ABSTRACT
Louis XV had been offended by an unwarranted suggestion coming from the Parlement of Rouen that he had sworn an oath to the ‘nation’ at his coronation. The following extract is taken from a rebuke that the king ordered to be read out before the Parlement of Paris on 3 March 1766. It became known as the Discourse of the Flagellation and would be treated almost as a doctrinal statement of absolutism for the remainder of his reign.
