Françoise d'Aubigné, Madame de Maintenon

Queen consort of France and educator

• Born: November 27, 1635
• Birthplace: Niort, France
• Died: April 15, 1719
• Place of death: Saint-Cyr, France

After her secret marriage to King Louis XIV, Maintenon was instrumental in encouraging the growth of his religious fervor and was an early leader in efforts to educate poor noble girls by founding the acclaimed school at Saint-Cyr and by writing about the education of girls.

Early Life

Françoise d’Aubigné, later known as Madame de Maintenon (mahn-teh-noh), was born in a prison in Nirot, where her father, Constant d’Aubigné, was in custody with Maintenon’s mother, Jeanne de Cardilhac. Coming from a prominent family with firm roots in the Huguenot Protestant church, her father was the black sheep of the family, convicted of robbery and counterfeiting money. Although he was a nominal Huguenot, Jeanne was firmly committed to the Catholic Church. Maintenon’s grandfather was Huguenot commander and writer Théodore-Agrippa d’Aubigné (1552-1630). Maintenon was baptized according to the rites of her mother’s religion, even though she spent some of her early years with Huguenot relatives.

Following Constant’s release from prison, he and Jeanne and three children left France for the Caribbean island of Martinique. Unable to support the family, Constant soon returned to France in search of work. Within a few months, however, he died. Jeanne, in desperate conditions, returned to France, abandoned her children to relatives, and then disappeared for unknown reasons. Maintenon at first was placed with a Huguenot aunt on her father’s side. Her maternal relatives, however, gained control over the young girl through a court order. They sent her to be educated at an Ursuline convent, where she became firmly grounded in Catholic doctrines. Later in life, she would often refer to her love and admiration for her teachers at the convent.

In 1652, after leaving the convent, Maintenon married Paul Scarron, a popular writer who had a reputation for burlesque poetry. He was forty-two years old and in poor health; she was sixteen. She brought no dowry to the marriage. Despite his heavy debts, her husband had many contacts, and he introduced her to the social and literary elite of Paris. Through these contacts, she came to the attention of Anne of Austria , the mother of King Louis XIV. When Scarron died in 1660, his young widow was left penniless, and she auctioned off the household furniture to pay for her husband’s debts. Within a year, however, friends convinced the Queen Mother to award her a modest pension that allowed her to continue participating in Parisian society.

Life’s Work

During the late 1660’s, there were rumors that Maintenon had become the mistress of a rich gentleman. Whether or not the rumors were true, in 1670, Maintenon was introduced to the gentleman’s cousin (and the king’s mistress), Françoise-Athénaïs, Rochechouart de Mortemart (1641-1707), better known as Madame de Montespan. Montespan had been looking for a nurse and governess to take care of her illegitimate child. Maintenon was an ideal choice because she liked working with children, had more education than most women at the time, and was a practicing Catholic—all essential qualifications for the governess of the king’s children. Also, Maintenon needed a source of livelihood. During the next four years, Montespan gave birth to four more babies, and they all moved into Maintenon’s apartment in the village of Vaugirard.

When Montespan’s children were legitimized on December 20, 1673, they moved into chambers at court, taking their governess with them. Two years later, she was awarded the title madame de Maintenon, which was soon elevated to marquise de Maintenon. The title came from the name of the château she had purchased. Happily, she no longer carried the name of a poet of questionable reputation. Her intelligence and nurturing qualities favorably impressed the king, so that he began to have regular conversations with her. Based on a careful examination of her correspondence, historians have concluded that she most likely became his mistress sometime between 1674 and 1681. During these years, Louis was losing interest in Montespan, who was dismissed from her high position at court in 1681.

Maintenon strongly encouraged the king to spend more time with the queen, Marie-Thérèse, who maintained a friendly relationship with her. In 1683, the queen unexpectedly died, possibly from blood poisoning. The king’s friends found that Louis was not especially sad, for he was being “consoled” by Maintenon, whom he married in a secret ceremony, possibly in early 1684.

