The establishment lost its leading role on the deaths of Louis and then Maintenon, but it nevertheless marked an evolution in female education under the Ancien Régime.

It remained in existence during the first years of the French Revolution, but closed for good in March 1793, with its empty buildings being taken over by the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1808.

Also that year, on 3 February 1684, the school for daughters of impoverished noble families was moved to Noisy-le-Roi, with help from the king, who offered the Château de Noisy, acquiring it and fitting it out to house more than 180 'pensionnaires'.

[3][4] On 15 August 1684, in Grand Conseil, Louis XIV decreed[2] the founding of a house and community where a considerable number of young girls, from noble families and particularly those whose fathers have died in the service ... are housed for free ... and receive all the educations suited to their birth and their sex ... so that after having studied in this community, those who leave it can be examples of modesty and virtue in all the provinces of our kingdom...The domaine of Saint-Cyr was assigned to the Maison in 1685, and the King ordered[2] major building work on the domain next to Versailles, led by Jules Hardouin-Mansart.

[6] From 26 July to 1 August 1686, the pensionnaires, known as the "Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr", entered the establishment in a grand procession thanks to Louis, who lent them his carriages and his Swiss guards.

At the start of 1687, Fontenelle, competing for an eloquence prize at the Académie, sang of "les Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr" and "[their] famous model of beauty united with innocence.

"[6] The Maison Royale de Saint-Louis was opened "to the daughters of gentlemen who have been killed or exhausted their health or their fortune in the service of the State",[6] who would enter the school aged between 7 and 12.

The King himself decided on who the school admitted, after consulting with experts on French genealogy who could guarantee that applicants possessed at least four generations of noble birth on their father's side.

[2] Many pensionnaires were daughters, nieces or orphans of soldiers and, though many of them were from Paris and its outskirts, the school had students from every province of France[7] and even from abroad (e.g., three Québécoises in the 1750s).

The school buildings housed 250 students, cared for by 36 female educators or "professes", 24 "converses" sisters carrying out domestic tasks, some priests, and lay personnel.

There was some question of giving the students clothing that was uniform, simple, modest, but noble ... it was decided that they were to dress in brown Mans muslin, then more fashionable than it is today.

[2] The students were housed at Saint-Cyr until they reached 20 and were not supposed to leave it until that age, unless in cases of dismissal, marriage or "exceptional family circumstances.

and also strongly recommended that they be trained as regularly on them as on their books, because it was of great consequence to busy youth innocently and usefully, and that these sorts of games were proper to them.

[6] The arts were also taught at Saint-Cyr — in particular theatre, which Madame de Maintenon appreciated - when convents generally did not teach these things, disapproving of actors.

This uniqueness did not prevent the Maison from imposing strict discipline - its students had no holidays and were not allowed to see their families more than four times a year, in the parlour.

However it quickly displeased Madame de Maintenon, who feared that the school's students would fall prey to courtiers and above all that the production would make them too proud: So innocent and pious was the spectacle that attracted the whole world, it could by frequent visits become prejudicial to the Demoiselles; it was this that brought criticism from the M. l'abbé des Marais and the Messieurs des Missions Etrangères : they believed that the applause of the King and the whole Court could form a trap capable of undoing the good Madame de Maintenon wanted to establish, that [the students] might give themselves over to vanity and love of the world from which they might find it difficult to return.

[14]After the production of Esther, Madame de Maintenon thought of cancelling all plays at Saint-Cyr, but the King demanded that they put on Racine's new play, Athalie - their production began on 5 January 1691[6] and took place in an atmosphere of great discretion, with no costume other than the Saint-Cyr uniforms and in the presence of nobody but the royal family, except for 22 January when they were joined by James and Mary (former king and queen of England), Fénelon and some bishops.

[2] The two guides of Madame de Maintenon's conscience, Fénelon and Abbé Paul Godet des Marais (who had become bishop of Chartres), demanded she renounce glory and return to Saint-Cyr its "humility and simplicity[6]".

Moreover, to humble the Demoiselles, a show was made of neglecting them (...) the ribbon was diminished, only being given with prodigality once each quarter [ie trimester][14]Madame de Maintenon also recommended that teachers should not hesitate to punish students and contain their pride, stating:[3] Our girls were too considered, too caressed, too contrived; they must forget themselves in their classes, be made to obey the rules of the day and not speak of anything else.She also demanded that all males except priests be banned from the Maison, with even priests only allowed to meet the students in the confessional.

[3] The church and the Jansenists condemned the production of Esther and the lack of discipline which seemed to reign at Saint-Cyr, adding that girls' education should not be entrusted to lay people.

[2] Thus, in November 1692, the pope pronounced the extinction of the abbatial title of Saint-Denis, and the Maison's transformation into a convent was decided on in September 1692 – the pope's request was made via Godet des Marais: the bishop of Chartres made supplication to His Holiness in the name of the Ladies of the Maison de Saint-Louis to obtain [permission for their] change from a secular state into a regular Augustinian one.

All signed this request that the Bishop sent to Rome, a favour which it was not difficult to obtain, seeing the regard in which the King founder and Madame de Maintenon were held in this court.

The example of her ecstasies very quickly influenced the students, worrying Madame de Maintenon - moreover, she was being roundly criticised by the Jansenists, who accused her of allowing heretical thoughts to spread.

(…) Since this important visit by His Majesty, there were no longer any question of quietism, it was wholly extinct, and the bishop of Chartres took all possible precautions that there remained not the slightest trace of it.

In 1705 one of those students, Madame de la Viefville or Viesville, aged only 28, became abbess of the Bernardine convent at Gomerfontaine, in the diocese of Beauvais, near Trie (present day Trie-Château).

She had joined a convent at Argensol on leaving the Maison and the first thing she did on her appointment as abbess was to ask Madame de Maintenon her opinions and for the honour of her protection, in reply to which she began by her sending her Mademoiselle d'Aumale "to help better raise her students and assist in her councils".

[22]Both Viefville and Mairie made their establishments give a similar education to that of the Maison, and many other alumnae also became teachers, whilst other alumnae entered convents and passed on the Maison's teaching methods at ground level in all the major convents, which began to take more account of their pupils' teaching and wellbeing rather than putting religious education above all else.