October 3, 2025 • 42 mins
In the gilded court of Louis XIV, 17th Century France, manners are everything. Where to sit, how to eat, what to wear - any misstep is costly. No one knows this better than François Vatel, the greatest party planner in all of France. Tonight, Vatel must deliver the ultimate banquet, a chance for his master to rise through the ranks and win the king's favour. But where there is opportunity there is danger, and even one mistake could prove deadly.
WARNING: This episode discusses death by suicide. If you are suffering emotional distress or having suicidal thoughts, support is available - for example, from the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US, or the Samaritans in the UK on 116 123
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin, France, sixteen seventy one. At the Chateau de Chantagille,
home to the Prince of Conde, a party is underway,
three whole days of moonlit hunts, sumptuous feasts, and spectacular entertainment.
(00:42):
This fairytale palace, with its shimmering moat and stately gardens,
is the perfect.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Setting for a grand celebration.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
The party has been organized by the great Francois Vatel,
as Maitre d'hotel, head of the household. He is a
maestro of hospitality, famous among the great houses for his resourcefulness,
efficiency and excellent taste. Vertel is no ordinary servant, which
(01:15):
is convenient because this is no ordinary party. King Louis
the fourteenth, the formidable monarch who takes the very sun
as his emblem, is making his first visit to Chantonae,
and because Louis likes to keep a close eye on
the nobility, the court has come with him. Two thousand
(01:38):
guests have descended on the fairy tale chateau, all demanding
to be housed, entertained, and fed. Tonight is the opening
night of the festivities, and Vertel must make sure that
his master impresses. He feels this responsibility. Keenly Conde led
(02:00):
a fearsome rebellion early in louis reign, and all these
years later, the king remains wary of him. Are tenuously
back on good terms for now, which means that the
extravaganza at Chanty must go off without a hitch. Fatell
only recently learned exactly how many guests the king would
(02:24):
be bringing with him and when he would arrive.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
What's more, the king has a cruel streak.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Fatell knows any missteps could be costly. I haven't had
a wink of sleep for twelve nights, he tells a friend.
Preparation is everything, and so Vertel has planned this event
to the last detail, ordering ornate new furniture for the
King's apartments and stocking the larders. The Baron of Gourville,
(02:57):
the steward in charge of Conde's finances, has allowed the
prince to spend a staggering fifty thousand crowns on this party,
or so the guest's gossip. In the kitchens deep beneath
the palace, Batel has set the servants slicing and dicing,
simmering and stirring. Every taste must be accommodated, every mouth satisfied.
(03:24):
The elaborate choreography of dinner ms the swift and striking.
So far all has gone well. Upon arrival, the king
took a turn around the chateau gardens. The walk was pleasant,
the april weather is fine, the daffodils in full bloom.
(03:45):
Still Fortel is on edge exhausted. Later that night a
magnificent cascade of fireworks will dazzle the guests. But for now,
dinner is served. First come the potage dishes cooked in
(04:10):
pots like chickens stuffed with chickory and quail and crayfish
soup garnished with rome, than the entrees, hashes of mushroom
and artichoke, oiled meat, all manner of savory tarts, and finally,
around these, another painstaking formation is set down a border
(04:33):
of ord'eure, quite literally outside the work of the main meal.
These are delicacies like pois gras, figs and sausages. Only
when their sovereign has begun to eat, may the guests
feast and make merry. After this first carnival of delights,
(04:54):
the roasts are served, rare game, lamb and beef in
rich veal are all favorites. No sooner has one dish
been finished than another replaces it. The table is never bare,
and the placement of the dishes is always symmetrical. For
Tell notices everything conducting from afar dinner's service is a
(05:18):
delicate dance.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That what's this?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Foretell realizes with horror that some unexpected guests have joined
the party. They must be fed, and it's far too
late now to prepare more roasts. Another table will have
to go without the fraid. For Tell is distraught, he's
failed in his duties. He begins to panic. And while
(05:49):
you or I might find that an overreaction, Foretell knows
the stakes these festivities will prove, quite literally to be
a matter of life and death. I'm Tim Harford, and
you're listening to Cause retails. Francois vtell was born in
(06:34):
around sixteen thirty. His family had worked the land, but
vatel went into service, entering a world of luxurious luncheons,
glittering soirees, and extraordinarily complicated social rules. As maitre d'hotel,
Vatelle presided over the comfort and convenience of all who
(06:57):
entered his master's home. The guardian of his master's honor.
In the realm of hospitality, he managed enormous sums of money,
designed menus, and was in charge of all the servants.
Fatell was renowned for his meticulous attention to detail in
his work, and he had even distinguished himself enough to
(07:19):
be allowed to carry a sword, a privilege reserved for
a select view. Fatel could be forgiven for being particularly
anxious on that evening at Chantalie. It was all too familiar.
He had been embroiled in a previous scheme to secure
King Louis's favor through the sheer opulence of a banquet.
(07:43):
He knew how easily things could go awry and how
serious the consequences could be. A decade earlier, Vertel had
been working for a different master, the ambitious Nicola Fouquet.
The scion of prosperous cloth merchants. Fiercely intelligent and a
(08:06):
shrewd social operator, Fouquet had rapidly climbed through government. By
sixteen sixty one, he was super Intendent of Finances to
the King. Fouquet was bourgeois by origin, but he now
rubbed shoulders with royalty. He was bold and forward thinking
(08:27):
masterminding ventures were the Dutch and in the Americas.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
He was also cunning.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
His mentor, the previous First Minister, had taught him how
to surreptitiously skim off the state bankroll. As a result,
Fouquet was fabulously wealthy. Foretell's fortunes rose with his masters,
and he managed properties for him in Paris and beyond.
(08:56):
These homes were filled with paintings and rare books. Fouquet
loved the arts and patronized poets and playwrights, but his
favorite masterpiece was his palace vne Vicomte. Three villages had
been obliterated to make way for the palace, with at
(09:16):
least nine hundred laborers hauling stone and digging a canal.
Fouquet founded his own factory to furnish it, and hired
Flemish weavers for an enormous tapestry cycle of Alexander the Great.
