Editing Louis XV (section)

==Personal government (1743–1757)==
[[File:Louis XV ;Carle van Loo.jpg|thumb|Louis XV, portrait by [[Maurice-Quentin de La Tour]] (1748)]]
[[File:Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville.jpg|Finance minister [[Jean Baptiste de Machault D'Arnouville]], who attempted to reform the French tax system|thumb]]

After Fleury's death in January 1743, his war minister, the Duke of Noailles, showed the King a letter that Louis XIV had written to his grandson, [[Philip V of Spain]]; it counseled: "Don't allow yourself to be governed; be the master. Never have a favorite or a prime minister. Listen, consult your Council, but decide yourself. God, who made you King, will give you all the guidance you need, as long as you have good intentions."<ref>Antoine (1989), p. 354.</ref> Louis followed this advice and decided to govern without a prime minister. Two of his ministers took the most prominent positions in his government; the finance minister, [[Jean Baptiste de Machault D'Arnouville]], and the minister of the armies, [[Marc-Pierre de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson|Comte d'Argenson]].

With the end of the war, Louis decided to take the opportunity to reduce the debt and modernize the system of taxation of the Kingdom. The package of reforms was put together by his finance minister D'Arnouville and was approved by the King and presented in two decrees issued in May 1749. The first measure was an issue of bonds, paying five percent interest, to pay off the 36 million ''livres'' of debt caused by the cost of the war. This new measure was an immediate success. The second measure was the abolition of the ''dixième'', a tax of ten percent of revenue, which had been created to finance the war, and its replacement by the ''vingtième'', a tax of five percent on net revenue, which, unlike the ''dixième'', taxed the income of all French citizens, including for the first time the income from the property of the clergy and the nobility.<ref name="Antoine 617">Antoine (1989), pp. 617–621.</ref>

While the new tax was supported by many, including [[Voltaire]], it met immediate and fierce resistance from both the nobility and the church. When on 5 May 1749 it was presented for formal registration to the ''Parlement'' of Paris, the assembly composed of high nobles and wealthy Parisians who had purchased seats, it was rejected by a vote of one hundred and six to forty nine; the majority asked for more time to consider the project. The King responded by demanding immediate registration, which the ''Parlement'' reluctantly granted on 19 May.<ref>Antoine (1989), p. 621.</ref> Resistance to the new measures grew with the church and in the provinces, which had their own ''parlements''. While the ''Parlements'' of Burgundy, Provence and Artois bowed to the King's demands, [[Brittany]] and [[Languedoc]] refused. The royal government closed down the ''Parlement'' of Brittany, ordered the members of the ''Parlement'' of [[Languedoc]] to return to their estates and parishes, and took direct control of the Provence.<ref name="Antoine 617"/>

Within Paris, the battle between the King and ''Parlement'' was fought over the status of the ''Hôpital Général'', a semi-religious organization which operated six different hospitals and shelters in Paris, with a staff of some five thousand persons. Many of the hospital staff and officials were Jansenists, while the board of directors of the hospital included many prominent members of the ''Parlement of Paris''. In 1749, the King decided to purge the hospital of Jansenists and corruption, appointed a new "Supérieure" against the will of the administrators, who resigned, then appointed four temporary administrators, and asked the First President of the Parlement of Paris, [[René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou]], to implement his decree for the reorganization of the hospital. De Maupeou refused to carry out the decree without the authorization of the Parlement, and the Parlement, without taking any action, went on vacation. On 20 November, when the Parlement returned, the King again summoned de Maupeou for an audience and again demanded action without delay. This time the ''Parlement'' members met but refused to discuss the Hospital. On 28 January 1752, the King instructed the Grand Council to change the administration of the Hospital without the approval of the ''Parlement''. Voltaire, describing the affair, wrote, "Never before has such a small affair caused such a great emotion of the spirit." It was the first overt disobedience of the legislature against the King, and one of the first signs that the Parlement believed it, not the King, was the legitimate source of laws in the nation.<ref>Antoine (1989), p. 638.</ref>

