Long regarded as a necessary evil, the royal mistress is a classic sta

Long regarded as a necessary evil, the royal mistress is a classic staple of the French court. It was hardly a new trick for a monarch to use mistresses and political advisors as scapegoats, but the Bourbons did it with their own particular flare and brand of ceremony. Much of life in the French court was dictated by tradition, ritual, and custom, and the role of the mistress was no exception to this. Mistresses were there to please the king and be the target for unwanted criticism, but they were also expected to stay out of political affairs.

This, of course, was hardly ever the case. The mistresses of Louis XIV, however, were rather well behaved in comparison to those of the future kings. Louis XIV fathered 13 illegitimate children with his mistresses over the course of his life. Thus, his many mistresses were often more concerned with securing rights for their illegitimate offspring than with meddling in affairs of the state. This lack of political meddling made them somewhat less prone to the tremendously harsh scrutiny faced later by those of Louis XV. Additionally, Louis XIV’s absolutist rule certainly had much to do with his mistresses remaining in their “proper places.” Furthermore, Louis’ strict control of the presses kept much of the harshest criticism at bay.

Nevertheless, there was still a steady stream of underground literature and cartoons that demonstrated abhorrence for many of Louis’ paramours. What was important about the criticism that did proliferate against his mistresses, however, was that it was used to great advantage by Louis XIV. Indeed, he used it to deflect criticism off of himself. By having an easily disposable female to shoulder the blame for various monarchical mishaps, Louis was able to retain his appearance of absolute control and otherworldly perfection.

There would, however, be consequences for such skillful puppet-mastery in the coming century. Louis XIV was the singular architect of a vast veil of fictive space inlaid between him and his people, creating a dangerous precedent of masterful manipulation that could not be maintained to the same degree by later monarchs. It was clear that Louis XIV crafted this fictive space cleverly and with great skill, peppering it with self-promoting propaganda to control his image in the collective imagination of his people. His progeny, however, were simply not as adept at doing so. Even more problematic, although future monarchs were not able to dexterously manipulate this fictive space themselves, it did not go away. Instead, it was the satirists, pamphleteers, and playwrights who took over its construction in the years leading up to the Revolution. In short, though it was Louis XIV who wrote his own mythology, Louis XVI would have his written for him.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) critique the morals of the court of Louis XIV
(B) discuss the popular opinion of French royal mistresses
(C) contrast the mistresses of Louis XIV and Louis XV
(D) suggest the main cause of the French Revolution
(E) describe the utility and flaws of a political tradition

2. According to the passage, all of the following were reasons that the mistresses of Louis XIV were less problematic than those of Louis XV EXCEPT:

(A) They were more concerned with securing the futures of their offspring.
(B) There was little freedom for the press under Louis XIV.
(C) They produced more offspring than did those of Louis XV.
(D) Louis XIV was a skillful politician.
(E) They were relatively uninterested in affairs of state.

3. The passage suggests which of the following?

I. Necessary evils are part of monarchies.
II. Writing one’s own mythology can be good statesmanship.
III. Louis XIV viewed Louis XV as an unsatisfactory heir

A. I Only
B. II Only
C. III Only
D. I and II Only
E. II and III Only

4. The passage implies that

(A) Louis XIV made mistakes that led to the Revolution
(B) Louis XIV was a member of the Bourbon family
(C) Louis XV wrote his own mythology
(D) the most troublesome mistresses were those of Louis XVI
(E) Louis XIV had more mistresses than Louis XVI