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Louise de La Vallière

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For the 1922 film, see Louise de Lavallière (film).

Louise de La Vallière
O.C.D.
Portrait by Pierre Mignard I
Born
Françoise-Louise de La Blaume Le Blanc

(1644-08-06)6 August 1644
Tours, Kingdom of France
Died7 June 1710(1710-06-07) (aged 65)
Paris, Kingdom of France
Burial placeCemetery of the Carmelite convent in Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Paris
Other namesMademoiselle de La Vallière
Sœur Louise de la Miséricorde
Known forMistress of Louis XIV
TitleDuchess de La Vallière, Duchess of Vaujours
SuccessorMarie Anne de Bourbon
Children5, including
Marie Anne de Bourbon
Louis, Count of Vermandois
Parent(s)Laurent de la Blaume Le Blanc de La Vallière
Marie-Françoise Le Provost de la Coutelaye

Françoise-Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, Duchess of La Vallière and Vaujours (6 August 1644 – 7 June 1710) was a French noblewoman and the first mistress of Louis XIV of France from 1661 to 1667.

La Vallière joined the royal court in 1661 as maid-of-honour to Henrietta of England. She soon became King Louis XIV's mistress. By 1666, she had been supplanted as the king's favourite by Madame de Montespan, and she was created duchess of La Vallière and Vaujours. Two of her five children by Louis, Marie-Anne and Louis, survived infancy and were legitimised. During her time at court, she was an important participant in its intellectual life, interested in the arts, literature, and philosophy.

After an illness in 1670, La Vallière turned to religion, and wrote a popular devotional book. In 1674, she entered a Carmelite convent in Paris, where she died in 1710.

Ancestry and early life[edit]

Françoise-Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, Mademoiselle de La Vallière was born on 6 August 1644 at the Hôtel de la Crouzille [fr] (also known as Hôtel de la Vallière) in Tours as the daughter of Laurent de La Baume Le Blanc,[1] Seigneur of La Vallière (1611–1651) and his wife, Marie-Françoise Le Provost de La Coutelaye (died 1686).[2] Her father, a knight, was captain lieutenant of the mestre de campe (‘camp-master’) of the light cavalry.[3] Her mother was a daughter of Jean Le Provost, Seigneur of La Coutelaye who served in the Grande Écurie, a subdivison of the Royal Stables in the Maison du Roi. She was a widow when she married Le Baume Le Blanc in 1640, and had previously been married to Pierre Besnard[4] or Bernard,[2] Seigneur of Rezay, a councillor of the parlement of Paris.[5][4]

La Vallière had one or two older brothers. Jean-François, later Marquis de La Vallière, was born on 4 January 1642 in Paris, and survived to adulthood. Their supposed other sibling is only mentioned by some of La Vallière's genealogies, named Jean-Michel-Ewrard or Jean-Michel-Aimar, born on 19 August 1643 in Tours. Based on baptismal records, Lair concludes that La Vallière never had a second brother; ‘Jean-Michel’ was her paternal first cousin, Jean-Michel d'Esvrard, christened in Tours on 20 August 1643, and later mistaken for her brother.[4]

For La Vallière's paternal family, their Catholic faith and loyalty to the king were important values.[5][6][7] Many of them chose an ecclesiastical career[5] and many entered the military, achieving high ranks.[2][8] In debates about ancient aristocratic privileges versus absolutist royal prerogatives, they supported the latter.[5] Her maternal family, the Le Provosts, belonged to the noblesse de robe and had provided legal counsel to the crown for generations.[5] At the time of her birth, her father was governor of the Castle of Amboise,[1][2] where she occasionally visited him.[9] He was a devout Catholic who practiced various acts of penance, such as wearing a cilice or a wire belt with spikes under his armour.[7] He learnt to practice pharmacy and taught his valet to perform surgeries to help the tenants of his seigneurie.[7]

Gilles de La Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière later in life, as bishop.

La Vallière and her brother was raised at the family seat, the Castle of La Vallière,[7] 23 km (14 miles) from Tours.[10] Their uncle, Gilles de La Vallière (born 1616), who later became the bishop of Nantes, was responsible for the education of the children. Louise was raised by the Ursuline nuns in Tours [fr], where her aunt Élisabeth or Isabelle (born 1619) was the mistress of novices under the name of ‘Mère Angélique’ and her aunt Charlotte (born 1620) also lived.[2][10] She was instructed in reading, grammar, musical composition, and public speaking.[5] Her father had a library of forty-four folios, considerable for the time.[11] The family also owned horses, and she may have gained her love of equitation then. It is possible that her limping in later life was caused by an injury she suffered at this time.[12]

During the Fronde, in March 1651, Louise's father held Amboise against the forces of the revolt, thereby protecting Tours, which would have been crucial for them to win. He remained loyal to King Louis XIV despite Anne-Marie-Louise of Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier (known as ‘la Grande Mademoiselle’) trying to persuade him to join the revolt.[13]

Laurent de La Baume Le Blanc died in the summer of 1651,[4] leaving little money. His wife had brought a substantial dowry to the marriage and decided to reclaim it out of the family estate together with her dower so that she could remarry. This would have also meant relinquishing guardianship of her children and depriving them of their maternal inheritance Her husband's family commissioned an inventory of the Hôtel de la Crouzille to protect the interests of the children,[14] and established that the family's possessions were worth to 18 335 livres and 7 sous, with debts of 25 000 livres. Françoise Le Provost agreed to settle her husband's debts and accepted the furnishings of the hôtel at an increased value in place of her dower. She then rented the furniture back to her minor children with a 5% interest.[15][16] La Vallière's brother was sent to Paris to attend a boarding school. What happened to La Vallière herself is unclear, but she may have been sent to the Ursuline convent of her aunts.[17]

Life at the Orléans court[edit]