The King's original plans to tax the church also ran into difficulty. A royal decree ordered all the clergy to submit a declaration of their revenue by 17 February 1751, but that day passed without any declarations given. Instead it became known that the King had quietly issued a new decree in December 1750, canceling the tax and relying again, entirely, on the "[[don gratuit]]", the voluntary donation by the church of 1,500,000 livres. Under the new decree, instead of a tax, the church would each year collect a comparable sum and donate it freely to the government. His support for the church came both from the teachings of his tutor, Cardinal Fleury, and his gratitude to Archbishop de Beaumont, who defended him against the attacks of the Jansenists and the criticisms of the Parlement, and the Archbishop's tolerance of the King's own personal life and mistresses.<ref>Antoine (1989), pp. 640–641.</ref>
[[File:Europe 1748-1766 en.png|thumb|250px|Europe in the years after the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]] in 1748]]
Despite the French victories, the war dragged on both in the Netherlands and in Italy, where Maréchal Belle-Isle was besieging the Austrians in Genoa. By the summer of 1747 France occupied the entire [[Austrian Netherlands]] (modern-day Belgium).<ref>Antoine (1989), pp. 387.</ref> In March 1748, Louis proposed a conference in [[Aachen|Aix-la-Chapelle]] to bring the war to an end. The process was advanced by the [[Siege of Maastricht (1748)|capture of Maastricht]] by the Maréchal de Saxe on 10 April 1748. Britain, pressed by the threat of a French invasion of the rest of the Netherlands, urged a quick settlement, despite objections from Austria and Sardinia. The Treaty was quickly negotiated and signed by all the parties in September and October 1748. Louis was also eager for a quick settlement, because the naval war with Britain was extremely costly to French maritime trade. The proposition of Louis was surprisingly generous; in the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]], Louis offered to return all of the territories he had conquered in the Netherlands to the Austrians, Maastricht to the Dutch, Nice and Savoy to the Sardinians, and [[Madras]] in India to the English. The Austrians would give the [[Duchy of Parma]] and some other territory to the Spanish [[Infante of Spain|Infante]], [[Philip, Duke of Parma|Philip]], while Britain would return to France [[Louisbourg]] and the island of [[Cape Breton]]. France also agreed to expel the Stuart pretender [[Charles Edward Stuart]] from its territory.<ref>Antoine (1989), pp. 400–403.</ref>

The end of the war had caused celebration in Paris, but the publication of the details of the treaty on 14 January 1749 caused dismay and anger. The Stuart pretender Charles Edward Stuart refused to leave Paris and was acclaimed by the Parisians. He was finally arrested on 10 December 1748, and transported by force to Switzerland. The French military commanders, including de Saxe, were furious about giving up the Austrian Netherlands. The King's defense of his action was practical: he did not want the Netherlands to be a permanent source of contention between France and other powers; he also felt that France had already reached its proper borders, and it was better to cultivate its prosperity rather than make it larger. His basis was also religious; he had been taught by Fleury that the Seventh Commandment forbade taking the property of others by fraud or violence. Louis often cited a Latin maxim declaring, "if anyone who asks by what means he can best defend a kingdom, the answer is, by never wishing to augment it." He also received support from Voltaire, who wrote, "It seems better, and even more useful for the court of France to think about the happiness of its allies, rather than to be given two or three Flemish towns which would have been the eternal object of jealousy."<ref>Antoine (1989), p. 401.</ref> Louis lacked the communicative skills to explain his decision to the French public, and further, did not see any need to do so. The news that the King had returned the Southern Netherlands to Austria was met with disbelief and bitterness. The French obtained so little of what they had fought for that they adopted the expressions ''Bête comme la paix'' ("Stupid as the peace") and ''Travailler pour le roi de Prusse'' ("To work for the king of Prussia", i.e. working for nothing).<ref>de Castries (1979), p. 216.</ref>

