The Age of Louis XIV Read online

  BY WILL DURANT

  The Story of Philosophy

  Transition

  The Pleasure of Philosophy

  Adventures in Genius

  BY WILL AND ARIEL DURANT

  THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION

  1. Our Oriental Heritage

  2. The Life of Greece

  3. Caesar and Christ

  4. The Age of Faith

  5. The Renaissance

  6. The Reformation

  7. The Age of Reason Begins

  8. The Age of Louis XIV

  9. The Age of Voltaire

  10. Rousseau and Revolution

  11. The Age of Napoleon

  The Lessons of History

  Interpretation of Life

  A Dual Autobiography

  COPYRIGHT © 1963 BY WILL AND ARIEL DURANT

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF REPRODUCTION

  IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM

  PUBLISHED BY SIMON AND SCHUSTER

  A DIVISION OF GULF & WESTERN CORPORATION

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  SIMON AND SCHUSTER AND COLOPHON ARE TRADEMARKS

  OF SIMON & SCHUSTER

  ISBN 0-671-01215-0

  eISBN 978-1-4516-4765-5

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 35–10016

  MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  TO OUR BELOVED

  GRANDDAUGHTER

  MONICA

  Dear Reader:

  THIS volume is Part VIII in a history whose beginning has been forgotten, and whose end we shall never reach. The subject is civilizazation, which we define as social order promoting cultural creation; therefore it includes government, economy (agriculture, industry, commerce, finance), morality, manners, religion, art, literature, music, science, and philosophy. The aim is integral history—to cover all phases of a people’s activity in one perspective and one unified narrative; that aim has been very imperfectly achieved. The scene is Europe. The time is from the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) to the death of Louis XIV, whose reign (1643–1715) dominated and named the age.

  The pervading theme is the Great Debate between faith and reason. Faith was on the throne in this period, but reason was finding new voices in Hobbes, Locke, Newton, Bayle, Fontenelle, and Spinoza; this “Classical Age was throughout what it called itself at its close, the Age of Reason.”* Almost a third of the book is devoted to the “Intellectual Adventure” out of superstition, obscurantism, and intolerance to scholarship, science, philosophy. An attempt is made to report the discussion fairly, despite the authors’ evident prejudice; hence the extended and sympathetic treatment of such able defenders of the faith as Pascal, Bossuet, Fénelon, Berkeley, Malebranche, and Leibniz. Our children will live a new chapter in this conflict of ideals, where every victory must be repeatedly rewon.

  We hope to present Part IX, The Age of Voltaire, in 1965, and Part X, Rousseau and Revolution, in 1968. Some difficulties have arisen, partly from the wealth of material offered by the eighteenth century, all demanding study and space. Meanwhile we shall rely on the Great Powers not to destroy our subject before it destroys us.

  May, 1963

  WILL AND ARIEL DURANT

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  One of the associated publishers with whom we began this “word business” in 1926 has passed away; we shall never forget his bright spirit. The other is still our friend, always enthusiastic, generous, and forgiving, a publisher who remains a poet.

  We trust that it will not be interpreted as “a lively sense of future favors” if we take this—which could be our last—chance to express our gratitude to the many critics who have won us an audience for these volumes. Without their help we should have been voices moaning in the wilderness.

  We owe a substantial debt to our daughter Ethel for her devoted transformation of our not quite legible second draft into an almost perfect typescript, with wise emendations. And to our sisters and brother—Sarah, Flora, Mary, and Harry Kaufman—for their patient classification of some forty thousand notes under some twelve thousand headings. To Mrs. Anne Roberts of the Los Angeles Public Library, and Miss Dagny Williams of the Hollywood Regional Library, for their precious aid in securing rare books from all over America; these volumes could never have been written without our magnificent, open-handed libraries. And to Mrs. Vera Schneider, of the editorial staff of Simon and Schuster, for such scholarly editing of this and the preceding volume as probably few manuscripts have ever received.

  NOTES ON THE USE OF THIS BOOK

  1. Dates of birth or death have usually been omitted from the narrative, where they tend to be forgotten or lost; they will be found always available in the Index.

