louis_xiv

Versailles - the biggest parlour game ever played

There is a common misconception on the palace and court of Versailles. Many people think that the palace has been built out of royal megalomania, a sign that the Sun King cares more about himself than about his kingdom and people, a giant waste of money which would better have been spent to put the kingdom of France in order.

Nothing could be farer from reality - at least during my reign. In fact, I extended this old hunting house to the famous palace of Versailles for the purpose of putting the kingdom of France in order. How could a giant leisure park like Versailles help reorganizing and sanifying the kingdom ? To explain this, I have to go back some decades.

As every historian can confirm, my father Louis XIII and his prime minister, Cardinal Richelieu, had constantly to struggle with revolting nobles. Inner conflicts, revolts, insurrections and civil wars took place on a nearly daily basis. French nobles are like a horde of naughty children, always ranting and fighting and rebelling. My father had even to struggle with his own mother, Maria de Medici, who raised an army against her son.

As for me, I lived this problem when I was a child, during the regency of my mother, when the nobles took again arms against the crown. History knows this period as the "Fronde". I know it as the time when I learned that mighty men and women wanted my death, when rioters penetrated my royal chamber in the night while I pretended to be sleeping, when my own cousin Anne Marie Louise, "La Grande Mademoiselle", had shot on my cavalry and me with canons, during the siege of Paris 1652. By the way, I was 14.

You might understand why my priority as king was to make sure that insurrections like this will never ever happen again. But how ? My father and Richelieu had already tried to strengthen the power of the crown and to bring the nobles to order - but they ultimately failed, hence the Fronde.

What should I do ?

Imagine you have all kinds of wild beasts devastating your land, fighting against each other and terrorizing the citizens. How can you get rid of them, if killing them all is not an option ?

Well, the solution is simple - you build a zoo.

That's what Versailles is: A zoo for nobles. By requiring all nobles of a certain rank and position to spend a part of the year at Versailles, I kept them under control. Of course, unruly as french nobles are, they would only come if they enjoyed Versailles - thus I had to entertain them. And I did - with balls, parties, concerts, theater pieces, fashion, but most of all with this big game which is called the "court". The game has very strict rules, not only the official court etiquettes, but also unwritten rules for intrigues, cabals, flirts, adultery, duels, scandals, vices etc. The price of the game is my royal grace, status and the illusion of power, symbolized by better apartments, two horses more on one's coach, a place near the royal table, an invitation to Marly or the right to help the queen dressing. "This, Madame, is Versailles."

To make this system work, I had, of course, to build a certain person cult around my person. Nobody wants to please a weak king. I also had to do as if I wasn't insensible to flattery, as flattery and apple-polishing was part of the game. And they accepted the rules and played the game, all of them. They flirted, chatted, flattered, gossiped and intrigued as if this was the most important things in their life. Lots of court intrigues, but no more civil wars.

See what happens ? Instead of fighting against each other in siege wars, they intrigue against each other at the court. Instead of taking over each other's cities, they seduce each other's mistress. And as the price of the game is the royal grace, they don't stand up against the king. I canalized their ambition into this game. And while they were busy playing the game, I made politics, reduced their political power, organized and centralized the administration of the kingdom, reorganized and simplified the tax system and gave all the power to the crown. All this would not have been possible with all the nobles sitting in their castles, being bored, ranting about the king and thinking what to do next with their personal little army.

See why Versailles was necessary to sanify the Kingdom of France ?

Of course, Versailles is senseless without a strong king. I understand that after my death, the "court game" will continue to be played, but my successors will be unable to take advantage of it. When this happens, Versailles will really become the absurdity your time sees in it, the symbol of decadence, a senseless waste of money, an absurd theatre play without director. French revolution will eventually put an end to all this, and Louis XVI will be beheaded. I'm fine with this - this weakling doesn't deserve to be king.

But for now I will continue using Versailles as a political zoo, I will encourage the nobles to participate in the game, and I will secretly enjoy the absurdity of this game. Yes, Madame, all this ridiculous. That's was it was made for. This, Madame, is Versailles.