Régence

La Régence
Philippe with Marie-Thérèse de Parabère; Jean-Baptiste Santerre, 1716
Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans
In office 1 September 1715 – 15 February 1723
Monarch	Louis XV of France
Prime Minister	Guillaume Dubois (in 1723)

The Régence (French pronunciation: ​[ʁeʒɑ̃s], Regency) is the period in French history between 1715 and 1723, when King Louis XV was a minor and the land was governed by a Regent, Philippe d'Orléans, the nephew of Louis XIV of France.

The era was the time when Philippe was able to take power away from the Duke of Maine (illegitimate son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan) who was the favourite son of the late king and had had much influence. During the Regency there was the Polysynody which was the system of government in use in France between 1715 and 1718 and in which each minister (secretary of state) was replaced by a council. The Regent also introduced the système de Law which transformed the finances of the bankrupted kingdom and its aristocracy. Cardinal Dubois and Cardinal Fleury were key people during the time.

Contemporary European rulers were Philip V of Spain, John V of Portugal, George I of Great Britain, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia, the maternal grandfather of Louis XV.

There were seven parts of the Polysynody all of which had their own ministers for the Regency:

The Men

The Women