II.5. NOBLES, GODS AND HEROES

MENU: 2.5. Nobles. Gods. Heroes 

TOWARD 1500, EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES SET OFF A SUDDEN, LASTING AND GROWING DEMAND FOR SHIPS, SUPPLIES, TRANSPORT, ETC. 

Towns and markets expand. 

          Discoveries in 1502 /zoom 

The earliest known map of the Age of Discovery.

That economic boom undermines the social system. It creates a growing class of dynamic capitalists and brings an inflation that lessens the wealth of hereditary ruling class, the nobles, landowners whose income depends on immutable peasant dues.

They cannot profit from the new opportunities. Engaging in commerce means losing the privileges of a warrior caste, including exemption from taxes. As well, their upbringing and outlook are opposed to "trade" (please click and scroll down) and should they miraculously have the will and skills to follow that route, inflation gives them less and less capital to do so. 

 Portrait of a Knight in Armor, end 16th century / zoom

Armor proclaims noble status, the sword fighting, the baton command. The curtain underscores grandeur. For comparable paintings of nobles in armor, please click here and here.

Those factors make their clash with the rising entrepreneurs inevitable. It is the underlying explanation for the French Revolution, though it takes three centuries for the conflict to break out.   

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Meanwhile almost everyone 

believes in their superior essence,

which all aspects of society seem to confirm.

• All aspects of Old Regime life reinforce the nobles

• Mythology and the Old Regime

• Detour: History — anecdotes or the economy?

• The gods' modernity

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Next,

All aspects of Old Regime life reinforce the nobles

II.5.1. ALL ASPECTS OF THE OLD REGIME REINFORCE INHERITED RANK

LOUIS XIV'S MOST FAMOUS FAVORITE, MADAME DE MONTESPAN, WOULD INSULT HIM AS AN UPSTART BECAUSE HIS GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS A MEDICI BANKER, WHEREAS HER ANCESTORS HAD SINCE THE 9TH CENTURY BEEN FEUDAL LORDS 

He would feel humble before her. 

Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan, workshop of Pierre Mignard, undated, zoom

An insult among commoners: "Your father was a valet!" 

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So ingrained was the belief in nobles' superiority that many rising commoners used their funds to buy land, acquire titles or have their descendants enter the aristocracy by marrying their daughters to impoverished lords seeking important dowries.  

The next pages show how emphasis on Romans, mythology and Old Testament figures set nobles apart. As well, they...

• Held the main positions in the State, the Church and especially the army.  

• Were exempt from taxes.

• Controlled sales taxes and tolls.  

• Monopolized the hunt of large animals, fought duels only between themselves, alone might buy the most luxurious wares. 

• Were ceremoniously decapitated if condemned of crime, rather than abjectly hanged or burned.    

• Had identifying liveries for the servants, a coat of arms, a name whose prefix "de" indicated nobility, a reserved pew at church.  

• Owned gibets, which showed their domination of the peasantry even as the power to kill became rulers' prerogative. The gibets themselves showed the nobles' rank by the number of the beams from which to hang the condemned (from two to eight, the king having nine).  

•  The belief in a God-willed hierarchy exists in modern language: The French word for "bad" — villain — originally meant "peasant," and we still say "noble" and "ignoble."

The valet Figaro's famous question to his noble master,

 "What have you done for all that wealth?

 You took the trouble to be born!"  

shows that at the end of the 18th century 

that belief was changing.

So was the economy.   

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The idea that all elements of a society strengthen the ruling class is not original with me.

Alexis de Toqueville uses it to explain commoners' belief in nobles' intrinsic superiority. Anthropologists and sociologists have shown it for primal communities and cults. An American cartoonist notes the tie between gun violence, the healthcare system, billionaire control and media silence:

Daily Kos, a progressive publication, December 24, 2024

The omissions and billboards mentioned at the start are part of such interconnection. 

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Now, 

how nobles used antiquity in the arts:

Next,

II.5.2. 

