'Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon' (
November 27,
1635 -
April 15,
1719) was the
morganatic second wife of
Louis XIV of France.
Origins
Françoise d'Aubigné was born in prison at
Niort, owing to the incarceration there of her father
Constant d'Aubigné as a Huguenot. Her grandfather was
Agrippa d'Aubigné, well-known as close friend and general of
Henry IV. Madame d'Aubigné, a
Catholic, had had the child baptised in that religion; her godparents were the duc de la Rochefoucauld, father of
author of the ''Maxims'', and the
comtesse de Neuillant.
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 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, a State 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.
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.
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 queen-mother's death in
1666,
Louis XIV suspended the pension. Once again in straitened circumstances, Françoise prepared to leave Paris for
Lisbon as lady-in-waiting to the queen of
Portugal. Before setting off, however, she met
Madame de Montespan, who - albeit secretly - was already the king's
mistress; she took such a fancy to Françoise that she obtained for her the reinstatement of her pension and Madame Scarron did not go to
Portugal.
In
1669, when Madame de Montespan's first child by Louis was born, she gave Françoise 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 as she was unlikely to pose any threat to her; very religious, she always wore black, and her only adornments were rosaries and crucifixes -- wearing trimmings of silver and gold merely when court etiquette demanded it. Françoise's improved fortunes eventually enabled her to buy the
Maintenon estate.
Château de Maintenon in the town centre
In
1674 the king determined to have his illegitimate children at court, and their governess accompanied them. Though at first Louis XIV was prejudiced against Madame Scarron (telling Madame de Montespan, "I do not like your ''bel esprit''"), he grew to admire her even temper, which contrasted with that of Madame de Montespan's tantrums. In
1678 her estate at Maintenon was raised to a
marquisate and the King entitled her Madame de Maintenon. Such favours incurred Madame de Montespan's jealousy.
"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 be his mistress she refused him on religious grounds. "Nothing is so clever as to conduct one's self irreproachably, "
[1] 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 the dauphine. Soon after, Madame de Montespan left the court. Françoise proved a good influence: the queen,
Maria Theresa, openly declared she had never been so well treated as at this time, and eventually died in Madame de Maintenon's arms in
1683.
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,
chevalier de Forbin, and
Bontemps. Owing to the disparity in 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.
Influence and legacy
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 promoted her previous charges, the children of the king by Madame de Montespan, to high positions between the blood royal and the
peers of the realm. Her dislike for the
Duke of Orléans may have influenced the king's last will and testament, in which he left care of his successor to
duke of 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
parliament of Paris. On or even before her husband's death in
1715, she retired to St-Cyr. The duc d'Orléans, as Regent, honoured her pension of 48,000 ''livres,'' and she continued to receive visitors at St-Cyr (though she refused 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, wife of
Adrien-Maurice, 3rd duc de Noailles, and her brother Charles' only daughter.
Footnotes
1. Herman, Eleanor: Sex with Kings, page 115. William Morrow, 2004
References
★ Herman, Eleanor. ''Sex with Kings''. New York, HarperCollins, 2004. ISBN 0-06-058543-9
★ A Picture of
Françoise d'Aubigné as a young woman from the Lëtzebuergesch Wikipedia.
★ Additional picture of
Françoise
d'Aubigné from the German Wikipedia.
★ Another additional picture of
Françoise d'Aubigné from the Swedish Wikipedia.
Further reading
★ ''L'allée du Roi",
Françoise Chandernagor, Memories of Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, wife of the king of France'', French, Paris, Julliard, 1995 ISBN 2266067877
----
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