Aulica No 18 - Madame Infante à la cour de Parme. Pouvoir féminin, relations familiales et ambitions dynastiques (1748-1760)
Morgan Peyrat, Madame Infante à la cour de Parme. Pouvoir féminin, relations familiales et ambitions dynastiques (1748-1760), preface by Géraud Poumarède, joint publication Centre de recherche du château de Versailles / Presses universitaires de Rennes (“Histoire” collection, “Aulica. L’Univers de la cour” series), March 2025, 16,5 × 24 cm, 296 pages, colour plates, index, €26 (ISBN: 978-2-7535-9777-8).
Abstract
The eldest daughter of Louis XV, Louise-Élisabeth (1727-1759), known in France as Madame Infante following her marriage to Don Philippe, youngest son of Philippe V of Spain, is doubtless one of the least known and most mysterious European princesses of the 18th century. A woman who knew her own mind, Louise-Elisabeth’s life changed course when, at the end of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), she became Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla. Madame Infante, however, saw her new position as no more than a brief interlude on her way to a situation more worthy of her royal birth. Her primary concern, therefore, was to either exchange these Italian states or enlarge them, disinclined to settle for the modest rank assigned to her by the the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Nonetheless, she did not neglect the duchies entirely, doing her best to recreate the splendours of the court of Versailles whilst at the same time seeking independence from Spain’s authority in order to protect her own interests. To realise her ambitions of grandeur, she tirelessly cultivated a network of correspondents – ministers, diplomats, the king’s mistress – in the hope of deriving great benefits. Louise-Élisabeth was a loving daughter and maintained a very close relationship with her family, returning to Versailles a number of times to seek their support. The focus of this work lies at the interface between international relations and the history of women of power, painting a portrait of a sovereign at work and a constant presence in the politics of both Parma and Europe
Morgan Peyrat is a teaching fellow in history and a doctoral student in Modern History at the Sorbonne Université, where he is studying for a PhD under the direction of Professor Olivier Chaline.
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