Between the Public and Private in Visions of the Court of Versailles: Reports of Travellers from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Abstract

Many noblemen from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth travelled across Europe in the eighteenth century. One of the obligatory places in their itinerary was Paris, especially Versailles — a symbol of court created by Louis XIV. During any stay in Versailles, the most important point on the agenda would be to see the court. There was no particular problem with attending the public audience, but travellers wanted to see the court up close. Depending on several factors (date of the source, age of the writer, purpose of the journey, degree of intimacy with the court, etc.), the accounts of the court of Versailles vary from descriptions of royal apartments and ceremonies (both secular and religious), through to detailed reports of political events, and accounts of private conversations with the royal family and the French elite during meals. This article presents different depictions of the private and public spheres at the court of Versailles observed by travellers from Poland and Lithuania and attempts to show the various perspectives on privacy at the court of Versailles.