Religion Roman Catholicism Name Marie Eleonore | Signature | |
 | ||
Born 22 December 1690
Palace of Versailles, France ( 1690-12-22 ) Died 30 August 1760(1760-08-30) (aged 69)
Villejuif, Paris Father Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon Mother Louise Francoise de Bourbon | ||
Marie Anne Eleonore de Bourbon (Marie Anne Eleonore Gabrielle; 22 December 1690 – 30 August 1760) was a daughter of Louis de Bourbon. She was the Abbess of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs, an abbey in the Villejuif suburb of Paris.
Contents
Biography
Marie Anne Eleonore was born at the Palace of Versailles to the Duke and Duchess of Bourbon. The eldest child of her parents she was known as Mademoiselle de Bourbon in her youth. In her early years she was close to her mother but was later replaced by her sister Louise Elisabeth de Bourbon. Her father was the grandson of le Grand Conde and her mother, Louise-Francoise de Bourbon was the eldest surviving daughter of Louis XIV of France and his Maitresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan.
As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, she was a princesse du sang ("princess of the blood") and was allowed the style of Serene Highness.
On 6 May 1706 at the age of 16, she was made a nun at the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud in Anjou. She was later made the Abbess of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs in 1723 and was known as Madame de Bourbon. Saint-Antoine-des-Champs had been an abbey since the 13th century.
She outlived all of her siblings apart from her sister Dowager Princess of Conti and grand mother of the future Philippe Egalite. Dying in the Parisian suburb of Villejuif, she was buried at the Abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs.
Her sister Henriette Louise de Bourbon was an abbess at Beaumont-les-Tours and a cousin Louise Adelaide d'Orleans was the Abbess of Chelles. The Abbey at Saint-Antoine is now the home of the Hopital Saint-Antoine outside Paris.