 Antiquity in the art of the Old Regime

II.5.2. ANTIQUITY AND THE ART OF THE OLD REGIME

 

ASSOCIATION WITH PERSONAGES WHO ARE LARGER THAN LIFE LETS NOBLES PROCLAIM A SUPERIORITY THAT COMMONERS CANNOT MATCH

Their heroes are Romans, mythological figures or people from the Old Testament :

Philip of France, Duke of Anjou in Costume of Antiquity by Jean Nocret, toward 1650 / zoom

The little prince identifies with the Romans.  

            Diane de Poitiers as Diana, Goddess of the Hunt, anonymous, toward 1550 / zoom

Diane de Poitiers was a member of the top nobility and the favorite of Henri II (1547-59). Nudity, the clothing of the gods, underscores her power: "Take me for a goddess!" this work trumpets.

The Reconciliation of Jacob and Ésaü by Arnould De Vuez toward 1678, Baulme Fine Arts

Biblical figures are clothed, but have the bodies and faces of gods.

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Examples

• Supermen in châteaux and churches

• A queen's apotheosis

• A plea for peace and a threat of revolt

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Next,

Supermen in châteaux and churches

SUPERMEN IN CHATEAUX AND CHURCHES

CHATEAUX DECOR EVOKES THE PRIVATE LIVES OF OWNERS AS IF THEY WERE GODS, AND LINKS THEM WITH THE KINGS

Take mantelpieces, the most prestigious sites of glacial halls:

• At Écouen* Jacob sins, leaves, returns and is forgiven, like the owner** who offends Diane de Poitiers, leaves the court and eventually reconciles with the king.

*The Renaissance Museum, north of Paris

**The Constable of Montmorency (1493-1567) 

Esau's hunt, museum publication

 

• At Condé en Brie in Champagne a god carries off a woman. It alludes to the owner* making a married woman his mistress as Louis XIV had done with Madame de Montespan, and imitates a statue at Versailles.

*The Marquis de la Faye, private secretary to Louis XIV

Claude Abron

Château de Condé - Aymeri de Rochefort; Pluto Carries off Prosperine by François Girardon, toward 1690, Versailles / zoom

That mistress, the marquise de Montespan — the one suspected of black masses — chose the story of Helen of Troy as decor for her chateau.

-- Athénaïs, the Real Queen of France by Lisa Hilton, 2002

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The upper clergy, composed of nobles, gave the poor the appearance of gods. Compare:

Eleventh century

Zoom

 Sixteenth century

Zoom

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The most important use of mythology and allegory

is Rubens's celebration of queen Marie de Medici

for her palace.

The 24 life-size paintings are now at the Louvre.

The first modern biography 

uses allegory and mythology to tell her story.

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Next,
A queen's apotheosis

A QUEEN'S APOTHEOSIS

THE LOUVRE DEVOTES AN ENTIRE ROOM TO THE MOST EXUBERANT PROPAGANDA EVER IMAGINED

Marie de Medici returns to power* and as a true Medici, hires the time's leading painter to present her life as she wants it told.

(Made in 1624-26)

*In 1621-1630. For the start of her story, please click.

The room is almost empty — most visitors head to the publicized works —  so you will have it almost to yourself.

       The Regent Militant. The Victory at Julich / zoom

 A white horse, symbol of royalty

How Marie might have been remembered had she not lost her temper : Please continue.

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If you come with children, tell them about the conflict between Marie and her son Louis XIII, who at age 15 took power through a plot and an assassination. Depending on the kids you can stress (or not), the mother, the son, the wickedness and intrigues of a royal court...

Then have them look for:

• Louis XIII, the teen-age prince. In 24 paintings he appears only seven times, and never in a commanding way. Marie wants to keep on ruling: 

    The Consignment of the Regency to the Queen / zoom

Marie dominates. In fact, as he grows older Louis pretends to be retarded and almost everyone ignores him They regret that mistake for the rest of their lives, which might be very short.

