The Sun King
envelope, or enveloppe, for Versailles, Le Vau’s, 15f, 23, 32–41, 63
d’Espinay, Elisabeth de Lorraine Lillebonne, Princesse (1664–1748), 148
Esther (Racine), written for Saint-Cyr school, 110, 111f
etiquette at Versailles, 40, 124, 127f; at Marly, 41; at Portland’s embassy, 124
Eugène Francis of Savoy, called Prince Eugène (1663–1736), son of Olympe Mancini, comtesse de Soissons, 57, 129, 145, 151, 152; Louis XIV refuses to take him into the army, 61, 84, 85; defeated at Denain (1712), 165
Fagon, Guy Crescent (1638–1718), Louis XIV’s principal doctor, 77, 89, 100f, 102f, 147, 162; named Premier Médecin du Roi, 103; and William III, 103; appearance, 103; at Monsieur’s deathbed, 141, 143; on Père Le Tellier, 153; death of Louis XIV and, 166, 167
Farnese, Palazzo, Rome, 22, 130
fauteuils (for the Académie Française), 20
Félix, Charles François Tassy, called, court surgeon, 102, 103, 104
Fénelon, François de Salignac de La Mothe- (1651–1715), Archbishop of Cambrai from 1695, 94, 96, 106, 112, 150, 152; appointed tutor to the Dauphin’s sons, 115; and Mme de La Maisonfort, 117; appointment to Cambrai, 119; supports Mme Guyon, 118–20; end of life at court, 120, 149
Feydeau, Georges (1862–1921), 147
Filastre, Mme, witch, 52, 60; accuses Mme de Montespan of buying love filtres, 59
Flamarens, Marquis de, 34
Flanders, conquered by Louis XIV, 15, 141, 152
Foix, Duchesse de, 130
Fonpertuis, friend of Chartres, 98
Fontainebleau (District of Paris), Château of, 9, 12, 32f, 38, 47, 77, 78f, 104, 106, 161, 164; Charles II of Spain’s will reaches, 137
Fontanges, Marie-Adélaide de Scorailles de Roussilhe, Duchesse de (1661–81), a mistress of the King: Louis XIV sleeps with her, 51–2; and Mme Voisin, 60, 61; loses the King’s favour, 62, 75; death, 62, 139; and Mme de Maintenon, 81
Fontevrault, Mme de (d. 1704), Abbess of the convent of Fontevrault (sister of Mme de Montespan), 26, 30f, 150
Foscarini, Venetian ambassador, 139
Fouquet, Nicolas, Marquis de Belle-Isle, Comte de Melun et de Vaux (1615–80), 10f, 22, 23, 29
Franche-Comté, 17
Francine (originally Francini), family of fountain builders, 25
François I (1494–1547), King of France from 1515, 39
François de Sale (1567–1622), Saint, canonized 1665, 40
Françoise-Marie de Bourbon (Mlle de Blois), see d’Orléans, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, Duchesse
Franks, 18
French Revolution (1789), 25, 41, 65, 68
Fronde (1648–53) and Frondeurs, 11f, 37, 87, 98
Furnes (Belgium), 155
Gabriel, Jacques-Ange (1709–82), architect, 68
Galet, Monsieur, drug trafficker, 45, 52, 60, 61
galleys and galley slaves, 75f
gambling at Versailles, 40, 45f, 145; games played, 40
Gauls, 18, 20
George I (1660–1727), King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1714, 34
George of Denmark, Prince (1653–1708), Consort of Queen Anne, 143
George Dandin (Molière), first production, 15
Germany, 71, 98, 145
Ghent (Belgium): siege by Louis XIV (1678), 50; Vendôme retires to, 152
Gibraltar awarded to England (1713), 165
Gide, André Paul Guillaume (1869–1951), quoted, 32
Giorgione, Giorgio (1477–1510), 39
Gisors, Louis Marie Fouquet, Comte de (1732–58), 10
Giustiniani, Venetian ambassador, 40
Glaces, Galerie des, Versailles, 22, 32, 41, 63, 73, 86
Gobelin, Abbé, confessor of Mme de Maintenon, 46, 79
Gobelin factory, 22
Godet des Marais, Paul (1647–1709), Bishop of Chartres, from 1690, 115–19 passim, 120, 146
‘God Save the King’, 108f
