and fruits on his plate. He did enjoy them quite a lot. Louis XIV enjoyed to eat. A lot. He loved all sorts of fancy culinary delights, but he also loved…
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Philippe d’Orléans by Elisabetta Lurgo
Fabulous news! Elisabetta Lurgo has a new book out soon and it is all about Monsieur! Elisabetta is a doctor of history and did dive deep into the archives to bring us a new Monsieur biography in French, published by Perrin. “Peu de figures ont été autant maltraitées que celle de Monsieur, Philippe de France, duc d’Orléans et frère…
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Henriette d’Angleterre
Henrietta of England was born on 16 June in 1644 at Bedford House in Exeter at the height of the English Civil War. Her mother Henriette-Marie de France, daughter of le bon roi Henri, who had married Charles I of England on 13 June in 1625, lived at Oxfort with her husband during the autumn of 1643. But as, by…
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Chronologie de la vie de Louis XIV, March 1661
1 March, the King attends the marriage supper of the Grand maître de l’artillerie and Hortense Mancini, which is given at the Palais-Cardinal in Paris. The groom is given the title Duc Mazarin and made Peer of France. 2 March, the Duc and Duchesse Mazarin receive the King and court, who come to congratulate them upon their marriage and wish…
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Marquise-Thérèse de Gorla, called Mademoiselle du Parc
Born in 1633 in Paris, Mademoiselle du Parc was a famous actress, ballet dancer and one of the stars of Molière’s troupe. Marquise-Thérèse was the daughter of Giacomo Gorla, who was a mountebank and barker at fairs, and of Italian-Swiss origin. Giacomo Gorla settled in Lyon in 1635 with a little troupe of actors. Marquise-Thérèse seems to have started out…
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Louis-Armand de Bourbon, Prince de Conti
Louis-Armand was born in Paris on 4 April in 1661 to Armand de Bourbon and his wife Anne-Marie Martinozzi, and thus a Prince du Sang. His papa, Armand de Bourbon, was the brother of the famous Grand Condé and both brothers mingled in the Fronde. The regain his favour with the King, Armand married Anne-Marie Martinozzi, a niece of Cardinal…
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Chaise à Porteurs
Chaise à Porteurs aka sedan chairs were an incredibly useful mode of transportation at the court of Louis XIV and especially at Versailles, where the distances between buildings were, and still are, rather huge. They were perfect for getting from one part of the palace to a other, or from one’s magnificent Hôtel in the city of Versailles to the…
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Armand de Bourbon, Prince de Conti
Born in Paris on October 11 in 1629, to Henri II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, and his wife Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency, Armand was a Prince du Sang and destined to become a man of the church. His father Henri married Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency, daughter of Henri I de Montmorency, in 1609 and the couple had three children: Anne-Geneviève…
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Anne de Bavière, Princesse de Condé
Born in Paris on 13 March in 1648, Anne-Henriette Julie de Bavière was the daughter of Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern, and his Italian/French wife Anne de Gonzague de Clèves, sister of the Queen of Poland Louise-Marie. Although the family came from two sovereign families, they had not much of a fortune. On her father’s side, Anne was related…
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Le Trianon de Porcelaine
In the 1670’s, as the palace of Versailles was still in the making, its park bordered on a little village called Trianon. Trianon, or Triarnum as it was called in a papal bull of Alexander III, was small but a quite old settling. While Louis XIII left it untouched as he outlined the original plans of Versailles’ gardens, Louis…
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Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, Duchesse de Bourbon et Princesse de Condé
Louise-Françoise was the fourth child born to Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Her birth, on 1 June in 1673, took place in slightly unusual surroundings. Madame de Montespan accompanied the King, along with the rest of the court, on a military tour through Flanders. Reaching Tournai, 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, Madame de Montespan was forced to halt…
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Chronologie de la vie de Louis XIV, February 1661
1 February, the King and Queen return from Vincennes, where the court resides, in the evening. The illness of Cardinal Mazarin, who remains bedridden, troubles the King. 2 February, Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, the King makes his devotions at the Oratorians, and afterwards, wearing the collier de l’ordre, observes the procession, which takes place at the…
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Chronologie de la vie de Louis XIV, January 1661
1 January, wearing the collier of the Grand Ordre, the King visits the Couvent des Feuillants to hear low mass, receiving communion, and high mass afterwards. 1 January, after hearing mass, the King proceeds to the gardens of the Tuileries to “cure a great number of people with various diseases” by the means of touching them. Le Roy te touche…
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Chronologie de la vie de Louis XIV, December 1660
A while ago, November 2017, I asked on Twitter if my followers would fancy a account that tweets whatever Louis XIV did, if it is known, on specific days of a specific year. As year to start with, I suggested 1660, since the following 1661 was a rather interesting year in the reign of Louis XIV. A lot of people…
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Dangeau’s Diary, March 1687
9th. — Monsieur de Roquelaure had asked the King for the alienation fines of some estates be longing to Monsieur de Lauzun, and the King refused them, saying, that no person should wish to profit by the disgrace of the unfortunate. 12th. — Versailles. The Emperor has caused the King to be assured, both by letter and by the mouth…
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Le diamant bleu de la Couronne de France
What is a King without bling? Louis XIV was not a fan of wearing tons of it, but he certainly was an avid collector of all things sparkling, his favourites being diamonds. One of his special treasures is known under various names: Le Bijou du Roi, le bleu de France, le Violet de France, le Tavernier Blue…. You might know…
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Palais des Tuileries
When you stand at the large place in front of the Louvre and turn your gaze away from the palace and towards the street, you will see a beautiful garden in the distance. This garden once belonged to the Palais des Tuileries and said Palais was once connected to the Louvre, making the latter even bigger than it is today.…
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Révolte des Lustucru
Louis XIV had to face his first revolt after the Fronde in 1662, one year after he took the reins of government into his own hands. The county of Boulonnais was of a strategic importance due to its closeness to the Spanish Netherlands. The people there suffered a lot during the war with Spain, that already raged since 1635, and…
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Louis XIV, the real Sun King, is ready to pre-order!
Bonjour, everyone. Oui, you read that right. You can now pre-order Louis XIV, the real Sun King, written by the amazing Jules Harper and myself. It is available to pre-order on your local Amazon (UK, US, DE, FR) as well as on Wordery Book Depository, Waterstones and on Barnes&Noble. Or directly from Pen and Swords, our publisher, via their website, where you can…
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Claire-Clémence de Maillé, Princesse de Condé
Claire was born on 25 February in 1628 to Urbain de Maillé, Marquis de Brézé, and Nicole du Plessis, sister of Cardinal Richelieu. The Brézés were an old noble family from Anjou and among their members was Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henri II, who was married to Louis de Brézé. The Marquis de Brézé was a Marshal of…
