Adrienne de La Fayette
Encyclopedia
Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles, marquise de La Fayette (2 November 1759 – 24 December 1807), the daughter of Jean de Noailles, and Henriette Anne Louise d'Aguesseau, married Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette.
They had four children: Henriette (1776–1778), Anastasie Louise Pauline du Motier (1777–1863), Georges Washington Louis Gilbert du Motier, (1779–1849), and Marie Antoinette Virginie du Motier (1782–1849). She was a great grand daughter of Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné
, niece of Madame de Maintenon.
Adrienne was born, and grew up in the Hôtel de Noailles, the family residence in Paris, where was also celebrated, on 11 April 1774, her arranged marriage
with Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette. The orphan Lafayette had inherited large estates that yielded an annual income of 150,000 livres ($1.5 million). Her mother, concerned with their youth, kept them apart for a year while she managed their courtship. In 1776, the young couple had a daughter, Henriette.
Lafayette went to visit his uncle, Emmanuel Marie Louis de Noailles, Ambassador to England. During a ball at Lord George Germain's, he met Lord Rawdon
, met Sir Henry Clinton at the Opera, and met Lord Shelburne
at breakfast. He left to return to France, and then America.
Adrienne was pregnant with Anastasie. The duc de Noailles got Lafayette orders to report to Italy. But, Lafayette left for Spain and America on 26 April 1777. In a letter to Adrienne, Lafayette wrote:
Daughter Henriette died aged 22 months.
In 1778, Adrienne is reported to have met Voltaire
at the home of the duc de Choiseul
:
From July 1779 to March 1780, Lafayette returned to France to present a plan for French support of the Americans. An army was dispatched under the comte de Rochambeau
. Lafayette drew 120,000 livres, and gave Adrienne power of attorney. On 6 March 1780, Lafayette left for America.
After the victory at the Siege of Yorktown
, Lafayette returned to France. On 22 January 1782, he was received at Versailles
.
In 1783, Lafayette bought a townhouse, at 183 rue de Bourbon, for 200,000 livres ($2 million). He and Adrienne were active in their salon
, at the Hôtel de La Fayette, the headquarters of Americans in Paris, such as Benjamin Franklin
, Mr. and Mrs. John Jay
, and Mr. and Mrs. John Adams
who met every Monday, and dined in company with family, and the liberal nobility, such as Clermont-Tonnerre
, Madame de Staël, Morellet
, and Marmontel
.
Adrienne took a dislike to the pessimistic Gouverneur Morris
, calling him an 'aristocrat'.
Lafayette joined the French abolitionist group Society of the Friends of the Blacks
(Société des amis des Noirs), which advocated the end of the slave trade and equal rights for free Blacks. In 1783, in correspondence with Washington, he urged the emancipation of slaves; and to establish them as farmer tenants. Although Washington demurred, Lafayette purchased land in the French colony of Cayenne
to "experiment" with education, and emancipation, at his plantation La Belle Gabrielle.
On 15 July 1789, he was acclaimed commander-in-chief of the National Guard
(Garde nationale). His moderate (Constitutional Monarchist
) views were rejected by the Royalists (Legitimists
or Orléanist
), and became marginalized, with the rise of the Girondist
s, and then Jacobin
radicals, and the increasing polarisation of politics. Adrienne went with Lafayette to Chavaniac
, in October 1791, after he lost the mayoral election.
After war was declared on Austria on 20 April 1792
, Lafayette left for command of the army at Metz. After returning to Paris to defend the King, he was then accused of treason, and sought to escape to the Dutch Republic, but was arrested on 19 August by the Prussians at Rochefort, Belgium
, and imprisoned at Wesel
, and Magdeburg
, Prussia
. He was later transferred to the Austrians, and held at Olmutz. An escape attempt was unsuccessful.
