'A troupe of mercenary writers': the publicists in Chancellor Maupeou's service, 1771–1774.

This article examines the government-led propaganda campaign orchestrated by Chancellor Maupeou during Louis XV’s reign in 1771 to justify his reforms against the parlements, focusing on the key publicists involved. Central figures in the campaign included Maupeou’s personal secretary Charles-François Lebrun, François Marin (secrétaire général of the Librairie), and the lesser-known but influential Abbé Raymond Mary, who gained prominence through his writings and court connections, notably with the comtesse du Barry and the duc d’Aiguillon. The campaign involved about twenty writers, including Voltaire and Simon-Nicolas Henri Linguet, who produced a diverse array of pamphlets challenging parlementaire constitutional claims and defending royal absolutism. The article highlights the political motivations, social backgrounds, and roles of these publicists, emphasizing the Abbé Mary’s rise from obscurity to a key propagandist rewarded with official positions and pensions. Overall, the study sheds light on the complex interplay of loyalty, ambition, and ideology behind the monarchy’s efforts to control public opinion during a critical moment of political conflict in late ancien régime France.