The King is dead: how the French-language press described the death and burial of Louis XV
Pimenova Ludmila
The article examines the problem of continuity and changes in the conduct and description of the burial ceremony of the King of France during the 18th century. The sources for it were articles and notes dedicated to the death and funeral of Louis XV, in the official French newspaper La Gazette de France, in the literary magazines Le Mercure de France, L'Année Littéraire, Le Journal Encyclopédique and in the French-language press, published in Amsterdam, Leiden and Monaco. The foreign press often provided readers with information that was not available in French publications. As noted in historiography, state mourning ceremonies, in which each participant occupied the assigned place, created the impression of strict orderliness of estates and ranks, and also demonstrated the unity of the political body of the monarchy. The organizers of the royal funeral tried to conduct it in full accordance with tradition, but deviations from it inevitably arose. The organizers of Louis XV's funeral in 1774 tried to fit the quarantine measures caused by the danger of smallpox into tradition, as a result of which information appeared in the press about a special rite performed on the occasion of the king's death from smallpox. The traditional course of the funeral ceremonies was also disrupted by political events evoked by the parliamentary reform of Chancellor de Maupeou. The refusal of the princes of the blood to participate in the catafalque ceremony in Saint-Denis, so as not to greet the magistrates of the new parlement, caused a split in the political elite and attracted public attention. In press reports, topics that interested contemporaries more than the solemn mourning rite came to the fore: the focus was on Louis XVI's decision to be vaccinated against smallpox and on the controversy about the destiny of the Maupeou reform, which clearly violated the unity of the political body of the monarchy and the orderliness of the society of ranks.
The study was supported by a grant of the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 25-18-00108 (https://rscf.ru/project/25-18-00108/).
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