First king’s first doctor – Wikipedia

First king’s first doctor
Coat of arms of the Paris faculty of medicine ( xvii It is – xviii It is centuries)
Portrait of Antoine Portal, last first doctor of the king
Title	Archiatre
client	King of France
Current	since XVI It is century
Official residence	Versailles
Remuneration	3,000 pounds
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The First king’s first doctor, or Archiatre , is under the old regime in France the head of all health officers at the service of the monarch. He has the supreme authority for the organization of medicine throughout the kingdom.

Description of the load [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The Archiature between every day in the King’s Chamber while he is still in bed and can, in certain circumstances, command the “King’s Mouth”, the Palais kitchens and the service of the Royal Table in the Department ^{[ first ]} . He is sworn in to the king ^{[ 2 ]} .

Associated charges [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The first doctor also accumulates the charges of superintendent of mineral waters and fountains of the kingdom, with therapeutic virtues. He is a superintendent of the royal garden of medicinal plants, in Paris. He controls “secret remedies”, that is to say the safety of drugs whose composition is jealously kept by his inventor, for lack of patents. These charges are essential to denounce the charlatans.

François de Lassone (1717-1788), himself the first doctor of the king, thus describes the offices devoted to this charge: “Wanting to lighten the weight of the attributions of which the first king’s first doctor was then invested, such as examining secret remedies, the burden of superintendent of mineral waters, the health police, the study of epidemics, etc., feeling that So many questions and so important could not be examined and judged by a single man, provoked the formation of a society which was to take care of it with the suitable set and maturity. This was the origin of the Royal Society of Medicine. »» ^{[ 3 ]}

History of the Royal Society of Medicine Three allegorical figures (the zeal of the public good, observation and study) contemplate the portrait of Louis XVI

Remuneration [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

From the reign of Henri IV, the first doctor belongs to the elite of the kingdom’s dignitaries, he is one of the twelve officers to reach more than 3,000 l. t. Doctors, on the other hand, affect 1,800 l. t. ^{[ 4 ] , [ 5 ]} . Under Louis XIV, the first doctor affects forty-five thousand pounds a year, and does not pay taxes. Added to this are the fees for consultations taken outside the royal charge.

Ennoblement [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The first doctor’s burden ensures the descendants a nobility. The first doctor has a state councilor certificate and, since the edict of June 17, 1605 ^{[ 6 ]} , the superintendence of mineral waters. The letters patent of August 1778 entrust him with the presidency of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Alphabetical list [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Chronological list [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• Paul Delaunay, The Parisian medical world in the eighteenth century , Jules Rousset bookstore, Paris, 1906, p.  93-165, XI-XVII ( read online )