:
After March 1793, Adrienne met Jean-Baptiste Lacoste
:fr:Jean-Baptiste Lacoste, a representative of the National Convention
, at Brioude
:
, she was transferred to La Force Prison
in Paris. Her grandmother, Catherine de Cossé-Brissac duchesse de Noailles, her mother, Henriette-Anne-Louise d'Aguesseau
, duchesse d'Ayen, and sister, Anne Jeanne Baptiste Louise vicomtesse d'Ayen, were guillotined on 22 July 1794. She was transferred to the Collège du Plessis prison, then to a house on rue des Amandiers, then to the Desnos house, rue Notre-Dame des Champs. She was released on 22 January 1795, due to the efforts of Gouverneur Morris
, James Monroe
, and Elizabeth Monroe, who visited Adrienne in jail. In April 1795, Georges was sent to America, studied at Harvard, and stayed with George Washington
.
Gouverneur Morris
advanced her 100,000 livres of his own money. On 1 September 1795, Monroe
issued Adrienne American passports for her and the Lafayette family, (since they had been granted Citizenship
), and she traveled to Lafayette's place of imprisonment.
where, on 10 October 1795, she met with the Emperor
. She obtained permission to join her husband, "I grant it to you, but as for his liberty, that would be impossible - my hands are tied, it is a complicated affair."
On 15 October 1795, she joined her husband, along with Anastasie, and Virginie, in the prison fortress of Olmütz. All of their money and baggage were confiscated. Their confinement became a cause célèbre
. A play about them was written: The Prisoners of Olmütz, or Conjugal Devotion. John Parish, the United States consul in Hamburg, provided aid, but was unable to negotiate a release. (The United States did not have diplomatic relations with either Prussia or Austria).
On 18 September 1797, the family was released, under the terms of the treaty of Campo-Formio (18 October 1797).
near her sister Madame de Montagu, and aunt Madame de Tessé
. At Mme de Tessé's Witmold, Anastasie married, Juste-Charles de la Tour-Maubourg, younger brother of another Olmütz detainee Charles César de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg
, and Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg
. In 1798, Georges returned from America. Adrienne helped Mme de Montagu in her financial scheme to help the émigré
s. In 1799, they moved to Vianen, near Utrecht
. Lafayette remained exiled, but Adrienne returned to France.
Adrienne was active recovering properties in France, including from her mother's estate, La Grange
. Her sister, Mme de Montagu, settled at Fontenay
:fr:Château de Fontenay. In 1799, with the fall of the Directory
, she secured a passport for her husband's return to France. After Napoleon's plebiscite, on 1 March 1800, he restored Lafayette's citizenship, and removed his name from the émigrés list, along with the members of the Assemblée Nationale
. Many of the returned exiles, and Charles James Fox
came to visit at La Grange.
They were about 200,000 livres in debt. Adrienne negotiated an indemnity for the seized Cayenne
property. She recovered 500,000 francs in compensation of the confiscated Noailles property. She negotiated the sale of Brittany properties for 61,200 livres, and monthly rents of 4,800 livres. James Monroe
brought Congress's grant of 11500 acres (46.5 km²) in the Ohio
territory, and secured a loan from Baring Brothers & Co
to repay creditors, including Morris.
In 1802, Georges de Lafayette married Emilie de Tracy, daughter of the Comte de Tracy. Georges entered the army, was wounded at the battle of Mincio, in 1800, and later was aide-de-camp to General Grouchy, and was with him at the Battle of Eylau
, 1807, where he gave up his horse, after Grouchy's had been killed, at the risk of his own life. After that, he resigned his commission.
On 20 April 1803, Virginie married Louis de Lasteyrie at La Grange. Their son, Jules de Lasteyrie (1810–1883) married Olivia de Rohan-Chabot (1813–1899), and lived at the château de la Grange-Bléneau
for fifty-four years.
Adrienne found out from a lacemaker, Mlle Paris, the burial place of her relatives and other victims of the Terror. She was active with Mme de Montagu in raising funds to build memorials at the Picpus Cemetery
.
