A Provincial Noble at Versailles: Jean Plantavit de la Pause,

Marquis de Margon,

at the Reception of the Doge of Genoa, 15 May 1685

David M. Gallo

College of Mount St. Vincent

Jean de Plantavit de La Pause, Seigneur de Margon, noble from the south of

France, decorated soldier in the wars of Louis XIV, had a long and respectable life by

any 17th century standard. Born into the provincial nobility in May, 1646 at Lodève in

the Diocese of Nîmes in Languedoc, he was the eldest of 7 children. Married at 36 to

Jacquette de Lort de Sérignan, he sired 4 boys, only one of whom survived infancy and

succeeded him as the next marquis de Margon. He had a distinguished enough carreer

to be created a Chevalier in the Order of St. Louis, a Lieutenant of the King in

Languedoc, colonel of a regiment of dragoons, and, in 1704, a Brigadier in the King’s

Army. He died in November 1726, in the same year as his wife, at the advanced age of

80. All this was enough to merit him a 3-line biography in the 1776 edition of M. de la

Chenaye-des Bois’ Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, vol. 111.

No one knew, outside his family, that throughout his life he kept extensive

mémoires spanning almost 80 years, from stories heard of the time of his birth in 1646 to

his death in 1726 – in 2,075 pages of neat handwriting. They would be preserved by his

descendants in manuscript form until 2011, when the 1st volume of a planned 4 volume

set was transcribed and edited by one of his descendents, Hubert de Vergnette de

Lamotte and the Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles.

Margon’s mémoires document the daily life and activities of a provincial

nobleman on his journeys, in war and peace, from the margins of the Kingdom in

1 de La Chenaye-des Bois, Dictionnaire de la noblesse, tome XI (Paris, 1776), 347.

southern France to the newly-enlarged center of court and government at Versailles.

They offer, in the words of one reviewer, “an astonishingly rich chronicle of the life of

the nobility in the Languedoc, describing not only marriage alliances and family feuds

but the spiritual, cultural and artistic life of the region too.”2 As a noble with an

extensive military career, Margon also documents in valuable detail day-to-day life in

the Sun King’s armies. A well-educated man grounded in the classics, he had a lifelong

passion for the theater, particularly for Molière, who visited Pézenas in Languedoc with

his troupe L’Illustre Théâtre from January to April, 1669, and greatly enjoyed the opera

when in Paris. That city, though, was not to his taste, finding it, as many travelers have

to this very day, “the most depressing place in the world for those who find themselves

there without money.”3

Yet the business of managing his career and the interests of his region did bring

him regularly north to Versailles, where his brother-in-law Guillaume de Lort, comte de

Sérignan, served in the household of the Prince de Conti. In April 1685, Sérignan

presented him to the King and introduced him to his friends at court. He supervised his

presentation to the Dauphin, the duc de Maine (the King’s illegitimate son), and to

regular attendance at the Royal Mass, dinner, supper and coucher. Finally, enlisting the

good graces of one of Louis XIV’s most trusted valets de chambre, Alexandre Bontemps,

Margon was given run of the house, with free rein to view the chateau at his leisure. He

marveled at the furniture, the paintings, the statues, the chandeliers, the quantity of rare

mirrors, and especially the garden with its terraces, outdoor ballrooms, and fountains.

“When a small provincial gentleman, knowing nothing but his dovecote and his rabbit

warren and his puny country house, lands at Versailles and in this miraculous garden,

2 http://www.chateauversailles-recherche.fr/english/publications-130/paper-publications/other-

publications/memoires-de-messire-jean-de-573.html 3 “le lieu plus triste du monde pour ceux qui y sont sans argent.” Mémoires de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la

Pause, Livre Premier, ed. Hubert de Vergnette de Lamotte (Versailles: Centre de Recherche du château de

Versailles, 2011), 63.

what surprise and astonishment to see this collection of marvels. He feels very small

and low, and thinks he is in the land of the fairies.”4 Chief among the “collection of

marvels” of that fortuitous visit was a “singular and special occasion,”5 the famous and

spectacular Embassy of the Doge of Genoa to Versailles on May 15th, 1685, staged and

performed in his presence.

