Versailles at the time of Louis XIV

"Versailles à l'époque de Louis XIV"
French C1 writing exercise

Learn about life at King Louis XIV's Palace of Versailles.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "had you [done something], you would have [done]", "to step into [a place]", "the etiquette (court)", "to border on [something]", "theatrical", "a hunting lodge", "a statement of absolute power", "to make sure that + [Subjonctif]", "high nobility", "to be beholden to a king", "to neuter [something]", "a lingering flicker of rebellion", "feodal", "a duke", "[someone's] social standing", "to hinge on whether [something happens]", "a candlestick", "to reach [something]", "the twilight of a reign", "a sword-wielding elite (i.e. warring lords)", "refined [people]", "a sycophant", "to chase a favour", "fleeting", "relentless [thing]", "aesthetically peerless", "to sow the seeds (exp.)", "to come to a head (exp.)".

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

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How the test works

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Had you stepped into the Marble Court in 1682, you would have discovered an etiquette so rigid that it bordered on the theatrical. Louis XIV, who had turned his father's hunting lodge into a statement of absolute power, made sure that the high nobility remained beholden to his person, which effectively neutered any lingering flicker of feudal rebellion. Within the Hall of Mirrors and corridors of the grandiose palace, a duke's social standing might entirely hinge on whether he was chosen to sit by the King and Queen, the mere "privilege of the stool", or to hold the royal candlestick during the "Grand Lever", the King's rising from his bed. When the Sun King reached the twilight of his reign, he had managed to transform the sword-wielding elite into a class of refined sycophants, who were forever chasing a fleeting royal favour. This relentless pageantry, though aesthetically peerless, sowed the seeds of a resentment that would eventually come to a head a century later, during the French Revolution.

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