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The Queen's Embroiderer: A True Story of Paris, Lovers, Swindlers, and the First Stock Market Crisis
From the author of How Paris Became Paris, a sweeping history of high finance, the origins of high fashion, and a pair of star-crossed lovers in 18th-century France. Paris, 1719. The stock market is surging and the world's first millionaires are buying everything in sight. Against this backdrop, two families, the Magoulets and the Chevrots, rose to prominence only to plummet in the first stock market crash. One family built its name on the burgeoning financial industry, the other as master embroiderers for Queen Marie-Thérèse and her husband, King Louis XIV. Both patriarchs were ruthless money-mongers, determined to strike it rich by arranging marriages for their children.But in a Shakespearean twist, two of their children fell in love. To remain together, Louise Magoulet and Louis Chevrot fought their fathers' rage and abuse. A real-life heroine, Louise took on Magoulet, Chevrot, the police, an army regiment, and the French Indies Company to stay with the man she loved.Following these families from 1600 until the Revolution of 1789, Joan DeJean recreates the larger-than-life personalities of Versailles, where displaying wealth was a power game; the sordid cells of the Bastille; the Louisiana territory, where Frenchwomen were forcibly sent to marry colonists; and the legendary "Wall Street of Paris," Rue Quincampoix, a world of high finance uncannily similar to what we know now. The Queen's Embroiderer is both a story of star-crossed love in the most beautiful city in the world and a cautionary tale of greed and the dangerous lure of windfall profits. And every bit of it is true.
- GenresHistoryNonfictionFrance
383 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2018
49 people are currently reading
474 people want to read
About the author
Joan DeJean
29 books51 followersJoan DeJean has been Trustee Professor at the University of Pennsylvania since 1988. She previously taught at Yale and at Princeton. She is the author of eleven books on French literature, history, and material culture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including most recently How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City (2014); The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual--and the Modern Home Began (2009); The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour (2005). She lives in Philadelphia and, when in Paris, around the corner from the house where, in 1612, this story began.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 8, 2021
Incredibly well researched and very nicely written, it's a hugely complex story that clearly took a lot of time and effort to present.
This book falls down in only one real way, which I'm not sure the author could have done anything about- there are too many moving parts, which is fairly typical for histories of this period. As a general reading book though it was a bit much to keep track of.
This book falls down in only one real way, which I'm not sure the author could have done anything about- there are too many moving parts, which is fairly typical for histories of this period. As a general reading book though it was a bit much to keep track of.
February 1, 2022
Basically this book is about greed, plain and simple. Although there is really nothing simple about greed especially when it ruins lives and stretches across generations. Focusing on the Magoulet's who do possess the title of Queen's Embroiderer - they paid for it and was able to hand it down even when the aforementioned queen was long dead. It's a notable position especially since the fashionable nobility and royalty have to have massive amounts of gold and silver embroidery on their coats, gowns, horse blankets, tapestries and so on.
Then there is the other family that will become involved in this situation who basically had one son each generation and all of them were called Antoine Chevrot. These two families clash when Magoulet's daughter Marie Louise and Chevrot's Son Louis (get used to it, everyone seems to have the same or very similar names) fall in love and neither parent is willing to have their child marry - at least not the one they fell in love with. The solution - accuse the pregnant Marie Louise as being a prostitute and have her committed to prison and eventually transported to the 'islands' of Louisiana. Of course, there is also the side benefit that if Jean's daughter was gone, he could confiscate her inheritance from her mother. Dad already spend it and actually condemned two of his youngest children to the workhouse when one died so that he could keep their money. Anyway, Marie Louise managed to escape and return to her lover.
Meanwhile, economist John Law managed to convince the king to allow him to not only create an Indies Company in which investors bought stock in the mineral wealth of Louisiana which Law convinced everyone was silver. Law also managed to get permission to create a royal bank which used paper money in order to cover the reduced availability of metal bullion. In truth, several people did make millions from their investment while most others went broke. The American dot.com bubble took place over a number of years before collapsing. It took the Indies Company from start to dramatic finale only a matter of months.
Seriously, it reminded me of the hyperinflation that struck the Weimar Republic that de-stabilized not only the economy and derailed multi-levels of German society. And both of the Queen's Embroiderers were unscrupulous, imposters, tricksters, con artists and thieves. And Chevrots were basically no better.
