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Updated 01-01-12
Anne Marie Louise d'Orleans, Duchesse
de Montpensier /Grande Mademoiselle (1627-1693)
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"...THAT FULL AND DEAR LIBERTY THAT I LOVE SO MUCH."
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Two facts determined the course of Anne Marie Louise d'Orleans' life: she was the wealthiest woman in France, and she was, after the queen, the highest-ranking woman. She was the daughter of Gaston d'Orleans, younger brother of Louis XIII and heir-presumptive to the throne, and of Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier. Her mother died a few days after her birth, leaving her only child her many titles and her enormous wealth. As her father was called simply "Monsieur," by virtue of his relation to the king, so the new Duchess of Montpensier was called "Mademoiselle" (and later, to distinguish her from a niece of Louis XIV, "Grande Mademoiselle").
Because of her wealth and her position, when Louis XIII died in 1643 the question of Montpensier's marriage became important to Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin (respectively regent and chief minister for the child Louis XIV) and to Gaston. Anne and Mazarin considered marriages which would help France's international position; Gaston preferred that his daughter marry someone who would support his own political ambitions. What surprised everyone during these discussions was that the 16-year-old Montpensier began to express her own views on whom she would and would not marry.
In 1648, the series of conflicts known as the Fronde began in France. In the conflict between Cardinal Mazarin and the Parlement, Montpensier took no direct part (though she was no fan of Mazarin); but in the "Fronde of the Princes," both Gaston and Montpensier were involved. In 1652, the 24-year-old Montpensier had the opportunity to be a warrior and a leader of the people. She immensely enjoyed her role but paid a heavy price for it --- exile from Paris, the only home she had ever known.
In that five-year exile, at Saint-Fargeau in northeast France, Montpensier began to do her own writing. She had brought with her a satirical pseudo-memoir that she and her friends had already begun, Histoire de Jeanne Lambert d'Herbigny, Marquise de Fouquesolles; when that was finished and published in 1653, she began work on her Memoires, and probably began the 15 or more literary portraits that would become her contribution to the salon collection she had initiated, Divers portraits.
In 1657 Montpensier was allowed to return to the court. She stopped working on the Memoires, but continued to write. Two novels were published in 1659, La Relation de l'Isle imaginaire, and L'Histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie, under the name of Jean Segrais, her secretary (as was Divers portraits). The first novel was a humorous tale describing the population of an island paradise; the second, an adventure story about a group of heroic women (Montpensier and her friends, under different names). In 1660 Montpensier and Madame de Motteville, one of Anne's attendants, exchanged a series of letters on the subject of living an idyllic life without romance or marriage; four of these would be collected in 1667 as Recueil des Pieces Nouveles et Galantes.
Montpensier's father died in 1660, but the disagreements about her marriage continued. When in 1663 she disobeyed Louis XIV's order to marry the King of Portugal, she was again exiled to Saint-Fargeau, although this time for only a year.
In the mid-1660s Montpensier met the man with whom she would fall in love, the young Comte de Lauzun, an officer of Louis XIV's guard. In 1670 Montpensier decided to marry Lauzun. Louis first gave his approval; then he withdrew it; then he sent Lauzun away to prison. For the next ten years Montpensier worked to gain his release, and in 1677 resumed writing her Memoires, describing her love and the wonderful life the two lovers would have in the future.
When Lauzun was freed in 1681, Montpensier discovered that life with him wasn't at all wonderful, and in 1684 they separated. The writing of her last years became more reflective; she wrote two religious works, one on the search for meaning in human suffering, another on the vanity of "honor."
The affair with Lauzun has often made historians treat Montpensier simply as a foolish woman, but her writings show more: a woman who wished to freely participate in public life, to freely manage her own property, and to freely choose her own partner.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print:
Self-portrait (1659)
Recueil des Pieces Nouveles et Galantes (and other letters) (1660-61)
Memoires (c.1684)
Information about secondary sources.
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1. The three volumes of an anonymous 1848 translation, Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Montpensier: grand-daughter of Henri Quatre, and niece of Queen Henrietta-Maria: you can link to page images of the individual chapters of Volume 1, of Volume 2, and of Volume 3. Elsewhere, you cank link to the whole text (or to PDF files) of the volumes of the same edition: Vol.1; Vol. 2; and Vol.3 (for excerpts from a 2010 translation, see below, under "In print").
