Albertine Elisabeth de Champcenetz
Albertine Elisabeth de Champcenetz , born as Albertine Elisabeth von Neukirchen called Nyvenheim , dite Baronne de Nieukerque (born October 30, 1742 in the Netherlands , † December 24, 1805 in forced exile in Fontainebleau ) was a prominent Dutch noblewoman at the court of Louis XV. and Louis XVI. , Supporter of Dutch patriots and counterrevolutionary activist, arrested several times for political reasons.
Almost a favorite
Albertine Elisabeth von Neukirchen called Nyvenheim came from a noble but destitute family of Protestant denomination, her parents were Johannes-Gisbert Ludolf Adrian von Neukirchen called Nyvenheim and Seina Margriet van Wicke. In 1760 she married Gerhard Pater, a wealthy merchant and colonial landowner. When she came to Paris with him in July 1763, she was distinguished by her beauty and charm. Jean-Baptiste Greuze made a portrait of her that became famous. After her return to the Netherlands, she separated from her husband in December 1763 and returned to Paris under the name Baronne de Nieukerque . From Louis XV noted, an intrigue has begun with the aim of installing her as favorite en titre in place of Madame du Barry . The intrigue failed not only because of the resistance of Madame du Barry, but above all because of the king's death on May 10, 1774.
In 1775 she managed to marry her sister Catherine to the 61-year-old Louis II. De Brancas , Duc de Villars. After the death of Gerhard Pater, she married - after she almost married the Prince de Lambesc - on July 20, 1779, Jean Louis Quentin de Richebourg (1723-1813), Marquis de Champcenetz, Governor of the Palais des Tuileries , The Marquis de Champcenetz was the father of Louis René Quentin de Richebourg de Champcenetz , dit Chevalier de Champcenetz , who did not get along with his stepmother. During the 1780s, Madame de Champcenetz befriended members of the Polignac family and the Count of Vaudreuil ; it is also said that she was the mistress of Charles Joseph de Ligne . She owned a splendid apartment in the royal castle of Meudon (where her husband was governor), a hotel particulier that opened (until 1784) onto the gardens of the Palais Royal (her husband was governor of the Palais des Tuileries), and domains in Neuilly and Soisy. Her sizable personal fortune consisted mostly of income from plantations and diamond mines in Suriname , inherited from her first husband. She used this fortune to support the uprising of Dutch patriots. Documents pertaining to them and which have not yet been evaluated are kept in the Dutch diplomatic archives.
A counter-revolutionary
In 1789 Madame de Champcenetz emigrated with Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac and their family (in 1790 Armand de Polignac , the Duchess's son, married her niece Idalie Johana Lina (1775–1862), daughter of her brother Berend), but then returned back to France on the assumption that as a foreigner she has nothing to fear. In the correspondence of the Comte d'Artois with the Comte de Vaudreuil, she and her devotion to the royal cause are often mentioned. Under the pretext of counter-revolutionary maneuvers and correspondence with the emigrants, she was imprisoned for several months in the Couvent des Anglaises , now called Prison des Anglaises . The guillotine escape, she did not stop to correspond with emigrants, while her sister, the Duchesse de Villars, a trusted friend of the emigrated Baron de Breteuil , the salon of the revolutionary Paul de Barras traffic. Under the consulate (1799-1804) Madame de Champcenetz was one of the most active opponents of the new regime, and after the introduction of the consulate for life (1802) she acted as a mediator for the emigrants and supported Anglo-royalist actions together with the Comte de Vaudreuil .
As Paris agent of the Comte d'Artois, Madame de Champcenetz was involved in the conspiracy of Jean-Charles Pichegru . She was arrested after the breach of the Amiens peace and the exposure of the English conspiracies (1803). She was sentenced to exile and retired to Fontainebleau, where she died in 1805.
Félicité de Genlis said of her that “her beauty was fading, but she was still lovable. One could say of her what Madame de Sévigné said about Madame Dufresnoy, mistress of the Marquis de Louvois , Louis XIV's minister of war , that everything was collected in its beauty. The worry of showing the smallest foot, her pretty hands and varying her attitudes preoccupied her too much. "
literature
- Olivier Blanc, L'amour à Paris au temps de Louis XVI , Paris, Perrin, 2003, pp. 191–199.
Remarks
- ^ “Nous avons vu à Paris un charming échantillon de la beauté hollandaise dans Mme de Niewerke, d'abord connu sous le nom de Mme Pater. Elle fit révolution à la fin du règne de Louis XV, et vit tous les hommes de Paris à ses pieds… Mais d'était bien la beauté la moins Hollandise possible; de petit mains, de petits pieds, une physiognomie piquante aves de beaux traits ” , Henriette Louise von Waldner Oberkirch, Mémoires de la Baronne d'Oberkirch , 1834, p. 291f
- ↑ “Comme courtisan interest, Monsieur le Duc, vous me faites souvent votre cour bassement; comme intriguant, vous cherchez à me ravir de le cœur du Roi, en lui faisant valoir les charmes d'une certaine Madame Pater qui pouvoit, dit-on être passable, il ya douze ou quinze ans; &, en votre qualité de Gentilhomme de la Chambre, la chronique scandaleuse vous l'avez présentée à Sa Majesté, mais même vous avez tenu la bougie ” , letter to the Duc de Duras , in: Jeanne Bécu Du Barry, Mathieu-François Pidansat De Mairobert, Lettres originales de Madame la comtesse Du Barry , 1779, p. 121f
- ↑ "Elle faillit épouser le prince de Lambesc, de la maison de Lorraine, rien de moins, et finit par choisir M. de Champcenetz" , Henriette Louise von Waldner Oberkirch, Mémoires de la Baronne d'Oberkirch , 1834, p. 291f
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Champcenetz, Albertine Elisabeth de |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Neukirchen called Nyvenheim, Albertine Elisabeth von; Madame Father |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch lady-in-waiting and counter-revolutionary |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 30, 1742 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Netherlands |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 24, 1805 |
| Place of death | Fontainebleau |