2022-025
Then there is the other family that will become involved in this situation who basically had one son each generation and all of them were called Antoine Chevrot. These two families clash when Magoulet's daughter Marie Louise and Chevrot's Son Louis (get used to it, everyone seems to have the same or very similar names) fall in love and neither parent is willing to have their child marry - at least not the one they fell in love with. The solution - accuse the pregnant Marie Louise as being a prostitute and have her committed to prison and eventually transported to the 'islands' of Louisiana. Of course, there is also the side benefit that if Jean's daughter was gone, he could confiscate her inheritance from her mother. Dad already spend it and actually condemned two of his youngest children to the workhouse when one died so that he could keep their money. Anyway, Marie Louise managed to escape and return to her lover.
Meanwhile, economist John Law managed to convince the king to allow him to not only create an Indies Company in which investors bought stock in the mineral wealth of Louisiana which Law convinced everyone was silver. Law also managed to get permission to create a royal bank which used paper money in order to cover the reduced availability of metal bullion. In truth, several people did make millions from their investment while most others went broke. The American dot.com bubble took place over a number of years before collapsing. It took the Indies Company from start to dramatic finale only a matter of months.
Seriously, it reminded me of the hyperinflation that struck the Weimar Republic that de-stabilized not only the economy and derailed multi-levels of German society. And both of the Queen's Embroiderers were unscrupulous, imposters, tricksters, con artists and thieves. And Chevrots were basically no better.
2022-025
July 18, 2018
I really enjoy this author (excellent researching and writing skills) and will be seeking out her other work. This book surrounds two noted families who did couture and embroiderer for the aristocracy and, at its peak, for Louis XV and his court and armies. The Magoulets and the Chevrots rose to prominence only to plummet in the first stock market crash in Paris. Both patriarchs were ruthless money spenders and mongers, determined to strike it rich through the marriage of their children.
Following these families from 1600, the author follows the sordid cells and Bastille, women sent to colonize Louisiana against their ill, star crossed love and the dangerous lure of windfall profit....and every bit of it is true. It is amazing what she found in the Archives of Paris. Several plagues, droughts and freezes hit France during this time, driving people to pestilence and starvation with masses dying.
Louise Magoulet was treated so shabbily and abusively by her own father, mainly because he had spent his deceased wife's dowry, which was legally dispenses to her living children when they reached age 25. The father having spent the money toward self-satisfactions, knew this and tried to kill off his children or dispense with them through geographic transport so he would never have to answer to his crimes.
I'll be reading her other printed work and am recommending this book to a friend who is a historian.
Following these families from 1600, the author follows the sordid cells and Bastille, women sent to colonize Louisiana against their ill, star crossed love and the dangerous lure of windfall profit....and every bit of it is true. It is amazing what she found in the Archives of Paris. Several plagues, droughts and freezes hit France during this time, driving people to pestilence and starvation with masses dying.
Louise Magoulet was treated so shabbily and abusively by her own father, mainly because he had spent his deceased wife's dowry, which was legally dispenses to her living children when they reached age 25. The father having spent the money toward self-satisfactions, knew this and tried to kill off his children or dispense with them through geographic transport so he would never have to answer to his crimes.
I'll be reading her other printed work and am recommending this book to a friend who is a historian.
June 4, 2019
Superb history. Excellent resource, but not what I would pick for a general read. I wish that, throughout the book, the author would have highlighted the small part of an enormous family tree, that was being addressed in that chapter. I - frankly - got lost. I am an engineer, and not a historian, and I am not well versed in studying chronologies through generations. I greatly admired the detail and rigor of this work, and some of the ignoble aspects of these people were quite shocking. The writing was excellent. But, I could not finish because I kept getting lost, and frankly felt a bit foolish that I could not keep up.
May 9, 2019
It was what I expected but it was very interesting. I think the title is a bit misleading It the story of two families of artisans during an interesting period of French history. I kept envisioning it as a TV miniseries. The author does well in ringing history to life and I am looking forward to reading the other books she’s written.
February 17, 2019
Not quite what I expected though this time due to the way the blurb has been written.