===First mistresses===
[[File:Portrait of a Lady, said to be Louise Julie de Nesle, Comtesse de Mailly by Alexis Grimou.jpg|upright|thumb|175px|Purported portrait of [[Louise Julie de Mailly]], by [[Alexis Grimou]]]]
[[Image:Pauline Félicité de Mailly-Nesle.jpg|thumb|175px|[[Pauline Félicité de Mailly-Nesle]], marquise de Vintimille, by [[Jean-Marc Nattier]]]]
[[Image:Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle.jpg|thumb|175px|[[Marie Anne de Mailly-Nesle]] by [[Jean-Marc Nattier]]]]

====The de Mailly-Nesle sisters====
Louis had been very much in love with the Queen, and they were inseparable in the early years of his reign, but as his family grew, and the Queen was constantly pregnant or exhausted by her maternities, he began to look elsewhere. He first became attached to one of the ladies of the Queen's court, [[Louise Julie de Mailly]], who was the same age as he and from an ancient noble family. Without courtship or ceremony, he made her his mistress, and raised her to the rank of Duchess. The [[Charles Philippe d'Albert de Luynes|Duke of Luynes]] commented on the King's behavior: "The King loves women, and yet there is absolutely no gallantry in his spirit."<ref name="Antoine 1993, p. 485">Antoine (1993), p. 485.</ref> In 1738, after the Queen lost an unborn child, her doctors forbade her to have relations with the King for a time. The King was offended by her refusal and thereafter never shared her bed.{{Clarification needed|reason="For a time" conflicts with Marie Leszczyńska's article.|date=March 2022}} Acknowledging that he was committing adultery, Louis refused thereafter to go to confession and to take the sacrament. The Cardinal de Fleury tried to persuade him to confess and to give up his mistress, but without success.

In 1738, the King turned his attentions to the sister of Louise Julie, [[Pauline Félicité de Mailly-Nesle|Pauline Félicité de Mailly]]. Pauline Félicité became pregnant in 1740, allegedly by the King, and subsequently died during childbirth (The illegitimate son of the King and Pauline Félicité came to be known as [[Charles de Vintimille|"Demi-Louis"]] due to his visual resemblance to his father who took care of his financial needs but gave him little attention.).{{Efn|"But the king chose that the child should be baptized as the son of M. de Vintimille, and it was so done by his express order. The Archbishop of Paris and the Marquis du Luc, uncle and father of M. de Yintimille came, as good politicians, to see the mother and acknowledge the child"<ref>R.-L. de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson, ''Journal and Memoirs'', by E. J. B. Rathery. with an introduction by C.-A. Sainte-Beuve. trad. K. Prescott Wormerly, Boston 1902, 1., p. 284.</ref>}} Pauline Félicité's death caused the King to go into mourning and for a time he turned to religion for consolation.<ref name="Antoine 1993, p. 485"/> When the King finally recovered his spirits, Louise Julie introduced the King to her youngest sister, [[Marie Anne de Mailly]]. The King was immediately attracted to Marie Anne, however she insisted that he expel her older sister from the Court before she would become his mistress. The King gave in, and on 4 October 1742, Marie Anne was named a Lady of the Court of the Queen, and a month later the King ordered her older sister to leave the Court and to live in Paris. The King made his new mistress the Duchess of Châteauroux. The King's relationships with the sisters became a subject of gossip in the court and in Paris, where a popular comic poem was recited, ending: "Choosing an entire family – is that being unfaithful, or constant?"<ref>Antoine (1993), p. 490.</ref>

In June 1744, the King left Versailles in order to take personal command of his armies fighting in the War of the Austrian Succession. This otherwise popular move was marred by the King's indiscreet decision to bring along Marie Anne. When Marie Anne visited the King in [[Metz]] in August 1744 she was accompanied by her sister [[Diane Adélaïde de Mailly-Nesle|Diane Adélaïde de Mailly]]. While an amiable companion, Marie Anne did not consider her simple sister to be much of a rival, however it was rumored at the time that one of the methods by which Marie Anne kept the interest of the king was to periodically offer him a [[ménage à trois]] with Diane Adélaïde.<ref name="Herman, Eleanor 2005">Herman, Eleanor (2005). ''Sex With Kings'' p. 116</ref> These widespread rumors made the sisters' visit to the King in Metz a national scandal and during their notorious visit the King suddenly fell gravely ill. Death appeared imminent, yet the King's chaplain refused him [[absolution]] unless he renounced his mistress, which he did.<ref name="Latour, Louis Therese">Latour (1927). {{page needed | date=April 2023}}</ref> Marie Anne left The Court and after the King recovered he made a triumphal entry into Paris. On 25 November, Minister Maurepas was obliged to recall Marie Anne to Versailles, but she soon fell sick with convulsive pains and died on 8 December 1744.<ref name="Latour, Louis Therese"/> Following her death the King consoled himself with Diane Adélaïde until he met [[Madame de Pompadour]] in 1745.

