Louise de La Vallière

La Vallière was instructed by the Ursuline nuns in Tours [fr], where two of her aunts lived,[3][12] in reading, grammar, musical composition, and public speaking.

[16] In March 1655, Françoise Le Provost married Jacques de Courtavel, Marquis of Saint-Rémy, maître d’hôtel (butler) of the exiled Gaston, Duke of Orléans (uncle of Louis XIV).

[2][20][21] La Vallière and her stepsister became demoiselles de compagnie (lady's companions) to the Duke's younger daughters[11] and met the also-exiled Grande Mademoiselle, paternal half-sister of the princesses.

Lair says the education of girls in the Orléans court was neglected, while Conley claims that they were taught painting, music, etiquette, and equitation, as well as literature and philosophy by the Duke's almoner, Armand-Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé.

[23] Petitfils sees her education as more rudimentary, being only in ‘reading, prayer, [...] sewing, and embroidery’, but agrees that she was well-trained in the necessary skills for a career at court (such as dancing and horse riding).

[42]La Vallière was described as ‘innocent’,[2] ‘submissive’, ‘natural[ly] modest’,[43] ‘sincere’, even ‘naïve’, different from the women Louis had known,[44] but fitting contemporary feminine ideals.

[46] Fraser suggests that La Vallière refrained from pursuing material benefits through her relationship because she needed to conceptualise it as ‘pure’ or ‘holy’ to fit it into her religious worldview.

[57][62] The King was informed during an audience with Spanish envoys, rushed to end the talks, and searched for her personally amid fears that his wife would learn of his affair because of La Vallière's disappearance.

[65]In March 1662, Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons conspired with the Count of Guiche and François-René Crespin du Bec, Marquess of Vardes [fr; de][66] to replace La Vallière with someone she could control.

[74] Fraser and Petitfils argue that Maria Theresa had to have already suspected her husband's infidelity:[74][75] in 1662, while giving birth to her second child, she saw La Vallière pass through the room, and said in Spanish, ‘this maiden [...] is the one the King wants’.

[86]Between 5 and 14 May 1664, Louis XIV hosted and personally planned a feast called Les Plaisirs de l’île enchantée (‘The Pleasures of the Enchanted Isle’) in Versailles (this was the first major event there).

According to the memoir of a contemporary, Françoise Bertaut de Motteville, the King promised his wife that after the age of thirty (he was then twenty-six), he would be an ‘examplary husband’, but left with La Vallière.

[91] Petitfils argues that the King made the decision to declare La Vallière maîtresse-en-titre (official royal mistress) out of love, despite his desire to avoid offending either public morals or his wife and mother.

[103][91] [The Countess of Soissons], the viper of the late lord Cardinal de Mazarin, as she is known to the people of France, [wanted to] babble and even wrote the Queen some supposed letter about a little love affair between the King and a lady called La Vallier.

A diplomat reported seeing her ride a Barb horse bareback, using only a silk string to guide it, standing up and sitting down while it was moving; she handled the pistol and the lance expertly.

He conferred on her Chasteau in northern Touraine, including the ruins of a fortress on Lake Val Joyeux (Vaujours)[122] and created a duchy ‘to be enjoyed by the said damoiselle Louise-Françoise de La Vallière, and, after her death, by Marie-Anne [...] [and] her [legitimate] heirs and descendants’.

[122] Legitimising the ‘natural’ children of French kings was regular practice,[124] yet devout courtiers and those anxious for their privileges as ‘lawful’ descendants of aristocratic houses scorned the decision.

During the following carriage ride, Montespan told Maria Theresa, ‘I admire [La Vallière's] boldness in daring to appear before the Queen’, adding, ‘God forbid that I should be the King's mistress!

[130]We believe that we can no better express to the public the most particular esteem in which we hold the person of our dear and beloved and most loyal Louise de La Vallière than by conferring upon her the highest titles of honour which a most singular affection, aroused in our hearts by an abundance of rare perfections, has for some years inspired in us in her favour.

Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate claims that the King was ‘led to believe’ by Montespan and her supporters that La Vallière's youngest child had been fathered by the Duke of Lauzun.

[143] ‘Double adultery’, an extramarital affair in which both parties are married to others, was considered a grave sin by the church, and adulterous women could be imprisoned in a convent for life.

However, La Vallière was known in salons for her understanding of Aristotle and Descartes, and many women of her circles read religious texts in Latin, as Jean-Baptiste Ériau [fr] defended.

Some faulted La Vallière for being ‘inconstant [in her] resolution’ to live a religious life, while others thought that she had acted ‘foolishly’ by returning without exploiting her stronger bargaining position.

Religious practice gained importance in La Vallière's life: she prayed and meditated often, avoided events and company that could have ‘distracted’ her, and wore a cilice under her robe.

Scarron warned La Vallière that it might be too difficult to live as a Carmelite after the comforts of the royal court, advising her that she should enter as a secular benefactress and see whether she could tolerate the rules.