• The 14-year-old French and Spanish princesses, exchanged at the border

          The Exchange of the Princesses / zoom 

 The girl in white is Anne, Louis's bride

If your little girl dreams of being a princess and marrying a prince, tell her she would never see her family again. Plus, as a foreign princess the court might think she was a spy (as Anne really was). 

A queen's sole path to influence: becoming regent should the king die and leave a son too young to rule. That was how both Marie and Anne came to exert 17th-century Europe's most important regencies. 

• Dogs, a way to fill empty space 

    The Coronation of Marie de Medici at Saint-Denis on May 13, 1610 / zoom

• Monsters: Marie's enemies, neutralized or defeated

  Louis XIII Comes of Age / zoom

     The Queen Reconciles with her Son / zoom

For teens, mention what's left out: The servant Leonora, the hustler Concini, Marie's banishment and imprisonment... (click if you haven't yet).

   The Expulsion from Paris, Alte Ponakothek, Munich / zoom

The rejected sketch for the work on her disgrace

The series is important for itself, for its influence...

• David studied The Coronation of Marie de Medici, above, before beginning his most famous work:

The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and the Crowning of the Empress Josephine in Notre-Dame Cathedral on December 2, 1804 by Jacques-Louis David / zoom

• The series' color and action influenced Eugène Delacroix, leader of the Romantics and creator of the most famous painting produced in France (please read on):

        The Death of Sardanapolus by Eugène Delacroix, 1827 / zoom

And for showing how omissions

are an age-old tool. 

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Next,
A plea for peace and a threat of revolt

A PLEA FOR PEACE AND A THREAT OF REVOLT

NOBLES' ART GLORIFIES WAR, BUT THESE WORKS INSIST ON PEACE...

A caduceus (two serpents coiled around a baton) symbolizes the accord of opposites, so wisdom and harmony, and in paintings where every detail is politically charged Rubens associates it with Marie alone.

-- Heroic Deeds and Mystic Figures by R.F. Miflin and R.E. Wolf, 1989,

analyzes the series in depth.

In the first work Mercury points the caduceus toward the line that joins the right hands of Apollo, Minerva and Marie with the abdomens of the Three Graces: Marie unites wisdom, culture and fertility, characteristics that fit her policy of peace and ardent opposition to Richelieu's, of war.

     The Education of the Princess / zoom

 

UNLESS LOUIS CHOOSES WAR

One of the next works evokes the choice of entering or staying away from the Thirty Years' War (of 1618-1648):

The Meeting in Lyons / zoom 

• Louis carries his scepter like a musket and turns away from his mother, while his charming little brother, Gaston d'Orleans, looks up at her adoringly. Junior princes legitimized revolts when they led them and when this work was painted, in 1626, Gaston had rebelled...

The work implies that should Louis refuse Marie's demand for peace, she might join her favorite son should he revolt again.

(He would, four times).  

• The intrepid queen had already escaped imprisonment and led two rebellions. So that was not an empty threat. 

The king studied the paintings, had them explained to him and left without a word. They may have contributed to Marie's downfall. 

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But a dramatic mistake

 was the main reason for her eclipse.

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Next,

 II.5.3.

Detour:

History, anecdotes or economics?

II.5.3. DETOUR. HISTORY: ANECDOTES OR THE ECONOMY?

 A TANTRUM CHANGES THE COURSE OF HISTORY... FOR AWHILE 

Will Louis help the poor with peace and tax reform, or grind them down still further with higher taxes due to war?  

Marie loses her temper against Prime Minister Richelieu in the king's presence. That disrespect brings the crisis called the "Day of Dupes," and Louis's choice for Richelieu and war.

(November 10-11, 1630)

  Basic account:

The recollections of the Duke of Saint-Simon, who was present immediately after the event, 

as told his son (the memoirist).

