Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 15:50:31 -0800
From: "Bertram M. Gordon"
Reply-To: H-NET French History discussion group
To: Multiple recipients of list H-FRANCE
Subject: Re: Coffin of Louis XIV (fwd)
On Wed, 19 Mar 1997 09:38:36 -0600 Diane Rudall
Descriptions I have read of Louis XIV's "lying in state" in Versailles
before the funerary procession on to St. Denis do not indicate whether or
not the royal coffin was open or continually closed. Does anyone at
H-FRANCE have documentation or reasoning to help determine whether the body
was ever exposed to mourners? Would it have been possible to preserve or
perfume the body to allow exposure? Thanks in advance for your help.
Diane Rudall
University of Illinois at Chicago
Phone: 312/996-9280
Fax: 312/413-1604
Sources I've found indicate that as soon as Louis XIV had died on the
morning of September 1st, his officers of the Chambre and Garderobe
prepared his body for viewing almost immediately. They changed the linen
on the bed, and prudently placed a hard surface ("un dessus de table")
under the sheets to guard against corruption. A kind of "chapelle ardente"
was arranged in his Bedchamber, and from noon to ten on that day, Masses
were said on two altars erected on opposite sides of the chamber. In the
afternoon, the public viewing of the King's body began, continuing until
eight o'clock in the evening. At this time, the King's body was actually
exposed and on display.
At nine o'clock the next morning, September 2nd, the opening of the King's body took place on a large table placed in the Salon de l'Oeil de Boeuf. This was presided over by Fagon, and included a host of spectators including other doctors and surgeons summoned from Paris. The autopsy completed and the condition of the King's body and apparent cause of death having been ascertained, the body was then embalmed. Preparations were made for his public and final lying-in-state, which would take place later in the day. His body was taken to the Salon de Mercure (or State Bedchamber) in its closed coffin, and a small lead container containing his heart was placed upon it, and the whole covered with the bedcover from the King's Bedchamber. On the evening of October 9, Louis XIV's body (minus the heart, which went to join his father's in Paris) was conveyed to Saint-Denis, and on October 22nd, the Solemn High Mass sung and the body lowered into the crypt.
(Sources, among others:
Memoires de Saint-Simon, ed. A. de Boislisle, Paris, 1915, v. 27, Appendice IV, 376-383 "Ceremonial funebre et autopsie de Louis XIV."
Also the Journal des Anthoines, "La Mort de Louis XIV," ed. E. Drumont, 1880, 380ff.
Hope this is helpful.
Rev. David Michael Gallo, A.A., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History
Assumption College
500 Salisbury Street
Worcester, MA 01615-0005
OFFICE: (508) 767-7054
FAX: (508) 793-9701
dgallo@eve.assumption.edu
http://www.assumption.edu ("Academics")
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