In March 1655, Françoise Le Provost married Jacques de Courtavel, Marquess of Saint-Rémy, maître d'hôtel (butler) of the exiled Gaston, Duke of Orléans (uncle to Louis XIV).[18] He had a daughter, Catherine, who was La Vallière's age.[15] She and her children near the Duke's household in Blois.[1][19][20] The couple had a daughter from their union.[21] La Vallière and her stepsister served as demoiselles de compagnie (lady's companions) to the Duke's three younger daughters, Marguerite-Louise, Mademoiselle d'Orléans, Élisabeth-Marguerite (or Isabelle), Mademoiselle d'Alençon, and Françoise-Madeleine, Mademoiselle de Valois.[1] She also met the Duchess of Montpensier, paternal half-sister of the princesses, who was exiled, like their father, for her participation in the Fronde. Whenever she visited her father's court, she spent time with her half-sisters and their friends.[22]

The three daughters of Gaston, Duke of Orléans from his second marriage
Engraved portrait of Marguerite of Orléans (as grand duchess of Tuscany) by Jean Frosne from the 1660s.
Élisabeth/Isabelle of Orléans (as duchess of Guise) around 1670 on a portrait by Henri and Charles Beaubrun.
Miniature portrait of Françoise of Orléans (as duchess of Savoy).

There were a total of five or six companion girls in the household, including Anne-Constance de Montalais, who would remain La Vallière's close friend. Some sources say that their education was neglected,[23] while others claim that they were taught painting, music, etiquette, and equitation, and even instructed in literature and philosophy by the Duke's almoner, Armand-Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, who would later found the Trappist order. La Vallière may have been introduced to neo-Aristotelian thought by Rancé.[5] Huertas argues that La Vallière had to receive a good education based on her good spelling.[24] Petitfils sees her education as more rudimentary, being only in ‘reading, prayer, [...] sewing, and embroidery', but agrees that she was well-trained in the necessary skills for a career at court (such as dancing and horse riding).[20] Young King Louis XIV (first cousin of the Orléans princesses) was an important topic of conversation among the girls due to plans that Mademoiselle d'Orléans would marry him. She was called la petite reine, ‘the little queen’ by her companions.[17] In August 1659, the King visited his uncle at Blois on his way to Bordeaux (where he would wait for the end of marriage negotiations with the Spanish, preparing to marry his double first cousin, Maria Theresa of Spain); this was the first time La Vallière met him.[25]

Young lady seated in front of a dark background, in a rich, white dress embroidered with gold.
Portrait of the Duchess of Montpensier from 1655, by Charles Beaubrun.

Around the same time, Jacques de Bragenlonge, the son of the Duke's intendant, fell in love with La Vallière. They exchanged letters, which was discovered by her mother, who forbade her from writing to him.[26] According to her autobiographical account, she nevertheless had a ‘good reputation’; when Montalais was reprimanded for ‘light behaviour’, the Duke announced that La Vallière certainly did not take part in the mischief, as ‘she [was] too sensible for that’. Later in life, she attributed the ‘beginning of [her] fall’ (her ‘immoral’ life at court, including her extramarital affair with the King) to the self-assurance she gained from this praise.[24]

In February 1660, the Duke of Orléans died. His widow, Marguerite of Lorraine, moved to the Luxembourg Palace in Paris.[26][27] After the mourning period, the Orléans daughters and their friends spent their time with balls and feasts, organised for them by their half sister, the Grande Mademoiselle.[28] In June 1660, Mademoiselle d'Alençon and Mademoiselle de Valois attended the wedding of the King and Maria Theresa in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Mademoiselle d'Orléans remained in Paris, and La Vallière with her. They, however, were present at the joyeuse entrée of the new royal couple into Paris in August.[29]

In 1661, the King's younger brother, Philippe, the new duke of Orléans, married Henrietta of England (they were known as ‘Monsieur’ and ‘Madame’). Madame's household was organised by Madame de Choisy (née Jeanne de Bélesbat de Hurault)[30] a distant relative of La Vallière, wife of the chancellor of the late Duke, and mother of François-Timoléon de Choisy, Monsieur's childhood friend. She knew La Vallière from the old Orléans household,[26][27][31] took her under her protection and placed her in the new Orléans household as a fille d'honneur (maid-of-honour).[32] This was a paid position, although the payment barely covered the costs of life at court; its main advantage was the possibility of finding a husband for a young woman who had little dowry.[33] Having no money of their own, La Vallière and her brother (who was embarking on a military career) needed loans to purchase their necessities, but nobody was willing to lend to minors. A judge, whom they had petitioned for help, instructed their mother and stepfather to borrow money for them.[21]

Life at the royal court[edit]

Black-and-white engraving, face of a young woman. She is wearing large pearls on her neck and a gown with a deep cleavage. Her hair is fashioned into curls.
Madame on an anonymous engraving from around 1662.

La Vallière joined the new Orléans household in the Tuileries Palace[34] following the wedding of the ducal couple on 1 April 1661,[35] together with Mademoiselle de Montalais, whom she knew from her previous placement.[36][37] On 19 April, Monsieur and Madame took their household to Fontainebleau in April, where the royal court was in residence.[1][34][37] The King's attendants paid court to the maids-of-honour of Madame; La Vallière's companion was often Armand de Gramont, Comte de Guiche.[38]

Queen Maria Theresa in her regalia, on a painting by Jean Nocret from around 1660.

