Online Encyclopedia

state was issued that she should be entrusted to Mme de Neuillant, her godmother. Every means was now used to convert her back to Catholicism, but at the last she only yielded on the See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition that she need not believe, that the soul of Mme de Villette was lost. Once reconverted, she was neglected and sent See also:

home to live with her mother, who had only a small See also:

PENSION (Lat. pensio, a payment, from pendere, to weigh, to pay)

pension of 200 livres a See also:

YEAR

year, which ceased on her See also:

DEATH

death in 165o. The See also:

chevalier de See also:

Mere, a See also:

man of some See also:

LITERARY

literary distinction, who had made her acquaintance at Mme de Neuillant's, discovered her penniless condition, and introduced his " See also:

young See also:

INDIAN

Indian," as he called her, to See also:

SCARRON, PAUL (1610-166o)

Scarron, the famous wit and comic writer, at whose See also:

house all the literary society of the See also:

day assembled. Scarron took a See also:

FANCY (a shortened form, dating from the 15th century, of " fantasy," which is derived through the O. Fr. fantasie, modern fantaisie. from the Latinized form of the Gr. cbavraoia, Oavrai'ecv, Oat Pais, to show)

fancy to the friendless girl, and offered either to pay for her See also:

ADMISSION

admission to a See also:

CONVENT (Lat. conventus, from convenire, to come together)

convent, or, though he was deformed and an invalid, to marry her himself. She accepted his offer of See also:

MARRIAGE

marriage, and became Mme Scarron in 1651. For nine years she was not only his most faithful See also:

NURSE (a shortened form of the earlier " nourice," adapted through the French from Lat. nutrix, nu/rite, to nourish)

nurse, but an attraction to his house, where she tried to bridle the See also:

LICENCE (through the French from Lat. licentia, licere, to be lawful)

licence of the conversation of the See also:

time. On the death of Scarron, in 166o, See also:

Anne of See also:

Austria continued his pension to his widow, and even increased it to 2000 livres a year, which enabled her to entertain and frequent the literary society her See also:

HUSBAND

husband had made her acquainted with; but on the See also:

queen-mother's death in 1666 the See also:

king refused to continue her pension, and she prepared to leave See also:

Paris for See also:

LISBON (Lisboa)

Lisbon as See also:

LADY (0. Eng. hlaefdige, Mid. Eng. ldfdi, lavedi; the first part of the word is hldf, loaf, bread, as in the corresponding hldford, lord; the second part is usually taken to be from the root dig-, to knead, seen also in " dough "; the sense development fr

lady attendant to the queen of See also:

PORTUGAL

Portugal.

But before she started she met Mme de See also:

MONTESPAN

Montespan, who was already, though not avowedly, the king's See also:

MISTRESS

mistress, and who took such a fancy to her that she obtained the continuance of her pension, which put off for ever the question of going to Portugal. Mme de Montespan did yet more for her, for when, in 1669, her first child by the king was born, Mme Scarron was established with a large income and a large See also:

STAFF (O. Eng. staef, cf. Du. staf, Ger. Stab, &c.; Icel. stafr meant also a written letter, and O. Eng. stafas, the letters of the alphabet; " stave," one of the thin pieces of wood of which a cask is made, is a doublet)

staff of servants at Vaugirard to bring up the king's See also:

CHILDREN, LAW RELATING TO

children in secrecy as they were born. In 1674 the king deter-See also:

MINED

mined to have his children at See also:

court, and their governess, who had now made sufficient fortune to buy the See also:

ESTATE (through O. Fr. estat, mod. flat, from Lat. status, state, condition, position, stare, to stand)

estate of Maintenon, accompanied them. The king had now many opportunities of seeing Mme Scarron, and, though at first he was prejudiced against her, her even See also:

TEMPER (from Lat. temperare, to mingle or compound in due proportion, to qualify, rule, regulate, to be moderate, formed from tempos, time, fit or due season)

temper contrasted so advantageously with the storms of See also:

PASSION (post-classical Lat. passio, formed from pati, passus, to suffer, endure)

passion and See also:

