Louise-Françoise de Bourbon
Encyclopedia
Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Légitimée de France
(1 June 1673 – 16 June 1743) was the eldest surviving legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France
and his maîtresse-en-titre
, Madame de Montespan
. She was said to have been named after her godmother
, Louise de La Vallière
, the woman that her mother had replaced as the king's mistress. Prior to her marriage, she was known at court as Mademoiselle de Nantes.
Married at the age of eleven, she became known as Madame la Duchesse
, a style which she kept as a widow. She was, Duchess of Bourbon and Princess of Condé
by marriage. She was later a leading member of the cabale de Meudon, a group of people who centered around Louis, le Grand Dauphin her older half brother. Whilst her son, Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon was Prime Minister of France
she tried to further her political influence but to little avail.
Very attractive, she had a turbulent love life and was frequently part of scandal during the reign of her father Louis XIV
. Later in life, she built the Palais Bourbon
in Paris, the present seat of the National Assembly of France, with the fortune she amassed having invested greatly in the Système de Law
.
on 1 June 1673 while her parents, King Louis XIV and Françoise-Athénais de Rochechouart were on a military tour; her maternal aunt, the marquise de Thianges
, was there also. After returning from Tournai, her parents placed her and her older siblings in the care of one of her mother's acquaintances, the widowed Madame Scarron.
On 19 December 1673, Louis XIV legitimised
the children he had had with his mistress in a legitimisation process that was recognised with letters patent from the Parlement de Paris. At the time of their legitimisation, her eldest brother, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon
, received the title of duc du Maine; the next eldest brother, Louis-César de Bourbon, became the comte de Vexin, while Louise Françoise received the courtesy title of Mademoiselle de Nantes. Her parents had nicknamed her Poupotte after her doll like appearance.
In the year after her birth, another sibling joined Maine, Vexin and Louise Françoise at their residence in Paris. The future Mademoiselle de Tours
had been born at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
in November 1674. The young Mademoiselle de Tours was legitimised in 1676 and would become a great friend of Mademoiselle de Nantes. The death of her younger sister in 1681, deeply affected her.
After the death of Mademoiselle de Tours, Madame de Montespan wrote to the duc du Maine
:
Mesdemoiselles de Nantes and de Tours had been raised together in a private house on the Rue de Vaugirard in Paris, where the king's illegitimate children with Mme de Montespan had been hidden away from the prying eyes of the court by their parents. Louise Françoise would never be close to either her older half-sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon
, or younger full sister, Françoise Marie de Bourbon, as the three sisters were intensely jealous of each other. Louise Françoise and Françoise-Marie were especially competitive, despising any increase in status or rank that the other, or any of her children, might achieve.
Having inherited her parents passion for music and dance, Louise Françoise became a good dancer. She also inherited her mother's sharp and caustic wit, the famous Mortemart esprit, which made her popular with some but not with others. Saint-Simon
later said of the future Princess of Condé:
She was also called the..
. His mother was Anne Henriette of Bavaria
. Louis XIV gave his daughter a large dowry
of one million livres upon her marriage.
At court, Louise Françoise's husband was known by the courtesy title of duc de Bourbon
, and was addressed as Monsieur le Duc
. As a result, his new wife became known as Madame la Duchesse
.
Some time after her marriage in 1686, while the court was in residence at the Palace of Fontainebleau, Louise Françoise contracted smallpox. While her then seventeen-year old husband did not help nurse her back to health, her mother and grandfather-in-law, Le Grand Condé, did. Louise Françoise recovered, but Le Grand Condé died the following November after having caught her illness. Louise Françoise and her husband eventually had nine children, all of whom survived into adulthood.
, decided not to attend any court gatherings. On the other hand, her older brother, the Duke of Maine
, could barely conceal his joy at inheriting his mother's fortune. The Château de Clagny
was bequeathed to him, but he rarely used it.
In 1692, her youngest sister, Françoise Marie, was married to their first cousin, Philippe d'Orléans
, the only son and heir of their uncle, Monsieur
. As the wife of a petit-fils de France
, Françoise Marie took precedence at court over Louise Françoise and their half-sister Marie Anne. This, combined with the fact that Françoise Marie received a dowry twice the amount given to her older sister, greatly angered Louise Françoise, who thereafter became quite competitive with her younger, more successful sister.
Louise Françoise was a beautiful and vivacious woman. Around 1695, she began a romantic affair with François Louis de Bourbon, prince de Conti
, the handsome brother-in-law of her older half-sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon
. François Louis' wife was the pious Marie Thérèse de Bourbon; Marie Thérèse was in turn the oldest sister of Louise Françoise's husband. Louise Françoise's fourth daughter Marie Anne, born in 1697, was thought to have been the result of this affair.
When her husband discovered his wife's infidelity, he was furious but did not openly quarrel with the Prince of Conti due to a fear of his father-in-law, Louis XIV. Her older half-brother, the Dauphin, to whom she was close, allowed the couple to meet at his country estate at Meudon
away from her husband and the court.
Upon the death of her father-in-law on 1 April 1709, her husband succeeded to the title of Prince of Condé. He did not, however, succeed to his father's rank of Premier Prince du Sang
, which was instead officially transferred from the House of Condé to the House of Orléans
. As a result, her younger sister's husband, the Duke of Orléans, became entitled to use the style of Monsieur le Prince
. His wife, Louise Françoise's sister Françoise Marie, accordingly became entitled to use the style Madame la Princesse
. Despite the fact that Françoise-Marie never referred to herself as Madame la Princesse, this transfer in rank from the House of Condé to the House of Orléans greatly aggravated the rivalry between Louise Françoise and her younger sister.
Louise Françoise's husband, who had by this time descended into madness, did not survive his father long and died within the year in 1710. Although Louise Françoise should have officially assumed the style of Madame la Princesse de Condé douairière (Dowager Princess of Condé) upon the death of her husband, she instead chose to be known in her widowhood as Madame la Duchesse douairière. When her husband died she is said to have been affected but Madame de Caylus did not believe her grief was sincere.
In the hope of ingratiating herself with the future king, Louise Françoise frequently attended the court of her older half-brother, Monseigneur, at the Château de Meudon
. At Meudon, she became close to the Élisabeth Thérèse de Lorraine
, princesse d'Epinoy and her older sister, Mademoiselle de Lillebonne
, a future Abbess of Remiremont Abbey. Unexpectedly, the dauphin died in 1711, ruining his sister's plan of establishing a more solid relationship with the Crown. Despite her dashed hopes, Louise Françoise was deeply affected by the dauphin's death. This death made her nephew, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife, Marie Adélaïde, the new Dauphin and Dauphine.
Marie Adélaïde and Louise Françoise were to become bitter enemies because of the new dauphine's condescending attitude toward ladies of inferior rank. The Duchess of Orléans and the older Dowager Princess of Conti also grew to dislike their niece for her haughty behavior.
