Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV

Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV
Author: Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 484
Release: 2001-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780226473208

The Duke of Saint-Simon (1675-1755) was a self-obsessed courtier and chronicler of court life under Louis XIV. Drawing heavily on his memoirs, historian Ladurie offers a wonderful portrait of life with Louis, focusing on issues of hierarchy and rank in this tightly controlled universe. Illustrations.

Memoirs

Memoirs
Author: Louis de Rouvroy duc de Saint-Simon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 554
Release: 2000
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Translated from the French.

The Cat And The King

The Cat And The King
Author: Louis Auchincloss
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2013-06-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0547947011

A cat may look at a king, says an old proverb. The king is the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, whose fabled court at Versailles was the wonder of Europe; the cat is the watchful chronicler, Louis de Rouvroy, second duc de Saint-Simon, author of the famous Memoirs which are the definitive record of Louis’ reign. Auchincloss has conceived his novel as an extension of the Memoirs, in which Saint-Simon reveals his own story—as well as a great deal about the private lives of the great and near-great that did not find its way into the published record. With his inimitable gift for characterization, Auchincloss portrays Saint-Simon, the meticulous, proud aristocrat of the old school who is at once fascinated and threatened by the powerful centralized monarchy Louis is building and by the king’s plot to bolster his position by marrying off his illegitimate children to princes of the blood. Elegant, crisp, and abounding in authentic detail, The Cat and the King shows us the factions, liaisons, intrigues and dalliances that made up daily life at Versailles as they might have been seen from Saint-Simon’s highly critical perspective. Auchincloss imagines the dominant figures of this greatest period in French history—the aging Louis; his pious morganatic spouse, Madame de Maintenon; Monsieur, the king’s homosexual brother; the great warrior and ladies’ man Conti; and many others—as wholly believable individuals with peculiar tics and foibles of their own; but none is stranger, more fascinating, or more believable than Saint-Simon himself. A remarkable portrait of a quintessential man of his time, a discerning study of the use and abuse of power, and an utterly convincing recreation of a turbulent age that bears no small resemblance to our own, The Cat and the King is a many-faceted jewel that represents a new dimension of achievement in Louis Auchincloss’ distinguished career as a novelist.

Tolerance

Tolerance
Author: Caroline Warman
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2016-01-04
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1783742038

Inspired by Voltaire’s advice that a text needs to be concise to have real influence, this anthology contains fiery extracts by forty eighteenth-century authors, from the most famous philosophers of the age to those whose brilliant writings are less well-known. These passages are immensely diverse in style and topic, but all have in common a passionate commitment to equality, freedom, and tolerance. Each text resonates powerfully with the issues our world faces today. Tolerance was first published by the Société française d’étude du dix-huitième siècle (the French Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies) in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo assassinations in January 2015 as an act of solidarity and as a response to the surge of interest in Enlightenment values. With the support of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, it has now been translated by over 100 students and tutors of French at Oxford University.

Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Complete

Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Complete
Author: Louis de Rouvroy duc de Saint-Simon
Publisher: Good Press
Total Pages: 1062
Release: 2019-11-19
Genre: History
ISBN:

"Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Complete" by Louis de Rouvroy duc de Saint-Simon Duc de Louis de Rouvroy Saint-Simon was a French courtier during the 18th century, but today he's best known for his comprehensive multi-volume memoirs, which depict life in France and French society during the time period. This book is an amazing recounting of the life of a Duke during Louis XIV and up to the death of the regent who followed.