This reception was remarkable in many ways. First, it showcased the newly-

functioning seat of government, recently impressively enlarged, its Grand Appartement

still gleaming with its costly solid-silver furniture. Second, the rank of the Embassy’s

chief, Francesco Maria Lercari Imperiale, the Doge of Genoa, was highly distinguished.

Though bound by tradition never to leave its territory, in April 1685 the Doge and four

of his senators were obliged to change Genoa’s law and, with no marks of honor and at

their own expense6, set out to Versailles on a pilgrimage of atonement and redemption

for its insult to the Sun King. For Genoa, historically anti-French, had given permission

for the Spanish to recruit troops in the city after Louis XIV had invaded the Spanish

Netherlands in 1683, and had denied his troops passage through its territory. As a

result, a year later in 1684, a massive French fleet of about 160 vessels appeared in

Genoese waters, demanding the Republic’s submission.7 Upon its refusal, 756 guns

opened fire, their 14,000 shells reducing two-thirds of Genoa to ruins. Only by offering

4 ”Quand un petit gentilhomme de province, qui ne conoit que son pigeonier et sa garene et sa chétive

maison de campagne, tombe dans Versaille et dans ce jardin miraculeux, quelle surprise, quel

étonnement de voir cet assemblage de prodigies. Il se trouve bien petit et rempant, et croid etre dans le

pays des fees.” Mémoires de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 66. 5 “…un plus rare spectacle que celuy des opéras ordinaires.” Mémoires de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la

Pause, 67. 6 “Cepandant, si on veut suivre la bienseance ou nous engage la nature de l’action que le Doge vient faire

il ne doit point estre receu a Paris avec marques d’honneur… On ne prendra aucun soin de le frayer et il

fera luy mesme toute la despense...” (Yet, if we wish to follow proper form, which the Doge’s action

requires, he should not be received in Paris with any marks of honor at all… There will be no attempt to

defray his costs, and he himself with pay all expenses...), BN MS 16633, 390. 7 Vincenzo Matteucci, “Le bombe non piegano Genova,” La Cronaca, (24 Gennaro 2010), accessed July 10,

2014, http://www.mil2002.org/cronaca/2010/100121ig.htm.

the city’s apology in person could the Doge appease the Sun King’s wrath, and amity

between France and Genoa be restored.

Accounts of the Doge’s Reception in the newly-finished Hall of Mirrors can be

found in a variety of media from May1685, from the gossipy Mercure Galant8 to more

official records and depictions. Two of them, the lesser known official contemporary

written record in the Registers of the Masters of Ceremonies, kept by the Introducteur des

Ambassadeurs, Monsieur de Sainctôt, and, later, Claude-Guy Hallé’s famous painting,

provide similar windows into the event, in marked contrast to Margon’s unofficial,

previously unknown eyewitness account.

The entry in Sainctôt’s Register for the event is in two parts. First, it provides

historical background and precedent for such a visit, and a series of options for the King

to consider in how the Doge might be treated. Then, recording the rationale behind the

plans for each stage of the Doge’s pilgrimage, it documents the major players, their

places and postures, foreseeing (and trying to avoid) troubling precedents or

contentious precedence disputes; it justifies every gesture, carefully noting when the

major actors should bow, stand, sit, and wear or doff their hats. The Register was a

guide for future Masters of Ceremonies in making decisions for foreign embassies.

Consequently, the centerpiece of the Reception, the Doge’s appearance in the Hall of

Mirrors and his submission to the King, sounds straightforward, perfect, almost

anticlimactic:

8 Where the interest is in clothes, coats of arms, who’s visiting whom in whose carriages, precedence and

honors, what gifts were given and received, etc. To its credit, it published the full Italian and French of

the official speeches. Mercure Galant, May, 1685, 289-373.

