Louise de La Vallière

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 de La Vallière

(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
Sister Louise de la Miséricordie
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 Vallière
Françoise Le Prévost

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 (1644–1661)[edit]

Françoise-Louise de La Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière, 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 and his wife, Françoise Le Provost de La Coutelaye. Her father was a knight and a captain lieutenant of the mestre de campe (‘camp-master’) of the light cavalry. 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[2] or Bernard,[3] Seigneur of Rezay, a councillor of the parlement of Paris[4][2]. La Vallière had two older brothers, one of whom died in infancy.[3]

In La Vallière's paternal family, their Catholic faith and their loyalty to the crown were important values.[4][5] Many members of the family chose an ecclesiastical career,[4] and many entered the military, earning high ranks, as did her father.[3][6] In debates about ancient aristocratic privileges versus absolutist royal prerogatives, they sided with the latter.[4] Her maternal family, the Le Provosts belonged to the noblesse de robe and had provided legal counsel to the crown for generations.[4] At the time of her birth, her father was governor of the Castle of Amboise,[1] where she spent her first years, alongside her family's Castle of La Vallière in Reugny.[7] She was instructed by her aunts, Ursuline nuns Élisabeth and Charlotte, in reading, grammar, musical composition and public speaking.[4]

Laurent de La Baume Le Blanc died in the summer of 1651,[2] leaving little money. His wife had brought a substantial dowry to the marriage, including furniture, and decided to reclaim it out of the family estate so that she could remarry. This also meant relinquishing guardianship of her children and depriving them of their maternal inheritance. After she announced her plans, her husband's family commissioned an inventory of the Hôtel de la Crouzille to protect the interests of the children,[8] and established that the family's joint possessions amounted to 18 335 livres and 7 sous, with debts of 25 000 livres. Françoise Le Provost agreed to settle her husband's debts and purchase the furnitures of the hôtel at an increased price. Her children could retain their full inheritance, but would pay a 5% interest to their mother on her claims.[9]

In March 1655, Françoise Le Provost married married Jacques de Courtavel, Marquess of Saint-Rémy, maître d'hôtel (butler) of the exiled Gaston, Duke of Orléans (uncle to Louis XIV). She and her children moved to the Duke's household in Blois.[1][10] The couple had a daughter from their union.[11] La Vallière, as well as the daughter of her stepfather from his previous marriage, Catherine de Saint-Rémy, served as lady's companions to the Duke's three younger daughters, Marguerite-Louise, Élisabeth-Marguerite, and Françoise-Madeleine.[1] There were a total of five or six girls in the household, including Anne-Constance de Montalais, who long remained La Vallière's close friend. Some sources say that their education was neglected,[12] 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 founded the Trappist order. La Vallière may have been introduced to neo-Aristotelian thought by Rancé.[4]

After the death of the Duke in 1650, his widow, Marguerite of Lorraine, moved with her daughters to the Luxembourg Palace in Paris and took sixteen-year-old La Vallière and her stepsister with them.[1][13] There, Madame de Choisy, wife of the chancellor of the late Duke of Orléans and a distant relative of La Vallière,[1] took her under her protection. She wished to get close to Henrietta of England, known as ‘Madame’, bride of the new duke of Orléans, Philippe I, Louis XIV's younger brother, and recommended La Vallière as a fille d'honneur (maid-of-honour) to her.[14] 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.[15] 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.[11]

Life at the royal court (1661–1671)[edit]

La Vallière joined the new Orléans household in the Tuileries Palace[16] in the month following the wedding of the ducal couple,[17] together with Mademoiselle de Montalais, whom she knew from her previous placement. La Vallière's family remained in Paris while Madame took her household to Fontainebleau in April, where the royal court was in residence.[1][16][18] There, Louis XIV, Madame, and their attendants spent their time with balls, feasts, and hunts. The maids-of-honour of Madame were courted by the courtiers of the King; La Vallière's companion was often Armand de Gramont, Comte de Guiche.[19] The the siblings-in-law (who were also first cousins) grew close. The King's mother, Anne of Austria, and his wife, Maria Theresa of Spain, both disapproved.[20][21] Rumours started to spread that the King and his sister-in-law were in love,[4] upsetting the Queen Mother and Henrietta's husband. The King (possibly with Madame) eventually decided to counter the rumours.[22]

The King may have been advised by his courtiers to pretend to be in love with other women as a front,[1][4] or they may have made the decision together with Madame. It is possible that Henrietta herself chose the young ladies who would serve as decoy, including La Vallière.[22] Louis' secretary wrote letters purportedly from the King to La Vallière, and his attendants arranged meetings for them at night.[4] Soon, the King fell in love with La Vallière. It is possible that she was not aware of being a front to prevent a scandal, and that she believed his feelings to have been sincere from the beginning. Whether she was aware of Louis' plan or not, she reciprocated his feelings.[1][4]

