It's 1710. Louis XIV is King of France. The succession seems assured, as he has six male descendants, five of whom are eligible for the throne:
Son Louis the Dauphin
Grandsons Louis, Duke of Burgundy Philip V of Spain (not legally eligible) Charles, Duke of Berry
Great-grandsons Louis, Duke of Brittany (son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy), born in 1707 Louis, (other son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy), born in 1710.
But then this happens!
1711: Louis the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV, dies of smallpox. Louis, Duke of Burgundy, becomes the Dauphin. 1712, February 12: The wife of the Dauphin dies of measles. 1712, February 18: The Dauphin, who loved his wife, stayed with her when she was sick, caught the measles from her, and didn't want to outlive her, also dies of measles. His 5-year-old son Louis becomes Daupin. 1712, March 12: The new 5-year-old Dauphin dies of the same measles that got his parents. 1714: The Duke of Berry dies from a hunting accident. 1715: Louis XIV dies.
This means that when Louis XIV dies, he has two legitimate male descendants, Philip V of Spain, and a 5-year-old kid, the one whose parents and older brother died of measles within a single month, when he was only 2.
5-year-old kid becomes the Louis XV we know so well.
Who's regent?
Well, not Philip V of Spain. After the War of the Spanish Succession (1711-1714), he was only allowed to keep his throne on the condition that he renounce all his rights to France, on his own behalf and that of his descendants, in perpetuity.
Of course, when they started negotiating this treaty, he was a lot further along in the succession than he was when they signed it! Now it's one five-year-old kid standing between him and the throne. War is feared.
Normally, the kid's mother would be regent (as happened when Louis XIV inherited at the age of four), but remember, she died of measles. Grandma was long dead. So is great-grandma. Madame de Maintenon is in a morganatic marriage with Louis XIV, and morganatic marriages don't make you a shoo-in for regent.
So the regency goes to the next in line to the throne (ignoring the officially disqualified but very much feared Philip of Spain), Louis XIV's gay brother's son, Philippe d'Orleans.
But the regency doesn't go to him without a fight!
A number of Philippe's enemies are concerned he's going to off the 5-year-old so he can become king (not a problem when Mom is regent). One of those enemies, Madame de Maintenon, wants her illegitimate son by Louis XIV to be regent.
Louis XIV's final will legitimizes Maintenon's son, gives him the real power, and gives Philippe an empty title. Then he dies.
The next day, Philippe summons the Parlement of Paris (not to be confused with a Parliament such as that of England) and gets them to annul the will. In return, he gives them all the rights they had previously enjoyed involving the vetoing of royal laws and actions, which Louis XIV had severely limited.
So that's the story of how Philippe II, Duc d'Orleans, against all probability, ends up as regent for Louis XV.
For the story of how Louis XV, against all probability, survived the measles that wiped out his family, his governess gets the credit. His older brother, being the next in line to the throne, and the doctors, paying more attention to him, did what 18th century doctors did: they bled him. The five-year-old died.
Two-year-old Louis was barricaded in his room by his governess, who wouldn't let the doctors near him, and stayed with him herself. And surprise! He survived! (Eventually he would die of smallpox, but not until his sixties.)
Go governess. Horowski tells me Louis XV loved her like a mother and called her Doudou (from her name, "Madame de Ventadour").
Quick nitpick: Madame de Maintenon had no children by Louis XIV. Philippe II. d’Orleans’ rival for the Regency was a previous mistress’ son, Madame de Montespan’s, I think, and unless I am remembering wrongly, the additional irony was that Philippe was also married to his sister, another bastard of Madame de Montespan’s. (Which got him slapped by his mother Liselotte for saying yes.)
Also, as an example of how bad in an age of bad medicen those doctors were: the otherwise interminable and boring movie about the death of Louis XIV makes a good point of showing their methods. Go governess indeed!
