Chapter XVI
Reading edition
The Gilded Age of Louis XIV
I—THE KING
1. The Story of His Life.
2. The Splendor of the Court—Compulsory residence of the nobles at Versailles; Louis's dislike and fear of Paris; effect politically of the segregation of the court.
3. The Great Ministers—Mazarin, Colbert, Louvois; relation of the king to them.
4. The Women of the Court—Louise de la Vallière, Madame de Montespan, Madame de Maintenon.
Books to Consult—Guizot: History of France. De Nolhac: Versailles. Heroes of the Nations Series: Louis XIV. A. Hassall: Louis XIV. and Madame de Maintenon. Lady Blennerhasset.
Study everything relating to Versailles, to which Louis moved the court; show pictures of the famous gardens, the fountain at play, the palace. Read a description of some fête: describe the Grand Trianon and its social life. Show pictures of Louis.
II—SOCIAL FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV
1. Manners of the Time—Court etiquette. Excessive fondness of the king for it, and his strict insistence on it. Quote from the numerous memoirs of the time, descriptions of the palace ceremonial (Madame de Sévigné, Saint Simon, etc.).
2. Amusements of the Court—Receptions and functions. Fêtes. Hunting. Theatricals. Card games and gambling.
3. Women of the Court—The Queen, La Grande Mademoiselle, Madame de la Vallière, Madame de Montespan, Madame de Maintenon, Madame de Sévigné and her circle. Dress of the time.
4. Social Morals—Distinction between the morals of the court and those of the common people. Growing popular dissatisfaction, and its later tragic consequences.
Books to Consult—Hassall: Louis XIV. and the Zenith of the French Monarchy. Voltaire: The Age of Louis XIV. Guizot: History of France (Vol. IV., particularly the last chapter).
A most interesting short paper might be prepared on the odd people of the time: Scarron; The Man in the Iron Mask; famous fortune-tellers. Show pictures of some of the court beauties, to illustrate the dress of the women of the period, and also a cut of Louis in his wig and high-heeled shoes, taken from any history of France.
III—PARIS UNDER LOUIS XIV
1. The City—Area and population as compared with those of to-day. Show maps of both periods. Colbert: story of his life and his remaking of Paris. The destruction of the old walls and the beginning of the boulevards. Lenôtre and his landscape-gardening (the garden of the Tuileries). Laying out of the Places Vendôme, des Victoires, du Carrousel.
2. Public Buildings—The architects Perrault and Mansart and their work. Description of buildings erected under Louis: the Invalides, Bibliothèques du Roi and Mazarin, Académie, Gobelins, Comédie Française, etc. Gates: St. Denis, St. Martin, etc. Quai d'Orsay.
3. Churches of the Day—Val-de-Grâce and the birth of Louis. St. Roch: its erection and later connection with French history. Nôtre Dame and its ceremonies. St. Denis and the royal tombs.
4. Great Events in Paris under Louis—Royal spectacles, executions, mobs.
Books to Consult—Larousse (under the word Paris, for those who read French). Hamerton: Paris in Old and Present Times. Hare: Walks in Paris. De Amicis: Studies in Paris.
The subject of the dwellings of the common people of this time deserves study: their bareness, absence of sanitation, water-supply, lack of conveniences and utensils. Also, the people's employments, food, dress, amusements, doctors and medicine and care of the sick and the relation of the priest to the family: christenings, weddings, and funerals. Material may be found in the histories, the encyclopædias (particularly Larousse), memoirs, the novels of Dumas, Dumas's Paris, etc.
IV—THE WARS OF LOUIS XIV
1. The Foreign Relations of the Reign—Mazarin and the Peace of Westphalia. Death of Philip IV. of Spain and Louis's claim to the Netherlands. League with Charles II. of England. Discuss the question whether Charles was in Louis's pay. Opposition from William III. of England.
2. Enlargement of Army and Navy—Harbors and ships of Brest, Toulon, etc. Constructive work of Louvois and Vauban. Their theories of war. Are they still held?
3. The Foreign Wars of Louis—Against Holland: Peace of Nymwegen. In the Palatinate: Peace of Ryswick. War of the Spanish Succession: Peace of Utrecht. Territories won and lost by Louis in these wars.
4. The Two Wars of the Fronde.
5. The Great Generals of Louis XIV.—Turenne, Condé, Luxembourg, Vendôme.
Books to Consult—Martin: History of France. Hassall: Louis XIV. and the Zenith of the French Monarchy. Mahon: History of the War of the Succession in Spain. Fitzpatrick: The Great Condé and the Period of the Fronde.
An interesting supplementary paper could be added to this program on The Art of Warfare in the Seventeenth Century; describe the formation of the army lines for battle; the equipment of the soldiers, the discipline, the tents, the commissariat, the cannon, swords, and other arms; the pay of the soldiers; their manners and morals; the relation of the officers to the men. Some one battle may be described in detail to illustrate the methods employed on the field.