30th King of France
Louis XIII the Just (fr. Louis XIII le Juste; September 27, 1601, Fontainebleau - May 14, 1643, Saint-Germain-en-Laye) - King of France from May 14, 1610. From the Bourbon dynasty.

Reign of Marie de Medici
He ascended the throne at the age of 8 after the assassination of his father, Henry IV. During Louis' infancy, his mother Marie de' Medici, as regent, retreated from the policy of Henry IV, entering into an alliance with Spain and betrothing the king to Infanta Anna of Austria, daughter of Philip III. This aroused the fears of the Huguenots. Many nobles left the court and began to prepare for war, but the court on May 5, 1614 made peace with them at Sainte-Menehould. The marriage with Anna took place only in 1619, but Louis's relationship with his wife did not work out and he preferred to spend time in the company of his minions Luyne and Saint-Mar, in whom rumors saw the king's lovers. Only at the end of the 1630s did relations between Louis and Anna improve, and in 1638 and 1640 their two sons were born, the future Louis XIV and Philip I of Orleans.

Richelieu's reign
A new era began, after Louis' long hesitation, only in 1624, when Cardinal Richelieu became minister and soon took control of affairs and unlimited power over the king into his own hands. The Huguenots were pacified and lost La Rochelle. In Italy, the French House of Nevers was granted the succession to the throne in Mantua, after the War of the Mantua Succession (1628-1631). Later, France was very successful against Austria and Spain.

Internal opposition was becoming increasingly irrelevant. Louis destroyed the plans directed against Richelieu by the princes (including his brother, Gaston of Orleans), nobles and the queen mother, and constantly supported his minister, who acted for the benefit of the king and France. Thus, he gave complete freedom to Richelieu against his brother, Duke Gaston of Orleans, during the conspiracy of 1631 and the rebellion of 1632. In practice, this support of Richelieu limited the personal participation of the king in the affairs of government.

After the death of Richelieu (1642), his place was taken by his student, Cardinal Mazarin. However, the king outlived his minister by only a year. Louis died a few days before the victory at Rocroix.

In 1829, in Paris, on the Place des Vosges, a monument (equestrian statue) was erected to Louis XIII. It was erected on the site of a monument erected by Richelieu in 1639, but destroyed in 1792 during the revolution.

Louis XIII - artist
Louis was a passionate lover of music. He played the harpsichord, masterfully owned a hunting horn, sang the first bass part in the ensemble, performing polyphonic courtly songs (airs de cour) and psalms.

He began to learn dancing from childhood and in 1610 made his official debut in the Dauphine Court Ballet. Louis performed noble and grotesque roles in court ballets, and in 1615 in the Ballet Madame he performed the role of the Sun.

Louis XIII - the author of courtly songs and polyphonic psalms; his music also sounded in the famous Merleson ballet (1635), for which he composed dances (Simphonies), invented costumes, and in which he himself performed several roles.

31st King of France
Louis XIV de Bourbon, who at birth received the name Louis-Dieudonné ("given by God", French Louis-Dieudonné), also known as the "Sun King" (Fr. Louis XIV Le Roi Soleil), also Louis XIV the Great, (5 September 1638), Saint-Germain-en-Laye - September 1, 1715, Versailles) - King of France and Navarre from May 14, 1643. He reigned for 72 years - longer than any other European monarch in history. Louis, who survived the wars of the Fronde in his youth, became a staunch supporter of the principle of absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings (he is often credited with the expression “The State is me”), he combined the strengthening of his power with the successful selection of statesmen for key political posts.

Marriage of Louis XIV, Duke of Burgundy

Portrait of Louis XIV with his family

Louis XIV and Maria Teresa in Arras 1667 during the War of Devolution
Louis XIV and Maria Theresa at Arras 1667 during the war

32nd King of France
Louis XV fr. Louis XV, official nickname Beloved (fr. Le Bien Aimé) (February 15, 1710, Versailles - May 10, 1774, Versailles) - King of France from September 1, 1715 from the Bourbon dynasty.
Miraculously surviving heir.
The great-grandson of Louis XIV, the future king (who bore the title of Duke of Anjou from birth) was at first only fourth in line to the throne. However, in 1711, the boy's grandfather, the only legitimate son of Louis XIV the Grand Dauphin, died; at the beginning of 1712, Louis's parents, the Duchess (February 12) and the Duke (February 18) of Burgundy, and then (March 8) and his older 4-year-old brother, the Duke of Brittany, died one after another from chickenpox. The two-year-old Louis himself survived only thanks to the perseverance of his tutor, the Duchess de Vantadour, who did not allow the doctors to apply strong bloodletting to him, which killed his older brother. The death of his father and brother made the two-year-old Duke of Anjou the direct heir of his great-grandfather, he received the title of Dauphin of Vienne.

Louis XV during classes in the presence of Cardinal Fleury (c) Anonyme

On September 4, 1725, 15-year-old Louis married 22-year-old Maria Leszczynska (1703-1768), daughter of Stanisław, the former King of Poland. They had 10 children (plus one stillborn), of whom 1 son and 6 daughters survived to adulthood. Only one, the eldest, of the daughters married. The younger unmarried daughters of the king took care of their orphaned nephews, the children of the dauphin, and after the accession of the eldest of them, Louis XVI, to the throne, they were known as "Lady Aunts" (fr. Mesdames les Tantes).

Marie-Louise O "Murphy (1737-1818), mistress of Louis XV

Cardinal Fleury died at the beginning of the war, and the king, reiterating his intention to govern the state himself, appointed no one as first minister. In view of the inability of Louis to deal with affairs, this led to complete anarchy: each of the ministers managed his ministry independently of his comrades and inspired the sovereign with the most contradictory decisions. The king himself led the life of an Asian despot, at first obeying either one or the other of his mistresses, and from 1745 falling completely under the influence of the Marquise de Pompadour, who skillfully pandered to the base instincts of the king and ruined the country with her extravagance.

Mignonne et Sylvie, chiens de Louis XV (c) Oudry Jean Baptiste (1686-1755)

33rd King of France
Louis XVI (August 23, 1754 - January 21, 1793) - King of France from the Bourbon dynasty, son of Dauphin Louis Ferdinand, succeeded his grandfather Louis XV in 1774. Under him, after the convocation of the States General in 1789, the Great French Revolution began. Louis first accepted the constitution of 1791, renounced absolutism and became a constitutional monarch, but soon he began to hesitantly oppose the radical measures of the revolutionaries and even tried to flee the country. On September 21, 1792, he was deposed, tried by the Convention, and executed on the guillotine.

He was a man of good heart, but of an insignificant mind and indecisive character. Louis XV did not like him for his negative attitude towards the court lifestyle and contempt for Dubarry and kept him away from public affairs. The upbringing given to Louis by the Duke of Voguyon gave him little practical and theoretical knowledge. He showed the greatest inclination towards physical pursuits, especially locksmithing and hunting. Despite the debauchery of the court around him, he retained the purity of morals, was distinguished by great honesty, ease of handling and hatred of luxury. With the kindest feelings, he ascended the throne with a desire to work for the benefit of the people and to destroy the existing abuses, but he did not know how to boldly move forward towards a consciously intended goal. He obeyed the influence of those around him, either aunts, or brothers, or ministers, or the queen (Marie Antoinette), canceled decisions made, and did not complete the reforms that had begun.

Escape attempt. constitutional monarch
On the night of June 21, 1791, Louis and his entire family secretly left in a carriage towards the eastern border. It is worth noting that the escape was prepared and carried out by the Swedish nobleman Hans Axel von Fersen, who was madly in love with the king's wife Marie Antoinette. In Varennes, Drouet, the son of the caretaker of one of the postal stations, saw in the carriage window the profile of the king, whose image was minted on coins and was well known to everyone, and raised the alarm. The king and queen were arrested and returned to Paris under escort. They were greeted with the deathly silence of the people crowding in the streets. On September 14, 1791, Louis took the oath of a new constitution, but continued to negotiate with the emigrants and foreign powers, even when he officially threatened them through his Girondin ministry, and on April 22, 1792, with tears in his eyes, declared war on Austria. Louis's refusal to sanction the decree of the assembly against the emigrants and rebellious priests and the removal of the patriotic ministry imposed on him caused a movement on June 20, 1792, and his proven relations with foreign states and emigrants led to an uprising on August 10 and the overthrow of the monarchy (September 21).

Louis was imprisoned with his family in the Temple and accused of plotting against the freedom of the nation and of a number of attempts against the security of the state. On January 11, 1793, the trial of the king in the Convention began. Louis behaved with great dignity and, not content with the speeches of his chosen defenders, defended himself against the accusations brought against him, referring to the rights given to him by the constitution. On January 20, he was sentenced to death by a majority of 383 votes to 310. Louis listened to the sentence with great calmness and on January 21 ascended the scaffold. His last words on the scaffold were: “I die innocent, I am innocent of the crimes of which I am accused. I tell you this from the scaffold, preparing to stand before God. And I forgive everyone who is responsible for my death."

Interesting Facts
When the future King of France, Louis XVI, was still a child, his personal astrologer warned him that the 21st of every month was his unlucky day. The king was so shocked by this prediction that he never planned anything important for the 21st. However, not everything depended on the king. On June 21, 1791, the king and queen were arrested while trying to leave revolutionary France. That same year, on September 21, France declared itself a republic. And in 1793, on January 21, King Louis XVI was beheaded.

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's tomb in Saint Denis Basilica, Paris

Napoleon I
Napoleon I Bonaparte (Italian Napoleone Buonaparte, French Napoléon Bonaparte, August 15, 1769, Ajaccio, Corsica - May 5, 1821, Longwood, Saint Helena) - Emperor of France in 1804-1815, French commander and statesman who laid foundations of the modern French state.

Napoleone Buonaparte (as his name was pronounced until about 1800) began his professional military service in 1785 with the rank of second lieutenant of artillery; advanced during the French Revolution, reaching the rank of brigade under the Directory (after the capture of Toulon on December 17, 1793, the appointment took place on January 14, 1794), and then the divisional general and the post of commander of the rear military forces (after the defeat of the rebellion of 13 Vendemière 1795 ), and then the commander of the army.

In November 1799, he carried out a coup d'état (18 Brumaire), as a result of which he became the first consul, thereby effectively concentrating all power in his hands. May 18, 1804 proclaimed himself emperor. Established a dictatorial regime. He carried out a number of reforms (the adoption of a civil code (1804), the foundation of the French Bank (1800), etc.).

