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| Portrait of Stanislas by Jean-François Foisse dit Brabant (1708-1763) Acquired by the Musée du Château de Lunéville in 2016. |
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The arrival of Stanislas in Lorraine
In what must be one of the most weird and wonderful quirks of 18th-century diplomacy, in 1737, the ancient duchy of Lorraine, whose dukes claimed ancestry stretching back to the 12th century, suddenly found itself with a new ruler.
The twice-dethroned king of Poland, Stanisław/Stanislas Leszczyński, had no previous connection with Lorraine: his installation as duke was purely a matter of dynastic politics. When finally driven from Poland in 1733, he had initially taken refuge in Königsberg under the protection of Frederick-William of Prussia. During his earlier exile, in 1725, his beloved daughter Maria had married Louis XV of France. Rather than support his father-in-law in exile, Louis and Cardinal Fleury sought, with the aid of Prussia, to find him a new throne. The opportunity arose through the marriage of Francis of Lorraine to the Archduchess Maria-Theresa of Austria; since France did not want Lorraine and the Imperial power in the same hands, Francis was obliged to relinquish his titles. Stanislas formally abdicated the crown of Poland on 27th January 1736, although he retained the title of King. Francis duly married Maria-Theresa on 12th February and, on 24th September, he signed an act of renunciation to the Duchies of Lorraine and Bar.
Stanislas's installation, orchestrated by Versailles, was, in effect, a step towards the unification of Lorraine with France. On 30th September 1736 at Meudon, Stanislas signed a secret convention which consigned the administration of the Duchies to French oversight. Military control was to be exercised by the governor of the Trois-Évêchés, the Maréchal de Belle-Isles, with French troops stationed in the territories. Antoine Chaumont de la Galaizière, was nominated as intendant and given the title of Chancellor, swearing allegiance to the new duke in a carefully staged ceremony. Stanislas took formal possession of his new territories in March 1737.
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| François-André Vincent, "La Galazière created Chancellor of Lorraine and Bar by King Stanislas", 1778. Musée Lorrain, Nancy. One of two commemorative canvasses commissioned by La Galazière late in life for his Paris residence at 56 rue de Varennes. Musée Lorrain (nancy.fr) |
So it was that, at the age of sixty, King Stanislas of Poland became Duke of Lorraine and Bar. No-one at the time imaged that he was destined to reign for almost thirty years! He left Meudon and arrived at Lunéville on the evening of 4th April; the ailing dowager Duchess Élisabeth-Charlotte had already set out for Commercy. On 9th April he made a solemn entry into Nancy, where he was enthroned in the salle des Princes, on the site of the modern place du Marché. The day closed with fireworks.
Since the people of Nancy showed no enthusiasm for their new duke, Stanislas preferred to take up permanent residence in Lunéville. The château had been emptied of its contents by Francis III, but the Polish king soon set about procuring new furniture and arranging the interior to his taste.
A nominal kingship
Stanislas was endowed with a comfortable civil list which allowed him to live in a certain magnificence, maintain a Court, and exercise influence in social and cultural matters. Administratively, however, Lorraine became a French province. The Duchies no longer had their own currency or their own army. The King presided over council meetings and signed edicts and orders; but he was sovereign in name only. In matters of policy he was obliged to defer to La Galaizière, who remained in post for the entire thirty-year reign.
The Chancellor exercised all civil powers. He retained the existing Sovereign Court and the two Cours des comptes, but created a new Conseil d'État and Conseil royal des finances. His offices were installed in a wing of the Château at Lunéville, and he personally followed Stanislas closely in his progresses to La Malgrange and Commercy. He used French personnel and, in his first years, was closely supervised and advised by Cardinal Fleury. The duchies were fully integrated into the French fiscal system, with the vingtième introduced in 1750 despite protestations from the Cours des comptes. A new maréchaussée was put in place and in June 1751 the territory was reorganised along French administrative lines into 31 baillages and 7 prévôtés. The administration of forests was also modified. The Chancellor encouraged economic activity - salt-works, ceramic factories - and promoted Nancy's status as a commercial centre. In 1754 he introduced unrestricted trade in grain with other French provinces.
Opposition to the régime
The population rapidly came to resent the authoritarianism of La Galaizière. Resistance to his innovations came from the nobility and members of the institutions of Lorraine, but also from the peasantry who bore the brunt of the new fiscal regime.
