Everything about Louis Xv totally explained
This gruesome execution was harshly criticized by the “philosophes”, who saw it as a remnant of a more brutal age. In truth, the king himself hadn't much to do with the method of execution, and the people rejoiced at the king's having escaped Damiens's knife unharmed. It was the members of the
Parlement of Paris who selected such a horrific execution, as they thought it would please the king, willing as they were to reconcile themselves with the king after their opposition to the tax on the twentieth and their support of the Jansenists against the king's will.
But above all, the people were outraged that the king didn't dismiss Madame de Pompadour, despite the clear signal sent by Damiens. Posters appeared on the walls of Paris with the following ironic pun: "Ruling from the Mint Court: A
louis not properly struck shall be struck a second time." The Austrian ambassador wrote to Vienna: "The public discontent is general. All the conversations are about death and poison. There appeared in the
Hall of Mirrors of Versailles some dreadful posters threatening the life of the king."
Later Life
The king, who had displayed calm and royal dignity on the day of the assassination attempt, sank into profound depression in the following weeks. He became convinced that he was on the wrong track. All attempts at reforms were abandoned. At the marquise de Pompadour's instigation, the king dismissed his two most hated ministers, the
comte d'Argenson,
secretary of state for war, and Machault d'Arnouville,
keeper of the seals (justice minister) and before that
controller-general of finances; and he called
Choiseul to the government. Reforms would resume only with
Maupeou in
1771.
Death
Louis XV died of
smallpox at the
Palace of Versailles. He was the first Bourbon whose heart was not, as tradition demanded, cut out and placed in a special coffer. Instead, alcohol was poured into his coffin and his remains were soaked in
quicklime. In a surreptitious late-night ceremony attended by only one courtier, the body was taken to the cemetery at
Saint Denis Basilica.
Louis' death saw the French monarchy at its nadir, in political, financial and moral terms. It might have recovered - it had recovered in the past from similar low points - but it would require an individual of unique abilities to pull back from the precipice. Since Louis XV's son, the dauphin
Louis had died nine years earlier, instead came his grandson, the conventional and unimaginative
Louis XVI, destined to inherit a Revolution along with the throne. Two of Louis XV's other grandchildren occupied the French throne after the
Napoleonic wars -
Louis XVIII and
Charles X.
Conclusion
Louis XIV had left France with serious financial difficulties. Ultimately, Louis XV failed to overcome these fiscal problems, mainly because he was incapable of putting together conflicting parties and interests in his entourage. At Versailles, the king and the nobility surrounding him showed signs of boredom, signalling a monarchy in steady decline. Worse, Louis seemed to be aware of the forces of anti-monarchism threatening his family's rule and yet failed to do anything to stop them. Popular legend holds that Louis predicted, "After me, the deluge" (
"Après moi, le déluge"). In fact this quotation is more precisely attributed to
Madame de Pompadour, although it isn't certain that even she ever said it.
At first he was known popularly as
Le Bien-aimé (the well-beloved) after a near-death illness in
Metz in
1744 when many of his subjects prayed for his recovery. However, his weak and ineffective rule was a contributing factor to the general decline that culminated in the
French Revolution. In addition, the king was a notorious womanizer, although this was expected in a king; the monarch's virility was supposed to be another way in which his power was manifested. However, popular faith in the monarchy was shaken by the scandals of Louis’s private life and in the shadows of the scandalous court at Versailles, and by the end of his life he'd become the
well-hated.
Ancestors
Further Information
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