The Court of Versailles in Southern France (1682-1789)
This programme carried out research into the relations between the court and southern France in its broadest sense (from Bordeaux to Nice), to discover how an outsider could be accepted into the Court – networks, admission as a page, as a boarder at Saint-Cyr, as a guard, etc. – and how the court was perceived in the south of the kingdom.
Here the focus was on iconographic research as well as on exploring and using archive funds in public and private collections to extract new evidence from the “recollections of those down south”. Several key areas were selected for this research programme: a study of southern families present at the French Court in 1682, an examination of how they were admitted and the posts they held and the organisation of networks in southern France.
Team
Project leader: Arnaud Ramière de Fortanier, honorary general curator for heritage, honorary director of the Archives départementales des Yvelines;
Frédéric d’Agay, historian;
Henri de Cazals, honorary general curator for heritage;
Michel Figeac, Professor of Modern History at the Université Michel de Montaigne – Bordeaux 3;
Philippe Joutard, University Rector and Professor of Modern History at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales;
Pascal Julien, Professor of the History of Modern Art at the Université de Toulouse II-Le Mirail;
Véronique Larcade, lecturer in Modern History at the Université Michel de Montaigne – Bordeaux 3;
Vivienne Miguet, general curator of the archives du Languedoc and director general of the archives de l’Hérault;
Alain Monestier, project manager at the Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée – MuCEM;
Marie-France Noël-Waldteufel, senior research officer at the Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée – MuCEM –and at the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles;
Dominique Picco, lecturer in Modern History at the Université Michel de Montaigne – Bordeaux 3;
Robert de Tessières de Blanzac, historian and genealogist;
André Zysberg, professor of modern history at the Université de Rouen.
Productions
Publication of articles in the Bulletin du Centre following the study day Southerners at Versailles from 10 June 2006 at Versailles.
First volume of the critical edition of the Mémoires de Jean de Plantavit de La Pause (joint publication with éditions du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques).
Second volume of the critical edition of the Mémoires de Jean de Plantavit de La Pause (joint publication with éditions du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques).
Third volume of the critical edition of the Mémoires de Jean de Plantavit de La Pause (joint publication with éditions du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques).
Fourth and final volume of the critical edition of the Mémoires de Jean de Plantavit de La Pause (joint publication with éditions du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques).
Film of interview with Hubert de Vergnette de Lamotte, transcriber of the Mémoires, and a descendant of the Seigneur de Margon (interview in French).
