Madame de Maintenon. the secret wife of Louis XIV by Veronica Buckley

Madame de Maintenon, the secret wife of King Louis XIV by Veronica Buckley

I enjoyed reading this story of the life of Francoise d’Aubigny, later to become Madame de Maintenon and the uncrowned queen of France as the secret wife of Louis XIV.

This story is quite extraordinary.

Francoise did occasionally enjoy stability and security while staying with her aunt and uncle and cousin at the Chateau of Mursay, however, this was often short lived as she would be uplifted and taken to Paris to live elsewhere and be brought up under a different religion.

She spent time in the overseas colonies of France but often lived her life through the generosity and friendship of others, even in her early days in the French colonies.  There is also a hint in the novel, whether true or false that Francoise and her younger brother were sent out on to the streets of La Rochelle as they were in dire need of food and were begging.  This was before they would have embarked on their voyage to the French colony of Martinique.

Francoise’s father was more or less disowned by his own father and her mother spent years In Paris trying to claim money which she believed was owed to her husband.  It was not a very good beginning in life for Francoise, who may also have been born in prison (according to the book.)

I was shocked and humbled by the extremes of poverty which the family did suffer while waiting for passage to Martinique at La Rochelle.  It may have been from this time that Francoise always seemed to suffer from the cold.

It is also a sad story but later on Francoise enjoyed her life in the Marais district of Paris, as is mentioned in a chapter, The Merry Widow.  At a young age she had married a scandalous poet, Paul Scarron and was thereafter known as the Widow Scarron.  However, it was during these years that Francoise came into her own and enjoyed meeting intelligent and influential people at his Paris Salon.  It would have been a glittering social scene for Francoise though perhaps people must have wondered the reason that she was married to Paul Scarron, especially at such a young age.  Francoise did seem to shine at this salon and became friends with Madame de Montespan, whose children she later minded.  It was in this regard that Madame de Maintenon later came into contact with the King. 

Madame de Maintenon would have seen the king in the early days in Paris when he first entered the city with his Spanish bride which was a grand occasion and many people crowded the balconies to get a view.  Francoise would also have attended entertainments which were put on by the king at the gardens of Versailles.

It was not until later that Francoise and the king became more acquainted and the king admired and respected Francoise for her intelligent conversation and obviously also as she took such great care of his children.

The book gives wonderful insights of the court of Louis XIV and the politics of the day.  It is well worth reading.  It presented a different view for me as I had previously read books about other members of the royal court and the story of Madame de Maintenon is certainly something different.

It is stated at the beginning of the book that she had said that her life had been a miracle.  It certainly is and also an extraordinary story as Francoise did become an uncrowned queen of France and perhaps if the king had had his own way with his councillors and advisors he may have crowned Francoise d’Aubigny as a queen of France.   

 An incredible story!

The Shadow Queen by Sandra Gulland

This wonderful novel by celebrated author Sandra Gulland of The Josephine Trilogy tells the complex tale of the early years of the life of Claude des Oeillets. This is a great novel which I enjoyed reading.

Claude des Oeillets was a personal assistant to Madame de Montespan during the early years of the court of Louis XIV in France in the 17^th century.

Claude was from an acting family and it is this aspect of the novel which appeals i.e. the travels and also travails of an acting troupe during these early years in France.

The Great Corneille, writer and playwright was an inspiration to these theatre people whose livelihoods often depended upon patronage and performances given on the stage at courts or various centres in the surrounding countryside.

Claude des Oeillets seems to me to have been an enigma and she also appears as a character in the novel

Of Athenais, The Real Queen of France by Lisa Hilton as a servant of Madame de Montespan.

I enjoyed reading the novel. It gives wonderful insights into another era and time where life was so different from today’s world and the king was the supreme power in the land.

The story is told from the viewpoint of Claude and how she reacts to adverse situations in her life, the hardships and troubles of her family and also from the time of her first meeting with Madame de Montespan who came from a more privileged background. Apparently in earlier more prosperous times her mother and father had been well received on the stage and well regarded as performers in their day.

