Dauphin: Smallpox, right. BTW, Sophie was less than impressed. Now she could have been sour-grapping, since he didn't marry her daughter, but Horowski also reports the Dauphin had a very limited vocabulary. The occasion of the meeting: Sophie's sitting with Liselotte and expecting Louis XIV himself, who after their original introduction during the wedding festivities now wants to talk to her some more.
Afer a while, the Dauphin entered. I rose and approached him, but he didn't say a word. I could try what I wanted in order to start a conversation, he just replied with yes or no, despite my rallying again and again. I was therefore incredibly relieved when I was notified that the King was arriving. Madame approached His Majesty, as did I. He said with a loud voice: "Madame, today I am visiting Madame d'Osnabrück, not yourself." He first asked whether the Queen wasn't here, thus signalling to me that it had been his intention for her to be present as well. But her Spanish pride hadn't allowed it. The King spared no care in either his words or his behavior to demonstrate that he is one of the most polite princes this world has to offer. Monsieur wanted to whisper something in his ear, but His Majesty said out loud to him: "It isn't polite to talk softly in Madame's presence." Monsieur wanted me to notice this and thus see the King's wish to behave amiably towards me. Indeed his Majesty did not leave out anything that could have helped showing himself thus, and to please me he said all kind of agreeable things. He even reminded me of the battle the Dukes had won against him, and said that he had taken note of having them as enemies. I replied that since they hadn't been so fortunate as to possess his favor, they had instead tried to earn his respect. The King returned that there had been times in which he would not have dared to ask for their friendship. I replied that I was glad these times were over now, and that he'd sworn to keep peace. He said that there was always the clause that the peace should last as long as it benefited the welfare of his state. I said that I hoped this would be the case for a long time. He returned, tossing his head: "Oh, I believe the German princes won't fight me again any time soon." Following this, he spoke of his troops, of the many he had already dismissed and of the great power he possessed. Monsieur aided him in this and exaggarated even more. (Louis) also wanted to compliment my daughter whom he found to be pretty, and whose wit he had heard praised. He asked me whether he should call her Madame or Mademoiselle, since he believed the term "Madame" to have grown in popularity in Germany right now. After a few more words, he left again.
Footnotes: The two Dukes = the Hannover brothers, Georg Wilhelm and Ernst August. They defeated Louis' army in the "Schlacht an der Conzer Brücke", August 11th 1675. (Military situation: Trier was occupied by the French, an HRE army was laying siege to the French occupation, a second French army was supposed to get rid of the siege, it got defeated, the French then had to surrender Trier back to the HRE in September.)
The term "Madame" being popular in Germany right now: a compliment to his sister-in-law, Liselotte, since "Madame" was her official title.
(Actually, Liselotte was mortified by the way Louis had used her to claim the Palatinate after her father's death, and make war against her countrymen, and there are some vivid letters of hers angsting about how people back home must curse her now.)
It's hard to keep straight, because a year later, the *next* Dauphin dies of measles, and a month after that, the *next* Dauphin also dies of measles! (Then the next Dauphin is locked in his room by his governess to protect him from all doctors.)
but Horowski also reports the Dauphin had a very limited vocabulary.
Yeah, and he's not the only one. All (modern) descriptions I've seen of him agree on him being basically friendly, but apathetic and unintellectual. Someone, maybe Horowski, maybe Wikipedia, said he could spend a whole day sitting in a chair just tapping his cane against his foot. Apparently, it was remarkable this one time when he got really animated about something, which was: "My son should *definitely* be King of Spain! Absolutely, one hundred percent."
Liselotte was mortified by the way Louis had used her to claim the Palatinate after her father's death
Totally in character from the Louis who signed a marriage contract saying he would not use his wife to claim Spain, and before the ink was dry, was like, "I found a loophole! I'm claiming Spain!"
(I do hope to do a Spanish Succession write-up at some point, but atm I can only go up to 1706 in any kind of detail, and Malplaquet is 1709, so I need to find time to study a bit more.)