2. Other excerpts in English:
(a) Link to Chapter 4, "La Grande Mademoiselle," of Amelia Gere Mason's 1891 The Women of the French Salons for some brief quotations from Montpensier's Memoires, a description of the 1660-61 correspondence with Madame Motteville that was published as Recueil des Pieces Nouveles et Galantes, and part of Madame Sevigne's 1670 letter on the engagement of Montpensier and Lauzun.
(b) An essay from the 1858 Atlantic Monthly, "Mademoiselle's Campaigns," focuses on Montpensier's 1652 activities at Orleans and in Paris; there are quotations from Memoires (and part of Sevigne's 1670 letter). You can link to the whole text or to individual pages.
(c) At the bottom of the page, a passage from the Memoires describing the sudden (and therefore suspicious) 1670 death of "Madame," Princess Henrietta of England, the 26-year old wife of Louis' brother Philippe; as you will see, Montpensier was not fond of Philippe.
(d) Links to translations by Helen E. Meyer of two biographical volumes by Arvede Barine (the pseudonym of Louise-Cecile Bouffe Vincens): La Grande Mademoiselle, 1627-1652 (1902); and Louis XIV et La Grande Mademoiselle, 1652-1693 (1905). The first covers Montpensier's life until the end of the Fronde, the second to the end of her life; both include excerpts from the Memoires.
3. In French:
(a) A link to the text of Edouard de Barthelemy's 1860 La Galerie des portraits de Mlle de Montpensier, recueil des portraits et eloges en vers et en prose des seigneurs et dames les plus illustres de France, la plupart composes par eux-memes; it includes the 59 verbal portraits from the 1659 Divers portraits and others drawn from the Memoires and elsewhere.
(b) The two brief novels published in 1659, La Relation de l'Isle imaginaire, and L'Histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie.
(c) Links to the individual chapters of Memoires de Mlle de Montpensier, from the 1858-59 standard edition of Adolphe Chereul (with a 1700s picture of an armed Montpensier, as well as a later engraving).
4. Contemporary portraits:
(a) Third in this collection is Pierre Mignard's painting of Montpensier holding a picture of her father. (Given first is a Van Dyck portrait of that father, whose approval she sought for so long.)
(b) Fourth in this collection is another painting in which she holds her father's picture, by Pierre Bourguignon; here she is dressed as an ancient woman warrior.
(c) A portrait by Charles Beaubrun, with Montpensier armed but in court dress.
(d) A portrait made during the 1650s, by Gilbert de Seve.
(e) A 1670 portrait of the royal family, by Jean Nocret; Montpensier is standing at the right, dressed as Diana the goddess of the hunt.
5. The Duc de Saint-Simon arrived at court only in 1702, but in this first volume of his memoirs, you can use your browser's search function to go to the second use of "Montpensier" for his account of courtiers' views at her 1693 death.
6. Reviews (for excerpts from the translations, see "In print"; for information on the other books' treatment of Montpensier, see "Secondary sources"):
(a) At #197 in this collection of reviews, you can download a PDF file (114KB) of Jonathan Spangler on P. J. Yarrow's and William Brooks' 2010 partial translation, Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Montpensier (La Grande Mademoiselle).
(b) Carolyn Lougee Chappell on Joan DeJean's 2002 translation of Recueil des Pieces Nouveles et Galantes, Against Marriage: The Correspondence of La Grande Mademoiselle.
(c) Lougee Chappell on Vincent J. Pitts' 2000 biography, La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France: 1627-1693.
(d) Alan Riding on Teresa Waugh's 2005 translation of Benedetta Craveri's 2001 study, The Age of Conversation.
(e) Veronique Desnain on Patricia Francis Cholakian's 2000 study, Women and the Politics of Self-representation in Seventeenth-century France.
7. For historical background:
(a) A brief description of the two stages of the Fronde.
(b) In Aristocratic Experience and the Origins of Modern Culture (1993), by Jonathan Dewald, see Chapter 6, "The Meanings of Writing," in which Dewald (although most of his examples are of male writers) discusses the reasons for and the effects of the writing --- both published and merely circulated --- done by members of the nobility like Montpensier.
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[In 1928 Grace Hart Seely described her translation of Memoires as "very abridged" from the 8-volume original; she included only about one-eighth of the text, and her omissions are not indicated. However, in an appendix she translates Montpensier's self-portrait from the 1659 Divers portraits:]
Memoirs of la Grande Mademoiselle, duchesse de Montpensier,
translated by Grace Hart Seely. New York, London, The Century
co. [c1928]. (3-352 p. front., illus. (facsim.) plates, ports)
LC#: DC130 .M8 A2 1928
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"I do love those who are worthy of my love."