As a dowager, Louise Françoise became a good friend of Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes
, the former mistress of Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy
. Jeanne Baptiste had escaped Savoy in 1700 and had been residing in Paris ever since. She was a great literary figure of the day.
Within two years, in 1712, the new dauphin and his young wife died, leaving only a small son, the duc d'Anjou, as the legitimate heir of Louis XIV. In 1715, the king died, and was succeeded by his five-year old great-grandson, Louis XV
. A controversy immediately arose between Louise Françoise's older brother, the Duke of Maine, and her brother-in-law, the Duke of Orléans, over which of the two should be declared Regent. After the Parlement de Paris had deliberated for a week, the Duke of Orléans was declared the official Regent
. This of course exacerbated the rivalry between Louise Françoise and her younger sister, the Duchess of Orléans, now the highest ranking lady of France.
During the Régence
, Louise Françoise was frequently occupied with the escapades of her second daughter, Louise Élisabeth, Princess of Conti, who had become the mistress of Philippe Charles de La Fare. When her daughter's husband, the Prince of Conti
, discovered the liaison, he became physically abusive toward his wife. The only son of the Conti couple, Louis François de Bourbon, was thought to have been the result of his mother's adulterous relationship with La Fare. Louise Élisabeth later took refuge from her violent husband with her mother at the Palais Bourbon
.
In 1714, her niece, Mademoiselle du Maine, the daughter of her older brother, the Duke of Maine, was named in her honor.
In the 1720s, Louise Françoise became the mistress of the marquis de Lassay. In order to be closer to her, he built the Hôtel de Lassay next to the Palais Bourbon, her residence in Paris. Later on, a gallery was built, housing the grander, more public part of the collection of paintings that made Lassay's reputation as a connoisseur redound in Parisian circles for a generation after his death; the gallery that joined the two buildings also enabled the lovers to have better access to each other.
In 1737, she was asked to be the godmother to Louis XV's eldest son, Louis, Dauphin of France. The young dauphin's godfather was Louise Françoise's nephew, Louis, Duke of Orléans.
When her son was disgraced during the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans
, Louise Françoise regarded his mistress Madame de Prie as the cause. As such, Louise Françoise detested her. Her son died in exile in 1740 to be succeeded by his son, Louise Françoise's grandson, Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé who was aged four.
Palais Bourbon
During her long widowhood, Louise Françoise built the Palais Bourbon in Paris, not far from the residences of her surviving siblings. Construction on the palace started in 1722, when she was forty-nine years old.
The Palais Bourbon, named after her family, was built after her stay at the Grand Trianon
, which became the architectural inspiration for her new home. The Palais had a collection of large reception rooms, the main one being the Galerie which overlooked the Seine
; the main salon of the Palais looked towards the Tuileries Palace
to the east. It was designed by the Italian architect Lorenzo Giardini; the plans were approved by Jules Hardouin-Mansart
. Giardini oversaw the actual construction from 1722 until his death in 1724, after which Jacques Gabriel
took over, assisted by L'Assurance and other designers, until its completion in 1728.
The Palais was linked to the Hôtel de Lassay by means of a corridor overlooking a joint Parterre
.
Her older half-sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon
, who was the Dowager Princess of Conti, lived in the Hôtel de Conti, opposite the Louvre
, on the Quai de Conti. Her older brother, the Duke of Maine, lived in the Hôtel du Maine near the Louvre, and her younger sister, the Duchess of Orléans, lived at the Palais Royal
, the Orléans residence in Paris. Near the Louvre and the Palais-Royal, her youngest brother, the Count of Toulouse, lived in the Hôtel de Toulouse
.
Louise Françoise de Bourbon died on 16 June 1743, at the age of seventy, at the Palais Bourbon
. She was buried at the Carmel du faubourg Saint-Jacques, a Carmelite convent on the Left Bank
in Paris Latin Quarter
.
|-
! style="background:#ccccff;"|Siblings and Family
|-
|
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Name!!Birth!!Death!!Notes
|-
|colspan=4|Full siblings - by Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, marquise de Montespan
(5 October 1641 – 27 May 1707)
|-
| Louise Françoise de Bourbon || at the end of March, 1669 || 23 February 1672 ||
|-
| Louis Auguste de Bourbon
, duc du Maine || 31 March 1670||14 May 1736|| Legitimised on 20 December 1673. Held numerous offices, of which: Colonel-Général des Suisses et des Grisons
, Governor of Languedoc
, Général des Galères, and Grand-Maître de l'Artillerie
. Was also duc d'Aumale, comte d'Eu and prince de Dombes. Had issue with Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon. Founder of the House of Bourbon-Maine
.
|-
| Louis César de Bourbon, comte de Vexin, abbé de Saint-Denis et de Saint-Germain-des-Prés|| 20 June 1672 || 10 January 1683 ||Legitimised on 20 December 1673.
|-
| Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Mlle de Nantes, duchesse de Bourbon, princesse de Condé||1 June 1673||16 June 1743||Legitimised on 20 December 1673. Married Louis de Bourbon, duc d'Enghien, (later duc de Bourbon, and then prince de Condé)
. Had issue.
|-
| Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon
, Mlle de Tours ||12 November 1674||15 September 1681 ||Legitimised in January 1676.
|-
| Françoise Marie de Bourbon, Mlle de Blois, duchesse d'Orléans||4 May 1677||1 February 1749||Legitimised in November 1681. Married Philippe d'Orléans, duc de Chartres, (later duc d'Orléans)
, the Regent of France
under Louis XV. Had issue.
|-
| Louis Alexandre de Bourbon
, comte de Toulouse ||6 June 1678||1 December 1737||Legitimised on 22 November 1681. Held numerous offices, of which: Admiral of France
, Governor of Guyenne
, Governor of Brittany
, and Grand-Veneur de France
. Was also duc de Damville, de Rambouillet et de Penthièvre. Had issue. Founder of the House of Bourbon-Toulouse
.
|-
|colspan=4|Paternal legitimate half-siblings - by Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche, Infanta of Spain, Queen of France and of Navarre
(20 September 1638 – 30 July 1683)
|-
| Louis of France, le Grand Dauphin || 1 November 1661 || 14 April 1711||Fils de France
. Dauphin of France (1661–1711). Had issue. Father of Louis, duc de Bourgogne (later Dauphin of France), Philippe, duc d'Anjou (later King of Spain)
and Charles, duc de Berry. Grandfather of Louis, duc d'Anjou (later Dauphin, and then King of France)
|-
| Princess Anne Élisabeth of France||18 November 1662||30 December 1662||Fille de France. Died in infancy.
|-
| Princess Marie Anne of France||16 November 1664||26 December 1664 (?)||Fille de France. Died in infancy or became Louise Marie-Therese (The Black Nun of Moret)
.
