Also known as:
French: Madame de Maintenon, Madame Scarron
MAINTENON, Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de. - Favourite and (from 1684) morganatic wife wife of Louis XIV, born at Niort on 17 Nov. 1635 to Constant d'Aubigné, son of Théodore Agrippa and at that time in prison for counterfeiting money. Educated in the Calvinist religion by her aunt Mme de Villette, she converted to Catholicism after the latter's death.
MAINTENON, FRANÇOISE D'AUBIGNÉ - Drawing by Ch. Lebrun - Paris, Library of the School of Fine Arts.(from Coiret, La littérature religieuse de François de Sales à Fenelon, Paris 1928, p. 150)
Lady-in-waiting to the duchess of Lesdiguères, she was married in 1652 to the poet Scarron and shone at the center of an important literary circle. Widowed in 1660, she devoted herself to the education of the illegitimate children whom Louis XIV had had by Hendincourt, receiving in return the title of marquise (1673). She then rose to the King's favor, on whose policy, particularly religious, she had a certain influence (struggle against quietism). Thanks to her freedom, M. was able to found at St-Cyr a college for the education of noble girls of slender means (1686): for the winter performances of that college (1689-91) Racine composed Esther and Athalie. In time the pedagogical approach there became more austere and at the same time more aware of the demands of women's life, founded as it was on the serene concept not of stifling nature but of directing it well. At St-Cyr M. retired after the death of her lord, and there she died on 15 Apr. 1719.
She left a great many letters, collected in multi-volume anthologies (all inadequate) in the mid-18th and 19th centuries.
Bibliography9 worksDe Nosilles, M.me de M., Paris 1848-54; E. Pilastre, Vie et caractère de M.me de M., ibid. 1907; A. Le Breton, M.me de M., in Rev. des cours
BIBL.: De Nosilles, M.me de M., Paris 1848-54; E. Pilastre, Vie et caractère de M.me de M., ibid. 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., Paris 1929; V. Giraud, La vie énigmatique de M.me de M., in Rev. des deux mondes, 15 Oct. 1930, pp. 938-49; M. Langlois, M.me de M., Paris 1932; M. Pin, M.me de M. et les protestants, Uzès 1943; M. Daniélou, M.me de M. éducatrice, ibid. 1946; K. Kyyro, M.me de M. et Jean Racine, Helsinki 1949.
Bottasso, Enzo. “Maintenon, françoise d'aubigné, marchesa di.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, coll. 1860–1861. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/maintenon-francoise-d-aubigne-marchesa-di.
MLA
Bottasso, Enzo. “Maintenon, françoise d'aubigné, marchesa di.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, coll. 1860–1861. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/maintenon-francoise-d-aubigne-marchesa-di.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec7_maintenon_francoise_d_aubigne,
author = {Bottasso, Enzo},
title = {Maintenon, françoise d'aubigné, marchesa di},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VII},
pages = {1860--1861},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/maintenon-francoise-d-aubigne-marchesa-di}
}
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