Palace of Versailles, France

 I’m always a little flexible on the medieval time period. I’m willing to jump out of it for something special, especially if it helps me to understand the Middle Ages better, by seeing what came before or after it.  Versailles certainly qualified as a worthwhile detour, even if its life began more recently.  The first chateau here was built in 1623, by King Louis XIII of France. He had a small chateau built at the top of the mount, on land which had previously belonged to the priory of Saint Julian.  The King spent his first night at Versailles on the 28th of June 1624, where he was housed in his apartment on the first floor of the main building. 

Louis XIV was born in Paris in 1638, he was the eldest son of King Louis XIII. Louis was the oldest of only two surviving boys.  In 1643, Louis XIII died at the age of 41.  He had planned a regency council who would rule until his son, Louis XIV, came of age. Louis XIV came of age in 1651, ending the regency, he was crowned at Rheims Cathedral in 1654. In 1660 he married his first wife, Maria Theresa, who was a Spanish Princess. Their marriage was part of a peace treaty between France and Spain. 

Initially, the new King Louis XIV ignored Versailles, but eventually he envisioned a new concept for it, although work did not begin until 1661-1664, depending on sources. Louis XIV began transforming his father's hunting lodge at this time, into what would eventually become Europe’s largest palace.  The estate was eventually extended to encompass an area of 900 hectares.  He added to Versailles, two wings in the forecourt, created a larger entrance area, a stable wing and a wing for government offices. This was followed by the Orangery and the Menagerie.  The buildings just continued to be created.

King Louis XIV’s marriage to Maria Theresa, a Spanish Princess, occurred in 1660. Their marriage was part of a peace treaty, wherein it was agreed by provision in the marriage contract, that Marie Theresa would give up any claim to the Spanish throne, and for this she would be given a large dowry. However, the dowry was never fully paid, thus breaking the marriage contract. When her father, Philip IV of Spain died in 1665, his 5-year-old son, Charles, became King of Spain.  Charles had been born to the King by his second marriage - I’m sure you can see where this is heading, something similar started the 100 years’ war with England.  Louis XIV evoked the Law of the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium), which stated that his wife, Maria Theresa, being the eldest daughter should inherit the right to the property over her younger brother.  Louis XIV then prepared for what would become known as the War of Devolution, against Spain. 

Under King Louis XIV, the French army invaded the Spanish Netherlands in 1667, and eventually Spanish Flanders fell to the French forces.  King Louis was worried by European alliances, and eventually he sued for peace, to allow him time to be better positioned. He did, however, retain many of the conquered towns of Flanders.  The French King then set himself the task of creating a peace treaty with Charles II of England, and in doing so he would break the triple alliance of countries against him, allowing him to get back to the task of conquering the Netherlands.  In the background of the political manoeuvrings, work on Versailles was continuing.  

In 1670, King Louis XIV ordered two grand apartment wings, to be designed symmetrically off of the original chateau, which he preserved in the centre. One side would serve the King, and the other the Queen. When England signed the Treaty of Westminster with the Dutch Republic, in 1674, the treaty agreed the return of the new colony of New Netherlands, (now better known as New York), to England.  The treaty also caused King Louis XIV to lose his advantage against the Netherlands.  At the same time, Versailles was hosting sumptuous festivals and celebrations.

The King moved the government to Versailles in 1682, at which time it became his official residence. In 1678, King Louis XIV had embarked on the creation of the Hall of Mirrors, which eventually became the court's main ceremonial reception room, being completed in 1684. More buildings were also added to accommodate the court, and all the government departments. Two stables were created - the Great Stables, for riding horses, and the Small Stables, for draught and carriage horses. Accommodation was built for government staff, and wings of the ministries were built in the forecourt. Depending on the day, there were between 3,000 and 10,000 people at Versailles.

