Fascinating contemporary manuscript about the inner workings of the court of King Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715), which comes from the collection of Princess Marie-Gabrielle de Savoie (1940). The work was written by Nicolas II de Sainctot (1632-1713), a powerful and important court official, who worked at the court during most of Louis XIV's reign. As Master of Ceremonies and later Introducer of the Ambassadors, De Sainctot was in charge of all ceremonial diplomatic duties. He kept a journal with memoirs from his work throughout his career. After retirement, he arranged for these notes to be beautifully calligraphed and luxuriously bound, which resulted in the present manuscript. The volumes contain detailed descriptions of the ceremonies between 1640 and 1704, and explain the etiquette one had to adhere to during audiences with the king or other members of the royal family. The present manuscript was completed during De Sainctot's lifetime and personally approved by him, as he signed it at the end of the dedication. It offers a rich and unique insight into diplomatic proceedings at the court of Louis XIV.
De Sainctot had an important job. He welcomed every ambassador that arrived, arranged their formal entry into Paris, their public audience with the king and their farewell ceremony at the end of their stay. The present work, especially the second volume, contains transcriptions of the unfolding of these ceremonies and therefore offers a wealth of information about official diplomatic visits at the French court. Included are visits from ambassadors from all over the world, like the English ambassador in 1644 for a renewal of the alliance between France and England, the Algerian ambassador in 1684 to discuss the Franco-Algerian war (1681-1688), and ambassadors from China, Russia and Spain. The first volume, on the other hand, offers more general information about French royalty and etiquette at the court and discusses royal visits, the ceremony of the nomination of the Dauphin in 1668 and information about succession in the royal family. Both volumes also contain copper-engravings, which depict some of the scenes and ambassadors described in the manuscript. Also included is a second work, added in the back of the second volume, which consists of 3 large copper-engravings that depict ceremonies at the court of king Louis XIV, with an explanation of the scenes.
When De Sainctot arranged for his memoirs to be calligraphed and bound, he ordered multiple copies. At least 3 other manuscripts of his memoirs are known, which are all dedicated to the royal family or high nobles. One of them can be found in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF) and was the personal copy of king Louis XIV. However, the present manuscript is larger and bound more luxuriously. Unlike the one at the BnF, the present copy is written in chronological order, contains copper engravings, and has numerous notes and passages not present in the BnF manuscript. Since it is dedicated to king Louis XIV, has the French royal coat-of-arms tooled onto the boards, and comes from the collection of a member of the Italian royal family, it is very likely that De Sainctot has offered the present manuscript to a member of a royal family as well.
The leather is somewhat scraped and rubbed, especially on volume 1, and the corners and edges of the boards are scuffed, the joints on the front board of volume 1 have torn at the head and foot, with some loss of material at the foot, a few dark stains on the front of volume 1. The marbled endpapers in both volumes has been cut too short and has been lengthened with the same marbled paper, volume 1 has small stains on multiple leaves, volume 2 is somewhat browned throughout and is possibly missing a copper engraving that was mounted on the first leaf. Ad 2 has been added at the end of volume 2 (complete except for its dedication). Otherwise in very good condition. Ad 2: USTC 6118776 (1 copy); cf. Loomie, A., The conducteur des ambasadeurs of seventeenth century France and Spain. In: Revue Belge de philologie et d'histoire, 53 (2), 1975, pp. 345-347.