JEALOUSY (adapted from Fr. jalousie, formed from jaloux, jealous, Low Lat. zelosus, Gr. j'i os, ardour, zeal, from the root seen in '&u', to boil, ferment; cf. " yeast ")

jealousy exhibited by Mme de See also:

MONTE

Monte-span, that she See also:

GREW, NEHEMIAH (1641-1712)

grew steadily in his favour, and had in 1678 the gratification of having her estate at Maintenon raised to a See also:

MARQUIS

marquis sate and herself entitled Mme de Maintenon by the king. Such favours brought down the fury of Mme de Montespan's jealousy, and Mme de Maintenon's position was almost unendurable, until, in 168o, the king severed their connexion by making the latter second lady in waiting to the dauphiness, and soon after Mme de Montespan See also:

LEFT

left the court. The new amie used her See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence on the See also:

side of decency, and the queen openly declared she had never been so well treated as at this time, and eventually died in Mme de Maintenon's arms in 1683. The queen's death opened the way to yet greater See also:

ADVANCEMENT

advancement; in 1684 Mme de Maintenon was made first lady in waiting to the dauphiness, and in the See also:

winter of 1685-1686 she was privately married to the king by Harlay, See also:

ARCHBISHOP (Lat. archiepiscopus, from Gr. apxceatorcoros)

archbishop of Paris, in the presence, it is believed, of Pere la See also:

CHAISE (the French for " chair," through a transference from a "sedan-chair" to a wheeled vehicle)

Chaise, the king's See also:

CONFESSOR

confessor, the marquis de Montchevreuil, the chevalier de See also:

FORBIN, CLAUDE DE (1656—1733)

Forbin, and Bontemps. No written See also:

PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof of the marriage is extant, but that it took See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place is nevertheless certain. Her See also:

LIFE

life during the next See also:

THIRTY

thirty years can be fully studied in her letters, of which many See also:

AUTHENTIC (from Gr. aOO 'rns, one who does a thing himself)

authentic examples are extant. As a wife she was wholly admirable; she had to entertain a man who would not be amused, and had to submit to that terribly strict court See also:

ETIQUETTE

etiquette of See also:

ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

absolute obedience to the king's inclination, which See also:

SAINT (lat. sanctus, " holy ")

Saint-See also:

Simon so vividly describes, and yet be always cheerful and never . complain of weariness or See also:

ill-See also:

HEALTH

health. Her See also:

POLITICAL

political influence has probably been exaggerated, but it was supreme in matters of detail. The ministers of the day used to discuss and arrange all the business to be done with the king beforehand with her, and it was all done in her See also:

CABINET

cabinet and in her presence, but the king in more important matters often See also:

CHOSE (Fr. for " thing ")

chose not to consult her.

Such mistakes as, for instance, the replacing of See also:

CATINAT, NICOLAS (1637-1712)

Catinat by See also:

VILLEROI, FRANCOIS DE NEUFVILLE

Villeroi may be attributed to her, but not whole policies—notably, according to Saint-Simon, not the policy with regard to the See also:

SPANISH

Spanish See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession. Even the revocation of the See also:

EDICT (Lat. edictum, from e, out, and dicere, to say, speak)

edict of See also:

Nantes and the dragonnades have been laid to her See also:

charge, but See also:

RECENT

recent investigations have tended to show that in spite of ardent Catholicism, she at least opposed, if not very vigorously, the cruelties of the dragonnades, although she was pleased with the conversions they procured. She was apparently afraid to imperil her See also:

GREAT

great reputation for devotion, which had in 1692 obtained for her from See also:

Innocent XII. the right of visitation over all the. See also:

con-vents in France., Where she deserves blame is in her use of her See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power for See also:

PERSONAL

personal patronage, as in compassing the promotions of Chamillart and Villeroi, and the frequent assistance given to her See also:

BROTHER

brother See also:

COMTE, AUGUSTE [ISIDORE AUGUSTE MARIE FRANCOIS XAVIER] (1798-1857)

Comte See also:

Charles d'Aubigne. Her influence was on the whole a moderating and prudent force. Her social influence was not as great as it might have been, owing to her holding no recognized position at court, but it was always exercised on the side of decency and morality, and it must not be forgotten that from her former life she was intimate with the literary See also:

PEOPLE

people of the day. Side by side with this public life, which wearied her with its shadowy power, occasionally crossed by a See also:

DESIRE

desire to be recognised as queen, she passed a nobler and sweeter private existence as the foundress of St Cyr. Mme de Maintenon was a born teacher; she had so won the See also:

HEARTS

hearts of her first pupils that they preferred her to their own mother, and was similarly successful later with the young and impetuous duchess of See also:

BURGUNDY

Burgundy, and she had always wished to establish a home for poor girls of See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good family placed in such straits as she herself had experienced. As soon as her fortunes began to mend she started a small home for poor girls at Ruel, which she afterwards moved to Noisy, and which was the See also:

NUCLEUS (Lat. for the kernal of a nut, nux, the stone of fruit)

nucleus of the splendid institution of St Cyr, which the king endowed in 1686, at her See also:

REQUEST, LETTERS OF

request, out of the funds of the See also:

Abbey of St See also:

Denis. She was in her See also:

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element there. She herself See also:

drew up the rules of the institution; she examined every See also:

minute detail; she befriended her pupils in every way; and her See also:

heart often turned from the weariness of See also:

VERSAILLES

Versailles or of Marly to her " little girls " at St Cyr. It was for them that See also:

Racine wrote his See also:

ESTHER

Esther and his Athalie, and it was because he managed the affairs of St Cyr well that See also:

Michel Chamillart became controller-general of the finances. The later years of her power were marked by the promotion of her old pupils, the children of the king and Mme de Montespan, to high dignity between the See also:

BLOOD

blood royal and the peers of the See also:

REALM

realm, and it was doubtless under the influence of her dislike for the See also:

DUKE (corresponding to Fr. duc, Ital. duca, Ger. Herzog)

duke of See also:

Orleans that the king drew up his will, leaving the personal care of his successor to the duke of See also:

Maine, and hampering the duke of Orleans by a See also:

COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

council of regency.

On or even before her husband's death she retired to St Cyr, and had the chagrin of seeing all her plans for the advancement of the duke of Maine overthrown by means of the See also:

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

parliament of Paris. However, the See also:

REGENT (from Lat. regere, to rule)

regent Orleans in no way molested her, but, on the contrary, visited her at St Cyr and continued her pension of 48,000 livres. She spent her last years at St Cyr in perfect seclusion, but an See also:

OBJECT

object of great See also:

INTEREST

interest to all visitors to France, who, however, with the exception of See also:

Peter the Great, found it impossible to get an See also:

AUDIENCE (from Lat. audire, to hear)

audience with her. On the 15th of See also:

APRIL

April 1719 she died, and was buried in the See also:

CHOIR (0. Fr. cuer from Lat. chorus; pronounced quire, and until the end of the 17th century so spelt, the spelling being altered to agree with the Fr. chceur)

choir at St Cyr, bequeathing her estate at Maintenon to her niece, the only daughter of her brother Charles and wife of the marechal de See also:

NOAILLES

Noailles, to whose family it still belongs. L. A. la Beaumelle published the Lettres de Madame de Maintenon, but much garbled, in 2 vols. in 1752, and on a larger See also:

scale in 9 vols. in 1756. He also, in 1755, published Memoires de Madame de See also:

Main-tenon, in 6 vols., which caused him to be imprisoned in the See also:

BASTILLE (from Fr. bastir, now bdtir, to build)

Bastille. All earlier See also:

BIOGRAPHIES

biographies were superseded by See also:

THEOPHILE

Theophile Lavallee's Histoire de St Cyr, reviewed in Causeries du lundi, vol. viii., and by his edition of her Lettres historiques et edifiantes, &c , in 7 vols. 444 and of her Correspondance generale, in 4 vols. (1888), which latter must, however, be read with the knowledge of many forged letters, noticed in P. Grimblot's Faux autographes de Madame de Main-tenon. Saint-Simon's See also:

FINE

fine but biased See also:

account of the court in her day and of her career is contained in the twelfth See also:

VOLUME

volume of Ch6ruel and See also:

Regnier's edition of his Memoires.

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MAINTENANCE (Fr. maintenance, from maintenir, to ma...

[next]
MAINZ (Fr. Mayence)