La Maupin: Julie d'Aubigny

Julie d'Aubigny

(b. 1670, d.1707)

A Anonymous 1700's print of Julie d'Aubigny titled Mademoiselle la Maupin de l'Opéra.

There has never been a woman that has made me truly consider just how incredibly badass some women in the 17th century were than Julie d'Aubigny. Her whole life story sounds like it came straight out of some incredibly saucy French roman, but this woman actually existed and her life consisted of almost getting the death sentence to burning down a convent to have a tryst with a nun. She was a bisexual fencing opera star. What more do you want?

Born to the secretary of Louis XIV's Master of Horses, le Comte d'Armagnac, Julie was taught fencing at a young age by her father and schooled in literacy and dancing. She was introduced to the Comte in her teens and soon after she became his mistress, but her married her off to a Sieur de Maupin. After the affair, her husband received a work commission and had to leave Paris, but Julie decided to stay behind and her reputation took off from there.

She earned a reputation. She was known for fighting duels and ended up in an affair with a assistant fencing master named Serannes. When he killed a man in an illegal duel, the duo had to flee to Marseille. Moving did not curb her outlandish tendencies. She and Serannes gave dueling exhibitions, in which she wore male clothing. However, she didn't try to disguise the fact that she was a woman. This attracted even more attention. In her time there she took up singing in a theater, became tired with Sarennes, and ended up becoming attracted to a young woman, whose name we do not know. The girl's parents shipped her off to a convent, but the persistent d'Aubigny followed and entered the convent, too. This is where the story gets interesting. She, according to accounts, took the body of a nun, put it where her lover was, lit the convent on fire, and ran away with her. The girl returned to her family three months later, but d'Aubigny was charged and sentenced to death by fire. She left for Paris and met with a man named Marechal near Poitier, whom she stayed with until he sent her away to Paris. She continued her singing career dressed as a man. She picked up another lover in Villeperdue after she wounded one of three squires in a duel and inquired after his health. She entered his room in men's clothing and... do I really even need to say? Once he was healed and had to return to his unit, d'Aubigny convinced d'Armagnac to get the king to pardon her. 

She continued on into opera and began using the name Mademoiselle Maupin. Her contralto voice and flamboyancy made her a crowd favorite.She fell in love with two actresses in the troupe, one of whom was the mistress of Le Grand Dauphin. When this one rejected her, she attempted suicide. The one whom she was infatuated with prior caused some discontent among the troupe members and many duels arose from it.  Her profession as a dueler made her forced to flee to Brussels, where legend has it that she had an affair with the Elector of Bavaria. 

She appeared in several major opera productions before she reconciled with her husband and lived with him until his death. She died in 1707 in a convent that she entered after she retired from opera.

Sources

Rogers, Cameron. Gallant Ladies. New York: Harcourt, Brace and, 1928. Print.

Letainturier-Fradin, G. La Maupin: Sa Vie, Ses Duels, Ses Aventures. Paris: n.p., 1904. Print.

Sadie, Stanley. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. New York: Grove's Dictionaries of Music, 1992. Print.

Le Roi Soleil: Louis XIV

Louis XIV

(b. Sept. 5, 1638, d. Sept. 1, 1715)

Out of all of the French kings that I have endeavored to research and attempt to paint a true portrait that is neither to radical or too liberal, Louis XIV was, and still is, one of the most complex. I will outline a relatively brief overview of some of his political accomplishments and perhaps go into detail on several later on. Let us begin,

He was heralded as a gift from god after his mother, Anne of Austria, suffered many miscarriages and bore no children for a long time. His birth was celebrated by many. During his youth, the political climate was disrupted by the Fronde, which would later influence him in the making of stricter hierarchy among French forces.

Louis had one brother, Philippe, le Duc D'Orleans. The two brothers were very close in childhood and one story recounts the tale of Philippe becoming frightened during an uprising, so Louis went over to comfort him and drew his own little sword and swore that he'd protect him. Another tale tells about the two brothers getting into a fight over some soup that Philippe had prepared with meat during Lent. Louis confronted him about it and Philippe refused to stop eating it, so Louis dumped it on his head and Philippe tossed some of it back into his brother's face with a spoon. 

One aspect that stuck out to me considering the time period was the close attachment that Louis had with his mother. The two, by all accounts, were very close and had a very warm relationship. Anne adored her son and Louis adored her in turn. They were said to often bathe together and she encouraged Louis's love of riding and physical activity.

Louis didn't begin officially ruling until after the death of Cardinal Mazarin and officially took power 1661, though he had been king since 1643. He wasted no time in picking men of talent to place into high positions. In order to help check the ambitions of Fouquet, who had built the lavish Vaux le Vicomte and lavishly displayed his wealth by entertaining both king an court, Louis appointed Jean-Baptiste Colbert as Controller-General of Finances. This move left Fouquet standing in the shadow of embezzlement, leaving parlement to sentence him to exile, however, Louis sentenced to a life of imprisonment and completely abolished his post. This move proved that he was not afraid to imprison and be rid of anyone who challenged his authority as king and grand ruler. Through Michel le Tellier and his son, the Marquis de Louvois, Louis began implementing new military reforms which checked the power of the nobility that served in the army and broke up there total control over the military system. Louvois proved to be very dedicated to the soldiers and even went on to attempt directing campaigns. Louis also implemented many new laws and procedures that would remain in place until the French Revolution in 1789. Most of France's aristocratic procedures and court procedures that were in place during the reign of Louis XVI were set up by Louis XIV.