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[Most of the self-portrait is conventional, but a few passages show considerable self-knowledge:]
...[I]t seems that I listen more willingly to the good that is said of me and that I seek more to court praise than to bestow it. I think this is the one point in which I am open to ridicule....
Above everything, I like soldiers, and to hear them talk of their profession; and... I must confess I enjoy talking about war....
I am not devout. I wish I were, and indeed I am very indifferent to the world. but I fear this is not true detachment, for I do not despise myself, and it seems to me that self-love is not a quality useful in devotion....
As to gallantry, I have no inclination that way..., for I am not tender-hearted; but if anyone says I am equally insensible to friendship and to love, I deny it, for I do love those who are worthy of my love. [pp.340-45]
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Recueil des Pieces Nouveles et Galantes (and other letters)
[Joan DeJean has translated the four 1660 letters between Montpensier and Francoise de Motteville that were published in 1667 as Recueil..., as well as four later letters. For all, the original is given on facing pages. DeJean's introduction discusses Montpensier's life and what the letters reveal about her. The book's bibliography is helpful, but the index covers only the introduction and notes. Another page of this site will give you excerpts from Motteville's contributions to the correspondence. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Montpensier, Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orleans, duchesse de.
Against marriage: the correspondence of la Grande Mademoiselle
/ edited and translated by Joan DeJean (The other voice in early
modern Europe). Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
2002. (xxix, 86 p.)
LC#: DC130.M8 A4 2002; ISBN: 0226534901, 0226534928
Related Names: Motteville, Françoise de, d. 1689. Includes
bibliographical references and index.
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"It is said to be an unfortunate undertaking."
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[In early May of 1660, the court arrived at the Spanish border for the wedding of Louis XIV to the daughter of the Spanish king. A month's delay in the arrangements gave Montpensier and the widowed Francoise de Motteville, an attendant to Anne of Austria, time to talk about "the joys of the secluded life." A week later, Montpensier sent Motteville a letter describing the kind of society she envisioned; nobles --- men and women --- who had left the court to live a better life. She describes the activities they would participate in, and briefly adds:]
...I would rather there were no married people and that everyone would either be widowed, or have renounced this sacrament, for it is said to be an unfortunate undertaking. You know how lucky we are to be out of it. [p.33]
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"... without amorous pursuit."
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[And later (L'Astree was a popular pastoral novel of the early 1600s):]
I would like us to keep herds of sheep in these beautiful meadows, to have shepherds' staffs and wide-brimmed hats, to sit down on the green grass and to dine on rustic fare like that of shepherds, and sometimes to imitate what we have read in L'Astree though without amorous pursuit, for that does not please me in any guise. [p.33]
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"Only love could inspire this whim."
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[In her letter of response, Motteville picked up on these two brief passages and suggested that if Montpensier wanted to have both shepherds and shepherdesses, she would certainly have amorous pursuit and so would be forced to allow marriage. Montpensier devotes all of her second letter to denying this. First, since the residents of their "wilderness" would have rejected ambition and self-interest (the only rationale for marriage that she could see), they would be intelligent enough to resist the "whim" of marriage:]
...[O]nly love could inspire this whim, and that is why I think that I have not been wrong to banish it from among us. You want it to remain, or rather, you fear that we must allow it, but must I consent?... [pp.43-45]
[All would see the difference between friendship and love:]
The latter [friendship] is reasonable, comfortable, and necessary to the commerce of life and to its sweetness. The good sense and reason that are so important to me lead to it; it is a long-lived pleasure befitting all sorts of people, of all ages and conditions, one that even divine laws commands.
The other [love], on the contrary, is forbidden; its commerce is shameful. It is flighty and inconsistent, without faith or integrity; it is presided over by an unreasonable child who has never experienced love. It causes only worry, trouble, and jealousy. If you think you have caught it, it escapes, and tears and moans will not make it return. [p.45]
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"That noble sort of gallantry...."
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[In her letter, Motteville had identified amorous pursuit with gallantry. Montpensier defines it differently:]
We must come to understand gallantry, the thing you fear so much, for in itself it is an honorable thing.... That noble sort of gallantry, which can be allowed among us, is certainly seemly; a gallant manner is always appropriate, and since it has often been said that Saint Teresa [of Avila] herself had one, who would not want to be like her?...
In short, the kind of gallantry that is non-specific and without a particular object can be tolerated among us.... I would hope that the men would display that deference that people of quality should show toward women and that, in their presence, they would always behave in the spirit of courtesy and gallantry, which the so-called gentlemen of this era do not at all demonstrate, since they show no civility toward women. [p.47]
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"...a corner of the world in which... women are their own
mistresses."
