Louise Marguerite de Lorraine, princesse de Conti

Portrait of Louise-Marguerites de Lorraine by an anonymous 17th century painter

Louise-Marguerite de Lorraine, princesse de Conti (* 1588 in Blois ; † April 30, 1631 at Castle Eu in Eu ) was a French author and, as the wife of François de Bourbon, Princess of Conti .

Life

Louise-Marguerite was the youngest daughter of the Duke of Guise , Henri de Lorraine , murdered in 1588 , and his wife Catherines de Clèves , Comtesse d'Eu. She received her first name in honor of her two godmothers, the French queens Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont and Marguerite de Valois . She grew up in the care of her mother and her paternal grandmother, Anna d'Este .

On July 24, 1605, at the request of Henry IV , she was married to François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, in Meudon Castle . The marriage contract for this connection, which was to bind the old noble dynasty Lorraine more closely to the Bourbons , was signed on May 1st of the same year at Fontainebleau Castle . The Historiettes of Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux claim that Henry IV himself should have considered marrying Louise-Marguerite before, but she was ousted in 1590 by Gabrielle d'Estrées in the favor of the French king. Since Louise-Marguerite was only two years old at the time, this is considered to be refuted based on current research.

On May 8, 1610, the couple's first and only child was born in the Louvre , a daughter who was baptized Marie. But the girl died just twelve days after she was born and was buried in the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés .

The death of François on April 2, 1614 made Louise-Marguerite a widow at the age of 26, who then devoted herself to the study of literature with great zeal. As a patron, she supported numerous writers of her time, including François de Malherbe , Nicolas Renouard and Blaise de Vigenère , to whom Louise-Marguerite dedicated many of her works.

However, the former Princess of Conti also wrote herself. In 1620 she published the novel Royale ou Adventures de la Cour under the pseudonym "Sieur de Pilous (t) e" , a publication about the customs of the French royal court and above all the numerous love affairs of Henry IV The novel was based on real events that were combined with fictitious events. The people appearing in the book also had real role models, but Louise-Marguerite gave them different names. In 1652 the novel with the title Histoire des Amours du Grand Alcandre was republished in Paris, this time under the real name of the author. A third edition of the work followed in 1633 with the title Histoires des amours de Henri IV. The edition published in Leiden contained an appendix with the names of the people who were the models for the novel.

Louise-Marguerite wrote from her own experience, because as the lady of honor Maria de 'Medicis and Anne d'Autriches , she had been able to gain insights into everyday life at the royal court for a long time. During the dispute between Maria de 'Medici and Cardinal Richelieu , she stood loyally on the side of the royal mother and was exiled to her estates in Eu in February 1631 because of her participation in the Journée des dupes . She died there just two months later.

Louise-Marguerite may have secretly married François de Bassompierre , then Marshal of France , between 1614 and 1630 , but this has not yet been proven beyond doubt. According to Tallemant des Réaux, she is even said to have given birth to him a son.

literature

Factory editions

• Les Amours Du Grand Alcandre , digitized (1786)
• 1660, Recueil des diverses pièces servans à l'histoire de Henry III., Roy de France et de Pologne , digitized
• 1663, Histoire Des Amours De Henry IV. Avec diverse Lettres escrites à ses Maitresses, Et autres Pieces curieuses , digitized
• 1665, Epithalame De Tres-Illvstre Francois De Bourbon Prince De Conti. Et De Tres-Excellente Princesse Loyse De Lorraine Damoiselle de Guise

Main literature

• Jean Baptiste Joseph Boulliot: biography ardennaise. Ou Histoire des Ardennais qui se sont fait remarquer par leurs écrits, leurs actions, leurs vertus ou leurs unerurs . Volume 2. Self-published, Paris 1830, pp. 147–149 ( digitized version ).
• Hilarion de Coste: Les Éloges et les vies des reynes, des princesses, et des dames illustres en pieté, en courage & en doctrine, qui ont fleury de nostre temps, & du temps de nos peres . Volume 2. Cramoisy, Paris 1647.
• Jean Chrétien Ferdinand Hoefer: Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, avec les renseignements bibliographiques et l'indication des sources à consulter . Volume 11. Firmin Didot, Paris 1856, pp. 663-665 ( digitized version ).

further reading

• Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux: La princesse de Conti . In: Les historiettes de Tallemant de Réaux. Memories for the history of the XVIIe siècle . Volume 1. Levasseur, Paris 1834, pp. 45-52 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Louise Marguerite of Lorraine  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Some older publications give the year of birth as 1574, 1577 or 1582.
2. ↑ JBJ Boulliot: Biographie ardennaise , Volume 2, p. 147.
3. ↑ G. Tallemant des Réaux: Les historiettes de Tallemant de Réaux , Volume 3, p. 12 ( online ).