In the reign of LouisXIV there were four chief councils, the Conseil d’État known unofficially as the Conseil d’en haut, the Conseil des dÉpÊches, the Conseil des finances, and the Conseil des parties.

Of these the Conseil d’État was by far the most important. It consisted of not less than four and not more than five members, nominated by the King at his pleasure without any formality. They were chosen from the Secretaries of State, the Controller-General and the Chef du Conseil des finances, but no office carried with it a seat in the council. They had the title of Ministre d’État, or briefly Ministre. The appointment was for life, but might be terminated by dismissal or resignation.

The following are the names of those who sat in the Conseil d’État from the death of Mazarin to the death of LouisXIV: Fouquet, Le Tellier, Lionne, Colbert, Villeroy pÈre, Pomponne, Louvois, Croissy, Le Peletier, Seignelay, Pontchartrain, Beauvillier, Torcy, Chamillart, Desmaretz, Voysin, Villeroy fils. Of these seventeen, eight were fathers and sons, viz. the two Villeroys, Le Tellier and Louvois, Colbert and Seignelay, Croissy and Torcy. Only three, the Villeroys and Beauvillier, were ducs et pairs, or even belonged to the old nobility.

The Council met in the presence of the King every Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, and every other Monday.

The Conseil des dÉpÊches, also presided over by the King, met once a fortnight. It was composed of the Chancellor, the Ministers, and the Secretaries of State.

The Conseil royal des finances, also presided over by the King, consisted of the Chancellor, the Chef du Conseil des finances, the Controller-General, and two councillors. The Conseil des parties, also called the Conseil privÉ, sat, not in the royal apartments, but in the Palais de justice. It was usually presided over, not by the King, but by the Chancellor, and was composed of thirty conseillers d’État and over eighty masters of requests. It was the supreme judicial and administrative body of the kingdom.

(See A. de Boislisle, Les Conseils sous LouisXIV, Appendices to vols. IV.-VII. of his edition of Saint-Simon’s Memoirs, and separately, 1901.)

2. The Secretaries of State.

The four Secretaries of State divided between them the administration of the Provinces. In addition each had his special department. These were four—Foreign Affairs, War, the King’s Household and the Navy, and the Protestants (La Religion prÉtendue rÉformÉe), of which the last became less and less important.