Regency of Philippe d'Orléans
Philippe d'Orléans governed France for eight years after Louis XIV died, and reversed almost everything the old king had built. Louis XIV outlived his son, his eldest grandson and his eldest great-grandson, and left the throne in September 1715 to a five-year-old. His will named Orléans as head of a regency council he would not control, with the king's illegitimate sons given rank and the guardianship of the child. Orléans went to the parlement of Paris within days, had the will annulled in exchange for restoring the parlement's right of remonstrance, and took full regency powers. That transaction is the reign in miniature: a concession of royal authority to buy the moment. He moved the court back to Paris, opened the prisons of the previous reign, made peace with Britain, and replaced the ministries with a system of councils staffed by nobles, which was abandoned after three years because they could not do the work. The finances were the crisis he could not solve. He inherited debts of some two billion livres and turned to John Law, a Scottish gambler and monetary theorist, who established a bank issuing paper money and a company holding the Louisiana trade monopoly. The scheme rescued the state's finances for two years and collapsed in 1720, ruining thousands and leaving the French with a permanent distrust of banks and paper. The regency also relaxed the piety of the late court entirely, and its reputation for licence is largely deserved. Orléans died in 1723 at forty-nine.
- Year: 1715 CE
- Category: Political
