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The Last Days Of Louis XIV – August 12, 1715
Guy-Crescent Fagon, Louis XIV’s physician, diagnoses the King to suffer of sciatica. A medical condition of pain going down the leg from the lower back, typically only on one side of the body, and nothing life threatening. Georges Mareschal, First Surgeon to the King, has his doubts. So have the servants. < August 11 > August 13
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The Last Days Of Louis XIV – August 11, 1715
On the morning of the 11th, after a Council of State, Louis XIV was wheeled in his wheel-chair around the gardens of the Trianon, now known as the Grand Trianon. It was the last time he left the palace alive. For the next few days, although he felt a pain in his left leg often, the King went through…
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The Last Days Of Louis XIV – August 10, 1715
Louis XIV travells to Marly. The Marquis de Dangeau, who is present in the evening at the King’s coucher, is startled by his extreme weakness. He writes the King was so exhausted that he could hardly walk from his cabinet to his prie-dieu and his body had become so thin that it looked as if the flesh had all been…
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The Last Days Of Louis XIV – August 9, 1715
Starting today, we will follow the last journey of the King with day-to-day updates from his health declining to Louis XIV’s death and funeral. After Louis XIV’s health had declined in the previous months, the Sun King began to suffer of a pain in the leg in August. This pain made standing or walking painful, yet Louis continued to perform his…
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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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The Art Of Addressing French Nobility
We all know the feeling… one is new at court and one suddenly stands in front of nobility, but has no idea how to address them. Is it “Highness”, or “Serene Highness”, “Royal Highness” even, or just a simple Madame or Monsieur? If the court happens to be that of Louis le Grand, the Sun King, addressing someone in the…
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The Silver Furniture of Versailles
As Louis XIV developed his dream of Versailles, his dream of a grand and glittery palace that people will look at in awe, he of course meant for the inside to be just as impressive as the outside. To achieve this, the best of the best were hired. The ceilings were painted magnificently, the parquet floors of the best wood and…
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Marie-Madeleine-Marguerite d’Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers
Marie-Madeleine Marguerite d’Aubray was born on July 2 in 1630, into a wealthy and well-known noble family. Her father, Antoine Dreux d’Aubray, was a civil lieutenant of the Châtelet during the Fronde. Her mother died in childbirth and, according to reports, Marie Madeleine was sexually abused by three servants as she was seven, then had a incestuous relationship with one of her brothers at 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…
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Dangeau’s Diary, July & August 1685
1st. — The Duke of Monmouth attacked the King’s troops the 15th of this month. He was defeated, then pursued, and taken on the 17th, disguised and hidden in a ditch. Lord Gray was taken a few days after. They were conducted to London and saw the King. The duke of Monmouth tried all that submission and prayers could effect,…
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Funny And Not So Funny Things That Happened At The Court Of Louis XIV, Part One
Louis le Grand, the great Sun King, reigned for a long 72 years and a lot of things happened during those 72 years at court. Some of those are well-known, some of those not, some of those are small and would not fill a whole post on this blog by themselves, but combined…. you see where I am going with this. There…
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Much Ado About Versailles. A UK Media Rant.
It is Thursday, June 9, the 315th anniversary of Philippe death and one day after the second Episode of Versailles aired in the UK. You probably all read of the horrendous critics Episode One received, they were rather hard to ignore, and you most likely read the fuss that was made before Episode One even aired. It ranked from utter crap…
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The death of Philippe de France, Duc d’Orléans
On 8 June in 1701, the Château de Marly was the location of a dinner party. It was Louis XIV’s habit to leave Versailles at times and retreat to Marly-le-Roi, where he had built a, compared to Versailles, small château. To be of the ‘Marlys’, meaning to be one of few allowed to follow the King to his ‘summer house’…
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Dangeau’s Diary, June 1685
1st. — The King’s daughter, Mademoiselle de Nantes, completed her twelfth year this day, and Madame de Montespan regrets that arrangements have not been made for the marriage to take place tomorrow. They will wait for the return of Monsieur le Duc from Burgundy, whither he goes the day after the carousal. 3rd. — The King gave audience to the…
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The Chevalier de Rohan and The Latréaumont Conspiracy
Louis de Rohan was born in 1635 to Louis VIII de Rohan, Duc de Montbazon, and Anne de Rohan, Princesse de Guéméné, into the ambitious House of Rohan. A House that claims ancestry from the King’s of Brittany. A Vicomte de Porhoët was the first to take the name of Rohan, after the place he was born, and through the Vicomtes the family was…
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Versailles Giveaway!
Versailles is finally to air in the UK. Hurray. BBC Two will air the first season from June 1st on and this calls for a celebration, does it not? As little thank you for all those that read my Thoughts On Versailles, the one where I talk historical backgrounds for what we see each episode, and for all those…
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The Royal Fistula
Louis XIV was, as everyone else, plagued by the occasional illness. He had the smallpox as child and nearly died, he had a form of typhoid fever and nearly died, he had measles, fevers, colds, gout, bad toothaches….. The fact that Louis did recover from some of these more dramatic maladies is quite the miracle, considering the medical and…
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The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island
The gardens of Versailles saw their first grand fête in May 1664, the Pleasures of the Enchanted Island. This elaborate garden party marked the beginning of Versailles’ transformation from Louis XIII’s hunting lodge to Louis XIV’s Palace of Glory. Louis XIV invited 600 guests to the spectacle hosted in the freshly enlarged and dolled-up gardens of Versailles from May 7…
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Dangeau’s Diary, May 1685
4th. — This evening at nine o’clock the Dauphine passed into the King’s little apartment and no courtier was admitted. There was a lottery, consisting of three thousand tickets, among which there were twenty-four prizes, four of silver, and twenty of jewels. The lottery was drawn both before and after the supper given by his Majesty to the ladies who…