The victorious Napoleonic wars, especially the 2nd Austrian campaign of 1805, the Prussian campaign of 1806, and the Polish campaign of 1807 contributed to the transformation of France into the main power on the continent. However, Napoleon's unsuccessful rivalry with the "mistress of the seas" Great Britain did not allow this status to be fully consolidated. The defeat of the Grand Army in the war of 1812 against Russia and in the "battle of the nations" near Leipzig marked the beginning of the collapse of the empire of Napoleon I. The entry of troops of the anti-French coalition into Paris in 1814 forced Napoleon I to abdicate. He was exiled to Fr. Elbe. Re-occupied the French throne in March 1815 (One Hundred Days). After the defeat at Waterloo, he abdicated a second time (June 22, 1815). He spent the last years of his life on about. St. Helena a prisoner of the British. His body has been in the Les Invalides in Paris since 1840.

dream vision

dream vision

Surrealism

Coronation of Napoleon, 1805-1808 (c) Jacques Louis David

Josephine kneeling before Napoleon during her coronation at Notre Dame (c) Jacques-Louis David

Premiere distribution des décorations de la Légion d "honneur dans l" église des Invalides, le 14 juillet 1804.
Tableau de Jean-Baptiste Debret, 1812. Musée national du château de Versailles.

Battle of Austerlitz, 1810 (c) François Pascal Simon Gérard (1770–1837)

Napoleon's tomb in Les Invalides. The material for the manufacture of the monument erected here, carved from a rare Ural stone, was kindly donated to the French government by Emperor Alexander III.

34th King of France (not crowned)
Louis XVIII, fr. Louis XVIII (Louis-Stanislas-Xavier, fr. Louis Stanislas Xavier) (November 17, 1755, Versailles - September 16, 1824, Paris) - King of France (1814-1824, with a break in 1815), brother of Louis XVI, who wore during his reign, the title of Count of Provence (fr. comte de Provence) and the honorary title of Monsieur (fr. Monsieur), and then, during emigration, he took the title of comte de Lille. He took the throne as a result of the Bourbon Restoration, which followed the overthrow of Napoleon I.

35th King of France
Charles X (fr. Charles X; October 9, 1757, Versailles - November 6, 1836, Görtz, Austria, now Gorizia in Italy), King of France from 1824 to 1830, the last representative of the senior Bourbon line on the French throne.

Louis Philippe I - 36th King of France
Louis-Philippe I (fr. Louis-Philippe Ier, October 6, 1773, Paris - August 26, 1850, Clermont, Surrey, near Windsor). Lieutenant General of the Kingdom from July 31 to August 9, 1830, King of France from August 9, 1830 to February 24, 1848 (according to the constitution he was titled "King of the French", roi des Français), received the nickname "King Citizen" ("le Roi-Citoyen") , a representative of the Orleans branch of the Bourbon dynasty. The last French monarch to hold the title of king.

Louis-Philippe d'Orleans, leaving the Palais-Royal, goes to the city hall, July 31, 1830,
two days after the July Revolution. 1832

Louis Philippe d'Orléans, appointed lieutenant general, arrives at the Hôtel de Ville

Napoleon III Bonaparte
Napoleon III Bonaparte (fr. Napoléon III Bonaparte, full name Charles Louis Napoleon (fr. Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte); April 20, 1808 - January 9, 1873) - President of the French Republic from December 20, 1848 to December 1, 1852, Emperor of the French from 1 December 1852 to September 4, 1870 (from September 2, 1870 was in captivity). The nephew of Napoleon I, after a series of conspiracies to seize power, came to her peacefully as President of the Republic (1848). Having made the coup of 1851 and eliminated the legislature, he established an authoritarian police regime by means of "direct democracy" (plebiscite), and a year later proclaimed himself emperor of the Second Empire.

After ten years of rather tight control, the Second Empire, which became the embodiment of the ideology of Bonapartism, moved to some democratization (1860s), which was accompanied by the development of the French economy and industry. A few months after the adoption of the liberal constitution of 1870, which returned the rights to parliament, the Franco-Prussian war put an end to Napoleon's rule, during which the emperor was captured by the Germans and never returned to France. Napoleon III was the last monarch of France.

Napoleon Eugene
Napoleon Eugene (Napoleon Eugene Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, fr. Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph, Prince Impérial; March 16, 1856 - June 1, 1879) - Prince of the Empire and the son of France, was the only child of Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie Montijo. The last heir to the French throne, who never became emperor.

Heir
Before his birth, the heir to the Second Empire was the uncle of Napoleon III, the younger brother of Napoleon I, Jerome Bonaparte, whose relationship with the children of the emperor was strained. Starting a family was a political task for Napoleon III from the moment the empire was proclaimed on December 2, 1852; being single at the time of the seizure of power, the newly-made emperor was looking for a bride from the reigning house, but was forced to be content already in 1853 with marriage to the Spanish noblewoman Eugenia Montijo. The birth of a son to the Bonaparte couple, after three years of marriage, was widely celebrated in the state; 101 shots were fired from the cannons in Les Invalides. Pope Pius IX became the prince's godfather in absentia. From the moment of birth (childbirth, according to the French royal tradition, took place in the presence of the highest dignitaries of the state, including the children of Jerome Bonaparte), the prince of the empire was considered the successor of his father; he was the last French heir to the throne and the last bearer of the title "son of France". He was known as Louis or, diminutively, Prince Lulu.

The heir was brought up in the Tuileries Palace along with his maternal cousins, the Princesses of Alba. Since childhood, he had a good command of English and Latin, and also received a good mathematical education.

At the beginning of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, the 14-year-old prince accompanied his father to the front and near Saarbrücken, on August 2, 1870, he bravely accepted a baptism of fire; the spectacle of the war, however, caused him a psychological crisis. After his father was captured on September 2, and the empire was declared overthrown in the rear, the prince was forced to leave Chalons for Belgium, and from there to Great Britain. He settled with his mother at the Camden House estate in Chislehurst, Kent (now within the boundaries of London), where Napoleon III, who was released from German captivity, then arrived.

Head of the dynasty
After the death of the ex-emperor in January 1873 and the 18th birthday of the prince, who turned in March 1874, the Bonapartist party proclaimed "Prince Lulu" the pretender to the imperial throne and the head of the dynasty as Napoleon IV (fr. Napoléon IV). His opponents in the struggle for influence on the French monarchists were the Legitimist party, led by the Count of Chambord, grandson of Charles X, and the Orleanist party, led by the Count of Paris, grandson of Louis Philippe I (the latter also lived in Great Britain).

The prince had a reputation as a charming and talented young man, his personal life was impeccable. His chances of regaining power in France during the unstable existence of the Third Republic in the 1870s were quoted quite high (especially since the Count of Chambord card was actually won back after his refusal of the tricolor banner in 1873). Napoleon IV was considered an enviable groom; in her diary, half-jokingly, the possibility of marriage with him is mentioned by Maria Bashkirtseva. At one time a marriage proposal was discussed between him and Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice.

The prince entered the British Military College at Woolwich, graduated from it in 1878 as the 17th in graduation and began service in the artillery (like his great great-uncle). He became friends with representatives of the Swedish royal family (King Oscar II of Sweden was a descendant of the Napoleonic Marshal Jean Bernadotte (Charles XIV Johan) and the great-grandson of Josephine Beauharnais).

Doom
After the outbreak of the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879, the prince of the empire, with the rank of lieutenant, voluntarily went to this war. The reason for this fatal act, many biographers consider the dependence on the mother that burdened the young Napoleon.

After arriving in South Africa (Natal), he almost did not participate in skirmishes with the Zulus, since the commander-in-chief, Lord Chelmsford, fearing political consequences, ordered to follow him and prevent his participation in the conflict. However, on June 1, Napoleon and Lieutenant Carey, with a small detachment, went to one kraal for reconnaissance (reconnaissance). Not noticing anything suspicious, the group settled down on a halt near the Itiotoshi River. There they were attacked by a group of 40 Zulus and put to flight: two Britons were killed, and then the prince, who defended himself fiercely. 31 wounds from the Zulu assegai were found on his body; a blow to the eye was certainly fatal. In British society, the question was discussed whether Lieutenant Carey had fled the battlefield, leaving the prince to his fate. The prince died just a month before the British captured the Zulu royal kraal near Ulundi in July 1879 and ended the war.

The death of Napoleon Eugene led to the loss of practically all the hopes of the Bonapartists for the restoration of their home in France; supremacy in the family passed to the inactive and unpopular descendants of Jerome Bonaparte (however, before the fateful departure to Africa, the prince appointed as his successor not the eldest in the family of his cousin uncle, "Prince Napoleon", known as "Plon-Plon", because of his bad reputation , and the son of the latter, Prince Victor, aka Napoleon V). On the other hand, just in the year of the death of the prince (1879), the monarchist Marshal McMahon was replaced in the Elysee Palace by the staunch Republican President Jules Grevy, under whom the monarchist conspiracies (see Boulanger) were defeated and the state system of the Third Republic was strengthened.

Memory
The prince's body was brought by ship to England and buried at Chisleheart, and subsequently, along with his father's ashes, was transferred to a special mausoleum erected for her husband and son by Eugenie in the imperial crypt of St. Michael's Abbey in Farnborough, Hampshire. Eugenia, according to British law, was supposed to identify her son's body, but it was so mutilated that only a postoperative scar on her thigh helped her. The funeral was attended by Victoria, Edward the Prince of Wales, all the Bonapartes and several thousand Bonapartists. Eugenia herself, who outlived her relatives by almost half a century, was buried there in 1920.

Many famous European artists painted the prince as a child, including the portrait painter of monarchs Franz Xavier Winterhalter. The Musée d'Orsay in Paris has a marble statue by Jean-Baptiste Carpeau, which is part of the museum's exposition, depicting a 10-year-old prince with Nero the dog. The sculpture gained great fame and became the subject of numerous replicas (after the fall of the empire, the Sevres manufactory produced replica figurines already under the name “Child with a dog”).

In 1998, the asteroid-moon "Little Prince" discovered by French-Canadian astronomers, a satellite of the asteroid Eugene named after his mother, was named after the prince. The name refers, in addition to Napoleon IV, to the famous story by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, where the Little Prince lives on his own small planet. The official explanation for the choice of the name of the planet emphasizes the parallels between the two princes - Napoleon and the hero Exupery (both princes were young, brave and short, left their cozy world, their journey tragically ended in Africa). Perhaps this coincidence is not accidental, and Prince Lulu really served as the prototype of Exupery's hero (there are indications of this in the English and Polish Wikipedias).

Louis XV(fr. Louis XV), official nickname Beloved(fr. Le Bien Aime; February 15, 1710, Versailles - May 10, 1774, Versailles) - King of France from September 1, 1715 from the Bourbon dynasty. His reign is one of the longest in world history, the second longest in French history after his great-grandfather, the previous king of France, Louis XIV. It is characterized by the flourishing of French culture, the so-called Rococo era, but by a gradual economic decline and growing tensions in the country.