|-
| Princess Marie Thérèse of France
, Madame Royale||2 January 1667||1 March 1672||Fille de France. Known as Madame Royale
and la Petite Madame
|-
| Philippe Charles of France duc d'Anjou||5 August 1668||10 July 1671||Fils de France
.
|-
|Louis François of France
, duc d'Anjou||14 June 1672||4 November 1672||Fils de France
. Died in infancy.
|-
|colspan=4| Paternal illegitimate half-siblings - by Louise-Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc, duchesse de La Vallière et de Vaujours
(6 August 1644 – 6 June 1710)
|-
|Charles de Bourbon||19 December 1663||15 July 1665||Not legitimised.
|-
|Philippe de Bourbon||7 January 1665||1666||Not legitimised.
|-
|Marie Anne de Bourbon
, Mlle de Blois, duchesse de La Vallière, princesse de Conti || 2 October 1666|| 3 May 1739||Legitimised on 14 May 1667. Married Louis Armand de Bourbon
, prince de Conti.
|-
| Louis de Bourbon, comte de Vermandois||3 October 1667||18 November 1683||Legitimised on 20 February 1669. Held the office of Admiral of France
.
|-
|colspan=4|Paternal illegitimate half-siblings - by Claude de Vin, Mademoiselle des Œillets (c. 1637 - 18 May 1687)
|-
|Louise de Maisonblanche
||1676||12 September 1718||In 1696 she married Bernard de Prez, Baron de La Queue. http://geneweb.inria.fr/roglo?lang=fr;i=50945
|-
|colspan=4|by Marie Angélique de Scorailles
, Duchess de Fontanges (1661 - 28 June 1681)
|-
|son||1681||1681||
|-
|colspan=4|Maternal legitimate half-siblings - by Louis Henri de Pardaillan de Gondrin
, Marquis of Montespan (1640 - 1 December 1691)
|-
| Marie-Christine de Pardaillan de Gondrin || 1663 ||1675 || died in childhood.
|-
| Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin
, marquis d'Antin, Gondrin and Montespan later duc d'Antin ||Paris, 5 September 1665 || Paris, 2 November 1736 || married Julie Françoise de Crussol d'Uzès and had issue.
|}
Fils de France
Fils de France was the style and rank held by the sons of the kings and dauphins of France. A daughter was known as a fille de France .The children of the dauphin, who was the king's heir apparent, were accorded the same style and status as if they were the king's children instead of his...
(1 June 1673 – 16 June 1743) was the eldest surviving legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
and his maîtresse-en-titre
Maîtresse-en-titre
The maîtresse-en-titre was the chief mistress of the king of France. It was a semi-official position which came with its own apartments. The title really came into use during the reign of Henry IV and continued until the reign of Louis XV....
, Madame de Montespan
Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan
Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, marquise of Montespan , better known as Madame de Montespan, was the most celebrated maîtresse en titre of King Louis XIV of France, by whom she had seven children....
. She was said to have been named after her godmother
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
, Louise de La Vallière
Louise de La Vallière
Louise de La Vallière was a mistress of Louis XIV of France from 1661 to 1667. She later became the Duchess of La Vallière and Duchess of Vaujours in her own right...
, the woman that her mother had replaced as the king's mistress. Prior to her marriage, she was known at court as Mademoiselle de Nantes.
Married at the age of eleven, she became known as Madame la Duchesse
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
, a style which she kept as a widow. She was, Duchess of Bourbon and Princess of Condé
Princess of Condé
- Princess of Condé :-See also:*Duchess of Bourbon*Duchess of Guise*Duchess of Enghien*Duchess of Montmorency...
by marriage. She was later a leading member of the cabale de Meudon, a group of people who centered around Louis, le Grand Dauphin her older half brother. Whilst her son, Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon was Prime Minister of France
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
she tried to further her political influence but to little avail.
Very attractive, she had a turbulent love life and was frequently part of scandal during the reign of her father Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. Later in life, she built the Palais Bourbon
Palais Bourbon
The Palais Bourbon, , a palace located on the left bank of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concorde, Paris , is the seat of the French National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French government.-History:...
in Paris, the present seat of the National Assembly of France, with the fortune she amassed having invested greatly in the Système de Law
John Law (economist)
John Law was a Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself and that national wealth depended on trade...
.
Biography
Louise Françoise was born in TournaiTournai
Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
on 1 June 1673 while her parents, King Louis XIV and Françoise-Athénais de Rochechouart were on a military tour; her maternal aunt, the marquise de Thianges
Gabrielle de Rochechouart de Mortemart
Gabrielle de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marchioness of Thianges was a French noblewoman. A great beauty and wit, she was the older sister of Françoise de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Madame de Montespan.-Biography:...
, was there also. After returning from Tournai, her parents placed her and her older siblings in the care of one of her mother's acquaintances, the widowed Madame Scarron.
On 19 December 1673, Louis XIV legitimised
Legitimation
Legitimation or legitimization is the act of providing legitimacy. Legitimation in the social sciences refers to the process whereby an act, process, or ideology becomes legitimate by its attachment to norms and values within in given society...
the children he had had with his mistress in a legitimisation process that was recognised with letters patent from the Parlement de Paris. At the time of their legitimisation, her eldest brother, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon
Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine
Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Legitimé de France was the eldest legitimised son of the Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan...
, received the title of duc du Maine; the next eldest brother, Louis-César de Bourbon, became the comte de Vexin, while Louise Françoise received the courtesy title of Mademoiselle de Nantes. Her parents had nicknamed her Poupotte after her doll like appearance.
In the year after her birth, another sibling joined Maine, Vexin and Louise Françoise at their residence in Paris. The future Mademoiselle de Tours
Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon
Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon, Légitimée de France, Mademoiselle de Tours was the illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV of France and his most famous Maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan...
had been born at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the département of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale ....
in November 1674. The young Mademoiselle de Tours was legitimised in 1676 and would become a great friend of Mademoiselle de Nantes. The death of her younger sister in 1681, deeply affected her.
After the death of Mademoiselle de Tours, Madame de Montespan wrote to the duc du Maine
Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine
Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Legitimé de France was the eldest legitimised son of the Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan...
:
I do not speak to you of my grief, you are naturally too good not to have experienced it for yourself. As for Mademoiselle de Nantes, she has felt it as deeply as if she were twenty and has received the visits of the QueenMaria Theresa of SpainMaria Theresa of Austria was the daughter of Philip IV, King of Spain and Elizabeth of France. Maria Theresa was Queen of France as wife of King Louis XIV and mother of the Grand Dauphin, an ancestor of the last four Bourbon kings of France.-Early life:Born as Infanta María Teresa of Spain at the...
and Madame la Dauphine
Mesdemoiselles de Nantes and de Tours had been raised together in a private house on the Rue de Vaugirard in Paris, where the king's illegitimate children with Mme de Montespan had been hidden away from the prying eyes of the court by their parents. Louise Françoise would never be close to either her older half-sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon
Marie Anne de Bourbon
Marie Anne de Bourbon, Légitimée de France was the eldest legitimised daughter of King Louis XIV of France and Louise de La Vallière. At the age of thirteen, she was married to Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti and as such was the Princess of Conti by marriage...
