LUIGI XV, king of FRANCIA. – Born at Versailles on 15 February 1710 to Luigi, duke of Burgundy, second Dauphin, and Maria Adelaide di Savoia; heir to the crown on 7 September 1715, under the tutelage of Filippo II, duke of Orléans, head of the Regency Council.
His tutor, listened to and loved from his earliest years, was H. de Fleury, bishop of Fréjus, a gentle and modest man who acquired such influence over the young King that, upon the death of the duke of Orléans, he had the duke Luigi Enrico di Borbone accepted as first minister (1723). The latter, together with the marchioness de Prie, dominated domestic and foreign policy as its master. The understanding with England and the clash with the Orléans led France progressively to break away from Spain. L. XV married, on 4 September 1725, Maria Leszczyska, daughter of Stanislao, who had been created king of Poland by Carlo XII but dethroned by the elector of Saxony Augusto II.
Since Borbone sought to divert onto Fleury the odium caused by the new taxes imposed and the measures of severity against Jansenists and Protestants, the King reacted by dismissing the duke, exiling the marchioness de Prie, and growing estranged from the Queen, who openly opposed Fleury. Fleury obtained the cardinal’s hat only two months after the dismissal of the duke of Borbone and suggested abolishing the office of first minister; in practice, he himself was the arbiter of the government until his death (1743).
The cardinal, moderate and inclined toward peace, pursued a policy of retrenchment abroad and at home in the interests of the monarchy and France, and continued it during the War of the Polish Succession, which broke out in Europe following the sudden death of Augusto II of Saxony (February 1733). It was above all to his policy that France owed the advantages secured by the Treaty of Vienna of 1738, which were such as to make L. XV still appear the arbiter of Europe.
In domestic policy, L. XV found himself obliged to struggle against the opponents of the famous bull Unigenitus, which had Jansenist tendencies. It was due to Fleury’s skill that, despite resistance and proposals brought even to the foot of the throne, lay Jansenism was silenced and the bull Unigenitus accepted (24 May 1730), and that, for the sake of the tranquillity of the State, the subtle interpretations of the bull’s opponents—which ultimately tended to undermine the rules of hierarchy and respect for the law—were proscribed, as were writings inspired by Jansenism, with penalties ranging from fines to banishment. Only in December 1737 was peace achieved in accordance with Fleury’s wishes.
The role played in private and public affairs by the mistresses who, after the Queen’s disgrace, managed to dominate L. XV is all too well known. From 1745 to 1750, Antonietta Poisson d’Etioles, created marchioness of Pompadour, exercised complete influence over the King’s mind. She knew how to make herself his shrewd and perceptive adviser even in political affairs, and directed him toward that rapprochement between France and Austria which, transformed into an alliance, caused a disastrous war against Prussia and England, which had joined forces. This was partly due to the irresolution that the Sovereign also displayed in the question of the mortmain property raised by Machault. Having remained aloof from it for a certain time, he then abruptly abandoned the intention of burdening the property of the clergy with taxes; and it was likewise evident in the struggle between Parliament and the Church of France and Rome, when he repeatedly passed from condemnations to pardons, supported the archbishop of Paris, and exiled Parliament to Pontoise; only to recall the latter without having obtained a single concession, while he did not prevent the archbishop’s exile, and when he was finally compelled, in order to secure silence regarding the bull Unigenitus, to appeal to Benedetto XIV and hold the lit de justice of 1756, following which 180 councillors resigned.
L. XV likewise adopted wavering and uncertain conduct toward the « philosophers » of his century. While Pompadour busied herself protecting them, L. XV agreed to support only the physiocrats, because their theories had fiscal implications favourable to the monarchy; nevertheless, he did not shrink from the idea of winning Voltaire over to his side. In the final years of the reign, ferment increased among the French people. The mad expenditure of the royal treasury on the favourites (it is estimated that the King spent no less than thirty-six million francs on Pompadour alone), and the scandalous embezzlement by the financiers increasingly aroused resentment and became causes of popular disturbances. Satires and pasquinades circulated through the streets and squares of Paris and France. In this respect, Damiens’s attempt on the King’s life (7 January 1757) found a justification in popular indignation.
After Pompadour’s death (1764), it was hoped that the King’s repentance would initiate financial reorganization. Instead, the time came for a new favourite, Du Barry, who, although without political ambitions, played a part in all the intrigues of the Court as an opponent of Choiseul. The latter, secretary for Foreign Affairs since 1758, had in practice taken direction of policy from the Peace of Paris (1763) onward, and had set about reorganizing the civil and military administration and restoring France’s prestige abroad. His work was obstructed by the King’s contradictory conduct and by the internal complications caused by preparations for the war against England, which Choiseul desired. In assembling the means necessary for the conflict, he placed great reliance on the revenue that could accrue to the treasury from the properties of the Jesuits. He therefore abandoned them to Parliament’s anger and vigorously fanned the violent campaign waged against them, on accusations of sedition and conspiracies, and against the Society itself. The campaign ended, as is well known, with the seizure of the Society’s houses (1762) and the expulsion of the Jesuits from the States of the Bourbons (1764–67). L. XV, in order to bend the reluctant Pope, ordered Avignon to be occupied, just as Neapolitan troops were moving to occupy Benevento and Pontecorvo, until the Society of Jesus was suppressed (21 July 1773) by the Pope’s will. Choiseul’s fall, due above all to the war he was preparing against England, opened the way to a triumvirate (the duke d’Aguillon, R. C. Maupéou, and J. M. Terray), which had the merit of avoiding war at all costs and, by suppressing Parliament, attempted to strengthen absolute power. Yet the corrupt Sovereign, at the mercy of his favourites, lacked the necessary moral strength; the financial system, excessively ruinous, failed; and France lacked unity of purpose, by then in decline in the international sphere, as was partly demonstrated by the fact that the partition of Poland was carried out without her.
Toward the end of April 1774, the King fell ill with smallpox. His dissolute life had necessarily kept him far from the Sacraments (cf. on this subject: J. Guiraud, Histoire partielle, Histoire vraie, Paris 1917, IV, pp. 248 ff.); he now ordered Du Barry to leave the court, received religious consolation, gave clear signs of repentance, and died on 10 May 1774. – Vedi tav. CXV.