The story tells of the wonderful side of court life and its beauty and grandeur but also unfortunately also shows a side of court life which is not respectable or acceptable and Claude has to make decisions about her life and face consequences because of earlier decisions which she has made. Ultimately Claude decides where her true loyalties lie and what is the better course for her and her child.

The novel is a triumph of great story-telling. In the end Claude makes a decision which she feels she can live with. She decides to leave the employ of Madame de Montespan. The life at court was not all is seemed and because of the values which she was brought up with she could no longer continue to live a life which was not in keeping with her own moral code.

This book is wonderful and gives a good account of what may have occurred during the Affair of the Poisons at the Court of Louis XIV where so many people were named and also banished from court.

“The Shadow Queen” is an excellent historical fiction novel and the adventures of Claude des Oeillets in the employ of Madame de Montespan are fascinating to follow. The court life and its many complexities are seen throughout in this novel from what Claude des Oeillets could see and gather from her own information. It is very good.

More fascinating characters from the court of the Sun King

The Duc de Lauzun: a picture from wikipedia:

The Grand Mademoiselle

I believe that this is a very elegant portrait of the Grande Mademoiselle
from wikipedia: the gold and blue colours are exquisite:

The Grande Mademoiselle towards the end of her life wrote that

with all of her wealth she would have been expected to live a very happy

life but that this was not the case.

Born Anne Marie Louise d'Orleans, Duchess de Montpensier, a wealthy heiress of the Bourbons, whose mother

had died not long after she was born, lived with her father Gaston d”Orleans at Blois Castle. She became

involved in the Fronde, fired a canon at the young Louis XIV, who could have

become a possible future spouse, was sent away into exile and returned to court at a later time.

In the book “Royal Flush” by Margaret Irwin, it was reported by the widow

queen Henrietta Maria, queen of
Charles I, that one should not be the cause of one's own misfortune.

The Grand Mademoiselle fell in love with the Duc de Lauzun, wished to marry him,

which the king consented to initially but because of pressure from other members of

the royal family the king decided to withdraw his consent a few days before the wedding.

The Grande Mademoiselle felt greatly let down by people whom she was relying on for

support with the king.

The Duc de Lauzun spent many years in prison.  A fellow prisoner was Nicholas Fouquet,

also rumours of a prisoner who may have been The Main in the Iron Mask, though this may

have been a fallacy, even being a prisoner who occasionally wore a velvet mask.

The Grande Mademoiselle was required eventually to sell important properties to the king, the principality of Dombes and the county of Eu and the Duchy of Aumole for the Duc

de Maine, a son of the king and Madame de Montespan.  This was to effect the release of

the Duc de Lauzun finally from the prison.

I will return to more characters of the court at a later stage.  The Duc de Lauzun did seem to make 

enemies of both the king and Madame de Montespan for various reasons.  He also seemed to have sometimes acted in an erratic and unconventional manner though this may have been more when he was held a prisoner at a remote prison.   

The Court of Versailles

The Court of Versailles

Who are the favourite characters of the court of Versailles besides the king?

I would like to wander around the gardens and chateau of Versailles imagining

their real lives and what it must have been like to live there. The town of Versailles

increased after the king moved his court there in 1682.

There was tree planting in the town and many innovations.

In 1683 the king is believed to have had a secret marriage with Madame de Maintenon.

I often wonder about all of the people who lived at the court during the seventeenth century.

It was a very real time for them, even though now the ancien regime may often be dismissed

as being irrelevant.

Louis XIV achieved success and created wonders with his beautiful gardens

and chateau. He encouraged arts, literature, plays, theatre, music, dance (he was a great dancer himself for many years) and architecture.

The people of the court would have enjoyed the entertainments of the king, sometimes held in an

outdoor setting of the gardens, which would have been very beautiful and decorative for the festive occasion.

