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Seventeenth-century kings did almost everything to excess, and none was more excessive than Louis XIV. He reigned longer (more than 70 years), built grander, planned larger and waged war oftener than almost any of his predecessors in European history. And his court - whether based at the Louvre or Versailles, or at a dozen other palaces of almost equal magnificence - set standards for size, opulence, and above all pleasure with which his fellow monarchs scrambled to keep up.
So it was with sex - or, as French courtiers preferred, gallanterie; a term that covered a range of amatory enterprises. Louis excelled, providing his subjects with a steady supply of legitimate and illegitimate children, and enjoying over an exceptionally long life the attentions of a series of young, beautiful, often highly intelligent women: from his first teenage love, the nymph-like Louise de la Valliere, to Madame de Maintenon, the pious companion of his declining years.
However, the great strength of this new book is that it is very much more than a |
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john adamson praises a masterful account of Louis XIV’s love life
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catalogue of amorous adventures. It subtly explores the various contexts - social, moral, even psychological - within which these liaisons were played out. Indeed, contemporary social attitudes revealed an almost atavistic pride in the sexual potency of the king.
At court, where established royal mistresses were openly acknowledged and endowed with almost regal rank, the entire question of extra-marital affairs was complicated on the one hand by the permissiveness of the courtiers themselves, and on the other by the finger-wagging censures of the Church. Well-timed repentance was the key to reconciling the two.
Writing with a rare combination of human sympathy, deep erudition and high literary accomplishment, Fraser leaves no doubt as to why she is the reigning doyenne of British historians. 
FIRST POSTED AUGUST 31, 2006
 Last week: William Boyd
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