  2. The value of coins in any age is subject to so many influences and variations that no reliable system can be set up for equating them with current currencies. The livre in this period sank in value to the level of a franc. Voltaire reported* a silk weaver of Lyon in 1768 supporting a wife and eight children on 45 sous daily, or (since he received nothing on Sundays or holidays) 639 livres per year. A similar family would need at least $50 per week, or $2,600 per year, in the United States of 1962; this would equate a livre with $4.07. In the London of 1779 a worker with wife and children required about 19 shillings per week for rent, food, and common necessaries;† this would make a shilling equal to $2.50. From such comparisons we derive the following hazardous and loose equivalents:

  crown, $12.50

  ducat, $12.50

  écu, $8.00

  florin, $12.50

  franc, $2.50

  guinea, $52.50

  guilder, $10.50

  gulden, $10.50

  livre, $2.50

  louis d’or, $50.00

  mark, $30.00

  penny, $.21

  pound, $50.00

  reale, $.50

  ruble, $10.00

  scudo, $1.16

  shilling, $2.50

  sou, $.15

  thaler, $8.00

  3. The location of works of art, when not indicated in the text, will usually be found in the Notes. In allocating such works the name of the city will imply its leading gallery, as follows:

  Amsterdam—Rijksmuseum

  Berlin—Staatsmuseum

  Bologna—Accademia di Belle Arti

  Brussels—Museum

  Budapest—Museum of Fine Arts

  Cassel—Museum

  Chantilly—Musée Condé

  Chatsworth—Duke of Devonshire Collection

  Chicago—Art Institute

  Cincinnati—Art Institute

  Cleveland—Museum of Art

  Detroit—Institute of Art

  Dresden—Gemälde-Galerie

  Dulwich—College Gallery

  Edinburgh—National Gallery

  Ferrara—Galleria Estense

  Frankfurt—Städelsches Kunstinstitut

  Geneva—Musée d’Art et d’Histoire

  Haarlem—Frans Hals Museum

  The Hague—Mauritshuis

  Kansas City—Nelson Gallery

  Leningrad—Hermitage

  Lisbon—National Museum

  London—National Gallery

  Madrid—Prado

  Milan—Brera

  Minneapolis—Institute of Arts

  Munich—Haus der Kunst

  Naples—Museo Nazionale

  New York—Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Nuremberg—Germanisches Nationalmuseum

  Philadelphia—Johnson Collection

  Rouen—Musée Municipale

&nbsp
; St. Louis—Art Museum

  San Diego—Fine Arts Gallery

  San Francisco—De Young Museum

  San Marino, Calif.—Henry E. Huntington Art Gallery

  Sarasota, Fla.—Ringling Museum of Art

  Seville—Art Museum

  Stockholm—National Museum

  Vienna—Kunsthistorisches Museum

  Washington—National Gallery

  4. Reduced type has occasionally been used to indicate passages of only remote or special interest, or exceptionally dull.

