The Mancini Sisters

Italian noblewomen

• Hortense Mancini
• Born: June 6, 1646
• Birthplace: Rome, Papal States (now in Italy)
• Died: July 16, 1699
• Place of death: Chelsea, England

• Laura Mancini
• Born: 1636
• Birthplace: Rome, Papal States (now in Italy)
• Died: February 8, 1657
• Place of death: Paris, France

• Marie Mancini
• Born: 1640
• Birthplace: Rome, Papal States (now in Italy)
• Died: May 11, 1715
• Place of death: Pisa, Tuscany (now in Italy)

• Marie-Anne Mancini
• Born: 1649
• Birthplace: Rome, Papal States (now in Italy)
• Died: June 20, 1714
• Place of death: Paris, France

• Olympia Mancini
• Born: 1639
• Birthplace: Rome, Papal States (now in Italy)
• Died: 1708
• Place of death: Brussels, Spanish Netherlands (now in Belgium)

The Mancini sisters, whose marriages were carefully arranged by their uncle, France’s chief minister Jules Mazarin, played key roles in the social and political dynamics of the royal courts of France and England. Mazarin used his nieces for important political alliances that helped consolidate his power and authority and establish an absolute monarchy in France.

Early Lives

When King Louis XIII of France died on May 14, 1643, his five-year-old son Louis XIV became king. Queen Anne of Austria , Louis XIV’s mother, became regent, but the person who truly ruled was Cardinal Jules Mazarin , who ran the government until his death in 1661. Mazarin, who had succeeded Cardinal de Richelieu in 1642, was the chief minister of France, the queen’s closest adviser, and Louis XIV’s mentor.

Mazarin’s sister, Girolama Mazarini (1614-1656), had married the Roman nobleman Michele Lorenzo Mancini in 1634. They had five beautiful daughters whom Mazarin would use in political marriages to help consolidate his power and position. The Mancini sisters—Laura, Olympia, Marie, Hortense, and Marie-Anne—were called the Mazarinettes. In 1647, Mazarin began bringing his young nieces from Rome to live in France. First came eleven-year-old Laura and eight-year-old Olympia. The nine-year-old Louis XIV enjoyed their company. The charming sisters also delighted the queen and were popular with the royal court.

There were many suitors for the sisters. In 1649, Laura became engaged to Louis de Bourbon, duke of Vendôme and duke of Mercoeur, and grandson of King Henry IV. When Laura and Louis were married in 1652, she became the duchesse de Mercoeur. Fourteen-year-old Marie and eight-year-old Hortense arrived in France in 1654. Hortense was the cardinal’s favorite niece. When she was only ten, Marquis Armand-Charles de La Porte de La Meilleraye asked to marry her, but he rejected the cardinal’s counteroffer that he might marry Olympia or Marie. Meanwhile, Louis XIV had become enamored of Olympia. She was his mistress for two years, although both Mazarin and the queen disapproved. Mazarin arranged for Olympia to marry the count of Soissons, Eugène-Maurice de Savoie-Carignan on February 20, 1657. Also in 1657, Louis XIV again fell in love, this time with Marie, who shared her love of books with him. Although never his mistress, Marie was considered his first true love.

Lives’ Work

There was tragedy in 1657. The oldest Mancini sister, Laura, became paralyzed and died at the age of twenty-one. Her grief-stricken husband entered a monastery and became a cardinal (1667). Of Laura and Louis’s two surviving sons, the older son, Louis-Joseph, duke of Vendôme (1654-1712), would become a renowned general and marshal of France.

When Louis XIV became ill and nearly died in 1658, Marie wept constantly at his bedside. After his recovery, Louis asked for permission to marry Marie, but the queen and Mazarin had planned for Louis to marry Marie-Thérèse, the oldest daughter of King Philip IV of Spain. This matrimonial alliance with Spain occurred on June 9, 1660, concurrent with the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659). Mazarin sent Marie and Hortense into exile on the Normandy coast. After a farewell meeting, Louis and Marie wrote letters, but she terminated the correspondence in September of 1659.

In 1658, Hortense turned twelve years old, and Mazarin wanted her to marry someone who would abandon his own name and take the Mazarin name, since the cardinal had no heirs. The would-be couple were set to inherit the tremendous Mazarin fortune. The persistent Armand-Charles was agreeable to such terms. However, in 1659, Hortense had a marriage proposal from the exiled Charles II of England. The cardinal rejected Charles’s proposal but later offered Hortense when Charles II regained his throne with the Restoration in 1660. Charles II, though, declined this offer.

Mazarin became ill and was dying, so he was quick to arrange a marriage contract between the fifteen-year-old Hortense and the twenty-nine-year-old Armand-Charles; they were married in Paris on March 1, 1661, and became the duke and duchess of Mazarin. In 1666, the couple divorced. In 1675, she settled in London and became a mistress of Charles II, then moved to Chelsea in 1694, lived a life of pleasure-seeking, and died there on July 16, 1699. Hortense and Armand-Charles had one son, but he died without a male heir, so the Mazarin name ultimately became defunct.