The former dynasty continued to be regarded with affection. In 1744 there was a dramatic crisis when, with France and Austria on opposing sides in the War of the Austrian Succession, an Austrian army commanded by Francis's younger brother Charles-Alexander, approached the frontiers of Lorraine. His scouts ventured as far as Sarreguemines, causing Stanislas to flee in panic to the security of Metz. In the event the alarm proved short lived: Charles-Alexander was not able to cross the Rhine and the entry of Frederick of Prussia into the war resulted in his hurried recall to the defence of Bohemia. After the French victory at Fontenoy, Louis XV spent several days in festivities at Lunéville on his way back to Versailles. However, Charles-Alexander was subsequently named Governor of the Austrian Netherlands and took up residence in Brussels, where he continued to attract malcontents from Lorraine into his service. In 1765 the outpourings of grief which greeted the sudden death of the Emperor Francis served as a forceful reminder of the population's enduring loyalty to their deposed duke.
The final years of Stanislas's reign were hard ones economically, due to the dislocation of the Seven Years War, the growing fiscal burden and a series of poor harvests brought about by had weather conditions. To an extent, however, hostility towards La Galaizière and his policies deflected resentment away from the King personally.
King Stanislas - personality and interests
Stanislas was robust, if corpulent, and in old age still rode and hunted. Extrovert and jovial, he was given to teasing and prone to occasional outbursts of temper. He was also highly susceptible to flattery and enjoyed the pleasures of life. He accorded great importance to his family, particularly his queen Catherine Opalinska, though the latter never reconciled herself to life in Lunéville and longed to return to Poland. Ill and depressed, she died in 1747 and was buried in Stanislas's church of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours in Nancy. He was also extremely attached to his daughter Maria, Louis XV's queen, with whom he maintained an abundant and affectionate correspondence. He would journey regularly to Versailles to visit her and also received her in Lorraine on several occasions. She wished he might remarry, but the seventy-year old Stanislas was not to be persuaded and politely turned away prospective brides. He was also attentive towards his granddaughters Adélaide and Victoire, who came twice to Lunéville, and. above all, towards his grandson, the pious Dauphin Louis. When the latter requested guidance on the upbringing of his sons Stanislas replied with a "Plan of education for the young princes" in the spirit of Fénelon; the work gave advice on the choice of teachers - and also of confessors ("of all the sciences that are useful or necessary for a prince, the first must be religion.") Louis's death from tuberculosis at the age of thirty-four in December 1765 was one of the greatest sorrows of his grandfather's long life.
Although Stanislas is often presented as a model husband and father, he had a succession of mistresses, the last and best known of whom was the Marquise de Boufflers, the sixth child of the Prince and Princess de Beauvau-Craon. Following the Queen's death, Madame de Boufflers presided over a glittering Court society. She had the reputation of being lively and witty, played the flute, and took an active part in organising theatricals and entertainments. She herself was not above amorous adventures: she counted among her lovers, the Chancellor La Galaizière himself, and the writer Saint-Lambert, whose affections she shared with Émilie du Châtelet.
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| A portly Stanislas. Engraving by Dominique Collin, after a portrait by (?)Gustaf Lundberg [Wikimedia] |
Stanislas resided chiefly at Lunéville, where he refurnished the palace and greatly extended the Parc des Bosquet. It may be noted in passing that two of the major fires which so haunted the history of the Château took place during his reign, in 1744 and 1755. When in Nancy, he stayed at La Malgrange. After the death of Élisabeth-Charlotte in 1744 he would also sometimes spent several weeks at the Château de Commency, which became his preferred maison de campagne. In addition, he went regularly to Versailles to visit his daughter, sometimes staying for several months (in 1753; 1759; 1760 and finally for the last time in 1764). He was never again to return to Poland, though there were many exiled Poles at his brilliant Court - Count Ossoliński, his Grand-Master, whose wife was the King's earlier mistress, the Baron Meszec and Count Zaluski As the years past, their numbers diminished, to be replaced by Frenchmen and native Lorrainers.
Stanislas possessed a civil list of 1.5, later 2 million livres. Alliot, his Household Steward has left precise accounts. The charges and pensions of the Court, which extended to 756 persons in 1760, amounted to some 500,000 livres, a quarter of the annual budget. Among other expenses, must be reckoned the sometimes enormous cost of the fêtes and other the lavish entertainments which Stanislas chose to host. He kept a personal orchestra with singers and musicians who played at Mass and at meals, and who gave concerts and performances.
Stanislas's Court was open and hospitable. He welcomed fellow Poles and passing guests, and extended many invitations to men-of-letters: Montesquieu, the président Hénault, Voltaire. It was at Lunéville in 1749 that Madame du Châtelet tragically died following childbirth. She lies buried in the church Saint-Jacques. The grief-stricken Voltaire was never again to return to Lunéville, though he continued to maintain an active correspondance with the King.