  Table of Contents

  BOOK I: THE FRENCH ZENITH: 1643–1715

  Chapter I. THE SUN RISES: 1643–84

  I. Mazarin and the Fronde

  II. The King

  III. Nicolas Fouquet

  IV. Colbert Rebuilds France

  V. Manners and Morals

  VI. The Court

  VII. The King’s Women

  VIII. Le Roi S’en Va-t-en Guerre

  Chapter II. THE CRUCIBLE OF FAITH: 1643–1715

  I. The King and the Church

  II. Port-Royal: 1204–1626

  III. The Jansenists and the Jesuits

  IV. Pascal

  1. Himself

  2. The Provincial Letters

  3. In Defense of Faith

  V. Port-Royal: 1656–1715

  VI. The King and the Huguenots

  VII. Bossuet

  VIII. Fénelon

  Chapter III. THE KING AND THE ARTS: 1643–1715

  I. The Organization of the Arts

  II. Architecture

  III. Decoration

  IV. Painting

  V. Sculpture

  Chapter IV. MOLIÈRE: 1622–73

  I. The French Theater

  II. Apprenticeship

  III. Molière and the Ladies

  IV. L’Affaire Tartuffe

  V. The Amorous Atheist

  VI. Meridian

  VII. Curtain

  Chapter V. THE CLASSIC ZENITH IN FRENCH LITERATURE: 1643–1715

  I. Milieu

  II. Corneille Postscript

  III. Racine

  IV. La Fontaine

  V. Boileau

  VI. The Romantic Protest

  VII. Mme. de Sévigné

  VIII. La Rochefoucauld

  IX. La Bruyère

  X. For Good Measure

  Chapter VI. TRAGEDY IN THE NETHERLANDS: 1649–1715

  I. The Spanish Netherlands

  II. The Dutch Republic

  III. The Flowering of Genre,

  IV. Jan de Witt

  V. William III of Orange

  BOOK II: ENGLAND: 1649–1714

  Chapter VII. CROMWELL: 1649–60

  I. The Socialist Revolt

  II. The Irish Revolt

  III. The Scottish Revolt

  IV. Oliver Absolute

  V. Puritan Heyday

  VI. The Quakers

  VII. Death and Taxes

  VIII. The Road Back

  IX. The King Returns

  Chapter VIII. MILTON: 1608–74

  I. John Bunyan

  II. The Young Poet

  III. The Reformer

  IV. Marriage and Divorce

  V. Freedom of the Press

  VI. The Latin Secretary

  VII. The Old Poet

  VIII. The Final Years

  Chapter IX. THE RESTORATION: 1660–85

  I. The Happy King

  II. The Religious Caldron

  III. The English Economy

  IV. Art and Music

  V. Morals

  VI. Manners

  VII. Religion and Politics

  VIII. The “Popish Plot”

  IX. Comoedia finita

  Chapter X. THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION: 1685–1714

  I. The Catholic King

  II. Deposuit potentes de sede

  III. England under William III

  IV. England under Queen Anne

  Chapter XI. FROM DRYDEN TO SWIFT: 1660–1714

  I. A Free Press

  II. The Restoration Drama

  III. John Dryden

  IV. A Catalogue

  V. Evelyn and Pepys

  VI. Daniel Defoe

  VII. Steele and Addison

  VIII. Jonathan Swift

  BOOK III: THE PERIPHERY: 1648–1715

  Chapter XII. THE STRUGGLE FOR THE BALTIC: 1648–1721

  I. Adventurous Sweden

  II. Poland and Sobieski

  III. Russia Turns West

  IV. Peter Learning

  V. Charles XII and the Great Northern War

  Chapter XIII. PETER THE GREAT: 1698–1725

  I. The Barbarian

  II. The Petrine Revolution

  III. Aftermath

  Chapter XIV. THE CHANGING EMPIRE: 1648–1715

  I. The Reorganization of Germany

  II. The German Soul

  III. The Arts in Germany

  IV. Austria and the Turks

  Chapter XV. THE FALLOW SOUTH: 1648–1715

  I. Catholic Italy

  II. Italian Art

  III. The Christine Odyssey

  IV. From Monteverdi to Scarlatti

  V. Portugal

  VI. The Collapse of Spain

  Chapter XVI. THE JEWISH ENCLAVES: 1564–1715

  I. The Sephardim

  II. The Dutch Jerusalem

  III. England and the Jews

  IV. The Ashkenazim

  V. The Inspirations of Faith

  VI. Heretics

  BOOK IV: THE INTELLECTUAL ADVENTURE: 1648–1715

  Chapter XVII. FROM SUPERSTITION TO SCHOLARSHIP: 1648–1715

  I. Impediments

  II. Education

  III. The Scholars

  Chapter XVIII. THE SCIENTIFIC QUEST: 1648–1715

  I. The International of Science