He installed soaring fountains and hired the very best landscape
(09:36):
Arctic to sculpt the lawns into careful geometric patterns. Figures
from classical mythology adorned the palace inside and out, As
Caroline C. Young has noted in her book Apples of
Gold in settings of silver carved satir heads flanked the
(09:57):
wrought iron gates, and elegant columns edged its glittering facade,
each topped with a reclining Greek deity. The vast ceiling
were painted with Apollo hercules, and the muse Cleo. Vaux
was a feast for eyes, a home fit not just
(10:21):
for a finance minister, but for a god. Trusty Vattel
had supervised construction. He had ensured there were a few
practical innovations at Vaux, too, like extra staircases connecting the
kitchens with the grand salon to help food reach the
(10:43):
table more efficiently. The palace drew prying eyes, and Vertell
caught the government minister Jean Baptiste Colbert, spying on.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
The construction project.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Colbert, whose family crest was an undulating serpent, was Fouquet's
arch nemesis. This could only spell trouble. King Louis was
growing increasingly suspicious of Fortell's master and his excessive expenditure.
(11:20):
Fouquet claimed his new palace was designed to glorify France,
a display not just of his own prestige but of
his loyalty to the crown. But he had also taken
care to install friends and minions at every level of government,
and his tentacles of influence reached far across oceans. Colbert
(11:46):
dripped poison in the King's ear. Fouquet was sending agents abroad,
dining superbly, and acquiring friends of every kind. Worst of all,
the finance minister was stealing from the treasury. Because of him,
said Colbert, Louis was only receiving around fortycent of the
(12:10):
value of state taxes. Colbert was in fact guilty of
similar misdeeds, as Fouquet well knew, but had managed to
cover his tracks by burning the incriminating accounts. In the
summer of sixteen sixty one, matters came to a head.
(12:31):
Louis had a new mistress, blonde haired, blue eyed, Louise
de la Valliere. Ever on the lookout for allies, Fouquet
approached the young woman. If she needed anything at all,
he said he would be delighted to help her. Soon,
a rumor was flying through court Fouquet had sent a
(12:55):
close friend to offer them Mademoiselle de Valliere twenty thousand
gold coins. Some said this was mere flattery. Gifts were
not so unusual after all, but others were certain that
this was unabashed flirtation, that Fouquet wanted the young lady
(13:16):
for himself.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
When Louis learned.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Of Fouquet's overtures to his mistress, he was enraged. Fouquet
knew he had incurred the king's wrath, that unless he
could regain his favor and fast, he was done for. Feverishly,
he alighted on a plan. He would invite Louis to
(13:40):
a party, a glorious soiree in his honor. It was
an outlandish idea, to be sure, but the magnificent palace
at Vaux, with its soaring fountains and lavish ceilings, was
fit for a god. It could not fail to enchant
a king. Fouquet would have to walk the finest of lines,
(14:04):
impressing the monarch without threatening him. In safe hands, He'd
entrusted the entire operation to the most diligent and gifted
Matred d'hotel in the land, Francois Vattel. Cautionary tales will return.
(14:35):
Life at Louis. The fourteenth court was governed by elaborate ritual,
from the first light of dawn until the very last
servant crawled into bed, exhausted from the day's labors. Each
morning began with the grand getting up ceremony the levee
(14:56):
at eight thirty a m. Louis was washed, shaved, combed,
and bewigged before an audience of around a hundred spectators.
Only those with particular privileges could attend the levee. Rank
and favor determined when a subject could enter and the
(15:16):
door he could pass through. The playwright Moliere, who began
his career as valet of the king's bedchamber, recalled how
the throng of men present at the levee would jostle
to reach the front of the audience. Attendance was coveted
because it offered physical proximity to the King and so
(15:39):
the opportunity to bend his ear and petition.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
For this or that.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Louis imposed a body of tacit rules on his courtiers
that controlled every aspect of their lives. Days in court
were strictly timetabled. The regime could be exacting, as the
king's sister in law explained in a letter to her aunt,
who were kept busy all day. We hunted from morning
(16:05):
until three in the afternoon, then we went up to
play for there until seven In the evening, EMU went
to the theater, which did not finish until half past ten.
After theater we took supper. After supper, it was time
for the mall, which went on all three in the morning,
and only then did we retire to bed. A complex
web of etiquette governed who could approach whom and when.
(16:30):
Subtle rules controlled manners of speech, body language, and even
the right to use a stool, chair or armchair. According
to the Duke of Saint Simon, nothing slipped past the King,
not one of his courtiers escaped him, even those who
hoped to remain unnoticed. Nowhere were the rules more intricate
(16:56):
or more treacherous than in the royal dining room. Hundreds
of officers from the services of the King's Mouth prepared
and served the king's meals on gold and silver dishes.
Louis was said to be able to conquer four full
plates of soup, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a big
(17:18):
dish of salad, two big slices of ham, some mutton,
a plate of pastry, and then fruit and hard boiled eggs,
all in one's sitting. Meal times were important to the king.
Ceremonial public meals, in particular, gave him the opportunity to
(17:39):
entrench a strict court pecking order. Seating was hierarchical. Men
were to remove their hats while grace or toasts were
being said, then immediately replaced them. Napkins could be used,
but only once the individual of highest rank had first
opened theirs, and while discrete napkin usage was permitted for
(18:02):
the hands, cleaning one's face or teeth was uncouth, Wiping
one's nose unforgivably vulgar. Placing one's elbows on the table
was also a grave breach of decorum. Diners could signal
their needs to servants, but only in hushed tones, and
(18:24):
even then it was bad manners to do this too often.
A guest should never be the first to place his
spoon into a dish unless he wished to serve another,
and each time a man served a higher ranking woman,
he was expected to tip his hat. Olives were to
be lifted from their dish with a spoon, never a fork,
(18:46):
but walnuts could be taken with the hand. Touching fish
with a knife was forbidden unless that fish was baked
in a pie. In short, there were traps everywhere. As
a courtier called Madame de Torsi, discovered the palace had
decamped the king's estate at marley. At dinner, Madame de
(19:10):
Torsi seated herself at the table. A moment later, the
Duchess of Durras arrived and took a space that was free. Unfortunately,
she was now seated below Madame de Torsi. This was
a problem because Madame de Torsi lacked the title. She
(19:31):
offered to correct her mistake, but the moment had passed,
and besides, the Duchess wasn't too irk by the error.
Sancimond described what happened next. The king entered. As soon
as he sat down, he saw the place Madame de
Torsi had taken, and fixed such a serious and surprised
(19:54):
look upon her that she again offered to give up
her place to the duchess. The offer was again declined.