A brief synopsis of the characters of the court:

To my mind both Louise de la Valliere in the seventeenth century and Marie Antoinette in the eighteenth century stand tall:

Louise de la Valliere – beautiful, serene, her love for the king shone through.

She understood that

material values had no place in a spiritual love;

Marie Antoinette: naïve, innocent, impulsive, her inner beauty also shone through;

Princess Henriette from the seventeenth century:

a younger sister of Charles II of England

who was married to the king's brother at an early age known as Madame, Duchess of Orleans, often referred to as “Minette”: vibrant personality, friendly and popular, who

unfortunately died at a young age;

Madame de Montespan: vivacious, daring, innovative, challenging;

A great personality and rival for the king's affections;

Lisa Hilton has written a comprehensive book about Athenais de Montespan:

“Athenais, the Real Queen of France.” I enjoyed reading this book.

Great books to read:

“Farewell, My Queen” by Chantal Thomas, which gave a unique perspective of Marie Antoinette from the Queen's reader, an old lady who was subsequently based in Vienna and wrote in her letters of the reverential respect the servants had for Marie Antoinette.

“Antoinette” the play by Kathy Davis;

Antonia Fraser's book of “Marie Antoinette” is written from a sympathetic view point and gives a detailed account of the unfortunate queen's life;

“Royal Flush” by Margaret Irwin who gives a riveting account of the life of Princess Henriette of England which depicts the court of Louis XIV in all of its magnificent splendour.

I will return to this post at a later time as there are many fascinating characters

who lived at the court of Versailles and many great books written.

As was mentioned in “Royal Flush” Princess Henriette belived that it was one of the best times to be at the court i.e. during the time of Louis XIV's court in the seventeenth century.

Madame de Montespan (Part Two)

Image of a rose flower from daily art clip:

Images courtesy of <a href="http://www.DailyClipArt.net">DailyClipArt.net</a>

With Princess Dido,

on her wall

A hint of a glimmer of her fall?

In a halo of her dreams

Surrounded by the fairies of a mythological ball;

From the reams of her life before,

now would be her time to call;

the final whistle and curtain call;

The Reigning Star of the Court,

Days were now becoming short;

Madame de Montespan's

Time-span through,

The King would now start life anew;

In a new life would be true;

Reigned Supreme

or so it seemed

until one day she toppled her dream:

Today and yesterday and tomorrow

All her life would become a sorrow

In the wiles of life unplanned

And of Destiny it spanned

In the swings of high and low

up and down we all go;

If there ever was a time

of Fancy freedom

and Love forlorn,

Madame de Montespan now care-worn

Insecure and her fears were born;

Gathering on at a shining pace

Now it is all in grace

Refined and styled as with Lace

Coming to a final race:

Venus, the Morning Star would hail,

Madame de Maintenon would prevail;

“Oh, you enchanting flower,

Marrying the king your finest hour!”

Madame of the Ever-Now:

Madame de Montespan

in her woe

In the mimicry of a dream

In the shadows of a life once been

Reminiscing in shadows

of the past,

Reflecting on the seasons last

Spectres in the hallways hollow;

To an Abbey she would follow

Marie-Madeleine Rocheuart

Queen of Abbesses at Fontevraud;

Lost Abbey of the Plantagenets

and of kings of long ago,

Not to become as a Lancelet

Madame de Montespan on would go,

in the rounds of activity;

ever refreshing as “l'eau de vie;”

Within the realms of disparity

And the rounds of her charity

within the bounds of her servility

and goodwill in humility

and with boundless energy

travelled to Saumur

where the people would see

believing the mistress of the king was she

And La Montespan let them be;

The apple cart of dreams

turned over

in a round­about way,

fashioned from an insider tray;

now we come to the Land of Make Believe

Always happening at Lightening Speed

Gone are the whistles and care-free days

Now it is already planned

Up to Vespers and down with the stands;

visited a good friend,

her soul to mend;

