L'État, c'est moi

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File:Louis XIV by Juste d'Egmont.jpg
Louis XIV by Juste d'Egmont, 1654

L'État, c'est moi (Template:Langx, Template:Literal translation) is an apocryphal saying attributed to King Louis XIV. It was allegedly said on 13 April 1655 before the Parlement of Paris.[1] It is supposed to assert the primacy of the royal authority in a context of defiance with the Parliament, which contests royal edicts taken in lit de justice on 20 March 1655.[2] The phrase symbolizes absolute monarchy and absolutism.

Historicity

Nevertheless, historians contest that this sentence, which does not appear in the registers of the parliament, was really said by Louis XIV,[1][3] especially since on his deathbed, Louis XIV pronounced a sentence, attested, seemingly contradictory: "I die, but the state will always remain."[4]

The origin of the phrase is attributed to Pierre-Édouard Lémontey in his Script error: No such module "Lang". ("Essay on the Monarchical Establishment of Louis XIV and on the Alterations He Experienced During the Life of that Prince") (1818), who writes: "The Koran of France was contained in four syllables and Louis XIV pronounced them one day: "L'État, c'est moi!". As Olivier Chaline and Edmond Dziembowski point out, "if the forger is well forgotten today, his invention has not finished being used...".[5]

References

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  5. in Michel Figeac (dir), État, pouvoirs et contestations dans les monarchies française et britannique et dans leurs colonies américaines (vers 1640-vers 1780), Armand Colin, 2018, p. 8

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Bibliography

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