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Dangeau’s Diary, August 1686
1st. — The King has presented Villa-Cerf with an employment to which no name has yet been given. It is partly that of comptroller-general of buildings under Monsieur de Louvois, who thereby will be relieved from many tedious details, at present too much for him. His Majesty has attached a salary of sixteen thousand francs to the office. There were…
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Philippe de France, frère unique du roi
When Louis XIV was born in 1638, it was regarded as a miracle. No-one really thought Louis XIII and Anne d’Autriche, a old woman by the standards of the time, were capable of producing a healthy heir. To everyone’s surprise, both also managed to produce a spare. Philippe de France was born on September 21 in 1640 at the old…
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Maladies and Medicine: Exploring Health & Healing, 1540–1740
Sara Read and Jennifer Evans have teamed up to bring us Maladies and Medicine: Exploring Health & Healing, 1540–1740. If you are interested in how various illnesses were cured back in the days and what people thought caused them, this is just the thing for you. “Maladies and Medicine offers a lively exploration of health and medical cures in…
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Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné
When it comes to anecdotes or gossip from the court of Louis XIV, the name Madame de Sévigné shows up plenty. Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, born on February 5 in 1626, left us plenty material in form of letters to transport us back into the time of the Sun King. Marie was born in the heart of Paris in the…
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Le Grand Appartement du Roi
Setting one’s fashionably heeled feet on the polished parquet of the Grand Appartement du Roi was the highlight of every noble in 17th century France. Today, when visiting Versailles, the usual personal highlight of the visit is the Hall of Mirrors, but to get there one has to stride through the former State Apartment of the Sun King himself. The Grand…
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François Michel Le Tellier de Louvois
Born in Paris on 18 January in 1641, François Michel Le Tellier de Louvois was the son of Michel Le Tellier. A man from a Parisian magistrate family, who became maître des requêtes under Louis XIII and, thanks to a friendship with Cardinal de Mazarin, Secretary of State for Military Affairs for the young Louis XIV. His son, who we…
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Jules Raymond Mazarin, Cardinal de Mazarin
Born on 14 July 1602 in the Kingdom of Naples as Giulio Raimondo Mazzarini, sometimes also spelled Mazzarino, the First Minister of France comes from a rather modest background. His grandfather, Giulio Mazzarini, was a craftsman from Genoa who settled in the Sicilian town Mazzarino. This Giulio ensured that his sons were provided with a good education. One of them…
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Marie-Madeleine Agnès de Gontaut Biron, Marquise de Nogaret
Born in 1653, and known as Mademoiselle de Biron before her marriage, Marie-Madeleine managed to wake the interest of Louis XIV in the 1680’s. Her father, François de Gontaut, Marquis de Biron et Baron de Saint Blancard, served as lieutenant-general of the King’s armies. Her mother Elisabeth de Cossé-Brissac, a daughter of the Duc de Brissac, Grand Panetier de France.…
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Dangeau’s Diary, July 1686
3d. — The King has given one hundred thousand francs to Monsieur de Ville, the inventor of the machine for raising the waters of the Seine. His Majesty has also increased his pension by two thousand francs, so that he has now a pension of eight thousand francs, having enjoyed one of two thousand crowns for these last four or…
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Marie-Angélique de Scorraille de Roussille, Duchesse de Fontanges
Born in July 1661, a few months before Louis XIV’s heir was born, Marie-Angélique was to become the last great love of the Sun King and suffered an early and mysterious death aged only twenty. Marie-Angélique was born at the at the Château de Cropières in Upper Auvergne to Jean-Rigal de Scoraille, serving as Lieutenant to the King in…
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Versailles Season Three….
Season three of Canal +’s Versailles is currently being filmed in Paris and surroundings. While we had no clue what to expect from season one story-wise and had a bit of a clue for season two, the main story-line of season has been confirmed already. It will be all about the Man in the Iron Mask and although our Sun…
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Mistress versus Queen, or how Louise de La Vallière got into a carriage race with the Queen of France…
1667. The year the War of Devolution began and Louis XIV showed his great military power for the first time. Besieged city after city falls into the hands of the French King. The Spanish have hardly time to fortify themselves, before the French knock at their gates. It is one grand victory for the young and handsome Louis XIV and…
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Catherine Charlotte de Gramont, Princesse de Monaco
Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont was born in either 1638 or 1639 as second child and first daughter of Antoine III de Gramont and his wife Françoise-Marguerite du Plessis de Chivré. Her father being a great military commander, her mother a great beauty and her older brother the infamous Comte de Guiche. Mademoiselle de Gramont spent much of her youth with the…
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Philippe de Courcillon, Marquis de Dangeau
Philippe de Courcillon was born on September 21 in 1638, only a couple of days after Louis XIV, whose death Philippe de Courcillon would record almost a century later. Born at the Château de Dangeau to Louis de Courcillon and Charlotte des Nouhes, and into a Calvinist family, Philippe converted to Catholicism early. After a youth not much is known…
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Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Born in Reims on 29 August 1619 into a family of wealthy merchants, Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s family claimed to descend from ancient Scottish nobility, something that could never be proved. His father Nicolas Colbert, Sieur de Vandières, acted as merchant and financier and married his cousin Marie Pussort, daughter of a merchant, in 1614. Some years later, in 1629, the couple settled in Paris, where…
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Mademoiselle in Plymouth or things to do in Britain’s Ocean City
Since I have pretty much just gotten back from Britain’s Ocean City that goes by the name of Plymouth and I know some of you enjoy my random babbling about such things, here’s what you might fancy to do if you should ever go there with a bit of city history on top. If you ask a Plymothian, or Janner…
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Dangeau’s Diary, June 1686
June 12th. — The Pope has caused great rejoicings to be made for the conversion of the heretics of France. He held a consistory expressly, in which he has bestowed great praises upon the King. He also attended divine service, at which Te Deum was sung. Public illuminations followed for three successive days. 23d. — There has been a…
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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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Congratulations! It’s a book!
As Marie-Thérése gave birth to her first child, Louis XIV was so filled with joy that he apparently opened the windows wide and shouted at the crowd outside ‘The Queen gave birth to an heir!’. Some years later that heir kissed all ladies present in the room as his wife gave birth to an heir. I shall make a bit less…
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The Transvestite Memoirs of the Abbe de Choisy
François Timoléon, Abbé de Choisy, was not only a man of the church, but also France’s most famous cross-dresser of the 17th century. As kid, he played dressing up with Louis XIV’s brother. As adult, his love for opulent dresses carried on and he even lived as a woman for a while. The Transvestite Memoirs is an account on how…