Spiritual guidance her friend would lend

Was a way to the end;

Musings and mercy from a teacher,

This would be a final gesture;

gone to eventually seen instead

a love with all the beads instead;

the stories and glories in their stead;

So far from her life of culture,

stature as maitresse en titre;

Friendships, folly, etiquette,

Surreal now her life oblique:

A convent at rue Dominique;

Onwards her life must go;

Now her life would become another,

Thinking of her pious mother;

Also she did have a brother

Duc de Vivonne, a commander,

Also of Champagne a governor

Sailing for a royal endeavour,

And also for a good measure

Seeking pirates and their treasure;

did enjoy his worldly leisure

And also his other pleasures;

Beautiful Mistress not forgot,

As the flowers of forget-me-not

Pressed amongst the leaves of a book

All who glance can take a look

Amongst the leaves of a polyglot;

As the seasons do unfold

A new love for the King behold:-

Madame de Montespan in the Spring,

Madame de Maintenon, another thing,

The king would give to you a ring;

Goodly, demure, quiet, kind

Virtues La Montespan left behind;

As Queen Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour

changed their roles for ever more,

Different temperaments from before;

The courtly life was a chequered game

A roll of the dice,

gripped with vice;

As Nymphs danced upon Heaven's Stair

The Courtly games became a Villain's Lair;

Potions of Love

to ensnare;

A candle flame flickers at the tallow,

Now her life would taper in shadow;

Moonbeam Shadows

Splashed upon the King's Page

This was not as he envisaged;

The King now in a dismay

as his play had gone awry

and the court in a disarray

in a most unbecoming way:

Did he ever question why?

Magical potions

Superstitious notions

had no place in a play,

Which by now had become a-fray;

Clasping at Rainbows

in a prism of time

To unmask villains in their prime

And also to dispel the fears

Of his knights and of his peers;

Police Inspector de la Reynie

From the Paris Constabulary,

Initiated an Inquiry,

of the king's complicity

seeking out criminality;

With a Chambre Ardente,

Closing down in 1682,

Patrons numbered but a few;

and unfortunately, too

but which was also true,

The King's Inquiry was closed down

For proximity to the Crown;

And as the King

Stayed his hand

Preventing ripples

across the Land

In his way

and in his plan

He saved the day

For La Montespan;

And grants respite

In her requite;

What now could she do?

“They all wish to banish me!”

At Versailles she wished to be;

Years at court remained eleven

Duke de Maine from the age of seven

favourite of La Maintenon

Moved her goods with her along

which today seems all so wrong

And Porcelaine de Trianon

Now was all but gone;

 Madame de Montespan from wikipedia:

 Louis XIV:

Madame de Montespan is believed to be the fair lady sitting in the middle of the carriage

in this picture from wikipedia:

Madame de Montespan (Part One) Magical Enchantments

Lisa Hilton has written a book "Athenais, The Real Queen of France"

which I found helpful and full of information regarding Athenais de

Montespan.  For many years Madame de Montespan  was the delight of the court.  This was

also a sad situation for Queen Marie Therese, who was ever a virtuous

queen.  In an earlier post I described the early years of the court of France,

which may perhaps help a little in understanding the king. 

picture of a rose from wikipedia

Madame de Montespan in the Light,

Courtiers were entranced by your sight;

Mistress-a-Plenty of the Land

Pixies danced at your command

Little elfin shadows in a fairy band;

The king did raise a pavilion for you,

And a castle too:

Trianon de Porcelaine,

Tiled in white and blue

reflecting colours in all the hues

apricot, rose, white, gold and blue

of tulips, lilies and feverfew;

A “Chambre of des Amours”

Imagined as a flower arbour

Thoughts of love forever more;

Traced in silver, white and blue;

Louis's love seemed ever true:

Love domain

named

“Abode of Spring”

Enchanting,

with the flowers of spring;

Entrancing,

with the colours to bring;

Resembling a palace of Nanking

Scent strewn gardens of the King:

Madame de Montespan and the King

At the palace of “Abode of Spring”

in Season's Splendour of the Fall,

Enchanting wonder to enthrall;

Oh, how fancy you would be,

Sparkling in your finery;

Madame de Montespan in the Sun

Shone her light on everyone;

Dancing lady of the Night,

You who were ever so bright;

Beautiful enchantress of the Night

Who could hold a candle light

to your charms and beauty alike?