At the time, La Vallière had just turned seventeen (the King was twenty-three, and Madame also seventeen). She had been living at court for around two months, and seems to have been an ‘innocent’, ‘religious-minded’,[1] ‘sincere’, even ‘naïve’ girl, different from the courtly ladies Louis had known.[23] She did not behave flirtatiously or act out of self-interest.[1] According to an anecdote, Louis fell in love with her after, upon their first meeting, she exclaimed ‘Ah! if he was not the King…’ (‘Ah ! s'il n'était pas le roi…’).[24][25] She was described as tall, slim, and graceful, despite having a limp. She had blue eyes, reportedly with a ‘sweet’ and ‘tender’ gaze, golden-blond hair, and a beautiful speaking voice.[26]

Louis XIV's mistress (1661–1667)[edit]

Secret lover of the King (1661–1663)[edit]
Louis XIV in 1660 on an engraving by Abraham van Diepenbeeck and Adriaen Millaert

By summer 1661, La Vallière had become the King's lover, and the court started to suspect their affair and rumours spread. 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.[27] The Queen Mother seems to have blamed La Vallière for ‘distracting’ her son from his duties, but she did not dare to take action against her.[28] One contemporary, Anne-Marie-Louise of Orléans, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, later claimed that the Duke and Duchess of Orléans were ‘proud’ that the King was in a relationship with a member of their household.[16]

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, which La Vallière refused. He then attempted to talk with her personally to remedy the mistake. La Vallière informed the King of his advances. 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.[29][30][24]

After Fouquet's fall, amid difficult national financial circumstances and an environment of distrust, the court became quieter.[28] When the Orléans household was established in 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.[31] Queen Maria Theresa was in the last months of her first pregnancy, and the pregnancy of Madame was also announced. During their pregnancies, they led retired lives.[32] On 4 November, the young Queen gave birth to a son, Louis, and on 25 November, Madame left the court with her train, including La Vallière.[33] The King went on a pilgrimage to thank God for his heir, but on 10 December, he left his wife to visit Madame. He repeated this visit regularly, perhaps in order to continue his affair with La Vallière.[34]

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 Armand de Gramont, Count of Guiche.[1][35] After their argument, she fled the Tuileries for the Visitation convent of the Filles de Sainte-Marie (‘Daughters of the Virgin Mary’) in Chaillot, to where a previous love of the King, Anne-Madeleine de Conty d'Argencourt, had been forced to retire by the Queen Mother.[28] 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.[16]

La Vallière acted more like a ‘secret lover’ than a maîtresse-en-titre,[36] but the affair still angered the high clergy and religiously devoted people at court. On 26 February 1662, the day after La Vallière had gone to the convent, Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, a famous orator, delivered Lenten sermons against as the King's adultery through the Biblical story of David and Bathsheba.[37]

In March 1662, Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons conspired with the Count of Guiche for La Vallière's downfall in an attempt 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][38][39] The message was intercepted and given to the King.[40] He exiled La Vallière's confidante, Mademoiselle de Montalais, for allegedly going between Madame and the Count of Guiche, as well as the Count himself for his part in the conspiracy against La Vallière.[41] 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.[42] 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.[43]

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.[44] In January 1663, Louis gave a pension to La Vallière's brother, Jean-François, and in June arranged his marriage with a wealthy heiress.[45] 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.[46]

In the summer of 1663, La Vallière became pregnant, and the King left on a military campaign. He confided about his affair to 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, newly constructed house in the garden of the Palais-Royal (the Hôtel de Brion). Colbert planned for the care of the child, who would be raised in Saint-Leu 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 andremove the newborn.[47]

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.[47] He died in 1665. 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.[48] Courtiers observed that she was ‘very pale’ and ‘much changed’, taking this as proof that she had given birth.[49]

Maîtresse-en-titre[edit]

After the birth, and 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.[50]

The theatre installed for the premiere of The Princess of Elid on a contemporary engraving by Israel Silvestre (1621–1691).[51]

In 1664, Louis XIV hosted a multi-day feast called Les Plaisirs de l’île enchantée (‘The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island’) in Versailles. During the festivities, Molière presented two new plays, La Princesse d'Élide (‘The Princess of Elid’) and Tartuffe,[52][53] with musical arrangements by Jean-Baptiste Lully. 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.[54]

Afterwards, the King moved La Vallière back to the court, where she had her own room despite not being employed anymore. The King visited her and went hunting with her regularly, ignoring the contempt of the public, courtiers, and the two queens.[55] He stopped making confession and taking the Eucharist, accusing his brother of hypocrisy for continuing to do so despite ‘living in sin’. His relationship with his mother deteriorated, and they stopped talking for a period.[55]

In 1665, the king had two shorter affairs: he was briefly involved with Bonne de Pons d'Heudicourt, whose family quickly removed her from the court,[56] then with the Princess of Monaco, Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont. After the death of his mother in 1666, Louis XIV stopped hiding his affair, which displeased La Vallière. Within a week of the Queen Mother's death, La Vallière had to appear at mass next to the Queen.[1] Ashamed, she treated Maria Theresa with humility and respect.