The king seized all through dinner. After the meal, he
told the princesses that he had just borne witness to
an act of incredible insolence, and enraged, he had been
(20:16):
unable to eat a single mouthful. A tirade on bourgeois
genealogy of the Detorsius followed a lengthy discourse on the
dignity of dukes came after that. Finally, the king charged
the princesses with telling Madame de Torsi exactly what he
thought of her. The princesses looked at each other. They
(20:38):
didn't like this idea at all, which made the king
even more angry. News of his fury soon spread through
the court. The next day, he could talk of nothing
but Madame de Torsi's infraction. The king broke out again
with even more bitterness than before, said San Simond.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Eventually, poor, beleagued Monsieur.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
De Torsi wrote the king a letter apologizing for his
wife's inertenance, and finally the king was calm. The violation
of courtly etiquette had been remedied. Where did this complex
(21:25):
system of manners and etiquette come from? The sociologist Norbert
Elias had a theory. Louis the fourteenth ruled absolutely and
aimed to centralize the French government more than ever before.
By the mid sixteen hundreds, France had developed a highly
(21:46):
disciplined and well resourced army, a central force paid for
by state taxes, which meant that the state now had
the monopoly on legitimate physical violence. The nobility could no
longer approve its power with physical might and battles and
the provinces. It was the king's favor that bestowed prestige
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as well as o that is, membership of good society.
Maintaining appearances became essential. A duke who did not appear
to live as a duke was hardly a duke. The
appearance of rank was rank. Of course, the cost of
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maintaining appearances, of having the right carriage, the right house keeping,
Swiss guards, or at least men dressed like Swiss guards,
could be ruinous. As the king had the power to
dispense wealth, the nobility was all the more dependent on
his favor, and one way to secure that favor was
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the flawless display of courtly etiquette. Rules and etiquette in
Louis's hands were an instrument of power. They pacified the nobility.
Ceremony and ritual, like the levee or strict seating hierarchies,
showed who was in and who was out. How well
(23:13):
a subject danced. The dance of courtly etiquette proved whether
or not that subject really belonged. The result suggested Elias
was a kind of human stock exchange, where the value
of individuals went up and down. It was dangerous to
be discourteous to a person whose stock was rising, but
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it was equally dangerous to be friendly with someone whose
stock was falling. Courtiers had to constantly calculate their own
worth alongside the worth of those around them, and adjust
their behavior accordingly. The requirement to analyze and perform was unrelenting.
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Far from offering a life of untroubled luxury, the court
of Louis the fourteenth was a gilded cage. The party
at Vaux, the magnificent home of Nicola Fouquet, was just
three weeks away. Undaunted, the great master of the household,
(24:23):
Francois Vatel, sprang into action, though still wasn't fully decorated.
The monumental tapestry of Alexander the Great wouldn't be finished
for years. Solvertel borrowed and rented wall hangings from other residences,
as well as furniture and silver. He prepared apartments for
(24:45):
the king and commissioned an Italian set designer known as
Iligoran Stregone the Great Wizard, to direct a brilliant fireworks display.
He also planned the all important banquet from his office
in the bowels of the palace. He took inventory of
the wines, linens, and silver. He filled the stores to
(25:08):
bursting and made sure the cooking ranges were ablaze, the
rotating spits ready for their roasts. Under Attell's direction, the
whole palace labored furiously decorating, polishing, rehearsing. Fortell's master Fouquet
had been in bed with a terrible fever, but this
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party was itself a matter of life or death, and
so he roused himself to check each detail. Finally, the
stage was set. The day of the party arrived at
six pm, the King's gilded carriage rolled up to the
(25:49):
raw iron gates at Voe putionary tales will be back
in a moment. That day, a shocking rumor had flown
through court. Louis had threatening to have Fouquet arrested at
(26:11):
the soiree. Apparently his mother Anne of Austria had managed
to dissuade him. But to everyone's surprise, the evening began well.
The older statesman hid his raging fever and greeted the
young king with open arms. By some accounts, there were
(26:32):
three thousand guests at Vaux that evening. Others said there
were six thousand and that only the king's pregnant wife
and First Minister Colbert did not attend. When the last
of the carriages had arrived, Fouquet led the party on
a tour of the chateau gardens. The guests were astonished
(26:55):
by the fountains with their thirty five foot jets of water.
They gasped at the masterfully carved sculptures that decorated the lawns,
and that row upon row of expensive tulips a nod
to Fouquet's business ties with the Dutch Republic. They reveled
in the scent of orange blossom on the summer air,
(27:16):
and rode in painted gondolas across a canal adorned with
a statue of Neptune. This was like no garden they
had ever visited before. Then came the tour of the
chateau itself. Vertell had triumphed. The rooms were opulent and luxurious.
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Cove ceilings glorified Fouquet through symbolism. In one he was
a star rising to the heavens. In another, he was
Hercules in a chariot of gold. Of course, nothing slipped
past the king. Finally, it was time for dinner. The
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party reached the Grand Salon, a magnificent oval room that
stretched the full height of the palace. Fouquet escorted the
king to his seat, and Vittel gave the word for
the intricate choreography of dinner. To begin the potage, entrees
and ord'eure were set down in their customary symmetry. Then
(28:28):
came the second service, stylish beasts and ragous plus pheasants, ltelaans,
quails and partridges. Two carvers sliced the meats in perfect synchronicity.
All the while the wine flowed, and twenty four violins
serenaded the diamers. At last, their appetites indulged, the guests
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passed into the gardens for the evening's entertainment, the premiere
of playwright Moliere's Les Facheur, which had had all of
fifteen days to write. For the grand finale, a surge
of fireworks lited the canal in colorful bursts. It was
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an exquisite evening, and Vatel must have had one eye
firmly on the king. Was the plan working. Observers thought
that Louis was wide eyed with wander, amazed by the
incomparable luxury at Voe and perhaps jealous of it too.
(29:39):
At two a m. The party drew to a close.
Louis gave the signal that he would not make use
of the royal bedroom. In fact, he wished to leave
at once. Vatel managed the guest's departure, and as the
King's carriage sped away, the fevered Fouquet felt his disquiet return.
(30:03):
He asked his friend, the Baron of Gourville, what everyone
was saying. One group thinks you will be declared first.
Minister Gourville told him, the other that they will form
a great cabal to destroy you. Fouquet had played the
(30:24):
game well for a time. He'd risen high in the
human stock exchange. But where there are ladders, there may
also be snakes. A few weeks later he was arrested
by the King's steadfast musketeer d'Artagnan. According to the Duke
of Saint Simon, Louis was a man with a distaste
(30:48):
for all intelligence, all independence of character. In others, Fouquet
had shown himself to be creative and forward thinking. He
was very intelligent and very independent, but he had reached
too high. The opulence and beauty of the party at
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Vaux now seemed proof of his dissolution his corruption. Fouquet
was charged with embezzlement from the French treasury and treason.
