This chapter discusses textile trading and smuggling in the mideighteenth century by using several invaluable and newly discovered resources. Following the economic difficulties arising from the wars during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), a series of reports, consular reports, and memoirs related to the markets of Spanish America were produced. 1 Charles Weiss (1844), in his L´Espagne depuis le règne de Philippe II jusqu´à l´avènement des Bourbons -which was translated into Spanish in 1846-for example, used the Mémoire du comte de Rébenac (1689) from the Manuscrits Français de la Bibliothèque du roi. Weiss first included 1 Some of these manuscripts are in the Foreign Affairs Archives, in Spain and France.

In his Siècle de Louis XIV (1752), Voltaire insisted several times on the importance of gifts made by the king, both in national affairs and in his relations with European countries. The savant called them the trademark of Louis XIV's century and wrote that what "gave him the most splendor in Europe was the generosity that had no model.. .. The presents made to foreign countries were so considerable that Viviani had a house built in Florence for the magnanimous gifts of Louis XIV. He put in golden letters on the entry: Aedes a deo datae, an allusion to the nickname Dieudonné [God-given] that the public had given to this prince at his birth." 1 The meaning given to the word "present" is important, because it emphasized the king's gesture of bestowing the gift. In his treatise of 1676, L'Ambassadeur et ses fonactions, Abraham de Wicquefort asserted that "the question of gifts is an important one." 2 In his Dictionnaire universel, published in 1690, Antoine Furetière defined the "present" as a "free gift," a "favor," a "recognition," that is to say, a "mark of esteem or of friendship," and the author illustrated this definition with the statement that "Kings make great presents to ambassadors," and that "one hardly approaches Oriental kings without offering them beautiful presents." The term comes from praesentia, "because one must give them into the hands of a person [who is] present." 3 Documenting the extraordinary extent and magnificence of the gifts given by Louis XIV is a manuscript held in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris. 4 "Receuil [sic] des présents faits par le Roy. En pierreries, meubles, argenterie et autres, depuis l'année 1662 jusque et compris l'année 1721" (Registry of the gifts made by the King in precious gems, furniture, silver and others, from the year 1662 up to and including the year 1721) (Figs. 1-4) is the first of a series in the archives that chronologically registers royal gifts. This series, classified as Mémoires et documents, France, Présents du roi, consists of sixty volumes that cover the period of the reigns of Louis XIV through Louis XVI. 5 The Mémoires et documents series is numerically one of the largest holdings in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to the Revolution, these documents were des

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Garde-robe de souverain et réseau international : l’exemple de la Bavière dans les années 1680 - À partir des années 1680, l’influence française en Europe en matière vestimentaire débouche sur un très vaste marché, dans lequel les agents étrangers et résidents envoyés en France jouent un rôle de premier plan. L’agent, ou «  résident », est l’intermédiaire privilégié, associé à la commande et à l’exportation «  d’articles de modes » vers son pays d’origine et son prince  : exportations de produits finis, de textiles, cosmétiques, accessoires, bijoux, perruques, mais aussi de main d’œuvre qualifiée (brodeurs, tailleurs, bijoutiers, etc.). L’agent se trouve sollicité par son prince afin de fournir à sa garde-robe les éléments nécessaires pour paraître à la mode et/ou «  moderne ». Il s’agit alors pour l’agent du prince de trouver les bons fournisseurs, de prévoir un budget, d’obtenir les passeports du roi, d’organiser les convoiements, les enregistrer sous douanes, les faire acheminer sans dommage, organiser la route… et d’attendre la satisfaction du destinataire et le paiement des factures par le trésorier. L’exemple de la Bavière, en suivant les traces de son résident, offre un éventail de sources exceptionnellement complet des années 1680-1689.

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