), Burton concludes that lead poisoning was the cause of death. She was buried at the Picpus cemetery, after her death on 24 December 1807.
), Clémentine, who married "Gustave" Auguste Bonnin de La Bonninière de Beaumont, Oscar Thomas Gilbert, marquis de La Fayette (1815–1881), liberal politician, and Edmond.
Virginie married Louis de Lasteyrie on 20 April 1803. They had four children: Pauline, who married Charles de Rémusat
, Mélanine, who married Francisque de Corcelle (a friend of de Tocqueville), in 1831, Octavie, and their son, Adrien Jules de Lasteyrie (1810–1883) married Olivia de Rohan-Chabot (1813–1899), the daughter of the émigré Louis de Rohan, Vicomte de Chabot, and Lady Charlotte Fitzgerald, daughter of the second Duke of Leinster
.
Mélanine and Francisque had a daughter Marie Henriette Hélène Marthe Tircuy de Corcelle (6 June 1832, Paris - 17 November 1902, Paris), who married Charles Adolphe Pineton de Chambrun
(10 August 1831, Marjevols - 13 September 1891, New York
), a lawyer from New York, at the Église de la Madeleine
on 8 June 1859.
Adrien Jules and Olivia had a son, Louis de Lasteyrie who married Olivia Mills Goodlake; they had two children, Gui de Lasteyrie (born 1878), and Louis de Lasteyrie (1881–1955). Louis married Louise Chodron Courcel, in 1908.
Anastasie de Lafayette married Juste-Charles de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg
(Motte-Galaure, Drôme
8 June 1744, 28 May 1824); they had two children: Célestine Louise Henriette de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg (1799 - 16 July 1893), and Jenny de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg (6 September 1812 - 15 April 1897). His father was Claude Florimond de Faÿ (1712–1790), and his mother was Marie Françoise Vacheron Bermont (born 1712). His brother, Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg
, was a Cavalry Corps commander, survived the Russian Campaign
and was wounded at the battle of Leipzig
. His other brother, Charles César de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg
was a prisoner at Olmutz. Their descendants include: Princess Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria (born 11 September 1937, Forte dei Marmi, Italy), who married HRH Prince Albert, Prince of Liège, in Brussels, Belgium, on July 2, 1959, the current King Albert II of Belgium
.
They had four children: Henriette (1776–1778), Anastasie Louise Pauline du Motier (1777–1863), Georges Washington Louis Gilbert du Motier, (1779–1849), and Marie Antoinette Virginie du Motier (1782–1849). She was a great grand daughter of Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné
Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné
Françoise Charlotte Amable d'Aubigné, Duchess of Noailles was the wife of Adrien Maurice de Noailles, 3rd Duke of Noailles. She was the niece of Françoise d'Aubigné, Madame de Maintenon, and her heiress.-Biography:...
, niece of Madame de Maintenon.
Early life
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
with Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette. The orphan Lafayette had inherited large estates that yielded an annual income of 150,000 livres ($1.5 million). Her mother, concerned with their youth, kept them apart for a year while she managed their courtship. In 1776, the young couple had a daughter, Henriette.
Lafayette went to visit his uncle, Emmanuel Marie Louis de Noailles, Ambassador to England. During a ball at Lord George Germain's, he met Lord Rawdon
Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings
Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings KG PC , styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762 and as The Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783 and known as The Earl of Moira between 1793 and 1816, was an Irish-British politician and military officer who served as...
, met Sir Henry Clinton at the Opera, and met Lord Shelburne
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
William Petty-FitzMaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, PC , known as The Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history, was an Irish-born British Whig statesman who was the first Home Secretary in 1782 and then Prime Minister 1782–1783 during the final...
at breakfast. He left to return to France, and then America.
Adrienne was pregnant with Anastasie. The duc de Noailles got Lafayette orders to report to Italy. But, Lafayette left for Spain and America on 26 April 1777. In a letter to Adrienne, Lafayette wrote:
Daughter Henriette died aged 22 months.
