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MAURER,

1996

LAW 11

TRANSGRESSIONOFTHE

LAW

WhenLouisXIV

died,

in

1715,

aftera

gloriousfifty—five-yearreign,

all

eyes

focused

on

his

great-grandson

andchosen

successor,

thefutureLouisXV.

Wouldthe

boy,only

fiveatthe

time,

prove

as

great

aleaderastheSun

King?

LouisXIVhadtransforrneda

country

onthe

verge

ofcivilwarinto

the

preeminentpower

in

Europe.

Thelast

years

ofhis

reign

had

beendifli~

cult—-hehadbeenoldandl:ired——but

it

was

hoped

thatthechildwouldde-

velop

into

thekindof

strong

rulerwhowould

reinvigorate

thelandand

addtothefirmfoundationthatLouisXIVhadlaid.

Tothisendthechildwas

given

thebestmindsofFranceashis

tutors,

menwho

would

instructhimin

Lhe

adsof

statecraft,

in

themethods

that

theSun

King

had

perfected.Nothing

was

neglected

inhiseducation.But

whenLouisXVcametothe

throne,

in

1726,

asudden

change

cameover

him:Heno

longer

hadto

study

or

please

othersor

prove

himself.Hestood

aloneatthe

top

ofa

great

country,

withwealthand

power

athiscommand.

Hecoulddoashewished.

Inthefirst

years

of

his

reign,

Louis

gave

himself

overto

pleasure,

leav-

ing

the

government

inthehandsofaousted

minister,

André-Herculede

Fleuiy.

Thiscausedlittle

concern,

forhewasa.

young

manwhoneededto

sowhiswild

oats,

andde

Fleury

wasa

good

minister.Butit

slowly

became

clearthat{hiswasmorethana

passingphase.

Louishadnointerestin

gov-

erning.

Hismain

worry

was

not

France’s

finances,

ora

possible

warwith

Spain,

butboredom.Hecouldnotstand

being

bored,

andwhenhewasnot

huntingdeer,

or

chasingyoung

girls,

hewhiled

away

histimeatthe

gain-

bling

tables,

losinghuge

sumsina

singlenight.

The

court,

as

usual,

reflectedthetastesoftheruler.

Gambling

andlav-

ish

parties

became

the

obsession.Thecourtiershad

no

concernwiththefu-

tureof

France-—theypoured

their

energies

into

charming

the

king,angling

fortitlesthatwould

bring

themlife

pensions,

andforcabinet

positions

de-

manding

littleworkbut

payinghuge

salaries.Parasitesflockedtothe

court,

andthestate’sdebts

swelled.

In 1745 LouisfellinlovewithMadamede

Pompadour,

a

woman

of

middle~cla,ss

origin

whohad

managed

torise

through

her

charms,

herintel-

ligence,

anda

goodmarriage.

Madamede

Pompadour

becametheofiicial

royal

mistress;

shealsobecameFrance’sarbiteroftasteandfashion.But

the

Madamehad

political

ambitions

as

well,

andshe

eventuallyemerged

asthe

countxy’s

unofficial

piime

minister——itwas

she,

not

Louis,

who

wielded

hiring~and-firingpower

overFrance’smost

important

ministers.

Ashe

grew

olderLouis

only

neededmorediversion.Onthe

grounds

ofVersailleshebuilta

brothel,

Pareaux

Cerfs,

whichhousedsomeofthe

prettiestyounggirls

ofFrance.

Undergroundpassages

andhidden

stair-

cases

gave

Louisaccessatallhours.AfterMadamede

Pompadour

died,

in

1764,

shewassucceededas

royal

mistress

by

Madamedu

Bariy,

whosoon

cametodominatethe

court,

and

who,

likede

Pompadour

before

her,

began

tomeddleinaffairsofstate.Ifaministerdidnot

please

herhewould

findhimself

fired.

Allof

Europe

was

aghast

whendu

Barry,

the

daughter

of

a

baker,

managed

to

arrange

the

firing

ofEtienne

de

Choiseul,

the

foreign