The King's adultery confession, which was distributed publicly, embarrassed him and tarnished the prestige of the monarchy. Although Louis XV's recovery earned him the epithet "well-beloved" from a public relieved by his survival, the events at Metz diminished his standing. The military successes of the War of the Austrian Succession inclined the French public to overlook Louis' adulteries, but after 1748, in the wake of the anger over the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, pamphlets against the king's mistresses were widely distributed and read.

===Second mistress===
====Madame de Pompadour====
[[File:Boucher Marquise de Pompadour 1756 detail.jpg|thumb|right|Madame de Pompadour]]

[[Madame de Pompadour|Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson]], better known as Madame de Pompadour, was the most famous and influential of the mistresses of Louis XV. She was the illegitimate daughter of a Paris ''[[Ferme générale|fermier-general]]'', and was married to a banker, [[Charles Guillaume Le Normant d'Étiolles|Charles Guillaume Lenormant d'Étoiles]]. She was noticed by the King following one of his hunts, and formally met him at a [[costume ball]] celebrating [[carnival]] in 1745. By July, she was the King's mistress and was formally given the title of the Marquise de Pompadour. For the next twenty years, she was the King's confidante and advisor, helping him choose or demote ministers. Her opinions led to the downfall of some very competent ministers, including [[Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville|Machault d'Aurnouville]] and the [[René Louis de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson|Marquis d'Argenson]], and to the promotion of a number of incompetent military commanders. Her most successful choice was the promotion of the [[Étienne François, duc de Choiseul|Duke de Choiseul]], who became one of the King's most effective ministers. She ceased all sexual intimacy with the King by 1750, but remained his closest advisor and [[Maîtresse-en-titre|titular mistress]]. She was promoted to Duchess in 1752, and Dame of the Queen's Palace in 1756, and was an important patron of music and the arts, as well as religious establishments. She remained close to the King until her death in 1764. He was devastated, and remained in seclusion for several weeks after she died.<ref>Guéganic (2008), p. 66.</ref>

===Beginning of the Seven Years' War===
{{Main|France in the Seven Years' War}}

The peace achieved by Louis with the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]] lasted only seven years. At the end of August 1755, [[Marie-Therese of Austria|Marie Therese]], the Empress of Austria, discreetly wrote a letter to Louis XV, which was passed by the Austrian ambassador in Paris to Madame de Pompadour for delivery to the King. She proposed a secret alliance between Austria and France, to meet the threats of the growing power of Prussia, which was still formally an ally of France, and Britain.<ref>Bluche (2003), p. 100.</ref>

[[File:Nouvelle-France map-en.svg|thumb|left|300px|Map of [[New France]] (blue color) in 1750, before the [[French and Indian War]] (1754 to 1763), that was part of the Seven Years' War.]]

In the New World, conflict had already begun between Great Britain and France. [[New France]] was at an enormous demographic disadvantage vis-à-vis its British counterparts; there were about 70,000 French colonists spread over a territory from the [[St. Lawrence River]] to the [[Great Lakes]] and extending down the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys to [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]], compared with a population of one million settlers in the British [[13 Colonies]]. To defend its territories, France had constructed [[Fort Duquesne]] to defend its frontier against the indigenous Americans; Britain sent the young [[George Washington]] with a small force to construct his own fortification, [[Fort Necessity]], nearby. In 1754, after the killing of French envoy, [[Joseph Coulon de Jumonville]], the French sent reinforcements and compelled Washington and his men to withdraw.<ref>Bluche (2003), pp. 104–105.</ref>