The great-grandson of Louis XIV, the future king (who bore the title Duke of Anjou from birth) was at first only fourth in line to the throne. However, in 1711, the boy's grandfather, the only legitimate son of Louis XIV, the Grand Dauphin, died. At the beginning of 1712, Louis's parents, the Duchess (February 12) and the Duke (February 18) of Burgundy, and then (March 8) and his older 4-year-old brother, the Duke of Brittany, died one after another from measles. The two-year-old Louis himself survived only thanks to the perseverance of his tutor, the Duchess de Vantadour, who did not allow the doctors to apply strong bloodletting to him, which killed his older brother. The death of his father and brother made the two-year-old Duke of Anjou the direct heir of his great-grandfather, he received the title of Dauphin of Vienne.

In 1714, Louis's uncle, the Duke of Berry, died without heirs. It was expected that he would be regent for his nephew, since his other uncle, Philip V of Spain, abdicated the rights to the French throne in 1713 according to the Peace of Utrecht. The fate of the dynasty, which a few years ago was numerous, depended on the survival of a single child. The little orphan was constantly monitored, they did not leave one for a minute. The anxiety and sympathy he evoked played a role in his popularity in the early years of his reign.

Regency

After the death of his great-grandfather, Louis XIV, on September 1, 1715, Louis ascended the throne at the age of 5, under the tutelage of regent Philippe d'Orléans, the late king's nephew. The foreign policy of the latter represented a reaction against the direction and policy of Louis XIV: an alliance was concluded with England, a war was started with Spain. Internal management was marked by financial turmoil and the introduction of the John Law system, which led to a severe economic crisis. Meanwhile, the young king was brought up under the guidance of Bishop Fleury, who cared only about his piety, Imarchal Villeroy, who tried to bind the student to himself, indulging all his whims and lulling his mind and will. On October 1, 1723, Louis was declared of age, but the power continued to remain in the hands of Philip of Orleans, and after the death of the latter passed to the Duke of Bourbon. In view of the poor health of Louis and the fear that in the event of his childless death, his uncle of the Spanish king Philip V would not claim the French throne, the Duke of Bourbon hurried to marry the king to Maria Leszczynska, daughter of the ex-king of Poland Stanislav.

Government of Cardinal Fleury

In 1726, the king announced that he was taking over the reins of power, but in fact power passed to Cardinal Fleury, who led the country until his death in 1743, trying to stifle any desire in Louis to enter politics.

The reign of Fleury, who served as an instrument in the hands of the clergy, can be characterized as follows: inside the country - the absence of any innovations and reforms, the exemption of the clergy from paying duties and taxes, the persecution of Jansenists and Protestants, attempts to streamline finances and bring great savings in costs and the inability to achieve this due to the complete ignorance of the minister in economic and financial matters; outside the country - the careful elimination of everything that could lead to bloody clashes, and, despite this, the waging of two ruinous wars, for the Polish inheritance and for the Austrian. The first, at least, annexed Lorraine to the possessions of France, on the throne of which the king's father-in-law Stanislav Leshchinsky was elevated. The second, which began in 1741 under favorable conditions, was conducted with varying success until 1748 and ended with the Peace of Aachen, according to which France was forced to cede to the enemy all its conquests in the Netherlands in return for ceding Parma and Piacenza to Philip of Spain. Louis personally participated in the War of the Austrian Succession at one time, but fell ill in Metseopasno. France, greatly alarmed by his illness, joyfully greeted his recovery and called him Beloved.

Independent government. An attempt at reform.

Cardinal Fleury died at the beginning of the war, and the king, reiterating his intention to govern the state himself, appointed no one as first minister. In view of the inability of Louis to deal with affairs, this had extremely unfavorable consequences for the work of the state: each of the ministers managed his ministry independently of his comrades and inspired the sovereign with the most contradictory decisions. The king himself led the life of an Asian despot, at first obeying either one or the other of his mistresses, and from 1745 falling entirely under the influence of the Marquise de Pompadour, who skillfully indulged the base instincts of the king and ruined the country with her extravagance. The Parisian population became more hostile to the king.

In 1757, Damien made an attempt on the life of Louis. The disastrous state of the country led the inspector general Machot to the idea of ​​reforming the financial system: he proposed to introduce an income tax (vingtième) on all classes of the state, including the clergy, and to restrict the right of the clergy to buy real estate in view of the fact that the possessions of the church were freed from payment of all kinds of duties. The clergy revolted unanimously in defense of their ancestral rights and tried to arrange a diversion - to arouse the fanaticism of the population by persecuting the Jansenists and Protestants. In the end, Machaut fell; his project remained unfulfilled.

Seven Years' War. Political and financial crisis.

In 1756, the Seven Years' War broke out, in which Louis took the side of Austria, the traditional opponent of France, and (despite the local victories of Marshal Richelieu), after a series of defeats, he was forced to conclude the Peace of Paris in 1763, which deprived France of many of its colonies (by the way - India, Canada) in favor of England, which managed to take advantage of the failures of its rival in order to destroy its maritime importance and destroy its fleet. France sank to the level of a third-rate power.

Pompadour, who changed generals and ministers at her own discretion, placed the Duke of Choiseul at the head of the administration, who knew how to please her. He arranged a family agreement between all the sovereigns of the House of Bourbon and persuaded the king to issue a decree on the expulsion of the Jesuits. The financial situation of the country was terrible, the deficit was huge. New taxes were required to cover it, but the Parlement of Paris in 1763 refused to register them. The king compelled him to do so through lit de justice (the supremacy of the royal court over any other - the principle according to which, as soon as parliament decides in the name of the king, then in the presence of the king himself, parliament has no right to do anything. According to the saying: "When the king comes , the judges fall silent"). The provincial parliaments followed the example of the Parisian: Louis arranged a second lit de justice (1766) and declared the parliaments to be simple judicial institutions, which should be considered an honor to obey the king. Parliaments, however, continued to resist.

The new mistress of the king, Dubarry, who took the place of Pompadour after the death of the latter in 1764, led Choiseul, the defender of parliaments, d'Eguillon, their ardent opponent, to the place.

On the night of January 19-20, 1771, soldiers were sent to all members of Parliament demanding an immediate answer (yes or no) to the question of whether they wished to obey the king's orders. The majority answered in the negative; the next day it was announced to them that the king was depriving them of their posts and expelling them, despite the fact that their posts were bought by them, and they themselves were considered irremovable. Instead of parliaments, new judicial institutions were established (see Mopu), but lawyers refused to defend cases before them, and the people reacted with deep indignation at the violent actions of the government.

Louis did not pay attention to popular discontent: locking himself in his parc aux cerfs (Deer Park), he was engaged exclusively in his metresses and hunting, and when he was pointed out to the danger that threatened the throne, and to the disasters of the people, he answered: “The monarchy will hold out yet, as long as we are alive” (“even a flood after us”, “après nous le déluge”). The king died of smallpox, having contracted it from a young girl sent to him by Dubarry.

Family and Children.

On September 4, 1725, 15-year-old Louis married 22-year-old Maria Leszczynska (1703-1768), daughter of Stanisław, the former King of Poland. They had 10 children, of whom 1 son and 6 daughters survived to adulthood. Only one, the eldest, of the daughters married. The younger unmarried daughters of the king took care of their orphaned nephews, the children of the Dauphin, and after the accession of the eldest of them, Louis XVI, to the throne, they were known as "Madam Aunt".

Madame de Pompadour had a daughter, Alexandrine-Jeanne d'Étiol (1744-1754), who died in childhood, who may have been the king's illegitimate daughter. According to some version, the girl was poisoned by court haters of Madame de Pompadour.

Peter the Great "holds all of France in his arms"

In addition to his wife and favorite, Louis had a whole "harem" of mistresses who were kept in the Deer Park estate and other places. At the same time, many favorites were prepared for this from adolescence, since the king preferred "non-perverted" girls, and was also afraid of venereal diseases. In the future, they were married off with a dowry.

Louis XV and Russia.

On the whole, contacts were both unfavorable and inconsistent. One of the episodes is the arrival of Peter I in France in 1717, encouraged by a possible political union; the other, again mindful of a possible union, is a “project” about marriage between the king and the crown princess Elizabeth (the future Elizabeth I Petrovna). Neither circumstance had a noticeable effect on relations between states. On the contrary, perhaps the failed marriage significantly complicated the influence of French interests in Russia during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna.

The general significance of the reign of Louis XV. - Personal character of Louis XV. - Destruction of the will of Louis XIV. - References to the rights of the nation. - Moral corruption of high French society. - The Lo system and the meaning of its history. - The Decomposition of the Old Society and the Literature of the 18th Century. - The role of parliaments under Louis XV. – Ministry of Terra and Mopu. - The struggle with the parliaments at the end of the reign of Louis XV. - The Beaumarchais case and pamphlets against Mopu. - The need for reform.

Louis XV. Portrait by van Loo

Literature about the era of Louis XV

About the regency: Lemontey. History of the regency and infancy of Louis XV. - Barthelemy. Les filles du regent. – De Seilhac. Vie de l "abbe Dubois. - And. Babst.. – Thiers. Histoire de Law. - Horn. Jean Law. - Levasseur. Recherches historiques sur le systeme de Law. A. Viptry. Financial disorder and speculative abuse at the end of the reign of Louis XIV and the beginning of the reign of Louis XV. - Daire. Economistes financiers au XVIII siècle. - M. Wirth. History of trade crises. Of Louis XV and his reign: A. Jobez. France under Louis XV. - H. Bonhomme. Louis XV and his family. - Op. De Broglie, Boutaric, Pajot, Vapdal"I, listed in chapter X of this volume. Latest work: Perkins. France under Louis XV. In addition, in op. Oncken on the “Age of Frederick the Great”, see separate passages dedicated to France under Louis XV, as well as chapter VII of the ninth volume Lavissa and rambo, where there is also a detailed bibliography. - O Pompadour Op. Capefigure,Compardon,Pawlowski and others about Du Barry Vatel "I, about both E.etJ.Goncourt. -Flammermont. Le chancelier Mopeou et le parlement. - Louis de Lomenie. Beaumarchais et son temps. - Alexey Veselovsky. Beaumarchais ("Bulletin of Europe" 1887). About him, see the latest (1898) op. Halleys.

