| Françoise d'Aubigné | |
|---|---|
The Marquise de Maintenon |
|
| Born | 27 November 1635 Niort, France |
| Died | 15 April 1719 (aged 83) Saint-Cyr |
| Title | Marquise de Maintenon |
| Spouse | Paul Scarron (1651-1660) Louis XIV of France (1685-1715) |
| Parents | Constant d'Aubigné Jeanne de Cardillac |
Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon (27 November 1635 – 15 April 1719) was the second wife of King Louis XIV of France. She was known during her first marriage as Madame Scarron, and subsequently as Madame de Maintenon. Her marriage to the king was never officially announced or admitted.
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Françoise d'Aubigné was born on 27 November 1635, but her place of birth is under speculation. A plaque suggests her birthplace was at the Hotel du Chaumont in Niort, in western France.[1] Her enemies and critics claim she was born in a prison at Niort because her father, the Huguenot Constant d'Aubigné, was incarcerated there for conspiring against the Cardinal Richelieu. Her mother, Jeanne de Cardilhac, was the daughter of Constant's jailer.[2] Her grandfather was Agrippa d'Aubigné, a well-known Protestant General, a close friend of Henry IV, and an epic poet. Jeanne dutifully had her child baptised in her own Catholic 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 in the West Indies. Jeanne was a strict mother and allowed her children few liberties, and gave them a Protestant education (despite their Catholic baptism). Constant returned to France, leaving his wife and children behind in Martinique. Jeanne was forever trying to be "mother and father" to her children, and eventually she made it back to France to join her husband in 1647.[3] Within months of her return to France, Jeanne's husband died, and Françoise returned to the care of her beloved aunt, Madame de Villette, her father's sister. The Villettes' house, Mursay, became a happy memory for Françoise, who had been in the care of her aunt and uncle before leaving for Martinique. The de Villettes were wealthy and took good care of the child, but they were ardent Protestants and they continued to school Françoise in their beliefs. When this became known to her godmother's family, an order was issued that Françoise must be educated in a convent.[4]
Françoise disliked the convent life, but she grew to love one of the nuns there, Sister Céleste, who persuaded Françoise to take her First Communion. "I loved her more than I could possibly say. I wanted to sacrifice myself for her service."[4]
Madame de Neuillant, the mother of Françoise's godmother Suzanne, brought her to Paris and introduced her to sophisticated women and men, who became vital links that she would need in the future.
In her excursion with Madame de Neuillant, Françoise met Paul Scarron, who was 25 years older than she, and with whom she began to correspond. Scarron was an accomplished poet and novelist, who counted Marie de Hautefort, maîtresse-en-titre of King Louis XIII, among his patrons. He proposed either to pay her dowry so that she might enter a convent, or offered her marriage. Although Scarron suffered from acute and crippling rheumatoid arthritis, she accepted his proposal and became Madame Scarron in 1651. The match permitted her to gain access to the highest levels of Paris society, something that would have been otherwise impossible for girl from an impoverished background. For nine years, she was Scarron's wife, nurse, and a fixture in his social circle.[5]
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, Mme 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 was secretly already the king's lover. Madame de Montespan took such a fancy to Mme Scarron that she had the king reinstate her pension, an act which enabled Françoise to stay in Paris.
In 1669, when Madame de Montespan's first child by Louis was born, she gave Mme Scarron a large income and staff of servants at Vaugirard to raise the child in secrecy. Françoise would take care to keep the house well guarded and discreet, even doing the domestic duties herself.[6] Due to her hard work, the King rewarded her with a large sum of money, and she purchased a property at Maintenon. Saint-Simon was told by his father-in-law that the King had initially disliked Madame Scarron , but, as he tired of Madame de Montespan's bad temper, began to find her rival increasingly sympathetic.
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 Montespan and Françoise would spar frequently over the children and their care.
"Madame de Maintenon knows how to love. There would be great pleasure in being loved by her." said the king. He probably asked her to become his mistress at that time. Though she later claimed she did not yield to his advances ("Nothing is so clever as to conduct one's self irreproachably."[7] she wrote to a friend), some historians doubt that she dared refuse the King at a time when her position remained very insecure.[8] By the late 1670s the king spent much of his spare time with Madame de Maintenon, discussing politics, religion and economics.
In 1680, the king made Madame de Maintenon second Mistress of the Robes 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 had spent years being rudely treated by Madame de Montespan, openly declared she had never been so well treated as at this time.
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.
