Paris (pp 558–576)

In a stable at a grand Parisian estate, Jack Shaftoe recovers from his wounds in a pile of manure while John Churchill prepares to infiltrate a masquerade ball.

“John Churchill stepped in on a tongue of light.” — A brilliant English soldier and statesman, John Churchill served as a trusted lieutenant to James II and later became the 1st Duke of Marlborough.

“if you hadn’t fucked the King’s mistress, he wouldn’t have sent you to Africa.” — Churchill’s real-life affair with Barbara Palmer, the Duchess of Cleveland and mistress to Charles II, allegedly led to his deployment to Tangier after the King caught him in her bedroom.

“Emmerdeur” — A French vulgarity for a “troublemaker,” used here as a pun on Jack’s disguise as a “shitter” or someone literally covered in filth.

“I’ve taken a sound, some would say stern, English bride: Sarah.” — Sarah Churchill was one of the most powerful women of the era, wielding immense political influence through her intimate friendship with the future Queen Anne.

“The duc de Bourbon hosted a dinner party. Invited a certain eminent writer.” — The Duke of Bourbon was a member of the French royalty; the anecdote regarding a snuff-box refers to a historical prank where he allegedly killed the poet Jean Santeul by spiking his wine with tobacco.

“Imp of the Perverse” — A metaphor for the self-destructive human urge to do exactly what one should not, a concept later famously explored by Edgar Allan Poe.

“Turkish innovation involving sheep-intestines” — A reference to early condoms, which were crafted from animal caeca to provide protection against syphilis and prevent pregnancy.

“doddering Huguenots, most likely” — Huguenots were French Protestants who faced escalating persecution under Louis XIV, culminating in the 1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes which forced many into exile or the galleys.

“whole trees bursting into flames in the Harz” — The Harz Mountains in Germany are a center of mining and folklore, famously associated with the witches’ sabbath on Walpurgis Night.

“French people had conquered England at least one time, and thereby confused the English language” — The Norman Conquest of 1066 introduced French as the language of the elite, creating the linguistic divide where Germanic words describe livestock (cow) and French words describe the meat (beef).

“Speaking in the zargon.” — Also known as Thieves’ Cant, this was a secret slang used by the criminal underworld to communicate without being understood by the law.

“cover the V branded on his thumb” — Judicial branding was a common punishment; a ‘V’ marked a man as a Vagabond, alerting authorities to his status as a persistent beggar.

“Hôtel d’Arcachon” — Stephenson’s annotation: ‘In Paris in 1685, Hôtel meant a private residential compound owned and occupied by a noble family; basically, it is their power base in the capital.’

“A hundred sperm whales must have given up their bodily fluids to light the lanterns” — Spermaceti is a waxy substance from the head of a sperm whale that produced the brightest, cleanest-burning light available in the 17th century.

“fragrance of honey-scented Mauritanian beeswax” — Unlike the smoky, foul-smelling tallow used by the poor, beeswax candles were a luxury of the ultra-wealthy.

“naval frigate all speckled with fleurs-de-lis” — The fleur-de-lis was the heraldic symbol of the French monarchy, used here to decorate a model of a ship of the line.

“Wreckage of Dutch and English ships washed up on shores all around” — This fountain commemorates French victories in the Franco-Dutch War, a conflict that established France as the dominant military power in Europe.

“little knots of Puritans, Færy-Queens, Persians, and Red Indians” — At a masquerade ball, the nobility dressed in “fancy-dress” to temporarily escape social rigidities through exotic or allegorical costumes.

“fish-market at Les Halles” — Les Halles was the massive, central food market of Paris, famous for its distinct culture and the legendary strength of its porters.

“clasped both hands to her black-spotted face” — Fashionable women wore beauty marks made of silk or velvet to accentuate their features or conceal scars from smallpox.

““pour les Invalides,” then backed away curtseying” — Les Invalides was a massive hospital and retirement home for veterans established by Louis XIV, funded in part by charitable collections.

“pirates of Barbary and Malta” — While the Barbary pirates were Muslim, the Knights of Malta were a Catholic military order that engaged in similar state-sanctioned raiding against Ottoman ships.

“one hand fingering an astrolabe” — An astrolabe was a sophisticated inclinometer used by navigators to determine latitude by measuring the altitude of celestial bodies.

“examining the flintlock mechanism on a pistol” — The flintlock was the cutting-edge firearm technology of the late 17th century, replacing the less reliable matchlock.

“King Louis XIV of France” — Known as the Sun King, Louis XIV transformed France into a centralized absolute monarchy and made his court at Versailles the envy of Europe.

“The East Wind had been split open… It led straight to the French Navy” — Baroque ceiling paintings often used forced perspective and allegory to merge the heavens with the political triumphs of the monarch.

“a crowd of ladies who were doing a sort of tarantella” — The tarantella is a frantic Italian dance once believed to be a hysterical cure for the venomous bite of a spider.

“rotten fish” — Stephenson’s annotation: “This is one of those too-weird-to-make-up things. It seems that the duc de Vendome really did dine on rotten fish, and died of it.”

“crevices between planks had been sealed with oakum” — Oakum consists of old rope fibers treated with tar, used to caulk the seams of ships to make them watertight.

“the bulwark of the Bastille rising above some rooftops” — The Bastille was a fortress-prison in Paris that served as a grim symbol of royal power and the King’s ability to imprison subjects without trial.

Original annotations by: stephenson