, or younger full sister, Françoise Marie de Bourbon, as the three sisters were intensely jealous of each other. Louise Françoise and Françoise-Marie were especially competitive, despising any increase in status or rank that the other, or any of her children, might achieve.
Having inherited her parents passion for music and dance, Louise Françoise became a good dancer. She also inherited her mother's sharp and caustic wit, the famous Mortemart esprit, which made her popular with some but not with others. Saint-Simon
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, often referred to as Henri de Saint-Simon was a French early socialist theorist whose thought influenced the foundations of various 19th century philosophies; perhaps most notably Marxism, positivism and the discipline of sociology...
later said of the future Princess of Condé:
her face was formed by the most tender loves and her nature made to dally with them. She possessed the art of placing everyone at their ease; there was nothing about her which did not tend naturally to please, with a grace unparalleled, even in her slightest actions. She made captive even those who had the most cause to fear her, and those who had the best of reasons to hate her required often to recall the fact to resist her charms. Sportive, gay, and merry, she passed her youth in frivolity and in pleasures of all kinds, and, whenever the opportunity presented itself, they extended even to debauchery.
She was also called the..
[was the] prettiest, wittiest, and naughtiest of the fast set in the latter half of the reign, and was in constant hot water. Her comic verse, too often indecent, was genuinely amusing, except to the victims, and the king was not at all amused at a set which she had written on his august self
Marriage
On 25 May 1685, at the age of eleven, Louise Françoise was married to Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, a distant sixteen-year old cousin of her father. Her husband was the son of Henry Jules, Duke of Enghien, the son of the head of the House of Condé, a cadet branch of the reigning House of BourbonHouse of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
. His mother was Anne Henriette of Bavaria
Anne Henriette of Bavaria
Anne Henriette of Palatinate-Simmern, in France known as Anne Henriette of Bavaria was a Princess of Palatinate-Simmern by birth and by her marriage in 1663, the Duchess of Enghien and then the Princess of Condé...
. Louis XIV gave his daughter a large dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
of one million livres upon her marriage.
At court, Louise Françoise's husband was known by the courtesy title of duc de Bourbon
Duke of Bourbon
Duke of Bourbon is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of Bourbon...
, and was addressed as Monsieur le Duc
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
. As a result, his new wife became known as Madame la Duchesse
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
.
Some time after her marriage in 1686, while the court was in residence at the Palace of Fontainebleau, Louise Françoise contracted smallpox. While her then seventeen-year old husband did not help nurse her back to health, her mother and grandfather-in-law, Le Grand Condé, did. Louise Françoise recovered, but Le Grand Condé died the following November after having caught her illness. Louise Françoise and her husband eventually had nine children, all of whom survived into adulthood.
Madame la Duchesse
After her mother officially left court in 1691, Louise Françoise would visit her at the convent of the Filles de Saint-Joseph, in the rue Saint-Dominique in Paris, where she had retired. As they saw each other often, the two became much closer, and Louise Françoise was deeply affected by her mother's death in 1707. Louis XIV forbade anyone at court to wear mourning clothes for his former mistress, but, as a mark of respect for their mother, Louise Françoise and her two younger siblings, Françoise Marie de Bourbon and the Count of ToulouseLouis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de Toulouse
Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse , duc de Penthièvre , d'Arc, de Châteauvillain and de Rambouillet , , was the son of Louis XIV and of his mistress Madame de Montespan...
, decided not to attend any court gatherings. On the other hand, her older brother, the Duke of Maine
Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine
Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Legitimé de France was the eldest legitimised son of the Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan...
, could barely conceal his joy at inheriting his mother's fortune. The Château de Clagny
Château de Clagny
The Château de Clagny was a French country house that stood northeast of the Château de Versailles; it was designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for Madame de Montespan between 1674 and 1680...
was bequeathed to him, but he rarely used it.
In 1692, her youngest sister, Françoise Marie, was married to their first cousin, Philippe d'Orléans
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe d'Orléans was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...
, the only son and heir of their uncle, Monsieur
Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
Philippe of France was the youngest son of Louis XIII of France and his queen consort Anne of Austria. His older brother was the famous Louis XIV, le roi soleil. Styled Duke of Anjou from birth, Philippe became Duke of Orléans upon the death of his uncle Gaston, Duke of Orléans...
. As the wife of a petit-fils de France
Fils de France
Fils de France was the style and rank held by the sons of the kings and dauphins of France. A daughter was known as a fille de France .The children of the dauphin, who was the king's heir apparent, were accorded the same style and status as if they were the king's children instead of his...
, Françoise Marie took precedence at court over Louise Françoise and their half-sister Marie Anne. This, combined with the fact that Françoise Marie received a dowry twice the amount given to her older sister, greatly angered Louise Françoise, who thereafter became quite competitive with her younger, more successful sister.
Louise Françoise was a beautiful and vivacious woman. Around 1695, she began a romantic affair with François Louis de Bourbon, prince de Conti
François Louis, Prince of Conti
François Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conti was Prince de Conti, succeeding his brother Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti in 1685. Until this date he used the title of Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon. He was son of Armand de Bourbon and Anne Marie Martinozzi, niece of Cardinal Jules Mazarin...
, the handsome brother-in-law of her older half-sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon
Marie Anne de Bourbon
Marie Anne de Bourbon, Légitimée de France was the eldest legitimised daughter of King Louis XIV of France and Louise de La Vallière. At the age of thirteen, she was married to Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti and as such was the Princess of Conti by marriage...
. François Louis' wife was the pious Marie Thérèse de Bourbon; Marie Thérèse was in turn the oldest sister of Louise Françoise's husband. Louise Françoise's fourth daughter Marie Anne, born in 1697, was thought to have been the result of this affair.
When her husband discovered his wife's infidelity, he was furious but did not openly quarrel with the Prince of Conti due to a fear of his father-in-law, Louis XIV. Her older half-brother, the Dauphin, to whom she was close, allowed the couple to meet at his country estate at Meudon
Meudon
Meudon is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:...
away from her husband and the court.
Upon the death of her father-in-law on 1 April 1709, her husband succeeded to the title of Prince of Condé. He did not, however, succeed to his father's rank of Premier Prince du Sang
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
, which was instead officially transferred from the House of Condé to the House of Orléans
House of Orleans
Orléans is the name used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. It became a tradition during France's ancien régime for the duchy of Orléans to be granted as an appanage to a younger son of the king...
