Pouvoir et publication dans la France d’Ancien Régime

An analytical narrative of the Day of Dupes

“…These two assumptions can be convincingly justified by drawing mainly on Dubost (2009) and Jouhaud (2015). To validate the first assumption, we have to check two points about the King’s hierarchy of preferences.…”

“…On November 11th, 1630 in Richelieu’s presence in the Luxembourg Palace, the Queen demanded that the King dismiss Richelieu as Principal Minister. As pointed out by Jouhaud (2015), everything took place behind closed doors, and we have no direct testimony of how this happened. We only know that the King withdrew to Versailles, where he was joined by Richelieu, and that he stood firm: (1) he confirmed Richelieu in office, (2) he immediately relieved Michel de Marillac of his position as Keeper of the Seals (he was soon placed under house arrest in the castle of Chateaudun, where he died 2 years later), and (3) he sent word to Italy for the arrest of Louis de Marillac, who was arrested on November 22nd, 1630, then tried, and finally beheaded on May 10th, 1632 at the Place de Greve, in Paris.…”

“…The narrative of the event provided by Chevallier (1974-1977) does not suffer from any such defects: it is based upon a careful gathering, examination (cross-checking for inconsistency), and synthesis of dispatches from reliable foreign diplomats resident in Paris at the time, such as Renee Augier and Henri de Vic (two English diplomats noted for their fluency in French), Cardinal Bagni (the Apostolic Nuncio), and Giovanni Battista Gondi (the Florentine Ambassador to France). According to today’s historians (see, e.g., Jouhaud, 1991: 53, and 2015: 325, note 9; Bailey, 2007: LXI, note 55; Dubost, 2009: 968, note 23), the narrative provided by Chevallier overrides and supersedes all other accounts of the Journée des Dupes .…”

“…There is, on the other hand, disagreement among historians as to whether or not the strategic moves decided by the Queen were those of a person of good sense. Such a disagreement has first been pointed out by Jouhaud (2015). He begins ( ibid.…”

“…: 36) by writing that “the impression we get from the reading of the texts of the time, which describe the Journée des Dupes , is that the Queen Mother is portrayed as impulsive, angry, liar, and stubborn to the point of absurdity…” Next, he presents references drawn from French literature supporting this description ( ibid : 46). English historical literature has portrayed the Queen similarly to French literature, as can be shown by numerous citations: according to Huxley (1941: 179), the Queen was “florid and fairly bulging with female energy, vulgar, loud-voiced, rancorous and obstinately stupid”; according to Davidson (1971: 77), she was “a bloated, stupid, and obstinate woman—known in court circles as the fat banker”; according to Knecht (1991: 34), she was “stupid and highly susceptible to the tittle-tattle of courtiers…” According to Jouhaud (2015: 50), however, “no credible evi-dence of this has ever been found in the available historical sources.”…”