The King and Madame grew close; Louis' wife, Maria Theresa of Spain, his mother, Anne of Austria, and Monsieur disapproved.[39][40] Rumours started to spread that the King and his sister-in-law were in love.[5] The King may have been told by his courtiers to pretend to be in love with others as a front,[1][5] or they may have made the decision together with Madame.[41] Huertas even suggests, and Petitfils agrees, that the ploy was Henrietta's idea to deceive the Queen Mother.[42][43] Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons, helped them.[43] Henrietta may have chosen the young ladies who would serve as decoy herself, including La Vallière. The first of the decoys, Bonne de Pons d'Heudicourt, a maid-of-honour of Anne of Austria, was recalled from court under the pretense that her uncle was ill by one of the Queen Mother's ladies-in-waiting, before her honour could be ‘compromised’ by the King. The next one, Mademoiselle de Chimerault[41]/Chemerault[43]/Chémérault,[44] did not interest Louis for long.[43]

Louis' secretary wrote letters purportedly from the King to La Vallière, and his attendants arranged meetings for them at night.[5] Soon, the King fell in love with La Vallière. She probably believed his feelings to have been sincere from the beginning, and reciprocated them.[1][5] They exchanged letters through Jacques-Louis de Beringhen [fr; de], the King's premier écuyer (‘first squire’). Besides him, only François de Beauvillier, Count of Saint-Aignan, premier gentilhomme (‘first gentleman’) was initially aware of the King's attraction.[43]

At the time, La Vallière had just turned seventeen (the King was twenty-three). She had been living at court for around two months, and seems to have been an ‘innocent’, ‘religious-minded’,[1] ‘submissive’ ‘natural[ly] modest’, ‘eager to please’, ‘eager to obey’,[45] ‘sincere’, even ‘naïve’ girl, different from the courtly ladies Louis had known,[46] but corresponding to the contemporary ideal for young women.[45] She did not behave flirtatiously or act out of self-interest,[1] but exhibited ‘absolute loyalty’ to the King.[47] She was described as tall, slim, and graceful, despite having a limp. She had blue eyes, reportedly with a ‘sweet’ and ‘tender’ gaze, fine,[47] golden-blond hair, and a beautiful speaking voice.[48] Fraser suggests that La Vallière refrained from pursuing material benefits in part because she needed to conceptualise her sexual relationship with the King as a ‘pure’ or even ‘holy’, in order to fit it into her religious world view.[45]

Contemporary description of La Vallière by the King's historian

[La Vallière] has a beautiful and noble stature and something grand in the way she walks; she has a certain longing in her eyes that is an inevitable charm for anyone who has somewhat of a tender heart. She has the most beautiful hair in the world, and in abundance. She has a gentle spirit, good taste, loves books and is a good judge of them. She is courteous, obliging, generous, and one sees magnificence in everything she does. She is even-tempered and has always governed herself in a way that has won admiration and friendship for her.

Jean Donneau de Visé

Louis XIV's mistress[edit]

Secret lover of the King[edit]
Portrait of Anne of Austria from around 1660 from the workshop of Henri and Charles Beaubrun, after an original by Pierre Mignard.

Most biographers agree that by summer 1661, around the end of July, after approximately six weeks of courtship, La Vallière had become the King's lover.[49][43][41] The Queen Mother noticed that her son neglected religious practice, and around mid-July learnt that he was in love with La Vallière. She asked him to think of his duty to his country and to God, and told her to hide his feelings for La Vallière from his wife. Louis did not end his relationship as his mother wanted, but he decided to conduct it secretly.[50]

Engraved portrait of Louis XIV by Abraham van Diepenbeeck and Adriaen Millaert from 1660, commemorating his wedding with Maria Theresa of Spain .

In his memoirs, a childhood friend of the King, Louis-Henri de Loménie de Brienne [fr], claimed to have been in love with La Vallière, not knowing about her affair. He asked her to sit as model for a painting of Mary Magdalene; the King discovered them, and Brienne complimented La Vallière's appearance to him, embarrassing her. Later, when he saw Louis and La Vallière talk, he understood that the King was in love with her, too. The King then questioned him about his feelings and asked for his painting of La Vallière; he promised never to talk to her again.[51] However, by the time this story supposedly happened, Brienne had probably already heard about the King's affair from the Queen Mother.[52]

The King's affair became public when he failed to take communion on Easter. He attented mass every day in public, and his failure to participate in the Eucharist had already been noted, but when he did not receive the sacrament on Easter (all Catholics were commanded to confess and take communion at least once a year, on Easter), it caused a ‘scandal’. Since people who were ‘living in sin’, such as committing adultery, could not receive the Eucharist, all courtiers became aware that the Louis was conducting a sexual affair.[53] For Lent, the court usually invited a guest preacher. In 1662, this was Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, favoured by the Queen Mother for years, who had been made preacher-extraordinary to the King in 1657. Beginning on 2 February, he delivered a series of sermons at the Louvre to the royal family and court, and in some of them, he criticised the King's behaviour through biblical examples, such as the story of David and Bathsheba.[54]

The superintendent of finances, Nicolas Fouquet, also noticed that the King was neglecting his religious and administrative duties because of a romantic relationship. He learnt La Vallière's identity from the Queen Mother's confessor and decided to establish a relationship with the new favourite. After gathering information about her through his network of spies, he seems to have sent her a letter complimenting her appearance and offering her money as a bribe to become his informant,[49] which La Vallière refused. He then attempted to talk with her personally to remedy the mistake. La Vallière informed the King of his advances. Both of them seem to have believed that Fouquet wanted to sleep with La Vallière. This may have (partly) motivated Louis to get rid of Fouquet, who was arrested in September 1661, accused of embezzlement and lèse-majesté, and remained imprisoned until his death in 1680.[55][56][57]

Engraved portrait of Louis XIV from 1664 by Robert Nanteuil, after a painting by Pierre Mignard.

