Histoire de France 1689-1715 (Volume 16/19)

The opening of this volume plunges listeners into the uneasy aftermath of Louis XIV’s long reign, when the powerful minister Louvois lies on his deathbed and the king must confront a court still haunted by his shadow. It sketches the tense atmosphere at Saint‑Germain in 1689, where whispers about the future of the ministry and the kingdom’s direction grow louder, and the monarch’s own authority is questioned for the first time in decades.

From there the narrative expands to the sprawling world of Versailles and its satellite palaces, illustrating how the once modest royal household multiplied into a complex network of courts, residences, and rival factions. The author paints a vivid picture of France’s administrative overload, the growing burden of war, and the social web that binds the nobility, the royal children, and the emerging provincial elites. As the kingdom teeters between grandeur and exhaustion, the stage is set for the political and military struggles that will shape the early eighteenth century.