Enciclopedia Cattolica

Maintenon, Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de

MAINTENON, FRANÇOISE D'AUBIGNÉ, MARCHESA DI

Volume VII · p. 1106 · 1951

English translation · Testo originale italiano

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

MAINTENON, FRANÇOISE D'AUBIGNÉ, Marquise de. - Favorite and (from 1684) morganatic wife

Article illustration
(from Coiret, La littérature religieuse de François de Sales à Fénelon, Paris 1928, p. 150) MAINTENON, FRANÇOISE D'AUBIGNÉ - Drawing by Ch. Lebrun - Paris, Library of the School of Fine Arts.
morganatic wife of Louis XIV, born in Niort on Nov. 17, 1635, to Costant d'Aubigné, son of Théodore Agrippa, who was at the time imprisoned for counterfeiting currency. Educated in the Calvinist religion by her aunt, Madame de Villette, she converted to Catholicism after the latter's death.

As lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Lesdiguères, she married the poet Scarron in 1652 and shone at the center of an important literary circle. Widowed in 1660, she undertook the education of the illegitimate children that Louis XIV had by Madame de Montespan, receiving the title of marchioness in return (1673). She subsequently rose to the King's favor, exercising a certain influence upon his policies, particularly religious ones (the struggle against Quietism). Thanks to her freedom of action, Madame de Maintenon was able to found a college at St-Cyr for the education of young noblewomen of limited means (1686): for the winter performances at that college (1689-91) Racine composed Esther and Athalie. The pedagogical approach there became, over time, more austere and at the same time more conscious of the demands of female life, based as it was on the serene concept not of stifling nature, but of directing it well. Madame de Maintenon retired to St-Cyr after the death of her lord, and passed away there on Apr. 15, 1719.

She left a vast number of letters, collected in multi-volume anthologies (all deficient) in the mid-18th and 19th centuries.

BIBL.: De Noailles, M.me de M., Parigi 1848-54; E. Pilastre, Vie et caractère de M.me de M., ivi 1907; A. Le Breton, M.me de M., in Rev. des cours et conférences, 1 (1923-24), pp. 97-112; G. Truc, La vie de M.me de M., Parigi 1929; V. Giraud, La vie énigmatique de M.me de M., in Rev. des deux mondes, 15 ott. 1930, pp. 938-49; M. Langlois, M.me de M., Parigi 1932; M. Pin, M.me de M. et les protestants, Uzès 1943; M. Daniélou, M.me de M. éducatrice, ivi 1946; K. Kyyro, M.me de M. et Jean Racine, Helsinki 1949. Enzo Bottasso
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“MAINTENON, FRANÇOISE D'AUBIGNÉ, MARCHESA DI.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII (1951), p. 1106. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/maintenon-francoise-d-aubigne-marchesa-di.