gondolas at Versailles, 40, 49
Gramont, Elizabeth Hamilton, Comtesse de (1641–1708), 56
Gramont, Marie-Christine de Noailles, Comtesse de Guiche, Duchesse de (1672–1748), 161
Gramont, Philibert, Comte et Maréchal de (1621–1707), 44
Grand Alliance (1701), 144; terms offered to Louis XIV in 1709, 155–6
Grand Appartement, Versailles, 39f, 45; new King of Spain sleeps in (1700), 138
Grand Dauphin, see Louis (1661–1711)
Grande Mademoiselle, see Montpensier, Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, Duchesse de
grass snake (Colbert’s emblem), 18
Greenwich Hospital: the Duchesse de La Force leaves her fortune to, 97
Grignan, Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné, Comtesse de (1646–1705), 45f
Guercino (squint eye) (Giovanni Francesco Barbiere, 1591–1666, nicknamed II), 39
Guibourg, unfrocked priest involved in poisons scandal, 60
Guiche, Comtesse de, see Gramont, Marie-Christine de Noailles, Duchesse de
Guyon du Chesnoy, Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de La Motte, Mme (1648–1717), 117–20 passim
The Hague, 16
Les Halles, Paris, 146
d’Harcourt, Henri I, Marquis de Beuvron, Duc et Maréchal (1654–1718), 131, 137
Harlay de Champvallon, François de (1625–95), Archbishop of Paris from 1671: celebrates the marriage of Louis XIV and Mme de Maintenon, 78
Hastings, Lord, 124
Hébert, Curé of Versailles, 112
Heinsius, Antonius (1641–1720), Pensionary of Holland, 128
Henri III (1551–89), King of France from 1574, 33
Henri IV (1553–1610), King of France from 1589, 14, 25, 71, 80, 84, 95, 127, 150
Henrietta of England, see d’Orléans, Henrietta, Duchesse
Henry VIII (1491–1547), King of England from 1509, 92, 143
l’Herminot, Monsieur, embroiderer, 65
Hocca (a kind of roulette), 40
Holland, 16f, 98, 123, 127; richest country in Europe, 19f; visit of William III and Tallart to, 130; and the War of the Spanish Succession, 145
‘holy flock’ (or holy set), 118, 120
hounds at Versailles, 64, 126
d’Hozier, Pierre (1592–1660), the King’s genealogist, 21, 107
Hungary, 85
hunting, 64, 67f, 71, 104, 124, 126, 149, 150, 152, 166, 167
Ile-de-France, 65; all wolves killed, 71
illness and death at Versailles, 100
Les Indes, 122
India, 20
infant mortality, 101–2
Innocent XI, Benedetto Odescalchi (1611–89), Pope from 1676, 23, 78, 85, 96, 107
Innocent XII, Antonio Pignatelli (1615–1700), Pope from 1691, 116, 120, 137, 144
Instructions pour les Jardins Fruitiers et Potagers (Jean de La Quintinie), 24
Ireland, 20, 143
Iron Mask, the Man in the, 37, 169
‘Italian vice’, see sodomy and sodomites
Italy, 19, 23, 122, 164; French retreat from, in the War of the Spanish Succession, 145
Jacques, Frère, see Baulot, Jacques
James II (1633–1701), King of England, Scotland and Ireland (1685–88), 20, 76, 112, 115, 123, 125, 126, 129, 136; Louis XIV’s treatment of, 123, 143–4; death, 143
James Francis Edward Stuart (1688–1766), the Old Pretender, 145, 150; Louis XIV acknowledges him as King, 143–4; Louis XIV ‘no longer to harbour him’, 165
Jansenists and Jansenism, 98, 110, 120, 142, 164
Jansenius, Cornelius (1585–1638), Bishop of Ypres, 98
Jersey, Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of (1656–1711), 87
Jersey, Barbara Chiffinch, Countess of, 87, 97
Jesuits, 76, 95, 112, 120, 153; Duchesse de Bourgogne’s dislike of, 161
Joseph I (1678–1711), Holy Roman Emperor from 1705: dies of smallpox, 164
Knox, Ronald Arbuthnot Hilary (1888–1957), 118
La Bruyère, Jean de (1624–1709), 92, 141