Musketeers overseen by Colbert, combed his homes for evidence against him.
(31:30):
At trial, Fouquet defended himself well. Though he was found guilty,
he was sentenced to banishment rather than prison or death. Unusually,
Louis used his royal judicial powers to change the sentence.
Fouquet would spend the rest of his life in solitary
(31:52):
confinement at the Chilling peniaral prison. He could not take
any exercise, and only after thirteen years was he permitted
to exchange any letters with his wife. He would never
be released and die at Pignon. As for Vertel, with
(32:14):
his master disgraced, he was forced into exile Abroad. Louis
began stripping Vaux for parts.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
He sees the.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Precious furniture that Vertel had selected, the tapestries and sculptures.
He even took the trees, shrubs, and orange blossom topiaries.
They would all make perfect additions to the magnificent palace
he was building for himself at Versailles. The court of
(32:45):
Louis the fourteenth revolved around the elaborate performance of respect
and friendship, but that decency was superficial, a thin veneer
of civility, manners, and etiquette masked cold indifference and unfathomable cruelty.
(33:14):
Have we really left that world behind? On the surface,
the intricate rituals and complex social rules of Louis the
Fourteenth Court seem archaic, even fantastical. But I think we
still codify and ritualize our behavior. Instead of at the
dining table. It's online. Complicated, often unwritten rules govern how
(33:42):
to frame posts on social media. Who to tag alike
can be a genuine display of appreciation, but it can
equally be purely for show a signal to the wider
social media audience that one user is loyal to another
and a like is not at all the same as
a thumbs up to people over the age of thirty.
(34:05):
The thumbs up is generally positive, but I've just discovered
that gen z can interpret the thumbs up as sarcastic,
even passive aggressive. The rules are inconsistent. There are traps everywhere.
Online life, too, is precarious. Social media forms a kind
(34:27):
of human stock exchange. It encourages us to surveil and
moderate each other, but it also invites hyper awareness about
how we present ourselves and unremitting performance. Missteps can result
in social exile. Ten years pass, Francois Votel is back
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in France with a new master, the Prince of Conde.
Two thousand guests are attending the Chateau de Chantalie as
a party in honor of King Louis the fourteenth. This
is the celebration to mark the Prince of Conde's return
to royal favor, and to his horror, Vatel has just
(35:17):
realized that he's a few roasts. Short history doesn't record
exactly when Vertel made his way back to France or
what the journey was like for him, but after the
squelching of his former master, this opportunity to enter the
service of Conde must have felt like a lifeline. Perhaps
(35:38):
the Baron of Gourville is the link. He was friends
with the ill fated Nicola Fouquet, but like Vatel, he
now works for Conde. Vertel turns to Gourville. They cannot
bear this disgrace, He laments. The Maitre d'hotel is a
repository of his master's honor. His mission was to sate
(36:03):
the appetite of every guest at Chanty that evening, and
he has failed. Gourville does what he can to comfort Fortel.
After all, the evening has been spectacular so far. There's
no reasoning with him, so Gourville approaches Conde and explains
(36:27):
the situation. In fact, the Prince is very happy, and
he tells vatelso everything is extremely well conducted. Nothing could
be more admirable than his Majesty's supper. Do not perplex
yourself and all will be well. There's still the fireworks
(36:47):
display to impress the guests, and more feasts and entertainment
to come. Perhaps everyone will forget all about the shortfall
of this dinner. But then, calamity of calamities. The dazzling
and expensive display of fireworks Fortel has planned is a flop.
(37:08):
They go off as intended, but are shrouded in thick cloud.
No one can see them. By now, the matred Hotel
is a nervous wreck. He barely sleeps. At four o'clock
the next morning, Fortel is pacing the hallways and goes
(37:28):
to take delivery of that evening's dinner. It's a Friday,
so the party will eat fish that the supplier has
just two loads with him.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
What is this all? Fortell is aghast.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Two loads isn't nearly enough to feed two thousand hungry courtiers. Yes, Sir,
says the baffled supplier, unaware that Vertel has ordered fish
from several different seaports. The Vertel waits a little, ever
more distraught. A matred d'hotel who does not feed his
guests is hardly a matro hotel. No fish materialize. I
(38:12):
cannot outlive this disgrace, he tells Gourville. The Baron is
perplexed and merely laughs. Time passes, and fortunately several more
loads of fish arrive at Chantagnaue. Dinner is saved. But
where is Btel? He must receive the order take inventory
(38:37):
of these delicacies, but he's nowhere to be found. Betel's
colleagues search high and low. One of them knocks on
the door to his apartments. Now answer, there's no sign
of him elsewhere, so they break the door down. Vttel
(39:01):
is lying in a pool of his own blood, Unable
to face yet more failure, He's taken his sword that
tribute to his honor, steadied it against his door frame,
and run himself through with it word tears through the palace.
(39:24):
Fatell has taken his own life. The message is dispatched
to Conde, who falls into despair and then relays the
whole sad tale to the King. Louis apparently regrets bringing
quite so many courtiers with him. The consensus is that
this terrible affair is the consequence of too nice a
(39:47):
sense of honor. Some blame Vtell, but others praise his courage. Still,
that's little time to linger on the death of the
poor Matre d'hotel. The show must go on. Gourville fills
in for his friend as best he can as master
(40:07):
of the week ends festivities. By all accounts, the party
is arousing success. The guests stroll among the daffodils, hunt
by moonlight, and dine in splendor. This script relied on
(40:49):
Carolyn C. Young's book Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver,
Stories of Dinner as a work of art. For a
full list of sources, see the show notes at Timharford
dot com. If you're suffering from emotional distress or having
suicidal thoughts, support is available, for example, from the nine
(41:12):
eight eight Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US and
from Samaritans in the UK. You'll find details in the
episode description. Cautionary Tales is written by me Tim Harford
with Andrew Wright, Alice Fines and Ryan Dilly. It's produced
by Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound design and
original music are the work of Pascal Wise. Additional sound
(41:35):
design is by Carlos San Juan at Brain Audio. Bend
ad Af Haffrey edited the scripts. The show also wouldn't
have been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Greta Cohne,
Sarah Nix, Eric Sandler, Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey, and Owen Miller.