  II. Mathematics

  III. Astronomy

  IV. The Earth

  V. Physics

  VI. Chemistry

  VII. Technology

  VIII. Biology

  IX. Anatomy and Physiology

  X. Medicine

  XI. Results

  Chapter XIX. ISAAC NEWTON: 1642–1727

  I. The Mathematician

  II. The Physicist

  III. The Genealogy of Gravitation

  IV. The Principia

  V. Evening

  Chapter XX. ENGLISH PHILOSOPHY: 1648–1715

  I. Thomas Hobbes

  1. Formative Influences

  2. Logic and Psychology

  3. Ethics and Politics

  4. Religion and the State

  5. Baiting the Bear

  6. Results

  II. Harrington’s Utopia

  III. The Deists

  IV. Defenders of the Faith

  V. John Locke

  1. Biography

  2. Government and Property

  3. Mind and Matter

  4. Religion and Toleration

  VI. Shaftesbury

  VII. George Berkeley

  Chapter XXI. FAITH AND REASON IN FRANCE: 1648–1715

  I. The Vicissitudes of Cartesianism

  II. Cyrano de Bergerac

  III. Malebranche

  IV. Pierre Bayle

  V. Fontenelle

  Chapter XXII. SPINOZA: 1632–77

  I. The Young Heretic

  II. Theology and Politics

  III. The Philosopher

  IV. God

  V. Mind

  VI. Man

  VII. Reason

  VIII. The State

  IX. The Chain of Influence

  Chapter XXIII. LEIBNIZ: 1646–1716

  I. The Philosophy of Law

  II. Wanderjahre

  III. Leibniz and Christianity

  IV. Locke Reviewed

  V. Monads

  VI. Was God Just?

  VII. Paralipomena

  BOOK V: FRANCE AGAINST EUROPE: 1683–1715

  Chapter XXIV. THE SUN SETS

  I. Mme. de Maintenon
r />   II. The Grand Alliance: 1689–97

  III. The Spanish Problem

  IV. The Grand Alliance: 1701–2

  V. The War of the Spanish Succession

  VI. Twilight of the God

  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE

  NOTES

  INDEX

  List of Illustrations

  THE page number in the captions refers to a discussion in the text of the subject or the artist, and sometimes both.

  Part 1. This section follows page 78

  FIG. 1—GIRARDON: Louis XIV

  FIG. 2—JEAN NOCRET: Anne of Austria

  FIG. 3—ANTOINE COYSEVOX: Colbert

  FIG. 4—PIERRE MIGNARD: Cardinal Mazarin

  FIG. 5—UNKNOWN ARTIST: Ninon de Lenclos

  FIG. 6—PIERRE MIGNARD: Madame de Montespan

  FIG. 7—JOOST VAN EGMONT: The Great Condé

  FIG. 8—N.DE L’ARMESSIN: Louise de La Vallière

  FIG. 9—HYACINTHE RIGAUD: Henrietta Anne, Duchess of Orléans

  FIG. 10—Death Mask of Blaise Pascal

  FIG. 11—JOSEPH VIVIEN: Fénelon

  FIG. 12—HYACINTHE RIGAUD: Jacques Bossuet

  FIG. 13—Church of Val-de-Grâce, Paris

  FIG. 14—GIRARDON: Bathing Nymphs

  FIG. 15—ANDRE CHARLES BOULLE: Ebony cabinet

  FIG. 16—The Louvre Colonnade

  FIG. 17—Church of St.-Louis-des-lnvalides, Paris

  FIG. 18—CHARLES LE BRUN: Gobelin Tapestry: The Family of Darius at the Feet of Alexander

  FIG. 19—Chapel at Versailles

  FIG. 20—ANTOINE COYSEVOX: Duchess of Burgundy

  FIG. 21—DESJARDINS: Pierre Mignard

  FIG. 22—PIERRE MIGNARD: Duchess of Maine as a Child

  FIG. 23—La Rochefoucauld

  FIG. 24—HOUDON: Molière

  Part II. This section follows page 206

  FIG. 25—TENIERS THE YOUNGER: Temptation of St. Anthony

  FIG. 26—JACOB VAN RUISDAEL: The Storm

  FIG. 27—MEINDERT HOBBEMA: Water Mill with the Great Red Roof

  FIG. 28—VERMEER: Head of a Girl

  FIG. 29—EDWARD PIERCE: John Milton

  FIG. 30—SIR PETER LELY: Oliver Cromwell

  FIG. 31—SIR PETER LELY: Charles II of England

  FIG. 32—SIR GODFREY KNELLER: Henry Purcell

  FIG. 33—PETER PAUL RUBENS: George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham

  FIG. 34—CHRISTOPHER WREN: Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford

  FIG. 35—CHRISTOPHER WREN: St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

  FIG. 36—SIR GODFREY KNELLER: Sir Christopher Wren

  FIG. 37—SIR PETER LELY: Nell Gwyn

  FIG. 38—ANTHONY VANDYCK: James II as a Boy

  FIG. 39—CHARLES JERVAS: Jonathan Swift