Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle, 1652-1693Barine, Arvède
History
Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle, 1652-1693
Barine, Arvède
Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715; Montpensier, Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans, duchesse de, 1627-1693
Such domestic manners had the encouragement of the King, who also left
his doors open upon the evenings on which he danced a ballet. He did
better still. He went officially to sup "with the Sieur de la
Baziniere," ancient lackey become financier and millionaire, and having
the bearing, the manners, and the ribbon cascades of the Marquis de
Mascarille. He desired that Mademoiselle should invite to the
Luxembourg, Mme. de l'Hopital, ancient laundress married twice for her
beautiful eyes; the first time by a _partisan_, the second by a Marshal
of France. These lessons were not lost upon the nobility. Mesalliances
were no more discredited, even the lowest, the most shameful, provided
that the dot was sufficient. A Duke and Peer had married the daughter of
an old charioteer. The Marechal d'Estrees was the son-in-law of a
_partisan_ known under the name of Morin the Jew. Many others could be
cited, for the tendency increased from year to year.
In 1665, the King having entered Parliament,[59] in order to confirm an
edict, a group of men amongst whom was Olivier d'Ormesson were regarding
the Tribune in which were seated the ladies of the Court. Some one
thought of counting how many of these were daughters of parvenues or of
business men; he found three out of six. Two others were nieces of
Mazarin, married to French nobles.[60] The single one of aristocratic
descent was Mlle. d'Alencon, a half-sister of the Grande Mademoiselle.
One could hardly have anticipated such figures, even allowing for
chance.
The King, however, approved of this state of affairs and the nobility
was ruined; every one seized on what support he could. The general
course of affairs was favourable to this confusion of rank. From the
triumphal re-entry of Mazarin in 1653, until his death in 1661, a kind
of universal freedom continued at the Court which surprised the ancient
Frondeurs on their return from exile. The young monarch himself
encouraged familiarities and lack of etiquette.
It was the nieces of the Cardinal who were largely responsible for these
changes in manners and who gained their own profit through the
additional freedom, since Marie, the third of the Mancini, was soon to
almost touch the crown with the tip of her finger. Mademoiselle had some
trouble in accustoming herself to the new manners towards the King.
For me [says she], brought up to have great respect, this is
most astonishing, and I have remained long time without
habituating myself to this new freedom. But when I saw how
others acted, when the Queen told me one day that the
King hated ceremony, then I yielded; for without this high
authority the faults of manner could not be possible with others.
The pompous Louis XIV. wearing the great wig of the portraits did not
yet exist, and the Louvre of 1658 but little resembled the particular
and formal Versailles of the time of Saint-Simon.[61]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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