Abstract:
This article examines two French printed sources that reflect on the Spanish monarchy under Philip V (1700–1746): Gaspard Réal de Curban’s La Science du Gouvernement (1760–1764) and the Mémoires of the abbé de Montgon (1748–1753). The former seeks to label and classify Philip V’s realm through a broad comparative approach encompassing public law, the law of nations, and what would today be described as political science. The latter, by contrast, offers a detailed (subjective and lively) ex post narrative of court intrigues and secret diplomacy between Versailles and San Ildefonso. While the former situates well-known episodes -such as Ripperda’s extraction from William Stanhope’s residence- or institutions -such as the organisation of colonial trade- against the backdrop of the developing European law of nations, the latter reveals the lived reality of a transnational court society, in which female actors and confessors could weave together multiple strands of influence.
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