The undeclared [[French and Indian War]] followed, with British and French colonies in North America engaging in open conflict. By the end of 1755, British ships had captured over 300 French merchantmen. In January 1756, Louis sent an ultimatum to London, which was rejected by the British government. A few months later, on 16 January 1756, [[Frederick the Great]] of Prussia signed the [[Anglo-Prussian alliance (1756)#Treaty|Treaty of Westminster]], allying himself with Britain. Louis responded immediately on 1 May 1756 by sealing a formal defensive treaty with Austria, the first [[Treaty of Versailles (1756)|Treaty of Versailles]], offering to defend Austria in case of a Prussian attack – a reversal of France's historic conflict with Austria.<ref>Bluche (2003), p. 101–102.</ref>

Louis declared war on Great Britain on 9 June 1756, confident of success. The French navy quickly [[Battle of Minorca (1756)|defeated a British fleet]] in the Mediterranean and [[Siege of Fort St Philip (1756)|captured Minorca from Britain]]. Meanwhile, the French army greatly outnumbered its British and Prussian counterparts on the continent, and after some fighting France signed the [[Convention of Klosterzeven]] with the [[Prince William, Duke of Cumberland|Duke of Cumberland]], which resulted in French troops occupying parts of Hanover and the Hanoverians withdrawing from the conflict entirely. Another French army had already invaded [[Saxony]] and [[Hanover]], the ancestral home of [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]. However, the best French commander, [[Maurice de Saxe]], had died two years after the [[War of the Austrian Succession]], and his successors, the [[Charles, Prince of Soubise|Prince de Soubise]], [[Louis Charles César Le Tellier|the Duke D'Estrees]] and the [[Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie|Duke de Broglie]] detested each other, and were rarely willing to cooperate.<ref>Bluche (2003), p. 109.</ref>

[[File:Schlacht bei Roßbach.jpg|[[Frederick the Great]] defeats the French army at the [[Battle of Rossbach]] (5 November 1755)|thumb]]

In August Frederick of Prussia made a lightning strike into Saxony and on 5 November 1757, though outnumbered by the French nearly two to one,  decisively defeated the army of the Prince de Soubise at the [[Battle of Rossbach]]. The new British Prime Minister, [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]], named a new commander, [[Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]], and the French armies were gradually pushed back to the Rhine, and defeated again at the [[Battle of Krefeld]] on 23 June. Thereafter, Britain and Prussia held the upper hand, tying down the French army in the German states along the Rhine.<ref>Bluche (2003), p. 110.</ref>

[[File:Quibcardinaux2.jpg|left|The British victory at the [[Battle of Quiberon Bay]] (20 November 1759) ended Louis's hopes of invading England|thumb]]

British naval supremacy prevented France from reinforcing its colonies overseas, and British naval squadrons raided the French coast at [[Cancale]] and [[Le Havre]] and landed on the Ile d'Aix and Le Havre. In 1759 the British attacked [[Martinique]] and [[Guadeloupe]] in the [[French West Indies]], and captured [[Port Louis]] and [[Quebec]]. A series of French naval defeats forced Louis to abandon plans for [[Planned French Invasion of Britain (1759)|invasion of Britain]]. In India, the French colony at [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry]] was besieged by the British, and surrendered the following year. On 8 September 1760, [[Montreal]] surrendered, bringing to an end French rule in Canada. Martinique fell to the British in 1762.<ref>Bluche (2003), p. 244.</ref>

===Assassination attempt===
[[File:Robert-damiens.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Robert-François Damiens, by [[Ange-Jacques Gabriel]] (1757)]]

