The death of Louis XIV

Worthy of a Racine tragedy, the death of Louis XIV begins on August 10, 1715. On his return from hunting in Marly, the king felt a sharp pain in his leg. His doctor Fagon diagnoses sciatica, and will not change his mind. Black spots soon appear: this is senile gangrene. Despite the excruciating pain, the king goes about his usual business: he intends to assume his duties to the end. The old oak seems ineradicable and commands everyone's admiration. On August 25, his feast day, he nevertheless had to go to bed. He will never leave his room from now on.

Gangrene develops, and reaches the bone on the 26th. The doctors find themselves helpless. The same day, the king receives his great-grandson, aged five, the future Louis XVto give him advice. He recommends that he relieve his people and avoid going to war as much as possible: “It is the ruin of peoples.” Aware of not having done it himself, he asks him to remain a “peaceful prince”.

But death takes longer than expected. The king said his goodbyes three times to Mrs. de Maintenon and twice at Court. Brun, a Provençal who claims to have a miracle cure, is authorized to approach the royal bed on August 29. The fact is that the king feels better. But the evil is there, ever deeper. Louis XIV finally fell into a semi-coma on the 30th and 31st. He died on the 1st^is September in the morning. His body is exposed for eight days in the Mercury salon. He was transported on September 9 to Saint-Denis, the necropolis of the kings of France.

Philippe II of Orléans, nephew of Louis XIV, becomes regent of the kingdom while awaiting the majority of the future Louis XV. Family quarrels began: on September 2, the Regent had the Parliament of Paris cancel the king's will, which confiscated part of his prerogatives. The Court left Versailles for Vincennes on September 9 and remained there until December. The Duke of Orléans installed the future king at the Tuileries and would govern from his residence at the Palais-Royal. Philip V of Spain, for his part, has not completely renounced his claims to the throne of France despite the Treaty of Ryswick in 1713. A new war is looming and with it, a new reversal of alliances in Europe.