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[But as for marriage, no. This passage concludes the letter:]
...[A]llow me to tell you again that marriage is that which has given men the upper hand, that this dependence to which custom subjects us, often against our will and because of family obligations of which we have been the victim, is what has caused us to be named the weaker sex.
Let us at last deliver ourselves from this slavery; let there be a corner of the world in which it can be said that women are their own mistresses and do not have all the faults that are attributed to them; and let us celebrate ourselves for the centuries to come through a way of life that will immortalize us. [pp.47-49]
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"My first duties have such power over me...."
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[Motteville replied, agreeing with Montpensier's strictures on men, but still saying that given human nature, if men were present, women would love them. The royal wedding and the return to court seem to have ended the correspondence. But then in the spring of 1661, those "family obligations" again looked as if they would trap Montpensier: it appeared that the family of Gaston's second wife would be successful in securing her (and her fortune) for one of their members, the prince of Lorraine. Now Montpensier looks back at those "lovely plans" of 1660:]
So long as it is only a question of discussing these subjects in a general way, we enjoy that full and dear liberty that I love so much, but when we are about to lose our freedom, the early warning signals frighten it and take it away almost before it can be lost. The fear that that will happen makes me feel that I am not free to say all that I think and feel; nonetheless, rest assured that I will never go back on what I wrote you. I still feel the same way, but my first duties have such power over me that they take away that which I might have over myself....
I must fear... the inauspicious star that is carrying everyone along this year and forcing them to submit to the tyrannical laws of this sacrament that is so hostile to freedom, though I will not say to joy, since I see so many others who are very happy to have been enslaved. I will think, however, just what I wish.... [pp.61-63]
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"I have triumphed over all the enemies."
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[But Montpensier escaped the trap. On August 1, she wrote Motteville from a spa near near one of her estates:]
Since I told you about the anxiety that my remorse was causing me, it is only right that I tell you about the repose in which my conscience now finds itself and the tranquility I am enjoying. Finally, after three months of turmoil and agitation, I find myself in the calm of a profound peace, and I have triumphed over all the enemies who were persecuting me. [p.67]
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"...dreaming about our plan."
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[Although, she could now dream about "our retreat," there were in fact still obstacles ahead. Louis XIV had denied the Lorraines, but only because he had other plans for her future, the king of Portugal:]
I do almost exactly what I would do if we were already in our retreat: I read and I work at my needlework; I converse each morning with all the people who go to the fountain, and after dinner I receive visits in order to live with the living....
My most agreeable hours, however, are spent dreaming about our plan and thanking God that the obstacles that could have stood in its way in the past have finally been removed, with no signs of new ones ahead. [p.69]
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[This selection from the Memoires, translated by P. J. Yarrow, contains "just under one quarter of the original text" (p.xxxviii) with parenthetical summaries of most missing parts. The detailed introduction, by Yarrow and William Brooks, includes translated quotations and paraphrases of yet other passages. The book also provides a chronology and genealogy, a brief essay on "Further Reading," with notes and an index that identifies relationships and dates:]
Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Montpensier (La Grande Mademoiselle)
/ translated by P. J. Yarrow with the collaboration of William
Brooks (MHRA New Translations Vol. 1). London: Modern Humanities
Research Association, 2010. (xxxiii, 246 p.)
LC#: DC130 .M8 A2 2010; ISBN: 9781907322013
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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"...by no means the least agreeable in one's life."
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[The opening of the Memoires:]
I used to have great difficulty in imagining how the mind of someone accustomed to the court, and born to live at it with the rank that my birth confers to me, could occupy itself when that person found himself condemned to live in the country.... However, since I have been secluded on my estates, I have had the pleasant experience of finding that remembering everything that has happened during one's lifetime is a sufficiently enjoyable occupation for the period of seclusion to be considered by no means the least agreeable in one's life..... I therefore set down here, as accurately as I can, everything I have had the opportunity of witnessing from my childhood until now. [p.1]
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"...her influence, together with her affection, in establishing
me in life.
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[Her mother died within a week of Montpensier's birth (and less than a year after marriage to Gaston d'Orleans):]
The great wealth which my mother left at her death, and of which I am the sole heiress, might well, in the opinion of most people, have consoled me for losing her. I, however, who realize today how invaluable her supervision would have been in my upbringing, and her influence, together with her affection, in establishing me in life, cannot sufficiently mourn her loss. [p.1]
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"It was for me to choose."
