Private Collection
Louis de France

When viewed from today’s perspective, the early modern statehood of the French Ancien Régime presents a controversial picture that is difficult to reconcile with our democratic societal order. In particular, the monarchs’ claim to absolute power appears to us now as a strange relic of the past.

This discrepancy between the ‘absolutist’ self-perception and contemporary understanding is also reflected in the often exaggerated and sometimes clichéd evaluations of key figures in the French monarchy. For example, the French King Louis XIV was frequently credited by older historiography with the absolutist maxim l'État, c'est moi (“I am the state”). Louis XV was accused of laziness and indifference, his successor Louis XVI of weakness, even a lack of intelligence, and his consort Marie Antoinette is said to have suggested that her starving people eat brioche in times of bread shortages. The ‘l'aurtichienne (Austrian woman)’ was accused of being as lustful as Messalina and as power-hungry as Agrippina. Some even saw in her a new Catherine de Médicis. The same rumours — fuelled both by public opinion and outdated historical interpretations — were circulated about her relatives Marie de Médicis and her daughter-in-law, Anne of Austria. They were described as weak women, queens and regents who failed in politics without the strong leadership of Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin.
Such unfounded claims and outdated historical approaches have largely been refuted by modern science. The image of women has also finally been revised. Indeed, even the very concept of ‘absolutism’ is being questioned by researchers today – although the traditional portrayal remains stubbornly persistent.

But who really were these monarchs, queens and regents? Despots, out-of-touch aristocrats by divine right, extravagant builders and ignorant exploiters – lacking the foresight to respond to changing times? Branded as tyrants by the French Revolution and glorified as martyrs during the Restoration, today they are mostly known only for their palaces, mistresses, and wars. These varied perspectives have often severely distorted reality, and historians have been conducting in-depth research for years in order to reconstruct as accurate a picture as possible.
 

The privately owned 'Collection Louis de France', based in Dortmund, is dedicated to exploring the early modern history of the French Ancien Régime through historical sources in the form of manuscripts and printed publications, primarily focusing on the rule of the Bourbon Kings of France and Navarre. It sheds light on the rise and fall of the Valois and Bourbon dynasties, which stemmed from the Capetians (Kapetinger), who from 987 to 1789 – and as a constitutional monarchy until 1792 – shaped the politics of France and played a decisive role in the history of Europe and the world. The focus of the collection is not solely on the monarchs and their reigns. Rather, it explores the tension between the 'absolute' monarchy, courtly society, and everyday life.

To make this tension tangible, it is necessary to capture the social and cultural structures of the time in detail and to make visible the diverse perspectives of the involved societal groups.
This requires a broad, multi-perspective approach to the different worlds of life of the royal family, the high nobility (noblesse d'épée), court nobility (noblesse de cour), judicial nobility (noblesse de robe), lower nobility, and the clergy – always in relation to the rest of the population. The analysis focuses on a pre-modern, class-structured society in which social order was believed to arise only from the supposedly 'God-given' inequality.
At the centre are historical sources that document rule and administration, jurisprudence and legislation, political decision-making processes, war and peace, but also everyday life and death.
The courtly environment is also considered: forms of aristocratic representation, etiquette, culture of leisure, patronage networks, office-holding, career strategies, and mechanisms of power display. Architecturally significant sources – such as those relating to the residences of Versailles, Saint-Cloud, or the Maisons de Plaisance like Marly – complement these perspectives. Public opinion expression is also taken into account, with voices often characterised by criticism, mockery, or accusation, thus providing a counterbalance to the official narrative of the rulers.

The collection is further supplemented by a post-revolutionary section, which focuses on the profound political change following the fall of Napoleon I. The focus is on the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814/15 and continuing until 1830, as well as the reign of the so-called 'roi citoyen', Louis-Philippe I from the House of Orléans. His abdication following the February Revolution of 1848 marked not only the end of his reign but also the end of the monarchical era of the Kings of France.