Sidney, Sir Philip (1554–86), 10
Siècle de Louis XIV (Voltaire), 164
silver: called in by the King (1709), 154; furniture, 68
smallpox: caught by Marie-Anne, Princesse de Conti, passed on to her husband, 86; caught by the Duchesse de Bourbon, 88, 104; treatment of, 100f; kills the Dauphin, 158; at Versailles, 161; Joseph I dies of, 164; two sons of Beauvilliers die of, 166
sodomy and sodomites, 31, 59, 124, 151; Louis XIV’s abhorrence of, 34, 59
Soissons, Eugène Maurice de Savoie-Carignan, Comte de (1633–73), m. Olympe Mancini (1657), 57
Soissons, Louis de Bourbon, Comte de (1604–41), 56
Soissons, Olympe Mancini, Comtesse de (1639–1708), 40, 56f, 58, 61, 93, 112
Sorbonne, Paris, the Duc de Bourgogne visits, 149
Soubise, Anne de Rohan-Chabot, Princesse de (1648–1709), m. François de Rohan (1663), 45, 47f, 168; dies of cold, 153
Soubise, François de Rohan, Prince de, 47
Soubise Hôtel, Paris, 48
South America, 129
Spain, 10, 20, 77, 98, 122, 123, 129, 131, 136–9; Maulévrier sent to, 147; Vendôme sent to, 152, 164; see also Charles II of Spain; Philip IV of Spain; Philip V of Spain; Marie-Louise-Gabrielle of Savoy
Spanheim, Ezekiel (1629–1710), Prussian Ambassador, 77, 86, 93, 95f, 98; on Bourgogne, Anjou and Berri, 149–50
Spanish Empire, 122, 129, 136; see also Partition treaties
Spanish Netherlands, 15, 17, 122, 129, 136, 138, 165
Spanish Succession, 122, 128–9, 130, 131, 136–9; War of the (1702–13), 145 et seqq., 164–5; Treaties of Utrecht, 165
squirrel, Fouquet’s emblem, 18
stables at Versailles, 64
Stair, John Dalrymple, and Earl of (1683–1747), Ambassador in Paris (1715–20), 166
Stanhope, James Stanhope, 1st Earl (1683–1721), 156
Steinkirk, Battle of (1692), 84
Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, Baron Raby, 3rd Earl of (1672–1739), 124
Strasbourg, altar cloth for cathedral, 107
Stuart, Mary (1631–60), m. 1641 William II of Orange, 16; for William III’s wife, see Mary II
Suisses, Pièce d’Eau des, 9, 13, 32
Sun King, see Louis XIV
surgeons and their methods, 102
surtout de table, 130–1
Sweden, 98
Tallart, Camille d’Hostun, Comte, later Duc de (1652–1728), Maréchal de France (1703), 129–30, 137, 150
tapis vert, Versailles, 12
Testu, Jacques (1626–1706), Abbé de Belval, on Mme de Montespan and her sisters, 31
La Thébaide (Racine: 1664), 93
Thétis, Grotte de, 68
Thianges, Gabrielle de Rochechouart, Marquise de (d. 1693), sister of Mme de Montespan, 26, 30f, 46ff
Tingry, Princesse de: involved in poisons scandal, 56, 58
Titian (d. 1576), 39
Torcy, Jean Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de (1665–1746), 125, 128, 136, 144
Les Torrents (Guyon), 118
Toulouse, Louis-Alexandre, Comte de (1678–1737), youngest son of Mme de Montespan and Louis XIV, 50, 62, 68, 127, 132, 160–1, 163, 164; his hounds, 64; operated on for stone, 100; marriage, 133; at Louis XIV’s deathbed, 169
Toulouse, Marie de Noailles, Comtesse de, 133
Tournai (Belgium), 30, 155
Trappists, 95; see also La Trappe
Trianon, hamlet near Versailles, 9
Trianon, poisoner, 60
Trianon in porcelain, 23
Triomphe de Flore (Poussin), 71
Troy, François de (1645–1730), 72
Tuileries, Palais de, Paris, 23, 93
Turenne, Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, Vicomte de (1611–75), 16f, 136
Turks: in French navy, 20; invading Europe, 85
Unigenitus, Papal Bull, 164
Utrecht, Treaties of (1713), 165
Van Dyck, Sir Anthony (1599–1641), 39
Vardes, François-René du Bec-Crespin (1621–88), 92f
Vatican, 120; see also Rome, Church of
Vauban, Sebastien le Prestre, Seigneur de (1633–1707), 66, 136
Vaugirard, suburb of Paris, 29; rue de, 103
Vaux-le-Vicomte (District of Paris), Château de, 10f, 18, 23; renamed Vaux-Villars, 164
Vendôme, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Duc de (1654–1712), 58, 145; loses Battle of Oudenarde (1708), 150–2, 157; success in Spain, 152, 164; Marie-Anne de Bourbon-Condé, Duchesse de (1678–1718), 150
Venetian Republic, 19, 40, 164
Venetian School of painting, 39
Venice, Little, Versailles, 40
Ventadour, Charlotte-Eléonore de La Mothe Houdancourt, Duchesse de (1661–1744), 101, 166, 168; saves life of the child Louis (XV), 162
Vermandois, Louis de Bourbon, Comte de (1667–83), Admiral of France, son of Mme de La Vallière and the King, 93, 139
Verneuil, Charlotte Séguier, Duchesse de Sully, later Duchesse de (1623–1704), 127f
