TIM BLANNING

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TIM BLANNING

• THE FRENCH MONARCHY IN
• THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

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Next week, the order of the two lectures has been
reversed, i.e.On Wednesday (7 November) I
shall lecture on The EnlightenmentOn Friday
(9 November) Natalia Mora Sitja will lecture on
Women and Gender in the eighteenth century
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The haemorrhage of legitimacy
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Louis XIV in 1701 by Hyacinthe Rigaud
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Tennyson, The Passing of ArthurAuthority forgets
a dying kingLaid widowed of the power in his
eyeThat bowed the will
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Louis XIV and three generations of Bourbons
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Louis XV on his accession to the throne in 1715
at the age of five
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The Duc dOrléansRegent 1715-23
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1723, the court returns to Versailles from Paris
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Cardinal Fleury(1653-1743)
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Cornelius Jansenius(1585-1638)
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Port Royal
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Pope Clement XI 1713Unigenitus Dei Filius pro
nostra et totius mundi salute Filius hominis
factus, dum Discipulos suos doctrina Veritatis
instrueret universamque Ecclesiam suam in
Apostolis erudiret, præsentia disponens et futura
prospiciens, præclaro ac saluberrimo documento
nos admonuit ut attenderemus a falsis Prophetis,
qui veniunt ad nos in vestimentis ovium, quorum
nomine potissimum demonstrantur Magistri illi
mendaces et in deceptione illusores, qui
splendida pietatis specie prava dogmata latenter
insinuantes, introducunt sectas perditionis sub
imagine Sanctitatis  utque facilius incautis
obrepant, quasi deponentes lupinam pellem et sese
Divinæ legis sententiis, velut quibusdam ovium
velleribus obvolventes, Sanctarum scripturarum,
adeoque etiam ipsius novi Testamenti verbis, quæ
multipliciter in suam aliorumque perditionem
depravant, nequiter abutuntur  antiqui scilicet,
a quo progeniti sunt, mendacii Parentis exemplo,
ac magisterio edocti nullam omnino esse ad
fallendum expeditiorem viam quam, ut ubi nefarii
erroris subintroducitur fraudolentia, ibi
divinorum verborum prætendatur auctoritas.
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Solidarity the union des classesThe
metropolitan Parlement of Paris and all its
offshoots are different divisions of one and the
same Parlement, different members of one and the
same body, animated by the same spirit, nourished
by the same principles and concerned with the
same object. Parlement of Paris, 1756
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The challenge of national sovereigntyThe
Parlement never speaks to the nation except in
the name of the King, and equally it never speaks
to the King except in the name of the nation.
Parlement of Rennes, 1757
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The royal responsea lit de justice
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Louis XV holds the séance de la flagellation, 3
March 1766 The plenitude of this authority
remains with me. They exercise it only in my name
and it may never be turned against me. I alone
have the right to legislate. This power is
indivisible. Officers do not make the law, they
only register, publish and enforce it. Public
order emanates exclusively from me and the rights
and the interests of the nation, which it has
been dared to separate from the monarch, are
necessarily united with mine and repose entirely
in my hands.
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The Maupeou Revolution of 1771-4
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Diderot, April 1771 we are on the verge of a
crisis which will end in slavery or liberty if
it is slavery, it will be a slavery like that
which exists in Morocco or Constantinople. If all
the Parlements are dissolved farewell to every
privilege of the various estates constituting a
corrective principle which prevents the monarchy
from degenerating into despotism.
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The apex of Louis XVs popularity the battle of
Fontenoy, 1745
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The failure of resource mobilisation was it due
to

• Exemptions?
• An administrative problem?
• Venality?
• The relationship between direct and indirect
  taxation?
• The dificulty in managing credit?

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SLEAZE!
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Louis XV in 1723
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Queen Marienée Leczszynska
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Louis XV by Rigaud
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Madame de Pompadournée Poissonby François
Boucher
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Louis XV gets older
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But the girls get younger
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and more disreputable- Madame du Barry(in
1769, the year of her presentation at court)
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How Madame du Barry Wanted to be viewed
And how the public actually saw her
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THE ENDMY NEXT LECTURE IN THIS COURSE NEXT
WEDNESDAY, 7 NOVEMBERTHE ENLIGHTENMENTIF YOU
HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THIS LECTURE, PLEASE VISIT
ME IN MY ROOM (NO. 3 ON THE FLOOR
ABOVE)AFTERWARDS OR SEND ME AN
EMAILtcb1000_at_cam.ac.uk