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There is no doubt, as there was none in the minds of his contemporaries, that Louis XIV was exceptionally skilled at using the whole panoply of ceremonial at Versailles, what the Duc de Saint-Simon called the mécanique of the court. Norbert Elias’ work, The Court Society, pioneered a detailed study of Louis XIV’s carefully calculated strategy "of regulation, consolidation and supervision..." which became, in that king’s hands, "a highly flexible instrument of power".

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