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Louis XV 1710-1774
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Image Above
Louis XV
Oil on canvas by
unknown artist after the painting by L.M. Van
Loo
Versailles |
Louis XV, also called Louis le
Bien-Aimé
or The Well-Beloved, was
king of France from 1715 until his death in 1774.
He followed his great-grandfather,
Louis XIV, to the
throne, who had died on
September 1, 1715.
Louis XV died on May 10, 1774,
and his grandson Louis-Auguste became
Louis XVI.
Here is more about Louis'
family, the
House of Bourbon.
See also
Governments of France.
The Reign of
Louis XV
For the first time in history
did a French officer become
maréchal général de France,
when Louis XV bestowed this honor on
Claude Louis Hector de Villars in 1733.
In 1756, the European part of
the
Seven Years' War broke
out.
Here is a
list of the men who acted as
Controller General under Louis XV.
Assassination
Attempt on Louis XV
Fourty-two year old
Robert François Damiens,
a former soldier then servant, stabbed Louis XV at the
Versailles castle with a penknife on January 5, 1757.
He was tortured and quartered
later that year. Apparently, he was mentally deranged.
The Brittany
Affair (L'affaire de Bretagne)
The Brittany Affair started out
as the private feud between
Louis-René de Caradeuc de La
Chalotais,
leader (procureur-général) of the parlement at Rennes
(Brittany),
fighting the Jesuits
and
Emmanuel Armand de Vignerot du
Plessis de Richelieu, Duc d'Aiguillon,
royal chief administrator of Brittany,
great-nephew of Cardinal Richelieu
This affair turned into the
open struggle between
Louis XV
and
his parlements
Here is Brittany on a map:
Province of Brittany, France
Click to enlarge
In detail:
In 1765, the parlement of
Brittany, led by Chalotais, accused d'Aiguillon of arbitrary
actions. In turn, Aiguillon tweaked the
law so that Chalotais' son was not able to inherit his
father's office. And right back at him, Chalotais,
officially defending the privileges of the province, was
breathing down d'Aiguillon's neck with unprecedented vigor.
The parlement of Rennes
went on strike in May 1765.
The King was going to protect
his representative d'Aiguillon, so, on November 10, 1765, Chalotais and
four other magistrates were arrested.
In
1766, Chalotais was free to
go, but only into exile to Saintes.
In 1768, d'Aiguillon had to
resign.
On April 4, 1770, d'Aiguillon
himself was ordered to appear before
the parlement of Paris. But Louis annulled the
charges and d'Aiguillon became Foreign Secretary in June
1771.
In 1771, Chancellor
René-Nicolas-Charles-Augustin de
Maupeou initiated a judicial spring cleaning. He
exiled the unruly members of parlement, set up
regional courts, abolished the sale of office and replaced
it with judges on the payroll, and cut the
powers of the parlement to oppose registration of
royal edicts, which in turn enabled Finance Minister
J.M. Terray to implement
much needed reforms.
This was the
Parlement Maupeou
and it was working well until
Louis XVI decided to
dig his own grave by abolishing it in 1774.
Today's Map of
Brittany (région), Rennes (capital), France
Google map
Regarding Louis' finances, see
also
Taxation in Pre-Revolutionary France
and a
list of all controller generals of
finance.
More History
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