Union Académique Internationale

The Précis du siècle de Louis XV is an account of Voltaire’s own world. His sources are the memoirs of leading military or political figures, many known to him personally, the wide range of archives and state papers to which he had access as historiographe de France, what he reads in the press, and what he picks up in conversation. We have moved from Voltaire historian to Voltaire the shrewd eye-witness, writing with vivacity of what he has seen and heard.

In this volume, the war of Austrian succession concludes with the victory of Maria Theresa, and France and England continue to skirmish in the global Seven Years War. Voltaire then turns his attention to French domestic politics and the attempted assassination of the king by Damiens, in the context of the struggle between the crown and the parlement.

Contributors: Janet Godden, James Hanrahan, Ruggero Sciuto

TABLE OF CONTENTS Précis du siècle de Louis XV, ch.17-43 (Janet Godden and James Hanrahan) Appendices (Janet Godden and James Hanrahan):

1. Four chapters from 1756
2. 'D'un fait singulier concernant la littérature': W64G, ch.61
3. 'Avis des éditeurs': 69L1
4. Notes from the Kehl edition Représentation aux Etats de l’Empire (Ruggero Sciuto)