In 1778, Adrienne is reported to have met Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
at the home of the duc de Choiseul
Étienne François, duc de Choiseul
Étienne-François, comte de Stainville, duc de Choiseul was a French military officer, diplomat and statesman. Between 1758 and 1761, and 1766 and 1770, he was Foreign Minister of France and had a strong influence on France's global strategy throughout the period...
:
From July 1779 to March 1780, Lafayette returned to France to present a plan for French support of the Americans. An army was dispatched under the comte de Rochambeau
Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau
Marshal of France Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau was a French nobleman and general who participated in the American Revolutionary War as the commander-in-chief of the French Expeditionary Force which came to help the American Continental Army...
. Lafayette drew 120,000 livres, and gave Adrienne power of attorney. On 6 March 1780, Lafayette left for America.
After the victory at the Siege of Yorktown
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...
, Lafayette returned to France. On 22 January 1782, he was received at Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
.
French Revolution
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
, at the Hôtel de La Fayette, the headquarters of Americans in Paris, such as Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, Mr. and Mrs. John Jay
John Jay
John Jay was an American politician, statesman, revolutionary, diplomat, a Founding Father of the United States, and the first Chief Justice of the United States ....
, and Mr. and Mrs. John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
who met every Monday, and dined in company with family, and the liberal nobility, such as Clermont-Tonnerre
Stanislas Marie Adelaide, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre
Stanislas Marie Adélaïde, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre was a French politician.-Early life and career:Born in Pont-a-Mousson, in what is today the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France...
, Madame de Staël, Morellet
André Morellet
André Morellet was a French economist and writer. He was one of the last of the philosophes, and in this character he figures in many memoirs, such as those of Madame de Rémusat....
, and Marmontel
Jean-François Marmontel
Jean-François Marmontel was a French historian and writer, a member of the Encyclopediste movement.-Biography:He was born of poor parents at Bort, Limousin...
.
Adrienne took a dislike to the pessimistic Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris , was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation. Morris was also an author of large sections of the...
, calling him an 'aristocrat'.
Lafayette joined the French abolitionist group Society of the Friends of the Blacks
Society of the Friends of the Blacks
The Society of the Friends of the Blacks was a group of French men and women, mostly white, who were abolitionists . The Society was created in Paris in 1788, and remained in existence until 1793...
(Société des amis des Noirs), which advocated the end of the slave trade and equal rights for free Blacks. In 1783, in correspondence with Washington, he urged the emancipation of slaves; and to establish them as farmer tenants. Although Washington demurred, Lafayette purchased land in the French colony of Cayenne
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
to "experiment" with education, and emancipation, at his plantation La Belle Gabrielle.
On 15 July 1789, he was acclaimed commander-in-chief of the National Guard
National Guard (France)
The National Guard was the name given at the time of the French Revolution to the militias formed in each city, in imitation of the National Guard created in Paris. It was a military force separate from the regular army...
(Garde nationale). His moderate (Constitutional Monarchist
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
) views were rejected by the Royalists (Legitimists
Legitimists
Legitimists are royalists in France who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession of the descendants of the elder branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They reject the claim of the July Monarchy of 1830–1848, whose kings were members of the junior...
or Orléanist
Orléanist
The Orléanists were a French right-wing/center-right party which arose out of the French Revolution. It governed France 1830-1848 in the "July Monarchy" of king Louis Philippe. It is generally seen as a transitional period dominated by the bourgeoisie and the conservative Orleanist doctrine in...
), and became marginalized, with the rise of the Girondist
Girondist
The Girondists were a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution...
s, and then Jacobin
Jacobin Club
The Jacobin Club was the most famous and influential political club in the development of the French Revolution, so-named because of the Dominican convent where they met, located in the Rue St. Jacques , Paris. The club originated as the Club Benthorn, formed at Versailles from a group of Breton...
radicals, and the increasing polarisation of politics. Adrienne went with Lafayette to Chavaniac
Château de Chavaniac
The Château de Chavaniac is a fortified manor house of eighteen rooms furnished in the Louis XIII style located in Chavaniac-Lafayette, Haute-Loire, in Auvergne, France....
, in October 1791, after he lost the mayoral election.
After war was declared on Austria on 20 April 1792
First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition was the first major effort of multiple European monarchies to contain Revolutionary France. France declared war on the Habsburg monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792, and the Kingdom of Prussia joined the Austrian side a few weeks later.These powers initiated a series...
, Lafayette left for command of the army at Metz. After returning to Paris to defend the King, he was then accused of treason, and sought to escape to the Dutch Republic, but was arrested on 19 August by the Prussians at Rochefort, Belgium
Rochefort, Belgium
Rochefort is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Namur close to the Ardennes. On January 1, 2006 Rochefort had a total population of 12,038. The total area is 165.27 km² which gives a population density of 73 inhabitants per km²...
, and imprisoned at Wesel
Wesel
Wesel is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district.-Division of the town:Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighoven, Ginderich, Feldmark,Fusternberg, Büderich, Flüren and Blumenkamp.-History:...
, and Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
, Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
. He was later transferred to the Austrians, and held at Olmutz. An escape attempt was unsuccessful.
Adrienne's Imprisonment
On 10 September 1792, she was held under house arrest at Chavaniac. On 12 September 1792, she wrote M. Jacques Pierre BrissotJacques Pierre Brissot
Jacques Pierre Brissot , who assumed the name of de Warville, was a leading member of the Girondist movement during the French Revolution. Some sources give his name as Jean Pierre Brissot.-Biography:...
:
After March 1793, Adrienne met Jean-Baptiste Lacoste
Jean-Baptiste Lacoste
Jean-Baptiste Lacoste was a lawyer with Mauriac in department of the Cantal, before French revolution.- Under the Revolution :In 1789, he was Justice of the Peace...
:fr:Jean-Baptiste Lacoste, a representative of the National Convention
National Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
, at Brioude
Brioude
Brioude is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne region in south-central France. It lies on the banks of the River Allier, a tributary of the Loire.-History:...
:
Reign of Terror
In May 1794, during the Reign of TerrorReign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
, she was transferred to La Force Prison
La Force Prison
La Force Prison was a French prison located in the Rue du Roi de Sicile, what is now the 4th arrondissement of Paris.Originally the private residence of the Duke of la Force, the structure was converted into a prison in 1780....
in Paris. Her grandmother, Catherine de Cossé-Brissac duchesse de Noailles, her mother, Henriette-Anne-Louise d'Aguesseau
Henriette-Anne-Louise d'Aguesseau
Henriette Anne Louise d'Aguesseau, Duchess of Noailles, Princess of Tingry , was the heiress of her grandfather, Henri François d'Aguesseau, and wife of Jean Paul François de Noailles, Count and Duke of Ayen.-Family:...
, duchesse d'Ayen, and sister, Anne Jeanne Baptiste Louise vicomtesse d'Ayen, were guillotined on 22 July 1794. She was transferred to the Collège du Plessis prison, then to a house on rue des Amandiers, then to the Desnos house, rue Notre-Dame des Champs. She was released on 22 January 1795, due to the efforts of Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris , was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation. Morris was also an author of large sections of the...
, James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
, and Elizabeth Monroe, who visited Adrienne in jail. In April 1795, Georges was sent to America, studied at Harvard, and stayed with George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
.
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris , was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation. Morris was also an author of large sections of the...
advanced her 100,000 livres of his own money. On 1 September 1795, Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
issued Adrienne American passports for her and the Lafayette family, (since they had been granted Citizenship
Honorary Citizen of the United States
A person of exceptional merit, generally a non-United States citizen, may be declared an Honorary Citizen of the United States by an Act of Congress, or by a proclamation issued by the President of the United States, pursuant to authorization granted by Congress.Seven people have been so honored,...
), and she traveled to Lafayette's place of imprisonment.
The Prisoners of Olmütz
Adrienne travelled to ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
where, on 10 October 1795, she met with the Emperor
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
. She obtained permission to join her husband, "I grant it to you, but as for his liberty, that would be impossible - my hands are tied, it is a complicated affair."
On 15 October 1795, she joined her husband, along with Anastasie, and Virginie, in the prison fortress of Olmütz. All of their money and baggage were confiscated. Their confinement became a cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
. A play about them was written: The Prisoners of Olmütz, or Conjugal Devotion. John Parish, the United States consul in Hamburg, provided aid, but was unable to negotiate a release. (The United States did not have diplomatic relations with either Prussia or Austria).
On 18 September 1797, the family was released, under the terms of the treaty of Campo-Formio (18 October 1797).
Recovery
They recuperated at Lhemkuln, HolsteinHolstein
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....
near her sister Madame de Montagu, and aunt Madame de Tessé
Madame de Tessé
Adrienne Catherine, comtesse de Noailles de Tessé , daughter of Louis, 4th duc de Noailles, sister of the Jean-Louis-Paul-François, 5th duc de Noailles, aunt of Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles, held a salon, and corresponded with Thomas Jefferson, in the early 19th century.-Life:On 20 June...
. At Mme de Tessé's Witmold, Anastasie married, Juste-Charles de la Tour-Maubourg, younger brother of another Olmütz detainee Charles César de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg
Charles César de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg
Marie-Charles-César de Faÿ, comte de la Tour-Maubourg , was a French soldier and politician during the French Revolution, and of the First French Empire...
, and Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg
Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg
Marie Victor Nicolas de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg was a French cavalry commander starting under the Ancien Régime of France, and rising to prominence during the First French Empire...
. In 1798, Georges returned from America. Adrienne helped Mme de Montagu in her financial scheme to help the émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
s. In 1799, they moved to Vianen, near Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
. Lafayette remained exiled, but Adrienne returned to France.
Château de la Grange-Bléneau
The Château de la Grange-Bléneau is a castle in the commune of Courpalay in the Seine-et-Marne département of France.-History:Recorded since the 13th century, the castle has belonged to several families: Courtenay, Aubusson-La Feuillade and d'Aguesseau. Ownership passed from Henriette d'Aguesseau...
. Her sister, Mme de Montagu, settled at Fontenay
Fontenay-Trésigny
Fontenay-Trésigny is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-External links:* * *...
:fr:Château de Fontenay. In 1799, with the fall of the Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
, she secured a passport for her husband's return to France. After Napoleon's plebiscite, on 1 March 1800, he restored Lafayette's citizenship, and removed his name from the émigrés list, along with the members of the Assemblée Nationale
National Assembly (French Revolution)
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly , which existed from June 17 to July 9, 1789, was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly.-Background:...
. Many of the returned exiles, and Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox PC , styled The Honourable from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned thirty-eight years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was particularly noted for being the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger...
came to visit at La Grange.
They were about 200,000 livres in debt. Adrienne negotiated an indemnity for the seized Cayenne
Cayenne
Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "Ferit Aurum Industria" which means "Work brings wealth"...
property. She recovered 500,000 francs in compensation of the confiscated Noailles property. She negotiated the sale of Brittany properties for 61,200 livres, and monthly rents of 4,800 livres. James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
brought Congress's grant of 11500 acres (46.5 km²) in the Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
territory, and secured a loan from Baring Brothers & Co
Barings Bank
Barings Bank was the oldest merchant bank in London until its collapse in 1995 after one of the bank's employees, Nick Leeson, lost £827 million due to speculative investing, primarily in futures contracts, at the bank's Singapore office.-History:-1762–1890:Barings Bank was founded in 1762 as the...
to repay creditors, including Morris.
In 1802, Georges de Lafayette married Emilie de Tracy, daughter of the Comte de Tracy. Georges entered the army, was wounded at the battle of Mincio, in 1800, and later was aide-de-camp to General Grouchy, and was with him at the Battle of Eylau
Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...
, 1807, where he gave up his horse, after Grouchy's had been killed, at the risk of his own life. After that, he resigned his commission.
On 20 April 1803, Virginie married Louis de Lasteyrie at La Grange. Their son, Jules de Lasteyrie (1810–1883) married Olivia de Rohan-Chabot (1813–1899), and lived at the château de la Grange-Bléneau
Château de la Grange-Bléneau
The Château de la Grange-Bléneau is a castle in the commune of Courpalay in the Seine-et-Marne département of France.-History:Recorded since the 13th century, the castle has belonged to several families: Courtenay, Aubusson-La Feuillade and d'Aguesseau. Ownership passed from Henriette d'Aguesseau...
for fifty-four years.
Adrienne found out from a lacemaker, Mlle Paris, the burial place of her relatives and other victims of the Terror. She was active with Mme de Montagu in raising funds to build memorials at the Picpus Cemetery
Picpus Cemetery
The Picpus Cemetery is the largest private cemetery in the city of Paris, France. It was created from land seized from the convent of the Chanoinesses de St-Augustin, during the Revolution. It contains the remains of French aristocrats who had been guillotined during the French Revolution...
.
Illness
She was chronically ill after her incarcerations, suffering from stomach pains, blisters, sores and abscesses. A Dr. Sautereau stayed at La Grange, and Dr. Lobinhes was on call from Paris. In 1807, during a trip to the Auvergne, Adrienne became ill; she became delirious but recovered enough on Christmas Eve to gather the family around her bed; her last words to Lafayette were: "Je suis toute à vous" ("I am all yours"). Given the purchase of saturne (leadLead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
), Burton concludes that lead poisoning was the cause of death. She was buried at the Picpus cemetery, after her death on 24 December 1807.
Assessment
Lafayette wrote to M. de La Tour-Maubourg:Descendants of Adrienne de La Fayette
Georges de Lafayette married Emilie de Tracy, daughter of the Comte de Tracy, in 1802; they had three daughters and two sons: Natalie, who married Adolphe Perrier, Malthilde, who married Maurice de Pusy (1799–1864), (son of Jean-Xavier Bureau de PusyJean-Xavier Bureau de Pusy
Jean-Xavier Bureau de Pusy was a French military engineer, and politician, during the French Revolution.-Military career:...
), Clémentine, who married "Gustave" Auguste Bonnin de La Bonninière de Beaumont, Oscar Thomas Gilbert, marquis de La Fayette (1815–1881), liberal politician, and Edmond.
Virginie married Louis de Lasteyrie on 20 April 1803. They had four children: Pauline, who married Charles de Rémusat
Charles de Rémusat
Charles François Marie, Comte de Rémusat , was a French politician and writer.-Biography:He was born in Paris. His father, Auguste Laurent, Comte de Rémusat, of a good family of Toulouse, was chamberlain to Napoleon Bonaparte, but acquiesced in the restoration and became prefect first of Haute...
, Mélanine, who married Francisque de Corcelle (a friend of de Tocqueville), in 1831, Octavie, and their son, Adrien Jules de Lasteyrie (1810–1883) married Olivia de Rohan-Chabot (1813–1899), the daughter of the émigré Louis de Rohan, Vicomte de Chabot, and Lady Charlotte Fitzgerald, daughter of the second Duke of Leinster
William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster
William Robert FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster, etc. KP, PC was an Irish liberal politician and landowner. He was born in London.-Career:...
.
Mélanine and Francisque had a daughter Marie Henriette Hélène Marthe Tircuy de Corcelle (6 June 1832, Paris - 17 November 1902, Paris), who married Charles Adolphe Pineton de Chambrun
Pineton de Chambrun
The Pineton de Chambrun is a French aristocratic family, of which several members have taken an important part in French politics. Their nobility was proved in 1491...