Before his death, Mazarin had arranged for Marie to marry Prince Colonna, the grand constable of Naples, and the ceremony took place on April 15, 1661. Marie moved to Rome with Colonna but left her unfaithful husband in 1672 and lived in Spain for two decades until he died. Their three sons then provided an allowance for her, and she died in Pisa in May of 1715.

Olympia and the count de Soissons had three daughters and five sons. The second son, born in 1663, became Prince Eugene, the legendary military hero. Olympia and Marie-Anne were implicated in the so-called Affair of the Poisons, a scandal involving many in King Louis XIV’s court. Olympia’s husband had died under circumstances that suggested he was poisoned. Allegedly a client of the sorceress Catherine Deshayes, Madame Monvoisin (or La Voisin), Olympia also was suspected of wanting to kill the king’s mistress, Françoise-Louise de la Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière (1644-1710). In 1680, Monvoisin was burned as a witch and murderer. Although never formally charged, Olympia had to leave Paris and live the last twenty-eight years of her life in exile. She died in Brussels in 1708.

In 1662, a year after Mazarin died, thirteen-year-old Marie-Anne married Maurice de La Tour, duke of Bouillon, and all four of their sons became soldiers. Marie-Anne had a respected literary salon and was the patron of the celebrated poet Jean De La Fontaine . During the Affairs of the Poisons in 1680, Marie-Anne also was accused of wanting to poison her husband. She was tried and acquitted, but Louis XIV exiled her. She eventually returned to Paris and died there in 1714.

Significance

The amazing history of the Mancini sisters is an incredible tale of intrigue, power, greed, and love among the nobility and royalty in seventeenth century France and England. The five sisters continue to fascinate historians and readers. Their intricate story combines unrequited love, political marriages, love affairs with kings, military heroes, exiles, and more.

Using his nieces for important political alliances helped Cardinal Mazarin consolidate his power and authority. Mazarin’s rule and example enabled Louis XIV to become an absolute monarch after Mazarin’s death.

However, the Affairs of the Poisons was a serious scandal for Louis XIV and a significant event in French history. Like the witchcraft trials in Europe and New England during this period, the affair involved accusations, witch-hunts, trials, and executions. Fortune-tellers and sorcerers had become wealthy as they offered their services to the nobility, including members of Louis’s court. In addition to Olympia and Marie-Anne, Monvoisin’s clientele included the renowned military hero, Marshal Luxembourg, and even Louis’s mistress, Madame de Montespan, who had seven children with the king.

The story of the Mancini sisters and their arranged marriages serves as a classic example of the irony of life. In the end, Cardinal Mazarin’s name and lineage ended with the death of his favorite niece’s son.

Bibliography

Chapman, Hester W. Privileged Persons: Four Seventeenth-Century Studies. New York: Reynal, 1966. The study of Hortense Mancini includes a bibliography of both primary and secondary sources.

Levi, Anthony. Louis XIV. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004. Chapter 5 covers “The Sacre, Marie Mancini and Marriage.” Other sections discuss Mazarin, the Poisons Affair, Olympia, and Hortense. Includes illustrations, maps, genealogy, and a chronology.

Mackenzie, Faith. The Cardinal’s Niece: The Story of Marie Mancini. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935. A complete biography of Marie Mancini. Includes a genealogical chart and illustrations.

Mallet-Joris, Francoise. The Uncompromising Heart: A Life of Marie Mancini, Louis XIV’s First Love. Translated by Patrick O’Brian. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1966. This is a long biography based on Marie’s own memoirs and letters.

Norton, Lucy. The Sun King and His Loves. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1982. Includes the story of Marie Mancini as the king’s first love. Illustrated.

Rosvall, Toivo. The Mazarine Legacy: The Life of Hortense Mancini, Duchess Mazarin. New York: Viking Press, 1969. This complete biography of Hortense includes accounts of her sisters. Illustrations, a genealogical chart, and bibliography.

Sainte-Beuve, C. A. Portraits of the Seventeenth Century: Historic and Literary. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1964. Chapter III is “Cardinal Mazarin and His Nieces.” Footnotes and illustrations.

Somerset, Anne. The Affair of the Poisons. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2003. This comprehensive study of the Affair of the Poisons describes Olympia’s and Marie-Anne’s involvement. Illustrations, extensive notes and bibliography.

Treasure, G. R. R., and Geoffrey Treasure. Mazarin: The Crisis of Absolutism in France. New York: Routledge, 1995. This definitive English-language biography of Mazarin has a section about Louis XIV and Marie Mancini. Bibliography and genealogical chart.

Williams, H. Noel. Five Fair Sisters: An Italian Episode at the Court of Louis XIV. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1906. The complete story of the Mancini sisters, with illustrations and footnotes.