. As a result, her younger sister's husband, the Duke of Orléans, became entitled to use the style of Monsieur le Prince
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
. His wife, Louise Françoise's sister Françoise Marie, accordingly became entitled to use the style Madame la Princesse
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
. Despite the fact that Françoise-Marie never referred to herself as Madame la Princesse, this transfer in rank from the House of Condé to the House of Orléans greatly aggravated the rivalry between Louise Françoise and her younger sister.
Louise Françoise's husband, who had by this time descended into madness, did not survive his father long and died within the year in 1710. Although Louise Françoise should have officially assumed the style of Madame la Princesse de Condé douairière (Dowager Princess of Condé) upon the death of her husband, she instead chose to be known in her widowhood as Madame la Duchesse douairière. When her husband died she is said to have been affected but Madame de Caylus did not believe her grief was sincere.
In the hope of ingratiating herself with the future king, Louise Françoise frequently attended the court of her older half-brother, Monseigneur, at the Château de Meudon
Château de Meudon
The former Château de Meudon, on a hill in Meudon, about 4 kilometres south-west of Paris, occupied the terraced steeply sloping site. It was acquired by Louis XIV, who greatly expanded its as a residence for Louis, le Grand Dauphin...
. At Meudon, she became close to the Élisabeth Thérèse de Lorraine
Élisabeth Thérèse de Lorraine
Élisabeth de Lorraine-L'islebonne was a French noblewoman and the Princess of Epinoy by marriage. She is often styled as the princesse de Lillebonne...
, princesse d'Epinoy and her older sister, Mademoiselle de Lillebonne
Béatrice Hiéronyme de Lorraine
Béatrice Hiéronyme de Lorraine was a member of the House of Lorraine and was the Abbess of Remiremont. She was a member of the household of Le Grand Dauphin and was the supposed wife of her cousin the Chevalier de Lorraine...
, a future Abbess of Remiremont Abbey. Unexpectedly, the dauphin died in 1711, ruining his sister's plan of establishing a more solid relationship with the Crown. Despite her dashed hopes, Louise Françoise was deeply affected by the dauphin's death. This death made her nephew, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife, Marie Adélaïde, the new Dauphin and Dauphine.
Marie Adélaïde and Louise Françoise were to become bitter enemies because of the new dauphine's condescending attitude toward ladies of inferior rank. The Duchess of Orléans and the older Dowager Princess of Conti also grew to dislike their niece for her haughty behavior.
As a dowager, Louise Françoise became a good friend of Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes
Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes
Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, comtesse de Verrue was a French noblewoman and the mistress of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia.-Biography:...
, the former mistress of Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy
Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia
Victor Amadeus II was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of marquis of Saluzzo, duke of Montferrat, prince of Piedmont, count of Aosta, Moriana and Nizza. Louis XIV organised his marriage in order to maintain French influence in the Duchy but Victor Amadeus soon broke away...
. Jeanne Baptiste had escaped Savoy in 1700 and had been residing in Paris ever since. She was a great literary figure of the day.
Within two years, in 1712, the new dauphin and his young wife died, leaving only a small son, the duc d'Anjou, as the legitimate heir of Louis XIV. In 1715, the king died, and was succeeded by his five-year old great-grandson, Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
. A controversy immediately arose between Louise Françoise's older brother, the Duke of Maine, and her brother-in-law, the Duke of Orléans, over which of the two should be declared Regent. After the Parlement de Paris had deliberated for a week, the Duke of Orléans was declared the official Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
. This of course exacerbated the rivalry between Louise Françoise and her younger sister, the Duchess of Orléans, now the highest ranking lady of France.
During the Régence
Régence
The Régence is the period in French history between 1715 and 1723, when King Louis XV was a minor and the land was governed by a Regent, Philippe d'Orléans, the nephew of Louis XIV of France....
, Louise Françoise was frequently occupied with the escapades of her second daughter, Louise Élisabeth, Princess of Conti, who had become the mistress of Philippe Charles de La Fare. When her daughter's husband, the Prince of Conti
Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti
Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti was Prince of Conti, from 1709 to his death, succeeding his father François Louis, Prince of Conti. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince du Sang. His mother was the pious Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, a grand daughter of Louis de...
, discovered the liaison, he became physically abusive toward his wife. The only son of the Conti couple, Louis François de Bourbon, was thought to have been the result of his mother's adulterous relationship with La Fare. Louise Élisabeth later took refuge from her violent husband with her mother at the Palais Bourbon
Palais Bourbon
The Palais Bourbon, , a palace located on the left bank of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concorde, Paris , is the seat of the French National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French government.-History:...
.
In 1714, her niece, Mademoiselle du Maine, the daughter of her older brother, the Duke of Maine, was named in her honor.
In the 1720s, Louise Françoise became the mistress of the marquis de Lassay. In order to be closer to her, he built the Hôtel de Lassay next to the Palais Bourbon, her residence in Paris. Later on, a gallery was built, housing the grander, more public part of the collection of paintings that made Lassay's reputation as a connoisseur redound in Parisian circles for a generation after his death; the gallery that joined the two buildings also enabled the lovers to have better access to each other.
In 1737, she was asked to be the godmother to Louis XV's eldest son, Louis, Dauphin of France. The young dauphin's godfather was Louise Françoise's nephew, Louis, Duke of Orléans.
When her son was disgraced during the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans
Régence
The Régence is the period in French history between 1715 and 1723, when King Louis XV was a minor and the land was governed by a Regent, Philippe d'Orléans, the nephew of Louis XIV of France....
, Louise Françoise regarded his mistress Madame de Prie as the cause. As such, Louise Françoise detested her. Her son died in exile in 1740 to be succeeded by his son, Louise Françoise's grandson, Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé who was aged four.
Palais Bourbon
During her long widowhood, Louise Françoise built the Palais Bourbon in Paris, not far from the residences of her surviving siblings. Construction on the palace started in 1722, when she was forty-nine years old.
The Palais Bourbon, named after her family, was built after her stay at the Grand Trianon
Grand Trianon
The Grand Trianon was built in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles at the request of Louis XIV, as a retreat for the King and his maîtresse en titre of the time, the marquise de Montespan, and as a place where the King and invited guests could take light meals away from the strict...
, which became the architectural inspiration for her new home. The Palais had a collection of large reception rooms, the main one being the Galerie which overlooked the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
; the main salon of the Palais looked towards the Tuileries Palace
Tuileries Palace
The Tuileries Palace was a royal palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine until 1871, when it was destroyed in the upheaval during the suppression of the Paris Commune...
to the east. It was designed by the Italian architect Lorenzo Giardini; the plans were approved by Jules Hardouin-Mansart
Jules Hardouin Mansart
Jules Hardouin-Mansart was a French architect whose work is generally considered to be the apex of French Baroque architecture, representing the power and grandeur of Louis XIV...