After Fouquet's fall, amid difficult financial circumstances and an environment of distrust, the court became quieter.[58] When the Orléans household was established at Saint-Cloud, the King regularly dined there, making the long journey from Fontaineblau (around 70 km, or 43 miles) daily, probably to see La Vallière.[59] Both Queen Maria Theres and Madame were pregnant, so they led retired lives.[60] On 4 November, the young Queen gave birth to a son, Louis, and on 25 November, Madame left court with her train (including La Vallière).[61] The King went on a pilgrimage to thank God for his heir, but on 10 December, he left his wife to see Madame. He repeated this visit regularly, perhaps in order to continue his affair with La Vallière.[62] In Madame's household, La Vallière grew close with Mademoiselle de Montalais. According to Madame de La Fayette, a contemporary who later wrote a fictionalised biography of La Vallière, the King disapproved of this friendship, considering Montalais to be a ‘schemer’.[63]

In February 1662, the couple had a conflict: questioned by the King, La Vallière refused to tell him about an alleged affair between Madame and the Count of Guiche.[1][64] After their argument, already troubled by Bossouet's lenten sermons,[54] she fled the Tuileries for the Visitation convent of the Filles de Sainte-Marie (‘Daughters of the Virgin Mary’) in Chaillot, where a previous love of the King, Anne-Madeleine de Conty d'Argencourt, had been forced to retire by the Queen Mother.[58] The King went to search for her personally, gained entrance to the convent, and took her back to the court amid fears that his wife would learn of his affair because of La Vallière's disappearance.[34] La Fayette claims that Madame and Monsieur were reluctant to admit La Vallière back into their household; eventually, she was permitted to stay.[65] The King sent Montalais to a convent for allegedly going between Madame and the Count.[66][67]

Undated contmporary portrait of Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons by Pierre Mignard.

In March 1662, Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons conspired with the Count of Guiche and François-René Crespin du Bec, Marquis of Vardes [fr; de], son of Jacqueline de Bueil,[68] for La Vallière's downfall to replace her with someone she could control. She sent an anonymous letter in Spanish to the Queen, informing her of her husband's adultery, and accusing La Vallière of trying to undermine Maria Theresa's position.[1][69][70] The message was intercepted and given to the King, who exiled Guiche.[66] In the summer of 1662, the Countess of Soissons drew the King's attention to another maid-of-honour, fourteen-year-old Anne-Lucie de La Mothe-Houdancourt while he was in Saint-Germain.[71] She was famous for both her beauty and for not granting favours to any of her numerous admirers. Challenged, the King became infatuated with her for a short time, but he seems to have remained faithful to La Vallière.[72]

Around the same time, the King grew fond of his hunting lodge in Versailles, and started taking trips there with La Vallière. By early 1663, love poems and songs performed at court alluded increasingly to the person of his mistress.[73] In January 1663, Louis gave a pension to La Vallière's brother, Jean-François, and in June arranged his marriage with a wealthy heiress.[74] After this public favour, in July 1663, the Countess of Soissons and Madame informed the Queen of the King's affair, then blamed it to the King on one of her ladies-in-waiting.[75] Fraser argues that Maria Theresa had to have at least suspected her husband's infidelity for some time;[76] in 1662, while giving birth to her second child, she saw La Vallière pass through the room, and said in Spanish, ‘this maiden […] is the one the King wants’. She used the word quieres, meaning both to love and to want or pursue.[77][76]

In the summer of 1663, La Vallière became pregnant, and the King left on a military campaign. He confided about his affair in Chief Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who transmitted letters between the couple during his absence. When Louis returned in October, he arranged for La Vallière to leave Madame's service and move into a small house called palais Brion[78] in the garden of the Palais-Royal. Colbert planned for the care of the child, who would be raised by his trusted servants, a man named Beauchamp and his wife. They were told that it was an illegitimate child of Colbert's brother by a girl whose honour needed to be preserved. He also instructed a physician, Dr Boucher, to be present at the delivery and remove the newborn.[79] On 19 December 1663, at around three in the morning, La Vallière gave birth to a son. At six, Dr Boucher took him to a carriage waiting across the street with the Beauchamps, who transported him to Saint-Leu. There, on orders of the King, he was christened Charles, registered as the son of a ‘Monsieur de Lincourt’ and ‘Élisabeth de Beux’, with Beauchamp and his wife as godparents.[79] He died in infancy.[80]

Despite the precautions, stories spread at court. People speculated about La Vallière's disappearance and a talk the King had with Dr Boucher. La Vallière attended midnight mass on 24 December to counter the rumours, but scorn was so great that she escaped from the church.[81] Courtiers observed that she was ‘very pale’ and ‘much changed’, taking this as proof that she had given birth.[82] After the birth, with the Queen aware of the affair, it was impossible to hide the relationship. La Vallière became isolated, as ladies who wanted to retain the favour of the young Queen and the Queen Mother, did not associate with her. She continued living in the house near the Palais-Royal, where only a few male courtiers visited her. As companion, she was assigned Mademoiselle d'Artigny, a young woman with a bad reputation, who spied on her for the King.[83]

Maîtresse-en-titre[edit]
The theatre installed for the premiere of The Princess of Elid on a contemporary engraving by Israel Silvestre.[84]

In May 1664, Louis XIV personally planned and hosted a multi-day feast called Les Plaisirs de l’île enchantée (‘The Pleasures of the Enchanted Isle’), themed after the epic poem Orlando Furioso, in Versailles (this was the first major event there).[85] During the festivities, Molière presented two new plays, La Princesse d'Élide (‘The Princess of Elid’) and Tartuffe,[86][87] and a ballet by Jean-Baptiste Lully.[85] The event was officially dedicated to Queen Maria Theresa and the Queen Mother, but was secretly addressed to La Vallière. She was present and seated at the royal table.[88] In June, Louis and his mother had an argument, which caused both of them to cry; the Queen reminded her son of the ‘peril’ to his ‘salvation’ and criticising him for thinking too highly of himself. She threatened to retire to her abbey, Val-de-Grâce, which kept the King up all night. Nevertheless, he did not concede.[89]

Louis King moved La Vallière back to court. He visited her and went hunting with her regularly, ignoring the contempt of the public, the courtiers, and the two queens. He stopped making confession and taking the Eucharist; his relationship with his mother deteriorated, and they briefly stopped talking.[90] In September, he took La Vallière to a reunion with his brother and sister-in-law in Villers-Cotterêts. The Queen, who was pregnant, could not attend and was distraught by his behaviour. According to the memoir of a contemporary, Françoise Bertaut de Motteville, the King promised her wife that after the age of thirty (he was then twenty-six), he would be an ‘examplary husband’, but left with La Vallière.[91][89]

Madame on an anonyous portrait from between 1665 and 1670.