La Chaise, François d’Aix de 1624–1709)
, Louis XIV’s confessor from 1674, 76, 78, 92, 95, 98, 104; and the Saint-Cyr school, 107, 112; dies from cold, 153
Lafayette, Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, Comtesse de (1634–92), 29, 112
La Force, Henri Jacques Nompar, Duc de Caumont et de (d. 1699), 97
La Force, Louis Joseph Nompar de Caumont, Duc de (1768–1838), 97
La Force, Suzanne de Beringhen, Duchesse de (d. 1731), 97
La Maisonfort, Elise de, 116f; and Mme Guyon, 117–20 passim; astounds Bossuet, 119; sent away from Saint-Cyr, 120
Lambert Hôtel, Paris, 22
Langlée, member of the court circle, 45
Languedoc, Duc de Maine made governor of, 89
La Quintinie, Jean de (1626–88), 24
La Reynie, Nicolas Bagriel de (1625–1709), Chief of Paris Police, 54, 75; forbids Hocca, 40; and poisons scandal, 54 et seqq.
La Rochefoucauld, François, Duc de (1613–80), quoted, 122
La Roche-sur-Yon, Prince de, see Conti, Prince François Louis de
Lassay, Marquis de, and Mme la Duchesse, 159
Lastic, Mlle de: name used at school by the Duchesse de Bourgogne, 135
La Trappe Monastery (Orne), 133; see also Trappists
Launay, Nicolas de (1647–1737), jeweller, 131, 154
Lauzun, Antoine Nompar de Caumont, Marquis de Puyguilhem, Count, afterwards Duc de (1632–1723), 167; pretends to be Montespan’s lover, 28; smuggles her child out of Saint-Germain, 29, 93; in prison, 37; and Louis XIV, 38; in old age, 101
La Vallière, Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, Duchesse de (1644–1710), 36, 37, 51, 141; Louis XIV falls in love with, 9, 33; recognized as titular mistress, 14f, 26; the King’s interest wanes, 27, 28; goes to Chaillot, 28, 30; leaves court and becomes a Carmelite nun, 39, 86, 93, 94
La Vrillière, Françoise de Mailly, Marquise de, 147, 148, 149
Le Brun, Charles (1619–90), artist, 11, 18, 22f, 26, 39
Leféron, Mme, and poisons scandal, 56f
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646–1716), 16, 111
L’Enclos, Ninon (Anne) de (1616–1705), 81, 126–7
Le Nôtre, André (1613–1700), gardener, 11; lays out Versailles town, 16, 18; his relations, 23; Louis XIV’s liking for, 23f; at Clagny, 30, 47, 101
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), 39
Leopold I (1640–1705), Archduke of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor, 1658, 85, 122; claims whole Spanish inheritance, 136–7
Lesage and poisons scandal, 59
Le Tellier, Michel (1603–85), father of Louvois, 22
Le Tellier, Père Michel (1643–1719), a Jesuit, Louis XIV’s confessor, 153, 168, 179
lettres de cachet: in poisons scandal, 60, 107; against Mme de Brinon, 111
Le Vau, Louis (1612–70), architect, 11, 15, 18, 22f, 63f
Liard family, mole-catchers, 25
Lille (Nord): besieged, 1667, 27, 66; lost by Bourgogne (1708), 152, 155, 160
Liselotte, see d’Orléans, Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchesse
Lister, Martin (c. 1638–1712), zoologist, 102
London, 124; Duchesse de La Force escapes to, 97; Tallart sent to, 129–30
Loo, Treaty of (First Partition Treaty: 1698), 131, 136
Lorges, Guy de Durfort, Comte, later Duc de Quintin et de (1630–1702), Maréchal de, 102
L’Orme, Monsieur de (1584–1678), doctor, 102
Lorraine, Philippe de
Lorraine-Armagnac, called the Chevalier de (1643–1702), favourite of Monsieur, 34, 90, 126, 130
Louis XIII (1601–43), King of France from 1610: 9f, 14, 68, 70, 102
