Régence

The ***Régence*** (, _Regency_)  refers to a time between 1715 and 1723, when King Louis XV was a minor and France was governed by Philippe d'Orléans, a nephew of Louis XIV o France, as ***Regent of the Kingdom***. In French the period is also called _le Régence de Philippe'Orléans_.

Contemporary European rulers included Philip V of Spain, John V of Portugal, George I of Great Britain, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (faither o Empress Maria Theresa) and Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia, the maternal grandfather of King Louis XV.

### 1714

- **29 July 1714**: the Duke o Maine an the Coont o Toulouse, Louis XIV's illegitimate sons (bi Madame de Montespan), are made Princes o the Bluid.

### 1715

- **1 September 1715**: Louis XIV dies, his will entrusts the government of France to a regency council, with  Philippe d'Orléans, Duke o Orléans aa honorary president and the Duke of Maine as the real power, until the young Louis o Fraunce, Duke o Anjou reaches his majority (1723)
- **2 September 1715**: the Duke of Orléans allies himself with the **Parlement de Paris**, who cancelled Louis XIV's will. As a Prince of the Bluid, Philippe o Orléans haed been a member o the Parlement.
- **9 September**: Body o Louis XIV taken to Saunt Denis; Louis XV sets off for Vincennes with the Regent, Madame de Ventadour, Villeroy, Toulouse and Maine; Philip V of Spain hears of his grandfaither's daith;
- **12 September**: Philippe d'Orléans recognised Regent bi order of the Parlement;
- **15 September**: Parlement claims the _Droit de remontrance_, the right to revoke a law made bi a Keeng who haed died, further supporting the Regent's claim tae power.
- **1 October 1715**: _Polysynody_ was held in Paris; it was composed of the highest nobility o the country.
- **30 December**: Removal o Louis XV from the Château de Vincennes to the Tuileries Palace;
- Louis XV put under the care o François de Neufville, Duke o Villeroy; Guillaume Delisle an the Cardinal de Fleury are put in charge of Louis' education.

### 1716

- **14 Mairch**: Creation o the Chambre Ardente;  an extraordinary court of justice in France, mainly held for the trials o heretics;
- **2 Mey**: Philippe d'Orléans allows John Law tae found the _Banque générale_;
- **27 Jin**: Birth o Mademoiselle de Chartres at the Palais Royal; she wis the last child o the Regent;
- **9/10 October**: Alliance with Great Britain;

### 1717

- **Triple Alliance (1717)**; a treaty between the Dutch Republic, France an Great Britain, against Spain, attempting tae maintain the agreement o the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht;
- **31 Mairch**: The Regent's second surviving daughter Louise Adélaïde takes the veil an becomes a nun under the name o _Sœur Sainte Bathilde_.
- **21 Mey**: Arrival o Peter I of Russia in Paris; he visits the Keeng, Versailles, the Regent, his daughter Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans; he stays in Paris; he does not see the Duchess of Orléans despite her pleas; Peter stays at the Grand Trianon;
- **6 June 1717**: Purchase of the Regent Diamond; later part of the French Crown Jewels;
- **Julie**: the Duke o Maine and the Count of Toulouse are stripped of their rank o _Princes of the Blood_ by the Parlement
- **September**: Foundation of the _Compagnie d'Occident et du Mississippi_;

### 1718

- **Mairch**: Arrival o the Duke o Lorraine and his consort, Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans (sister o the Regent);
- **31 March**: Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain born in Madrid; later betrothed to Louis XV;
- **11 April**: Daith o the Dowager Duchess of Vendôme;
- **7 Mey**: Daith o Mary of Modena at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye; she wis Queen consort o the exiled James II of England;
- **2 August**: Quadruple Alliance with Austrick, Fraunce, the Dutch Republic and Great Britain – aimed at revising (principally at Spain's expense) the treaties which ended the War of the Spanish Succession;
- **24 September**: end of the _Polysynody_ an the reestablishment of ministers;
- **4 December**: _Banque générale_ becomes the _Banque Royale_;
- **December** Exposure of the _Cellamare Conspiracy_ headed by the Duke of Maine and his wife Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon, which aimed at placing Philip V of Spain as regent o Fraunce with the help of the Spaingie Ambassador, the "Príncipe de Cellamare"; the Duke an Duchess are exiled from court and return in 1720 to the Sceaux;

### 1719

- **9 Januar**: Declaration of War with Spain;
- **15 Aprile**: Death of Madame de Maintenon at Saint-Cyr-l'École;
- **Mey** foundation of the East India Company by John Law;
- **21 Julie**: Death of Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans; favourite daughter of the Regent who participated in the hectic nightlife o his court, even during several pregnancies with different men.

### 1720

- **5 January**: John Law made Controller General of Finances;
- **11 February**: Marriage of Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans to Francesco d'Este, Hereditary Prince of Modena at the Tuileries Palace;
- **March** : Great Plague of Marseille;
- **21 March**: Death of Marie Anne de Bourbon, wife of the Duke o Bourbon;
- **26 March**: Execution of the leaders of the Pontcallec Conspiracy against the Regency.

### 1721

- Publication of the Persian Letters by Montesquieu; negotiations between the Regent and Peter I of Roushie begin regarding the proposed marriage o the Regents only legitimate son to a daughter of the Emperor, namely either the Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna o Russia or the future Elizabeth of Russia; plans fail an Louis d'Orléans marries in 1724;
- **6 January**: Arrest of Louis Dominique Bourguignon;
- **27 March**: Alliance of Spain and France;
- **May** : Visit of Mehmet Effendi; Turkish Ambassador;
- **18 July**: Death of Antoine Watteau;
- **17 September**: Death of the Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, Grand Duchess of Tuscany; cousin of the Regent;
- **29 December** : Birth of the future Madame de Pompadour;
- Marie Anne de Bourbon is put in charge o the Infanta's education in France;

### 1722

- The Dowager Duchess of Bourbon starts the construction of the Palais Bourbon in Paris tae a design by the Italian architect _Lorenzo Giardini_, approved by Jules Hardouin Mansart;
- ** 20 Januar**: Marriage of Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans to the future Louis I of Spain;
- **10 Mairch**: Arrival of Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain in Paris; daughter of Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese;
- **15 Juin**: Louis XV and the court return to Versailles; the Regent takes the old apartments of his dead cousin, the late Louis, Dauphin of Fraunce (1661–1711);
- **22 August**: Guillaume Dubois made the Prime Minister o the Regent;
- **25 October**: Coronation of Louis XV at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Reims;
- **8 December**: Death of Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate _(Madame)_, mother of the Regent;

### 1723

- Louis XV orders plans for the future _Salon d'Hercule_ to begin;
- **2 Februar**: Secret marriage of the Count o Toulouse and Marie Victoire de Noailles (already widowed daughter in law of Madame de Montespan) in Paris; their marriage was only announced after the death of the Regent;
- **16 February**: Majority of Louis XV;
- **23 February**: Daith of Anne of Bavarie, Dowager Princess of Condé;
- **10 August**: Death of Dubois; Role later took on by Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, Prince of Condé;
- **2 December**: death of the Regent at the Palace of Versailles;

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **name**: _La Régence_
- **image**: Philippe, duc d'Orléans, régent de France (1674-1723).jpg
- **office**: Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans
- **imagesize**: 200px
- **term start**: 1 September 1715
- **term end**: 15 February 1723
- **monarch**: Louis XV of France
- **caption**: Philippe with Marie-Madeleine de Parabère as Athena; Jean-Baptiste Santerre, 1716
- **primeminister**: Guillaume Dubois (in 1723)