Lair counts La Vallière as official favourite from the time of the festivities at Villers-Cotterêts, where she was presented by the King into the company of Madame. The ladies of the court now sought to be close to her. When they returned to Vincennes, the King took his mistress to the Queen Mother's salon and led her to play cards with Monsieur and Madame; however, neither queen was present that day.[92] On 8 December 1664, Armand-Charles de La Porte, Duke of La Meilleraye, husband of Hortense Mancini and an extremely jealous person, publicly rebuked the King for ‘scandalising the nation’ and urged him to ‘correct himself’, claiming to be ‘speaking from God’. The King ridiculed him by touching his forehead and saying, ‘I have always suspected that you have some injury there’. The Duke retired from court and public life.[91]

On 7 January 1665, La Vallière gave birth to a second son,[93] again in the Palais-Royal with Dr Boucher. The physician gave the newborn to Colbert who delivered him to a Monsieur Bernard, his servant; he was baptised Philippe, registered as the son of ‘François Derssy, bourgeois’ and his wife, ‘Marguerite Bernard’.[80] The King loved his first illegitimate son, Charles, who was said to resemble him, and often visited him in the Tuileries (where he was raised); but he died in July 1665. The second, Philippe, died the next year.[94]

Lair recounts a story according to which Queen Maria Theresa asked her husband to arrange a marriage for La Vallière; he supposedly agreed that she could marry if the Queen found a match.[95] Arranging a marriage for their extramarital partners was a common way for monarchs to provide for them; but marrying would have defeated La Vallière's idea of a ‘holy devotion’ to her sovereign.[96] According to diplomatic records from early 1665, around the there was a proposed marriage between her and the Marquis of Vardes. Both parties refused the marriage.[97] The same dispatch mentions that La Vallière's palais Brion was attacked by unknown people, who fled upon being discovered and were never identified; the King assigned guards to the house.[98] The first book about La Vallière's affair was written around 1665 and published in 1666, titled Les Amours du Palais-Royal (‘Loves of the Palais-Royal’). It depicted La Vallière as a ‘gentle, kind, [and] selfless’ person who loved the King ‘for himself’ and was never in love with anyone else, concluding that she would ‘always be the King's great love’. She was becoming known around the country as the Louis' mistress.[99]

Diary entry of a middle-class contemporary about the affair

[The Countess of Soissons], the viper of the late lord Cardinal de Mazarin, as she is known to the people of France, [wanted to] babble and even wrote the Queen some supposed letter about a little love affair between the King and a lady called Vallière. [...] This Lady Vallière is pleasant, obliging, and beautiful and cheerful. The Queen is of a rather heavy nature, not very talkative: it is said that she does not speak French very well. This is what causes these little jealousies and distractions that the King takes. [...] But it is not for the people to speak ill of their king, touching on such frivolous [things].

Oudart Coquault, [100]

In October 1665, the King had a short affair with the visiting Princess of Monaco, Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont (sister of the Count of Guiche).[99] He also developped a ‘flirtatious friendship’ with Anne de Rohan-Chabot, Princess of Soubise, a famous beauty of the court. She was, however, a devoted wife, and would only become the King's mistress in 1669. However, Louis did have at least ‘occasional’ encounters with the Countess of Soissons, and probably with other young women put forward by diverse courtly factions in hopes of replacing La Vallière.[101]

La Vallière as Venus, painting probably by Pierre Mignard from 1666 or 1667.

By the end of 1665, the Queen Mother was dying. Louis did not abandon his usual entertainments, for which his wife, who remained with Anne of Austria, blamed the bad influence of La Vallière.[102] He, however, worried for his mother and often slept in her bedroom, on a mattress at the foot of her bed.[103] Queen Anne died on 20 January 1666; her family mourned her sincerely, but Louis was relieved of the only person who could exercise any control over him. From then on, he did not see a reason to be discreet about his affair or to act against his wishes in his personal life.[104] On the 27th, following a memorial reception for the Queen Mother, the Queen Consort invited La Vallière to stand next to her at mass to display her complacency to her husband.[105] However, there were already signs that the King's love for La Vallière was waning. Courtiers, who sensed the change, derided her more and more for not being beautiful or witty enough.[106] They suspected that with Anne of Austria gone, the appointment of a maîtresse-en-titre (which had last been practiced by Henry IV, Louis' grandfather) might return. Proximity with and even control over the maîtresse would then become crucial for political success.[107]

On 2 October 1666, La Vallière gave birth to her daughter Marie-Anne at Vincennes. Her pregnancy had been kept secret, but during the delivery, Madame passed through her room on her way to church. La Vallière told her that she was suffering from colic, and urged her physician to ensure that the birth was over by the end of the service. At midnight, she was present at the medianoche (midnight meal) of the court.[107][108] During her time as royal mistress, La Vallière played an important role in the intellectual life of the court. She belonged to the circles of libertines such as Isaac de Benserade and Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Duke of Lauzun. She watched plays by Jean Racine and Molière, read the popular books of the age, and took painting classes at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. She was interested in philosophy, reading and discussing Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle and Discourse on Method by René Descartes.[5]

Fall from grace[edit]

