The early years of Louis XV's reign was remarkably untarnished by political intrigues - the few conspiracies that did appear were quickly dealt with by the regent. However, in the 1740's the court of Versailles had taken on a very different nature.
Unlike his predecessor, Louis XV was not keen on assuming sole responsibility for state affairs and kept a prime minister; furthermore, his preference for privacy resulted in him retreating to his private apartments. This - in turn - left the courtiers free to form factions in a manner that Louis XIV's near omnipresence had otherwise prevented.
To set the stage, by 1743 the king of France was 33 years old but had not taken on the role of absolute monarch yet; instead, the running of the state went to his Prime Minister, Cardinal Fleury. However, Cardinal Fleury had been old for years - by 1743, he had reached the impressive age of 89. When he died in January of that year, the scene was set for a power play to determine the new Prime Minister.
Ready to fight it out within the gilded halls of Versailles were three powerful factions: Chauvelin, Noailles and Belle-Isle.
Faction of Chauvelin
Named for the king's Keeper of the Seals, Chauvelin, was seen as the obvious candidate by many at court. Indeed, he enjoyed remarkably widespread support from such powerful houses as that of the Condé, the Duc de Villeroy, the Carignan-family, the Prince de Chalais, the Duc de Biron, the Duc d'Aumont, the Duc de Créquy, the Marquis de Beringhen etc.
But one of his most valued supporters was a man of far lower rank but who had the immense advantage of holding one of the most sought-after posts in the king's household: First Valet to the King. Bachelier, as was his name, was one of the most intimate friends of the king and as such in an invaluable position to influence things as he saw fit.
And what of the main figure himself? Germain Louis Chauvelin, Marquis de Grosbois, is a rather unknown figure to contemporary minds. Unlike other ministers of his time such as Fleury, Bourbon and Argenson, he seems to have gone somewhat under the radar. This may have been due to his background. Unlike Noailles and Belle-Isle, Germain Louis Chauvelin was not of noble stock. His family were lawyers and had been attached to the Parlament de Paris; they might never have come any further had they not made several vital connections. The first was with the family of Michel Le Tellier who served as an influential politician to Louis XIV. He apparently saw the talents of the Chauvelins and attached them to his service and later to his son, Louvois.
The second was the introduction of Germain to none other than Cardinal Fleury. From there, the two struck up a mutually beneficial relationship in which Germain acted as an aide to the increasingly powerful Cardinal. Chauvelin would reap the benefits of this connection when he was made Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs - a post he held for a decade between 1727 and 1737. However, in 1737, he was suddenly fired by none other than Cardinal Fleury.
One can only imagine that Chauvelin relished the opportunity to succeed the very man who had turned his back on him.
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| Germain Louis Chauvelin |
Faction of Noailles
Undoubtedly one of the more famous families of French nobility, the house of Noailles had already exerted considerable influence during Louis XIV. They had managed to keep a hold on power during the regency and had been instrumental in the rise of the king's trusted advisor, Cardinal Fleury.
The sheer number of Noailles' at court was a massive boon - for instance, the then-reigning Duc de Noailles (Adrien Maurice) had no less than nine sisters, most of whom were married to other dukes or high-ranking noblemen. This, naturally, bound the family of Noailles closely together with other houses - there were so many of them connected by marriage that the Duc de Luynes simply referred to the family as "the tribe". Amongst these houses were those of d'Estrées, Grammont, La Vallière - and the legitimised son of Louis XIV, the Comte de Toulouse. Through the latter, the faction had a key to the king's inner circle in a good friend of the Comtesse de Toulouse: Madame de Mailly. This young lady happened to be amongst the king's first official mistresses and therefore had access to him in private.
The Duc de Noailles was already Minister for War and upon the death of Cardinal Fleury, he surprisingly showed the king a letter that would have tremendous effect. The author of the letter was none other than Louis XIV and the recipient had been his grand-son who had (then) recently been elevated to the throne of Spain as Philip V. In the letter, the Sun King did not mince his words and clearly instructed the newly-crowned Spanish king to take no prime minister but rule by his own will - the argument was that god had chosen him for the role, and god would provide all the guidance needed.
That would be the tipping point - Louis XV chose no new Prime Minister but took on the role of absolute king. But why would the Duc de Noailles do such a thing? One could argue that he missed the chance of becoming Prime Minister himself.
There is one thing that is worth remembering. The Duc de Noailles was no fool and he knew the king's character remarkably well. He knew that Louis XV hated change but also that the king would not hesitate to get rid of a minister who had become bothersome - the king was infamous for his often callous manner of dismissing his ministers as he would rarely give them an opportunity to speak to him. Instead, he would simply have someone else deliver a message of dismissal.
