Mother Francoise de Pompadour Place of burial Paris, France | Name Marie de | |
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Born 6 August 1713
France ( 1713-08-06 ) Father Philippe Egon de Corcillon Died April 4, 1756, Paris, France Spouse Hercule Meriadec, Duke of Rohan-Rohan (m. 1732) People also search for Hercule Meriadec, Duke of Rohan-Rohan | ||
Marie Sophie de Courcillon (6 August 1713 – 4 April 1756) was a French noblewoman and Duchess of Rohan-Rohan as well as Princess of Soubise by marriage. She was the grand daughter of Philippe de Courcillon, better known as the marquis de Dangeau. She was praised for being a cultured woman for the age and held a fashionable salon at the Hotel de Soubise in Paris. She was painted by Nattier.
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Biography
Marie Sophie was the only child of Philippe Egon de Courcillon (1684–1709) styled as the marquis de Courcillon and his wife Francoise de Pompadour, Duchess of La Valette. Her paternal grandfather was Philippe de Courcillon, the famous marquis de Dangeau and memoir writer of the court of Louis XIV.
Through her paternal grandmother, Countess Sophia of Lowenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort, she was a cousin of the ruling Landgraves of Lowenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort, originally a county of the Holy Roman Empire. Another first cousin was Ernest Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg.
Her first cousins included Charles Philippe d'Albert de Luynes, Duke of Luynes; she was a second cousin Charles Louis d'Albert de Luynes another famous memoir writer of the court of Louis XV.
Mademoiselle de Courcillon was married twice. Firstly to Charles Francois d'Albert d'Ailly, son of Louis Auguste d'Albert de Luynes and Marie Anne Romaine de Beaumanoir. The couple married on 17 January 1729. She was thus known as the Duchess of Pecquigny.
The couple had a daughter who died young and little information exists. Soon after, Louis Auguste himself died and Marie Sophie was a widow at the age of 17.
Her second husband was Hercule Meriadec de Rohan, Duke of Rohan-Rohan, son of Francois de Rohan, Prince de Soubise and the beautiful Anne de Rohan-Chabot. Hercule Meriadec was a widower, his first wife Anne Genevieve de Levis dying in 1727. The couple were married in Paris on 2 September 1732.
The duke of Rohan-Rohan was a member of the House of Rohan and had the prestigious rank of Foreign Princes at Versailles. This entitled Marie Sophie, styled as the "Princess of Rohan" (Madame la princesse de Rohan) the style of Highness.
The bride was some forty four years younger than the groom; Marie Sophie was closer to her daughter in law the Princess of Guemene (1704–1780).
To celebrate the union, her husband commissioned Germain Boffrand to redecorate the interior of the Hotel de Soubise, the Parisian townhouse of the Rohan's. She kept a fashionable salon at the hotel.
In 1737, it was she who presented Anne Marie Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne to the court at Versailles. Anne Marie Louise was wife of Charles de Rohan, Prince of Soubise - grandson of Hercule Meriadec and his heir.
Her husband died in 1746 in Paris. She was the mistress of Duke de Richelieu, who lost his last wife, born Elisabeth Sophie de Lorraine in 1740. She died in Paris at the age of 42.
With her the Courcillon family died out. She was buried on 7 April 1756 at the Eglise de La Merci in Paris, the traditional burial place of the Soubise line of the House of Rohan in the presence of her late husbands grandchildren the Archbishop of Bordeaux, the Cardinal de Rohan.