The Duc De Saint-Simon - Louis XIV's VENOMOUS Court Chronicler

Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon, was born on January 16, 1675 to Claude de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon, and his second wife, Charlotte de l'Aubespie. As the boy was the Viscount of Chartres from birth, he received a thorough education. During his childhood, he became friends with Philippe II d'Orléans, Duc de Chartres, From a young age, Louis was interested in history and loved reading, especially memoirs, which gave him the desire to write himself in the hope of being useful and of reporting as well as possible on the problems of his time. However, Louis also enjoyed horse riding and fencing and expressed a desire to serve in the army. Louis took part in the siege of Namur in 1692 and shortly after, Louis XIV gave him the command of the 3rd Cavalry Company of the Royal Roussillon Regiment. In April 1693, his father, Claude de Rouvroy, died and Louis became the Duc de Saint-Simon. In 1695, he married Marie-Gabrielle de Durfort-de-l'Orge, the eldest daughter of Guy-Aldonce de Durfort-de-l'Orge, who came from a non-noble but wealthy family. The marriage was very happy and on September 8, 1696, their first daughter Charlotte was born but she was disabled and would be dependent on her parents for the rest of her life. The birth of Charlotte, followed by the birth of two other children who were also physically and mentally disabled, deeply wounded Saint-Simon's pride as a father and aristocrat. Saint-Simon was very devoted to his wife and he also remained faithful to her, which was exceptional at court. When the Duchess died, he had her buried in an open tomb under the church of La Ferté-Vidame so his coffin could be placed in the same tomb as hers when he was to die. Saint-Simon began writing his memoirs in 1694 when Louis XIV was in power and described at length the period up to 1723 when the Sun King's successor, Louis XV, was crowned king at the age of 13. Saint-Simon was little appreciated by Louis XIV. Just before the War of the Spanish Succession, Saint-Simon had asked to be dismissed from the army. His big mouth, quarrels and lawsuits were not always appreciated and led to him being excluded from trips to Marly, a small castle where the core of the court sometimes stayed. Saint-Simon was hated by the clique of Meudon around Madame de Maintenon and the Grand Dauphin and his future at court would be doomed in the event of Louis XIV's death. When the Grand Dauphin died, the odds changed for Saint-Simon when he became a part of the Burgundy faction as he hoped for a new style of government and a role as advisor to the new Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy. However le petit Dauphin died the following year, leaving the five-year-old Louis XV next in line to the throne. After the death of the Sun King in 1715, his friend Philippe II d'Orléans became regent of France. Saint-Simon was appointed member of the Regency Council and in 1718 he became special ambassador to Madrid to arrange a marriage for Louis XV to the Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain. But the marriage never happened. The young Infanta was sent home to Spain in favor of the older Maria Leszczynska. What should have been the highlight of Saint-Simon's career came to nothing. When Louis XV came of age in 1723 and the regent died, the Duke lost all his political influence. Saint-Simon's life is all too often viewed through the lenses of the memoirs. One tastes the bitterness of a failed military career, the disdain by Louis XIV, the quarrels over trivialities, the political sidelining after the regency and finally the practical expulsion from Versailles. Saint-Simon draws almost caricatural and malicious portraits of the royal household. Portraits that have left their mark on history and have cast many figures in a worse light than they perhaps deserve. The main characters in his diary are the heartless and petty Louis XIV, the mean bastard Duc de Main, the bigoted and scheming Madame de Maintenon, the stupid Grand Dauphin, the irresolute regent Philippe II d'Orléans, surrounded by a gang of vain, ridiculous, miserable or ugly courtiers such as the Duc de Noailles, who is given the title of Snake. Even the chateaus of Louis XIV, symbols of the waste of money and of absolutist splendor, receive their fair share of criticism. Marly, to which Saint-Simon had been so keen to be invited 30 years earlier, is described in the memoirs as a nest of snakes and deadly beasts, toads and frogs. Saint-Simon did not have a kind word to say about Versailles either. He called it the gilded prison of the nobility. Saint-Simon wrote his essays and memoirs in such pure and stylish French that they are considered a highlight of French language and literature. He had the ability to turn a small anecdote into a comic spectacle and, with a sharp pen and cutting insults, he credibly committed character assassination. The memoirs were written between 1694 and 1750. It was not until 1739 that he wrote the final version. After his death, five chests containing notebooks, portfolios and letters were left by Saint-Simon. Even before the French Revolution, some partial and sloppy editions of the memoirs were published, which attracted a great deal of attention. In 1829, the complete memoirs were printed. The modern French edition consists of 8,000 pages and fills seven volumes in small print. Louis de Rouvoix, Duc de Saint-Simon, died on March 2, 1755. As he was preceded in death by his wife and sons, the Saint-Simon ducal dynasty died out with him. According to his wishes, he was buried next to his wife in the ducal crypt of the Church of La Ferté-Vidane. Thank you for watching.