Significance of the reign of Louis XV

The history of the long reign of Louis XV was a history of a weak, inactive and negligent government, a history of the gradual decline and decay of the old order, but also a history of the growth of new social forces and the birth of new social ideas. Already at the end of the reign of Louis XIV, France was in a very difficult situation and needed energetic reforms, and then an opposition trend was already emerging in French literature. From the previous presentation of the “old order” and “new ideas”, we got acquainted with the most important aspects of life in pre-revolutionary France and “with the main trends in French opposition literature. A study of the history of the reign of Louis XV shows how little the old order changed in essence under him and how little new ideas had practical significance. The more immobile was the government itself and the further the new demands placed on the state advanced; the more unchanged the decrepit order remained and the faster social development proceeded, the more and more widened the gulf between practice and theory, between the objective and subjective aspects of life. Even at the end of the reign of Louis XIV, a future discord was outlined. The era of Louis XV did nothing to eliminate the old evils that had become quite obvious, and to meet the new needs that were the result of changes in the very depths of social life: the abyss only grew in size. Of course, this was to be reflected in the general course of affairs in the state organism, where everything was so closely connected with each other. The national and state economy, agriculture, industry, finances were in disorder, administration and justice - also, legislative activity - alike. France went to LouisXVI in such a form that the most radical reform was required: everything was so dilapidated, everything was shattered and everything was in disarray, everything was so neglected, thanks to the carelessness and inactivity of the supreme power.

Louis XV came to the throne as a child of five. The educators managed to instill in him that idea of ​​​​the unlimited rights of royal power, which became the official political dogma of Louis XIV France, but they did not inspire the boy-king with the slightest idea of ​​​​royal duty. In the cynical statements attributed to Louis XV: “enough for our age” (après nous le déluge) and “if I were in the place of my subjects, I would rebel,” were, so to speak, formulated logical conclusions from the principles inspired by him in childhood. He was only five years old when his tutor Villeroy, pointing to the people gathered under the windows of the palace, said: “Sir! Whatever you see is yours” (tout ce que vous voyez est à vous). Until the age of thirteen, Louis XV was under the regency of his relative, the Duke Philippe of Orleans (1715–1723), who became famous for his debauchery. Coming to age, Louis XV himself turned out to be a man also of vicious inclinations, easily subject to the influence of his mistresses and drinking companions, very little interested in business. First, the last ones were in charge of the Duke of Bourbon, then Cardinal Fleury (until 1743), after which the royal favorites began to interfere in politics: the Duchess de Chateauroux and the Marquise de Pompadour (d. 1764), under whom the Duke of Choiseul rose, and at the end of the reign - Countess de Barry, who achieved the resignation and exile of Choiseul. At first, the French treated Louis XV with great devotion, calling him the Beloved (le Bien-aimé); for example, his dangerous illness during the War of the Austrian Succession (in which France was against Austria) plunged the country into sincere sadness, which was replaced by noisy joy when the young king recovered. Little by little, however, this feeling turned into hatred and contempt, caused by the shameful behavior of Louis XV and his bad rule, left to various favorites and creatures of the maitre. The reign of Madame Pompadour continued for twenty years, who persuaded Louis XV to participate in the seven-year war in alliance with Austria after Maria Theresa wrote a kind letter to the all-powerful favorite, calling her "cousin". When Madame Pompadour began to lose her beauty over the years, she continued to keep Louis XV in her nets, among other things, looking for new beauties for him, to whom, however, she did not allow him to become attached, fearing that one or the other would not become her rival. influencing the king. The extravagance of the court under Madame de Pompadour reached terrible proportions: the marquise disposed of the state treasury as if it were her own casket, distributed money right and left, spent huge sums on court amusements, with which she tried to entertain the satiated king and eliminate him from doing business, lost at cards, and not that she simply took it for herself, so that after her death she had a very significant fortune. If Louis XV was especially interested in something, it was all sorts of intrigues: for example, under him, secret diplomacy, the personal “secret of the king”, acted simultaneously with official diplomacy. The immoral acts of Louis XV were committed openly, and popular rumor exaggerated them, so what about the king in the second half of his reign, monstrous rumors circulated, more and more discrediting the royal power in the eyes of his subjects. In Louis XV, with gross debauchery and a cynically frivolous attitude to state affairs, a passion for court splendor and great piety, which supported the old alliance of royal power with the aristocracy and clergy, were also combined. The public mood towards him became more and more hostile, all the more so as in foreign policy France was losing her dignity. The loss of the North American and East Indian colonies by France, which had passed into the hands of the British, was especially painful for the national feeling. Poland was an old ally of France, and the latter could do nothing to prevent the first Polish partition from taking place.

Regency of the Duke of Orléans

Such is the general character of the reign of Louis XV. We will dwell on some more of its episodes, the most characteristic of the history of the decay of the old order, which prepared the revolution. Louis XV, as we have seen, came to the throne as a child. In the last years of the reign of Louis XIV, almost all members of his family died: his son, the eldest grandson (Duke of Burgundy) with his wife and two of his eldest sons, and the youngest grandson (Duke of Berry), so that the throne was to go to the third son of the eldest grandson, over whom a regency was to be established. The rights to the latter belonged to the royal nephew, Duke Philippe of Orleans, but Louis XIV did not like him very much, and there was even a rumor in society that this prince of the blood was the direct culprit of all the deaths in the royal family, paving his way to the regency or even to the crown. The aged Louis XIV was strongly occupied with the question of the regency, and was also occupied with the question of the possibility of ending the dynasty. He also had illegitimate sons by one of his maitresses (Mme. de Montespan), whom he legitimized, and he made a spiritual testament in their favor, recognizing the hereditary right to the throne for the "legitimized princes", so that the dynasty could not end, and thereby removing the Duke of Orleans from the throne, although he was the closest relative of the royal house. Not only that: the senior legitimized prince was appointed guardian of the young Louis XV, and the Duke of Orleans was supposed to be only the chairman of the regency council, which included legitimized princes, marshals and ministers and who was supposed to decide all matters by majority vote. The legitimized princes were supported by the court, the Jesuits, the highest ranks of the army, on the side of the Duke of Orleans were the parliament, Jansenists, people of industry and trade. Parliament cassated the will of Louis XIV, and the Duke of Orleans, who returned the old rights to Parliament, was declared the sole regent. Destruction of Louis' willXIV was the first step of the reaction against his system, but the Duke of Orleans was far from fundamentally changing the old government order, and the matter was limited to a few measures, devoid of any sequence. In one respect only, he, and with him his opponents, departed from the ideas of the late king. Louis XIV did not recognize any rights for the French nation, now these rights began to be recognized in theory. The princes of the blood, hostile to the legitimized, declared that the will of Louis XIV was contrary to the most beautiful right of the nation - the right to dispose of the crown at its own discretion in the event of the termination of the dynasty. To this, those legitimized by him answered that, being also of royal blood, they were thereby included in the agreement existing between the nation and the royal house, and that in general, any important state business could be decided in the minority of the king by only three ranks of the kingdom. The rights of the nation were definitely recognized in the edict of the little king, which repealed the order of his great-grandfather: it was directly stated that in the event of the end of the dynasty, the nation alone could correct the matter by wise choice, while the royal power had no right to dispose of the crown. At the same time, thirty-nine members of the higher nobility declared that such a matter concerned the whole nation and therefore could only be decided at a meeting of the three ranks of the kingdom. Thus Parliament regained its rights, which renewed its opposition to the unrestricted legislative right of the king, and the statements that the reigning dynasty received its crown from the nation - statements coming from the princes of the blood, from the peers of France, from the high nobility and even from the king and combined with references to the three ranks of the state, indicated that the memory of the states-general has not yet died in society, not gathered for about a hundred years. Before the political literature of the second half of the XVIII century. spread theories about the rule of the people and national representation, the power itself, as it were, renounced the political principles of Louis XIV, who did not recognize any rights for the nation and argued that it lies entirely in the person of the king. With these statements, the government, with its own hands, undermined the old foundations of political life, and the first began to preach ideas that disagreed with the theories of Louis XIV. In the era of the regency, the authorities not only theoretically undermined their former rights, but also morally dropped herself in the eyes of society. The Duke of Orleans was a man of brilliant abilities, but without any inner content. By his scandalous actions, he lowered the dignity of the power that he represented, and what was started by the regent in this respect continued with no less success by Louis XV himself, as soon as he came of age. Together with the monarchy represented by its representatives the high French society also decayed, losing in the depraved life, which began to be indulged from the era of the regency, all respect from the popular masses. The privileged, who in France did not have the local service and who fled from their estates, led an idle, full of pleasure life, the center of which was the royal court. Endless spending on luxury, pleasure and revelry, leading to ruin, eternal idleness that flowed amidst constant entertainment, a complete lack of consciousness that people should have duties in relation to the fatherland, to the people, frivolous gaiety and playful wit that covered the inner emptiness, - these are the usual features that characterize the life of high French society in the 18th century - a society indifferent to public affairs, careless in relation to its private affairs, not understanding the danger in which its own position was due to the general disorder of the country.

"System" Lo

Already in the era of the regency, all this corruption of old France was fully manifested. One episode is especially characteristic in this respect - the well-known history of the financial system of John Law, which is of double interest to us. Firstly, we are dealing here with one of the major financial crises, or "crashes", and from this point of view, Law's "system" is a very curious phenomenon in the history of large credit and industrial and commercial enterprises, especially since France did not could recover from the disastrous traces of the collapse of the early twenties of the XVIII century. Secondly, and it is precisely this side that is of particular interest to us now, the history of Law's "system" is a very important page in the history of the demoralization of high French society. In 1716, the regent was placed in his favor by the Scottish adventurer John Law, who had made a million-dollar fortune with money scams and had already managed to suffer more than one failure in trying to interest different governments with his projects of sure and quick enrichment. At first, everything went well: Law received permission to establish a joint-stock bank that lent money to private individuals on favorable terms and issued tickets that the treasury accepted on a par with money (1717). But Lo did not stop there, but connected another enterprise with his bank - the West India Company, also a joint-stock company. Its shares were worth 500 livres when issued, but soon their price rose to 18 and even 20 thousand livres, i.e. increased 36-40 times, thanks to which many quickly enriched themselves by buying shares at a nominal price and selling them at a huge profit , while others subsequently went bankrupt, buying these securities at a high price before they then began to fall. The Duke of Orleans helped Law in every possible way to expand the enterprise: in 1718 the bank was declared royal, and its shares were purchased from the original owners; then Law received the monopoly rights of the East India Company, the right to mint coins, a tobacco monopoly, and tax farming. At the same time, Lo | immoderately issued banknotes, which were in great demand among the public, greedy for easy money, especially since miracles were told about future profits. A terrible rush began, and speculative transactions in shares assumed terrifying proportions. The first sign of a decline in their price was, however, a signal for panic. First of all, they rushed to change bank notes for gold, but there was no gold in the storerooms of the bank. Law, appointed in 1720 as comptroller-general of finances, obtained an order forbidding private individuals to have more than 50 livres of specie under pain of the severest punishment (confiscation and 10 tons. l. fine), but this and other similar measures did not save the company from a collapse that ruined a lot of people; only those who managed to realize their paper values ​​in time, on the contrary, enriched themselves. The entire aristocratic France took part in the stock exchange game for raising and lowering, mixing with the crowd of raznochintsy and commoners. The nobility was seized by a thirst for easy money and strong sensations. The Duke of Bourbon boasted of his stock portfolio and was reminded that his ancestor had better deeds than these. Persons belonging to the highest society crowded into the hall of the financial genius, as shortly before that they crowded only in the reception room of the Palace of Versailles. Many of them fawned over the lackey Law, on whom it depended to let their master into the office, or flattered Law's mistress. The director of the company was courted by high-society ladies. A very important gentleman, the Marquis d'Oise, became the groom of the three-year-old daughter of a clever speculator who had made millions, and in anticipation of the marriageable age of the bride, he received a pension decent for his rank from the future father-in-law. A young aristocrat, a relative of the regent, lured a stockbroker into a tavern, who brought with him a large amount of shares and was stabbed to rob him, then the murderer was publicly executed in the Place Greve. the dominance of the "system", but mostly she dishonored herself, together with the regent, who discovered a terrible frivolity in this whole story. The clergy also showed greed for money, which was so easily obtained when the "system" was still flourishing, and this subsequently gave the enemies of the clergy another argument against it. The public opinion aroused by the catastrophe found its fullest and at the same time very sharp expression in the satirical literature which, during the Regency, began to educate French society in an oppositional spirit.