. Giardini oversaw the actual construction from 1722 until his death in 1724, after which Jacques Gabriel
Jacques Gabriel
Jacques Gabriel was a French architect, the father of the famous Ange-Jacques Gabriel.His mother was a cousin of Jules Hardouin-Mansart and his father, another Jacques Gabriel was a masonry contractor for the Bâtiments du Roi, the French royal works, and the designer of the Château de Choisy for...
took over, assisted by L'Assurance and other designers, until its completion in 1728.
The Palais was linked to the Hôtel de Lassay by means of a corridor overlooking a joint Parterre
Parterre
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
.
Her older half-sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon
Marie Anne de Bourbon
Marie Anne de Bourbon, Légitimée de France was the eldest legitimised daughter of King Louis XIV of France and Louise de La Vallière. At the age of thirteen, she was married to Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti and as such was the Princess of Conti by marriage...
, who was the Dowager Princess of Conti, lived in the Hôtel de Conti, opposite the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, on the Quai de Conti. Her older brother, the Duke of Maine, lived in the Hôtel du Maine near the Louvre, and her younger sister, the Duchess of Orléans, lived at the Palais Royal
Palais Royal
The Palais-Royal, originally called the Palais-Cardinal, is a palace and an associated garden located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris...
, the Orléans residence in Paris. Near the Louvre and the Palais-Royal, her youngest brother, the Count of Toulouse, lived in the Hôtel de Toulouse
Hôtel de Toulouse
The Hôtel de Toulouse, former Hôtel de La Vrillière, situated 1 rue de La Vrillière, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, was built between 1635 and 1640 by François Mansart, for Louis Phélypeaux, seigneur de La Vrillière....
.
Louise Françoise de Bourbon died on 16 June 1743, at the age of seventy, at the Palais Bourbon
Palais Bourbon
The Palais Bourbon, , a palace located on the left bank of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concorde, Paris , is the seat of the French National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French government.-History:...
. She was buried at the Carmel du faubourg Saint-Jacques, a Carmelite convent on the Left Bank
Rive Gauche
La Rive Gauche is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two: looking downstream, the southern bank is to the left, and the northern bank is to the right....
in Paris Latin Quarter
Latin Quarter
Latin Quarter is a part of the 5th arrondissement in Paris.Latin Quarter may also refer to:* Latin Quarter , a British pop/rock band* Latin Quarter , a 1945 British film*Latin Quarter, Aarhus, part of Midtbyen, Aarhus C, Denmark...
.
Issue
| Name | | Portrait | Lifespan | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marie Anne Gabrielle Éléonore de Bourbon Marie Anne de Bourbon (1690–1760) Marie Anne Éléonore de Bourbon was a daughter of Louis de Bourbon. She was the Abbess of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs, an abbey in the Villejuif suburb of Paris.-Biography:... Abbess of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs Saint-Antoine-des-Champs Abbey Saint-Antoine-des-Champs Abbey was a convent in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. The faubourg Saint-Antoine developed around it. It later became the hôpital Saint-Antoine.-List of abbesses:... |
 |
22 December 1690 - 30 August 1760 |
Born at the Palace of Versailles Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles.... ; mentally retarded; became abbess of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs in her teens; died in Villejuif. During her youth, she was known as Mademoiselle de Condé and de Bourbon. |
| Louis Henri Joseph de Bourbon Duke of Bourbon Prince of Condé |
 |
18 August 1692 - 27 January 1740 |
Born at the Palace of Versailles and married twice; first to his paternal cousin Marie Anne de Bourbon and had no issue. He later married Landgravine Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg Landgravine Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg Princess Caroline of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg was the consort of Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon.-Biography:Born at Rotenburg an der Fulda in Hesse, Germany, she was the daughter of Ernest Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg, head of the Roman Catholic branch of the House of Hesse, by his wife... and had issue. He was the Prime Minister of France during the reign of Louis XV of France Louis XV of France Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723... but the king had him exiled. Louis Henri died in exile at the Château de Chantilly Château de Chantilly The Château de Chantilly is a historic château located in the town of Chantilly, France. It comprises two attached buildings; the Grand Château, destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870s, and the Petit Château which was built around 1560 for Anne de Montmorency... ; |
| Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon Princess of Conti |
 |
22 November 1693 – 27 May 1775 |
Born at Versailles, she married her paternal cousin Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti was Prince of Conti, from 1709 to his death, succeeding his father François Louis, Prince of Conti. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince du Sang. His mother was the pious Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, a grand daughter of Louis de... . She was the maternal grandmother of Philippe Égalité Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans commonly known as Philippe, was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the ruling dynasty of France. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror... . She died in Paris having outlived all her siblings; |
| Louise Anne de Bourbon Mademoiselle de Charolais |
 |
23 June 1695 - 8 April 1758 |
Born at Versailles, she never married; she had an romantic affair with the Duke of Richelieu Louis François Armand du Plessis, duc de Richelieu Armand de Vignerot du Plessis was a French soldier, diplomat and statesman. Joining the army, he participated in three major wars and eventually rose to the rank of Marshal of France.... and was his mistress just like her cousin, Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans. She never had any legitimate children, but was suspected of having illegitimate issue, although there was no proof. She owned the Hôtel de Rothelin-Charolais (where she died) and in her life was known as Mademoiselle de Sens and then Mademoiselle de Charolais; |
| Marie Anne de Bourbon Mademoiselle de Clermont |
,_pierre_gobert.jpg) |
16 October 1697 - 11 August 1741 |
Born in Paris, she was said to have been the fruit of her mother's affair with François Louis, Prince of Conti François Louis, Prince of Conti François Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conti was Prince de Conti, succeeding his brother Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti in 1685. Until this date he used the title of Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon. He was son of Armand de Bourbon and Anne Marie Martinozzi, niece of Cardinal Jules Mazarin... . She married Louis de Melun, Duke of Joyeuse Joyeuse Joyeuse , was the name of Charlemagne's personal sword. The name translates as "joyful".-Joyeuse in legend:Some legends claim that it was forged to contain the Lance of Longinus within its pommel; others state it was smithed from the same materials as Roland's Durendal and Ogier's Curtana.The 11th... in 1719, in secret and against her brother's wishes ; she died in Paris after having been for many years in the service of Queen Marie Leszczyńska; known as Mademoiselle de Clermont; |
| Charles de Bourbon Count of Charolais |
19 June 1700 - 23 July 1760 |
Born at Chantilly, he was known as the Count of Charolais and on his death, the title was passed to his sister Louise Anne; He secretly married Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, a descendent of Henry II of France Henry II of France Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,... via an illegitimate branch. Their son was Louis-Thomas (1718–1799), who was not legitimated by the king, later was exiled to England; he also had issue from his affair with one Marguerite Caron de Rancurel. Died in Paris; |
|
| Henriette Louise Marie Françoise Gabrielle de Bourbon Henriette Louise de Bourbon Henriette Louise de Bourbon was a French Princess by birth and a member of the House of Bourbon... Abbess of Beaumont-lès-Tours |
|
15 January 1703 - 19 September 1772 |
Born at Versailles, she was once considered as a possible bride for Louis XV; despite that, she never married; known as Mademoiselle de Vermandois, she was the abbesse de Beaumont-lès-Tours from 1728; she died at Beaumont; |
| Élisabeth Thérèse Alexandrine de Bourbon Mademoiselle de Sens |
15 September 1705 - 15 April 1765 |
Born in Paris she was known as Mademoiselle de Sens; her vast fortune went to her nephew, Louis Joseph de Bourbon Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé Louis Joseph de Bourbon was Prince of Condé from 1740 to his death. A member of the House of Bourbon, he held the prestigious rank of Prince du Sang.-Biography:... - future Prince of Condé; |
|
| Louis de Bourbon Count of Clermont |
15 June 1709- 16 June 1771 |
Born at Versailles, was the Count of Clermont from birth and was the abbé de Saint-Germain-des-Près Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés is an area of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.... from 1737; never married and died at Versailles; he founded the Académie du Petit-Luxembourg, where scientists, artists and architects would meet. He was also the fifth Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France, the supreme Masonic authority in France, which existed from approximately 1728 until its reorganisation in 1773. |
Siblings
{| class="toccolours collapsible collapsed" width=100% align="center"|-
! style="background:#ccccff;"|Siblings and Family
|-
|
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Name!!Birth!!Death!!Notes
|-
|colspan=4|Full siblings - by Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, marquise de Montespan
Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan
Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, marquise of Montespan , better known as Madame de Montespan, was the most celebrated maîtresse en titre of King Louis XIV of France, by whom she had seven children....