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[From the time Montpensier was 12, marriage had been discussed, but for political reasons, nothing came of it. After the death of Louis XIII in 1643, however, the question became more serious. Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin wished her to marry Emperor Ferdinand III to strengthen France's alliance with Austria and Spain; Gaston (for his own reasons) would choose either the exiled Prince of Wales (the future English king, Charles II) or the Duke of Savoy. The 16-year-old wanted the freedom that (she thought) being an Empress would give her:]
...[T]he queen [Anne of Austria]... had spoken of nothing else but that marriage, and had told me that she passionately wanted it, and that she would do everything to promote it.... Thus the thought of the Empire so filled my mind that I no longer regarded the Prince of Wales as anything but an object of pity....
...Monsieur said to me one day: "....[Y]ou will not be happy in that country: they live in the Spanish manner there; the Emperor is older than I am; so I think it is not a good thing for you, and that you can be happy only in England, if matters improve, or in Savoy."
I replied that I wanted the Emperor, and that it was for me to choose; that I begged him to approve of what I wanted; that I was thus speaking of it quite properly; that he was not a young gallant, and so it was clear, which was the truth, that I was thinking more of the position than of the man. [pp.20-21]
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"...risking it to conquer his kingdom."
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[However, the emperor married another, and five more years passed. With the execution of Charles I in England, Anne and Mazarin now saw marriage to the Prince of Wales as a way of using Montpensier's fortune to regain the English throne. Montpensier wasn't convinced that it would be a good investment:]
...[I]f I married him,... I should not be able to refrain from selling all my property and risking it to conquer his kingdom; but, having always been fortunate and brought up in the lap of luxury, these considerations alarmed me a good deal. [p.32]
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"I wager I shall be going to Orleans."
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[Now, however, Gaston had changed his mind (as a general rule, he opposed anything favored by Mazarin), so the English marriage was put aside. The next proposal was that she should marry the young Louis XIV, ten years her junior; it's not clear how seriously this idea was taken, but Montpensier's Frondeuse activities in 1652 would end any such possibility. In March of that year, after her father had allied himself with those doing battle against Mazarin, the city of Orleans, of which he was feudal ruler, asked him for help:]
...[T]he army... had so ravaged all the land of His Royal Highness [Gaston], and generally all the country round Blois that the people of Orleans were afraid of similar treatment. They had good reason to be afraid of being pillaged.... Thus, all Monsieur's friends urged him to go there; which he decided to do.... A few days previously, he had told me that the citizens of Orleans had sent to ask him to send me, should he be unable to go. ...I said, "I wager I shall be going to Orleans." [pp.43-44]
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"...expressed great joy at seeing me."
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[Montpensier's wager was a safe one: after several earlier periods of exile, Gaston had become notorious for inciting others to oppose Mazarin but himself pulling back from anything that might permanently alienate the king. The 25-year-old Montpensier went to Orleans and enjoyed her role as a leader:]
The escort was composed of cavalry, light horse from the regiment of Monsieur and my brother [the duc de Valois, her half-brother], and detachments of all corps, both French and foreign. They were drawn up in line and saluted me; then the light horse moved in front of my coach, the cavalry to the rear, and the guards and the rest, in squadrons, to the front, the rear and the sides.
When I reached the plains of Beauce, I mounted on horseback, because it was very fine, and something on my coach was broken; it gave the troops considerable joy to see me. I began to give orders at that point.... On arriving at Toury, I found... a number of other officers, who expressed great joy at seeing me, more even than if it had been Monsieur. They told me that they would have to hold a council of war in my presence. That struck me as a novelty for me; I burst out laughing,.
M. de Rohan drew me aside and said.... that, as he was better informed of Monsieur's intentions that I, he would tell me what to do as things happened. These remarks displeased me. [pp.47-48]
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"... very muddy, like me, and overjoyed too."
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[When Montpensier arrived at Orleans, the city fathers, fearing to enrage the king's army, refused to open the city's gates. She persuaded boatmen outside the city to break down one of the gates:]
...[I]n order to watch them at work and spur them on by my presence, I climbed up a moderately high knoll opposite the gate. Frankly, I did not bother to follow the path, for, without thinking, I clambered up as a cat would have done, catching on all the thorns and brambles, and leaping over all the hedges, without hurting myself.
When I was at the top, many of my companions, fearing that I was taking excessive risks, did their best to make me go down again; but their entreaties annoyed me, and I bade them be quiet. Mme. de Breaute, who is the greatest coward in the world, started to rail at me and all those following me; indeed, I am not sure that, in her excitement, she did not swear. I was vastly amused.