You who were the King's delight:

The king not knowing of his plight

In the Evening or Morning's Light

Of Love potions in all their might;

Mystical potions his health must fight,

whimsical notions, your fancy's flight;

You need only wave your wand

Cast your spell and raise a hand

Administer a contraband

from a nefarious Paris band

casting shadows over the Land

of a suspected neighbourhood witch;

Soon the King would make a switch

Unknown he had been bewitched:

But for the king was a terrible fright!

Madame La Voisin of the Night-

endured the rigours of her plight;

with great dignity and affright;

You who stood so proud and tall

would sparkle at a glittering ball

reflected in a mirrored Hall

hold the courtiers all in thrall;

gave La Maintenon a worthy call

and with the children did install;

You who were so bountiful

airs and graces wonderful;

Charmed the king in everything;

And as the Clouds do form in Spring

A Queen Bee also with a Sting;

led the king a merry dance

amidst the traditions of Old France;

Fairy-tale carriage and horses pranced

and you did maintain your stance

queen of the court you did enhance;

Midas gave you a golden touch,

Your name was “quanto,” as how much;

the king and his pawn

on a chess piece lawn,

Madame de Montespan was forewarned;

Chateau of Clagny,

ever so fancy,

A Magical enchantment

throughout the years-

Entrancing enhancement,

of blossom and pears,

Symmetries and geometries

Delightful with the orange trees

Swaying gently in a breeze

of allees, parterres in a frieze;

Inspired by poetry of the scene,

jonquil, rose, tulip, and jasmine,

“It is the palace of Armide...

a most enchanting novelty”

wrote Madame de Sevigny,

who amidst the scents of lavender

would in the woods meander;

“Singing in palaces I ought to be

Ringing in years that I'd like to see

Thinking in terms of my Destiny”

Fairest lady of the Land;-

Madame de Montespan!

And the clerics would reprimand:

“The king, his duty and the Land!”

Fancy free,

Within the Realms

of Fantasy be;

Madame de Montespan

dressed decorously

in her Splendour and Majesty

at the Court and at Clagny,

amidst the roses and topiary;

Fans and scarves

and paper parasol,

Colours to match your vibrant soul

Seemly in your queenly role;

In the grounds you would take a stroll,

Fashions which the king would extol;

beauty in the ever leaves

and remarked upon your sleeves

as amongst the foliage you would weave;

Fashions of the every day

Seen now in an ever play;

Beautiful greens and velvets too,

In all their matching splendour new;

Madame de Montespan

and the King,

visited meadows in the spring

and the king along,

would bring

his favourite dogs

Nonne, Pomme and Bonne,

adorned in a Marly hallway wing

gilded in a picture portrait frame

fashioned in everlasting fame

and in style they all came

In a Show which they all became;

Not to confuse the names the same,

Diane, Blonde,

Rougeade and Tane,

Pictured in their window frame

Picturesque enchantments in a pane;

Whistled and echoed the dogs by name,

Would enjoy their hunting game;

All the Court would come to see

Madame de Montespan in her Majesty;

Queen of the Night and Revelry;

A wonder for ballet and décor,

Enchantments from the wall to floor;

had a gift of coquetry;

gracious in vivacity;

dabbled in arts and chicanerie,

Amused with wit and frivolity;

Splendour and Water

La Salle de Bain,

Games and Laughter

at a fountain charm,

frolicking adventures,

a spirit of fun
daily in the ever sun;

picture of roses from wikipedia