In his memoirs, the Duc de Saint-Simon (himself only a boy at the time of the event) wrote the following:
But what is very certain and very true, is, that some time after the return of the King from Fontainebleau, and in the midst of the winter that followed the death of the Queen (posterity will with difficulty believe it, although perfectly true and proved), Père de la Chaise, confessor of the King, said mass at the dead of night in one of the King's cabinets at Versailles. Bontems, governor of Versailles, chief valet on duty, and the most confidential of the four, was present at this mass, at which the monarch and La Maintenon were married in presence of Harlay, Archbishop of Paris, as diocesan, of Louvois (both of whom drew from the King a promise that he would never declare this marriage), and of Montchevreuil.
...
The satiety of the honeymoon, usually so fatal, and especially the honeymoon of such marriages, only consolidated the favour of Madame de Maintenon. Soon after, she astonished everybody by the apartments given to her at Versailles, at the top of the grand staircase facing those of the King and on the same floor. From that moment the King always passed some hours with her every day of his life; wherever she might be she was always lodged near him, and on the same floor if possible.[9]
The Marquise de Montespan in her memoirs wrote the following about the marriage:
The following week Madame de Maintenon ... consented to the King's will, which she had opposed in order to excite it, and in the presence of the Marquis and Marquise de Montchevreuil, the Duc de Noailles, the Marquis de Chamarante, M. Bontems, and Mademoiselle Ninon, her permanent chambermaid, was married to the King of France and Navarre in the chapel of the château.
The Abbé de Harlay, Archbishop of Paris, assisted by the Bishop of Chartres and Père de la Chaise, had the honour of blessing this marriage and presenting the rings of gold. After the ceremony, which took place at an early hour, and even by torchlight, there was a slight repast in the small apartments. The same persons, taking carriages, then repaired to Maintenon, where the great ceremony, the mass, and all that is customary in such cases were celebrated.
At her return, Madame de Maintenon took possession of an extremely sumptuous apartment that had been carefully arranged and furnished for her. Her people continued to wear her livery, but she scarcely ever rode any more except in the great carriage of the King, where we saw her in the place which had been occupied by the Queen. In her interior the title of Majesty was given her; and the King, when he had to speak of her, only used the word Madame, without adding Maintenon, that having become too familiar and trivial.[10]
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 judgment 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.
Madame de Maintenon did use her power for personal patronage, for example 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.
Some have accused her of responsibility for the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the dragonnades, but recent investigations have shown that in spite of her ardent Catholicism, she at least opposed the cruelties of the dragonnades, although she was pleased with the conversions they procured. She is reputed to have said that in view of her Protestant upbringing, she feared that a plea on behalf of the Hugenots might lead her enemies to claim that she was still a secret Protestant. She had a great reputation for devotion, and in 1692 Innocent XII granted her the right of visitation over all the convents in France.
At Saint-Cyr a village five kilometers west of Versailles, she founded the Maison royale de Saint-Louis, a school for poor girls of noble families. 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.[11]
Racine wrote Esther and Athalie for the girls at Saint-Cyr, and Chamillart became controller-general of the kingdom's finances because he had managed Saint-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.
On the death of her husband in 1715, she retired to Saint-Cyr. The Duc d'Orléans, as regent, honoured her with a pension of 48,000 livres. She continued to receive visitors at Saint-Cyr.
One morning Madame de Maintenon awoke at Saint-Cyr to find a very tall man seated at a chair by the foot of her bed. Instead of showing surprise, she knew who the man was. It was a very distinguished royal visitor who was the toast of Paris. When the man asked what her illness was she replied "old age".
She then asked what brought him to her room, the man replied, "I came to see everything worthy of note that France contains." At that a smile appeared on her face and some of her beauty returned to her cheeks. At that, the visitor, Tsar Peter the Great, left the room. He later remarked to his aides that she had rendered a great service to the King and nation.[12]
She died on 15 April 1719 and was buried in the choir at Saint-Cyr, bequeathing her estate at Maintenon to her niece, Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné, the wife of Adrien-Maurice, 3rd duc de Noailles, and her brother Charles' only daughter. In her honor, a small island, off the coast of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, which at that time was known as "L'Île Royale", was attributed to her; this island was named Isle Madame (first noted as l'Isle de la Marquise).
She owned the Château de Maintenon.
Madame Louis 14, till 30 April 2011, a one-woman play written and played by Lorraine Pintal in French in Montreal, Quebec.
| Court offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Marquise of Toucy |
Governess of the Children of France 1669–1682 |
Succeeded by Marquise of Toucy |