Stanislas was a cultivated man who, besides Polish, spoke several other European languages. He has left a copious correspondent, mainly in French, sometimes faulty and clumsy, improved by the corrections of his assiduous secretary, the Chevalier de Solignac. Endowed with an inquisitive mind, his interests ranged widely: agriculture, astronomy, the problems of the day. He saw himself as a enlightened monarch like Marcus Aurelius or the Emperor Julian, or like his younger contemporary, Frederick the Great of Prussia, with whom he corresponded. During his lifetime, he was eulogised as a philosopher king, a "roi bienfaisant".
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| Interior of the Church of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours, Nancy (nancy-tourisme.fr) |
Nonetheless, Stanislas was a believer, with a flamboyant Baroque piety which was typically Polish. He built or embellished numerous churches and religious institutions, most notably Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours in Nancy, the architect Héré's great "chef d'oeuvre d'art baroque". He protected the Jesuits, one of whom Father Menoux was a particular intimate, and at the time of their expulsion, continued to give them sanctuary in Lorraine, both at Court and at the University of Pont-à-Mousson. At Mass he was often to be seen prostrated on the floor with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross. He observed the Lenten fast, and maintained a series of particular devotions - to the Sacred Heart, to the Virgin, whose feasts he always celebrated, or to Polish saints such as St. John Nepomucene. From time to time he made pilgrimages. It was a religion which was neither rigorist nor austere, for Stanislas was attached to the good things of life, the pleasures of the flesh. According to his philosophy, the wise man should know himself, be able to set limits, and to make, as he put it, "une société de son coeur"
Like many Christians of his time, Stanislas positioned himself within the ranks of the Enlightenment. He reflected on the means to promote human happiness through the progress of reason, without seeing any need to reject religion and the Church. However, in his considerations of Church reform, he sought to limit the authority of the Pope through the creation of an "papal council", a college of twelve bishops representing the six great Catholic countries of Europe.
Stanislas wrote much and left a great deal more in manuscript. In 1749 he published Le philosophe chrétien in which he sought to demonstrate how incredulity could be countered "by simple common sense". There resulted a courteous polemic exchange with Rousseau, who responded to the King politely in kind. Les Entretiens d’un Européen et d’un Insulaire du royaume de Dumocala of 1752 is a Utopian dialogue, which, in the tradition of Télémaque or Robinson Crusoe, depicts a South Sea island populated by a people of pure morals and wise government. The text was reedited in 1981 by René Taveneaux and Laurent Versini. The work was not just an exotic entertainment but presented a serious plan of moral and social reform for the benefit of contemporary governments. Other works deal directly with the situation in contemporary Europe. Professor Roth comments that Stanislas seemed to have had little grasp of political realities - as can be judged from his absurdly optimistic assessment of Russia's potential role in maintaining the European balance of power. He dreamed of universal peace, his De l'affermissement de la paix générale inspired by, but slightly less Utopian, than the similar work of the abbé Saint-Pierre on the subject. At the end of his life, when he was almost blind and could no longer write, he had published Le Philosophe bienfaisant, a four collective volumes of his writings.
Professor Roth wonders if Stanislas could have had many readers? His texts are long, verbose, filled with digressions. However, they reveal a man who reflected on the problems of the time and on the human condition. His correspondence, which was more spontaneous, shows that he was also sensitive, generous and attentive towards others.
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| Oeuvres du philosophe bienfaisant, Paris 1763. [Copy from the library of Charles-Maurice de Pourtalès, sold by Sotheby's in December 2020]. |
Urban development and institutional foundations in Nancy
Stanislas took a great interest in the towns of his Duchies and, since he could not govern them directly, set about transforming their appearance. He had the good fortune work with gifted architects and artists. Emmanuel Héré, who became Stanislas's architect, developed a very close working relationship with his prince, who ennobled him and showered him with gifts. Stanislas also patronised the iron-worker Jean Lamour, and many other craftsmen, painters and sculptors.
The result of Stanislas's programme of urban development can be seen above all in Nancy. The intention behind the new building programme was to link the two existing parts of the capital, the old town of the Dukes and the Italianate town of Charles III, by the creating a third area, which centred on a new Royal square. Plans were drawn up by Héré and followed attentively by the King. Stanislas successfully negotiated with the Maréchal de Belle-Isle to demolish part of the old fortifications, which had the effect of limiting the height of future buildings. In 1752 a statue of Louis XV was erected on the Square, its pediment adorned with allegories of the four monarchical virtues: Prudence, Justice, Valour and Clemency. A small road led to a triumphal arch with Latin devices to the "Victorious prince" and the "Pacific prince", and the ironwork of Jean Lamour abounded in monarchical symbols: fleurs de lys, oak and laurel wreathes, helmets and flags. In effect the architecture celebrated the glory of the French king and proclaimed the union of Lorraine with France.
