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Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de Toulouse
Born on 6 June in 1678, Louis-Alexandre was the youngest of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, and named after his papa and Alexander the Great. At the time of this last pregnancy, Madame de Montespan was already declining in favour, while her former friend the widow Scarron, who in the meanwhile entered the ranks of nobility as Marquise…
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Dangeau’s Diary, February 1687
13th. — Versailles. The Duc de Crequi died this evening at Paris at three o’clock. The Duc de Gesvres, gentleman of the chamber for this year, upon opening the King’s curtains, informed him of the circumstance, and asked for the government of Paris, which his Majesty upon rising granted him. 18th. — Versailles. The King went shooting in the…
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Lettre de cachet
Lettres de cachet were one of the most powerful tools of Louis XIV, for they could command, create… silence people or make people vanish forever. The power to issue lettres de cachet is a royal privilege and dates back to the 13th century on the grounds that Rex solutus est a legibus – the King is released from the laws.…
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Louise-Marie-Anne de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Tours
Louise-Marie, born at Saint-Germain on 18 November in 1674, was the third daughter and fifth child of Louis XIV and his mistress Madame de Montespan. Like her siblings, the little girl was given into care of the widow Scarron, who dotingly cared for her, and legitimised by her father in 1676. Louise-Marie thus became known at court under the…
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Anne de Gonzague de Clèves, Princesse Palatine
An Italian-French noblewoman married to a penniless Palatine Prince, whose ancestors could have sat on the English throne if they had not converted to Catholicism. Born in Paris in 1616, Anne-Marie de Gonzague was the daughter of Charles de Mantoue, brother of the famous Henri de Guise, and Catherine de Lorraine. Anne was the youngest of their six children.…
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Le Palais-Royal
The Palais-Royal in Paris, situated pretty much across the street from the Louvre, was home to many members of the royal family, including Louis XIV during the turbulent times of the Fronde. It was there, where he, still a child, had to face an angry Parisian mob in his bedroom. Cardinal Richelieu bought the Hôtel de Rambouillet in 1624,…
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Louis-Henri de Pardaillan de Gondrin, Marquis de Montespan
Born in 1640, to Roger-Hector de Pardaillan de Gondrin, Marquis d’Antin, and Marie-Christine de Zamet de Murat, Louis-Henri enjoyed a pleasant childhood and grew up to be a dashing, handsome and gallant gentleman. Charming and with good manners, Louis-Henri was a favourite of the ladies and managed to win the most beautiful woman of France for himself, as he…
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The King’s Evil and the Royal Touch
A King, appointed by God and anointed with Holy Oil, is not a mere human being. He holds the well-being of his Kingdom and subjects in his regal hands and said hands are able to cure… or so many people believed. The English Kings and Queens as well as the Kings of France were the only Christian rulers who…
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Lydie de Rochefort-Théobon, Comtesse de Beuvron
Born in the same year as Louis XIV, Lydie, although in favour of the Sun King for quite a while, is one of his lesser known mistresses. She was the daughter of Jean de Rochefort-Theobon and his wife Anne de Chaussade de La Mothe. The couple also had a son, Charles Bordeaux de Rochefort, as well as two more…
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Atto Melani, the Sun King’s spying opera singer
Louis XIV’s court was full with interesting people. One of them was Atto Melani and he wasn’t just a fabulous singer, he used his visits to the courts of Europe in order to spy for the Sun King. Born on March 30 in 1626, as the third of seven sons of a Pistoia bell-ringer, Atto was castrated at a…
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Dangeau’s Diary, January 1687
January 5th. — Versailles. The Dauphine was taken ill in the night. The King called upon her before he went to mass and his Majesty has deferred the children’s baptism till her health is reestablished, which it is hoped will not exceed eight days. She took her dinner and supper in bed. Upon leaving the petit coucher, the King…
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Adieu 2017…
What a year, hm? I’m surely not the only one who thinks that the world got a little bit more crazy in 2017, am I? But I shan’t rant about politics and such things… for I would never finish. So, let’s talk about the exciting not politic things that happened. The most important one is probably that Jules and I…
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The daughter of a gardener & Madame de Saint-Martin
According to the Duc de Saint-Simon, the young Louis XIV amused himself briefly with the daughter of a gardener in around 1658. The name of the girl is not known, but according to Saint-Simon she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter in 1659. Said daughter was, of course, not recognised as child of Louis XIV and the…
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Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Duc de Lauzun
Sometimes the life of someone is so adventurous that one questions if fact or fiction. This is certainly the case with the infamous Duc de Lauzun and let me assure you, that fact can be as strange as fiction at times. The man who became famous as Lauzun was born in 1632 to Gabriel Nompar de Caumont, Comte de…
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Mademoiselle’s favourite history movies…
Since some of you probably have a couple of days off after Christmas, I thought I share some of my fave history movies with you. Not all of them are 17th century or even Louis XIV related, but definitely worth a watch. Some of them can be watched via Amazon Prime, if you have it, or rented via Amazon Video,…
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La Grande Mademoiselle, le Duc de Lauzun and the woes of love…
Aging stoic woman, who happens to be the richest heiress in all of Europe, meets egoistic court buffoon and falls in love with him… what could possibly go wrong? La Grande Mademoiselle, cousin to Louis XIV, who has refused one marriage proposal after the next, while those she had in mind herself did not work out, met Antoine Nompar de…
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The Robe de Cour
Fashion was something very important at Louis XIV’s court. While the fashion for the gentleman of quality did not change too much over the years, those of the ladies of quality changed quite often. Some of these fashions were not that appreciated by the great Sun King. Especially the looser sitting form of gowns, called mantua, the ladies adored so…
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Anne-Marie-Louise d’Orléans, Duchesse de Montpensier
She was a grand-daughter of Henri IV, niece to Louis XIII, first cousin to Louis XIV, a woman determined to control her own life and fortune. An amazon in a world of delicate women, commonly known as La Grande Mademoiselle. Anne-Marie was born at the Palais du Louvre in Paris on 29 May in 1627 as first child of…
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Louis César de Bourbon, Comte de Vexin
Born on 20 June in 1672, at the château du Génitoy, Louis-César, named after no-one less than Julius Caesar, was the second born son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Just like with his older brother, Louis-Auguste, the birth of Louis-César was kept as secret as possible in order to avoid Monsieur de Montespan claiming the child as…
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Charles de Batz de Castelmore, the real d’Artagnan
If you have read the Musketeer fiction of Dumas, you are very well acquainted with the character of d’Artagnan, his bravery and his struggles. Dumas based his The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne on a novel by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras called Les mémoires de M. d’Artagnan. A sort of semi-fictionalised memoir…. but Monsieur…