On 5 January 1757, as the King was getting into his carriage in the courtyard of the [[Grand Trianon]] Versailles, a demented man, [[Robert-François Damiens]], pushed through the King's guards and attacked the King, stabbing him in the side with a small knife. The King's guards seized Damiens, and the King ordered them to hold him but not harm him. The King walked up the steps to his rooms at the Trianon, where he found he was bleeding profusely. He summoned his doctor and a priest, and then fainted.<ref>Antoine (1986), pp. 712–713.</ref> Louis was saved from greater harm by the thickness of the winter clothing he was wearing. When the news reached Paris, anxious crowds gathered in the streets. The Pope, the Archduchess of Austria, and King George II, with whom France was at war, sent messages hoping for his swift recovery. Damiens was tortured to see if he had accomplices, and was tried before the [[Parlement|Parlement of Paris]], which had been the most vocal critic of the King. The Parlement demonstrated its loyalty to the King by sentencing Damiens to the most severe possible penalty. On 28–29 March 1757 Damiens was executed on the [[Place de Grève]] in Paris by dismemberment, following which his body was burned on a bonfire. The house where he was born was burned down, his father, wife and daughter were banished from France, and his brothers and sisters were required to change their name.<ref name="Antoine 718">Antoine (1997), pp. 718–721.</ref><ref>Jones (2002), p. 230.</ref> The King recovered physically very quickly, but the attack had a depressive effect on his spirits. One of his chief courtiers, Duford de Cheverny, wrote afterwards: "it was easy to see that when members of the court congratulated him on his recovery, he replied, 'yes, the body is going well',  but touched his head and said, 'but this goes badly, and this is impossible to heal.'" After the assassination attempt, the King invited his heir, the Dauphin, to attend all of the Royal Council meetings, and quietly closed down the château at Versailles where he had met with his short-term mistresses."<ref name="Antoine 718"/>

===Rebellion of the Parlements===
The ''Parlements'' were assemblies of nobles in Paris and older regions of France, whose members served as magistrates and judged civil cases. Their members included both hereditary nobles and wealthy citizens who had purchased their seats. Several of the Parlements, such as those of Rouen and Provence, had been in existence for centuries, and saw themselves as the legitimate governments in their provinces. As Louis reorganized the government and appointed his own [[Intendant (government official)|intendants]] in the provinces, the authority and prestige of the Parlements decreased, and the price of the seats dropped. In [[Franche-Comté]], [[Bordelaise]] and [[Rouen]], the Parlements refused to follow the decrees of the royal intendants. When the intendants attempted to assert their authority and collect taxes from all classes, the Parlements went on strike, refusing to proceed with the judgment of civil cases. The civil justice system came to a halt. In 1761, the provincial ''Parlement'' of Normandy in Rouen wrote a protest to the King, explaining that the King had the exclusive power to tax, but the Parlement had the exclusive right to collect the money. The King rejected the explanation and overruled the ''Parlement'', banished some of his most provocative Parlement members to their estates. For the rest of his reign, the Parlements swore allegiance to the King, but took every opportunity to resist his new taxes and the King's authority. This was one of the seeds of resistance to the King's authority that was to turn into a Revolution less than thirty years later.<ref>Bluche (2003)</ref>{{page needed | date=April 2023}}

===Achievements and dismissal of the government===
The Comte d'Argenson served as the Minister of War from 1743 until 1747. He was an advocate of the continuation of the absolute monarchy in the style of Louis XIV. He was responsible for creating the first school for engineers in France at Mézières (1749–50); thanks to the trained engineers, France had the finest system of roads and bridges in Europe. He also established the military academy, the [[École Militaire]], and, following the model of the Prussians, established military training camps and exercises, and helped rebuild French military power.<ref>Guéganic (2008), pp. 44–45.</ref>

Machaud D'Arnouville was brought into the government with the sponsorship of d'Argenson, but the two men gradually became rivals and enemies. D'Arnouville was the Controller of Finances from 1745 to 1754, then Minister of Navy from 1754 to 1757. He was the creator of the unpopular "Vingtieme" tax (1749), which taxed all citizens, including the nobility, at the same rate, and also freed the prices of grain (1754), which initially greatly increased agricultural production. The fluctuation of grain prices would eventually become a factor in the French Revolution.<ref>Guéganic (2008), p. 45.</ref>

On 1 February 1757, the King abruptly dismissed both d'Arnouville and d'Argenson, and exiled them to their estates. The King held them responsible for not preventing the assassination attempt, and their government displeased Madame de Pompadour.