(5 October 1641 – 27 May 1707)
|-
| Louise Françoise de Bourbon || at the end of March, 1669 || 23 February 1672 ||
|-
| Louis Auguste de Bourbon
Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine
Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Legitimé de France was the eldest legitimised son of the Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan...
, duc du Maine || 31 March 1670||14 May 1736|| Legitimised on 20 December 1673. Held numerous offices, of which: Colonel-Général des Suisses et des Grisons
Maison du Roi
The Maison du Roi was the name of the military, domestic and religious entourage around the royal family in France during the Ancien Régime and Bourbon Restoration; the exact composition and duties of its various divisions changed constantly over the Early Modern period...
, Governor of Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
, Général des Galères, and Grand-Maître de l'Artillerie
Grand Master of Artillery
The Grand Master of Artillery or Grand Maître de l'artillerie was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France during the Ancien Régime....
. Was also duc d'Aumale, comte d'Eu and prince de Dombes. Had issue with Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon. Founder of the House of Bourbon-Maine
Bourbon du Maine
The House of Bourbon-Maine was an illegitimate branch of the House of Bourbon, being thus part of the Capetian dynasty. It was founded in 1672 when Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine was legitimised by his father, King Louis XIV of France....
.
|-
| Louis César de Bourbon, comte de Vexin, abbé de Saint-Denis et de Saint-Germain-des-Prés|| 20 June 1672 || 10 January 1683 ||Legitimised on 20 December 1673.
|-
| Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Mlle de Nantes, duchesse de Bourbon, princesse de Condé||1 June 1673||16 June 1743||Legitimised on 20 December 1673. Married Louis de Bourbon, duc d'Enghien, (later duc de Bourbon, and then prince de Condé)
Louis III, Prince of Condé
Louis de Bourbon, , was Prince of Condé for less than a year, following the death of his father Henry III, Prince of Condé in 1709...
. Had issue.
|-
| Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon
Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon
Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon, Légitimée de France, Mademoiselle de Tours was the illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV of France and his most famous Maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan...
, Mlle de Tours ||12 November 1674||15 September 1681 ||Legitimised in January 1676.
|-
| Françoise Marie de Bourbon, Mlle de Blois, duchesse d'Orléans||4 May 1677||1 February 1749||Legitimised in November 1681. Married Philippe d'Orléans, duc de Chartres, (later duc d'Orléans)
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe d'Orléans was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...
, the Regent of France
Régence
The Régence is the period in French history between 1715 and 1723, when King Louis XV was a minor and the land was governed by a Regent, Philippe d'Orléans, the nephew of Louis XIV of France....
under Louis XV. Had issue.
|-
| Louis Alexandre de Bourbon
Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de Toulouse
Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse , duc de Penthièvre , d'Arc, de Châteauvillain and de Rambouillet , , was the son of Louis XIV and of his mistress Madame de Montespan...
, comte de Toulouse ||6 June 1678||1 December 1737||Legitimised on 22 November 1681. Held numerous offices, of which: Admiral of France
Admiral of France
The title Admiral of France is one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France, the naval equivalent of Marshal of France.The title was created in 1270 by Louis IX of France, during the Eighth Crusade. At the time it was equivalent to the office of Constable of France. The Admiral was responsible...
, Governor of Guyenne
Guyenne
Guyenne or Guienne , , ; Occitan Guiana ) is a vaguely defined historic region of south-western France. The Province of Guyenne, sometimes called the Province of Guyenne and Gascony, was a large province of pre-revolutionary France....
, Governor of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, and Grand-Veneur de France
Grand Huntsman of France
The Grand Veneur de France or Grand Huntsman of France was a position in the King's Household in France during the Ancien Régime. The word French "veneur" , derives from the Middle French word "vener" , from which also was derived the archaic English words "venerer" and "venery"...
. Was also duc de Damville, de Rambouillet et de Penthièvre. Had issue. Founder of the House of Bourbon-Toulouse
Bourbon-Penthièvre
The House of Bourbon-Penthièvre was an illegitimate branch of the House of Bourbon, thus descending from the Capetian dynasty. It was founded by the duc de Penthièvre , the only child and heir of the comte de Toulouse, the youngest illegitimate son of Louis XIV of France and the marquise de...
.
|-
|colspan=4|Paternal legitimate half-siblings - by Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche, Infanta of Spain, Queen of France and of Navarre
Maria Theresa of Spain
Maria Theresa of Austria was the daughter of Philip IV, King of Spain and Elizabeth of France. Maria Theresa was Queen of France as wife of King Louis XIV and mother of the Grand Dauphin, an ancestor of the last four Bourbon kings of France.-Early life:Born as Infanta María Teresa of Spain at the...
(20 September 1638 – 30 July 1683)
|-
| Louis of France, le Grand Dauphin || 1 November 1661 || 14 April 1711||Fils de France
Fils de France
Fils de France was the style and rank held by the sons of the kings and dauphins of France. A daughter was known as a fille de France .The children of the dauphin, who was the king's heir apparent, were accorded the same style and status as if they were the king's children instead of his...