Madame de Montespan in 1670

By the end of 1666, the King's affection for La Vallière had started waning, and he seems to have become bored with the relationship.[72] At the same time, Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marchioness of Montespan arrived at court and established herself as its reigning beauty. The King became infatuated with her.[109]

In May 1667, before going on a military campaign to Flanders, the King legitimised his only living child with La Vallière, Marie-Anne, who thus became a fille legitimée de France (‘legitimised daughter of France’). On the same day, he created his mistress duchess of La Vallière and Vaujours.[72][55] La Vallière was not impressed, saying that the title resembled a present given to a retiring servant. Affirming this, Louis XIV commented that legitimising their daughter and the gifts to La Vallière ‘matched his affection for her for six years’.[110] These actions infuriated the Queen against La Vallière.[111]

When the King left for the campaign, the pregnant La Vallière was ordered to stay in Versailles. Worrying for the King and perhaps jealous, she followed him to the battlefield without permission and threw herself at his feet, sobbing uncontrollably. Infuriated, Louis forced her to return home immediately. Madame de Montespan was the first to denounce her for the scandal.[citation needed] The King made La Vallière share an apartment with Montespan at the Tuileries Palace,[1] as the latter's husband was uncomfortable with his wife's affair.

On 2 October 1667, La Vallière gave birth to her fifth and last child, Louis. She seemed unwilling or unable to accept that her relationship with the King had ended. She accepted the humiliations of her new situation, obeying the King and living with Montespan, even appearing with her and the Queen in public, which scandalised the public.[5] The King may have occasionally returned to her during Montespan's pregnancies.[72] She wrote a poem about her enduring love for Louis and sent it to him. The King found it a good poem and praised it publicly, but he did not return to La Vallière.[112][55]

In 1669, when their physical relationship had long since ended, their son was legitimised, created count of Vermandois, and given the post of admiral of France. As he was only two years old, this ensured the King's control over the navy.[113] At the end of March 1669, Montespan gave birth to her first child by the King. La Vallière served as the newborn daughter's godmother, and she was named Louise-Françoise after her.[citation needed] The emotional strain of being forced to live with her former lover and his current mistress took its toll on La Vallière: she lost weight and became increasingly pale and exhausted.

Religious turn and Réflexions sur la miséricorde de Dieu[edit]

In 1670, during a nearly fatal, long illness (perhaps smallpox), La Vallière had a vision of her soul at the gates of hell, from which the ‘thunder of God’ awakened and saved her. She turned to religion, confessed her sins, and abanoned her previous, libertine friends. She read the important spiritual works of the counter-reformation, being most influenced by Teresa of Ávila's The Way of Perfection. Bossuet, who had previously denounced her affair, became her spiritual guide. With his help, she wrote her Réflexions sur la miséricorde de Dieu (‘Reflections on the Mercy of God’) in 1671, which was published anonymously in 1680. It became a popular devotional book among French Catholics, reprinted at least ten times, often under La Vallière's name.[5]

Her authorship of Réflexions, accepted at the time, was contested later. In 1853, Jean-Joseph-Stanislas-Albert Damas-Hinard [fr; es] argued that the book had been conceived by Bossuet and merely written down by La Vallière. However, the style of Réflexions differs from that of Bossuet's own work, and it contains a woman's autobiographical notes. In 1928, Marcel Langlois, a literary critic claimed that La Vallière could not have written the book as its ‘rationalist tone’ cannot belong to a woman. He also argued that no women of La Vallière's time had the knowledge of philosophy and theology demonstrated in the book, or read the Bible in Latin as its author clearly had. However, La Vallière was known in salons for her understanding of Aristotle and Descartes, and many women of her circles read religious texts in both French and Latin, as Jean-Baptiste Ériau [fr] defended. Her authorship has been asserted through textual analyses by Jean-Christian Petitfils and Monique de Huertas.[5]

After her conversion, she joined the parti dévot (‘devout party’) at court who disdained what they saw as the immorality of the King's circles. She admitted that she was not ‘dead to her passions [for the King], while I feel them live more strongly than ever in what I love more than myself’.[114]

Later life[edit]

Following the advice of Jesuit preacher Louis Bourdaloue, supported by Bossuet and Bernardin Gigault de Bellefond, Marquis de Bellefonds, head of the Maison du Roi, she decided to leave the court and enter the Carmelite convent in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques part of Paris, later known as Notre-Dame-des-Champs. Despite the strict rules of the Carmelites, La Vallière rejected the option of being placed in a more relaxed order.

Madame de Montespan wanted La Vallière to return so that her own affair with the King could remain hidden. He urged the Louis to publicly recognise his daughter with La Vallière as Mademoiselle de Blois.[citation needed] She asked her confidant and governess to her children, Madame Scarron (the future Madame de Maintenon) to detail to La Vallière the suffering she would be exposed to at a Carmelite convent, as well as the court scandal that her decision would provoke. Scarron highlighted that she would eventually be forbidden from wearing her custom-made shoes that allowed her to walk without a limp, as one of her legs was shorter than the other. ‘When I shall be suffering at the convent', Louise replied, 'I shall only have to remember what they made me suffer here, and all the pain shall seem light to me'.[citation needed]

As a Carmelite nun[edit]

La Vallière asking the queen for forgiveness on Louise Adélaïde Desnos' painting from 1838

All of the attempts at dissuading her failed, and in 1674, La Vallière was finally permitted to enter the convent. The day she left she threw herself at the feet of the Queen, begging forgiveness, saying that 'My crimes were public, my repentance must be public, too'.[115] She started wearing the nuns' habit on 2 June, and on 4 June 1675, she took her perpetual vows under the name Louise de la Miséricorde (‘Louise of Mercy’). She accepted the black veil from the Queen herself.

