On this day, Mme de Maintenon writes to Mme de Saint-Géran:
“Rest easy on account of your favourite; I am a little better informed than one is in Paris, and I see no sign of war. Your politics is founded on nothing. The King has very pacific sentiments, and he will permit the Emperor to beat the Turks as much as he pleases. It is true that if one were to believe certain people France would stop the progress of the house of Austria, but the King is too faithful to his word to set Europe aflame because of some ill-founded jealousy. I would perhaps not have answered for him at another time, but at present God has inspired in him a love of peace that grows every day. Pray God to pour His blessings on all his enterprises. I am glad that you are happy with Maintenon. Is it not true that it is a beautiful piece of land? I told you that the King does nothing by halves. Monseigneur has reconciled with the little duke, and, against my expectation, without the King having got involved.”
Commentary:
Mme de Maintenon is correct in the short term. War will not break out for another year. Her remarks on Louis XIV’s peaceful intentions need not be taken seriously. He has gone to war in every decade of his reign and will do so again. In fact, the next 2 wars will be the longest and most costly in blood and treasure of them all. Until next year, however, Mme de Saint-Géran’s “favourite,” actually her nephew according to a note from the editor of the letters, will be safe from harm. He is presumably on active duty in some regiment or other.
Pictured: A 17th century engraving by Aveline of the entrance and garden fronts of Maintenon before Mme de Maintenon’s tenure.
It seems that Mme de Saint-Géran has been at Maintenon, the domain that was the King’s gift to Mme de Maintenon and from which she takes her name. He erected it into a marquisate for her. He also ordered and paid for renovations after the first time he stayed there.
Pictured: Louis de France (1661-1711), Dauphin, or heir to the throne, from his birth until his death. Louis XIV’s only surviving legitimate child, he has a number of half-siblings from his father’s relationships with the Duchesse de La Vallière and the Marquise de Montespan. He is very close to the former’s daughter, the Princesse de Conti. Portrait by Rigaud or his studio.
Monseigneur is the appellation of the Dauphin, the King’s heir, in court parlance. It is not explained what the disagreement with “the little duke” was about, nor is the latter identified by name. I take Mme de Maintenon to mean the Dauphin’s half-brother, the Duc du Maine, who is 17 years old at this date. Maine, whom she raised, is the apple of both Mme de Maintenon’s eye and the King’s. There would be no reason for the King to get involved for some other duke.
The translation from the French is my own, as it always is unless I credit someone else. If you have questions that I have not addressed in the commentary, please ask in the comments.
I love this line: “…the King is too faithful to his word to set Europe aflame because of some ill-founded jealousy.”
Mme de Maintenon is a great propagandist. She certainly had me fooled!