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Catherine Monvoisin, fortune teller, sorceress and poisoner
France was shaken by a scandal of enormous proportions in the late 1670’s, l’affaire des poisons, in its center the King, various women of the best noble families of France and a woman called La Voisin. Catherine Deshayes was born around 1640 and married Antoine Monvoisin, sometimes spelled Montvoison. He was a jeweller with a shop at Pont-Marie, in…
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Dangeau’s Diary, February 1685
4th. – Madame de Montespan has this day returned from Paris, where she had passed two or three days during her absence, the King went every evening after supper to Madame de Maintenon’s. I learn that the Dauphine named, at the commencement of the ball, those who were to lead off the dance with the Princesses of the blood; this…
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A very handsome door, or the first meeting of Louis XIV and his bride Marie-Thérèse
Marriage in the 17th century was mostly a matter of politics, either that of a country or family politics to rise in rank or preserve it. Grooms and brides hardly knew each other, or in case of Louis XIV and his Spanish bride, had never seen each other before. Their marriage was part of the Treaty of the Pyrenees, thus…
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Philippe-Jules Mancini, Duc de Nevers
Filippo Giulio Mancini was born on May 26, 1641 in Rome as second son of Girolama Mazzarini, sister of Cardinal de Mazarin, and the Italian aristocrat Lorenzo Mancini. Just like his sisters, he adopted the French version of his name upon being brought to France. Cardinal de Mazarin had not only just great plans for his nieces, but also…
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Olympe Mancini, Comtesse de Soissons
Born on July 11 in 1638, as Olimpia and third child of Lorenzo Mancini and Geronima Mazzarini, sister of Cardinal de Mazarin, Olimpia adopted the French version of her name, Olympe, as she came to France along with her sister Laura Mancini, her brother Paul and cousin Anne Marie Martinozzi. The first set of Marazin relatives in France, which quickly…
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Hortense Mancini, Duchesse Mazarin
Born on June 6 in 1646, Ortensia was the second youngest of the Mancini sisters, who along with their Martinozzi cousins were known as les Mazarinettes. Ortensia was six years old as she arrived in France with her sisters and like them, swiftly adopted the French style of her name, Hortense. She was part of the second group of…
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A day in the life of Louis XIV…
From Levee to Couchee, Louis XIV followed a strict schedule, as did all the members of the Court, all regulated like clockwork, allowing the officers in the service of the King to plan their work as accurately as possible. “With an almanac and a watch, you could be three hundred leagues from here and say what he was doing”. – Saint…
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Château de Saint-Cloud, Une Histoire.
There is a gem, just west of Paris, which once was a place as grand as Versailles, the Domaine National de Saint-Cloud. Close to the banks of the Seine, on an elevation with a magnificent view of Paris, stood a much admired château, surrounded by a large park, fabulous bosquets and fountains. The Russian Tsar Peter I was there in 1717,…
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Dangeau’s Diary, January 1685
1st. — The King gave Monseigneur, le Grand Dauphin, a New Year’s present of four thousand pistoles, besides the fifteen hundred he allows him monthly. He also presented Monsieur with a similar gift. 2d. — The Nuncio came, on the part of the Pope, to solicit a month’s delay for the Genoese. The King replied, that he was resolved to…
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Thoughts on Versailles, the Season One Summary
What a ride that was, hm? Love, sex, murder, torture, blood, plotting, we had it all.
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Thoughts on Versailles, Episode Ten
THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, SO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE YET. IT IS LESS OF A REVIEW AND MORE OF STATEMENT OF WHAT I THINK OF THE EPISODE ALONG WITH SOME HISTORICAL FACTS AND WHATEVER CAUGHT MY ATTENTION AS YOU CAN READ HERE.
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The Grand Lever of the King
If you are Louis XIV, you can’t simply get up in the same way like the peasant down the road or the Vicomte in the chambers above you. Non, your awakening needs to have style and be of grand proportions, just like everything else. It needs to be of a dimension big enough to remind everyone of the fact that…
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Thoughts on Versailles, Episode Nine
THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, SO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE YET. IT IS LESS OF A REVIEW AND MORE OF STATEMENT OF WHAT I THINK OF THE EPISODE ALONG WITH SOME HISTORICAL FACTS AND WHATEVER CAUGHT MY ATTENTION AS YOU CAN READ HERE.
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Thoughts on Versailles, Episode Eight
THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, SO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE YET. IT IS LESS OF A REVIEW AND MORE OF STATEMENT OF WHAT I THINK OF THE EPISODE ALONG WITH SOME HISTORICAL FACTS AND WHATEVER CAUGHT MY ATTENTION AS YOU CAN READ HERE.
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Thoughts on Versailles, Episode Seven
THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, SO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE YET. IT IS LESS OF A REVIEW AND MORE OF STATEMENT OF WHAT I THINK OF THE EPISODE ALONG WITH SOME HISTORICAL FACTS AND WHATEVER CAUGHT MY ATTENTION AS YOU CAN READ HERE.
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Thoughts on Versailles, Episode Six
THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, SO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE YET. IT IS LESS OF A REVIEW AND MORE OF STATEMENT OF WHAT I THINK OF THE EPISODE ALONG WITH SOME HISTORICAL FACTS AND WHATEVER CAUGHT MY ATTENTION AS YOU CAN READ HERE.
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Thoughts on Versailles, Episode Five
THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, SO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE YET. IT IS LESS OF A REVIEW AND MORE OF STATEMENT OF WHAT I THINK OF THE EPISODE ALONG WITH SOME HISTORICAL FACTS AND WHATEVER CAUGHT MY ATTENTION AS YOU CAN READ HERE.
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Thoughts on Versailles, Episode Four
THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, SO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE YET. IT IS LESS OF A REVIEW AND MORE OF STATEMENT OF WHAT I THINK OF THE EPISODE ALONG WITH SOME HISTORICAL FACTS AND WHATEVER CAUGHT MY ATTENTION AS YOU CAN READ HERE.
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Thoughts on Versailles, Episode Three
THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, SO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE YET. IT IS LESS OF A REVIEW AND MORE OF STATEMENT OF WHAT I THINK OF THE EPISODE ALONG WITH SOME HISTORICAL FACTS AND WHATEVER CAUGHT MY ATTENTION AS YOU CAN READ HERE.
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Dangeau’s Diary, December 1684
1st — This evening, Madame de Grignan came to thank his Majesty for the four thousand crowns which he had given Monsieur de Grignan, for the extraordinary expenses he had on the coast, in Provence. The Comtet told us that the Duke of Savoy had ordered the Prince de Carignan to quit his states, and was endeavouring to find means…
