"Try to become as I want you to be": overseeing the military career of a prince

Louis XIV, King of France (1638-1715). Autograph letter signed.

€ 30,000.00

Insightful letter to his son Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse, during the Nine Years' War: "Je suis content de lestat que vous m’avez envoié de la Cav[ale]rie je voy avec plesir la quantité de beaux rég[imen]ts qu il y a il faut travailler a remettre les autres cest ce que vous devés bien mettre dans la teste des officiers. Jay veu avec plesir la petite carte que vous mavés envoiée ou tous les camps d’Aht [!] et de ses environs sont marqués. Continués a faire tout ce que vous devés et a voir tout ce que vous pourrés pour essaier de devenir tel que je vous desire" ("I am happy with the condition that you have sent me of the cavalry. It is with pleasure that I see the quantity of beautiful regiments that there are, work needs to be done in order to fix the others. That is what you must get into the heads of the officers. I saw with pleasure the small map that you sent me, where all the camps of Aht and is surroundings are marked. Continue to do all that you must and see to everything that you can in order to try to become as I want you to be").

The Siege of Ath in present-day Belgium lasted from 15 May 1697 to 5 June, when the allied garrison capitulated to the French. The French commander Vauban was praised for the efficiency and speed at which his troops captured the eight-bastion fortress that Vauban himself had designed 25 years earlier. This feat put great pressure on the allies to negotiate the treaty of Ryswick that would end the war on 30 October 1697.

Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon (1678-1737) was the last legitimate son of Louis XIV. At the age of five he was named Admiral of France, and following his participation in the Nine Years' War on the Spanish Netherlands front, he rose to the honorary rank of lieutenant general of the King’s armies. In his actual military career, Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon successfully commanded the French fleet in the Battle of Málaga (1704). During the regency he served as minister of the Navy.

With minor browning and tears to the folds.