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Sophie of Hannover: Memoirs - II (Visiting France)
Date: 2021-03-29 06:27 am (UTC)Afer a while, the Dauphin entered. I rose and approached him, but he didn't say a word. I could try what I wanted in order to start a conversation, he just replied with yes or no, despite my rallying again and again. I was therefore incredibly relieved when I was notified that the King was arriving. Madame approached His Majesty, as did I. He said with a loud voice: "Madame, today I am visiting Madame d'Osnabrück, not yourself." He first asked whether the Queen wasn't here, thus signalling to me that it had been his intention for her to be present as well. But her Spanish pride hadn't allowed it. The King spared no care in either his words or his behavior to demonstrate that he is one of the most polite princes this world has to offer. Monsieur wanted to whisper something in his ear, but His Majesty said out loud to him: "It isn't polite to talk softly in Madame's presence." Monsieur wanted me to notice this and thus see the King's wish to behave amiably towards me.
Indeed his Majesty did not leave out anything that could have helped showing himself thus, and to please me he said all kind of agreeable things. He even reminded me of the battle the Dukes had won against him, and said that he had taken note of having them as enemies. I replied that since they hadn't been so fortunate as to possess his favor, they had instead tried to earn his respect. The King returned that there had been times in which he would not have dared to ask for their friendship. I replied that I was glad these times were over now, and that he'd sworn to keep peace. He said that there was always the clause that the peace should last as long as it benefited the welfare of his state. I said that I hoped this would be the case for a long time. He returned, tossing his head: "Oh, I believe the German princes won't fight me again any time soon."
Following this, he spoke of his troops, of the many he had already dismissed and of the great power he possessed. Monsieur aided him in this and exaggarated even more. (Louis) also wanted to compliment my daughter whom he found to be pretty, and whose wit he had heard praised. He asked me whether he should call her Madame or Mademoiselle, since he believed the term "Madame" to have grown in popularity in Germany right now. After a few more words, he left again.
Footnotes: The two Dukes = the Hannover brothers, Georg Wilhelm and Ernst August. They defeated Louis' army in the "Schlacht an der Conzer Brücke", August 11th 1675. (Military situation: Trier was occupied by the French, an HRE army was laying siege to the French occupation, a second French army was supposed to get rid of the siege, it got defeated, the French then had to surrender Trier back to the HRE in September.)
The term "Madame" being popular in Germany right now: a compliment to his sister-in-law, Liselotte, since "Madame" was her official title.
(Actually, Liselotte was mortified by the way Louis had used her to claim the Palatinate after her father's death, and make war against her countrymen, and there are some vivid letters of hers angsting about how people back home must curse her now.)
Re: Sophie of Hannover: Memoirs - II (Visiting France)
Date: 2021-03-30 04:44 pm (UTC)It's hard to keep straight, because a year later, the *next* Dauphin dies of measles, and a month after that, the *next* Dauphin also dies of measles! (Then the next Dauphin is locked in his room by his governess to protect him from all doctors.)
but Horowski also reports the Dauphin had a very limited vocabulary.
Yeah, and he's not the only one. All (modern) descriptions I've seen of him agree on him being basically friendly, but apathetic and unintellectual. Someone, maybe Horowski, maybe Wikipedia, said he could spend a whole day sitting in a chair just tapping his cane against his foot. Apparently, it was remarkable this one time when he got really animated about something, which was: "My son should *definitely* be King of Spain! Absolutely, one hundred percent."
Liselotte was mortified by the way Louis had used her to claim the Palatinate after her father's death
Totally in character from the Louis who signed a marriage contract saying he would not use his wife to claim Spain, and before the ink was dry, was like, "I found a loophole! I'm claiming Spain!"
(I do hope to do a Spanish Succession write-up at some point, but atm I can only go up to 1706 in any kind of detail, and Malplaquet is 1709, so I need to find time to study a bit more.)