In her absence, the new Duchess of Orléans, born Princess Elizabeth Charlotte 'Liselotte' of the Palatinate, known as Madame Palatine, took care of the education of her son Louis. He died on his first military campaign at the age of sixteen, in 1683, while in exile in Flanders for his involvement with a secret group of young aristocrats practicing "le vice italien", homosexuality.[116] His sister and aunt were greatly affected by his death, while his father did not shed a tear. His mother, in reference to the adultery of his conception, said, 'I ought to weep for his birth far more than [for] his death'.[117]

Queen Maria Theresia, the Duchess of Orléans, Bishop Bossuet, and Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné all had a habit of visiting Louise at the convent for spiritual consolation and rest. Later in life, Madame de Montespan also went to her for advice on piety. Louise forgave her and counselled her on the mysteries of divine grace.[citation needed]

Sister Louise de la Miséricordie died on 6 June 1710, at the age of sixty-five, after thirty-six years of religious life, and was buried in the cemetery of her convent. Her titles and possessions were inherited by her only surviving child, Marie-Anne, by then Princess Dowager of Conti.[citation needed]

Issue[edit]

Louise de La Vallière and her children by Peter Lely, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes

Louise de la Vallière had five children by Louis XIV, two of whom survived infancy:

  • Charles de La Baume Le Blanc (19 December 1663 – 15 July 1665), died in infancy and was never legitimised;
  • Philippe de La Baume Le Blanc (7 January 1665 – 1666), died in infancy and was never legitimised;
  • Louis de La Baume Le Blanc (27 December 1665 – 1666), died in infancy and was never legitimised;
  • Marie-Anne de Bourbon, Légitimée de France (2 October 1666 – 3 May 1739); known as Mademoiselle de Blois after her legitimation. She married Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti and had no issue. She inherited the title of Duchess of La Vallière from her mother;
  • Louis de Bourbon, Count of Vermandois (2 October 1667 – 18 November 1683); died at the age of sixteen in exile, during his first military campaign, and had no issue.[118][119]

Legacy and appearances in popular culture[edit]

  • The term lavalier, meaning a jeweled pendant necklace, comes from her name (or possibly from that of Ève Lavallière). In French, a lavallière is a neck tie tied to form a bow at the front of the neck (reminiscent of a pussy bow), which was popular in the 19th century;[55]
  • La Vallière's book Réflexions sur la miséricorde de Dieu ("Reflections on the Mercy of God) were printed in 1767, and in again in 1860 as Réflexions, lettres et sermons, by M. P. Clement;[citation needed]
  • Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poetical illustration, Louise, Duchess of La Valliere, to an engraving of a painting by Edmund Thomas Parris, was published in 1838.[120]
  • Louise de la Vallière by Maria McIntosh (1854) is her earliest known fictionalised portrayal in English; [citation needed]
  • She is one of the main characters in Alexandre Dumas's novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne, the second sequel to The Three Musketeers. Dumas makes her the fiancée of the fictional titular character, son of the musketeer Athos. Some editions break the novel up in several books, one of which is titled Louise de la Vallière.[citation needed]
  • In 1922, a German silent film titled Louise de Lavallière was made about her life;[citation needed]
  • Marcelle Vioux wrote a 1938 novel about her titled Louise de La Valliere;[121]
  • Sandra Gulland wrote a historical novel featuring her, titled Mistress of the Sun, published in 2008;
  • Karleen Koen's 2011 novel Before Versailles is told from Louise de la Vallière's point of view;
  • Joan Sanders published a biography of Louise in 1959 titled La Petite : Louise de la Vallière ("The Little: Louise de la Vallière");
  • Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, the main female character of The Familiar of Zero, was named after her;
  • Christina Rossetti's poem Sœur Louise de la Miséricorde is presumed to be about the Duchess of La Vallière.

See also[edit]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Louise de La Vallière.

