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Another woman that played an important role at Versailles was Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon. She was first mistress and later wife of Louis XIV, although this marriage was never openly acknowledged. Nevertheless, she was a close confidant and advisor to the king and everybody knew about her political influence. The audioguide doesn’t mention this. At several points it describes how Louis XIV discussed politics with his (male) advisors in this or that room. Madame de Maintenon isn’t mentioned in these contexts. She is only discussed, when talking about Louis’ XIV free time and that he enjoyed going for extended walks with her. That they might have discussed politics isn’t mentioned at all, neither that she was an important political and diplomatic actor at the French court. (5/7)

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Whether this is true or not, the position of the princess was always that of a broker between her family of origin and the family of her husband. They were in a way #emdiplomats. That was not always an easy position, as both sides expected on the one hand that she acted as an intermediary between the two families and on the other hand that she had to be loyal to both sides which of course could lead to conflicts. How the women handled this situation was very different, depending also on the political constellation between the two dynasties. In the case of Marie Adélaïde de Savoie it is important to acknowledge this position, instead of creating the image of a woman who overstepped her competences. When reporting home to her father, she might have enraged Louis XIV, but she fulfilled the expectations of her family of origin. (4/7)

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One of these stories was about Marie Adélaïde de Savoie (1685-1712) who was married to Louis de Bourbon, the grandson of Louis XIV. She was also the mother of the later Louis XV. She came to Versailles when she was only eleven and the audioguide tells you that the old Louis XIV really enjoyed her lively company. When she died quite young at the age of 26 of measels, her papers were sorted and it was discovered that she had regularly reported about court politics to her father the duke of Savoy. According to the story, Louis XIV had been enraged and called her a traitor. (3/7)

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Explaining the architecture as well as courtly life under Louis XIV. the audioguide enriched the historical facts with some details and stories from his life. Altogether, very few women appeared in this audioguide and if they did they were presented in a very unpolitical way. (2/7)

You can read William Lithgow’s

The Totall Discourse of The Rare Adventures & Painefull Peregrinations of long Nineteene Yeares Travayles from Scotland to the most famous Kingdomes in Europe, Asia and Affrica

online via @gutenberg_org

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61545/61545-h/61545-h.htm

2/ Bis 31.3. werden noch elf Beteiligungen von Bibliotheken zur vollständigen OA-Transformation benötigt. Alles weitere auf der Info-Seite von Duncker & Humblot:

https://www.duncker-humblot.de/buch/verschraenkte-ungleichheit-9783428154838/?page_id=0

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However, on closer observation their identity as metropolitan Europeans was fragile. The dinner that was opened and concluded with a handwashing ceremony unfamiliar to the Prussians illustrates this. Undercooked bread, the dishes a mixture of European and African cuisine and the digestif was the most exotic of all: a decidedly un-European coconut to drink.

The dinner was not presided over by the local governor’s wife. Instead, said lady stayed in the courtyard kitchen, dressed like the locals and clearly comfortable in the company of her daughters and their black servants and slaves, all working together, laughing, joking, and cooking.

Indeed, just like the local children, the youngest of the governor’s twelve sons and daughters toddled around the house after dinner, coming up to cuddle the guests entirely naked. (6/7)

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Gottmann argues that “Demonstrative performances of diplomatic rites reinforced the local elite’s social preeminence. At a vast distance from the metropolis that conferred their status, in an uncertain and oftentimes violent local climate marked by constant fear of uprisings against a weak ruling structure without significant coercive powers, such symbolic reinforcement of social stratification was one of the few means the local leaders had to reinforce their vulnerable position.”

As part of the ongoing symbolic exchanges and performance of hospitality rites, the local governor arranged a formal dinner for the senior staff of the Prussian ship to display his social status: Real silverware and several sumptuous courses were accompanied by freshly-cooked white bread, made from white Portuguese flour, a rarity on these islands. (5/7)

#emdiplomacy #NewDiplomaticHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #earlymodern #history #histodons

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