According to the blurb the book is the real story of star-crossed lovers from families at odds with each other in 18th century Paris.
I would describe it more as a fascinating glimpse into the history of non-aristocratic people’s lives and how they changed and their fortunes rose & fell, told through a close study of two families through several generations.
Fascinating & absorbing but not what the blurb seemed to promise, so I spent a good portion of the book wondering when we were going to get to the “main” story. If the blurb had been written to more accurately reflect the contents of the book (rather than, as it seems, to simply grab attention & get people to buy it) I would have enjoyed it more & felt less frustrated.
Less frustrated, that is, not entirely unfrustrated. Unfortunately, I also found the structure of the narrative difficult to follow. This is perhaps because I’m more used to reading historical fiction than non-fiction, but I would have found this much easier to follow if it were written in a linear timeline rather than following one thread of the story then jumping back in time to start following a different thread across the same time period. I struggled to get my head around which events in one family’s life corresponded to those of the other family. And it really didn’t help that one of the families consisted of several generations of men named after each other with no way to easily distinguish one Antoine from his father or son!
With all those whinges, I expect you’ll be surprised that I did, ultimately, love this book. As much as it frustrated me in so many ways, I learned so much from it. From the lavish indulgences & luxury goods of the court to the seemingly thoughtless cruelty of how many of the children were treated, I really felt I gained a new understanding of just how foreign the past is - even such relatively recent past of just a few centuries ago.
I still don’t understand the stock market though.
According to the blurb the book is the real story of star-crossed lovers from families at odds with each other in 18th century Paris.
I would describe it more as a fascinating glimpse into the history of non-aristocratic people’s lives and how they changed and their fortunes rose & fell, told through a close study of two families through several generations.
Fascinating & absorbing but not what the blurb seemed to promise, so I spent a good portion of the book wondering when we were going to get to the “main” story. If the blurb had been written to more accurately reflect the contents of the book (rather than, as it seems, to simply grab attention & get people to buy it) I would have enjoyed it more & felt less frustrated.
Less frustrated, that is, not entirely unfrustrated. Unfortunately, I also found the structure of the narrative difficult to follow. This is perhaps because I’m more used to reading historical fiction than non-fiction, but I would have found this much easier to follow if it were written in a linear timeline rather than following one thread of the story then jumping back in time to start following a different thread across the same time period. I struggled to get my head around which events in one family’s life corresponded to those of the other family. And it really didn’t help that one of the families consisted of several generations of men named after each other with no way to easily distinguish one Antoine from his father or son!
With all those whinges, I expect you’ll be surprised that I did, ultimately, love this book. As much as it frustrated me in so many ways, I learned so much from it. From the lavish indulgences & luxury goods of the court to the seemingly thoughtless cruelty of how many of the children were treated, I really felt I gained a new understanding of just how foreign the past is - even such relatively recent past of just a few centuries ago.
I still don’t understand the stock market though.
December 13, 2022
The Queen’s Embroiderer: A True Story of Paris, Lovers, Swindlers, and the First Stock Market Crisis, by Joan DeJean. Bloomsbury Publishing, New York, 2018. Hardback, some black/white and full colour illustrations, extensive notes, list of archival documents consulted, and bibliography, pp. 376, USD 30.
In 1720 a Parisian nobleman, newly wealthy from financial speculation, paid 900 livres to have a suit of clothes embroidered in silver. A year later another nobleman paid 1,390 livres to have a single outfit embroidered in gold. For context, rent on an apartment in Paris at that time cost between 100 to 500 livres a year. Embroidery was big business in 18th century Paris.
In 1677 Jean Magoulet was named the Embroiderer to Queen Marie-Therese, wife of King Louis XIV.
He used his skill in embroidery, and in designing haute couture, to advance his son’s position in life—and to speculate in new construction projects and trade in the New World. He also, in order to avert financial ruin, had his own daughter forcibly deported to New Orleans, where French women accused of prostitution were transported. This meticulously researched book makes for gripping reading. It is not a history of embroidery per se but will interest historians of the period, especially those researching trade and economics.
