Letter - Account of reports from Charles-Jean-Baptiste Fleuriau d’Armenonville, Count of Morville, ambassador to The Hague during the Regency of Louis XV | McCord Museum

Letter

Account of reports from Charles-Jean-Baptiste Fleuriau d’Armenonville, Count of Morville, ambassador to The Hague during the Regency of Louis XV

Date Novembre 23, 1719 - November 6, 1720

Dimensions1 textual record ; 33.3 x 22 cm

ClassificationCommunication Objects - Documentary Objects - Other Documents

Origin France, Europe

Object NumberS001/A2.1,1.8

DivisionArchives - Textual Archives

CollectionStewart

Scope and ContentCharles-Jean-Baptiste Fleuriau d’Armenonville, Count of Morville (1686-1732) was ambassador to The Hague during the regency of Louis XV (1715-1723). The reports he wrote between November 23, 1719 and November 6, 1720 informed Philippe of Orléans, then regent to Louis XV, about ongoing negotiations between the major kingdoms of Europe. In 1719 France became involved in the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-1720), which pitted Spain against the archduchy of Austria, France, Britain and the Dutch Republic. Under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Spain had lost territories in Italy to the Habsburgs. Its attempts to regain these territories, which triggered the war, failed. The first group of reports by Morville reveal the difficulty in 1719 of convincing certain cities in the Dutch Republic to join the alliance, owing to important trade links with Spain. The cities finally ratified the agreement one by one. The second group of reports inform the regent about the final negotiations between the allies and Spain aimed at general acceptance of the terms of the 1718 Treaty of London, which confirmed those of the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. The war ended in The Hague on February 20, 1720, but negotiations between Austria and Spain were not over, and discussion of the treaty’s clauses continued for some time. A third group of reports indicates that some cities in the Dutch Republic were reluctant to sign the treaty, but by May 1720 all had finally conceded. The reports also mention the demand by the Dutch Republic that the Jesuits be expelled from its territory, Spain’s return of the asiento to England (as prior to 1713) and the election of the next grand pensionary, political leader of the Dutch Republic.

NotesSource of title: based on the nature of the document.

Physical description: laid paper; large folio sheets held together at the bottom by a string, some with the addition of a green silk ribbon top and bottom; 88 pages.

Language of the document : the document is in French.

General notes: the documents are not in chronological order.

Status

Not on view

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