You can support Cautionary Tales by joining my Cautionary Club
(41:58):
at patreon dot com slash Cautionary Club for exclusive bonus episodes, newsletters,
ad free listening, and other exciting perks. Alternatively, you can
join Pushkin Plus on our Apple show page for continued
benefits from our show and others across the Pushkin network.
Pushkin, France, sixteen seventy one. At the Chateau de Chantagille,
home to the Prince of Conde, a party is underway,
three whole days of moonlit hunts, sumptuous feasts, and spectacular entertainment.
(00:42):
This fairytale palace, with its shimmering moat and stately gardens,
is the perfect.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Setting for a grand celebration.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
The party has been organized by the great Francois Vatel,
as Maitre d'hotel, head of the household. He is a
maestro of hospitality, famous among the great houses for his resourcefulness,
efficiency and excellent taste. Vertel is no ordinary servant, which
(01:15):
is convenient because this is no ordinary party. King Louis
the fourteenth, the formidable monarch who takes the very sun
as his emblem, is making his first visit to Chantonae,
and because Louis likes to keep a close eye on
the nobility, the court has come with him. Two thousand
(01:38):
guests have descended on the fairy tale chateau, all demanding
to be housed, entertained, and fed. Tonight is the opening
night of the festivities, and Vertel must make sure that
his master impresses. He feels this responsibility. Keenly Conde led
(02:00):
a fearsome rebellion early in louis reign, and all these
years later, the king remains wary of him. Are tenuously
back on good terms for now, which means that the
extravaganza at Chanty must go off without a hitch. Fatell
only recently learned exactly how many guests the king would
(02:24):
be bringing with him and when he would arrive.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
What's more, the king has a cruel streak.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Fatell knows any missteps could be costly. I haven't had
a wink of sleep for twelve nights, he tells a friend.
Preparation is everything, and so Vertel has planned this event
to the last detail, ordering ornate new furniture for the
King's apartments and stocking the larders. The Baron of Gourville,
(02:57):
the steward in charge of Conde's finances, has allowed the
prince to spend a staggering fifty thousand crowns on this party,
or so the guest's gossip. In the kitchens deep beneath
the palace, Batel has set the servants slicing and dicing,
simmering and stirring. Every taste must be accommodated, every mouth satisfied.
(03:24):
The elaborate choreography of dinner ms the swift and striking.
So far all has gone well. Upon arrival, the king
took a turn around the chateau gardens. The walk was pleasant,
the april weather is fine, the daffodils in full bloom.
(03:45):
Still Fortel is on edge exhausted. Later that night a
magnificent cascade of fireworks will dazzle the guests. But for now,
dinner is served. First come the potage dishes cooked in
(04:10):
pots like chickens stuffed with chickory and quail and crayfish
soup garnished with rome, than the entrees, hashes of mushroom
and artichoke, oiled meat, all manner of savory tarts, and finally,
around these, another painstaking formation is set down a border
(04:33):
of ord'eure, quite literally outside the work of the main meal.
These are delicacies like pois gras, figs and sausages. Only
when their sovereign has begun to eat, may the guests
feast and make merry. After this first carnival of delights,
(04:54):
the roasts are served, rare game, lamb and beef in
rich veal are all favorites. No sooner has one dish
been finished than another replaces it. The table is never bare,
and the placement of the dishes is always symmetrical. For
Tell notices everything conducting from afar dinner's service is a
(05:18):
delicate dance.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That what's this?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Foretell realizes with horror that some unexpected guests have joined
the party. They must be fed, and it's far too
late now to prepare more roasts. Another table will have
to go without the fraid. For Tell is distraught, he's
failed in his duties. He begins to panic. And while
(05:49):
you or I might find that an overreaction, Foretell knows
the stakes these festivities will prove, quite literally to be
a matter of life and death. I'm Tim Harford, and
you're listening to Cause retails. Francois vtell was born in
(06:34):
around sixteen thirty. His family had worked the land, but
vatel went into service, entering a world of luxurious luncheons,
glittering soirees, and extraordinarily complicated social rules. As maitre d'hotel,
Vatelle presided over the comfort and convenience of all who
(06:57):
entered his master's home. The guardian of his master's honor.
In the realm of hospitality, he managed enormous sums of money,
designed menus, and was in charge of all the servants.
Fatell was renowned for his meticulous attention to detail in
his work, and he had even distinguished himself enough to
(07:19):
be allowed to carry a sword, a privilege reserved for
a select view. Fatel could be forgiven for being particularly
anxious on that evening at Chantalie. It was all too familiar.
He had been embroiled in a previous scheme to secure
King Louis's favor through the sheer opulence of a banquet.
(07:43):
He knew how easily things could go awry and how
serious the consequences could be. A decade earlier, Vertel had
been working for a different master, the ambitious Nicola Fouquet.
The scion of prosperous cloth merchants. Fiercely intelligent and a
(08:06):
shrewd social operator, Fouquet had rapidly climbed through government. By
sixteen sixty one, he was super Intendent of Finances to
the King. Fouquet was bourgeois by origin, but he now
rubbed shoulders with royalty. He was bold and forward thinking
(08:27):
masterminding ventures were the Dutch and in the Americas.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
He was also cunning.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
His mentor, the previous First Minister, had taught him how
to surreptitiously skim off the state bankroll. As a result,
Fouquet was fabulously wealthy. Foretell's fortunes rose with his masters,
and he managed properties for him in Paris and beyond.
(08:56):
These homes were filled with paintings and rare books. Fouquet
loved the arts and patronized poets and playwrights, but his
favorite masterpiece was his palace vne Vicomte. Three villages had
been obliterated to make way for the palace, with at
(09:16):
least nine hundred laborers hauling stone and digging a canal.
Fouquet founded his own factory to furnish it, and hired
Flemish weavers for an enormous tapestry cycle of Alexander the Great.
He installed soaring fountains and hired the very best landscape
(09:36):
Arctic to sculpt the lawns into careful geometric patterns. Figures
from classical mythology adorned the palace inside and out, As
Caroline C. Young has noted in her book Apples of
Gold in settings of silver carved satir heads flanked the
(09:57):
wrought iron gates, and elegant columns edged its glittering facade,
each topped with a reclining Greek deity. The vast ceiling
were painted with Apollo hercules, and the muse Cleo. Vaux
was a feast for eyes, a home fit not just
(10:21):
for a finance minister, but for a god. Trusty Vattel
had supervised construction. He had ensured there were a few
practical innovations at Vaux, too, like extra staircases connecting the
kitchens with the grand salon to help food reach the
(10:43):
table more efficiently. The palace drew prying eyes, and Vertell
caught the government minister Jean Baptiste Colbert, spying on.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
The construction project.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Colbert, whose family crest was an undulating serpent, was Fouquet's
arch nemesis. This could only spell trouble. King Louis was
growing increasingly suspicious of Fortell's master and his excessive expenditure.
