Marie-Elisabeth de Ludres

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Marie-Elisabeth de Ludres

Marie-Elisabeth Isabelle de Ludres , called La belle Isabelle or La belle chanoinesse de Poussay , (* 1647 in Ludres ; † January 28, 1726 in Nancy ) was maid of honor at the royal court and mistress of the French king Louis XIV.

Life

Marie-Élisabeth was the daughter of Jean IV. De Ludres and his wife Claude des Salles. She was brought up as a canon in the monastery of Poussay and was betrothed by her parents to the elder Duke Charles IV of Lorraine . But the latter did not want to leave his mistress, Marie-Louise d'Apremont, and suggested a ménage à trois to his young fiancée . But Marie-Elisabeth resisted this and had the support of the Lorraine clergy .

In 1666 Marie-Elisabeth left the monastery in the Vosges and went to Versailles . As a maid of honor she was given to the household of the Duchess of Orléans, Henrietta Anne Stuart , Charles II's favorite sister , and introduced to the court. It is believed that her family introduced Marie-Elisabeth to court in the hope that she would attract attention to the French King Louis XIV and become mistress. After the early death of the Duchess of Orléans († 1670), she came to the court of the French Queen Marie Thérèse . Her beauty and her Lorraine accent cast a spell over courtiers, including the grandson of César de Bourbon , Philippe de Bourbon-Vendôme . The king was also interested in La belle Isabelle . The connection was not hidden from Madame de Montespan , the king’s maîtresse en titre , who then intrigued against Marie-Elisabeth.

In 1678 Marie-Elisabeth de Ludres left the court and retired to the monastery of the “Order of the Visitation of Mary” after she had refused a donation from the king. Years later and now in debt, La belle Isabelle was forced to demand a pension from Louis XIV. He gave her a pension of 2,000 livres, on which she could live more poorly than well. She died in Nancy on January 28, 1726.

literature

  • Jean-Christian Petitfils: Madame de Montespan .
  • Sylvia Jurewitz-Freischmidt: Galant Versailles. The mistresses at the court of the Bourbons . Casimir Katz, ISBN 3-9258-2586-X .
personal data
SURNAME Ludres, Marie-Elisabeth de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES La Belle Isabelle; Madame Marie-Elisabeth de Ludres, chanoinesse de Poussay; La belle chanoinesse de Poussay
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mistress of the French King Louis XIV.
DATE OF BIRTH 1647
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludres
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1726
Place of death Nancy