In 1720 a Parisian nobleman, newly wealthy from financial speculation, paid 900 livres to have a suit of clothes embroidered in silver. A year later another nobleman paid 1,390 livres to have a single outfit embroidered in gold. For context, rent on an apartment in Paris at that time cost between 100 to 500 livres a year. Embroidery was big business in 18th century Paris.
In 1677 Jean Magoulet was named the Embroiderer to Queen Marie-Therese, wife of King Louis XIV.
He used his skill in embroidery, and in designing haute couture, to advance his son’s position in life—and to speculate in new construction projects and trade in the New World. He also, in order to avert financial ruin, had his own daughter forcibly deported to New Orleans, where French women accused of prostitution were transported. This meticulously researched book makes for gripping reading. It is not a history of embroidery per se but will interest historians of the period, especially those researching trade and economics.
January 22, 2018
Two patriarchs with a love of money do everything they can to keep their respective off-spring from marrying for love. How did they reach that point?
This book is heavy with detail not only about the Magoulet and Chevrot families but also the stock market crash of the time. It would be difficult to separate one from the other, but it did make for a tedious read at times. The collapse of the currency interested me only as far as the effect it had on the citizens at the time.
Jean II Magoulet held my interest the most. As a child, his father sent him away to keep control of the inheritance. Once he returned, Jean II became ruthless in exacting his revenge and then repeated the example his father had set.
I would have liked to learn more about Louise Magoulet, but I did appreciate the author kept to the facts that have survived the centuries.
For readers who enjoy a real-life Romeo and Juliet tragedy, I would definitely recommend this one.
I received a free copy from NetGalley for reviewing purposes.
This book is heavy with detail not only about the Magoulet and Chevrot families but also the stock market crash of the time. It would be difficult to separate one from the other, but it did make for a tedious read at times. The collapse of the currency interested me only as far as the effect it had on the citizens at the time.
Jean II Magoulet held my interest the most. As a child, his father sent him away to keep control of the inheritance. Once he returned, Jean II became ruthless in exacting his revenge and then repeated the example his father had set.
I would have liked to learn more about Louise Magoulet, but I did appreciate the author kept to the facts that have survived the centuries.
For readers who enjoy a real-life Romeo and Juliet tragedy, I would definitely recommend this one.
I received a free copy from NetGalley for reviewing purposes.
June 19, 2018
History of 2 families from 1600s to 1700s in France. These were tradespeople who earned their living working for nobles and the court. All is taken from detailed public record filings so is historically accurate and impeccably researched from deep archives. Author also goes into much detail about the rise of the French stock market and trading of paper currency which were started during this period. The French loved to borrow money and to sue people for unpaid debts and so financial records exist for even the smallest transaction. Through these public filings the author traces the stories of two families who rose and fell and rose and fell again. Men who were tradesmen, and evil controlling con artists. Women who were sent to prison, and who lived to tell their story.
December 23, 2018
I found this book to be a real slog. It is well researched and well written but the genealogy was a challenge to keep straight. Too much back and forth among the generations.
Lots of interesting details of the period, mostly from 1690 to 1720's, but I am really surprised that I finished the book because it was so tedious and slow going.
Lots of interesting details of the period, mostly from 1690 to 1720's, but I am really surprised that I finished the book because it was so tedious and slow going.
July 27, 2018
This was one of the best books I've ever read. If you like history, a story based on real people, and above all a well written book, this is the book for you. Bravo to Joan DeJean for such a wonderful book.
May 1, 2018
Historical non fiction at its best from feuding families the beginnings of the world of Paris Fashion all fashionistas will love this tona stock market crash.Absoluteky fascinating read,
October 17, 2018
Really, really good with a lot of "stranger than fiction" twists and turns.
December 5, 2020
Little bit jumpy and well way, way more historical detail then I had thought I was getting into. I got lost, a lot, but I still found this pretty enjoyable overall.
August 8, 2022
Boring, very hard to get into.
January 19, 2023
A little bogged down with so many similar names, but once I moved past that, a very interesting read about Paris.
March 16, 2024
Fantastic historical read
April 12, 2024
This book is for those that are absolute history lovers. It does show Paris at the time and just exactly how they handled all the money they were making; just by living in Paris.
September 2, 2025
Interesting but very difficult to keep all the people straight and way too many dates. I skimmed the last 100 pages as I ultimately got bored with it all.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews