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Updated 03-04-08
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:
Recueil des Pieces Nouveles et Galantes (and other letters) (1660-61)
Self-portrait (1659)
Memoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier (c.1684)
Information about secondary sources.
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1. 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 may 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.
2. In French:
(a) The two brief novels published in 1659, La Relation de l'Isle imaginaire, and L'Histoire de la Princesse de Paphlagonie.
(b) Links to the individual chapters of Memoires de Mlle de Montpensier (with a 1700s picture of an armed Montpensier, as well as a later engraving).
3. 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 and Henri 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.
(f) From the same period, a medal portrait, by Jean Charles Francois Cheron.
4. 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.
5. Reviews (for excerpts from the translation, see below, under "In print"; for information on the other books' treatment of Montpensier, see "Secondary sources"):
(a) Carolyn Lougee Chappell on Joan DeJean's 2002 translation, Against Marriage: The Correspondence of La Grande Mademoiselle, a translation of Recueil des Pieces Nouveles et Galantes.
(b) Lougee Chappell on Vincent J. Pitts' 2000 biography, La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France: 1627-1693; and elsewhere, another review, this by Lianne McTavish.
(c) Caroline Moorehead on Teresa Waugh's 2005 translation of Benedetta Craveri's 2001 study, The Age of Conversation.
6. For historical background:
(a) A 1626 letter from a group of Louis XIII's ministers, on the dangers posed by the marriage of Montpensier's parents; it shows their concern over both Gaston d'Orleans' rebelliousness and Marie de Bourbon's wealth.
(b) A description of the two stages of the Fronde.
(c) In this alphabetical list, go to Aristocratic Experience and the Origins of Modern Culture (1993), by Jonathan Dewald. In Chapter 6, "The Meanings of Writing," 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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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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Self-portrait; Memoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier
[Grace Hart Seely's appears to be the only English-language translation of Memoires; Seely describes it as "very abridged" from the 8-volume original, but omissions are not indicated. Although her introduction is sometimes patronizing, Seely gives useful historical background. An appendix includes Montpensier's self-portrait from the 1659 Divers portraits. The book's index is detailed:]
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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[Seely's translation of the Memoires also contains Montpensier's 1657 pen-portrait of herself that would be published in the 1659 Divers Portraits. Most of it 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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"...her care in my education,... in questions relating to
my marriage."
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[The opening of the Memoires:]
My mother's death shortly after my birth was the beginning of the misfortunes of my family. It has lessened in no small degree the happiness to which my rank entitled me. The great wealth which at her death my mother left to me as sole inheritor, might in the opinion of the world have consoled me. Yet I cannot enough regret her loss, since I realize today the benefits which would have been mine had I had her care in my education, her influence and devotion in questions relating to my marriage. [p.48]
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"It was for me to decide."
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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:]
...[S]he [Anne of Austria] had talked to me of nothing but this marriage with the Emperor; had told me she wished for it passionately, adding that she would do everything in her power for it accomplishment, as she believed it would be a great happiness for my house....
...Monsieur said to me: "....[Y]ou will not be happy in a country where one lives a l'espagnolle. The emperor is older than you, and for these reasons I believe this marriage is not an advantageous one for you, nor will you be happy except in England... or in Savoy."
In reply I told him that I really wanted the Emperor, and that it was for me to decide.... I added that I, too, realized the Emperor was neither a young nor a gallant man, yet one could judge from this the real truth, which was that I cared more for my etablissement than for the person of my suitor. [pp.74-76]
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"...to risk my entire possessions for the chance."
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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:]
So it was that now I had to deliberate solemnly with myself. I considered that if I married him I might be called upon to risk my entire possessions for the chance of reconquering his kingdom. I confess that this reflection caused me some dismay. Having been reared in opulence and comfort, I was alarmed at the prospect of reverses. [p.91]
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"I wagered that I should go 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:]
The King's army was devastating the country roundabout. Orleans feared the same treatment.... All his friends had persuaded Monsieur that he must go, and he had decided to do so. He had told me some days previously that the citizens of Orleans had sent to him to beg him to come, but that in case he was not able to go he would send me. I replied that he well knew I was ready to obey him in everything, but I wagered that I should go to Orleans. [p.111]
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"I donned my uniform a l'Amazone and mounted my horse."
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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 an "Amazon":]
After making my adieux to all, I took leave of his Royal Highness [her father], who said to me at parting: "...Above all and at whatever risk, prevent the [king's] army from passing the Loire. This is the only order I give you."
Then I entered my coach in company with Madame de Frontenac and the Comtesse de Fiesque, whom I called my marechales-de-camp....
When I reached the plains of Beauce, I donned my uniform a l'Amazone and mounted my horse.... Arrived at Tourcy, I found a number of officers, who... told me they were about to hold a council of war at which they wished my presence. This would be something new for me and I began to laugh. Whereupon M. Nemours told me that I must accustom myself to the discussion of military affairs, because they could not act without my orders.
M. de Rohan drew me aside and said that as he was better informed than I of the intentions of Monsieur, he would tell me what it was advisable to do. This suggestion did not at all please me. [pp.112-14]
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"... as muddy as I and quite as happy."
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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:]
The better to see them work and to inspire them by my presence, I climbed upon a knoll which commanded the gate. I gave little thought concerning the best way to achieve my end. I climbed like a cat. I caught my hands on the briars and the thorns and I leaped all the hedges, but without doing myself any injury.
When I had reached the top, all those who were with me feared lest I exposed myself too much. They did all they possibly could to force me to turn back; they begged me to be careful. I silenced them. Madame de Breaute, who is the silliest creature, began to shout at me, I'm not even sure that she didn't swear, but all this amused me very much.
[And once in the city, to the cheers of the populace:]
Two me took me and placed me upon a wooden chair, and so happy was I, so beside myself with joy, that I did not know whether I was in the chair or on the arm of it. Every one kissed my hands and I was ready to die with laughter to see myself in so amusing a situation. After being carried in triumph through a few streets, I told them I knew how to walk and begged them to put me down, which they did. I waited for my ladies in waiting, who arrived a moment later, as muddy as I and quite as happy. [pp.119-21]
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"They were on horse, on foot, on biers, on ladders, on litters."
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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:]
As I left the Hotel-de-Ville, I... saw the most pitiable sights. I met the Duc de La Rochefoucauld, who had been wounded by a bullet which had passed through both eyes. His eyes looked as if they were falling out, so much blood was he losing....
At each step I took in the Rue Saint-Antoine, I found those who had been wounded, some in the head, others in the body or the arms or the legs. They were on horse, on foot, on biers, on ladders, on litters. Some were dead. There was one cavalier who had been killed but who had remained upon his horse. [pp.135-36]
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"In obedience to my orders... volleys of cannon were discharged."
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[Despite the gates being opened, Conde refused to retreat immediately, even though he was outnumbered two-to-one:]
I went away to the Bastille, where I had never been before. I walked for a long time upon the walls and had the cannon loaded. Some were pointed toward the river and some toward the faubourg. I looked through the glasses and saw many people upon the heights of Charonne, even carriages, which made me conclude that the King was there, 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 to the city:]
I sent a page at full speed to tell this to the prince [Conde]. ...[H]e gave orders for his army to enter the city. The troops which the Marechals Turenne and La Ferte had pushed forward to attack ours, advanced closer to the city, but in obedience to my orders, which I had given as I left, two or three volleys of cannon were discharged from the Bastille. This swept away a row of their cavalry and caused great fear. Except for this, all the foreign infantry, the gendarmes, and the cavalry of our read guard would have been cut off.... [pp.139-40]
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"...beginning to write my own 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. She went to her chateau at Saint-Fargeau, where she began to read and to write:]
Not until this time did I begin to love reading, which I have cared for ever since. I read the Memoires of Queen Margaret [of Valois] and as a result the Comtesse de Fiesque, Madame de Frontenac and her husband proposed that I divert myself by beginning to write my own memoirs.... At first I wrote a little at a time..., and as I wrote badly, I gave it to Prefontaine [her steward] that he might make a neat copy. [p.158]
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"I did not require counsel."
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[Because she was now 25 years old, Montpensier was legally an "adult" and so able to supervise her own finances:]
I sent word to my people to bring in their accounts. They brought me false ones. I showed them the true ones. They were amazed and asked my pardon, begging me to grant them what they had taken from me.... I granted them their requests, but on condition that they would act more honestly in the future. [p.160]
[Montpensier's father, also in exile, at Blois, found that he could not longer use his daughter's money as he liked:]
From Blois there came a messenger bringing a document with the request that I sign it, adding that if I liked I might send to Paris for counsel. I replied that I did not require counsel thereupon, since it was necessary to know only how to read in order to see that this document was very disadvantageous to me....