You're welcome. I think one of the reasons I can keep them apart in my head is that I encountered them first in the Angelique novels, where Montespan is usually refered to by her self chosen first name of Athenàis (she was christened Francoise, but that was too boring for her), and Maintenon by her pre-title name of Madame Scarron, since in the time from of the novels she's first a poor Protestant widow (before her Catholic conversion that was to have such fateful consquences, as she had all the fervour of the converted against her former fellow Protestant) and then as the governess of Athenais' children by Louis. (The series Versailles caused itself a real problem by reducing the Montespan/Louis children from seven to one, which dies as a baby, while also otoh wanting to cover the Louis/Maintenon relationship in the third season. Since without kids there is no reason for her to hang around and have encounters with the King, he thus had to fall out of love with Montespan and in love with Maintenon at lightning speed.
Aaaand here is the trailer to the movie The Death of Louis XIV I mentioned earlier. Watch it; it's way better than the interminable movie itself, by virtue of being fast, the costuming is amazing, it makes its point about the gruesomeness of 18th century medicine. Also, Louis' punk periwig is even more amazing than Bach's punk periwig.
Yeeeah, I think 1.5 minutes of that was enough :D Although yes, the costumes and the gruesome 18th C medicine, and wow that wig! were well worth watching!
(Of course I had to look up Louis XIV's death after that. Owwwwww.)
I realize that the regency is important and all but let me just say here that I was horrified by the thing where the measles just wiped out that whole family. (Especially since I had previously thought of measles as a disease that had bad side effects like blindness, not killing whole swathes of families!) Thank goodness for living in an age with modern medicine or even just a time where they don't BLEED THE PATIENTS, omg. Yes, go governess!
This is yet another reason why anti-vaxxers make me so mad. Measles were nearly gone after having plagued humanity like this for eons, and then they brought the illness back on all continents!
I know! And last week I discovered my least favorite coworker is one and is trying to discourage covid vaccination, GRRRR.
Also, this is why Fredersdorf need not have been having chronic health problems already in ~1736 in order to have been dangerously ill and causing Fritz to worry. Infectious disease FTL!
Tangentially, it sounds like La Mettrie died of sepsis from an unclean fleam (bloodletting device), which was a thing back then, since of course they didn't sterilize their instruments between uses. Ugh.
Tangentially, it sounds like La Mettrie died of sepsis from an unclean fleam (bloodletting device), which was a thing back then, since of course they didn't sterilize their instruments between uses. Ugh.
Oh huh, I didn't see this before I replied to your last comment about La Mettrie, but that makes perfect sense -- I was actually wondering if it was something like that, some kind of infection from the unsanitary conditions of bleeding *shudder* since the actual indigestion didn't sound like it was that bad, and the way the fever was described didn't super sound like the indigestion was a symptom of some worse illness (although, I mean, it could very well have been).
Yeah, it's just my guess, but it fits the little evidence we have.
since the actual indigestion didn't sound like it was that bad, and the way the fever was described didn't super sound like the indigestion was a symptom of some worse illness (although, I mean, it could very well have been).
Yes, the measles (and more generally the spate of deaths within 5 years) were the reason I started writing this up! (Hence the title.) Then I started digressing into the regency.
Also note that Louis XV, like his grandfather, will later die of smallpox, but fortunately at an advanced age (64) instead of 2 years old. Thanks to Madame de Ventadour! (ETA: Apparently I had already said that in the original write-up. Haha, repetition is good, right? :P)
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timeasmymeasure
In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-14 07:31 pm (UTC)Son
Louis the Dauphin
Grandsons
Louis, Duke of Burgundy
Philip V of Spain (not legally eligible)
Charles, Duke of Berry
Great-grandsons
Louis, Duke of Brittany (son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy), born in 1707
Louis, (other son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy), born in 1710.
But then this happens!
1711: Louis the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV, dies of smallpox. Louis, Duke of Burgundy, becomes the Dauphin.
1712, February 12: The wife of the Dauphin dies of measles.
1712, February 18: The Dauphin, who loved his wife, stayed with her when she was sick, caught the measles from her, and didn't want to outlive her, also dies of measles. His 5-year-old son Louis becomes Daupin.
1712, March 12: The new 5-year-old Dauphin dies of the same measles that got his parents.
1714: The Duke of Berry dies from a hunting accident.
1715: Louis XIV dies.