(11:20):
Fouquet claimed his new palace was designed to glorify France,
a display not just of his own prestige but of
his loyalty to the crown. But he had also taken
care to install friends and minions at every level of government,
and his tentacles of influence reached far across oceans. Colbert
(11:46):
dripped poison in the King's ear. Fouquet was sending agents abroad,
dining superbly, and acquiring friends of every kind. Worst of all,
the finance minister was stealing from the treasury. Because of him,
said Colbert, Louis was only receiving around fortycent of the
(12:10):
value of state taxes. Colbert was in fact guilty of
similar misdeeds, as Fouquet well knew, but had managed to
cover his tracks by burning the incriminating accounts. In the
summer of sixteen sixty one, matters came to a head.
(12:31):
Louis had a new mistress, blonde haired, blue eyed, Louise
de la Valliere. Ever on the lookout for allies, Fouquet
approached the young woman. If she needed anything at all,
he said he would be delighted to help her. Soon,
a rumor was flying through court Fouquet had sent a
(12:55):
close friend to offer them Mademoiselle de Valliere twenty thousand
gold coins. Some said this was mere flattery. Gifts were
not so unusual after all, but others were certain that
this was unabashed flirtation, that Fouquet wanted the young lady
(13:16):
for himself.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
When Louis learned.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Of Fouquet's overtures to his mistress, he was enraged. Fouquet
knew he had incurred the king's wrath, that unless he
could regain his favor and fast, he was done for. Feverishly,
he alighted on a plan. He would invite Louis to
(13:40):
a party, a glorious soiree in his honor. It was
an outlandish idea, to be sure, but the magnificent palace
at Vaux, with its soaring fountains and lavish ceilings, was
fit for a god. It could not fail to enchant
a king. Fouquet would have to walk the finest of lines,
(14:04):
impressing the monarch without threatening him. In safe hands, He'd
entrusted the entire operation to the most diligent and gifted
Matred d'hotel in the land, Francois Vattel. Cautionary tales will return.
(14:35):
Life at Louis. The fourteenth court was governed by elaborate ritual,
from the first light of dawn until the very last
servant crawled into bed, exhausted from the day's labors. Each
morning began with the grand getting up ceremony the levee
(14:56):
at eight thirty a m. Louis was washed, shaved, combed,
and bewigged before an audience of around a hundred spectators.
Only those with particular privileges could attend the levee. Rank
and favor determined when a subject could enter and the
(15:16):
door he could pass through. The playwright Moliere, who began
his career as valet of the king's bedchamber, recalled how
the throng of men present at the levee would jostle
to reach the front of the audience. Attendance was coveted
because it offered physical proximity to the King and so
(15:39):
the opportunity to bend his ear and petition.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
For this or that.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Louis imposed a body of tacit rules on his courtiers
that controlled every aspect of their lives. Days in court
were strictly timetabled. The regime could be exacting, as the
king's sister in law explained in a letter to her aunt,
who were kept busy all day. We hunted from morning
(16:05):
until three in the afternoon, then we went up to
play for there until seven In the evening, EMU went
to the theater, which did not finish until half past ten.
After theater we took supper. After supper, it was time
for the mall, which went on all three in the morning,
and only then did we retire to bed. A complex
web of etiquette governed who could approach whom and when.
(16:30):
Subtle rules controlled manners of speech, body language, and even
the right to use a stool, chair or armchair. According
to the Duke of Saint Simon, nothing slipped past the King,
not one of his courtiers escaped him, even those who
hoped to remain unnoticed. Nowhere were the rules more intricate
(16:56):
or more treacherous than in the royal dining room. Hundreds
of officers from the services of the King's Mouth prepared
and served the king's meals on gold and silver dishes.
Louis was said to be able to conquer four full
plates of soup, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a big
(17:18):
dish of salad, two big slices of ham, some mutton,
a plate of pastry, and then fruit and hard boiled eggs,
all in one's sitting. Meal times were important to the king.
Ceremonial public meals, in particular, gave him the opportunity to
(17:39):
entrench a strict court pecking order. Seating was hierarchical. Men
were to remove their hats while grace or toasts were
being said, then immediately replaced them. Napkins could be used,
but only once the individual of highest rank had first
opened theirs, and while discrete napkin usage was permitted for
(18:02):
the hands, cleaning one's face or teeth was uncouth, Wiping
one's nose unforgivably vulgar. Placing one's elbows on the table
was also a grave breach of decorum. Diners could signal
their needs to servants, but only in hushed tones, and
(18:24):
even then it was bad manners to do this too often.
A guest should never be the first to place his
spoon into a dish unless he wished to serve another,
and each time a man served a higher ranking woman,
he was expected to tip his hat. Olives were to
be lifted from their dish with a spoon, never a fork,
(18:46):
but walnuts could be taken with the hand. Touching fish
with a knife was forbidden unless that fish was baked
in a pie. In short, there were traps everywhere. As
a courtier called Madame de Torsi, discovered the palace had
decamped the king's estate at marley. At dinner, Madame de
(19:10):
Torsi seated herself at the table. A moment later, the
Duchess of Durras arrived and took a space that was free. Unfortunately,
she was now seated below Madame de Torsi. This was
a problem because Madame de Torsi lacked the title. She
(19:31):
offered to correct her mistake, but the moment had passed,
and besides, the Duchess wasn't too irk by the error.
Sancimond described what happened next. The king entered. As soon
as he sat down, he saw the place Madame de
Torsi had taken, and fixed such a serious and surprised
(19:54):
look upon her that she again offered to give up
her place to the duchess. The offer was again declined.
The king seized all through dinner. After the meal, he
told the princesses that he had just borne witness to
an act of incredible insolence, and enraged, he had been
(20:16):
unable to eat a single mouthful. A tirade on bourgeois
genealogy of the Detorsius followed a lengthy discourse on the
dignity of dukes came after that. Finally, the king charged
the princesses with telling Madame de Torsi exactly what he
thought of her. The princesses looked at each other. They
(20:38):
didn't like this idea at all, which made the king
even more angry. News of his fury soon spread through
the court. The next day, he could talk of nothing
but Madame de Torsi's infraction. The king broke out again
with even more bitterness than before, said San Simond.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Eventually, poor, beleagued Monsieur.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
De Torsi wrote the king a letter apologizing for his
wife's inertenance, and finally the king was calm. The violation
of courtly etiquette had been remedied. Where did this complex
(21:25):
system of manners and etiquette come from? The sociologist Norbert
Elias had a theory. Louis the fourteenth ruled absolutely and
aimed to centralize the French government more than ever before.