[And once in the city, to the cheers of the populace:]
Two men lifted me up, and placed me in a wooden chair. Whether I sat in it or on the arm, I do not know, so beside myself with joy was I; everyone kissed my hands, and I was helpless with laughter at seeing myself in such a comic position. After being carried in triumph through several streets, I told them I was able to walk, and begged them to put me down, which they did, I stopped, and waited for the ladies, who came up a moment later, very muddy, like me, and overjoyed too. [pp. 52-54]
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"At every step I took..., I saw men wounded---and corpses."
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[Montpensier stayed at Orleans for five weeks, until the city's danger was past. She returned to Paris with her cousin, the Prince de Conde, the military leader of the Frondeurs. Two months later, she had another adventure, but a less amusing one. In Orleans she had seen little actual fighting; now she saw Conde and his troops being defeated by the king's army, on the outskirts of Paris. Monsieur was once again "ill," and sent his daughter to persuade the city fathers to open the gates. She did so, and when she left them, she saw the reality of civil war:]
In the rue de Tixernadie I saw the most horrible sight: it was the duc de la Rochefoucauld. A musket shot had gone through the corner of one eye, and come out on the other side between the eye and the nose, so that both eyes were affected; so much blood was pouring out of them that they both seemed to be dropping out....
At every step I took in the rue Saint-Antoine, I saw men wounded---some in the head, the others in the body, the arms, the legs, on horseback, on foot, on ladders, planks and stretchers---and corpses. [pp.65-66]
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"The guns of the Bastille fired two or three volleys, as
I had ordered."
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[Despite the gates being opened, Conde refused to retreat immediately into the city, even though he was outnumbered two-to-one:]
...I went to the Bastille, where I had never been; I walked round the towers for a long time. I had the guns, which were all pointing toward the city, turned round; and I had some placed on the side of the river and the suburb, to defend the bastion. I looked through a telescope: I saw a lot of people on the heights of Charonne, and even some coaches, which made me think it was the king, and I have since learned that I was not mistaken....
[Montpensier saw that the king's army was moving to cut off Conde's troops from the gates into the city:]
I sent a page post-haste to tell the prince [Conde]..., and when I confirmed exactly what he was seeing, he ordered the army to march into the city.... The troops that Marshal de Turenne and Marshal de la Ferte had sent to drive ours back advanced close to the city, but the guns of the Bastille fired two or three volleys, as I had ordered as I left. That frightened them by mowing down a row of horsemen; had it not been for that, all the foreign infantry, the gendarmerie, and some cavalry, which were in the rear guard, would have been destroyed.... [pp.70-71]
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"...that I should write memoirs."
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[The honors Montpensier received for saving the troops were short-lived: mob violence over the next few days destroyed the enthusiasm of the Frondeurs, and when Louis returned to Paris three months later, she was ordered to leave her home. Her father refused to take her in, telling her to go "where you will" (p.75). At the end of 1652, she went to her chateau at Saint-Fargeau, where she began to read and to write:]
While I worked at my embroidery, I got someone to read aloud; and it was at this time that I began to be fond of reading, which I have always loved since. As I was arranging my caskets and my papers, I remembered the Life of Mme de Fouquerolle, which I had written, and which Prefontaine [her steward] was keeping for me. He gave it back to me, and I completed it....
When the Life of Mme de Fouquerolle was printed, I realized that this occupation had amused me; and I had read the memoirs of Queen Marguerite [of Valois]; all that, together with a suggestion from the comtesse de Fiesque, Mme. de Frontenac, and her husband, that I should write memoirs, made me resolved to begin these.... I soon wrote from the beginning up to the business of the Hotel-de-Ville [after the return from Orleans], and as my handwriting is bad, I gave them, bit by bit, to Prefontaine to make a fair copy. [p. 78]
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"...the price of bricks, lime, plaster, carts, and a workman's
daily wage."
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[Because she was now 25 years old, Montpensier was legally an "adult" and so able to supervise her own finances, which her father, through his"people," tried to prevent:]
It is no fault of His Royal Highness's people if I am not a good business woman, for they set me on the way to becoming one.
Had anyone told me, when I was at court, that I should have known the price of bricks, lime, plaster, carts, and a workman's daily wage---in fact, all the details of building---and that every Saturday, I should have settled their accounts, I should have been surprised. [p.85]
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"...put me in places where I could serve him usefully and
pleasantly."