Portrait of John Law, financial swindler of the Louis XV era. OK. 1715-1720

Since the time of Philippe d'Orleans, the highest representatives of power, the court, the spiritual and secular aristocracy, more and more rolled down an inclined plane towards the abyss that was supposed to swallow them. In general, the negative attitude towards royalty, towards the Catholic Church, towards the feudal nobility, which characterizes literature in the reign of Louis XV, was not the result of only theoretical reasoning, which drew its conclusions from the premises of rationalist philosophy, but reflected in itself all that contempt and indignation, which the best people from all social classes should have felt in themselves the best people from all social classes, directly observing the life of the upper classes, in whose hands were all power, all influence on public affairs, all honors, privileges and rights inaccessible to others. Starting with the pamphlets that appeared about the catastrophe of the "Lo system or generally directed against the regent, starting with the famous "Les j" ai vu" attributed to the young Voltaire, and from Montesquieu's "Persian Letters" written around the same time - until the very eve of the revolution, life French high society gave writers of the 18th century many arguments against the "old order", which turned out to be untenable from another point of view - in that general internal disorder, which did not concern only Louis XV himself and his court. new principles were preached, the privileged, for their part, did not put forward a single major writer who would arm himself in defense of an order that undermined its very foundations. freethinkers.

Louis XV and the Parliaments

Although the "old order" was based on solidarity between the royal power and the privileged, the matter was nevertheless not without clashes between these allies - clashes, however, which did not significantly affect the general course of affairs. The main stronghold of conservative interests were the parliaments, which, as we have seen elsewhere, took place in the royal power in the eighteenth century. quite sharp collisions. Defending the "old order", the parliaments, however, preserved the traditions of the former estate monarchy, which had long since given way to royal absolutism; at the same time, they invoked new political ideas, and their opposition thus acquired a revolutionary character, which was in their favor by public opinion, which was under the influence of these ideas. Struggle between royalty and parliaments in the reign of LouisXV is one of the clearest signs of decayancienregigime. Louis XIV did not allow any independence of the parliament, and if the latter nevertheless “began to play a political role again, starting with the destruction of his will, then this alone already indicates a weakening of absolutism. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that the members of parliament were essentially officials, and their opposition took on the character, so to speak, of direct opposition to the government on the part of its own servants. Not representing a legitimate limitation of royal power on behalf of the nation, parliamentary intervention in the legislative sphere, however, was one of the obstacles that hampered the transformation in France. When the government conceived reforms, parliamentary opposition stood in the way, and the nation became a witness to the feud between the royal power and the ancient institution, which had almost as many centuries of existence as the monarchy itself, and even more than it itself, was a stronghold of conservative interests. At the same time, it cannot be said that parliament lived in peace with other forces of old France: between the parliamentary aristocracy, that is, the so-called noblesse de robe, and the feudal aristocracy, or noblesse d "épée, there was class antagonism; in the matter of expulsion from France jesuits, who enjoyed great influence in the clergy, Parliament belonged to one of the most important roles Finally, it is no less curious that the members of the institution, which stood guard over all privileges, protected everything old and dilapidated, persecuted "philosophers" and burned their writings, themselves they began to speak in a revolutionary language, borrowing its ideas and even its phraseology from opposition literature. And one cannot help but see this as one of the signs of the decay of the "old order", because since a thing does not correspond to its principle, this already indicates the beginning of its fall. In general, it is interesting , what The first attack on royalty was made in France by representatives of the old order.

In another connection, we have already mentioned the main cases of clashes between the royal power and the parliaments under Louis XV. In the middle of the XVIII century. a theory has been formed that parliaments are only divisions (classes) of a general French institution, without the consent of which no law can be issued. In this sense, essays were written in which the originality (from the Merovingian era) of the rights of parliaments was proved. Soon after this, the Paris Parliament had to play the role already mentioned in the destruction of the Jesuit order in France, and the majority of the "philosophers" were then on the side of the magistracy, although the parliament itself was far from being able to use the then philosophical arguments against the order; arguments against the Jesuits, which have been going on since the middle of the 16th century, have never been lacking in France, and the very enmity of Parliament towards the Jesuits was very ancient. About the same time (1763) the Parlement of Paris declared, protesting against the new tax edicts, that the taxation enforced by the lit de justice was the overthrow of the fundamental laws of the kingdom. The parliaments of Rouen and Bordeaux sided with this kind of declaration, since the doctrine that all parliaments, as "classes" of a single institution, should act in solidarity, more and more entered the consciousness of the provincial magistracy. On this basis, the sharpest conflict between parliaments and royal power was prepared at the end of the reign of Louis XV.

"Mopu Parliaments"

In the early seventies the government showed some energy. Even under Choiseul, whose position shook after the death of Madame de Pompadour and under the influence of Madame du Barry, who did not love him, Maupeou was appointed chancellor of France (1768), and his friend Abbé Terre was appointed controller-general of finance (1769). . Both of them were determined people, and the old traditions had no power over them. Terre was the first to come forward with new financial measures. Finances in France were very upset. The tax system was extremely imperfect; expenses did not correspond to income and were not subject to any control; no one knew the real number of either one or the other; the treasury did not get out of debt, and these debts themselves increased exorbitantly. The only attempt to reduce the debt figure through annual repayment was made under Louis XV, when Machault (Machault) created for this in 1764 a special cash desk (caisse d "amortissement), which reduced the debt by 76 million in six years. Terre seized the funds intended for this purpose of the amount and stopped further repayment of the state debt: the minister was the least distinguished by ceremony.In 1770, he had to directly choose between declaring complete bankruptcy or reducing payments on debt obligations to state creditors; he preferred the latter, i.e., arbitrarily reduced the annuities paid by the treasury his creditors, which caused general indignation. Parliament, whose members were not offended by this measure, however, did not protest against such an offense. It cannot be overlooked that Terre still had some understanding of the true state of affairs: he strove for economy and Louis XV instructions on the need for a change in the ways of conducting state x economy, although completely in vain, since huge sums of money were spent on wedding celebrations alone, when the future Louis XVI, grandson and heir of the king, married the daughter of Maria Theresa.

René Nicolas Mopu, Chancellor of Louis XV

In the meantime certain events took place which brought the parliaments into conflict with the government. The governor of Brittany, Duke d'Eguillon, stained himself with various abuses of his office and was finally recalled. The local parliament (Rennes), which lived in a quarrel with him, and the provincial states of Brittany initiated a process against him and found support from the Parisian parliament, but the court took the duke under his protection, and the king decided to stop the whole thing.The process dragged on in the Parisian parliament for about two months, when Louis XV ordered that the Duke d "Eguillon be free from all charges (1770), but the parliament did not obey. Declaring the duke deprived of the rights and privileges of a peer until he was cleared of suspicions that dishonored his honor, he protested against the desire of the court to “overthrow the old state system and deprive the laws of their equal power for all”, putting in their place naked arbitrariness. The provincial parliaments declared their solidarity with that of Paris. Then, on November 24, 1770, the royal edict drawn up by Chancellor Mopu was published against parliaments. They were accused of preaching new principles, as if they were representatives of the nation, indispensable spokesmen for the royal will, guardians of the state system, etc. “We,” Louis XV said in his edict, “we hold our power exclusively from God: the right to legislate by which our subjects are to be governed belongs to us wholly and undividedly.” Therefore, parliaments were forbidden to talk about their unity and about the "classes" of a single institution, to communicate with each other, to interrupt the administration of justice and to protest by collective resignations, as was done before. Parliament protested against this edict, seeing in it something contrary to the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and the members of parliament, declaring that they did not consider themselves free enough to pass sentences on the life, property and honor of the subjects of the king, stopped the administration of justice. Then Mopu decided on the most drastic measure. Having obtained from Louis XV the resignation of Choiseul, from whose side he feared opposition, the chancellor sent musketeers on the night of January 19 to 20, 1771 to all members of parliament demanding an immediate answer by means of a written "yes" or "no" whether they wished to return to performance of their duties. One hundred and twenty members refused, and they were exiled, and then another 38 people were exiled, who, having first agreed, then declared that they were in solidarity with their comrades. Their positions, which were their private property, were confiscated and declared vacant, and the duties of judges were to be performed by special commissions from members of the State Council. In the old days, the exile of members of parliament was only a means to make them more compliant and compliant, but now the matter has become more serious. On February 23, Maupu announced to the Judicial Commission, which had taken the place of Parliament, that the King had decided in the district of the Paris Parliament to establish six new high courts (conseils supérieurs) and to begin a general judicial reform, destroying the corruption of posts, replacing hereditary judges with judges appointed by the government and paid a salary, abolishing contributions of litigants in favor of judges, finally simplifying, speeding up and reducing the cost of legal proceedings. These promises did not satisfy anyone, so that Voltaire, who sympathized with the proclaimed reform, was completely unsuccessful in reminding the public of the trials of Calas and Sirven, which lay an indelible stain on the old legal proceedings. Remaining true to the idea of ​​enlightened absolutism, Voltaire welcomed the blow inflicted on parliament by the hand of the minister, but the vast majority thought differently: parliament, they said in society, defended freedom from despotism, and the "revolution" made by Mopu, on the contrary, destroyed all sorts of barriers that restrained the arbitrariness of power. In addition, the reason for the quarrel with Parliament was chosen very poorly. The new court was not trusted, and lawyers even refused to have cases in it. In the press of that time, almost only Voltaire pointed out that the "fundamental laws" defended by parliament were, in essence, only those abuses from which the people suffered. Most of the pamphlets of the time fell upon the "Major" (le maire du palais) Mony as an enemy of the nation. The provincial parliaments declared that everything that had happened was against the law, and that the persons who would assume the office of judges in the new courts were scoundrels. The highest financial chamber (cour des aides) also protested, daring even to demand the convocation of the States General and declaring that it was defending “the cause of the people, from whom and in whose name (par qui et pour qui) the king reigns.” The princes of the blood and the peers of France also interceded for the parliament, submitting a special memoir to the king about this. Nothing like this had happened in France since the Fronde, but Maupu was adamant. Parliaments that protested were destroyed and judges stripped of their offices; cour des aides was likewise destroyed; princes of the blood and peers who signed the memoir are removed from court. In this way in the early seventies, the royal power was in open struggle with the conservative forces of France, and the monarchy was striking at institutions that were almost as ancient as itself. Maupu had a whole plan for judicial reform in the spirit of new ideas, but the time for the experience of applying enlightened absolutism to France, apparently, had passed. The newly established court in Paris (April 1771) received the derisive name of the “Parliament of Mopu”, which was extended to the courts opened before that in six other cities. In the pamphlets of the era, the "parliament of Mop" was treated as a "den of robbers" (caverne des voleurs). The place of its meetings had to be surrounded by an army so that the people would not attack it, but this was also exploited by the enemies of the new court: could the sentences of judges who were under military protection be free? Those who assumed positions in the new court were treated with undisguised contempt in society. The reform, however, was carried through, and little by little public opinion calmed down; in some places the people even began to like the new courts, and there were cases when the crowd directly expressed their disapproval of the members of the former courts. The old magistracy continued to resist; its representatives, for the most part, did not want to return to the judicial service and did not agree to take the money offered to them in the form of a ransom for their seats, despite the fact that a period was set for this, after which the issuance of compensation ceased (April 1, 1773), and the royal treasury therefore remained in gain by as much as 80 million. The calming of public opinion was, however, only temporary: as soon as Louis XV died, society began to speak out with such force in favor of parliaments that Louis XVI considered it necessary to restore them. We will see again that in the new reign, parliaments became the main opponents of reforms, and that a new struggle took place between them and the royal power, which, so to speak, was already a prelude to a great revolution.

