Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101608 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Review
"A sparkling history which captures the giddy quality of the times" SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "Vividly capturing 17th-century Europe's most extravagant court.' -- Mark Comber THE DAILY EXPRESS 'Antonia Fraser's colourful history emphasises the conflict between private pleasure and religious dut in the life of Europe's grandest Catholic ruler.' -- Simon Shaw THE MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Fraser brilliantly dissects the intense rivalry of the ladies who indulged in 'commerce' with the king. -- Ian Pindar THE OBSERVER 'this enjoyable account. Fraser brings to life the female stars circling the Sun King in an account that successfully combines erudition with gossipy stories of the kind the Versailles courtiers loved so much.' THE SUNDAY TIMES

Altogether at ease with the mores of the ancien regime, Fraser (Marie Antoinette, 2001, etc.) eschews a detailed biography of Louis XIV to focus instead on the women who shaped and were shaped by France's most glorious ruler.He was king for 72 years, time enough to build Versailles, wage numerous, mostly unsuccessful, wars and accumulate a rich history with the opposite sex. Louis's mother, Queen Anne, gave birth at 36-a then-astoundingly late stage in life for pregnancy-lending an immediate air of the miraculous to the future monarch. Anne established an unusually close relationship with her son, who never entirely erased from his mind her mixture of beauty and piety as a template of female perfection. Louis abandoned his teenage liaison with the unsuitable Marie Mancini to marry Spanish Infanta Maria Teresa. As Queen Marie-Therese, she accommodated two important mistresses, Louise de La Valliere and the Marquise de Montespan, and drew from Louis the final tribute that she gave him no trouble except by dying. After Marie-Therese, he secretly married Madame de Maintenon, whose demeanor was remarkably like that of his mother. Fraser paints each of these women in full and offers sketches of a succession of minor mistresses, one night stands, sisters-in-law (including the hilariously vulgar and bitchy wife of Louis's homosexual brother), princesses and even an exiled foreign queen, all of whom engaged the king's genuine interest. To help keep track of this large cast, the profusion of changing titles and the dizzying succession of bastards, the author provides a useful guide to the principal characters. Courtiers meticulously charted the king's amorous adventures, and Fraser excels at reproducing the hothouse atmosphere in which the monarch's raised eyebrow might portend a serious change in someone's fortune. Uncomfortably aware of the Church's opposition to his notorious love life, Louis fully indulged himself during his heyday before turning in old age to a greater concern for his salvation.An acutely sensitive group portrait of the women who basked in the Sun King's reflected glory. (Kirkus Reviews)

Review
"A sparkling history which captures the giddy quality of the times" (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

"Vividly capturing 17th-century Europe's most extravagant court.' (Mark Comber THE DAILY EXPRESS )

'Antonia Fraser's colourful history emphasises the conflict between private pleasure and religious dut in the life of Europe's grandest Catholic ruler.' (Simon Shaw THE MAIL ON SUNDAY )

'Fraser brilliantly dissects the intense rivalry of the ladies who indulged in 'commerce' with the king. (Ian Pindar THE OBSERVER )

'this enjoyable account. Fraser brings to life the female stars circling the Sun King in an account that successfully combines erudition with gossipy stories of the kind the Versailles courtiers loved so much.' (THE SUNDAY TIMES )

Simon Shaw, THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
'Antonia Fraser's colourful history emphasises the conflict between private pleasure and religious dut in the life of Europe's grandest Catholic ruler.'

Customer Reviews

The court of the Sun King
Fraser's account of the Sun King's personal life is an immensely enjoyable read. Not only does the author breathe life into her cast of kings, queens, duchesses, mistresses, clerics and playwrites, she also portrays a beautifully vivid image of the 17th century French court and all its finery, silks and lace-edging. Scarcely had I closed the book before I began to yearn for the gilded opulence of Versailles and its scented orangeries and gardens. This is truly a delight to read, and one I have recommended many times.

more light on the sun king
I wrote this review for the Hardback edition, and think it fitting to include it here:

Another historical masterpiece from the author of `Mary Queen Of Scots', `Marie Antoinette The Journey' et al.
The book has at its centre the life of Louis XIV and the women who found themselves in his orbit.
Despite the allusions to romantic love in the title, there is a platonic element to the numerous biographies that Fraser intertwines with Louis', such as his mother and daughter-in-law.
The light shone on the Sun King is painted in delicate colours and there is little allusion to `goings on' outside his immediate court, such as the Edict of Nantes (a very significant event of his reign) and the wars with the Dutch and the `Grand Alliance' under Marlborough and Eugene. This is because it is a biography devoted to the emotional - dare we say it - human side of Louis.
One really can find little fault in any of Antonia Fraser's scholarly works, of which this is an elegant and insightful example.

The personal life of the King reflects the politcial life - a better understanding of the Sun King
Antonia Fraser is one of the best writers of (popular) history and this book just proves why.

So many books have been written about Louis XIV and it seems nearly impossible to shed a new light on this most famous of all French kings. So it was a very pleasant surprise that Antonia Fraser did this.

She follows the relationships of the Louis XIV with females from birth to death: from the long-for heir to the French throne, boy king at the age of 4 years and 8 months, through the period when the Sun King dominated Europe to the period when France and his king were nearly going down under and the reign ended on a sad notion. Each period had a distinct female symbolizing that very period: Anne of Austria, the King's mother and regent, Maria Theresia, his Queen, Madame de La Valliere and Madame de Montespan, his most famous mistresses and la Marquise de Maintenon, his morganatique wife. Of course, there are more like la Princesse Palatine, the Duchess of Burgundy or the first Duchess of Orleans. It seems that the Sun King did a full circle - Anne of Austria and Madame la Marquise had much in common and might be described as the same kind of personality. It is very much appreciated that Antonia Fraser restores Louis XIV's Queen Consort to her rightful place. The Queen is often neglected as the king did and she was properly the most remote person in terms of personal affection, but her role was vital for his gloire. The Infanta of Spain was the most valuable princess and none other would have done for the King and she was the mother of the rightful heirs to the throne.

Antonia Fraser commands the rare gift of writing in an entertaining manner without becoming shallow or superficial. All in all a book one can only recommend. I enjoyed it immensely.