Verneuil, Henri de Bourbon, Duc de, 127
Veronese, Paolo (1528–88), 39
Versailles (town), 23, 24, 65
Versailles, Château de: the love of Louis XIV’s life, 9f, 12, 17; water supply, 11; courtiers’ and ministers’ objections, 11, 13; the enveloppe, 15f, 23, 32–41, 63; baths and sanitation, 36; pictures at, 39; declared the seat of government (1682), 53, 63; ‘A City of the Rich’, 63–9; Princes’ and Nobles’ wings, 64f; life and etiquette at, 67–9; changes made in later ages, 68–9, 75; Grand Dauphin’s apartment at, 70f; new regimes at, 92–9; Portland as English ambassador to, 122 et seqq.; etiquette, 127–8; Marie-Adelaide at, 135; Anjou introduced as King of Spain at, 138; La Bruyère on, 140; during Spanish War of Succession, 145, 146; cold winter of 1709, 154, 154–5; smallpox and measles at, 161–2; Noailles exiled from, 164; death of Louis XIV at, 166; see also Bains, Appartement des; Cabinet Doré; Chapel; Glaces, Galerie des; Grand Appartement; Orangery; Queen’s staircase; Suisses, Pièce d’Eau des; tapis vert
Vexin, Comte de, second son of Mme de Montespan and the King: birth, 30; death, 44
Vichy (Allier), spa, 46
Victoire, Princess of Bavaria (1660–90), m. the Grand Dauphin (1679), 71, 77, 84, 86, 92, 144; personal appearance, 72; birth of the Duc de Bourgogne, 72–4; birth of Duc d’Anjou, 78; birth of Duc de Berri, 83; illness and death, 83, 127, 134
Victoria (1819), Queen of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837, 23
Vigoureux, Mme: involved in poisons scandal, 54f; death under torture, 57, 60
Villacerf, Edouard Colbert, Marquis de (1628–99), 127–8
Villarceau, Louis de Mornay, Marquis de (1619–91), 81
Villars, Claude-Louis-Hector, Duc de (1653–1734), Maréchal de France (1707), 164–5; his wife, 164
Villars-Brancas, Duc de: proposed as husband for Mme Scarron, 43
Villeroy, François de Neufville, Duc et Maréchal de (1644–1730), 85, 86, 152, 164
Villette, Marquis de (d. 1707), m. 1695 Marie Claire Deschamps de Marcilly (later Viscountess Bolingbroke), 111
Vincennes (district of Paris), 9, 12, 169; prison, 55, 57, 59, 61
Vincent de Paul (1576–1660: canonized 1737), 75; order of Saint, 116
Vitry, Duchesse de, and poisons scandal, 56
Vivonne, Duc de, see Mortemart et de Vivonne
Vivonne, Duchesse de, 56
Voisin (Catherine Deshayes, Mme Monvoisin, called) La (c. 1640–80), 26f, 45, 48, 55, 158; arrested, 51f, 56, 62; death by burning, 57, 59f
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet, 1694–1778, called), 40, 62, 96, 112, 124, 164; quoted, 53
Vouet, Simon (1590–1649), 22, 23
William, Prince of Orange, called the Silent (1533–84), 123, 163
William III (1650–1702), Prince of Orange, Stadholder of the United Provinces from 1672, King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1689; 16f, 86, 97, 143, 144; consults Fagon, 103; and the Spanish Succession, 122f, 128–9, 139; relat
ions with Albemarle and Bentinck, 124f; plot to assassinate him, 125–6; receives report from Portland, 126–8; and the Comte de Tallart, 129–30, 131; Second Partition Treaty, 136, 139, 145; for his mother, see Stuart, Mary; for his wife, Mary II
Windsor: Le Nôtre to make designs for, 126–7
Woodstock, Lord, 124
Works of a Seven Year Old Author (Duc du Maine), 49–50
Ypres (Belgium), 155
THIS IS A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOK
PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.nyrb.com
Copyright © 1967 by Nancy Mitford
Introduction copyright © 2012 by Philip Mansel
All rights reserved.
Cover image: Louis XIV in the role of Apollo in Le Ballet de la Nuit, 1653; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France / The Bridgeman Art Library
Cover design: Katy Homans
The Library of Congress has cataloged the earlier printing as follows:
Mitford, Nancy, 1904–1973.
The Sun King/by Nancy Mitford; introduction by Philip Mansel.
p.cm.—(New York review books classics)
Originally published: London: H. Hamilton, 1966.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59017-491-3 (alk. paper)
1. Louis XIV, King of France, 1638–1715. 2. France—History—Louis XIV,
1643–1715. 3. France—Kings and rulers—Biography. 4. Château de Versailles
(Versailles, France)—History. I. Title.
DC129.M575 2012
944'.033092—dc23
[B]
2012000749
eISBN 978-1-59017-506-4
v1.0
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