By the mid sixteen hundreds, France had developed a highly
(21:46):
disciplined and well resourced army, a central force paid for
by state taxes, which meant that the state now had
the monopoly on legitimate physical violence. The nobility could no
longer approve its power with physical might and battles and
the provinces. It was the king's favor that bestowed prestige
(22:08):
as well as o that is, membership of good society.
Maintaining appearances became essential. A duke who did not appear
to live as a duke was hardly a duke. The
appearance of rank was rank. Of course, the cost of
(22:28):
maintaining appearances, of having the right carriage, the right house keeping,
Swiss guards, or at least men dressed like Swiss guards,
could be ruinous. As the king had the power to
dispense wealth, the nobility was all the more dependent on
his favor, and one way to secure that favor was
(22:50):
the flawless display of courtly etiquette. Rules and etiquette in
Louis's hands were an instrument of power. They pacified the nobility.
Ceremony and ritual, like the levee or strict seating hierarchies,
showed who was in and who was out. How well
(23:13):
a subject danced. The dance of courtly etiquette proved whether
or not that subject really belonged. The result suggested Elias
was a kind of human stock exchange, where the value
of individuals went up and down. It was dangerous to
be discourteous to a person whose stock was rising, but
(23:37):
it was equally dangerous to be friendly with someone whose
stock was falling. Courtiers had to constantly calculate their own
worth alongside the worth of those around them, and adjust
their behavior accordingly. The requirement to analyze and perform was unrelenting.
(24:00):
Far from offering a life of untroubled luxury, the court
of Louis the fourteenth was a gilded cage. The party
at Vaux, the magnificent home of Nicola Fouquet, was just
three weeks away. Undaunted, the great master of the household,
(24:23):
Francois Vatel, sprang into action, though still wasn't fully decorated.
The monumental tapestry of Alexander the Great wouldn't be finished
for years. Solvertel borrowed and rented wall hangings from other residences,
as well as furniture and silver. He prepared apartments for
(24:45):
the king and commissioned an Italian set designer known as
Iligoran Stregone the Great Wizard, to direct a brilliant fireworks display.
He also planned the all important banquet from his office
in the bowels of the palace. He took inventory of
the wines, linens, and silver. He filled the stores to
(25:08):
bursting and made sure the cooking ranges were ablaze, the
rotating spits ready for their roasts. Under Attell's direction, the
whole palace labored furiously decorating, polishing, rehearsing. Fortell's master Fouquet
had been in bed with a terrible fever, but this
(25:29):
party was itself a matter of life or death, and
so he roused himself to check each detail. Finally, the
stage was set. The day of the party arrived at
six pm, the King's gilded carriage rolled up to the
(25:49):
raw iron gates at Voe putionary tales will be back
in a moment. That day, a shocking rumor had flown
through court. Louis had threatening to have Fouquet arrested at
(26:11):
the soiree. Apparently his mother Anne of Austria had managed
to dissuade him. But to everyone's surprise, the evening began well.
The older statesman hid his raging fever and greeted the
young king with open arms. By some accounts, there were
(26:32):
three thousand guests at Vaux that evening. Others said there
were six thousand and that only the king's pregnant wife
and First Minister Colbert did not attend. When the last
of the carriages had arrived, Fouquet led the party on
a tour of the chateau gardens. The guests were astonished
(26:55):
by the fountains with their thirty five foot jets of water.
They gasped at the masterfully carved sculptures that decorated the lawns,
and that row upon row of expensive tulips a nod
to Fouquet's business ties with the Dutch Republic. They reveled
in the scent of orange blossom on the summer air,
(27:16):
and rode in painted gondolas across a canal adorned with
a statue of Neptune. This was like no garden they
had ever visited before. Then came the tour of the
chateau itself. Vertell had triumphed. The rooms were opulent and luxurious.
(27:39):
Cove ceilings glorified Fouquet through symbolism. In one he was
a star rising to the heavens. In another, he was
Hercules in a chariot of gold. Of course, nothing slipped
past the king. Finally, it was time for dinner. The
(28:04):
party reached the Grand Salon, a magnificent oval room that
stretched the full height of the palace. Fouquet escorted the
king to his seat, and Vittel gave the word for
the intricate choreography of dinner. To begin the potage, entrees
and ord'eure were set down in their customary symmetry. Then
(28:28):
came the second service, stylish beasts and ragous plus pheasants, ltelaans,
quails and partridges. Two carvers sliced the meats in perfect synchronicity.
All the while the wine flowed, and twenty four violins
serenaded the diamers. At last, their appetites indulged, the guests
(28:53):
passed into the gardens for the evening's entertainment, the premiere
of playwright Moliere's Les Facheur, which had had all of
fifteen days to write. For the grand finale, a surge
of fireworks lited the canal in colorful bursts. It was
(29:14):
an exquisite evening, and Vatel must have had one eye
firmly on the king. Was the plan working. Observers thought
that Louis was wide eyed with wander, amazed by the
incomparable luxury at Voe and perhaps jealous of it too.
(29:39):
At two a m. The party drew to a close.
Louis gave the signal that he would not make use
of the royal bedroom. In fact, he wished to leave
at once. Vatel managed the guest's departure, and as the
King's carriage sped away, the fevered Fouquet felt his disquiet return.
(30:03):
He asked his friend, the Baron of Gourville, what everyone
was saying. One group thinks you will be declared first.
Minister Gourville told him, the other that they will form
a great cabal to destroy you. Fouquet had played the
(30:24):
game well for a time. He'd risen high in the
human stock exchange. But where there are ladders, there may
also be snakes. A few weeks later he was arrested
by the King's steadfast musketeer d'Artagnan. According to the Duke
of Saint Simon, Louis was a man with a distaste
(30:48):
for all intelligence, all independence of character. In others, Fouquet
had shown himself to be creative and forward thinking. He
was very intelligent and very independent, but he had reached
too high. The opulence and beauty of the party at
(31:10):
Vaux now seemed proof of his dissolution his corruption. Fouquet
was charged with embezzlement from the French treasury and treason.
Musketeers overseen by Colbert, combed his homes for evidence against him.