Versailles was considered to be one of Le Roi Soleil's grandest achievements. A few of it's architects and designers, such as La Notre, were people that had previously worked for Fouquet. The Palace was originally a hunting lodge and Louis fell in love with the lodge and began construction on it extensively in 1664. Even by his death, the Chateau was not completed fully. The palace was divided into four great building endeavors. The first took about four years and was done to the gardens and interior to help accommodate guests for The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island fete. The second campaign led the palace to become similar to what it appears today. The original lodge was kept and the wings for the Grand Apartments were added on. The third building campaign was when the famous Hall of Mirrors was added in along with the north and south wings with the famous Orangerie. The final campaign completed the palace for the time being and most construction ended with the building of the chapel in 1710.

Louis was a huge patron to the arts. He sponsored talents such as the Italian turned Frenchman Lully, Racine, Molière, and La Fontaine. He also purchased the Académie Française and patronized it, becoming somewhat of a guardian for it. Hyacinthe Rigaud was also patronized by the king and would later paint his famous portrait of Louis and would gain fame throughout Europe. The king was known to love dancing and performed in ballets often.

Louis was married to the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa and she gave him Louis le Grand Dauphin  along with several children. Though he was married, Louis had several mistresses over the course of his reign, both official and not. I'll save the details of his affairs and mistresses for another post entirely, but he had many children between them but only Louis survived infancy. Many of his children by the mistresses were given rank and titles and married into wealthy and prominent families,

The Edict of Nantes was revoked under Louis the XIV, as he saw it to shed unhealthy light on what he believed to be a sign of weakness of the crown. He banned Protestant preachers from preaching outdoors, closed churches, and insisted that all Protestants convert, preventing them from emigrating elsewhere. He revoked the Edict of Nantes with the Edict of Fontainebleau. The edict outlined what was to be expected of the protestants: conversion or exile. Pastors were forced to choose between leaving church duties completely or being forced into exile. There are several possibilities as to why Louis issued the edict, but no one is exactly sure of why and it is a debated subject among historians. Some believe that it was to placate the Pope, others to upstage Leopold I, and some think it was to eliminate any division among the populace.

The War of the Grand Alliance led to a decline in Louis's political and diplomatic endevours. The League of Augsburg sought to restore France to her borders outlined in the Treaty of Nijmegen. With Leopold busy in the Balkans, the French were relatively successful in the war, gathering victories in Flanders, Germany,  and Italy. Louis personally oversaw the capturing of Mons and Namur. With both sides wanting peace after various battles, Louis approached each of his opponents individually after peace talks failed. Only when the Savoyards agreed to a treaty did the other countries of the alliance rush to make talks and call an end to the conflict. This resulted in the treaty of Ryswick in 1697 which aroused suspicion among the members of the Alliance and allowed Louis to break the alliance apart. The treaty gave Louis and France many pluses, including sovereignty over Alsace, gave France it's Rhine border that still exists today, returned Acadia and Pondichéri to France, and Louis released Catalonia and the Reunions. Louis returned the long held territory of Lorraine to Duke Leopold and renounced interests in the Electorate of Cologne and the Palatinate in exchange for financial compensation. Louis also withdrew his support of King James II and recognized Mary and William as the joint rulers of the British Isles. Peace was much needed in a resource exhausted France, and diplomatically appeared as a loss for Louis, but it fulfilled many of his plans laid out in 1688 and peace was a much desired thing.

Europe was under the stress of constant wars between the major powers of Spain, France, England, and Austria. The War of Spanish Succession had France, with Maria Theresa and Anne of Austria as their claimants, and Austria, with Leopold I's son, Charles, as claimant, vying for the throne of Spain. The treaty of Hague was signed between Louis and William III of England to attempt to avoid any further conflict by diving up the Spanish Italian territories between Louis Le Grand Dauphin and Charles, leaving Ferdinand, the choice of the English and Dutch, with the rest of the country. When Ferdinand died, Louis and William II signed the Treaty of London to  give Archduke Charles Spain, the low countries, and the colonies. Le Grand Dauphin received all of Spain's Italian territories. Charles later gave all of the territories back to France, saying that the country should not remain divided. Upon his death, Charles, under pressure from the Pro-French court in Spain, even with some persuasion from the Pope, decided to, in his will, leave the territories under his control to Le Grand Dauphin's son, Philip Duke of Anjou. If he refused, then Charles, Duke of Berry would take the throne. This change of will put Louis in a difficult position. Partitioning of Spain would avoid war, but he would go against the will of Charles II. Louis initially did not begin to go along with partition treaties, but the Dauphin persuaded him to go along with it. Colbert pointed out that war would ensue no matter what option was taken, so Louis took up Charles II's will and took control of Spain. With Philip on the throne, tensions between England and France mounted when Louis recognized James Stuart as king of England and as Philip gave France the right to slaves from Spanish colonies, which alienated many English traders and organizations. Britain and the Dutch formed an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire and the German states and declared war on France. Bavaria, Portugal, and Spanish colonies remained allies of France.

Fighting concluded between the countries began in 1714 after all countries had signed the treaties. It would not be much later that Louis, after 72 years on the throne, the longest rule of any monarch in the history of Europe, would die of gangrene just four days before his 77th birthday. His body was placed in the Basilica until Revolutionaries almost 80 years later would destroy all of the remain found there.Before his death, hoping to curb some of the power of his nephew, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, he created a regency council for his grandson, Louis XV, but his will was annulled by his nephew, who was then made sole regent of France.

Sources

• Dunlop, Ian. Louis XIV. New York: St. Martin's, 2000. Print.
• Mitford, Nancy. The Sun King. New York: Harper & Row, 1966. Print.
•  Le, Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel., and Jean-François Fitou. Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2001. Print
• Bluche, François. Louis XIV. New York: F. Watts, 1990. Print
• Bertrand, Louis, and Cleveland Bruce Chase. Louis XIV. New York: Longmans, Green and, 1928. Print