How society reacted to the Mopu judicial reform can be seen from one curious episode that characterizes the mood of that time. At this time, the famous Beaumarchais, a publicist and playwright, began his literary activity in France, later the author of The Barber of Seville (1775) and The Marriage of Figaro (1784) and the publisher of the complete works of Voltaire. Beaumarchais had a trial in the new Parisian court for the recovery of one debt; he lost this process, bringing against himself another charge of trying to bribe the judge. The fact is that Beaumarchais, needing to speak with the speaker on his case and not having access to him, made a gift to the wife of this judge, and she arranged a meeting with her husband; this later served as a pretext for condemning Beaumarchais for bribing a judge. The witty and not particularly shy writer took his case to the court of public opinion, managed to mix the “Mopu Parliament” with mud in brilliant pamphlets, in which he presented his personal matter as of public interest. Reading the "memoirs" of Beaumarchais, all literate France laughed, and with it, Louis XV himself. The young writer became the hero of the day, and representatives of high society expressed their sympathy to him in every possible way, although he connected his personal matter not with the conservative opposition that manifested itself in the protests of parliament and the princes of the blood, but with new liberal ideas, which later found expression in his well-known comedies. In general, the pamphlet press of that time, on the question of parliaments, adopted the point of view of the prevailing political theory, and such was the doctrine of Rousseau. Government statements in the sense of the absolutism of royal power met with objections in the spirit of the doctrine of popular supremacy. For example, the threat of one of the ministers to the British provincial states that they would be cashed out in three days if they defended parliament caused a flyer entitled "Le propos indiscret", where the conflict between the government and the estate-representative institution of the named province was considered from the point of view of "public treaty" violated by the king, "i.e. e. an agent of the nation" who wants to turn twenty million "free citizens" into "slaves". Before becoming the basis of a new political order, new political ideas served as the banner under which the conservative opposition stood, essentially belonging to the same category of phenomena as the Belgian and Hungarian clerical-aristocratic opposition against the enlightened absolutism of Joseph II. At the end of the reign of Louis XV, French absolutism made an attempt to destroy everything that was embarrassing for him in the "old order", but the opposition he met from the defenders of all antiquity sought sanctions in new political doctrines of a revolutionary nature and found support in society, no longer satisfied with Voltaire's program.

The “Parliament of Mopu”, to which, according to the old custom, the orders of Terre regarding the increase of many taxes and in general the increase in the revenues of the treasury were presented, of course, did not raise any disputes. Terrae failed only to start saving. The marriage of the Dauphin was followed by that of his brother, c. Provence, which was terribly expensive, and the expenses of the court increased to 42.5 million livres, which in 1774 accounted for one-seventh of all state revenues. All the worst aspects of the old financial policy during the years of Terre's administration only received further development, but the minister saw that it was impossible to go on like this, and thought about the need for reform. With Mopu and Terre, the French monarchy, as it were, entered a period of governmental transformations. The new reign, which began in 1774, apparently already promised quite a lot in this regard, since a real “philosopher” was directly called to power, who managed to testify his administrative abilities as a quartermaster of one province, where he produced some what reforms. On May 10, Louis XVI came to the throne, and on July 19, Turgot was called to the ministry.

Louis XV of France. person, person, character

“I want to follow the example of the late king, my great-grandfather, in everything,” said the 16-year-old Louis XV after the fall of the prime minister, the Duke de Bourbon, in 1726. Was it possible?

Under his great-grandfather Louis XIV (1643 - 1715), the system of "absolutist" monarchy in France and Europe reached its highest development. The "Sun King", like no other, was able to personify the sovereignty of the "absolute" monarch and the central power of the kingdom in reality and personally fill this central position. The difficult role of the "ubiquitous" king was only up to a person with the qualities of Louis XIV. But with this, the “sun king” turned the kingdom into a cargo that exceeded human strength.

Human weaknesses prevented Louis XV, despite all his positive qualities, from following the example of his predecessor and concentrating the state in his person, as the "omnipresent" king did. He has not grown up to the inhuman tasks of an "absolute" monarchy. So he became a misunderstood, lonely and tragic figure.

For a long time, Louis XV was portrayed as a lazy and weak king, who had a large number of favorites and mistresses, and only new biographers, primarily Michel Antoine, rightly evaluate him as a person with inherent virtues.

Louis was born in Versailles on February 15, 1710. He was the son of the Duke of Burgundy, the eldest son of the Dauphin (Crown Prince) Louis and Maria Anna of Bavaria. Thus, he was the son of the eldest grandson of Louis XIV and Marie Adelaide of Savoy. Nothing, it seemed, foreshadowed little Louis that someday he would ascend the throne of the “Sun King”. But then a huge misfortune broke out over the Bourbon dynasty: within one year, from 14.4.1711 to 8.3.1712, death took in turn the dauphin (died 14 4 1711 from smallpox), who followed him the dauphin Duke of Burgundy (died 18.2 .1712 from measles), his wife Marie-Adelaide (died February 12, 1712) and his older brother who became Dauphin (died March 8, 1712).

Since the first-born died in childhood, only the two-year-old Louis, Dauphin, remained, the hope of the dynasty when the reigning king and great-grandfather Louis XIV was already 73 and a half years old. The little crown prince is a charming child, lively, precocious, timid, very tender, sensitive, weak and spoiled, being a complete orphan, grew up without a family, 6 brothers and sisters, very isolated and closed, although surrounded by many people. Therefore, he became very attached to the governess, whom he called "mother Ventadur", and to his great-grandfather, whom he called "papa king".

The latter ordered that his former colleague in the games, the 73-year-old Duke of Viyeroy, become tutor, the 63-year-old Bishop of Fleury, the educator, and the Duke de Maine, the legitimized son, the guardian, so that the Duke of Orleans, regent and great-uncle of the baby did not have too much great influence.

When Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715, Louis XV became king of France at the age of five and a half. Of course, at this age he still could not rule, this was done by the regent with the regency council on his behalf. But nevertheless, a serious life began for the little shy boy, because he was more and more attracted to perform representational tasks. As early as September 2, 1715, he was to preside as king at the reading of the will of Louis XIV. He opened the meeting with a few learned words and then passed everything on to the Chancellor. He also needed to accept expressions of condolences in connection with the death of Louis XIV in the presence of the regent, then regularly receive the diplomatic corps, be present at the taking of the oath and perform religious duties as the most Christian king, and much more. First of all, Viyeroy is to blame for the fact that a little boy in his seventh year of life was overloaded with these protocol duties, and a naturally timid child developed a fear of crowds of strangers that never left him. Behind ease and excellent manners, an innate timidity was hidden in the soul and character of the monarch. At a time when other children could play with their peers, he carried out with surprising seriousness the duties entrusted to him, which greatly burdened him and developed an early tendency to melancholy. Soon, a relationship of trust connected him with an educator and home teacher, Bishop Andre Hercule de Fleury, who from 1699 to 1715 ruled the small bishopric of Fréjou, a modest, wise and pious man who eschewed court intrigues.

Fleury gave the young king a strong religious education.

Already at the age of 10, along with the previous representative duties, Louis XV began to be initiated into other royal affairs. Since February 18, 1720, he regularly (as a listener) participated in meetings of the State Council. In addition, he began to study in depth all branches of knowledge important to the king.

As in other monarchies, the marriage of the king was regarded as an important political event, the desires or sympathies of the participants did not play a role here. But the marriage policy of the regent and his prime minister, Cardinal Dubois, who, in order to consolidate friendly relations with Spain, connected the 11-year-old Louis XV with the 3-year-old Spanish Infanta Maria Anna Victoria, was especially egregious. The marriage contract was signed on November 25, 1721, and the little Spanish princess was brought to Paris to raise her there and wait until a church wedding becomes possible.

Naturally, his fiancee left the 11-year-old king indifferent, but upon her arrival he gave her a doll. So Louis XV grew up alone at the head of state, without a family and a close friend. His only confidants were the elderly "Maman Ventadour" and the comparatively old Fleury.

On October 25, 1722, with great pomp, according to the old tradition, Louis was anointed to rule and crowned in Reims Cathedral. When the king turned 13 on February 15, 1723, he came of age and the regency ended.

Soon, the prime minister, the Duke de Bourbon, considered the marriage of the often ill king, on whom the hopes of the dynasty were pinned, to be extremely necessary. The 6-year-old "Infanta Queen" was sent back to Madrid in 1725, to the great indignation of the Spaniards. Bourbon chose as his new bride the Polish princess Maria Leszczynska, daughter of the dethroned King Stanislaw, who was 7 years older than Louis. The wedding took place on September 5, 1725 in Fontainebleau with great pomp and in the presence of a huge number of princes and nobles from all over Europe.

What kind of person was Louis XV, who grew up without parents and family and always felt lonely? What was his character?