King Louis XIV was nicknamed The Sun King, possibly because he played the Sun God Apollo in a play in his youth, or possibly because it was said that as the earth revolved around the sun, so should the court revolve around him. In many ways, Versailles had increasingly become a symbol of his power.  Much of his time at Versailles was dedicated to art, music and dancing.  He oversaw the construction and installation of countless portraits, busts, and statues of himself, which often portrayed him as a Roman Emperor.  While he no doubt had a very high option of himself, what else would you expect from a child who was taught, from the very beginning, that he was above everyone else. He believed he was a direct representative of God, and answerable to God alone. We really start to see how it was in his reign, that the vast chasm between the nobility and the common people, grew to the point where revolution would become inevitable. 

Louis XIV and his Queen, Maria Theresa, had six children but only his son and heir, Louis, would survive to adulthood.  The King also kept many mistresses, and housed them in various apartments in Versailles, with whom he had more than a dozen illegitimate children. When Queen Maria Theresa died in 1683, the King is said to have commented upon hearing of her death, ‘this is the first time she has caused me any bother’.  Louis secretly married his favourite mistress, Madame de Montespan, in the same year. 

The Spanish Crown declared war on France, in what would become known as The Wars of the Reunions (1683-1684). Initially, this involved Spanish raiding parties crossing into French territory and burning villages.  King Louis XIV’s response to this, was to order his officers to burn 50 Spanish villages for every one burned on French soil. 

King Louis XIV was a devout Catholic and eventually he decided that his should be the only religion in France.  His grandfather, King Henry IV of France, had previously granted French Protestants political and religious freedoms, by issuing the Edict of Nantes in 1598.  King Louis decided to revoke this in 1685, and banned the practice of Protestantism, by issuing the Edict of Fontainebleau.  This ordered the destruction of all Protestant churches, and the closure of all Protestant schools. This resulted in between 200,000 and 900,000 people leaving France to avoid this persecution, leaving France with a shortage of labourers and soldiers.

By the 1670’s, the gardens now contained many marble and bronze sculptures, creating an open-air museum of sculpture. Parts of Versailles were open to everyone, and the chateau consolidated its role as a permanent showcase for French arts and crafts.  The Small Park, and the Great Park, were created between 1683 and 1700, and encompassed an area of 8,600 hectares, which were surrounded by 43 kilometres of walls. Louis XIV’s last major building project at Versailles, was the Royal Chapel, which was completed by 1710. 

Louis XIV ruled France for 72 years.  The successive wars he embarked on took their toll on the country, which suffered from defeats, debts and famine.  So, it starts to make sense why the people began to resent the Monarchy, when the King busied himself building his golden city at Versailles, while the country suffered. Four days before his 77th birthday, in 1715, King Louis died. His body lay on display for 8 days in the Mercury Room, and on the 9th day, he was transported to Saint Denis in Paris, the traditional burial place of the Kings of France. A new reign would now begin with his great-grandson, Louis XV.

Like his predecessor, Louis XV was only 5 years old when he inherited the crown of France. He was born at Versailles on the 15th of February 1710, and was the third son of the Duke of Burgundy. The Duke of Burgundy was the eldest son of Louis, the Grand Dauphin, who was the eldest son of Louis XIV - are you with me here? So, Louis XIV, out lived his eldest son and his eldest grandson, and so the crown fell to his great-grandson, who would become Louis the XV.

The Ordinance of Vincennes, written in 1374, dictated that the Kingdom of France would be governed by a regent, until the new King Louis XV reached the age of maturity, which was 13 years of age. Until that time he was moved to Paris, but once he reached ‘maturity’, he decided he preferred Versailles and moved back there. Louis XV, at the age of 15, married Marie Leszczynska, the daughter of Stanislaus I, who was the deposed King of Poland. Together they had 10 children, 8 girls and 2 boys, however only one boy would survive childhood, the Dauphin Louis (1729-1765).

Louis XV also added to Versailles, by creating the Neptune Basin (1741), the Hercules Room (1736), The French Garden (1768), and the added the Opera House in 1770. He also gradually transformed the royal apartments, making them more private, to contemporary taste and comfort. Louis XV was following the mistakes of his predecessor, focusing on the world of the court, and not paying attention to the widespread discontent in the country. 

