La Cassette de Louis XVI
Focusing on the end of the Ancien Régime, this article offers a unique perspective on the relationship of members of the royal family to money and, first of all, to their personal funds. It reveals the running of a little-known, although documented, aspect of curial expenditure. The management, paym...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Bulletin du Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/crcv/40513 |
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| Summary: | Focusing on the end of the Ancien Régime, this article offers a unique perspective on the relationship of members of the royal family to money and, first of all, to their personal funds. It reveals the running of a little-known, although documented, aspect of curial expenditure. The management, payment and allocation of pensions from the Cassette (coffers) of Louis XVI form the case study which allows us to present the history of the cash reserves of this sovereign but also to analyze the relationships between the king and his entourage. The structures inherited from the previous reign and the changes made by the King from 1780 are presented and make it possible to expose the way in which Louis XVI ensured control of his personal expenses, autonomously and outside of any ministerial oversight. In the final part, an examination of the coffers of the queen, the king’s brothers and Mesdames Tantes allows us to place the history of the king’s reserves in a comparative perspective, which reveals the differentiated strategies of the members of the royal family in the management of their funds and the distribution of pensions from these same funds. |
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| ISSN: | 1958-9271 |