During a marriage that lasted more than thirty years, Maintenon increasingly played an important role in the life of the king, who prized her companionship highly. Most historians think, however, that observers such as Louis de Rouvroy, the duke of Saint-Simon (1675-1755) and a writer on court life, exaggerated her influence over his decisions. During the first half of the marriage, she apparently exercised little influence on the formation of policies. From about 1700, however, the king paid more attention to her opinions on matters of state and sometimes even allowed her to attend cabinet meetings. Even then, however, he often rejected her advice, especially on foreign policy.

Because of Maintenon’s religious devotion, it is not surprising that her greatest influence was in religion. She was instrumental in bringing about Louis’s religious fervor and had a hand in changing the moral tone of the court. There is no evidence, however, that she was associated with the so-called devotes, who were known for their extremism and intolerance. Historians agree that she had no part in the king’s decision in 1685 to revoke the Edict of Nantes (1598), which took away the right of Protestants to practice their religion in France. In contrast to most of her contemporaries, she never spoke favorably of the infamous revocation, even though she did not hesitate to advise her brother about the opportunity to profit from buying the property of desperate Protestants. Although she endorsed the king’s anti-Jansenist policies, his efforts against the movement began before his contact with Maintenon.

Maintenon demonstrated a great deal of passion for the education of children. She helped found the Institute of Saint-Louis at Saint-Cyr in 1686. Endowed by the king and its construction directed by François Mansart , the institute eventually lodged 250 daughters of impoverished noblemen. Its fame attracted many visitors. Theologian François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon preached at the institute, and dramatist Jean Racine had some of his plays performed by the students.

Maintenon stayed by the side of the king when he was on his deathbed. The king had said that Maintenon had helped him in everything, especially the saving of his soul. In 1715, two days before Louis’s death, Maintenon left Versailles, gave away most of her money to charity, and retired to the Saint-Cyr school. Upon her death, she was buried at the school.

Significance

Madame de Maintenon spent a great deal of time and effort in organizing the rules and curriculum at the Saint-Cyr school. Recognized as one of the first serious efforts to provide an education for poor girls of noble birth, the school would continue to exist until the French Revolution.

Much of Maintenon’s massive correspondence, which has been published in French, discusses her educational views and gives advice to both teachers and students. In an educational manifesto, “Maxims to Serve as Examples to the Demoiselles of the Saint-Cyr School,” she asserts the values of traditional morality, modesty, obedience, altruism, religious piety, and broad preparation for an unknown future. Despite her strong advocacy of female education, nevertheless, she never challenged the patriarchal assumptions of the age.

Bibliography

Barnard, Howard. Madame de Maintenon and Saint-Cry. Hingham, Mass.: Charles River Books, 1977. An interesting study of Maintenon’s educational views and the school she founded.

Chandernogon, Françoise. King’s War: Reflections of Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, Wife of the King of France. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984. A respected novel that, despite some unfounded speculation, still has historical value.

Cruttwell, Maud. Madame de Maintenon. London: Dutton, 1930. A standard biography, but not as scholarly as that by Charlotte Haldane.

Durant, Will, and Ariel Durant. The Age of Louis XIV. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1963. A good portrait of Maintenon, although modern historians reject the assertion that Maintenon refused to be Louis’s mistress.

Gibson, Wendy. Women in Seventeenth-Century France. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989. For background, this book provides a good synthesis about the condition of women in different socioeconomic classes.

Haldane, Charlotte. Madame de Maintenon: Uncrowned Queen of France. London: Constable, 1970. The best and most complete biography of Maintenon in the English language.

Levi, Anthony. Louis XIV. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004. An interesting and provocative biography, although Levi’s psychological interpretations are often questionable.

Norton, Lucy, ed. Memoirs Duc de Saint-Simon. 3 vols. New York: Prion, 2000. An English-language abridgment that includes the interesting observations, rumors, and anecdotes written by a resident at Louis XIV’s court.

Rapley, Elizabeth. The Dévotes: Women and Church in Seventeenth Century France. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1990. Although recognizing the continuation of subordinate status for women, Rapley points to Maintenon as an example of their increasing influence.

Wolf, John B. Louis XIV. New York: W. W. Norton, 1968. A lively biography that includes a balanced summary of Maintenon’s influence on the king, with abundant documentation of both English and French sources.