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Exceedingly rare ALS in French, signed “Racine,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 6.5 x 8.75, August 2, 1693. Handwritten letter in an exalted tone to François-Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, Marshal of Luxembourg, the victor of the battle of Neerwinden, recounting the enthusiasm of King Louis XIV and his court. Racine marvelously savors the flavors of military triumph and invites us alongside the Sun King, Madame de Maintenon, Nicolas Boileau, Count d'Artagnan, et al, in the salons of the Court.
In part (translated): "While waiting for us to be informed by you yourself of the details of your victory, please, Monseigneur, let me tell you that it is regarded here as the greatest and most heroic action that has taken place in war. You have conquered not only very brave and very seasoned enemies, but even enemies who fought in desperation, and who saw themselves in the necessity either of making an extraordinary defense or of seeing their entire army perish. I see well that this is what caused this obstinacy with which they disputed their entrenchments, and which obliged you to give seven battles for one. But, Monseigneur, I am scrupled to dare to speak before you of things so high above me.
I would do better to simply tell you what I heard the King himself say about it. He spoke of nothing else all yesterday. He repeated several times that it was a great, a glorious action. He seemed to be very grateful to you for having made his enemies respect his Infantry as much as they already respected his Cavalry. He praised you extremely and took pleasure in explaining your marches since the capture of Huy, and speaking of the number of dead, he said that these great actions were not carried out without cost to individuals. I even heard him say very heartily: 'I wish that such news would come to me from Germany.' Finally, he read four times in public the letter that you wrote to him through M. d'Artagnan, as noble in its simplicity as beautiful as the action itself.
Madame de Maintenon, among others, seemed very touched by it, and praised it extremely. I memorized it and charmed Madame la Princesse de Conti yesterday and Mr. Despréaux [Nicolas Boileau] today, who claims like me that history should not lose a syllable of it. All those who were at Marly that day, I even say the most avid praisers, exclaimed as much as His Majesty on the greatness of this action, and I was quite pleased to see your enemies defeated as well as those of the King. I am sending you a letter from Mr. le Comte de Toulouse, who did me the honor of choosing me from among all your servants to entrust it to me. It is accompanied by that of Mr. d'Ô, his Governor. Mr. de Cavoye told me to tell you that your victories were becoming too frequent and were exhausting his eloquence, that you needed to give him time to breathe and regain his wit.
I forgot to tell you that the King told Mr. Prince in front of everyone that you had saved Mr. Duke's life by making him take up arms against his will. You can well imagine that His Majesty said many other things that I could not have heard. But, whatever the case, I can assure you that I have never seen him so happy. He is currently in just anxiety about what will have happened in Germany, and God grant, as he himself said, that the news be as good from that quarter as that which came to him from you. Forgive such a long letter for the joy that you have caused me, and for the extreme interest that I take in your glory which seems every year to be unable to grow any more and which nevertheless grows every year." In fine condition, with a few stray ink splotches.
It is worth noting the exceptional rarity of Jean Racine's signed letters. Beyond the donation made by his youngest son to the Bibliothèque du Roi in 1756, very few of his autograph letters are known. The letter presented here is one of three letters from Racine to Marshal Luxembourg long considered lost. About these three letters, Jean Lesaulnier writes in his publication of the Correspondence of Jean Racine: 'Kept together perhaps in the family of the marshal, they were probably put up for sale later. The publication of Eugène Minoret, who revealed them to us in 1884, seems to have been kept under wraps for nearly one hundred and thirty years. Since that date, in fact, the three letters from Racine to Luxembourg have never been commented on, or even listed.' (pp. 430-431).
The recipient, François-Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, Duke of Piney-Luxembourg (1628-1695), was made Marshal of France in 1675. Considered one of Louis XIV's most brilliant war leaders, he also remains in military history under his nickname, the 'Upholsterer of Notre-Dame,' because of the large number of enemy flags taken by his troops on the battlefields and decorating the nave and choir of the Paris Cathedral. Under his command, the French army won the victory of Neerwinden on July 29, 1693, against the armies of the King of England, William III of Orange-Nassau, during the War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697). It was this last victory, announced to King Louis XIV by Pierre de Montesquiou d'Artagnan (1640-1725) that gave rise to the exalted tone of Racine's long letter testifying to the Marshal of the enthusiasm of the King and the Court.
Having become Louis XIV's historiographer in 1677, alongside his friend Nicolas Boileau, Racine then put his marvelous pen at the service of royal power under the idea that "history should not lose a syllable" of Marshal Luxembourg's triumph.
Provenance: Antoine Eugène Minoret (1816-1891) — President Robert Schuman (1886-1963; his sale, Precious autographs composing the collection of President Robert Schuman , Paris, March 4 and 5, 1965, experts Cornuau and Castaing, no. 250, acquired by Pierre Berès for 19,249 francs)
Bibliography: Jean Racine, Correspondance, ed by J. Lesaulnier, Paris, 2017, n° 138 — AE Minoret, Three unpublished letters from Jean Racine (1693), Paris, 1884
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