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[After five years of exile, Montpensier was allowed to return in 1557. She enjoyed the activities of the court and the Paris salons. Because her father had died two years before, when in 1662, Louis sent one of his advisors to order her to marry the king of Portugal, she decided to go directly to the king, with disheartening results:]
It occurred to me to write a letter to the king, in which I said that, fearing he would have a poor opinion of me if he thought I had nothing in mind but amusing myself like a little girl and gave no thought to being married, I was very glad, from my trust in his kindness, to beg him to remember it, but to consider, too, that at my age not everything was suitable for me, and to put me in places where I could serve him usefully and pleasantly.... The letter was rather long, but that is the gist.
[When she next saw Louis, he gave his response:]
"I shall think of you when it suits me, and I shall marry you where it will be useful for my service"---in a cutting tone, which frightened me very much. [pp.144-45]
---------------------------------------------
"...who would love me in return."
---------------------------------------------
[But she still refused the king of Portugal, and for over a year she was exiled again. Soon after her return to court in 1664, Montpensier met the Comte de Lauzun, six years younger than she. By 1670 the 43-year-old realized that she had at last fallen in love, or, perhaps more accurately, that it was time she should be in love:]
As man cannot leave well alone and has a fickle mind, I began to be weary of my condition, though a happy one, and to wish to be married. I turned it over in my mind (for I spoke to no one about it), saying to myself, "It is not a vague idea; it must have some object"; and I could not find out who it was. I thought and thought, all to no purpose, At last, after racking my brains for some days, I became aware that it was M. de Lauzun whom I loved, who had stolen my heart. I regarded him as the most gentlemanly man in the world, and the most agreeable, and I felt that nothing was lacking to my happiness but to have a husband like him, whom I should dearly love, and who would love me in return; that no one had ever showed me affection; and that it was necessary, once in one's life, to enjoy the sweetness of being loved by someone who was worth being loved. [p.148]
-------------------------------------------------
"He had ways of bringing me round."
--------------------------------------------------
[When Montpensier asked the king for permission to marry Lauzun, Louis first agreed but then changed his mind (for political reasons), although he did not at first send Lauzun away or forbid Montpensier to see him. Lauzun himself would do nothing that would offend the king on whom his advancement depended, but still continued to pay court to Montpensier. At one point he left the country without telling her; when he returned:]
M. de Lauzun came to the queen's and told me about his trip to Holland; I was annoyed that he had left without saying goodbye to me. I should have liked, therefore, to show him my displeasure, but as soon as he saw that I felt like scolding him, he had ways of bringing me round and putting me in a good humor, the like of which never were seen.... [p.197]
----------------------------------------------------------
"He knew his humour, and how to conceal it."
----------------------------------------------------------
[However, in 1671 Lauzun was imprisoned. Montpensier says that she never knew why; contemporaries attributed it to an insult to Louis' mistress, Marquise de Montespan. Montpensier spent the next ten years working for his release, finally agreeing to give much of her wealth to one of Montespan's sons. But when, in 1681, Lauzun was finally released, Montpensier could not make sense of his behavior:]
...[E]very other day he was motivated by fits of respectfulness and gratitude, on the days in between, he was a raging ingrate. [P]eople only knew his good moments: he knew his humour, and how to conceal it; but his imprisonment, instead of correcting him, had thrown him back on himself to such an extent that he could no longer control it. [p.205]
----------------------------------------------------------
"If I needed money, I ought to ask him for it."
----------------------------------------------------------
[Lauzun seems not to have realized that the total domination he wanted over Montpensier was the one thing she had spent her life resisting:]
He told me one day that everyone was astonished at the way I treated him, and my poor opinion of him; that people said he ought to be all-powerful in my household...; that he would have me better served than I was; that my furniture would be more elegant and more magnificent; that I ought not to employ anyone except at his choice; that if I needed money, I ought to ask him for it; and that he would make my treasurer render better accounts that my people did....
Another time he told me... I should have a fine, well-furnished apartment made for him, and he would come and stay there sometimes; I should have meals sent in for him, and he would be able to bring some of his friends to eat there. That would look handsome, and I ought also to have a coach and six for his use alone, when he was staying in the apartment.
These remarks were not all made on the same day; he spaced them out, now reproaching and scolding, now wheedling; never for a a quarter of an hour in the same way. At last, I had said: "But you are joking! These are crazy notions.... You really ought to... realize that, if I wanted to do these things, you ought not want me to, from the genuine affection you ought to have for me." [pp.207-208]
-----------------------------
""This is too much."