By March 1674, La Vallière had arranged her finances; on 18 April, she gave her jewels to her children and petitioned the King to establish pensions for her mother and step-sister,[58] as well as for her servants.

[191] The bishop-designate of Aire, Jean-Louis de Fromentières [fr] preached, highlighted La Vallière as an ‘example to all her century’, but warning her about the difficulties of cloistered life.

[193] The mass was conducted by Abbot Pirot, with a sermon by Bossuet who celebrated the ‘renewal’ of La Vallière, contrasting it with the attitude of ‘those seeking glory and fame’.

Its preface covertly attacked the King and Montespan (who was still his mistress) by saying, ‘[m]ay Heaven grant that those who followed her in her sins may imitate her in her penance and make good use of the time that the mercy of God gives them to think seriously about their salvation’.

When the Carmelites wanted to support poor people, La Vallière always turned to her daughter, but she often reprimanded her for her ‘light’ conduct (Madame de Conti's behaviour was often considered ‘inappropriate’ for widows by contemporaries).

Black-and-white bust portrait of a middle-aged-man in an oval frame. He is wearing a cassock (buttoned-up clerical coat) and a large cross in his neck on a band. On his head, he has a black zucchetto, the small, hemispherical, form-fitting skullcap of Catholic clerics. Under him, the coat of arms (depicting a leopard) of his family is displayed.
Gilles de La Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière later in life, as bishop.
Black-and-white engraving, face of a young woman. She is wearing large pearls on her neck and a gown with a deep cleavage. Her hair is fashioned into curls.
Madame on an anonymous engraving from around 1662.
A young woman seated outside, by a large gray marble column, under a heavy red curtain that is pulled to the side. She is sitting on a red velvet chair. She is wearing a heavy dress and mantle made of blue velvet, embroidered everywhere with large golden fleurs-de-lis. Her shoulder is left partly visible, but is partly covered by white lace. She is wering a large golden broche with a black stone, and a long white pearl hanging from it. Her dress is lined with ermine. On one hand, she is wearing an off-white glove embellished with small red feathers at the elbow, holding the other glove. She has an oval face with a small double chin, round eyes, and small lips. She has light blonde hair, curled.
Queen Maria Theresa in her regalia , on a painting by Jean Nocret from around 1660.
Middle-aged woman with gray hair in front of a dark brown background. She is wearing a simple black gown, her shoulder covered with white cloth. She is wearing a few large pearls in her ear, on a broche, and around her neck. Her hair is curled and under a simple, long blck veil that extends in a triangle onto her tall forehead. She has a prominent nose, grayish blue eyes, small lips, and a doble chin.
Portrait of Anne of Austria from around 1660 from the workshop of Henri and Charles Beaubrun, after an original by Pierre Mignard .
Engraved portrait of Louis XIV by Abraham van Diepenbeeck and Adriaen Millaert from 1660, commemorating his wedding with Maria Theresa of Spain.
Engraved portrait of Louis XIV from 1664 by Robert Nanteuil , after a painting by Pierre Mignard.
Bust portrait of a younger middle-aged woman. She has her greyish-blonde, possibly powdered, hair curled up on top of her hair, with pearls braided into it. She has a high forehead and long, narrow, brown eyes. She has a slight double chin, small, red lips, a long, prominent nose. She is wearing pearls around her neck. Her gown is made of a heavy, silvery-white material, mebroidered with golden floral motifs. It also has some lace at its low neckline and a small broche with pearls.
Undated contemporary portrait of Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons by Pierre Mignard .
The theatre installed for the premiere of The Princess of Elid on a contemporary engraving by Israel Silvestre . [ 87 ]
La Vallière as Flora on a portrait by Pierre Mignard.
La Vallière as Venus , painting probably by Pierre Mignard from 1666 or 1667.
Madame de Montespan in 1670.
Portrait of La Vallière from around 1667.
Portrait painting of Madame de Montespan from the 1670s.
Peter Lely ’s Mademoiselle de La Vallière et ses enfants (‘Mademoiselle de La Vallière and Her Children’), contemporary painting.
1675 portrait painting of Madame Palatine by Pierre Mignard.
Contemporaneous painting of Madame de Montespan with four of her children by the King: (from left to right) Louis-César, Count of Vexin , Louise-Françoise, Mademoiselle de Nantes, Louise-Marie-Anne, Mademoiselle de Tours , and Louis-Auguste, Duke of Maine .
19th century copy of the last painting of La Vallière with her children.
Madame de Maintenon with two of the children of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, the Duke of Maine and the Count of Vexin.
La Vallière asking the Queen for forgiveness on Louise Adélaïde Desnos’ painting from 1838.
Contemporary allegorical depiction of La Vallière renouncing the world for Jesus.
La Vallière's daughter Marie-Anne as princess of Conti on a portrait from between 1680 and 1700.
Vermandois on a contemporary portrait.
Early 19th century painting by Sophie Lemire of a fictional scene in which La Vallière ‘instruct[s] her daughter in piety’.
Louise de La Vallière on her catafalque .