Presented with comments by Georges Mongrédian,

The Day of Dupes, 1961 (in French)

By Theodore Cabu, illustrated by Maurice Leloir, 1903

A hagiography

Bishop of a destitute commune of western France (Luçon), Richelieu believed that to make the poor work they must be treated like mules. He also confirmed Louis XIII's authoritarianism and helped found the centralized French State. Conservative historians admire him. 

 

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• Richelieu comes to power by helping Marie return to favor after her fall, then takes her place as the king's main counselor. She hates him for that betrayal* and for his policies of violence.

*Which was felt still more strongly than it would be today: A subordinate's loyalty was considered automatic and the difference in rank made him her servant.

• She arranges a meeting with Louis to have him disgraced but leaves a door unlocked, and he suddenly appears. Stupefied, she insults him in a way that is "unimaginable," "out of the gutter"...

   Maurice Leloir

Richelieu throws himself at her feet, kisses the hem of her robe, bursts into tears and begs the king to let him return to his lands. When Louis says nothing, he leaves. A few minutes later the king passes before him and meets his bow with glacial silence. Fearing arrest and execution, recalling Concini's mutilated corpse and the rapidity with which one's fate can change, he prepares to flee.

At home, Louis "threw himself on his bed and tore off his doublet so furiously that the buttons flew off." But after reflection at his hunting lodge at Versailles, he sends for Richelieu to join him. Shocked by Marie's disrespect for monarchy shown by her language in his presence, he makes a decision that was almost unimaginable then, of choosing an underling over the queen of France, widow of Henri IV and mother of the queens of Spain and England, and Duchess of Savoy. As well, though deeply religious he transgresses the commandment "Honor thy father and thy mother," an act for which for the rest of his life he will feel guilty.

Marie has chosen Michel de Marillac, * the head of the Catholic pro-peace faction, as the new Prime Minister. Richelieu has him arrested; he will die in prison. He also warns adversaries that opposing him will strike their families too by having Marillac's brother, the Captain of the Royal Guard, decapitated on a trumped-up charge.

*Uncle of Saint Louise de Marillac. For more about her and the impressive Catholics of the time, please click.

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Marie remains Richelieu's implacable opponent, and helps Gaston foment the revolts that follow. She says that her only regret is forgetting to bolt a door and dies in exile, almost without resources. 

(In 1642)

• Misogyny and nationalism lead to dismissing her as "without grace, heavy, with eyes that were round and inexpressive, brutal gestures and incurable vulgarity [...] silly, proud, short-tempered, opinionated, lazy."

-- Richelieu by Philippe Erlanger, 1996, p.77. 

More objective but still negative:

Marie de Médicis by Philippe Delorme, 1998, and

 The Queens of France under the Bourbons by Simone Bertière, 2003

 (All in French)

• She can also be seen as feisty and determined, and above all be respected for trying to maintain peace.  

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With her fall, France lurches into the frightful Thirty Years' War:

• Central Europe loses a third of its population and Burgundy, Lorraine and Picardy are devastated. Fifty years later Protestants fleeing France find a welcome from German princes wishing to replace slaughtered populations.

   The Pillaging of Wommelgen by Sebastian Vranx, 1625-30 / zoom

• Most of the kingdom is spared fighting on its soil, but taxes and requisitions bring revolt and repression:

     The Miseries of war: Hangings by Jacques Callot, 1632-1633 / zoom

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The "Day of Dupes" is considered one of  "The days that made France "* ...

* Title of the series in which the study mentioned at the top of the page appears

Because, it is said, bringing the country into that struggle kept Spain from dismembering or conquering it. 

But in the 1630's...

• Spain had 8 240 000 residents, France 20 000 000 (please click).

• Spain's economy was archaic, France's one of emerging capitalism.

A Spanish victory was impossible

and French hegemony in the long term inevitable.  

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Children can play the scene, thinking up insults  

("Your socks stink!")

They'll roll around laughing and love history.

They can question that anecdotal approach later. 

End of this section.

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Next section,

II.5.4.
The gods' modernity