(10 August 1831, Marjevols - 13 September 1891, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
), a lawyer from New York, at the Église de la Madeleine
Église de la Madeleine
L'église de la Madeleine is a Roman Catholic church occupying a commanding position in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It was designed in its present form as a temple to the glory of Napoleon's army...
on 8 June 1859.
Adrien Jules and Olivia had a son, Louis de Lasteyrie who married Olivia Mills Goodlake; they had two children, Gui de Lasteyrie (born 1878), and Louis de Lasteyrie (1881–1955). Louis married Louise Chodron Courcel, in 1908.
Anastasie de Lafayette married Juste-Charles de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg
Juste-Charles de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg
Juste-Charles de Faÿ de la Tour-Maubourg married Anastasie de La Fayette , the daughter of marquis de Lafayette, and Adrienne de La Fayette....
(Motte-Galaure, Drôme
Drôme
Drôme , a department in southeastern France, takes its name from the Drôme River.-History:The French National Constituent Assembly set up Drôme as one of the original 83 departments of France on March 4, 1790, during the French Revolution...
8 June 1744, 28 May 1824); they had two children: Célestine Louise Henriette de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg (1799 - 16 July 1893), and Jenny de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg (6 September 1812 - 15 April 1897). His father was Claude Florimond de Faÿ (1712–1790), and his mother was Marie Françoise Vacheron Bermont (born 1712). His brother, Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg
Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg
Marie Victor Nicolas de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg was a French cavalry commander starting under the Ancien Régime of France, and rising to prominence during the First French Empire...
, was a Cavalry Corps commander, survived the Russian Campaign
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
and was wounded at the battle of Leipzig
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
. His other brother, Charles César de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg
Charles César de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg
Marie-Charles-César de Faÿ, comte de la Tour-Maubourg , was a French soldier and politician during the French Revolution, and of the First French Empire...
was a prisoner at Olmutz. Their descendants include: Princess Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria (born 11 September 1937, Forte dei Marmi, Italy), who married HRH Prince Albert, Prince of Liège, in Brussels, Belgium, on July 2, 1959, the current King Albert II of Belgium
Albert II of Belgium
Albert II is the current reigning King of the Belgians, a constitutional monarch. He is a member of the royal house "of Belgium"; formerly this house was named Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
.
External references
- M. MacDermot Crawford, Madame Lafayette and her Family, James Pott & Company
- Mary MacDermot Crawford, The Wife of Lafayette
- Louis Gottschlk, Lafayette Comes to America
- Jason Lane, General and Madame de Lafayette: Partners in Liberty's Cause in the American and French Revolutions, Taylor Trade Publishing, 25 December 2003
- Adrienne, The Life of the Marquise de La Fayette, André Maurois, McGraw Hill Book Company
- Marguerite Guilhou, Ralph Fletcher Seymour, Life of Adrienne d'Ayen, Marquise de Lafayette
- Edith Helen Sichel, The Household of the Lafayettes
Collections
- June K. Burton, Ph.D., LL.D., Two “Better Halves” in the Worst of Times - Adrienne Noailles Lafayette (1759-1807) and Fanny Burney d’Arblay (1752-1840) as Medical and Surgical Patients under the First Empire, January 26, 2001
- Letter from Adrienne de Lafayette to her Children, The 17th Brumaire, November 1794
- John Jay letter to Adrienne Lafayette, 13 August 1785
- Gouverneur Morris letter to Adrienne Lafayette, 19 December 1796
- Lafayette Family Papers, University of Maryland
- National Museum of Women in the Arts
- Généalogie de Carné, Alain de Carné en novembre 2006
- Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, Noailles Iconographical Genealogy
- Find A Grave, Adrienne de Lafayette
- The Marquis de Lafayette collection, Cleveland State University
- Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette Collection, Library of Congress
- Martha Joanna Lamb, The Magazine of American History with Notes and Queries, pp. 353-376
See also
- "Books: An 18th Century Marriage", Time, May. 26, 1961