Louis XIV (1638–1715), King of France from 1643: frontispiece portrait by Rigaud; falls in love with Versailles and with Louise de La Vallière, 9; visits Fouquet, 10; marries, 10; love of the country and sport, 12; appearance, 13; Aragon ancestors, 13, 14; conquest of Flanders, 15; three principal love affairs, 15; attacks Holland, 16f; secures Franche-Comté, 17; Mazarin’s bequest, 18; and Colbert 18 et seqq.; liking for Le Nôtre, 23; and La Quintinie, 24; succumbs to Mme de Montespan, 27; confers benefits on Montespan’s family, 30; prolonged visits to Versailles begin, 32; attitude to his Queen, 33; love for Monsieur, 33; harshness, 37–9, 160–1; upset by Duc du Maine’s cowardice, 38; his pictures, 39; games at Court, 40; builds Marly, 40–1; Mme Scarron’s interest in his soul, 42, 45; his passing fancies, 47f; revived interest in Montespan, 48; besieges Ghent, 50; declares Versailles the seat of government, 53, 63; and the poisons scandal, 53–62; his day at Versailles, 67–8; at birth of Duc de Bourgogne, 73; his religion, 75–8; and the Queen’s death, 77; second marriage, 78; his name for Mme de Maintenon, 82; and the young men who went to fight the Turks, 85; exiles the Bouillons, 85f; and François-Louis, Prince de Conti, 85; revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 85, 95–8; on Catholic missions, 96; dislike of Jansenists, 98; and the doctors, 102–3; his health, 103–5; and school of Saint-Cyr, 104–14; opinion of Mme Guyon, 120f; and the Spanish succession, 122 et seqq, 128–9; receives Portland, 125, 128, 131; treatment of James II, 125, 143; sends Tallart to London, 129–30; and the Duchesse of Bourgogne, 133–5, 147–8; on the death of Louvois, 136; receives the will of Charles II of Spain, 137–8; introduces Anjou as King of Spain, 138; quarrel with Monsieur and remorse at his death, 140–2; death of Racine, 142; and of Bontemps, 142–3; acknowledges James Francis Edward as king, 143–4; and the War of the Spanish Succession, 145 et seqq; hears of Montespan’s death, 150; Vendôme as favourite of, 151; new confessor, 153; and death of Conti, 153–4; rejects peace terms offered in 1709, 155–6; and Grand Dauphin’s death, 157–9; grief at death of Duchesse de Bourgogne, 161–2; disbelieves in alleged poisoning of Bourgogne family, 162; forces Paris Parlement to declare his bastards eligible to reign, 163; and Unigenitus Papal Bull, 163–4; Treaties of Utrecht signed, 165; left with one legitimate descendant, 166; his death, 166–9
Louis XIV (Voltaire), 96
Louis XV (1710–74), King of France from 1715: 10, 22, 25, 42, 67, 68f, 130, 154, 163, 167; catches measles and is saved by Mme de Ventadour, 162; delicacy of, 162, 166; Louis XIV’s dying injunction to, 168–9
Louis XVI (1754–93), King of France (1774–92), 32, 36, 69, 169
Louis (1661–1711), the Grand Dauphin, 27, 41, 132, 254; and his sons, 78, 83; Bossuet his tutor, Montausier his governor, 42; his hounds, 64, 71; his collections and way of life, 67, 70–2, 86; marriage to Victoire of Bavaria, 72, 83; to Mlle de Choin, 87; sees ghost of Henrietta of Orléans, 92; cuts off his hair, 104; attends performances of Esther at Saint-Cyr, 112; and Spanish succession, 122, 131, 137, 138; hunts with Portland, 126; and the Duchesse de Bourgogne, 134, 135; speaks in favour of Anjou’s claim to Spanish throne, 137, 138; catches smallpox and dies, 157–9
Louisa Maria Theresa, Princess (d. 1712), daughter of James II and Mary of Modena, 143
Louise-Françoise de Bourbon (Mlle de Nantes), see Bourbon,
