Issue No. 23

Life at Versailles
When Louis XIV made Versailles his home,
he wanted the aristocracy and nobles of
France to join him there. It was a way to
keep them from plotting against the royal
family as much as anything. But it wasn’t a
life of luxury. Rules for how to dress, where
to sit, what to say and where to be at
certain times were rigidly adhered to.
Even with more than a thousand fireplaces,
the castle was bitterly cold in winter. It was
recorded in 1695, that the King’s glass of
wine froze on the table as he sat dining
alone, watched by hundreds of courtiers. I
was amazed that the room where this
dinner ritual took place was quite small,
you can really imagine everyone squashed
in, eyes on the king and his heavily laden
table, stomachs rumbling, hot and bothered
in summer, shivering in winter!
We pretty much know what Louis XIV did
every day of his life as courtiers kept
copious records detailing the minutiae of
life at court right up until the king’s death
from gangrene.
It was rare for courtiers to have their own
kitchens so they would send their staff out
for food. A sort of shanty town grew around
the castle and there were food booths and
tuck shops on site.
The wings of the palace were essentially
apartments. Lots of records have survived
from the days when courtiers lived there,
there are logs of repairs and renovations
and plenty of complaints, a princess
without a bathroom, moaning about the
cold and the fact there was nowhere to
cook.