New public buildings were grouped around the square:, the town hall, the offices of the intendancy and a theatre which today has disappeared.
Stanislas's vision for Nancy is reflected in his description of the capital of his Utopia, Dumocala:
"It is an immense town where the streets are clean, wide and well lit; the air is as healthy here as in the country. The private houses are built for convenience; pomp and magnificence are reserved for the public buildings which, in an architectural taste different from our own, more simple and at the same time more noble, marks the greatness of the spirit that has undertaken them".
Stanislas was proud of his architectural achievements; he sent to his fellow sovereigns a splendid Recueil grand atlas des bâtiments et édifices, with lavish plans and illustrations which showcased Héré's designs. Frederick II replied that he had made the people of Lorraine happy, and thereby fulfilled "the only duty of kings". (Stanislas himself was flatteringly credited with the maxim: "A King has no need for glory to be loved by his people").
François Roth lists briefly the surviving urban monuments from the period. The patrimony that remains in Nancy includes.the church of Bonsecours, the place d'Alliance, the barracks of Sainte-Catherine, which was constructed to avoid billeting troops on the inhabitants of the town, the enlargement of the hôpital Saint-Julien,and finally, in 1762, the two triumphal gates Stanislas and Sainte-Catherine. In Lunéville the church of Saint-Jacques was begun in 1747 on plans by Héré, and embellished with sculptures by Guibal and paintings and tableaux by Girardet. Finally the town of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, was reconstructed according to the rules of 18th-century town planning after a fire in 1759, though sadly most of the buildings were destroyed in 1944.
Stanislas secured finance from his Chancellor for a whole series of intellectual and cultural foundations. In imitation of France and elsewhere in Europe, he wished to found an Academy in Nancy. His secretary Solignac travelled to Paris to investigate but the initial project was vetoed by La Galaizière. Undeterred, Stanislas elaborated a new plan for a "bibliothèque royale et publique", with a programme of literary and scientific prizes, which received its statutes on 27th December 1750, and held its first session in the Galerie des Cerfs of the Ducal palace on 3rd February 1751. Stanislas himself gave the opening discourse, in which he expressed his hope that it would serve to bring together Lorraine and France.
Finally in 27th December 1751 the King signed a letter defining the statutes of a "Royal Society of Sciences and Belles-Lettres" and the Academy of Stanislas itself was brought into being. It was to comprise forty members: five salaried academicians, twelve honorary members, fifteen associate members from Nancy and eight associate members from abroad. Among the initial members were Solignac, who became perpetual secretary, Father Menoux, the Comte de Tressan and Saint-Lambert. In addition to its meetings, competitions, essay prizes and memoirs, it held regular public sessions, the first of which took place in the King's presence in October 1760. In June 1763 the first meeting was held in the new town hall.
After Stanislas's death the Academy continued in its functions. Its secretary Solignac was charged with pronouncing Stanislas's funeral oration at the town hall on 10th May - an interminable discourse which occupies a manuscript of twenty-five pages in-folio. Each year, on 23rd February, the society sends at least three members to a commemorative service in the Church of Bonsecours. ..
Among other significant foundations in Nancy which owed their origins to Stanislas was a Royal College of Medicine and a jardin des plantes, and the first work on what was to become the public gardens of the Parc de la Pépinière.
Death and Legacy
By 1760 Stanislas was 83 years old. He had ceased to ride a horse or hunt. On 30th January 1761 he made his will. He received his daughter Marie, and his granddaughters for the last times, organising fête in their honour. He had dad several bouts of illness. In August/September 1765, when Marie came to Commercy, she found him half deaf, with poor eyesight and limited mobility. They parted emotionally. Less than six months later he was plunged into grief by the death the Dauphin, from tuberculosis; Stanislas lamented that he had twice lost his throne without being discouraged but the death of his grandson had reduced him to despair. He went to Nancy but was unable to attend the service held in the Cathedral in the Dauphin's memory.
On the morning of 5th February 1766 he was burned in a terrible accident. "The fire was roaring, his dressing -gown, which was a present from his daughter the Queen, of a lightweight material, with a silk padding, floated and was drawn into the flame; it caught fire immediately and the room was filled with smoke..." All his left side and his hand were burned, from his knee up to above his eye. In his last letter to his daughter, dictated afterwards, he quipped feebly that rather than advice him to take care against the cold she should have warned him to avoid getting too hot. After a few days, the burns became infected. He suffered a long and agonising death, died 23rd February 1766. The next day his entrails were taken to the church of Saint-Jacques in Lunéville, and, on 4th March., his body was buried at Bonsecours.
La Galaizière left Lunéville on 5th March.
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| Statue of Stanislas in the place Stanislas, Nancy [Wikimedia] |
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