ABSTRACT
T he architect o f French pre-em inence after the peace o f the Pyrenees was surely Cardinal M azarin, who conceived and built the imposing edifice of g randeur that Louis X IV would inhabit and enlarge. His patronage o f G erm an border states after 1648 m ade the kingdom a ‘G erm an’ power to be reckoned with. His influence over the king of Sweden forced the latter to come to term s with his enemies in northern Europe in 1661. French covert military aid to Portugal kept that insurgent kingdom in the field against Spain until it concluded a favourable peace in 1668. M azarin ’s shelter and support for the English S tuart dynasty7 m ade Charles II a francophile after his restoration in 1661, dependent upon his cousin Louis’ financial largesse for most o f his reign. England becam e a satellite kingdom in foreign policy despite its anti-Catholic leanings. M azarin was especially careful to enhance French power in Italy, expanding the hold over Piedm ont (guaranteed by the fortress o f Pinerolo) to include other states. M arriages were one traditional tool o f such diplomacy, such as that o f V ictor Am adeus I with Louis’ aunt M arieChristine. In 1655 the heir to the duchy o f M odena, Alfonso d ’Este, m arried M azarin’s own niece, L aura M artinozzi, who becam e regent in 1663. Diplomats m ade a similar m atch between Prince Cosimo of Tuscany and M arguerite-Louise d ’Orleans, cousin o f the Sun King. Each wedding brought scores o f French courtiers and their suites to Italian capitals. Simultaneously, the great wigs and brightly-coloured apparel o f the French aristocracy displaced the m ore solemn ‘Spanish’ dem eanour o f those courts.
