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Maîtresse en titre

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Maîtresse-en-titre

The maîtresse-en-titre ([mɛtʁɛs ɑ̃ titʁ]) was the chief mistress of the king of France. It was a semi-official position which came with its own apartments. The title came into use during the reign of Henry IV and continued until the reign of Louis XV.

From the reign of Louis XIV, the term has been applied, both in translation ("official mistress") and in the original French, to refer to the main mistress of any monarch or prominent man when his relationship with her is not clandestine, e.g. Vibeke Kruse, Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, Lola Montez, Magda Lupescu.

Notable French royal mistresses

Charles V of France

  • Biette de Casinel (c. 1340 – c. 1380)

    • Charles VI of France

  • Odette de Champdivers (c. 1384–1424)

    • Charles VII of France

  • Agnès Sorel (c. 1422–1450)
  • Antoinette de Maignelais (c. 1430 – c. 1461)

    • Louis XI of France

  • Phélisé Regnard
  • Marguerite de Sassenage (c. 1449–1471)

    • Francis I of France

  • Françoise de Foix (1495–1537), countess of Châteaubriant
  • Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly (1508–1580), duchess of Étampes

    • Henry II of France

  • Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566)
  • Janet Stewart (aka Jane Fleming) (c. 1508 – c. 1553)
  • Filippa Duci (c. 1520–?)
  • Nicole de Savigny (1535–1590), baroness of Fontette

    • Charles IX of France

  • Marie Touchet (c. 1553–1638)

    • Henry III of France

  • Louise de La Béraudière du Rouhet
  • Renée de Rieux de Châteauneuf
  • Veronica Franco (1546–1591)
  • Marie van Kleef (1553–1574), countess of Beaufort

    • Henry IV of France

  • Diane d'Andoins "La Belle Corisandre" (1554–1621)
  • Françoise de Montmorency (1562–?)
  • Esther Imbert (1570 – c. 1593)
  • Antoinette de Pons (1570–1632)
  • Gabrielle d'Estrées (c. 1571–1599)
  • Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues (1579–1633), marquise de Verneuil
  • Jacqueline de Bueil (c. 1580–1651)
  • Charlotte des Essarts (c. 1580–1651)
  • Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency (1594–1650), princess of Condé

    • Louis XIII of France

  • Marie de Hautefort (1616–1691)
  • Louise de La Fayette (c. 1616–1665)

    • Louis XIV of France

  • Catherine Bellier, baronne de Beauvais
  • Olympe Mancini (1638–1708)
  • Lucie de la Motte-Argencourt
  • Mademoiselle de Marivault
  • Marie Mancini (1639–1715)
  • Hortense Mancini (1646–1699)
  • Henrietta of England (1644–1670), his sister-in-law
  • Louise Françoise de la Baume le Blanc de la Vallière (1644–1710), duchesse de la Vallière and duchesse de Vaujours
  • Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, marquise de Montespan (1640–1707)
  • Anne de Rohan-Chabot (1641–1709), princesse de Soubise
  • Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon (1635–1719), married the King in 1683
  • Claude de Vin des Œillets (c. 1637–1687)
  • Isabelle de Ludres (1687–1722)
  • Marie Angélique de Scoraille de Roussille (1661–1681), duchess of Fontanges
  • Charlotte-Eléonore Madeleine de la Motte Houdancourt, Duchesse de Ventadour (1654–1744)

    • Louis XV of France

  • Louise Julie, Comtesse de Mailly (1710–1751)
  • Pauline-Félicité de Mailly (1712–1741), marquise de Vintimille
  • Diane-Adélaïde de Mailly (1713–1760), duchess of Lauraguais
  • Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle duchess de Châteauroux (1717–1744)
  • Jeanne Antoinette Poisson (better known as Madame de Pompadour) (1721–1764), marquise de Pompadour
  • Jeanne Antoinette Bécu (better known as Madame du Barry) (1743–1793), countess of Barry
  • Marie-Louise O'Murphy (1737–1815), was never an actual Maîtresse-en-titre
  • Françoise de Châlus (1734–1821), duchess of Narbonne-Lara
  • Marguerite Catherine Haynault (1736–1823), marquise de Montmélas
  • Lucie Madeleine d'Estaing (1743–1826)
  • Anne Couffier de Romans (1737–1808), baroness of Meilly-Coulonge
  • Louise-Jeanne Tiercelin de La Colleterie (1746–1779), called Madame de Bonneval
  • Irène du Buisson de Longpré (?–1767)
  • Catherine Éléonore Bénard (1740–1769)
  • Marie Thérèse Françoise Boisselet (1731–1800)

    • Louis XVIII of France

  • Zoé Talon, comtesse du Cayla (1785–1852)

    • References

    Maîtresse-en-titre Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA