The Sun King

by Nancy Mitford

Sidney, Sir Philip (1554–86), 10

  Siècle de Louis XIV (Voltaire), 164

  silver: called in by the King (1709), 154; furniture, 68

  smallpox: caught by Marie-Anne, Princesse de Conti, passed on to her husband, 86; caught by the Duchesse de Bourbon, 88, 104; treatment of, 100f; kills the Dauphin, 158; at Versailles, 161; Joseph I dies of, 164; two sons of Beauvilliers die of, 166

  sodomy and sodomites, 31, 59, 124, 151; Louis XIV’s abhorrence of, 34, 59

  Soissons, Eugène Maurice de Savoie-Carignan, Comte de (1633–73), m. Olympe Mancini (1657), 57

  Soissons, Louis de Bourbon, Comte de (1604–41), 56

  Soissons, Olympe Mancini, Comtesse de (1639–1708), 40, 56f, 58, 61, 93, 112

  Sorbonne, Paris, the Duc de Bourgogne visits, 149

  Soubise, Anne de Rohan-Chabot, Princesse de (1648–1709), m. François de Rohan (1663), 45, 47f, 168; dies of cold, 153

  Soubise, François de Rohan, Prince de, 47

  Soubise Hôtel, Paris, 48

  South America, 129

  Spain, 10, 20, 77, 98, 122, 123, 129, 131, 136–9; Maulévrier sent to, 147; Vendôme sent to, 152, 164; see also Charles II of Spain; Philip IV of Spain; Philip V of Spain; Marie-Louise-Gabrielle of Savoy

  Spanheim, Ezekiel (1629–1710), Prussian Ambassador, 77, 86, 93, 95f, 98; on Bourgogne, Anjou and Berri, 149–50

  Spanish Empire, 122, 129, 136; see also Partition treaties

  Spanish Netherlands, 15, 17, 122, 129, 136, 138, 165

  Spanish Succession, 122, 128–9, 130, 131, 136–9; War of the (1702–13), 145 et seqq., 164–5; Treaties of Utrecht, 165

  squirrel, Fouquet’s emblem, 18

  stables at Versailles, 64

  Stair, John Dalrymple, and Earl of (1683–1747), Ambassador in Paris (1715–20), 166

  Stanhope, James Stanhope, 1st Earl (1683–1721), 156

  Steinkirk, Battle of (1692), 84

  Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, Baron Raby, 3rd Earl of (1672–1739), 124

  Strasbourg, altar cloth for cathedral, 107

  Stuart, Mary (1631–60), m. 1641 William II of Orange, 16; for William III’s wife, see Mary II

  Suisses, Pièce d’Eau des, 9, 13, 32

  Sun King, see Louis XIV

  surgeons and their methods, 102

  surtout de table, 130–1

  Sweden, 98

  Tallart, Camille d’Hostun, Comte, later Duc de (1652–1728), Maréchal de France (1703), 129–30, 137, 150

  tapis vert, Versailles, 12

  Tellier, Père, see Le Tellier, Père Michel

  Testu, Jacques (1626–1706), Abbé de Belval, on Mme de Montespan and her sisters, 31

  La Thébaide (Racine: 1664), 93

  Thétis, Grotte de, 68

  Thianges, Gabrielle de Rochechouart, Marquise de (d. 1693), sister of Mme de Montespan, 26, 30f, 46ff

  Tingry, Princesse de: involved in poisons scandal, 56, 58

  Titian (d. 1576), 39

  Torcy, Jean Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de (1665–1746), 125, 128, 136, 144

  Les Torrents (Guyon), 118

  Toulouse, Louis-Alexandre, Comte de (1678–1737), youngest son of Mme de Montespan and Louis XIV, 50, 62, 68, 127, 132, 160–1, 163, 164; his hounds, 64; operated on for stone, 100; marriage, 133; at Louis XIV’s deathbed, 169

  Toulouse, Marie de Noailles, Comtesse de, 133

  Tournai (Belgium), 30, 155

  Trappists, 95; see also La Trappe

  Trianon, hamlet near Versailles, 9

  Trianon, poisoner, 60

  Trianon in porcelain, 23

  Triomphe de Flore (Poussin), 71

  Troy, François de (1645–1730), 72

  Tuileries, Palais de, Paris, 23, 93

  Turenne, Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, Vicomte de (1611–75), 16f, 136

  Turks: in French navy, 20; invading Europe, 85

  Unigenitus, Papal Bull, 164

  Utrecht, Treaties of (1713), 165

  Van Dyck, Sir Anthony (1599–1641), 39

  Vardes, François-René du Bec-Crespin (1621–88), 92f

  Vatican, 120; see also Rome, Church of

  Vauban, Sebastien le Prestre, Seigneur de (1633–1707), 66, 136

  Vaugirard, suburb of Paris, 29; rue de, 103

  Vaux-le-Vicomte (District of Paris), Château de, 10f, 18, 23; renamed Vaux-Villars, 164

  Vendôme, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Duc de (1654–1712), 58, 145; loses Battle of Oudenarde (1708), 150–2, 157; success in Spain, 152, 164; Marie-Anne de Bourbon-Condé, Duchesse de (1678–1718), 150

  Venetian Republic, 19, 40, 164

  Venetian School of painting, 39

  Venice, Little, Versailles, 40

  Ventadour, Charlotte-Eléonore de La Mothe Houdancourt, Duchesse de (1661–1744), 101, 166, 168; saves life of the child Louis (XV), 162

