[CLAIRAMBAULT Nicolas Pascal de (1698-1762) genealogiste de l'Ordre du Saint-Esprit.]

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[CLAIRAMBAULT Nicolas Pascal de (1698-1762) genealogiste de l'Ordre du Saint-Esprit.]
MANUSCRIT, Parentés des Princes & Princesses de l'Europe avec le Roy Louis XV en 1772, [1772]; 153 pages in-fol. blank) in 21 quires bound with a blue ribbon, in a red morocco covered cardboard slipcase with gilt decoration, both covers bearing in the center the royal arms of Louis XV, triple gilt fillet frame with fleur-de-lis at the corners, long gilt caisson spine decorated with the crowned royal monogram and fleurons, blue silk lining, traces of blue ribbons serving as clasps (royal binding of the time). Superb calligraphic court manuscript in a binding with the royal coat of arms, with 63 genealogical tables, to determine the degrees of kinship of Louis XV with the different sovereigns, princes and princesses of Europe. This royal manuscript is remarkable for its subject. Written in 1772, two years before the death of Louis XV, it bears witness to the practices of court etiquette. In anticipation of his death, Louis XV, who in 1772 was still in perfect health, asked Clairambault, genealogist of the King's orders - whose offices were in the Palace of Versailles - if he could determine the legitimacy of such and such a foreign prince to mourn the King, and vice versa. Clairambault composed for his king a magnificent and rare transverse genealogical table. One sees thus unfolding before us the kinship of Louis XV. We discover his cousins, and thus his blood so mixed with all the Houses of Europe at that time. Each contemporary prince of King Louis XV is given a degree of kinship by remarkable paintings. The National Library of France preserves in the Clairambault collection a similar but incomplete manuscript. The Duke of Luynes alludes to this manuscript in his Mémoires: "Voici la parenté du Roy, copiée sur l'état que Monsieur de Clairambault a fait pour le Roi, de sa parenté avec tous les souverains de l'Europe, assez proches pour en porter le deuil" (t. XVI, p. 150 n.1). This manuscript, regulated with the pencil and carefully calligraphed, consists of an "Alphabetical Table of the Names included in this Volume", and 19 "articles" illustrated with genealogical tables: "House of France" and its continuation: "House of the Kings of Portugal"; "Joseph II of Lorraine, Emperor"; "Maria Theresa of Austria, Empress-Queen"; "George III of Brunswick, King of England, Elector of Hanover"; "Prince Charles Edward [Stuart] and the Cardinal of Yorck"; "The King of Dannemarck, the King of Sweden, the Grand Duke of Russia, and the other Princes of the House of Oldenburg-Holstein"; "Sophie-Auguste-Frédérique d'AnhaltZerbst, Empress of Russia", "Frederick II, King of Prussia", "Charles-EmmanuelVictor, King of Sardinia", "François-Marie d'Est, Duke of Modene", "Marie Théreze Cibo, Hereditary Princess of Modena", "Frederick Augustus III, Elector of Saxony", "House of Mecklenburg", "House of Wirtemberg", "House of Hesse", "House of Baden", "House of Nassau" and "House of Gonzaga". Let us quote the introduction to Article 1: "The House of France is recognized as the most illustrious in the Universe. Ancient and modern history provides no example of a Race that has reigned for such a long succession of centuries and with such glory. Having ascended to the Throne before nicknames were hereditary, she has no other name than that of France, which she took according to the custom of those early times of the possession of the Monarchy itself. She has already given 36 Kings to this Monarchy. Her Palms have spread over almost all of Europe where she has occupied up to 6 Thrones at the same time and there are no crowns that the Princesses of her Blood have not worn. Scholars have exhausted themselves in vain to ascend to the source of so many Greatnesses [...] thus after 9 centuries of splendor, the House of France is even more flourishing than it has ever been. It embraces today in its possessions almost all the south of Europe, occupies 4 different Thrones and reigns until the New World "... Provenance : former collections PENARD Y FERNÁNDEZ (sale of December 13-14, 1960 ; ink stamps and ex-libris Archivo y Biblioteca de Penard Fernández) ; then baroness Élie de ROTHSCHILD.
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