They even wrote threateningly, in order to intimidate me. I made answer that no one could take away my inheritance unless I could be declared an imbecile or a criminal and I certainly did not intend to become one or the other. [p.161]
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"It is an agreeable thing to be Mademoiselle."
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[After five years of exile, Montpensier was allowed to return. She enjoyed the activities of the court and the Paris salons, no longer "impatient for marriage" (p.245). When in 1661, Louis sent one of his advisors (a cousin of Montpensier), to order her to marry the king of Portugal, she answered him:]
"...[I]t is an agreeable thing to be Mademoiselle in France with five hundred thousand francs income without the need of asking anything from the court. When one finds herself in this position, believe me, my cousin, it is folly to move. If one wearies of the the court, she can retire to her chateau in the country, in which a little private court of her own may be held.... Finally, as the mistress of one's desires, one is happy, for one does as one wishes." [p.249]
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"Each one must know to whom to attach himself."
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[But at the court of Louis XIV, even Montpensier could not do as she wished with impunity, and for over a year she was exiled again for refusing the king of Portugal. On her first day back at court in 1664:]
Now, on my return, every one seemed to be my best friend, although during my exile I had believed quite the contrary. I suppose this is the correct practice for people at court. Each one must know to whom to attach himself. [p.260]
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"I had never before been loved."
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[One younger courtier, the Comte de Lauzun, appears to have known "to whom to attach himself." In the mid-1660s Montpensier began to see him at court, and by 1670 she realized that she had at last fallen in love. Her goal was to marry Lauzun, to raise him so high and to give him so much that he would always be grateful. That a 43-year-old woman raised in the atmosphere of a court could ignore what she must have known of human nature testifies to the strength of her late love:]
One thing I knew with certainty --- that I should be happier if I married: that if I made the fortune of a certain person through the gift of great estates, he would be touched by my generosity, have affection for me, would study to do everything to please me....
...I loved M. de Lauzun.... He was the only person who would appreciate the grandeur I could give him, the only one worthy of my choice.
Nothing was lacking to my happiness but a husband such as he would be, whom I should love and who would love me devotedly. I had never before been loved, and it was necessary once in life to taste the sweetness of being adored by some one who would make worth while the pain which loves brings. [pp.270-71]
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" Often I was in a mood to scold him, and then...."
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[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 which his advancement depended, but still continued to pay court to Montpensier:]
M. de Lauzun sent me word that he was leaving for Brussels. He left without saying au revoir to me. When he returned... I reproached him for leaving without saying adieu. I wanted to be angry with him, but as soon as I saw him I lost the desire to work myself into a fury.
Often I was in a mood to scold him, and then he took away the desire by his manners, which I cannot describe, so charming and distinguished were they. [p.308]
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"Thus I was beginning to know him."
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[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 "found him greatly changed" (p.328):]
...[O]ften he seemed to me covetous and selfish.... His imprisonment, instead of correcting his faults through suffering, had only helped to exaggerate them....
Thus I was beginning to know him and to be tired of him, but I wished to carry out the bargain. I was unwilling, after having done so much for him, to abandon him before reaching the desired goal --- to see him made Duc de Montpensier and to obtain his restoration to court... [pp.330-32]
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"Memories may keep one unhappy."
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[In 1684, Lauzun was refused permission to travel with the king. This passage ends the extant Memoires:]
That day M. de Lauzun, in a most terrible mood, came to see me.... "You have ruined my career,... you might as well have cut my throat. It is your fault that I am not going with the King; you asked him to leave me behind."
"Oh, as for that, it is false," I exclaimed. "He will tell you so himself." Lauzun grew more and more angry, but I was very calm as I said, "Adieu, then," and I entered my boudoir. I remained there some time. On returning, I found him still there.... I approached him, saying, "This is too much; keep your promise; go away"....
I have a very good memory and as a result, I forget nothing. Memories may keep one unhappy. [pp.335-37]
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[Vincent J. Pitts' biography of Montpensier is probably the best 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 translated. 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, a number of which are not given
in Seely's abridged version above. (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:]
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; and like Cholakian (2000, above), she gives excerpts that are not in Seely:]
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 03-04-08