Louise-Françoise, Duchesse de
Louis-Philippe (1773–1850), King of the French (1830–48), 68f
Louvois, François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de (1641–91), 21f, 38, 92, 104, 145; and the poisons scandal, 55, 59; excesses against the Protestants, 22, 96; death, 136; Mme de, 50
Louvre, 9, 11ff, 23; pictures in the, 39, 80
Louvre, Cour du, Versailles, see Marbre, Cour de
Low Countries, 57, 129
Löwenstein, Sophia Maria of Bavaria, Gräfin von, see, Dangeau, Marquise de
Lude, Marguerite-Louise de Béthune-Sully, Duchesse du (1643–1726), lady in waiting to the Duchesse de Bourgogne, 135, 138, 247
Ludres, Mme Marie Isabelle de (called La Belle du Ludre) (1638–1726), 48f
Lully, Jean-Baptiste (1632–87), 40, 109
Luxembourg, François de Montmorency-Bouteville, Duc et Maréchal de (1625–95), 58f, 86, 87
Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Lord (1800–59), quoted, 17, 130
Madame, see Henrietta of England; Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate
Madame la Duchesse, see Bourbon, Lou
ise-Françoise, Duchesse de
Madrid, 112, 131, 137, 145
Maine (Anne-) Louise-Bénédicte de Bourbon-Condé, Duchesse de (1676–1753) (Mlle de Charolais): marriage, 89, 133
Maine, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, Duc du (1670–1736), eldest son of Louis XIV and Mme de Montespan, 91, 127, 132, 150, 153, 164, 167; birth, 29; given a title, 30; his cowardice, 38, 89f; the King’s favourite child, 42, 78, 85, 87, 89f; ill-health, 44, 48; cleverness, 46; childhood essays, 49–50, 90; his hounds, 64; governor of Languedoc, 89; marriage, 89, 132–3; Saint-Simon on, 98; at the King’s death-bed, 169
Maintenon (Eure-et-Loir), 44, 47
Maintenon, François d’Aubigné, Madame Scarron, Marquise de (1635–1719): at the Divertissement du Roi, 15; Louis XIV’s early dislike of, 15, 29; given charge of Montespan’s children, 29f, 37, 90; quoted, 43, 75; ‘The Governess’, 43–52; created Marquise de Maintenon, 44; and Mme de Montespan, 47–51, 62, 132; King falls in love with, 51; at Versailles, 67f, 82; appointed lady to the Dauphine, 72; flat at Versailles, 75, 77; marriage to the King, 78f; early life, 79–81; character, 81–2; dislike of the Dauphine, 83; attitude to the young people, 85, 90f; new rules at Versailles, 92; and Fénelon, 94f, 96; and Protestants, 96f; hated by Saint-Simon, 98; and the doctors, 101; in old age, 101; and the school at Saint-Cyr, 106–9 passim; Fénelon on her character, 115; letter to Elise de La Maisonfort, 116f; and Mme Guyon, 117f; offends the King, 120; and Mary of Modena, 125; Portland’s Embassy and, 129; and the Duchesse de Bourgogne, 133–5, 136; on the generals, 136; and on the females of the day, 140; Monsieur’s death and, 141; behaviour to Madame, 142; Racine and, 142; and King James’s death, 144; complains to her confessor of ‘these painful occasions’, 145–6; reproves the Duchesse de Bourgogne, 148; weeps at Montespan’s death, 150; tries to reduce expenditure at Versailles, 155; and Mlle de Choin, 158; death of the Dauphin, 159; on the new Dauphine, 160; and death of Dauphine, 161–2; persuades the King to declare his bastards eligible to reign, 163; behaviour in the King’s last days, 166, 167, 168, 169
Malplaquet, Battle of (1709), 155, 164
Mancini, Marie, Princess of Colonna (1640–1715), 10
Mansart, Jules Hardouin (1646–1708), architect, 23; designs Clagny, 30; builds Marly, 40; takes over construction of Versailles, 63, 155; designs Saint-Cyr, 107