  Vermandois, Louis de Bourbon, Comte de (1667–83), Admiral of France, son of Mme de La Vallière and the King, 93, 139

  Verneuil, Charlotte Séguier, Duchesse de Sully, later Duchesse de (1623–1704), 127f

  Verneuil, Henri de Bourbon, Duc de, 127

  Veronese, Paolo (1528–88), 39

  Versailles (town), 23, 24, 65

  Versailles, Château de: the love of Louis XIV’s life, 9f, 12, 17; water supply, 11; courtiers’ and ministers’ objections, 11, 13; the enveloppe, 15f, 23, 32–41, 63; baths and sanitation, 36; pictures at, 39; declared the seat of government (1682), 53, 63; ‘A City of the Rich’, 63–9; Princes’ and Nobles’ wings, 64f; life and etiquette at, 67–9; changes made in later ages, 68–9, 75; Grand Dauphin’s apartment at, 70f; new regimes at, 92–9; Portland as English ambassador to, 122 et seqq.; etiquette, 127–8; Marie-Adelaide at, 135; Anjou introduced as King of Spain at, 138; La Bruyère on, 140; during Spanish War of Succession, 145, 146; cold winter of 1709, 154, 154–5; smallpox and measles at, 161–2; Noailles exiled from, 164; death of Louis XIV at, 166; see also Bains, Appartement des; Cabinet Doré; Chapel; Glaces, Galerie des; Grand Appartement; Orangery; Queen’s staircase; Suisses, Pièce d’Eau des; tapis vert

  Vexin, Comte de, second son of Mme de Montespan and the King: birth, 30; death, 44

  Vichy (Allier), spa, 46

  Victoire, Princess of Bavaria (1660–90), m. the Grand Dauphin (1679), 71, 77, 84, 86, 92, 144; personal appearance, 72; birth of the Duc de Bourgogne, 72–4; birth of Duc d’Anjou, 78; birth of Duc de Berri, 83; illness and death, 83, 127, 134

  Victoria (1819), Queen of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837, 23

  Vigoureux, Mme: involved in poisons scandal, 54f; death under torture, 57, 60

  Villacerf, Edouard Colbert, Marquis de (1628–99), 127–8

  Villarceau, Louis de Mornay, Marquis de (1619–91), 81

  Villars, Claude-Louis-Hector, Duc de (1653–1734), Maréchal de France (1707), 164–5; his wife, 164

  Villars-Brancas, Duc de: proposed as husband for Mme Scarron, 43

  Villeroy, François de Neufville, Duc et Maréchal de (1644–1730), 85, 86, 152, 164

  Villette, Marquis de (d. 1707), m. 1695 Marie Claire Deschamps de Marcilly (later Viscountess Bolingbroke), 111

  Vincennes (district of Paris), 9, 12, 169; prison, 55, 57, 59, 61

  Vincent de Paul (1576–1660: canonized 1737), 75; order of Saint, 116

  Vitry, Duchesse de, and poisons scandal, 56

  Vivonne, Duc de, see Mortemart et de Vivonne

  Vivonne, Duchesse de, 56

  Voisin (Catherine Deshayes, Mme Monvoisin, called) La (c. 1640–80), 26f, 45, 48, 55, 158; arrested, 51f, 56, 62; death by burning, 57, 59f

  Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet, 1694–1778, called), 40, 62, 96, 112, 124, 164; quoted, 53

  Vouet, Simon (1590–1649), 22, 23

  William, Prince of Orange, called the Silent (1533–84), 123, 163

  William III (1650–1702), Prince of Orange, Stadholder of the United Provinces from 1672, King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1689; 16f, 86, 97, 143, 144; consults Fagon, 103; and the Spanish Succession, 122f, 128–9, 139; relat
ions with Albemarle and Bentinck, 124f; plot to assassinate him, 125–6; receives report from Portland, 126–8; and the Comte de Tallart, 129–30, 131; Second Partition Treaty, 136, 139, 145; for his mother, see Stuart, Mary; for his wife, Mary II

  Windsor: Le Nôtre to make designs for, 126–7

  Woodstock, Lord, 124

  Works of a Seven Year Old Author (Duc du Maine), 49–50

  Ypres (Belgium), 155

  THIS IS A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOK

  PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

  435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014

  www.nyrb.com

  Copyright © 1967 by Nancy Mitford

  Introduction copyright © 2012 by Philip Mansel

  All rights reserved.

  Cover image: Louis XIV in the role of Apollo in Le Ballet de la Nuit, 1653; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France / The Bridgeman Art Library

  Cover design: Katy Homans

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the earlier printing as follows:

  Mitford, Nancy, 1904–1973.

  The Sun King/by Nancy Mitford; introduction by Philip Mansel.

  p.cm.—(New York review books classics)

  Originally published: London: H. Hamilton, 1966.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-1-59017-491-3 (alk. paper)

  1. Louis XIV, King of France, 1638–1715. 2. France—History—Louis XIV,

  1643–1715. 3. France—Kings and rulers—Biography. 4. Château de Versailles

  (Versailles, France)—History. I. Title.

  DC129.M575 2012

  944'.033092—dc23

  [B]

  2012000749

  eISBN 978-1-59017-506-4

  v1.0

  For a complete list of books in the NYRB Classics series, visit www.nyrb.com or write to:

  Catalog Requests, NYRB, 435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014