A creature of habit, the king was far more likely to keep people around him whose company he enjoyed and whom he was used to. Much like he would keep Madame de Pompadour as his official mistress for years, even after they stopped sleeping together, so the king disliked an interruption of his normal life. A minister was easy to replace - a friend harder.
That could very well have been the thought behind the action. Perhaps the Duc de Noailles considered his chance of having lasting influence to be greater if he had access to the king in a more intimate atmosphere than merely at the council table. If so, he would have been quite right - as the years following 1743 would show, Louis could be influenced but primarily by those he shared a close bond with.
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| Adrien Maurice de Noailles |
Faction of Belle-Isle
Charles Fouquet, Duc de Belle-Isle was no stranger to intrigue. Having spent the majority of his life in military service, he attempted to persuade Louis XV to join forces with Frederick II of Prussia who was in the midst of violating his own treaty by attacking the newly-crowned Maria Theresia of Austria.
Supported by several influential persons at court, the Duc de Belle-Isle managed to avoid potential disaster when Cardinal Fleury learned that he had previously had ties to another faction which had been forcibly disbanded in 1723. It was only due to the influence of his ally, the Duchesse de Lévis, that Cardinal Fleury not only overlooked it but promoted him to lieutenant-general.
Besides the Duchesse de Lévis, he could count amongst his friends the Cardinal de Rohan, the Duc de Richelieu (on occasion), Marechal de Boufflers and Madame de Castries. He had also married a member of the Béthune family. However, he would eventually make a blunder.
Having succeeded in persuading Louis XV to enter the War of the Austrian Succession, France soon found herself in an unfortunate situation. Once Prussia had gotten what they wanted, they hastily made peace with Austria. This left the outnumbered French troops alone against the Habsburg-forces. While Belle-Isle did manage to retreat in a dignified manner - his courage and use of his military experienced gained him respect even from the Austrians - his troubles did not end there. He was said to have openly criticised Cardinal Fleury - it was even rumoured that he had called him an "old fool".
Naturally, the French were not too pleased to learn that their army had been sent packing and Belle-Isle's reputation suffered. To make matters worse, he found that Cardinal Fleury had little to say in his defence and it is hardly unlikely that the Cardinal would have complained of Belle-Isle to the king. Unfortunately for Belle-Isle he was not even present to defend himself at court. On route back to Versailles, he had been captured by the English army who held him prisoner for a year. One can only imagine the damage that would have done to his reputation.
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| Charles Fouquet, Duc de Belle-Isle |
Interestingly, none of these men's rise to influence resembled one another. Chauvelin had climbed up from the position of lawyer and had reached his peak thanks to a mixture of patronage and talent. Noailles - while being astute and intelligent himself - came from an old family to which there were traditional allies to draw on. Finally, Belle-Isle had had to extricate himself several times from former scandals and had used his success on the battlefield to gain further influence.
What they all did have in common were three key characteristics: ambition, intelligence and pragmatism. Each of them had seen the necessity of cultivating a good relationship with Cardinal Fleury (at least until Belle-Isle became too bold) and all had drawn on family connections to achieve their ends. That was hardly a new invention - on the contrary it was all but impossible to make a name for oneself without having at least one, powerful connection already at court.
So, when Louis XV chose to lead France himself, which one of these would-be Prime Ministers came out on top?
The Duc de Noailles continued to exert considerable influence at court; politically, he held the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs for a brief period in 1744. Otherwise, his extensive family ties ensured him a considerable amount of influence at court.
The Duc de Belle-Isle once again demonstrated his uncanny ability to survive immense adversity. Once back on French soil, he was soon dispatched to the army again, despite the previous disaster. This proved to be the right choice as he managed to prevent an invasion of Provence. In return, the king raised him to duke and peer - even his dreams of politics were not unanswered. In 1758, he became Minister for War before dying in 1761.
The man who got the short end of the stick was undoubtedly Chauvelin. Having been exiled to his estates following his dismissal from his post of Secretary of State, he saw the death of Fleury as an opportunity to regain royal favour. Unfortunately, Louis XV would have none of it and in what must have been extremely embarrassing circumstances, Chauvelin was obliged to - once again - leave court for his estates. It was not until his friend, d'Argenson, interceded on his behalf that he was finally allowed near the court in 1746 - but any dream of further political office was over. He would never hold a position of note again.
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