Contemporaries, as well as surviving portraits, testify that Louis XV was a handsome, well-built, strong man. Representative appearance, harmonious facial features made him very attractive. He was said to be "the most handsome man in his kingdom". He was especially fond of riding and hunting, and was in good health. However, he had a tendency to inflammation of the nasal mucosa and laryngitis, which made his voice hoarse. In general, his voice did not match the imposing appearance. This prevented him from speaking, seeking recognition with his speeches, representing, leading the Council, pacifying the obstinate parliamentary councils and ruling his court. Therefore, ministers often had to read his statements instead of him.

The most important distinguishing feature of the king was his high intelligence. He, along with Henry IV, was the most intelligent of the Bourbons (Antoine), quickly grasped the essence and was insightful, as emphasized by many of his employees, such as d'Agreson, d'Averdy, Croy and others. The French Foreign Minister Marquis d'Agreson wrote: "The king thinks fast." And he emphasized: "The course of his thought is faster than lightning ... with quick and sharp judgments."

Louis treated, as the Austrian envoy Kaunitz reported with surprise to Vienna, the most well-informed and highly educated rulers of his time. The monarch always sought to expand and enrich his knowledge, and for this purpose he collected a magnificent personal library, constantly replenished with new books. Along with history, law and theology, he was interested in the natural sciences and public health issues. He personally contributed to the foundation of the "Academy of Surgery" and encouraged natural scientific projects, such as, for example, Comte le Garay, who in 1745 published his "Hydraulic Chemistry". As Croy's contemporary emphasized, "the king was particularly well versed in astronomy, physics, and botany."

Louis XV, a highly intelligent and educated man, had an "extremely complex and mysterious character" (Antoine). Agreson and the Duke de Luyny described him as impenetrable and inaccessible. He had weak nerves, he was shy in front of people, often fell into melancholy and depression. Luyni writes about this: "The attacks of melancholy sometimes appeared spontaneously, sometimes they were caused by circumstances."

While the "sun king", whom everyone - at least outwardly - respected and revered, held the court and courtiers in Versailles in his hands, the shy, fearful of people, Louis XV, was greatly on the nerves of constant court intrigues, disputes over rank , malicious chatter and slander, undisguised envy and pride. Accustomed to secrecy from childhood, the monarch saw only one way to fence himself off from all this: to show a restrained, mysterious, silent, always mysterious and inaccessible to external influences attitude. Like many shy people, he did not show his feelings and became a master of pretense and secrecy. In this regard, the advice that he gave to his grandson Ferdinand in 1771 is very remarkable: “First of all, calm down and do not let your feelings be seen.”

Louis XV hid what he planned, what he did and what he worked on. Because of this, the public got the false impression that he was not interested in the affairs of the state, that he was lazy; because no one knew his true thoughts, intentions, diligence, foresight.

Unlike Louis XIV, whose life from morning to evening was public, furnished with many ceremonies, up to the presence of the privileged during the toilet, Louis XV was horrified by all this, tried to avoid court life, tried to fence off free space for himself. He built himself a small apartment in Versailles, where he slept and worked, and where not everyone had access, as in "large apartments". In addition, as soon as the opportunity presented itself, he fled from Versailles to the small hunting castles at Rambouillet, La Mouette, Choisy, Saint-Hubert, etc. It is established that in some years he spent less than 100 nights at Versailles.

The royal ceremonial was for Louis XV only a severe duty and a heavy burden, a facade behind which he hid his true way of life.

Louis, despite his timidity in front of people and fear of the crowd and strangers, did not try to avoid performing representational duties. But he did not like theatrical exits. Going to the active army, unlike his predecessors, he avoided big ceremonies, but simply left. From time to time he missed his great-grandfather's daily public rise or bedtime with all the court ceremonies in the large royal apartments.

Louis XV spent the night in his small apartments, got up early and managed to work for several hours at his desk before moving on to the large apartments.

In the same way, Louis retired in the evening after a hunt to his small chambers to work, dine with a few trusted people, and only then go to the front room to publicly demonstrate going to bed. But as soon as the curtains of the bed twitched and the courtiers left, he went to sleep in his room. According to contemporaries, in his personal life he was "a modest and kind-hearted person."

However, such a double life led to the fact that the king could not use the court, court life and ceremonial as a tool for ruling and "taming" the court nobility. In addition, constantly avoiding publicity, he gave rise to distrust, idle gossip, fantastic rumors, false judgments about his activities, and all this in the face of a very critical public, which, under the influence of the thoughts of the enlighteners, as well as the scandalous press, was only looking for sacrifice. Louis XV became her favorite subject, which gradually led to the weakening of the monarchical idea.

There was another thing that prevented him from fully taking the position of an “absolute” monarch, like his great-grandfather: his naturally very strong and increased in childhood and youth shyness, fear of people and fear of public speaking. On them, “the king was always as if paralyzed” and could not, as a contemporary of Bury emphasizes, because of his timidity, “read beyond four sentences.” So, he could rarely overcome himself and publicly deliver a speech, turn to an envoy at a reception, exchange a couple of phrases with one of the courtiers, or express his praise or displeasure to a minister or official. Appearing stiff, cold and stiff in public, according to Croy, in a narrow circle he could be "cheerful, laid-back" and "no longer shy at all, but completely natural."

The lack of ability in an official setting to address those who were waiting for his words, fettered his actions. As Antoine rightly notes, for an absolute monarch, this was primarily speech, that is, the ability to “speak in order to order and decide, judge, prohibit or allow, congratulate, encourage, praise or scold, punish or forgive.” From shyness, it was difficult for him to communicate with his ministers and senior officials, especially with new faces, which is why he did not like changes. They did not know at all what to expect from the monarch, who zealously guarded his powers, because they had never heard either praise or disapproval. All the more unexpected for them, in appropriate circumstances, were Louis' decisions to resign or his written orders for punishment. Either in such an atmosphere, really significant politicians could not appear, or they simply did not exist. In any case, in the time of Louis XV after Fleury there were few significant political figures, although there were well-managed officials. Despite this, Louis XV performed his duties as the supreme representative of the kingdom, as the embodiment of the highest legislative, executive and judicial power. He had a clear concept of his holistic sovereign authority, the religious nature of the position of "the most Christian king", he showed himself not as a despot and not even as an authoritarian monarch.

He was a bureaucrat who wrote a lot, which suited his introverted nature. Unlike Louis XIV, who willingly and competently used the spoken word in his reign and wrote little, his great-grandson led the same institutes that had passed from his predecessors in writing. Although he often had to preside at meetings of the State Council and regularly confer with ministers in a narrow circle, he still preferred correspondence. Since he had a good command of the pen, he felt much more confident in the written sphere. He wrote everything himself and did not have a personal secretary. The Marquis d'Argeson notes on this occasion: "The king writes a lot with his hand, letters, memorandums, many passages from what he reads ..." Thus, the monarch tried to control writing as much as possible, demanded this or that, did notes in the documents of their ministers and officials, criticized or approved, gave instructions, etc.

In this way, he was able to fully fulfill his duties of management and keep everything under control, although he was often absent from Versailles and moved from one hunting castle to another. He had a folding desk with a lockable drawer filled with letters and dossiers, which he always had with him, and the most important ministers sometimes had to travel to talk with their king.

Despite this style of government, which could be quite effective, historians mostly talk about his low ability to solve domestic and foreign political and financial problems due to exaggerated modesty and strong self-doubts. This intelligent, insightful monarch constantly doubted himself. Lack of confidence shackled his valuable qualities. He very quickly grasped the essential and necessary, as well as the significance and consequences of events. But if his entourage or ministers expressed a different opinion, he was lost, became indecisive and spent a lot of time making a decision. A contemporary Duke of Croy, who knew the king well, notes on this occasion: “... modesty was a quality that turned into a disadvantage in him. Although he understood matters much better than others, he always considered himself wrong.

Unmusical, but sensitive to art, a deeply religious, pious man and a faithful son of the church and the pope, he did not allow many nobles to distract him from the faith, although they diligently tried to do so.

After at the latest from 1737 he was no longer intimate with the queen, he lived for long periods with official mistresses, to whom fleeting favorites of lower origin were sometimes added. Although at that time the content of mistresses was common for almost all monarchs, these constant violations of church morality caused remorse and depression in the French king. He was aware of his sinful state, but did not want to change it or did not have enough willpower for this. He hoped, being always surrounded by priests, to solve the problem by repentance before his death, as Croy notes.

Cardinal Burney emphasized: “His love for women overcame his love for religion, but she could never ... damage his reverence for her” and “The King has religion ... he would rather abstain from the sacrament of the sacrament than profane it” . Louis, during the 38 years of his reign, did not partake of the sacrament, although he otherwise responsibly performed his religious duties and, like his predecessor, every day with great reverence and always on his knees participated in Mass, fasted on the prescribed days and participated in processions. It was customary for the king, as God's anointed one, to lay hands on subjects suffering from scrofula on major holidays in order to heal them. But for this it was necessary to first confess and take communion. From 1722 to 1738, Louis XV always conscientiously performed the laying on of hands on scrofulous. But from 1739 this stopped, because he no longer took communion. This caused a big scandal. Although, thanks to the Enlightenment, the nobility had long questioned the sacredness of royal power, Louis XV, by ceasing to perform the old royal ritual of laying hands on scrofulous, contributed to the desacralization of his authority and its weakening.

Louis XV caused great damage to his reputation by having too many mistresses. He was considered a "lustful sinner". This “most Christian king” was not forgiven, although most of the courtiers did not live with their wives, but with their mistresses, and things were no better for the upper bourgeoisie. A special reason for the scandal was the connection of the king with the notorious Pompadour, which went down in history as a symbol of royal metress.

The young king was at first in love, a good and faithful husband. In the first 12 years, his wife bore him ten children. The first daughter was born when he was seventeen and a half years old, and the last - when he was twenty-seven, and Mary thirty-four. In addition to two boys, the couple had 8 girls who bore the title "Madame of France", they were numbered by age ("Madame First", "Madame Second", etc.). Of the girls, “Madame the Third” died at the age of four and a half, and of the boys, the youngest, born in 1730. The only son left was Dauphin Louis, born on September 4, 1729, an organist and singer who did not like either hunting or sports, very devout and homely, who, after the death of his beloved first wife, with his second wife, Maria Joseph of Saxony, led a happy family life, more like a bourgeois one. From them descended the subsequent kings Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X. The relationship of Louis XV with his son was very tense, but he was very attached to his daughters, whom, when they grew up, he willingly visited and talked with them. I listened to their music and made their own coffee. Only the eldest, Elizabeth of France, married Don Philip of Spain, the future Duke of Parma. The youngest, Louise, became a Carmelite nun.

