Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon

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'Françoise d'Aubigné Scarron, Marquise de Maintenon'

The Marquise de Maintenon
Born November 27, 1635(1635-11-27)
Niort, in France
Died April 15, 1719 (aged 83)
Saint-Cyr-l'École
Spouse Paul Scarron (1651 - 1660)
Louis XIV (1685 - 1715)
Parents Constant d'Aubigné
Jeanne de Cardillac

Françoise d'Aubigné Scarron, Marquise de Maintenon (November 27, 1635 - April 15, 1719) was the morganatic second wife of King Louis XIV of France. She was initially known as Madame Scarron, and later as Madame de Maintenon. Her marriage to the king was never officially announced or admitted to.

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[edit] Origins

Françoise d'Aubigné was born in prison at Niort, owing to the incarceration there of her Huguenot father Constant d'Aubigné on suspicion of being an English agent.[1] Her grandfather was Agrippa d'Aubigné, a well-known Protestant General and close friend of Henry IV. Madame d'Aubigné, a Catholic, dutifully had her child baptised in her own religion; the young girl's godparents were the Comtesse de Neuillant and the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, father of François de la Rochefoucauld, author of the famous Maxims.

In 1639 Françoise's father was released from prison and went with his family to the island of Martinique, where he died in poverty in 1645. His widow returned to France, where she placed Françoise with her sister-in-law, Madame de Villette, who had greater financial means to take good care of the child. A subscriber to Protestantism herself, however, Madame de Villette converted Françoise to her own religion. When this became known, an order was issued that Françoise be given up to the care of her godmother, the Comtesse de Neuillant. Every effort was now expended to convert her back to Catholicism, but in the end she yielded only on the condition that the soul of her aunt, Madame de Villette, need not be believed lost. Once reconverted, she was sent home to live with her mother, who had only a small pension of 200 livres a year, which ceased on her death in 1650.

[edit] Coming to the Royal Court

A man of literary distinction, the Chevalier de Méré, had made young Françoise's acquaintance at Madame de Neuillant's and, knowing of her penniless condition, he introduced his "young Indian," as he called her, to the famous writer Paul Scarron, whose 'salons' were noteworthy. Scarron soon formed a friendship with Françoise, because he proposed either to pay for her admission to a convent, or, despite his being deformed and an invalid, their marriage. She accepted him, and became Madame Scarron in 1651. For nine years she was his wife, nurse, and a fixture in his social circle.

The Marquise de Montespan
The Marquise de Montespan

On the death of Scarron in 1660, Anne of Austria continued his pension to his widow, even increasing it to 2000 livres a year, thus enabling her to remain in literary society. Following the dowager queen's death in 1666, Louis XIV suspended the pension. Once again in straitened circumstances, Madame Scarron prepared to leave Paris for Lisbon as a lady-in-waiting to the new Queen of Portugal, Marie-Françoise de Nemours. Before setting off, however, she met Madame de Montespan, who secretly was already the king's mistress. Madame de Montespan took such a fancy to Madame Scarron that she had the king reinstate her pension, an act which enabled the impoverished widow to stay in Paris and not move to Portugal.

In 1669, when Madame de Montespan's first child by Louis was born, she gave Madame Scarron a large income and staff of servants at Vaugirard to raise the child in secrecy. It is possible that Madame de Montespan chose her for this mission because she thought Madame Scarron was unlikely to pose any threat to her. Deeply religious, Madame Scarron always wore black, and her adornments were rosaries and crucifixes. She only wore trimmings of silver and gold when court etiquette demanded it. Madame Scarron's improved fortunes eventually enabled her to buy the Maintenon estate.

In 1674, the king decided to bring his illegitimate children to court, and their governess accompanied them. At first, Louis XIV was prejudiced against Madame Scarron. He went so far as to tell Madame de Montespan, "I do not like your bel esprit". Later, however, he grew to admire her even temper, which contrasted pleasingly with that of Madame de Montespan, who was prone to drama and tantrums. In 1678, the king gave her the title of Marquise de Maintenon after the name of her estate. Such favours incurred Madame de Montespan's jealousy. At court, she was now known as Madame de Maintenon.

