Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon

Origins

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. Some sources indicate she may have been born in or just outside the prison at Niort because her father, the Huguenot Constant d'Aubigné, was incarcerated there for conspiring against Cardinal Richelieu. Her mother, Jeanne de Cardilhac, was the daughter of Constant's jailer. Her grandfather was Agrippa d'Aubigné, a well-known Protestant General, a former intimate servant of Henry IV, and an epic poet. Jeanne had her child baptised in her own Catholic religion; the young girl's godparents were Suzanne de Baudéan, the daughter of the Comtesse de Neuillant and the governor of Niort; and the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, father of François de La Rochefoucauld, author of the famous Maxims. Suzanne would later go to serve Anne of Austria and Maria Theresa, the first wife of Louis XIV.

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, 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. 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 had to be educated in a convent.

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."

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 utilise in the future.

Coming to the Royal Court

In her excursion with Madame de Neuillant, Françoise met Paul Scarron, who was 25 years older than she, and began to correspond with him. Scarron was an accomplished poet and novelist, who counted Marie de Hautefort, a favourite of King Louis XIII, among his patrons. He offered her marriage, or to pay her dowry so that she might enter a convent. Although Scarron suffered from acute and crippling rheumatoid arthritis, she accepted his proposal and became Madame Scarron in 1652. The match permitted her to gain access to the highest levels of Paris society, something that would have otherwise been impossible for a girl from an impoverished background. For nine years, she was Scarron's wife and nurse, and a fixture in his social circle.

On the death of Scarron in 1660, the queen dowager, Anne of Austria, continued his pension to his widow, even increasing it to 2,000 livres a year, thus enabling her to remain in literary society. After Anne'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, which enabled Françoise to stay in Paris.

In 1669, when Madame de Montespan's first child by Louis was born, she placed the baby with Madame Scarron in a house on Rue de Vaugirard, and provided her with a large income and staff of servants. Françoise took care to keep the house well guarded and discreet, even doing the domestic duties herself. Her care for the infant Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine (born 1670) first brought her to the attention of Louis XIV, though he was initially put off by her strict religious practice. When Louis Auguste and his siblings were legitimized on 20 Dec 1673, she became the royal governess at Saint-Germain. As governess, she was one of very few people permitted to speak with the king as an equal, without holding back. Madame de Sévigné observed that he was charmed by having someone who would speak to him in this way.

Due to her hard work, the King rewarded her with 200,000 livres, and she purchased the property at Maintenon in 1674. 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 1675, 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 sparred 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," she wrote to a friend), some historians doubt that she dared refuse the King at a time when her position remained very insecure. By the late 1670s the king spent much of his spare time with her, 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 for years had been rudely treated by Madame de Montespan, openly declared she had never been so well treated as at this time.

Marriage with Louis XIV

Françoise 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, the marriage was morganatic, meaning that Madame de Maintenon was not openly acknowledged as the King's wife and did not become Queen. No official documentation of the marriage exists, but that it took place is nevertheless accepted by historians. Biographers have dated the wedding to 9 October 1683 or January 1684.

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 Marquise de Montespan, who had preceded Madame de Maintenon as the King's mistress, 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.

Influence and legacy

Historians have often remarked upon Madame de Maintenon's political influence, which was considerable. She was regarded as the next most powerful person after the king, considered the equivalent of a prime minister after 1700. Without an official position as queen, she was more easily approached by those wishing to have influence with the king. 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 used 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 d'Aubigné, 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.

As a strongly religious person, she had a strong influence on the king which was widely recognized in the court. He no longer had open mistresses, and banned operas and comedy performances during Lent. 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 opposed the cruelties of the dragonnades, but 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 Huguenots 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 5 km 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-le-Roi; 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. Her school is considered to have greatly influenced the demands of the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women, the first women political interest group founded in 1793. Their successful attempt to link gender equality and the broad revolutionary movement, and to push for the empowerment of women through a reformation of the educational system and the enforcement of the 1724 royal ordinance that imposed compulsory universal primary education, were inspired from the 17th century treatises by Madame de Maintenon and François Fénelon. In the Revolutionary context, Madame de Maintenon's ideas were used by local officials and philanthropists that successfully established neighbourhood primary schools that accepted many young poor girls. Her work also had a lasting impact on the original feminist movement which gathered in Paris salons. These famous venues, other that contributing greatly to the ideas that emerged during the Age of Enlightenment, one of which was to promote educational equality between sexes to help lower-class women escape their condition and prostitution.

Jean 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.

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.

She is briefly mentioned in Alexandre Dumas' book Twenty Years After. She converses with Raoul, the fictional Vicomte de Bragelonne, at Abbe Scarron's party. She is also featured by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his novel The Refugees, which includes the story of her midnight marriage ceremony. F. Scott Fitzgerald references her in The Great Gatsby in describing "Ella Kaye, the newspaper woman," who apparently murders Gatsby's father figure Dan Cody.

"Distinguished Royal Visitor"

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".

When she 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, Tsar Peter I of Russia, the visitor, left the room. He later remarked to his aides that she had rendered a great service to the King and nation.