. Dauphin of France (1661–1711). Had issue. Father of Louis, duc de Bourgogne (later Dauphin of France), Philippe, duc d'Anjou (later King of Spain)
Philip V of Spain
Philip V was King of Spain from 15 November 1700 to 15 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son Louis, and from 6 September 1724, when he assumed the throne again upon his son's death, to his death.Before his reign, Philip occupied an exalted place in the royal family of France as a...
and Charles, duc de Berry. Grandfather of Louis, duc d'Anjou (later Dauphin, and then King of France)
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
|-
| Princess Anne Élisabeth of France||18 November 1662||30 December 1662||Fille de France. Died in infancy.
|-
| Princess Marie Anne of France||16 November 1664||26 December 1664 (?)||Fille de France. Died in infancy or became Louise Marie-Therese (The Black Nun of Moret)
Louise Marie-Therese (The Black Nun of Moret)
Louise Marie-Thérèse also known as The Negroid Nun of Moret was a French nun, the object of a gossip story in the 18th century, where she is pointed out as the daughter of the Queen of France, Maria Theresa of Spain...
.
|-
| Princess Marie Thérèse of France
Princess Marie-Therèse of France
Princess Marie-Thérèse of France was the fourth child and third daughter of Louis XIV of France and his Spanish wife Infanta Maria Teresa of Spain. As the king's daughter, she was a Fille de France and was known at court by the traditional honorific of Madame Royale because she was the king's...
, Madame Royale||2 January 1667||1 March 1672||Fille de France. Known as Madame Royale
Madame Royale
Madame Royale was a style customarily used for the eldest living unmarried daughter of a reigning French monarch.It was similar to the style Monsieur, which was typically used by the King's second son...
and la Petite Madame
|-
| Philippe Charles of France duc d'Anjou||5 August 1668||10 July 1671||Fils de France
Fils de France
Fils de France was the style and rank held by the sons of the kings and dauphins of France. A daughter was known as a fille de France .The children of the dauphin, who was the king's heir apparent, were accorded the same style and status as if they were the king's children instead of his...
.
|-
|Louis François of France
Louis François, Duke of Anjou
Louis François of France, fils de France, Duke of Anjou was a Fils de France and Duke of Anjou. He was the youngest son of Louis XIV.-Biography:...
, duc d'Anjou||14 June 1672||4 November 1672||Fils de France
Fils de France
Fils de France was the style and rank held by the sons of the kings and dauphins of France. A daughter was known as a fille de France .The children of the dauphin, who was the king's heir apparent, were accorded the same style and status as if they were the king's children instead of his...
. Died in infancy.
|-
|colspan=4| Paternal illegitimate half-siblings - by Louise-Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc, duchesse de La Vallière et de Vaujours
Louise de La Vallière
Louise de La Vallière was a mistress of Louis XIV of France from 1661 to 1667. She later became the Duchess of La Vallière and Duchess of Vaujours in her own right...
(6 August 1644 – 6 June 1710)
|-
|Charles de Bourbon||19 December 1663||15 July 1665||Not legitimised.
|-
|Philippe de Bourbon||7 January 1665||1666||Not legitimised.
|-
|Marie Anne de Bourbon
Marie Anne de Bourbon
Marie Anne de Bourbon, Légitimée de France was the eldest legitimised daughter of King Louis XIV of France and Louise de La Vallière. At the age of thirteen, she was married to Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti and as such was the Princess of Conti by marriage...
, Mlle de Blois, duchesse de La Vallière, princesse de Conti || 2 October 1666|| 3 May 1739||Legitimised on 14 May 1667. Married Louis Armand de Bourbon
Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti
Louis Armand I de Bourbon was Prince of Conti from 1666 to his death, succeeding his father, Armand de Bourbon. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince du Sang....
, prince de Conti.
|-
| Louis de Bourbon, comte de Vermandois||3 October 1667||18 November 1683||Legitimised on 20 February 1669. Held the office of Admiral of France
Admiral of France
The title Admiral of France is one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France, the naval equivalent of Marshal of France.The title was created in 1270 by Louis IX of France, during the Eighth Crusade. At the time it was equivalent to the office of Constable of France. The Admiral was responsible...
.
|-
|colspan=4|Paternal illegitimate half-siblings - by Claude de Vin, Mademoiselle des Œillets (c. 1637 - 18 May 1687)
|-
|Louise de Maisonblanche
Louise de Maisonblanche
Louise de Bourbon de Maisonblanche, Baroness of La Queue was an illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV of France and Claude de Vin des Œillets; Mademoiselle des Œillets was the Lady-in-waiting to Madame de Montespan, Louis' long term mistress.-Biography:Born in Paris in 1676, she was one of many...
||1676||12 September 1718||In 1696 she married Bernard de Prez, Baron de La Queue. http://geneweb.inria.fr/roglo?lang=fr;i=50945
|-
|colspan=4|by Marie Angélique de Scorailles
Angélique de Fontanges
Marie Angélique de Scorailles was a French noblewoman and one of the many mistresses of Louis XIV. A lady-in-waiting to his sister-in-law the Duchess of Orléans, she caught the attention of the Sun King and became his lover in 1679...
, Duchess de Fontanges (1661 - 28 June 1681)
|-
|son||1681||1681||
|-
|colspan=4|Maternal legitimate half-siblings - by Louis Henri de Pardaillan de Gondrin
Louis Henri de Pardaillan de Gondrin
Louis Henri de Pardaillan de Gondrin , marquis of Montespan, was a French nobleman. He is most notable as the husband of Louis XIV's mistress Madame de Montespan.-Life:...
, Marquis of Montespan (1640 - 1 December 1691)
|-
| Marie-Christine de Pardaillan de Gondrin || 1663 ||1675 || died in childhood.
|-
| Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin
Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin
Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin , marquis of Antin, Gondrin and Montespan , then 1st Duke of Antin was a French nobleman...
, marquis d'Antin, Gondrin and Montespan later duc d'Antin ||Paris, 5 September 1665 || Paris, 2 November 1736 || married Julie Françoise de Crussol d'Uzès and had issue.
|}
Ancestry
Titles and styles
- 1 June 1673 – 19 December 1673 unnamed child;
- 19 December 1673 – 25 May 1685 Her Highness Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Légitimée de France, Mademoiselle de Nantes
- 25 May 1685 – 1 April 1709 Her Serene Highness the Duchess of Bourbon (Madame la duchesse de Bourbon)
- 1 April 1709 – 4 March 1710 Her Serene Highness the Princess of Condé (Madame la princesse de Condé)
- 4 March 1710 – 16 June 1743 Her Serene Highness the Dowager Princess of Condé (Madame la princesse de Condé douairière)
- Note: Even while princesse de Condé, Louise Françoise was still known as the Duchess of Bourbon
Titles
{| class="toccolours collapsible collapsed" width=100% align="center"|-
! style="background:#ccccff;"|Titles and Succession
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