Moreau, "On the Origins of the French Monarchy"
Jacob–Nicolas Moreau wrote this excerpt as part of his<i> Lessons of Morality, Politics and Law </i>(1773) at the request of the aging Louis XV for the instruction of the Dauphin. Throughout the 200–page book, Moreau defends the power of the King to rule France without opposition. In this passage, he lays out the French monarchy’s own view of its history, which provides justification for royal perogative. Elsewhere he would continue, emphasizing that since former kings had created such bodies as the <i>Parlements </i>and regional Estates, current kings should listen to—but not be bound by—the views of these bodies.
Jacob-Nicolas Moreau, <i>Leçons de Morale, de politique et de droit public</i> (Versailles: De l'imprimerie du Département des affaires étrangeres, 1773), 30–33.
1773
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Bossuet, "The Nature and Properties of Royal Authority"
Jacques–Benigne Bossuet (1627—1704), bishop of Meaux, was a well–known seventeenth–century peacher who believed that although France had a sizable minority of Protestants, France should have a single religion, Catholicism. At the same time, he was a Gallican, meaning he argued that the French clergy owed primary allegiance to the king rather than the Pope in Rome. His emphasis on religious unity and devotion to the French crown—rather than tolerance—appealed to Louis XIV, who appointed Bossuet tutor to heir, the "Dauphin" or crown prince. In this capacity, Bossuet wrote the following passage setting out the basic ideas of the French monarchy.
J.-B. Bossuet, <i>Politique tiree des propres paroles de l'ecriture sainte</i> (Paris: 1834) vol I, 133 - 149;180 - 188,
1709
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The Coronation of Louis XVI from the <i>Gazette of France</i> (1775)
These two articles from the official newspaper of the day describe the coronation of Louis XVI at Reims, the city to which French kings had traveled to be anointed and crowned for a thousand years. Note the seriousness with which all the King's movements are described and how solemnly this ritual was taken—even though it no longer held its original meaning—demonstrating the consent of all three orders of French society to be ruled by their new King. Actually, the new King had already begun to govern France ten months earlier, upon the death of his predecessor.
<i>Gazette de France</i>, no. 48 (16 June 1775), 217; and <i>Gazette de France</i>, no. 49 (19 June 1775), 221.
1775
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The "Session of the Scourging" (3 March 1766)
The twelve highest royal courts, known as <i>parlements</i>, not only heard civil and criminal suits; they also had the responsibility of discussing and registering royal edicts before their enactment. Consequently, the parlementary magistrates could, when they saw fit, prevent the King from ruling; by the same token, the King could exercise a sort of reverse veto by forcing the <i>parlements</i> to register his edicts. He did this by convoking the judges of the <i>parlements</i> to a special ceremony known as a "seat of justice." Ordinary appearances by the King before the<i> Parlement </i>of Paris were known as "sessions." At this session in 1766, during the "Brittany Affair" (see Chapter 3 introduction), Louis XV verbally "lashed out" at the magistrates for asserting that they were linked to the <i>Parlement</i> of Rennes and all the other regional courts in a "union." In the King’s view, the idea of such a "union" interfered with his ability to rule over the French people.
Jules Flammermont, <i>Remonstrances du Parlement de Paris au XVIIIe siècle</i>, vol. 2 (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1888–98), 555–59.
March 3, 1766
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Lamoignon, "The Principles of the French Monarchy" (1787)
On 19 November 1787, the King convoked the <i>Parlement</i> of Paris to enforce registration of an edict allowing the indebted royal treasury to borrow an additional 420 million <i>livres</i>. When the King appeared before the magistrates, his Keeper of the Seals, Chrétien–François de Lamoignon spoke for him. Lamoignon did not explain what the additional money would be spent on but instead argued that the King’s will had to be obeyed if France was to prosper, thus staking the monarchy’s legitimacy on the acceptance of this single bond issue.
<i>Discours de M. de Lamoignon, Garde des Sceaux de France à la Séance du Roi au Parlement le 19 novembre 1787</i> (Bibliothèque nationale de France: [Microfiche LB39-467]).
1787
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"Letter from a Gentleman in Paris to His Friend in London" (1757)
The news of Robert–François Damiens’s attack on the King and his subsequent trial spread rapidly and generated great interest across France and all of Europe. This pamphlet, published in London, describes for English readers the goings–on in Paris, especially the public outpouring of sympathy for the King and the general hostility toward Damiens. Damiens, even for this English observer, was horrible for having dared to touch, let alone try to kill the King—God’s anointed representative in France and the guarantor of public order and domestic peace.
"Letter from a Gentleman in Paris to His Friend in London," in <i>A Particular and Authentic Narration of the Life, Examination, Torture, and Execution of Robert Francis Damien [</i>sic<i>], </i>trans. Thomas Jones (London, 1757).
1757
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Letter from a Patriot Claiming to Prove Damiens Had Accomplices
This pamphlet was one of the many published in France in response to the news of Damiens’s attack on the King. It is written from the standpoint of the so–called patriot party, which opposed the concentration of power in the hands of the King, the royal advisers at court (mostly aristocrats), and the bishops of the church (mostly Jesuits). Patriots instead supported the <i>parlements</i> and the lower clergy as more morally suited to represent the interests of all three orders that composed the French "nation."
Anonymous, <i>Pièces originales et procédures du procès, fait à Robert-François Damiens </i>(Paris: Pierre Guillaume Simon, 1757).
1757
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Damiens’s Testimony to <i>Parlement</i>
During the course of his trial, Damiens was interrogated over fifty times by the magistrates of the <i>Parlement </i>of Paris and by the King’s prosecutors. The interrogators were concerned above all to determine if Damiens had accomplices and if so, what group was behind the attack. In this passage, Damiens testifies that his action had been prompted by "preachers of the Parlementary party," meaning those who criticized the excessive power of the court and the bishops. Attributing his actions to dissatisfaction with the state of the kingdom, Damiens then asks the King to show his concern for the hard–pressed French people by pardoning him.
Anonymous<i>, Pièces originales et procédures du procès, fait à Robert-François Damiens</i> (Paris: Pierre Guillaume Simon, 1757).
1757
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Decree of the <i>Parlement</i> of Paris against Robert–François Damiens
After a three–month trial, the magistrates found Damiens guilty of parricide against the person of the King on 26 March 1757. In a final interrogation, Damiens is once again asked about accomplices. He then denies having them.
Anonymous, <i>Pièces originales et procédures du procès, fait à Robert-François Damiens</i> (Paris: Pierre Guillaume Simon, 1757).
1757
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The Sentence against Damiens (1757)
Having found Damiens guilty, the judges ordered him punished in a gruesome public spectacle, with the intention of repressing symbolically, through his body, the threat to order that the judges perceived in his attack on the King. Such punishment, characteristic of the Middle Ages and early modern period was much opposed by the Enlightenment view that crime would be better handled by rehabilitating criminals’ minds rather than mutilating their bodies.
Anonymous, <i>Pièces originales et procédures du procès, fait à Robert-François Damiens</i> (Paris: Pierre Guillaume Simon, 1757).
1757
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