At the time of François I and, a little later, of Louis XIV, we already knew how to party.

Entire rooms were coated with gold down to the last millimeter, gigantic buffets were served, and hundreds of nobles sang the praises of their King.

This is the story told by Stéphane Bern, in the program Historically Vôtre, on Europe 1.

As the French prepare to wake up to celebrate 2021, Europe 1 wonders how and why the Kings of France were celebrating.

In the program Historically Vôtre, Stéphane Bern describes the immense feasts organized by François Ier and Louis XIV. 

There is no DJ or glitter, but there is only one star: the King.

He is revered by the people who believe him to be the embodiment of God on Earth.

He is jealous of the court, which dreams of replacing him at the slightest misstep.

François Ier, emblematic builder of the Loire châteaux, understood this well.

In Historically Vôtre, Stéphane Bern describes him as "a king without talent, a belligerent who spends half of his reign waging war, losing a lot, and bludgeoning the people of taxes".

But he also describes a Francis I who knows that to be loved, you have to party.

So to celebrate himself, he hired at the time a certain… Leonardo da Vinci.

This culminates in the famous "feast of paradise" in June 1518.

Stéphane Bern said: "In the garden, Leonardo da Vinci decided to recreate 'a night in the night'. Imagine up there sheets stretched over several tens of meters reproducing the Milky Way! Imagine artificial planets gold color, which seem to move as if by magic. Here we recognize the work of the artist-engineer, who hides his gears under a double ceiling in order to make these stars and planets turn.

Francis I is literally placed at the center of the universe.

And the menu of this little sauterie has, according to legend, "inspired Gargantua" from Rabelais.

Just that.

>> Find the shows of Matthieu Noël and Stéphane Bern in replay and podcast here

A few years later, Louis XIV took back the crown of the king of the festival.

The sovereign multiplies the hunting parties, aquatic activities, games, balls and even winter sled races.

And when he walks in the garden with his courtyard, "the fountains are agitated during his passage", slips Stéphane Bern.

He adds: "the message is clear: everything obeys the king".

The party as a diplomatic weapon

The Kings of France in fact rely on frenzied days and evenings to better control their territory.

François Ier wishes to restore his warrior blazon.

In the years 1510-1520, France was isolated in Europe.

He then desperately tries to get closer to the sovereign of the other side of the Channel: Henry VIII.

But to put it in your pocket, you have to pull out all the stops because the hundred-year war between the two nations only ended 70 years ago.

A real cockfight then took shape in Calais, occupied at the time by the English.

"On the one hand, Henry VIII had a city built with ephemeral glass palaces made up of sumptuous stained-glass windows and wood, a town hall and even a cathedral. On the other, François I had 400 tents and pavilions embroidered with a Huge camp, with gold and silk thread. Several French lords would have even gone so far as to sacrifice their forest, their meadows or their mills to make clothes of unprecedented richness ", narrates Stéphane Bern.

For the banquet, the cooks needed "100,000 eggs, 3,000 sheep and lambs, 800 calves and 300 oxen (…) washed down with 66,000 liters of beer and 200,000 liters of wine", adds the chronicler.


In total, 18 days of celebration have passed for the English sovereign to finally choose to sign an agreement with the French enemy, the King of the Holy Germanic Empire Charles XV.

A method which therefore ended in failure but which, according to Stéphane Bern, can be compared to "some heads of state today, when we see how much, for diplomacy, we want to impress the other".

"Entertain to rule better"

It is another matter which pushes Louis XIV to organize several feasts.

Rather, a trauma: that of the sling.

"While he was only 9 years old, the young Louis woke up at three in the morning on the night of January 5 to 6, 1649. Marshal de Villeroy, his governor, dressed him hastily and urged him to join his mother, Anne of Austria, in a coach. The royal family secretly flees Paris, in the grip of the rebellion of the nobles, "says Stéphane Bern.

"But arrived at the castle of Saint-Germain, the fugitives find a devastated place, without fire or furniture. The first night, everyone sleeps on the straw, shivering. And in the days which follow, the diamonds of the crown are set. as a pledge to meet basic needs ".

After this event, the Sun King adopts the strategy of "entertain for better reign" and makes these festivals weapons. In order to better receive his guests and show his power throughout Europe, he was going to build the famous Palace of Versailles. Upon installation, an entire week of festivities is declared. It was on this occasion that, for the first time, Molière played Tartuffe, underlines Stéphane Bern. The celebrations are so impressive in this castle which is still under construction that, according to legend, some guests had to "sleep in their coaches", breathes the chronicler of Europe 1.