The Regency (1715-1723) refers to the minority period of Louis XV during which power was exercised by the prince of royal blood Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe d’Orléans). Upon Louis XIV’s death, the Grand Siècle came to an end. France, exhausted by twelve years of war, had as its new king Louis XV, a five-year-old child. The new Regent would pursue a policy of reaction against the absolutism established by Louis XIV. After the twilight and austere end of the Sun King’s reign, a new period of balls and festivities began. The new Regent attempted in vain to restore the finances depleted by previous wars but could not avoid Law’s bankruptcy and sought alliance with England.
Regency and Contestation of Louis XIV’s Will
The end of Louis XIV’s reign was marked by a series of successive deaths. The death of the Grand Dauphin in 1711, followed the next year by that of his son, the Duke of Burgundy, pushed the king to legitimize his illegitimate children. At his death, he had only one direct heir left, his great-grandson, aged only five. Louis XIV had settled in his will the problem of the inevitable Regency. It rightfully belonged to his closest relative, his nephew Philippe, Duke of Orléans, son of Monsieur Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the king’s brother, and his second wife, the Princess Palatine.
But the king hardly liked this too brilliant nephew whose irreligion and cynicism he feared and whom he reproached for being a “braggart of crime.” Thus, he had organized a Regency Council, placed under Philippe II, Duke of Orléans’ presidency, and had decided to give the guardianship of the future Louis XV to the Duke of Maine, his legitimized bastard born from his affair with Madame de Montespan. This will, dated August 2, 1714, had been delivered to parliament on August 26 and walled up in a tower of the Palace of Justice. Two codicils had further reinforced the Duke of Maine’s powers.
Upon Louis XIV’s death, a tide of courtiers rushed to the Duke of Orléans, but they had to wait for the will’s opening. On September 2, the document was read aloud by a parliament counselor. According to Saint-Simon’s words, the Duke of Maine was “bursting with joy” when Philippe spoke up to protest against the prejudice done to him. The game was actually played in advance with magistrates favorable to the Duke of Orléans. The compliant parliament simply annulled the will. In exchange, it was restored the right of remonstrance suppressed for sixty years: such was the price Philippe II, Duke of Orléans paid for his right to the regency.
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans: The Regent
The new regent’s victory was total, with the Duke of Maine not even retaining custody of the royal child. The latter, with his governess Madame de Ventadour, left Versailles on September 9 and crossed Paris by carriage under the crowd’s acclamations, before settling at the Château de Vincennes. The same day, Louis XIV’s mortal remains were buried at Saint-Denis. To confirm Philippe II, Duke of Orléans’ regency, the little king still needed to hold a lit de justice, and on September 12, 1715, the child, before all parliamentarians, had his uncle proclaimed regent of the kingdom. The Orléans had won victory over the legitimized ones.
Born in 1674, the new Regent had reached his forties in 1714 and was attractive for his beauty, intelligence, and culture. He had Abbé Dubois as his tutor, who had known how to develop the talents of a student equally gifted in arts and sciences. In 1692, the young prince had been married, by the king’s order, to Mademoiselle de Blois, Louis XIV’s legitimized daughter with Madame de Montespan. In 1707, he had fought in Spain, then distinguished himself at Lérida. Following various intrigues, he had been kept away from the armies and the Court, where he was viewed without sympathy, and had lived in retirement. He was mainly interested in painting, chemistry, and even alchemy, while seeking less innocent distractions.
The “small suppers” at the Palais-Royal, where Philippe II, Duke of Orléans resided, gathered merry companies whose libertinage reacted against the Court’s morose etiquette. The prince’s scandalous reputation had earned him accusations of sorcery and even of poisoning the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany. But Louis XIV himself, despite his little affection for his nephew, had rejected these calumnies. The new regent’s undeniable qualities were unfortunately masked by his natural nonchalance and the disastrous influence of his friends.
The Polysynody
The eight years of the Regency appeared as a reaction against everything that had characterized the end of the previous reign. After the severity that had been the rule in Louis XIV’s final years, the aristocracy threw itself unreservedly into a life of pleasures. The Regent’s companions, the “roués,” so named because they were deemed worthy of being tortured on the wheel, set the tone for this unbridled license through which the French avenged themselves for too long imposed austerity. “Long live the time of the lovely Regency,” wrote a contemporary, “when everything was done, except penance.” In reality, only high society was seized by this thirst for pleasures, but its scandalous reputation remained attached to the name of Regency, synonymous with debauchery and corruption.
The same reaction manifested in the politics followed by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans from the first days of the Regency, for, inspired by Fénelon and Saint-Simon’s ideas, this liberal prince with advanced ideas wanted to break ministerial absolutism. “He loved liberty greatly and as much for others as for himself,” said his friend Saint-Simon. Louis XIV had systematically evicted great lords from government councils, and the Regent wanted to give them back a predominant place in the country.