(31:30):
At trial, Fouquet defended himself well. Though he was found guilty,
he was sentenced to banishment rather than prison or death. Unusually,
Louis used his royal judicial powers to change the sentence.
Fouquet would spend the rest of his life in solitary
(31:52):
confinement at the Chilling peniaral prison. He could not take
any exercise, and only after thirteen years was he permitted
to exchange any letters with his wife. He would never
be released and die at Pignon. As for Vertel, with
(32:14):
his master disgraced, he was forced into exile Abroad. Louis
began stripping Vaux for parts.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
He sees the.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Precious furniture that Vertel had selected, the tapestries and sculptures.
He even took the trees, shrubs, and orange blossom topiaries.
They would all make perfect additions to the magnificent palace
he was building for himself at Versailles. The court of
(32:45):
Louis the fourteenth revolved around the elaborate performance of respect
and friendship, but that decency was superficial, a thin veneer
of civility, manners, and etiquette masked cold indifference and unfathomable cruelty.
(33:14):
Have we really left that world behind? On the surface,
the intricate rituals and complex social rules of Louis the
Fourteenth Court seem archaic, even fantastical. But I think we
still codify and ritualize our behavior. Instead of at the
dining table. It's online. Complicated, often unwritten rules govern how
(33:42):
to frame posts on social media. Who to tag alike
can be a genuine display of appreciation, but it can
equally be purely for show a signal to the wider
social media audience that one user is loyal to another
and a like is not at all the same as
a thumbs up to people over the age of thirty.
(34:05):
The thumbs up is generally positive, but I've just discovered
that gen z can interpret the thumbs up as sarcastic,
even passive aggressive. The rules are inconsistent. There are traps everywhere.
Online life, too, is precarious. Social media forms a kind
(34:27):
of human stock exchange. It encourages us to surveil and
moderate each other, but it also invites hyper awareness about
how we present ourselves and unremitting performance. Missteps can result
in social exile. Ten years pass, Francois Votel is back
(34:56):
in France with a new master, the Prince of Conde.
Two thousand guests are attending the Chateau de Chantalie as
a party in honor of King Louis the fourteenth. This
is the celebration to mark the Prince of Conde's return
to royal favor, and to his horror, Vatel has just
(35:17):
realized that he's a few roasts. Short history doesn't record
exactly when Vertel made his way back to France or
what the journey was like for him, but after the
squelching of his former master, this opportunity to enter the
service of Conde must have felt like a lifeline. Perhaps
(35:38):
the Baron of Gourville is the link. He was friends
with the ill fated Nicola Fouquet, but like Vatel, he
now works for Conde. Vertel turns to Gourville. They cannot
bear this disgrace, He laments. The Maitre d'hotel is a
repository of his master's honor. His mission was to sate
(36:03):
the appetite of every guest at Chanty that evening, and
he has failed. Gourville does what he can to comfort Fortel.
After all, the evening has been spectacular so far. There's
no reasoning with him, so Gourville approaches Conde and explains
(36:27):
the situation. In fact, the Prince is very happy, and
he tells vatelso everything is extremely well conducted. Nothing could
be more admirable than his Majesty's supper. Do not perplex
yourself and all will be well. There's still the fireworks
(36:47):
display to impress the guests, and more feasts and entertainment
to come. Perhaps everyone will forget all about the shortfall
of this dinner. But then, calamity of calamities. The dazzling
and expensive display of fireworks Fortel has planned is a flop.
(37:08):
They go off as intended, but are shrouded in thick cloud.
No one can see them. By now, the matred Hotel
is a nervous wreck. He barely sleeps. At four o'clock
the next morning, Fortel is pacing the hallways and goes
(37:28):
to take delivery of that evening's dinner. It's a Friday,
so the party will eat fish that the supplier has
just two loads with him.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
What is this all? Fortell is aghast.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Two loads isn't nearly enough to feed two thousand hungry courtiers. Yes, Sir,
says the baffled supplier, unaware that Vertel has ordered fish
from several different seaports. The Vertel waits a little, ever
more distraught. A matred d'hotel who does not feed his
guests is hardly a matro hotel. No fish materialize. I
(38:12):
cannot outlive this disgrace, he tells Gourville. The Baron is
perplexed and merely laughs. Time passes, and fortunately several more
loads of fish arrive at Chantagnaue. Dinner is saved. But
where is Btel? He must receive the order take inventory
(38:37):
of these delicacies, but he's nowhere to be found. Betel's
colleagues search high and low. One of them knocks on
the door to his apartments. Now answer, there's no sign
of him elsewhere, so they break the door down. Vttel
(39:01):
is lying in a pool of his own blood, Unable
to face yet more failure, He's taken his sword that
tribute to his honor, steadied it against his door frame,
and run himself through with it word tears through the palace.
(39:24):
Fatell has taken his own life. The message is dispatched
to Conde, who falls into despair and then relays the
whole sad tale to the King. Louis apparently regrets bringing
quite so many courtiers with him. The consensus is that
this terrible affair is the consequence of too nice a
(39:47):
sense of honor. Some blame Vtell, but others praise his courage. Still,
that's little time to linger on the death of the
poor Matre d'hotel. The show must go on. Gourville fills
in for his friend as best he can as master
(40:07):
of the week ends festivities. By all accounts, the party
is arousing success. The guests stroll among the daffodils, hunt
by moonlight, and dine in splendor. This script relied on
(40:49):
Carolyn C. Young's book Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver,
Stories of Dinner as a work of art. For a
full list of sources, see the show notes at Timharford
dot com. If you're suffering from emotional distress or having
suicidal thoughts, support is available, for example, from the nine
(41:12):
eight eight Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US and
from Samaritans in the UK. You'll find details in the
episode description. Cautionary Tales is written by me Tim Harford
with Andrew Wright, Alice Fines and Ryan Dilly. It's produced
by Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound design and
original music are the work of Pascal Wise. Additional sound
(41:35):
design is by Carlos San Juan at Brain Audio. Bend
ad Af Haffrey edited the scripts. The show also wouldn't
have been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Greta Cohne,
Sarah Nix, Eric Sandler, Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey, and Owen Miller.
You can support Cautionary Tales by joining my Cautionary Club
(41:58):
at patreon dot com slash Cautionary Club for exclusive bonus episodes, newsletters,
ad free listening, and other exciting perks. Alternatively, you can
join Pushkin Plus on our Apple show page for continued
benefits from our show and others across the Pushkin network.
Host
Tim Harford
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