French Royal Dining History

 

One popular myth regarding Catherine de Medici, is that she introduced ice cream, sorbets and sherbets to the French, after bringing her personal chefs to France upon her marriage to King Henry II. However, that myth is dispelled in both Elizabeth David’s, “Harvest of the Cold Months: The Social History of Ice and Ices” and Esther B. Aresty’s, “The Exquisite Table – A History of French Cuisine.” Quoting “What’s Cooking, America,” ‘Catherine, fourteen at the time, was accompanied by twelve young ladies-in-waiting near her own age, and, undoubtedly, a large retinue that included cooks and servants to wait on the large party that brought her by ship to Marseilles and cared for the travelers on the overland voyage to the French Court. But as for installing cooks at the court of Francis I to serve her own needs – that would have been bringing coals to Newcastle, and unthinkable in any case with a Monarch like Francis I. At that time his court was far more elegant than any court in Italy.’

Napoleon I Bolted Food When He Ate and

Catherine de Medici Was a Heavy Eater

⚜️A 2nd Debut Article originally shared in 2017⚜️

Although furnished as an advertisement, a book has just appeared from an authoritative pen which contains a lot of interesting information on the menus of the Kings of France and how they dispatched them, writes a Paris correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger: 

The great Napoleon, we are told, did not waste much time at the table. His schedule was three minutes for coffee, ten for luncheon and half an hour for dinner, without conversation. In other words, the author says: “He bolted his food, to which he owed the disease which took him to an early grave.” 

Francois I and Henri II are described as having been only poor eaters; but Catherine de Medici seems to have been, on the contrary, a tremendous gourmand. She was especially partial to kidneys and to a light poultry dish, to which, on one occasion, as a contemporary chronicler records, she did such ample justice that she nearly succumbed. 

Louis XVI, like Louis XIV, who would often have a substantial meal served up in the middle of the night, was a big feeder. He had what was called “the appetite of the Bourbons.” He, like Napoleon, did not eat; he bolted his food. But few people in the audience know what is going on behind the drop curtain, and it is probably just as well they don't. – San Francisco Call, 1911

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

The Emperor’s Audience Etiquette

“The Chamberlain tells him when to advance and when to retreat, and the Emperor is so gracious that, expecting to be frightened out of his senses, he is most happy to find that good manners are the same everywhere, in palace and in cottage, with the prince and the peasant.” – French Hussars in Napoleonic Uniforms, from Pinterest

The Emperor holds what is called an “audience” every Sunday morning, when he is in Paris. This is a fashion of receiving which was abolished by the Revolution and restored by Napoleon I. In 1830 it again fell, and was re-established in 1852 by Napoleon III. With the “audience” fell and rose the offices of Chamberlains — persons especially charged with all that concerns the interior household of the Sovereign. There are eleven Chamberlains, and seventeen who have the titles and honors without performing any particular duty. In the olden times, it was the first officers with this title who handed to the King the first article of toilet on rising in the morning, as it was the first Lady of Honor who performed the same service for the Queen, and we presume this is one of the fashions which does not change!

In order to obtain an audience it is necessary first to obtain permission by letter. When one possesses the proper credentials, he appears at the door of the Palace of the Tuileries, and hands his letter to a hussar, who is clothed in black, with a silver chain around his neck. When he has examined it and is satisfied that it is authentic, he ushers the bearer into a grand hall, in the center of which is a miniature column, in bronze, of the one which towers upon the Place Vendôme. Here they wait a little, and are then introduced into the reception room, where they are received by the Chamberlains, clothed in red, with gold keys embroidered upon their breasts. If there are many persons, they are placed in a row to wait till the Emperor enters, preceded by hussars and followed by his État Major. 

He passes along the line, bowing to each, till he arrives at the head, when he stops and converses with the person, who has some favor to ask or someone to propose, and is so situated that no other one present can hear what is said, though not far off. He wears on these occasions, the military costume of General of Division, with the grand cross of the Legion of Honor, and is said to listen very patiently to all who come, and to promise uniformly to think of them afterwards. The costume of gentlemen who seek this favor must be invariably in black, with white cravat and white gloves. The Chamberlain tells him when to advance and when to retreat, and the Emperor is so gracious that, expecting to be frightened out of his senses, he is most happy to find that good manners are the same everywhere, in palace and in cottage, with the prince and the peasant. – Letter from Paris, 1866

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

French Etiquette and Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte outdid Louis XIV when it came to etiquette edicts, while ruling France. 

According to author Dr. Philip Mansel: 

"Napoleon was one of the rudest monarchs in history: he attacked in conversation as well as on the battlefield. He insulted foreign ambassadors, taunted Marshal Berthier, his grand huntsman, and General Caulaincourt, his grand equerry, with their wives’ alleged infidelities, and called Talleyrand, his grand chamberlain (who was also foreign minister), “a lump of shit in a silk stocking”. It was said that Napoleon had a “green laugh”.

Among those who knew him well, Napoleon inspired little personal loyalty: almost all his courtiers turned against him after his defeats in 1814 and 1815, and in both years they forced him to abdicate. Almost all those who followed him to Saint Helena were trying to obtain financial rewards, or material for a book of memoirs, rather than acting out of loyalty. Napoleon maintained court etiquette on the island, keeping courtiers standing in his presence and insisting on being treated as an emperor.

Napoleon’s court also shows him to have been more obsessed with status than other monarchs of the day. He wanted more palaces and more formal etiquette, and was more autocratic than the Bourbons. He had more than 100 chamberlains, and a total of around 3,000 men in his household, whereas Louis XVI had had only four first gentlemen of the chamber, and around 2,000 in his household. In January 1814, when speakers in the chamber of representatives demanded peace, he was infuriated. At a reception in the Tuileries palace, he declared: “Everything resides in the throne. I alone represent the people”. He believed that France needed him more than he needed France.

In June 1815, Napoleon alienated opinion by preferring to wear the elaborate embroidered ‘Petit Costume de l’Empereur’ rather than the uniform of the Paris National Guard. He insisted on sending messages to the chamber of representatives through his chamberlains rather than through a responsible minister. After Waterloo, it voted his deposition."