Mainly at Saint-Simon’s instigation, he replaced the ministers with eight councils of ten members, composed of great lords and State counselors: besides the Regency Council, there was the Council of Conscience, in charge of religious affairs and presided over by Cardinal de Noailles, the Council of Internal Affairs which, under the Duke d’Antin’s authority, presided over provincial administrative questions, the Council of Foreign Affairs, presided over by Marshal d’Huxelles, the War Council, entrusted to Marshal de Villars, the Marine Council, placed under Count of Toulouse’s command, the Finance Council, directed by the Duke of Noailles, finally the Commerce Council, placed under Duke de La Force’s high hand.
These councils were to prepare files that were then submitted to the Regent. This system was given the Greek name “polysynody.” In fact, by seeking the support of nobility and all political forces likely to support him, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans was trying to ensure the succession to the throne, in case of young Louis XV’s premature death. The Regent also created a Chamber of Justice, or Burning Chamber, charged with judging those who had enriched themselves at the State’s expense, and opened prison doors to Protestants and Jansenists unjustly incarcerated during Louis XIV’s reign.
The polysynody regime was not destined to last. Already the appointment of counselors had provoked violent competitions in the aristocracy. Then council meetings got lost in obscure precedence quarrels and it became evident that this hundred-headed ministry could not do useful work. As early as August 1718, Abbé Dubois condemned these Fenelonian reveries and councils ceased to meet. The Regent was forced to return to Louis XIV’s reign’s administrative organization and restored the ministers. Similarly, he was forced to show authority towards the too turbulent parliament, and had to exile it to Pontoise in 1720.
The Reversal of Alliances
The Regent had also understood that after so many years of war, the country needed peace. Fearing Philip V of Spain’s ambitions, who, despite treaties, had not renounced his rights to the French crown, he turned to England, whose regime and ideas he appreciated. On his order, Abbé Dubois – “a rascal,” according to the vindictive Saint-Simon – went to negotiate with Stanhope, King George’s minister, an alliance to which Holland and Austria soon after adhered.
This diplomatic about-face could not please Spain. To counter the Regent, Philip V’s ambassador, Prince of Cellamare, sought support in France. He found it at the Château de Sceaux, with the Duke and Duchess of Maine. Granddaughter of the Great Condé, this princess – nicknamed “the blood doll” due to her small size and childish ideas – was still ulcerated by the affront her husband had suffered, having been evicted by parliament during the opening of Louis XIV’s will. A plot was set up at Sceaux in 1718 to kidnap the Duke of Orléans and entrust the regency to Philip V, who delegated his powers to the Duke of Maine. But the affair was discovered by Dubois, the conspirators imprisoned in the Bastille, and Prince of Cellamare asked to return to Madrid.
These events obviously did not ease Franco-Spanish tension. War became inevitable. While Spain opened hostilities against Austria, a French army, commanded by Marshal de Berwick, a veteran of Louis XIV’s armies, crossed the Bidassoa. Spain had to suffer an uninterrupted succession of setbacks: burning of Pasajes and Santona arsenals, captures of Fuenterrabía and San Sebastián. Philip V soon after asked for peace and adhered to the Quadruple Alliance. To seal the reconciliation, it was decided that Louis XV would marry the Infanta Marie-Anne Victoire, then aged three and whose education would be done in France. Saint-Simon went to Madrid to fetch the little girl, whom the little king welcomed with total indifference.
Louis XV was a withdrawn and secretive child, who moreover showed much affection for his uncle. After being raised with solicitude by his governess, Madame de Ventadour, who had managed to keep him alive despite fragile health, he had been entrusted in 1717 to old Marshal de Villeroy. The little king poorly appreciated the remonstrances of this vain courtier, whom he nicknamed “the old rambler.” As for his education, it was provided by the future Cardinal de Fleury, who, despite accusations of softness and incompetence brought against him by Saint-Simon and Voltaire, managed to give his royal student good knowledge in Latin, grammar, geography, and mathematics.
An Economy in Distress
Diplomatic questions seemed less difficult to resolve than financial problems, which were dramatic following the enormous expenses engaged by Louis XIV at the end of his reign for territorial defense. The public debt of three billion livres represented nearly a third of France’s national fortune, not forgetting the 86 million that were annually necessary to cover its interest. Compared to these figures, that of the kingdom’s revenue budget – 75 million livres – appeared all the more derisory as the expenditure budget reached 140 million livres. Only energetic measures could still avoid a catastrophe and resort to bankruptcy.
Advised by two bankers, the Paris brothers, the Regent resolved to strike hard and fast, and this by three means: the “visa,” the recoinage, and the merciless pursuit of the most important traffickers who, by public notoriety, had largely contributed to impoverishing the Treasury. The “visa” obliged security holders to have them endorsed by the State, which imposed others in exchange. 600 million were declared, which the State replaced with new securities worth a total of 200 million. The debt was thus reduced by 400 million. At the same time, the currency was “recast” following a revaluation of gold.
Finally, the Burning Chamber, installed at the Grands Augustins, constituted by thirty counselors to the Paris parliament, was instituted to examine the origin of fortunes made during the wars. Operating for more than twelve months, it pronounced 1,500 convictions. Some traffickers, besides heavy fines, were sent for life to the king’s galleys, others exposed in shirts at the pillory, in front of Notre-Dame de Paris or at the Grande Halle. A placard, bearing in large characters “thief of the people,” attached to their chest, excited against them the crowd’s hatred and anger.
