Video: Louis the Beloved, or How the irrepressible debauchery of the king of France derailed an entire country
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Everyone knows the phrase of Louis XIV "The State is me!" The 72-year reign of the "Sun King" was the heyday of absolute monarchy in France. But, as you know, the peak is always followed by an inevitable downhill movement. It was this fate that befell the next king, Louis XV. Since childhood, he was surrounded by excessive care, which then resulted in the shifting of his duties onto others, unbridled debauchery and critical devastation of the treasury.
The successor to the Sun King was his grandson. At the end of the reign of Louis XIV, his successors began to die one after another. In 1711, his only son died, and a year later the family of the future Louis XV died of measles. The 2-year-old baby was brought out by his teacher, the Duchess de Vantatour. She forbade the court doctors to approach the boy and bleed him.
Louis XV came to the throne at the age of 5. His uncle Philippe of Orleans became regent. While the regent was weaving court intrigues, the little king was surrounded by excessive tutelage. Everyone was afraid for the life of the monarch, since he did not yet have direct heirs. In the event of the death of the little king, the Bourbon dynasty ended, and the institution of monarchy in France would be shaken.
It is for this reason that the king was married when he was barely 15 years old. His wife was 22-year-old Maria Leshchinskaya, daughter of the retired king of Poland Stanislav. She gave birth to 10 children to Louis XV, of whom 7 survived to adulthood.
When the king was 16 years old, he announced that he would rule on his own without a regent. But in fact, the young monarch liked balls and feasts more than the conduct of state affairs. In fact, Cardinal Fleury, the spiritual mentor and educator of Louis XV, took over the government of the country.
The king loved to buy paintings and fine pieces of furniture. He favored artists, musicians, encouraged the development of science. But the greatest passion of the monarch was women. Louis XV changed favorites like gloves. In 1745, banker Joseph Paris, wishing to get closer to the king, introduced him to the 23-year-old beauty Jeanne-Antoinette d'Etiol. As it turned out, this relationship dragged on for many years.
Six months later, the monarch granted his favorite the title of Marquise de Pompadour, and a year later he presented her with a 6 hectare plot of Versailles Park.
The Marquise de Pompadour was close to the king not only in bed, but also became his friend and de facto adviser in state affairs. It was at her request that ministers were appointed and overthrown.
The reluctance of the king to deal with the affairs of the country, the influence of the favorite on domestic and foreign policy had a detrimental effect on the French economy. If in the first years of the reign of Louis XV, things went on a knurled one, then everything began to deteriorate rapidly. In 1756, the king dragged the country into the Seven Years War, not without the influence of the Marquise de Pompadour. Participation in a military conflict not only did not ruin France, but also deprived her of several colonies.
Well, the monarch himself was not worried about it. He preferred to move further and further from public affairs and spend time with his favorites in the "Deer Park" - a mansion built in the vicinity of Versailles.
Oddly enough, but the construction of the house belonged to the Marquis de Pompadour. The woman understood that her beauty was fading, but the love of the king remained the same. Therefore, she decided to select mistresses for the monarch herself. The older the king got, the more young the girls were. 15-17 year old beauties appeased the insatiable king.
In honor of them, he arranged balls, gave expensive gifts, lands, castles. All this had an extremely detrimental effect on the treasury. When the Marquis de Pompadour died at the age of 42, the king completely ceased to be interested in the affairs of the country.
In 1771, Louis XV wished to raise taxes once again so that there was something to pay for entertainment. However, the parliament opposed this idea. Then, by order of the monarch, the soldiers dispersed the parliament by force. This provoked discontent not only among the aristocrats, but also among the common people. To the comments of the courtiers about the unstable situation in the country and the empty treasury, Louis answered: In 1774, the king's next mistress infected him with smallpox, which made the monarch suddenly die.
Louis XV was lucky not to see the "flood". The reign of the successor to the monarch Louis XVI ended ingloriously on the guillotine.
The most widely used guillotine was in France during the French Revolution. But after all this weapon was created with the best intentions.
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