(http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6228375g/f306.tableDesMatieres

…the Throne of the

King [was] placed

at the end of the

Great Gallery upon

a dais elevated by a

few steps. The

cortege of the Doge,

approaching the

Throne, drew back

so the Doge could

see the King. The

King seated in his

armchair…seeing

the Doge approach,

stood up and

removed his hat.

Then the Doge and

the four senators

made profound

reverences to the

King, mounted the

dais, and saluted

him even more

respectfully by even

deeper bows, and when they stood straight again, the King put his hat on, and

made a sign to the Doge alone to put on his hat, which he did…9

The well-known painting by Claude-Guy Hallé depicts this climactic moment in

Sainctôt’s official account. The King, surrounded by his family, stands before the 8 ½

foot tall solid silver throne, on the rich dais erected at the south end of the Gallery (at

the entrance to the Salon de la Paix). Louis, dominant yet forgiving, ever-courteous and

9 …[le]Trosne du Roy [fut] place au bout de la Grande Gallerie sur une estrade elevés de quelques degrés;

le Cortege du Doge s’approchant du Trosne se mit en haye pour laisser voir au doge le Roy,

Le Roy assis dans son fauteüil...voyant le Doge s’approcher se leva, et se decouvrit, alors le Doge et les

quatres senateurs firent de profondes reverences au Roy monterent sur l’Estrade et le saluerent encore

plus respectueusement par des inclinations de corps plus profondes et s’estant relevés le Roy se couvrit,

et fit signe du Chapeau au Doge seulement de se couvrir, ce qu’il fit alors …” BN MS 16633, 393-4.

Figure 1: Claude-Guy Hallé, Reception of the Doge of Genoa

(right/south half)

placid, stands hatless, looming over the humbled Doge in his third and deepest

reverence, his submission complete, recorded for posterity.

Yet Hallé ‘s painting dates not from 1685, but from 1710, a full twenty five years

after the fact. Louis XIV commissioned it as a tapestry cartoon, which, if woven, would

have supplemented the famous “King’s History” series originally designed by Le Brun

to glorify the great events of the reign. Doubtless due to the financial strain imposed by

the War of the Spanish Succession, the tapestry was never produced. Hallé was

commissioned to capture the

majesty and spectacle of that

moment, in consonance with the

other tapestry images of the

monarch at the apogee of his power.

At a quarter century’s remove, he

portrayed principal actors on the

scene correctly, but conjured up a

higher dais and a fanciful rendering

of the long-vanished suite of silver

furniture and the 8 ½ foot silver

throne.10 On the left (north) side of

the painting, behind the black

velvet clad senators, stand a dozen

or so decorous figures calmly

observing and perhaps discussing

10 For more on the throne and silver furnishings in the Grand Appartement under Louis XIV, see Antoine

Maës, “L’ameublement du salon d’Apollon, XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle,“ Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château

de Versailles (26 mars 2013), accessed July 11, 2014, http://crcv.revues.org/12144?lang=fr.

Figure 2: Claude-Guy Hallé, Reception of the Doge of Genoa

(left/north half)

the event as it happened, giving the canvas closure and balance. Although the tapestry

version never materialized, Hallé’s painting is true to the official version of Sainctôt -

the Sun King at his zenith, arbiter of war and peace, unmatched by any sovereign and

in a setting without equal in Europe.

A visitor with no official agenda, neither painter nor ceremonialist, Margon’s

eyewitness account offers a different, even shocking view of events surrounding the

Reception in the Hall of Mirrors. Fortuitously present at Versailles in April and May of

1685, he could have appeared in Hallé’s painting, since, as he states, “I saw the entire

ceremony. I was at ten paces from the throne that was raised up at the end of the

gallery where I was very well placed...”11 Margon’s front-row seat in this theater of

power proved to be more eventful than one at any other opera in town.