The Hall of Mirrors is one of the most famous rooms at Versailles. Created in the Baroque style, it was built to show off. It is one of the largest rooms in the palace at 73 meters (240 feet) in length.  Seventeen windows open towards the park, and directly opposite them are 17 equally large mirrors, which are composed of more than 350 individual mirror surfaces.  Mirrored glass was a very expensive, luxury product in the 17th Century, and only the King could have afforded to line a room with it. The room was then filled with solid silver furniture, which was later melted down and coined, on the order of Louis XIV in 1689, to finance the War of the League of Augsburg. The rest of the original furnishings were lost during the French Revolution. This room is also where the peace treaty which ended the First World War was signed, on the 28th of June 1919.

Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, excelled at conquest by marriage. 13 of her 16 children survived to adulthood, and many of them were married to the ruling houses of Europe.  Her youngest daughter was born in 1755, and was named Maria Antonia, better known as Marie Antoinette.  She became the Dauphine of France when she was married to Louis Auguste, Dauphin of France. They were married by proxy in Vienna, in 1770. Their union was intended to consolidate an alliance been France and Austria. Four years later, the Dauphin would become the new King of France.  Although they were married young, the marriage wasn’t consummated until 1777. Marie would be France’s last Queen.

When Louis XV died in 1774, he had reigned almost 59 years, and was succeeded by his grandson, Louis XVI, who would inherit a Kingdom in need of financial and political reform, which had long been ignored by both King Louis the XV, and King Louis XIV. He wasn’t given much time to make any changes, although he did try.  His efforts included reforming the French government in accordance with new ‘Enlightenment’ ideas, like abolishing serfdom, and removing land and labour tax. He tried to increase tolerance towards non-Catholics, and abolish the death penalty for deserters.  While these may have been popular with the common people, the French nobility were not at all happy with the new King’s ideas, and they opposed them being implemented. A particularly bad harvest in 1775 lead to food shortages, and caused the citizens to revolt. In 1776, Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists, who were fighting for independence from Britain. If he had become King sooner, perhaps the events that followed would have gone very differently. It seemed like France finally had the King it needed, but it was too little, too late. 

Marie Antoinette did not have an easy adjustment to the French court. Many of the nobles resented an alliance between France and Austria, so she was resented my many from the start.  She also liked the finer things in life, as she had become accustomed to. She broke with the traditions of the huge white wigs, heavy makeup, and wide hooped panniers. She brought change to the court, and change never comes easily. She even dared to own property, independently of her husband. Before she was even out of her rebellious teens, she had made enemies. At the same time, the revolution was gaining support outside the palace walls. Meanwhile, King Louis XVI was battling bouts of depression, and had withdrawn his power within government. Marie became the foreign figurehead, on which the rebellion began to focus.  

Events were also taking place at Versailles. The Opening of the Estates-General was held on the 5th of May 1789, as well as the formation of the French National Assembly on the 17th of June, and the Oath of the Jeu de Paume on the 20th of June, which abolished feudal privileges, followed on the 4th of August by a Declaration of the Right of Man and the Citizen. Change was underway in France.  The march of the Parisians on Versailles, occurred on the 5th-6th of October 1789, and the same day, the King, his family and the royal court left Versailles for Paris.  The French Revolution was now in full swing. 

In 1792, most of the paintings, antiques, sculptures and jewels, were sent from Versailles to the Central Museum of Arts, now the Musee du Louvre. For the most part, the furniture was sold at public auction in 1793-1794. All the painted and carved symbols of royalty were removed from Versailles. The Convention, held on the 5th of May 1794, designated the chateau 

‘a national house preserved and maintained at the cost of the Republic as a place for popular festivities and establishments useful to agriculture and the arts.’

At this early date, it was almost unheard of for a government to preserve a building of this sort. It was incredibly forward thinking, as Versailles could have so easily been lost.