-----------------------------
[In 1684, Lauzun was refused permission to travel with the king, and he blamed Montpensier. This passage is near the end of the extant Memoires:]
M. de Lauzun came to see me.... He said, "You have ruined my fortune; you have blighted my life; you have stopped me from going with the king; you asked him for that."
"Oh, as to that, it is false, he can tell you the facts himself." He grew very angry, while I remained completely calm throughout. I said, "Goodbye, then"; and went into my little room. I remained some time there; I went back; I found him still there.... I went up to him, saying "This is too much; keep your resolution; go!"
He withdrew, and went to Monsieur's [Philippe, Louis XIV's
brother] to tell him that I had dismissed him like a rascal,
and complained bitterly about me.... [p.
209]
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[Vincent J. Pitts' biography of Montpensier is a good place to start. Pitts provides thorough coverage of her writings as well as of her life; he gives his translations of passages from works not yet available in English. The notes and bibliography are detailed. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Pitts, Vincent J. La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France:
1627-1693. Baltimore; London: Johns Hopkins University Press,
c2000. (xiv, 367 p.: ill.)
LC#:DC130 .M8 P58 2000; ISBN: 0801864666
Includes bibliographical references (p. 339-354) and index
----------------------
[Benedetta Craveri's 2001 Italian study (translated by Teresa Waugh) includes a chapter, "La Grande Mademoiselle" which discusses Montpensier's life and thought, and quotes from her writing, especially her contributions to Divers Portraits, the 1659 publication of 58 pen-portraits (at least 15 of which were written by Montpensier). Note especially the bibliographical notes at the end (no superscript leads you to them); they provide a detailed description of contemporary and later views of Montpensier and her world. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Craveri, Benedetta. The age of conversation; translated by
Teresa Waugh. New York: New York Review Books: Distributed to
the trade by Publishers Group West, 2005. (xv, 488 p., [16] p.
of plates: ill.)
LC#: DC121.7 .C73 2005; ISBN: 1590171411
Includes bibliographical references (p. 377-446) and index
------------------------
[Patricia Francis Cholakian's study includes a substantial
chapter on Memoires. Her focus is on the way that Montpensier
presents herself to her reader at the three different periods
in which she was writing --- as a military heroine, as the foundress
(with Lauzun) of a new House of Montpensier, as a disillusioned
woman who would still run her own life. Cholakian gives her translation
of passages from Memoires. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Cholakian, Patricia Francis. Women and the politics of self-representation
in seventeenth-century France. Newark: University of Delaware
Press; London; Cranbury,NJ: Associated University Presses, c2000.
(219 p.)
LC#: PQ149 .C48 2000; ISBN: 0874137357
Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-209) and index
-----------------------
[Allison Stedman's article discusses the organization and apparent purpose of Divers Portraits. (See the volume's table of contents online.):]
Stedman, Allison. A gallery of authors: The politics of innovation
and subversion in Montpensier's Divers Portraits. Genre,
33 (2000), 129-50.
LC#: PN80 .G4 v.35; ISSN: 0435-3110
------------------------
[Faith Evelyn Beasley's study includes two useful chapters: the first gives an overview of French women's writing in the period; the second, "From Military to Literary Frondeuse: Montpensier's Feminization of History," looks at Memoires' treatment of the Fronde. Here Beasley presents Montpensier as a revisionary historian; she compares Memoires' descriptions with those of contemporary historians and memoirists. Beasley gives both her translation and the original of all passages cited:]
Beasley, Faith Evelyn. Revising memory: women's fiction and
memoirs in seventeenth-century France. New Brunswick: Rutgers
University Press, c1990. (x, 288 p.: ill.)
LC#: PQ637.A96 B43 1990; ISBN: 0813515858
Includes bibliographical references (p. [275]-282) and index
------------------------
[Cholakian's English-language introduction to this facsimile of the 1653 Histoire de Jeanne Lambert d'Herbigny, Marquise de Fouquesolles analyzes a pseudo-memoir co-authored by Montpensier and her friends and discusses what the work reveals of its chief author before and during her exile at Saint-Fargeau:]
Montpensier, Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orleans, duchesse de. Histoire
de Jeanne Lambert d'Herbigny, Marquise de Fouquesolles (1653):
a facsimile reproduction / with an introduction by Patricia Francis
Cholakian. Delmar, N.Y.: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints,
1999. (221 p.: ill.)
LC#: DC130.M8 A3 1999; ISBN: 0820115185
Reprint. Originally published: 1653. Includes bibliographical
references
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Updated 01-01-12