Being a marquis at Versailles on ordinary days was no great shakes; on this May

15th, it conferred no special privileges at all. Joining his brother-in-law and a few

friends, Margon braved the guards trying to control the crowds pressing to enter the

Great Gallery - “one had to endure terrible crowds and pass through the Hundred

Swiss of the Guard who had no regard for anyone and who struck roughly with their

halberds during the time we had presented ourselves to enter.”12 The Hundred Swiss,13

guardians of the King’s residences, person and family, notoriously rough on good days,

were overwhelmed by the crush of spectators. Their method of crowd control affronted

both the First and Second Estates of the realm alike, however; the bishop of Carcasonne

was roughly pushed and shaken, and the guards threw the bishop of Tournai’s hat

“into the middle of the lower courtyard to oblige him to leave. An infinity of people of

11 “J’en vis toute la cérémonie. J’étois à dix pas du trosne que l’on avoit dressé au bout de la galerie ou

j’étois fort bien posté… ” Mémoires de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 67, 69. 12 “…mais pour y parvenir, il fallut essuyer une terrible foule et passer à travers les Cent-Suisses de la

Garde qui n’avoint des éguars pour persone et qui frapoint rudement de leurs halebardes dans le temps

que nous nous présentâmes pour entrer. ” Mémoires de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 69. 13 http://www.courduroi-versailles.fr/Pages/CentSuisses.aspx

the first quality received cruel affronts from these merciless Swiss.”14 Margon’s brother-

in-law, the comte de Sérignan, who worked at Court and was a known quantity at

Versailles, was banking on having an easier time; yet, upon their arrival at the “ill-fated

door guarded by the Swiss,” he was completely unrecognized by them. By this time, the

Swiss, maddened by “many indiscreet people wishing to enter by force,” lost all

semblance of control and reacted violently.15 Sérignan “was welcomed by a hail of

blows falling on his body and his head.” Margon, resourceful southerner, resorted to a

clever ruse. While the Swiss were beating Sérignan,

I attached myself to monsieur le comte de Lussan who made an effort to pass

through and I held on to him to follow his fate, he suffered many blows in his

turn. And as he was taller than I and I had lowered myself so as not to be seen at

his belt level, he alone received all the blows that fell upon us. Finally other

people appeared pushing us from behind, who drew this storm upon themselves

and gave us the means to enter thanks to this diversion.16

Regrouping at the Ambassador’s Staircase, Sérignan rejoined them, and “even showed

us his hat pierced by blows from the halberd.” They were lucky to get in, since the

Swiss, in their fury, even failed to recognize one of their own captains and had turned

him away.17 The Gallery and the State Apartments were packed; he had never seen so

14 “…on luy avoit jeté son chapeau au milieu de la basse cour pour l’obliger de se retirer. Une infinité de

gens de la première qualité venoit de recevoir de cruelles avanies de ces impitoyables Suisses.” Mémoires

de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 69. 15 “Mais nous fûmes bien surpris lorsqu’étant arrivés à la porte fatale gardée par de[s] Suisses, que de[s]

gens indiscrets qui vouloint entrer de force avoint mis dans une telle furie qu’ils ne conoissoint persone.”

Mémoires de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 69. 16 “Mais il fut acully d’une grêle de coups qui luy tombèrent sur le corps et sur la tête. Tandis qu’on est

acharné sur luy, je m’atache à Monsieur le comte de Lussan qui se forçoit de passer et je l’embrasse pour

suivre sa destinée, il est chargé à son tour de plusieurs coups. Et comme il étoit plus grand que moy, et

que je me baissois même pour n’être pas veu me tenant à sa ceinture, il receut luy seul tous les coups qui

portèrent sur nous. Et d’autres gens enfin survenans qui nous poussoint par derrière attirèrent sur eux

tout l’orage et nous donèrent le moyen d’entrer à la faveur de cete diversion.” Mémoires de Messire Jean de

Plantavit de la Pause, 69. 17 “Quand nous eûmes gagné le grand escalier de marbre, nous atandimes Monsieur de Sérignan qui se

plaignit d’abord en nous joignant de bien de[s] coups qu’il avoit receu, et nous montra même son

chapeau percé de coups de halebarde…Et pour marquer à quel point d’aveuglement et de fureur, les

many people nor such great disorder before in his life. The planners had seriously

underestimated not only the size of the crowd but the Swiss Guards’ ability to control

them. Finally, the group made it with much less trouble to the spot Sérignan had

intended for them: center stage, 10 feet from the dais with the tall silver throne.

