Anne de Rohan-Chabot

Anne
Princess of Soubise
Anne from the studio of the Beaubrun brothers
Spouse François de Rohan
Issue
Hercule Mériadec, Duke of Rohan-Rohan
Armand, Cardinal de Soubise
Full name
Anne Julie de Rohan-Chabot
Father Henri Chabot
Mother Marguerite de Rohan
Born 1648
Died 4 February 1709[1]
Hôtel de Soubise, Paris, France

Anne de Rohan-Chabot (Anne Julie; 1648 – 4 February 1709) was a French noble. A member of the House of Rohan, she was wife of the Prince of Soubise. It was she would bought the lordship of Soubise into the junior line of the Rohans. She was a short term mistress of Louis XIV. She is sometimes called Madame de Frontenay due to being the Dame of Frontenay.

Contents

Biography

Born to Henri Chabot and his wife Marguerite de Rohan, she was the third of five children. Her parents marriage had caused a scandal Marguerite was a Foreign Princess as a member of the House of Rohan[2] had caused Louis XIV to issue a decree that she was able to marry Henri and still hold her high rank at court.

Her family were allowed to bear the name of Rohan-Chabot, the Rohans being her maternal family.[3]

Her younger sister Jeanne Pelagie de Rohan-Chabot married the Prince of Epinoy, the paternal grandfather of Louis de Melun and Anne Julie de Melun, a future Princess of Soubise.

On 17 April 1663,[1] a fifteen year old Anne married François de Rohan. François was a widower and the younger son of Hercule de Rohan and his wife Marie de Bretagne d'Avaugour. His older half sister was Marie de Rohan, duchesse de Chevreuse, a key figure in the Fronde which was at the height of contemporary politics. She was presented at court in 1665.

Anne was the Lady of Soubise in her own right. As such, at the time of her marriage she passed the title onto her husband. The couple styled themselves as the Prince and Princess of Soubise after March 1667 with letters patent regarding the raising of Soubise to a principality.[4] Anne was also the Dame of Frontenay in her own right.

She received an excellent education for the time[5] . A devoted wife as a teenager, she was a great beauty of the era. Known as la Belle Florice, she maintained her beauty by keeping to a strict diet of chicken and salad, fruit, some milky foods and water with wine sometimes added.[6]

It is said that Anne became Louis XIV's short term mistress in 1669 when the court was sojourning at Chambord at which Anne was present. At the time, Louis' full affections were between the Louise de La Vallière and her future successor Madame de Montespan. At the same time, she gave birth to her second son, Hercule Mériadec de Rohan (future Prince of Soubise yet styled as the Duke of Rohan-Rohan).

In January 1674[1] Anne became a dame du palais to Queen Marie Thérèse and five months later she was gave birth and it was by then common knowledge that the king and Anne were lovers. She gave birth to another son Armand Gaston Maximilien de Rohan, who was commonly said to have been Louis XIV's real child and not Monsieur de Soubise. It was always said that Armand always had a close resemblance to the king. Her husband quickly became wealthy.[5]

The couples affair is said to have ended properly in 1675[5] having been on an off for some six years. At the same time, Madame de Montespan had a separation from the king.[7]

François was responsible for the purchase of the Hôtel de Guise from the trustees of the late Duchess of Guise. He bought the property on 27 March 1700 and renamed it the Hôtel de Soubise. She died at the Hôtel of a cold.[1][8]

Issue

Ancestry

References and notes

  1. ^ a b c d e van de Pas, Leo. "Anne de Rohan". Genealogics .org. http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00016038&tree=LEO. Retrieved 2010-04-08. 
  2. ^ This prestigious rank had been given to the House of Rohan early in the 17th century as they descended from the old Rulers of Brittany and their hereditary control of the Archbishopric of Strasbourg, which made them princes of the Holy Roman Empire
  3. ^ Spangler, Jonathan. The society of princes: The Lorraine-Guise and the Conservation of Power and Wealth in Seventeen-Century France. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BykKA4KXdtoC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=maison+de+rohan+prince+etrangers&source=bl&ots=ivAuk9VekK&sig=gsgkNUCYtxsqJ8OXuN_MHoak5A0&hl=en&ei=7Ne-S6TuKoK80gTDtPihCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=maison%20de%20rohan%20prince%20etrangers&f=false. Retrieved 2010-04-08. 
  4. ^ Velde, François. "French principalities". Hereldica.org. http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/frprince.htm#soubise. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  5. ^ a b c "Anne de Rohan-Chabot, Petite Maîtresse de Louis XIV". Canalblog.org. http://enviedhistoire.canalblog.com/archives/2006/08/13/2459029.html. Retrieved 2010-04-08. 
  6. ^ Fraser, Antonia (Lady), Love and Louis XIV, Nan A. Talese, 2006, p.114
  7. ^ The reconciliation came in the form of a daughter in 1677 and a son in 1678
  8. ^ "Mitford, Nancy, The Sun King" p.221