This means that when Louis XIV dies, he has two legitimate male descendants, Philip V of Spain, and a 5-year-old kid, the one whose parents and older brother died of measles within a single month, when he was only 2.
5-year-old kid becomes the Louis XV we know so well.
Who's regent?
Well, not Philip V of Spain. After the War of the Spanish Succession (1711-1714), he was only allowed to keep his throne on the condition that he renounce all his rights to France, on his own behalf and that of his descendants, in perpetuity.
Of course, when they started negotiating this treaty, he was a lot further along in the succession than he was when they signed it! Now it's one five-year-old kid standing between him and the throne. War is feared.
Normally, the kid's mother would be regent (as happened when Louis XIV inherited at the age of four), but remember, she died of measles. Grandma was long dead. So is great-grandma. Madame de Maintenon is in a morganatic marriage with Louis XIV, and morganatic marriages don't make you a shoo-in for regent.
So the regency goes to the next in line to the throne (ignoring the officially disqualified but very much feared Philip of Spain), Louis XIV's gay brother's son, Philippe d'Orleans.
But the regency doesn't go to him without a fight!
A number of Philippe's enemies are concerned he's going to off the 5-year-old so he can become king (not a problem when Mom is regent). One of those enemies, Madame de Maintenon, wants her illegitimate son by Louis XIV to be regent.
Louis XIV's final will legitimizes Maintenon's son, gives him the real power, and gives Philippe an empty title. Then he dies.
The next day, Philippe summons the Parlement of Paris (not to be confused with a Parliament such as that of England) and gets them to annul the will. In return, he gives them all the rights they had previously enjoyed involving the vetoing of royal laws and actions, which Louis XIV had severely limited.
So that's the story of how Philippe II, Duc d'Orleans, against all probability, ends up as regent for Louis XV.
For the story of how Louis XV, against all probability, survived the measles that wiped out his family, his governess gets the credit. His older brother, being the next in line to the throne, and the doctors, paying more attention to him, did what 18th century doctors did: they bled him. The five-year-old died.
Two-year-old Louis was barricaded in his room by his governess, who wouldn't let the doctors near him, and stayed with him herself. And surprise! He survived! (Eventually he would die of smallpox, but not until his sixties.)
Go governess. Horowski tells me Louis XV loved her like a mother and called her Doudou (from her name, "Madame de Ventadour").
Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-14 07:56 pm (UTC)Also, as an example of how bad in an age of bad medicen those doctors were: the otherwise interminable and boring movie about the death of Louis XIV makes a good point of showing their methods. Go governess indeed!
Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-14 08:01 pm (UTC)Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-15 05:45 am (UTC)Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-15 05:00 pm (UTC)Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-19 06:37 am (UTC)(Of course I had to look up Louis XIV's death after that. Owwwwww.)
Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-17 05:21 am (UTC)Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-17 06:56 am (UTC)Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-17 05:20 pm (UTC)Also, this is why Fredersdorf need not have been having chronic health problems already in ~1736 in order to have been dangerously ill and causing Fritz to worry. Infectious disease FTL!
Tangentially, it sounds like La Mettrie died of sepsis from an unclean fleam (bloodletting device), which was a thing back then, since of course they didn't sterilize their instruments between uses. Ugh.
Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-20 06:34 pm (UTC)Oh huh, I didn't see this before I replied to your last comment about La Mettrie, but that makes perfect sense -- I was actually wondering if it was something like that, some kind of infection from the unsanitary conditions of bleeding *shudder* since the actual indigestion didn't sound like it was that bad, and the way the fever was described didn't super sound like the indigestion was a symptom of some worse illness (although, I mean, it could very well have been).
Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-20 06:37 pm (UTC)since the actual indigestion didn't sound like it was that bad, and the way the fever was described didn't super sound like the indigestion was a symptom of some worse illness (although, I mean, it could very well have been).
Agreed.
Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-20 06:30 pm (UTC)Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-17 01:35 pm (UTC)Also note that Louis XV, like his grandfather, will later die of smallpox, but fortunately at an advanced age (64) instead of 2 years old. Thanks to Madame de Ventadour! (ETA: Apparently I had already said that in the original write-up. Haha, repetition is good, right? :P)