The convictions had covered the restitution to the State of 200 million livres. However, only 70 million could be recovered, of which barely 15 actually returned to the Treasury’s coffers. This enormous operation ultimately resulted in failure. As early as 1718, the Regent gave up the Burning Chamber, restoring the general controller of Finances and the four Secretaries of State. Money was still as cruelly lacking; public debt had barely decreased by a third.
The Law System and Financial Bankruptcy
In 1717, royal revenues covered current expenses but did not allow for repayment of the very heavy public debt. The Regent then placed his hopes in John Law. This Scotsman established in Paris had developed theoretical thinking about monetary circulation: he particularly aimed at eliminating metallic currency. Prosperity relied on multiplying monetary symbols, which only significant paper money issuance could make possible.
In October 1715, his state bank project was rejected under pressure from finance circles, who feared being bypassed. Law founded a private bank to facilitate exchanges; its notes were widely distributed. To give his action a commercial base, he took control of the Company of the West, which operated in Louisiana. On December 4, 1718, his bank became royal, and in 1719, the Company extended its influence to all long-distance trade. Law finally took control of tax collection and became Controller General of Finances in January 1720 when the bank and Company merged.
Debt amortization was achieved through massive issues of Company shares, which were subject to terrible speculation as high profits were promised. Eventually, the shares were meant to become real currency, backed by the country’s trade and labor. But weak dividends, limits on commercial growth, and the violent response from the monarchy’s traditional financiers, whom the System condemned, led to a reversal. Above all, the project suffered from a major contradiction: in a society attached to metallic currency, convertibility had to be maintained to acclimatize a widely distributed note that led to metal demonetization, thus to non-convertibility.
Massive redemptions in specie created panic. The System collapsed, and Law was forced to flee in 1720.
France During the Regency
The French had other concerns besides speculators’ setbacks. In 1720, after a ship from Syria docked, a serious plague epidemic hit Marseille, then spread to Toulon and the south of the country, reaching Toulouse and Limousin. Shortly after, a terrible fire devastated Rennes, causing nearly a thousand casualties.
At this time, life was often difficult for city dwellers. The number of beggars increased, and crime was rising. The bandit Cartouche was gaining followers. While many bourgeois managed to get rich, most workers and artisans suffered from price increases that coincided with speculation fever. In the countryside, peasants’ lifestyles varied according to soil fertility and their status as farmers, sharecroppers, or simple agricultural workers, but overall, barely a third of farmers lived in relative comfort.
Three-quarters of the rural population could neither read nor write. The destitute were outraged by the luxury of the privileged, especially the Court’s debauchery. The “orgies” at the Palais-Royal were gossiped about, often amplified by imitators. While many bourgeois managed to get rich, most workers and artisans suffered from price increases that coincided with speculation fever.
In the countryside, peasants’ lifestyles varied according to soil fertility and their status as farmers, sharecroppers, or simple agricultural workers, but overall, barely a third of farmers lived in relative comfort. Three-quarters of the rural population could neither read nor write. The destitute were outraged by the luxury of the privileged, especially the Court’s debauchery. The “orgies” at the Palais-Royal were gossiped about, often amplified by the Henriade (1723), under the title Poem of the League, after having great success with the tragedy Oedipus.
In the arts, Largillière and Rigaud were still at the height of glory, but Watteau, the painter of “gallant festivities,” had broken with the severity of the grand century, awaiting a Lancret or a Boucher. A more flexible taste was then marked in interiors. Furniture became lighter in boudoirs, which were decorated with “monkey scenes” and “chinoiserie.” Some great collectors, like Pierre Crozat, encouraged artists. Among the patrons was the Regent himself, who had assembled dazzling galleries at the Palais-Royal.
End of the Regency and Death of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
In 1722, tired of the criticism he received in Paris following Law’s bankruptcy, the Duke of Orléans decided to move the Court to Versailles: this departure delighted Louis XV. The young king was always on excellent terms with his uncle, whose affection he felt. From the age of ten, he had been invited to attend the Regency Council. On October 25, 1722, the royal child went, according to tradition, to be solemnly crowned at Reims. Very handsome in his white satin costume and purple velvet mantle, Louis the Well-Beloved deserved the nickname given to him. A few months later, on February 16, 1723, his majority was proclaimed.
A thirteen-year-old king could not govern: he asked his uncle to continue managing the kingdom’s affairs. The Regency Council was simply substituted by the High Council, and Dubois, made cardinal due to services rendered to the Regent, was officially confirmed in his position as Prime Minister. The new cardinal was then seriously ill: he died the following August (1723), and the Duke of Orléans in turn took the title of Prime Minister.
The former Regent felt very tired himself. He had lived much and continued, despite three successive strokes, to lead a merry life — which did not prevent him from working tirelessly on State affairs. Death took him suddenly, on December 2, 1723, in his office at Versailles, in the presence of his friend, the Duchess of Falari. He was sincerely mourned by the king, as well as by foreign courts who had admired his spirit of conciliation and his clairvoyance. With the Regent’s death, an era was over and Louis XV’s reign truly began.
