There exists a five-volume biography of Philip V written in the nineteenth-century by Alfred Baudrillart called Philippe V Et La Cour De France, which is based on the gold mine that is envoy reports. It's been on my radar for a while, because it gets cited extensively by all twentieth-century writers on this subject.
I have no intention of reading the whole thing, but I've been waiting until my French was a bit better, to do some dipping in. Well, we've finally gotten to the point where I can start, at least.
It then, belatedly, occurred to me that if Kamen's Philip V biography I did read (one volume, in English) relies so heavily on this biography, and this biography is based on envoy reports, this biography would obviously be where Kamen got the frog story from. Sure enough, that entire page in Kamen is just a close paraphrase of Baudrillart.
Sadly, Baudrillart provides no further details, but he does provide a citation to the unpublished envoy report, so if I ever get around to ordering materials from the French archives, I know where to find this one!
Also in this section I learned that Philip V was beating his wife and everyone around him, and that Isabella was complaining to the French envoy about the scratches and bruises on her body.
Normally, there would be a clear villain in this story: the absolute monarch hitting his wife and others at his mercy. However, immediately preceding this paragraph is the story that I told you that relates how a mentally ill man is trying to escape from his room so he can abdicate, and his wife keeps roping everyone into locking him back in the room and depriving him of writing materials so she can remain in power. In the subsequent passage, we find that, as I reported back in the day, Philip is also mentally ill enough that he is biting *himself*.
I admit, I would be hitting my captors too.
Something that Baudrillart reports that I didn't remember from Kamen is that word got out to the general populace, and a lot of people thought it would be a great idea if the mentally ill king were allowed to retire. Only the queen and courtiers who benefited from this arrangement thought it was imperative that Philip remain king.
This situation SUCKS.
On a completely unrelated note, something I learned from a different volume of this biography forces me to revise something I've said in the past.
Back in the very earliest days of salon, when selenak was summarizing the War of the Austrian Succession, she wrote:
Philip of Spain (another one!): So I'm a French Bourbon, not a Habsburg, but the Habsburgs used to rule Spain until me. (I'm the first Bourbon on the throne.) Therefore, I should totally rule Austria and the Holy Roman Empire now. At least I'm not A WOMAN.
A year ago, we had a lot (loooot) more knowledge of the 18th century, and I questioned whether Philip was after the Holy Roman Empire. As far as I knew, he was exclusively fighting for territory in Italy, based on the claims of his wife (Isabella Farnese) to Parma and Piacenza, plus the territory Spain had lost during the War of the Spanish Succession, like Gibraltar and Menorca.
Having read the very start of the War of the Austrian Succession as recounted by Baudrillart, I can now share his account, which goes like this:
Philip V: No alternating Protestants and Catholics for Holy Roman Emperor!
[Mildred: Has he heard rumors about Fritz as a candidate?]
Philip V: Personally, I think the Wittelsbach candidate is a good idea.
Isabella of Parma: My oldest son, Don Carlos, is married to the daughter of August III. So I think August III is an A+ candidate!
Philip V: While we're here, let's not forget that I have claims to Habsburg hereditary territories!
The rest of Europe: ...
The rest of Europe: *tries to keep a straight face*
Philip V: Fine! But my wife has claims in Italy. If we can't have Habsburg territory, we want Italian principalities as compensation. Those aren't covered by the Pragmatic Sanction. We will fight a whole war for them!
And so I was right that the war was fought over Italy, but none of my sources reported this initial diplomatic angling for Habsburg territory (sadly, Baudrillart doesn't specify what territory or what the basis for the claim is). Checking my copy of Anderson's War of the Austrian Succession, he indeed skips over this step in saying that immediately after the news of the death of Charles VI reached Madrid, Philip and Isabella started pressing for Italian territory.
Foreign policy: always revealing new layers of complexity!
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Philippe le Grenouille
Date: 2024-03-06 12:09 am (UTC)There exists a five-volume biography of Philip V written in the nineteenth-century by Alfred Baudrillart called Philippe V Et La Cour De France, which is based on the gold mine that is envoy reports. It's been on my radar for a while, because it gets cited extensively by all twentieth-century writers on this subject.
I have no intention of reading the whole thing, but I've been waiting until my French was a bit better, to do some dipping in. Well, we've finally gotten to the point where I can start, at least.
It then, belatedly, occurred to me that if Kamen's Philip V biography I did read (one volume, in English) relies so heavily on this biography, and this biography is based on envoy reports, this biography would obviously be where Kamen got the frog story from. Sure enough, that entire page in Kamen is just a close paraphrase of Baudrillart.
Sadly, Baudrillart provides no further details, but he does provide a citation to the unpublished envoy report, so if I ever get around to ordering materials from the French archives, I know where to find this one!
Also in this section I learned that Philip V was beating his wife and everyone around him, and that Isabella was complaining to the French envoy about the scratches and bruises on her body.
Normally, there would be a clear villain in this story: the absolute monarch hitting his wife and others at his mercy. However, immediately preceding this paragraph is the story that I told you that relates how a mentally ill man is trying to escape from his room so he can abdicate, and his wife keeps roping everyone into locking him back in the room and depriving him of writing materials so she can remain in power. In the subsequent passage, we find that, as I reported back in the day, Philip is also mentally ill enough that he is biting *himself*.
I admit, I would be hitting my captors too.
Something that Baudrillart reports that I didn't remember from Kamen is that word got out to the general populace, and a lot of people thought it would be a great idea if the mentally ill king were allowed to retire. Only the queen and courtiers who benefited from this arrangement thought it was imperative that Philip remain king.
This situation SUCKS.
On a completely unrelated note, something I learned from a different volume of this biography forces me to revise something I've said in the past.
Back in the very earliest days of salon, when
Philip of Spain (another one!): So I'm a French Bourbon, not a Habsburg, but the Habsburgs used to rule Spain until me. (I'm the first Bourbon on the throne.) Therefore, I should totally rule Austria and the Holy Roman Empire now. At least I'm not A WOMAN.
A year ago, we had a lot (loooot) more knowledge of the 18th century, and I questioned whether Philip was after the Holy Roman Empire. As far as I knew, he was exclusively fighting for territory in Italy, based on the claims of his wife (Isabella Farnese) to Parma and Piacenza, plus the territory Spain had lost during the War of the Spanish Succession, like Gibraltar and Menorca.
Having read the very start of the War of the Austrian Succession as recounted by Baudrillart, I can now share his account, which goes like this:
Philip V: No alternating Protestants and Catholics for Holy Roman Emperor!
[Mildred: Has he heard rumors about Fritz as a candidate?]
Philip V: Personally, I think the Wittelsbach candidate is a good idea.
Isabella of Parma: My oldest son, Don Carlos, is married to the daughter of August III. So I think August III is an A+ candidate!
Philip V: While we're here, let's not forget that I have claims to Habsburg hereditary territories!
The rest of Europe: ...
The rest of Europe: *tries to keep a straight face*
Philip V: Fine! But my wife has claims in Italy. If we can't have Habsburg territory, we want Italian principalities as compensation. Those aren't covered by the Pragmatic Sanction. We will fight a whole war for them!
And so I was right that the war was fought over Italy, but none of my sources reported this initial diplomatic angling for Habsburg territory (sadly, Baudrillart doesn't specify what territory or what the basis for the claim is). Checking my copy of Anderson's War of the Austrian Succession, he indeed skips over this step in saying that immediately after the news of the death of Charles VI reached Madrid, Philip and Isabella started pressing for Italian territory.
Foreign policy: always revealing new layers of complexity!