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "La Vallière, Louise Françoise de" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 290–291.
  2. ^ a b c d e Le Brun, Eugène (1903). Les Ancêtres de Louise de La Vallière. Généalogie de la maison de La Baume Le Blanc [The Ancestors of Louise de La Vallière: Genealogy of the House of La Blaume Le Blanc] (in French). Paris: H. Champion. pp. 88–94. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  3. ^ Petitfils 2011, p. 2.
  4. ^ a b c d Lair 1907, p. 8.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Conley, John J. "Louise-Françoise de la Baume Le Blanc, marquise de La Vallière (1644—1710)". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  6. ^ Lair 1907, p. 2.
  7. ^ a b c d Petitfils 2011, Chapter 1.
  8. ^ Lair 1907, p. 4.
  9. ^ Huertas 1998, p. 18.
  10. ^ a b Huertas 1998, p. 14.
  11. ^ Petitfils 2011, p. 10.
  12. ^ Huertas 1998, pp. 14–15.
  13. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 18–19.
  14. ^ Lair 1907, p. 9.
  15. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 20.
  16. ^ Lair 1907, p. 14.
  17. ^ a b Petitfils 2011, Chapter 2.
  18. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 17, 20.
  19. ^ Lair 1907, p. 17.
  20. ^ a b Petitfils 2011, Chapter 3.
  21. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 51.
  22. ^ Huertas 1998, p. 22.
  23. ^ Lair 1907, p. 19.
  24. ^ a b Huertas 1998, p. 27.
  25. ^ Huertas 1998, p. 25.
  26. ^ a b c Huertas 1998, pp. 26–27.
  27. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 41.
  28. ^ Huertas 1998, p. 33.
  29. ^ Petitfils 2011, Chapter 6.
  30. ^ Petitfils 2011, Chapter 7.
  31. ^ Huertas 1998, pp. 35–36.
  32. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 48–49.
  33. ^ Lair 1907, p. 50.
  34. ^ a b c Montpensier, Anne-Marie-Louise-Henriette d'Orléans (1627–1693 ; duchesse de) Auteur du texte (1858–1859). "Chapître V". Mémoires de Mlle de Montpensier, petite-fille de Henri IV / collationnés sur le manuscrit autographe avec notes biographiques et historiques, par A. Chéruel,... We had already seen that Mademoiselle de la Vallière was maid of honor to Henrietta of England, who at that time was still living at the Tuileries{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ Lair 1907, p. 52.
  36. ^ Huertas 1998, p. 36.
  37. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 54.
  38. ^ Lair 1907, p. 62.
  39. ^ Hillemand, P. (15 March 1975). À propos de la mort d'Henriette d'Angleterre Madame, Duchesse d'Orléans [On the Subject of the Death of Henrietta of England, Madame, Duchess of Orléans] (PDF) (in French). Société Française d'Histoire de la Médecine. p. 117.
  40. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 55–58.
  41. ^ a b c Lair 1907, p. 59.
  42. ^ Huertas 1998, p. 40.
  43. ^ a b c d e f Petitfils 2011, Chapter 9.
  44. ^ Fraser 2006, p. 71.
  45. ^ a b c Fraser 2006, p. 73.
  46. ^ Lair 1907, p. 61.
  47. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 42.
  48. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 60–61.
  49. ^ a b Fraser 2006, p. 74.
  50. ^ Lair 1907, p. 67.
  51. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 43–45.
  52. ^ Lair 1907, p. 68.
  53. ^ Fraser 2006, p. 79.
  54. ^ a b Fraser 2006, p. 81.
  55. ^ a b c d Calon, Oliver (2017). "Ah! s'il n'était pas le roi – Louise de la Vallière". Les petites phrases qui ont fait la grande histoire. Vuibert. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-2311-10216-1
  56. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 72–75.
  57. ^ Fraser 2010, pp. 70–75.
  58. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 76.
  59. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 76–77.
  60. ^ Lair 1907, p. 77.
  61. ^ Lair 1907, p. 82.
  62. ^ Lair 1907, p. 81.
  63. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 83.
  64. ^ Lair 1907, p. 84.
  65. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 86.
  66. ^ a b Fraser 2010, p. 96.
  67. ^ Lair 1907, p. 97.
  68. ^ Fraser 2010, p. 89.
  69. ^ Montpensier, Anne-Marie-Louise-Henriette d'Orléans (1627–1693 ; duchesse de) Auteur du texte (1858–1859). Mémoires de Mlle de Montpensier, petite-fille de Henri IV / collationnés sur le manuscrit autographe avec notes biographiques et historiques, par A. Chéruel,...{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  70. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 88–90.
  71. ^ Lair 1907, p. 102.
  72. ^ a b c d Petitfils, Jean (2006). "Louis XIV Intime 1661–1679". Louis XIV : La Gloire et les épreuves [Louis XIV: The Glory and the Hardships]. Tallandier. pp. 100–103. Retrieved 13 June 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  73. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 113–115.
  74. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 117–118.
  75. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 121–122.
  76. ^ a b Fraser 2006, p. 78.
  77. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 119–120.
  78. ^ Lair 1907, p. 27.
  79. ^ a b Lair 1907, pp. 125–126.
  80. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 142.
  81. ^ Breton, Guy; Histoires d'amour de l'histoire de France IV: Les favorites de Louis XIV, Presses de la Cité, Paris, 1991, p. 115.
  82. ^ Lair 1907, p. 127.
  83. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 129–130.
  84. ^ "Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais". www.photo.rmn.fr. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  85. ^ a b Fraser 2006, pp. 88–89.
  86. ^ Dance, spectacle, and the body politick, 1250–1750. Jennifer Nevile. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0-253-35153-1. OCLC 180577252.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  87. ^ Fischer-Lichte, Erika (2002). History of European drama and theatre. Library Genesis. London / New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-18059-7.
  88. ^ Lair 1907, p. 132.
  89. ^ a b Fraser 2006, p. 92.
  90. ^ Lair 1907, p. 135.
  91. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 141.
  92. ^ Lair 1907, p. 138.
  93. ^ Fraser 2006, p. 94.
  94. ^ Lair 1907, p. 178.
  95. ^ Lair 1907, p. 139.
  96. ^ Fraser 2006, p. 88.
  97. ^ Lair 1907, p. 140.
  98. ^ Lair 1907, p. 147.
  99. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 150.
  100. ^ Lair 1907, p. 151.
  101. ^ Fraser 2006, p. 96.
  102. ^ Lair 1907, p. 156.
  103. ^ Fraser 2006, p. 93.
  104. ^ Lair 1907, p. 157.
  105. ^ Lair 1907, p. 158.
  106. ^ Lair 1907, p. 159.
  107. ^ a b Fraser 2006, pp. 94–95.
  108. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 178–179.
  109. ^ Fraser, Antonia, Love and Louis XIV, Anchor Books, 2006, pp. 70–71.
  110. ^ ib. Fraser, pp. 111–112.
  111. ^ Lair 1907, p. 198.
  112. ^ Lair 1907, p. 224.
  113. ^ Rowlands, Guy (29 August 2002). The Dynastic State and the Army under Louis XIV. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511496882. ISBN 978-0-521-64124-1.
  114. ^ Huertas 1998, pp. 134–135.
  115. ^ Herman, Elizabeth, Sex with Kings, Harper Collins, 2004, p. 222.
  116. ^ Louis was later suspected of being the Man in the Iron Mask.
  117. ^ ib. Fraser
  118. ^ François Bluche: "Dictionnaire du Grand Siècle".
  119. ^ Jean-Christian Petitfils: "Louise de la Vallière".
  120. ^ Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1838). "poetical illustration". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839. Fisher, Son & Co.Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1838). "picture". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839. Fisher, Son & Co.
  121. ^ Marcelle Vioux: Louise de La Valliere, Fasquelle 1938, 263 p.

References[edit]

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