"Madame de Maintenon knows how to love. There would be great pleasure in being loved by her." said the king. However, when he asked her to become his mistress, she refused him on religious grounds. "Nothing is so clever as to conduct one's self irreproachably, "[2] she wrote a friend. This philosophy served her well, and by the late 1670s the king spent every spare moment with Madame de Maintenon, discussing politics, religion and economics.

In 1680, the king made Madame de Maintenon second lady-in-waiting to his daughter-in-law, the Dauphine. Soon after, Madame de Montespan left the court. Madame de Maintenon proved a good influence on the king. His wife, Queen Marie-Thérèse, who spent years being rudely treated by Madame de Montespan, openly declared she had never been so well treated as at this time, and eventually died in Madame de Maintenon's arms in 1683.

[edit] Marriage with Louis XIV

In 1684 Madame de Maintenon became first lady-in-waiting to the Dauphine, and in the winter of 1685-1686 she was married to the king in a private ceremony by François de Harlay de Champvallon, Archbishop of Paris, in the presence, it is believed, of Père la Chaise, the king's confessor, the Marquis de Montchevreuil, the Chevalier de Forbin, and Alexandre Bontemps. Owing to the disparity in their social status, she could not marry the king openly and become queen, and the marriage was morganatic. No written proof of the marriage exists, but that it took place is nevertheless accepted by historians.

[edit] Influence and legacy

Château de Maintenon in the town centre
Château de Maintenon in the town centre

Historians have often remarked upon Madame de Maintenon's political influence, which was considerable. Ministers would discuss with her beforehand a majority of the business that the king would be dealing with. He would not always consult her on more important matters, though. Her judgement was not infallible and mistakes were undoubtedly made: replacing Catinat by Villeroi in 1701 may be attributed to her, but not entire policies - according to Saint-Simon, certainly not the policy with regard to the Spanish Succession. Some have accused her of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the dragonnades, but recent investigations have shown that in spite of ardent Catholicism, she at least opposed the cruelties of the dragonnades, although she was pleased with the conversions they procured. She had a great reputation for devotion, and in 1692 Innocent XII granted her the right of visitation over all the convents in France.

Madame de Maintenon did use her power for personal patronage, as in achieving the promotions of Chamillart and Villeroi, and the frequent assistance she gave to her brother Charles, the comte d'Aubigné. She had no recognised position at court, and therefore less social influence than the wife of the king would typically have. One can speculate as to whether or not she occasionally desired to be recognised as queen.

She founded Saint-Cyr-l'École, a home for poor girls of good family, such as she herself had once been. The school began at Rueil then moved to Noisy; the king endowed St-Cyr at her request, using the funds of the Abbey of St. Denis. Madame de Maintenon drew up the rules of the institution and attended to every detail. She was considered a born teacher and a friendly, motherly influence on her pupils, who included Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy.

Racine wrote Esther and Athalie for the girls at St-Cyr, and Chamillart became controller-general of the kingdom's finances because he had managed St-Cyr so well. In the latter years of her life, Madame de Maintenon encouraged the king to promote her previous charges, the children of the king by Madame de Montespan, to high positions at court intermediate between the Prince and Princesses du Sang and the peers of the realm. Her dislike for the king's nephew, the Duc d'Orléans, may have influenced the king's last will and testament, in which he left care of his successor, the future Louis XV, to his eldest illegitimate son, the Duc du Maine, instead of to the Duc d'Orléans, whose powers were restricted by a regency council. However, the plans to promote the Duc du Maine were overridden by the Parlement de Paris. On or even before her husband's death in 1715, she retired to St-Cyr. The Duc d'Orléans, as regent, honoured her with a pension of 48,000 livres. She continued to receive visitors at St-Cyr, although in one case she refused to give an audience to Peter the Great. She died on 15 April 1719 and was buried in the choir at St-Cyr, bequeathing her estate at Maintenon to her niece, the wife of Adrien-Maurice, 3rd duc de Noailles, and her brother Charles' only daughter.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^   "Françoise, Marquise de Maintenon". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
  2. ^ Herman, Eleanor: Sex with Kings, page 115. William Morrow, 2004

[edit] References

d'Aubigné] from the German Wikipedia.

[edit] Further reading


Persondata
NAME d'Aubigné, Françoise, Marquise de Maintenon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Royal consort of France
DATE OF BIRTH November 27, 1635
PLACE OF BIRTH Niort
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1719
PLACE OF DEATH St-Cyr