Although Louis was a loving father, difficulties soon arose in his marriage to Maria Leszczynska. The wife, seven years older, very pious, but unattractive, boring, apathetic and sad, had completely different interests than the king, rarely accompanied him, because of her frequent pregnancies, and could not create the atmosphere that Louis aspired to. A truly close trusting relationship did not arise between them, and the king "found the darkest corner of the court with the queen." When the queen once, on the advice of doctors, denied her husband intimacy, but did not dare to explain the reason, he, offended, finally turned away from her. Unaccustomed to abstinence and apparently incapable of doing so, from 1738/39 the king began to spend his time in the company of the maitre. Croy spoke about this as follows: "Along with exaggerated modesty, he had the most important and only drawback - a passion for women." The first official metres were the four daughters of the Marquis de Nestle. He enjoyed the fact that they could relax and "live like an ordinary person."

In the spring of 1745, a new lady rose to the position of "chief meter": Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, the illegitimate daughter of a financier, who grew up in a respectable bourgeois family and at the age of 20, in 1742, married the financier Charles Guillaume Le Normand d'Etoile. A seductive, exceptionally beautiful, ambitious and educated young woman met Louis XV during his hunting trips and decided to become his mistress by all means, which she achieved in March 1745. She divorced her husband, received a noble estate from Louis and as the Marquise de Pompadour was admitted to the court, although the nobles despised this upstart. Her art and talent consisted primarily in the fact that she knew how to entertain the king and dispel his melancholy. From 1745 until her death in 1764, the new maitre, uncompromising in her ambition and striving for power, played a very important role. The public found it especially scandalous that this woman was able to hold her position for so many years. She was admirably able to beat off the king's rivals and keep his favor. Although their relationship lasted only until 1750, she remained an even more influential friend, created a private atmosphere for him and supplied the king or tolerated around him little favorites from simple classes who were not dangerous to her. It was these little metresses, who lived in the same house, that gave rise to fantastic rumors, stories and suspicions. They talked about mass orgies, seduction of minors, etc. In reality, young women of marriageable age made their way on their own, often pushed by their ambitious parents. Although Louis XV knew what a blow to his prestige was inflicted by Pompadour, yet in 1768, at the age of 58, he made another bourgeois woman, 25-year-old Jeanne Vaubenier, who was married to the Comte de Barry, the main metres. The new maitress, the Comtesse de Barry, a cheerful, sly, good-natured young woman, now surrounded by courtiers, artists and philosophers, did not play such a political role as the Marquise de Pompadour, but her extravagance also contributed to the fall of the authority of the monarch. The number of illegitimate children of Louis is estimated in different ways. Antoine emphasizes that there were only eight of them, that is, fewer than legal ones. It was mainly about girls who were married well; both sons became clergymen.

Louis XV ruled for 59 years. An apathetic, lazy, jaded personality - this is how historians paint the French monarch. But not all. Some authors of biographical prose depict him as an educated, inquisitive person who despises strict ceremonies. In his era, France reached an unprecedented cultural flourishing, but plunged into an economic crisis that ultimately led to a revolution.

Childhood and youth

In the 18th century, people often died from measles, consumption and other diseases. And commoners and kings. The future monarch was born in 1710. A year later, the grandfather of the future king died. In 1712, his parents died. The great-grandfather of the two-year-old Dauphin was in good health. He ruled the country for 72 years, longer than his heir was supposed to. But the deadline was coming to an end.

Little Louis XV with his governess, grandfather, great-grandfather and father

The Bourbons feared that power would pass to the Orleans. The royal court was seriously afraid for the health of the little heir to the throne. In 1715, Louis nevertheless became a monarch. Philippe d'Orleans as his regent.

The upbringing of Louis XV was taken up by the Duchess Vantadour. She removed from the boy the doctors who healed his relatives to death, taught him to wear a corset, which made the figure slender, toned over time. Hobbies for horseback riding and hunting strengthened the health of the young king. As for the psychological state, the great-grandson from an early age was distinguished by intemperance, a tendency to melancholy.

An ordinary child could quench the excitement with the help of communication with peers. But we are talking about a small monarch. Representatives of the royal family were doomed to loneliness, despite the honors, respect and courtiers scurrying around. The boy was barely seven years old when he was separated from Vantadour. Villeroy became the main teacher.

So, the mediocre military leader took up the education of the young king. Villeroy turned out to be not the best teacher either. The basis of the educational process was participation in official ceremonies in which the boy was given the main role. The children's nervous system could not withstand the stress, Ludovic began to be afraid of the crowd.

Semyon Blumenau, the author of the biography of the French king, argued that the character of the ruler was influenced by the incorrect pedagogical methods of Villeroy, busy with intrigues. The young monarch was not accustomed to work. Villeroy instilled in his pupil a dislike for ceremonies, idleness.

In the sciences, things were incomparably better. The boy was given lessons in Latin, mathematics, history. Later, having become a ruler in the full sense of the word, the monarch will prefer paperwork to ceremonies. Despite this, posterity will have the idea of ​​a useless and lazy king.

Louis had an extensive collection of books, which was regularly replenished. In addition, the king had a rare collection of atlases. In adolescence, he knew the basics of government and foreign policy. In addition, the young ruler of France understood history thanks to an amazing memory.

Philippe d'Orleans died shortly before the king came of age. Then the Duke de Bourbon was appointed first minister. The first thing he did, having received a new position, was the search for a bride for the young king. The marriage of the monarch and the birth of children would secure the Bourbons from the claims of the Orleans. The bride was found quickly. She became Maria Leshchinskaya, an educated girl who knew how to sing and draw, but did not differ in beauty.

Beginning of the reign

In 1726, Louis announced his readiness to rule independently. The king sent the Duke de Bourbon away and finally became a full-fledged ruler. However, only at first glance. In fact, the state was ruled by Cardinal de Fleury. He played the same role as before.

Until 1743, that is, until his death, de Fleury solved all important state tasks. The king, meanwhile, indulged in his favorite hobbies. First of all, hunting. From time to time he went to the theater, he preferred to while away the evenings playing cards. Versailles with noisy ceremonies annoyed the monarch. He felt more comfortable in other castles.

The cardinal, in whose hands power was concentrated, avoided drastic measures. He did not take decisive political steps, which contributed to the deterioration of the economic situation. Features of the reign of de Fleury - the lack of reforms, innovations. The cardinal exempted the clergy from taxes and duties. Obsessively pursued dissidents, and in financial matters she showed complete ignorance.

De Fleury avoided wars. Nevertheless, bloody clashes took place. As a result of the military conflict over the Polish inheritance, Lorraine was annexed to France. The struggle for the Austrian inheritance led to the Peace of Aachen.

Louis revered art and literature. At a time when de Fleury was in charge of the country, the king supported architects, painters, sculptors, poets, and encouraged medicine and the natural sciences. According to rough estimates, he acquired 800 paintings. How much money Louis XV spent on furniture and other decorative elements is unknown.

Domestic politics

After the death of de Fleury, the king did not appoint a new minister. He again tuned in to the independent government of the country, but here he demonstrated a complete inability to resolve state issues. All this had disastrous consequences for France. The ministries were in turmoil. The king, without any regret, spent money from the treasury on the whims of his mistresses.

In the mid-40s, Louis came to power. For 20 years, this woman interfered in state affairs. True, she devoted considerable influence to the arts and science. Partly thanks to Pompadour, the term "Louis XV style" appeared, meaning the Rococo style and found application primarily in applied art.

In fact, the main favorite of the king was called Madame d'Etiol. Over time, she received from the king both the title and the Pompadour estate. The mistress of Louis XV took over from Fleury. At first, the cardinal ruled the state. Then he was replaced by Madame Pompadour. Since about 1750, the relationship between the king and the favorite was platonic. Nevertheless, dislike for the monarch grew among the inhabitants of Paris. Rumors spread throughout the capital about a depraved ruler conniving at the wasteful Pompadour.

In 1757, a man named Damien was quartered in the Place de Grève. This type of execution has not been used in France for more than a century. Damien was sentenced to a painful death on charges of attempting to assassinate the king. The depressing financial situation, the discontent of the masses, the impunity of the clergy - all this spoke of the need for reforms. Macho, who was in charge of finance, proposed to limit the rights of the clergy. But his project was not realized.

Foreign policy

In 1756, the ardent enemies of the Bourbons and the Habsburgs suddenly found themselves on the same side of the barricades. The Seven Years' War began. The French king was on the side of Austria. The result of this military conflict was the Peace of Paris, according to which the country lost Canada, India and other colonies. From now on, France did not belong to the strong European powers.

Louis XV did not make independent decisions. Madame Pompadour even interfered in the affairs of the army, periodically appointing new ministers and commanders. The war robbed the country of its last strength.

France was on the verge of a crisis, a deficit began. When Pompadour died, a new favorite of the king, Dubarry, appeared in Versailles, who, like her predecessor, proved to be a talented intriguer.

Popular discontent grew. However, the king did not pay attention to this. He still hunted, had fun with the metresses. In order to strengthen peace with Austria, he entered into a marriage contract. Louis XV outlived his son.

The direct heir was the grandson, whom the king favorably married. and were punished for the sins of their predecessor. Popular discontent grew into a revolution. The grandson of Louis XV and his wife were executed. The phrase of the "lazy monarch" - "After us - at least later" - turned out to be fatal.

Personal life

Mary was not attractive, but she had an initially idyllic relationship with the king. In that era, the intimate details of personal life were discussed without undue modesty. The whole country learned that the young king turned out to be a tireless lover. The offspring increased rapidly, and this calmed the Bourbons for a while. By 1737, Maria had given birth to 10 children.

But the relationship between Louis and Mary gradually deteriorated. The reason for the discord in the royal family is the difference in character and temperament. Because of the coldness of his wife, the king began to take mistresses, which ultimately affected the manner of government. He did not skimp on the maintenance of favorites, and the economic situation in the country worsened every day.

Mary died in 1768. Four out of ten royal children died in infancy. Having been widowed, Louis did not marry again, although this option was considered as a way to strengthen Franco-Austrian relations.

Louis XV is a bright personality in history. Books are written about the era of the “lazy monarch”, directors make films. The favorites of the king are described in one of the series "History of Morals". The first film, in which there is an image of the grandfather of the executed king, was released in the 30s. One of the last paintings is “Louis XV: Black Sun”.

Death

In recent years, Louis XV selflessly indulged in debauchery, which infuriated even the courtiers. Dubarry regularly supplied him with young and pure mistresses.

From one of them, the monarch at the end of April 1774 contracted smallpox. May 10 died. On this day in Paris, no one grieved. The people rejoiced, pinning their hopes on the new ruler.

Memory

• 1938 - The film "Marie Antoinette"
• 1952 - The film "Fanfan Tulip"
• 1956 - The film "Marie Antoinette - Queen of France"
• 2005 - Monument in Peterhof "Peter I with a young Louis XV in his arms"
• 2006 - The film "Jeanne Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour"
• 2009 - Film "Louis XV: Black Sun"