The King, not yet seated on the throne, stood surrounded by his family and the

Great Officers of the Crown. The great moment had arrived, and the Doge appeared at

the Salon de la Guerre, at the north end of the Hall of Mirrors. “It took a half hour from

the end of the gallery to the foot of the throne due to the difficulty he had of pushing

through this crowd of people who had assembled to see this illustrious ceremony.”18

The crush was so intense that the Doge and the senators literally had to fight their way

down; once there, “approaching the throne, the press was so great that he was obliged

to stop short…”19 Apparently not even the Captain of the King’s Bodyguards and the

Grand Maître des Cérémonies, accompanying the Doge to his right and to his left, could

clear a path. The Doge’s procession stopped dead. The stage machinery at this opera

had broken down; a shocking breach of bienséance threatened to unravel the entire

event.

In a scene worthy of one of Lully’s operas, the ceremonial logjam was broken by

a deus ex machina in the person of the royal majesty himself. Apollo in person, unfazed

by this breakdown in decorum and not yet in character on his tall silver throne, left the

heights of his dais and descended its steps into the chaos. “I saw the king come down

Suisses de la Garde s’étoint mutinés généralement contre tout ce qui vouloit entrer, on publia qu’ils

avoint refusé la porte à Monsieur le marquis de Tilladet, leur capitaine, et qu’ils l’avoint méconnu.”

Mémoires de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 69. 18 “Il fut une demie heure depuis le bout de la galerie jusqu’au pié du trosne par la pene qu’il eut à

pouvoir percer cete foule de monde qui s’y étoit assemblée pour voir cete illustre cérémonie.” Mémoires de

Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 70. 19 “En approchant le trosne, la presse fut si grande qu’il fut obligé de s’arrêter tout court….” Mémoires de

Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 70.

more than once to arrange people to the right and the left…”20 So densely packed was

the crowd that more than one application of the King’s powerful personality was

required. Ever the man of action, Louis started “pushing them aside himself with the

length of his cane to open a passage for the Doge who finally reached the king.”21 In an

incredible scene, the star of the show broke character and played the bouncer at his own

event. What Saint-Simon called his “terrifying majesty” could not cause bodies simply

to melt away. Finally, thanks to Louis’s repeated intervention, and a few whacks from

the royal cane, the sea of people parted, the play could begin, the actors resume

character and play their parts for posterity.

From here, the account fades out. Margon recalls the rich crimson robe and the

pointed hat of the Doge’s formal costume, but forgot the content of the speeches, of

which he had heard only a part, and anyway, they were recorded elsewhere.22 It was the

spectacle, “rarer than that of any plain old opera,”23 that he would never forget,

particularly the rare glimpse into the breakdown and recovery of the star performer’s

stage machinery right in his own theater. If Hallé, in 1710, had known of Margon’s

mémoires, he would still have crafted the same image. But if he had not, I hope he

would be as surprised by the chaos swirling around the tranquil, majestic scene he

imagined on canvas, as readers are of Margon’s memory of this great event.

20 “…et je vis le roy descendre plus d’une fois pour faire ranger le monde à droite et à gauche…” Mémoires

de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 70. 21 “… et les poussant luy-même de la longeur de sa canne pour ouvrir un passage au Doge qui enfin

aborda le roy.” Mémoires de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 70. 22 “Ces discours m’ont échappé de la mémoire ; les Mercures Galans et les histoires de ce temps en sont

plenes. Il parla un quart d’heure.” Mémoires de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la Pause, 70. 23 “…un plus rare spectacle que celuy des opéras ordinaires.” Mémoires de Messire Jean de Plantavit de la

Pause, 70.

Figure 3: Author’s Reconstruction of Hallé’s scene based on the mémoires of Jean Plantavit de la Pause, marquis

de Margon