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.[4]

Fall from grace (1666–1669)[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.[43] At the same time, Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marchioness of Montespan arrived at court and established herself as its reigning beauty, aiming to supplant La Vallière. The King became infatuated with her.[57]

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.[43][24] 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’.[58] These actions infuriated the Queen against La Vallière.[59]

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, who would later be legitimised. La Vallière 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.[4] The King may have occasionally returned to her during Montespan's pregnancies.[43] 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.[60][24]

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.[61] 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.[4]

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.[4]

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’.[62]

Later life (1671–1710)[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 (1675–1710)[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'.[63] 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.[64] 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'.[65]

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.[66][67]

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;[24]
  • 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.[68]
  • 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;[69]
  • 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]

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Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "La Vallière, Louise Françoise de" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 290–291.
  2. ^ a b c Lair 1907, p. 8.
  3. ^ a b c 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Lair 1907, p. 2.
  6. ^ Lair 1907, p. 4.
  7. ^ Gustave Braux: Louise de La Vallière – de sa Touraine natale au Carmel de Paris, C.L.D., 1981, p. 17.
  8. ^ Lair 1907, p. 9.
  9. ^ Lair 1907, p. 14.
  10. ^ Lair 1907, p. 17.
  11. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 51.
  12. ^ Lair 1907, p. 19.
  13. ^ Lair 1907, p. 41.
  14. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 48–49.
  15. ^ Lair 1907, p. 50.
  16. ^ a b c d 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)
  17. ^ Lair 1907, p. 52.
  18. ^ Lair 1907, p. 54.
  19. ^ Lair 1907, p. 62.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 55–58.
  22. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 59.
  23. ^ Lair 1907, p. 61.
  24. ^ a b c d e 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
  25. ^ Fraser 2006, pp. 70–71.
  26. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 60–61.
  27. ^ Lair 1907, p. 67.
  28. ^ a b c Lair 1907, p. 76.
  29. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 72–75.
  30. ^ Fraser 2010, pp. 70–75.
  31. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 76–77.
  32. ^ Lair 1907, p. 77.
  33. ^ Lair 1907, p. 82.
  34. ^ Lair 1907, p. 81.
  35. ^ Lair 1907, p. 84.
  36. ^ Fraser 2006, pp. 83–84.
  37. ^ Fraser 2010, pp. 80–81.
  38. ^ 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)
  39. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 88–90.
  40. ^ Fraser 2010, p. 92.
  41. ^ Fraser 2010, p. 96.
  42. ^ Lair 1907, p. 102.
  43. ^ 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.
  44. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 113–115.
  45. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 117–118.
  46. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 121–122.
  47. ^ a b Lair 1907, pp. 125–126.
  48. ^ Breton, Guy; Histoires d'amour de l'histoire de France IV: Les favorites de Louis XIV, Presses de la Cité, Paris, 1991, p. 115.
  49. ^ Lair 1907, p. 127.
  50. ^ Lair 1907, pp. 129–130.
  51. ^ "Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais". www.photo.rmn.fr. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  52. ^ 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)
  53. ^ Fischer-Lichte, Erika (2002). History of European drama and theatre. Library Genesis. London / New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-18059-7.
  54. ^ Lair 1907, p. 132.
  55. ^ a b Lair 1907, p. 135.
  56. ^ Buckley, Veronica (2010). The secret wife of Louis XIV: Francoise d'Aubigne, Madame de Maintenon. Picador. ISBN 978-0-312-43005-4. OCLC 587198685.
  57. ^ Fraser, Antonia, Love and Louis XIV, Anchor Books, 2006, pp. 70–71.
  58. ^ ib. Fraser, pp. 111–112.
  59. ^ Lair 1907, p. 198.
  60. ^ Lair 1907, p. 224.
  61. ^ 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.
  62. ^ Huertas 1998, pp. 134–135.
  63. ^ Herman, Elizabeth, Sex with Kings, Harper Collins, 2004, p. 222.
  64. ^ Louis was later suspected of being the Man in the Iron Mask.
  65. ^ ib. Fraser
  66. ^ François Bluche: "Dictionnaire du Grand Siècle".
  67. ^ Jean-Christian Petitfils: "Louise de la Vallière".
  68. ^ 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.
  69. ^ Marcelle Vioux: Louise de La Valliere, Fasquelle 1938, 263 p.

References[edit]

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